I have a little box for you too. Been having car issues so not been to post office yet. Hugs to all of you! Trish

Cauliflower and Pepper Casserole 1 med. head cauliflower,broken into florets 1/4 cup chopped green pepper 1/4 cup chopped red pepper 1 cup sour cream 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese 1/2 cup crushed cornflakes salt and pepper to taste 1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese Place cauliflower and a small amount of water in a saucepan, cover, and cook for 5 minutes or until crisp tender. Drain. Mix with sour cream, cheddar cheese, cornflakes, peppers, and salt and pepper. Transfer to a greased 2 quart casserole dish. Sprinkle with parmesan and paprika. Bake uncovered at 325 for 30-35 minutes. ( I baked at 350) Recipe from Linda McGinty Taste of Home Zucchini and Potato Fritters 1 zucchini 1 medium potato 1 small onion 1 tsp. dried thyme 1 egg 1/4 cup flour oil Grate zucchini and potato and onion. Mix grated veggies with thyme, egg, and flour until combined. Het some oil in a large frying pan and cook fritters until golden brown and cooked on both sides. Drain. Serve warm with sour cream. This is like latkes. It made 6. This came from Nancy, but originally was posted by Linda in Tn.

Hi: we are empty nesters with a City Apt (3 baths 3 bedrooms): where my bath is part of the Master bedrm and hubby uses another one as "his". We also have a rural turn of century country cottage with 3 baths on multi level so we SHARE the master bath (and it is the largest). What you recently described with the split config and some passthru/shared areas resonates and we find has worked well. Since space does not seem to be a constraint, you may, for resale purposes, want to consider a bath-spa. Meaning add some spa elements. I know you said you dont need more humidity or heat...but steam enclosure or ready-to-install-cabinets may not add considerably except for the actual steam generator. Mini dry or steam sauna rooms are great (we have a Finnish-style sauna...it is about 8x5 and is a separate room. Next to it is a small 1/2 bath) Also in our 'hood, a dual bath could count as two and run into code issues. So i am sure you'll be checking out how your town regulates Here is what we've found as best configs we've lived with or had the pleasure to experience: - separated closet areas are ideal..even with a shares common entry. Also our requirements for lengths and drawers are different (just consider the accessories or shoes!) - that said, i dont like the closets being super close to the water. That is humidity from the shower or tub in the very near vicinity. Further, my SIL and BIL rebuilt their master bath with her closet being direct accessed from the bathroom. I found it nice but not really conducive to full dressing...too small and i wanted to be out in the open more where i could stand back from the full length mirror - the real reason we use separate bathrooms is the toilet and you've addressed that. we always prefer bathrooms where the toilets are a little separate...be that a half door or semi enclosed. And we really really treasure Windowed bathrooms. More windows the better - The more isolated the toilet can be from the other areas (layout wise), the better the other areas work and feel clean, fresh,comfortable. some bathrooms we liked even had a small hand washing sink in the toilet area. - A Toto toilet special flush toilet with a SOFT CLOSE lid for us is a MUST!!! once you have it (now others make the soft close lids too) you wonder where its been all your life. Same for the way the Toto flushes low and high volume. Unfortunately their color and style choices are limited but do check out the functionality and try to replicate. The power flush with minimal water use is good. - I am not fond of separate bidets (and we travel abroad alot so we see these) One more thing to clean and plumb etc and addl space taken up for something not very attractive. Instead, the Toto-type bidet function can be added to a hi-end commode. For a price, of course. - two tubs two showers feels odd. And you've addressed this too i think. A large shower with ease of access, open feeling and glass or even outside light is best. A rain head in shower is nice but not in lieu of the regular. We are very eco conscious so we arent into the multi jets --- my BIL recently did a walk in large shower with lots of jets; i cant say that it enhanced my shower experience because i would rather just finish up and not use the water. And i didnt like sloshing thru a large wet area to find a place to dry my feet. So large without everything being subject to water jets was my observation - When i want to use water, well for me its a deep tub WITHOUT jets ---nothing to disrupt luxuriating in hot bubbly scented water A handheld as option with the tub is nice (to rinse off, to rinse hair, etc) - Double or separated sinks are a plus -- really it is the separate mirror each of us is after! plus separated banks of drawers or spaces. My bath has bureau drawers and there I keep my lingerie so that i can dress the underthings right there. That said, some common space for the replenish supplies and for towels. - We love thinner waffle weave towels rather than big thirsty Turkish ones...because the former absorb quickly and in humid weather, we can use 1 a day and not create immense stax of laundry. So, we both like having a stack of towels right there in the bath rather than in a linen closet down the hall. - Lighting is important. Not just the usual over sink lighting that is good for working on the face. Some softer moodier lighting or lights on reo-stats are good. I saw mirrored cabinets spanning double sinks that had soft lighting running along the bottom. Left on, such as the evenngs, it was a nice glow and almost meant i didnt have to turn on lights brightly every time i went in. - Audio or even a small flat panel feed to your bathroom? that will take special planning if the latter. For sure, i love listening to the radio and would love to have some thing in the bath rather than turning up my clock radio so loud! Enjoy

Claire, you've put your finger on it! We knew, all along, that the Cheerios problem was an unrealistic, "manufactured" protest. MIL didn't want to be in Assisted Living, even though she needed the extra supervision and medical care, so she complained about all the things she had to give up. Getting her the fridge was one way to soothe her discontent, as it gave her a tool for making choices and maintaining a bit of independence. Before she moved to AL, she had a private apartment and a car, so she could shop for groceries with her gentleman friend (who died last year at age 101), make breakfasts and lunches, and bake cookies. They would have dinner in the dining hall. Then, everything changed, in short order: she needed more help after she broke her shoulder, her friend went into the Alzheimer unit, and she could no longer live alone. We live 3 hours away, and we visit about once a month. I couldn't have provided all those frozen dinners, like you did. But I do bake cookies and bring them when we visit (I use her favorite recipe and her cookie sheets). You're really doing a wonderful thing, not only in helping your MIL stay well nourished but also in making it possible for her to stay independent a lot longer. Sue