If your stove has knobs, just pull off the knobs for the oven controls and stick them in a drawer. That's what I do for burners that I don't want used because I've got something on top of them. If it's digital, I suppose you could stick some electric tape over the control to remind you! :)

oh darn!! I forgot to WS my cosmls, zinnia and other tender annuals. sigh.... Guess it's time to start WSing again!!! I just spent an hour opening most of my containers up to allow a little direct sun and more ventilation as it's in the 70's here again...in April!! I have daffs blooming here..in April!! What the heck! And of course...I may be foolish...but I've started planting some things out! They're just getting too root bound in the containers, or not fitting well because they are growing so fast!

I offered to host this year but our gathering is not very big. My parents usually host when my sister and her family come (every other year) but I know how much work it is. My mother does not really enjoy cooking but my father loves to. It's a lot of work as they are older now. It's not really the cooking but all the prep ahead of time and then the clean up afterward. A couple of years ago I offered to host either Thanksgiving or Christmas to lessen the stress, but for some reason, my kids prefer going to my parents' house for Christmas so that means Thanksgiving falls to me. My sister's family lives 6 hours away, so when they come, they stay for several days with my parents which means she does not make anything to bring. Since my father loves to cook, he has offered to bring two vegetable side dishes which will be some sort of Italian dishes since that is his heritage and cuisine of preference for cooking. My mom likes to bake so she will do three pies - pumpkin, pumpkin chiffon and chocolate. DH will make an apple pie as well. Our menu is what I've always thought traditional (until one year we spent Thanksgiving in Atlanta and discovered they had different traditions). We will have smoked turkey (dh will cook in his smoker), mashed potatoes, bread stuffing (dressing really b/c I won't do it in the turkey but we still call it stuffing), sweet potato casserole (not with marshmallows, mine has a pecan topping), gravy, and two vegetable side dishes from my father. We don't do rolls/bread - enough carbs already on the menu. My niece and nephew are vegetarians, so won't be eating turkey but my sister said not to worry, they will just eat the side dishes. My 18 y/o dd stopped eating meat this summer and has managed to continue to remain vegetarian her first few months away at college. She informed me though that she has decided she will eat turkey on Thanksgiving and may go back to eating poultry as she is tiring of the limited vegetarian offerings at her school. My sister and BIL also stopped eating meat, mainly to eat healthier, but don't consider themselves strict vegetarians and told my mother they will have turkey on Thanksgiving. I'm just breathing a sigh of relief that my brother is spending Thanksgiving with his inlaws b/c SIL and my niece are apparently now vegan so that would have made most of our dishes unsuitable.

Glenda, I'm so glad you're getting better! For the future, I learned no fiber, no fat, not much sugar for such woes. So dry white toast (most crackers have a lot of fat) and clear, skimmed broth to start with. White rice cooked in clear broth might go down well. As things go well, add a little ginger ale or a dab of jam to the toast. Add a cracker or two. As they go better, add some plain, skinless chicken breast. When you're on the mend, add the banana or applesauce, but they both have a lot of fiber and sugar, so in great moderation. The BBQ chicken lasagna was fab. I was worried about using a lot of sauce, but it was fab. Because it wasn't very sweet, it didn't become cloying. I used four different smoked cheese, plus mozz, and totally forgot ricotta. It wasn't missed. I also forgot the thyme, and ditto.