Hey Westelle, thought I heard my name in the wind, must have been you. But thanks for thinking of me, will catch you next time for sure. Brenda, not all the 99cent/dollar stores have produce. The only one I know of is the 99 cent store up there in the K-Mart center. I love carrot salad and the deli at the market where I shop doesn't make it anymore. At the $ store they have packages of shredded carrot, probably a good pound in a package, makes a lot of carrot salad! Pat

Been there, done that...lint is such a HUGE annoyance to my life. We're in a 2nd floor condo where the dryer vent ducting goes to the roof through the attic over 20 feet and several elbows. My husband bought the condo years before we met, and the ducting was clogged after several years. At the time, he decided to disconnect the vent from the duct. The resulting moisture did some damage to the cabinetry (swelling of the particle board, even under layers of oil-based paint). Soon after we married, he decided we needed to fix the problem correctly. He went up into the attic and disassembled the ducting, brought it outside, and blew it out with his air compressor. I pushed some cleaning tool through it as well. We can't be doing this regularly! I mean preferably, never again! So, I had him put a filter -- a gallon paint strainer -- over the dryer vent where it connects to the machine. This clogs every month or so, we pull the machine out, disconnect the vent, clean the strainer, and put it back. This is still an annoying chore, but not the nightmare of dealing with the whole duct run. My husband had a cool idea, that what we need to do is sew a new, longer strainer that tapers to a skinny point, so that even when it clogs at the point, there can still be air flowing past the clogged strainer, and we should be able to go longer between cleanings. We got a new dryer last summer, and pulled the ducting out of the attic to clean it -- but it was already clean as a whistle. So, our secondary filter system has kept the duct run clean for 9 years. I found you can buy secondary lint traps with a door that opens to clean them out, but we don't have room to install the box in our laundry room, and I don't think it would work any better or be easier to clean than our homemade filter. When I redo the floor, I plan to put magic slider thingies under the dryer feet to make it easier to move in and out, plus I won't want to gouge my new floor. I have researched other solutions. People claim that solid metal vent will maintain better airflow than pleated, but I think it will still clog because we need 2 90-degree elbows to get it connected to the duct in the wall. And if it clogs, how do we pull out the machine with a non-stretching vent? If we could move the duct in the wall to match the dryer vent outlet, that would eliminate 2 elbows and would probably help... I also found you can install a secondary fan in the ducting near the exit, increasing the airspeed in long ducts so the lint won't clog. They cost $150-200, but if I never had to clean out the duct run or pull out the dryer to clean my makeshift secondary lint trap ever again, it would be well worth it. I also think that our ducting is leaky somewhere, because rooms on the other side of the wall (our master bath) get crusted with lint all the time. Finding and sealing those leaks would probably improve airspeed some, plus save me tons of work cleaning the lint all the time. I think the additional fan is the way to go. In 2 other areas where we replaced an ineffective low-cfm cheap fan with a high-cfm good one, like the hood over our cooktop, it made an amazing difference, night and day. Here is a link that might be useful: example of dryer duct fan

I received this email today and figured it was another urban legend, so I checked it out on Snopes. Unfortunately, it's the truth. It's enough to keep me out of Dollar Stores forever. I've got enough junk as it is. Investigating Dollar Stores A news investigation on dollar stores (including Dollar Tree and others): They discovered the Crest, Colgate and other brand name toothpastes weren't the same as from drug, and grocery stores etc. The toothpastes were manufactured in many other countries and are not approved by the American Dental Association (ADA). There was even some from South Africa and the fluoride is ten times stronger than what we're allowed in the U.S. (prescription strength). They're allowed stronger because they don't have fluoridated water (like we do). So if we (or our kids) use it often and occasionally swallow it, we could be poisoning ourselves. The dollar stores declined to comment and a full investigation has begun. So stick to paying full-price at your grocery store, drug store, and send this e-mail to anyone who MIGHT shop at dollar stores. This is a true story. It has been confirmed on Snopes. http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/household/toothpaste.asp This is also true of food products, cake mixes, cereal, etc. Here is a link that might be useful: Dollar Store junk on Snopes

I work at a grocery store and as you know they carry much more than just groceries now... After mid summer they started marking down summer stuff. I got a popup screened in "house" enough for a table and couple of chairs for my DD and her DH. Was over 50.00 got it for 7.50. They love to go camping and it will be great for shaded/bug free hanging out and for the dogs too. I also got them a BIG umbrella for the patio table, for 10.00. They will be surprised and happy come next summer. Those were the big buys for them. I got a bunch of other things, a set of tupperware(told me at Thanksgiving they don't have lids anymore for what they have) they all snap together for space saving. Got 28 piece set for 8.00. Regular price was 19.99. Stuff like that. Practical but good buys. Got a good friend a really cute iron ware decorated piece. She likes yard art stuff and she can hang this outside. It was 15.00. got it for 3.00. Really pretty piece. So check out your grocery stores come seasonal change.... you will find some good bargains!