I'll add my name to the list of people who hate the silicone bakeware. I had better luck with the muffin pan, which was smaller, than I did with the bundt pan, which always stuck, never stayed in the right shape, spilled when I tried to move it. No matter how much it was greased or floured or sprayed, it stuck and everything came out in many pieces, never all in one piece. I hated that pan, as well as the round layer cake pans which performed approximately as poorly. They were such carp that I put it all in the "free" box when I had a yard sale but no one took it because when they asked how it worked, I told them. I do have Silpats, which I tried to use for rolling out pie crust and it worked horribly for that too, but it's pretty good for fondant if you dust with powdered sugar and they work for baking cookies. Dave does like the silicone pot holders for removing hot radiator caps and such in the garage, so I gave those to him, LOL. It might have worked OK for an ice mold, or maybe jello, but I don't make either of those things, so into the trash went the silicone. My favorite pans are my old uncoated aluminum Bake King pans, probably the things are as old as I am. I have some nice new non-stick KitchenAid loaf pans and they've held up, not lost their coating, work well, don't stick, etc. However, they are 9x5 and they're just too big, so I always revert back to the smaller 8 inch Bake King pans. I have old Bake King round cake pans too, they work well as long as they are well greased and floured. My old glass pyrex also works as well as anything I own, but I don't have any ceramic bakeware other than pie pans. I try to stay away from glass/ceramic bakeware because I'm clumsy and when my carpal tunnel is giving me fits I drop everything. Metal can take the abuse. (grin) Annie

Boy, if we were getting a Michael's here I would be jumping for joy. Our closest Michael's is 250 miles away. We have no yarn stores in our town either, or a Walmart or anything like that. I have never been in a yarn store yet. I've been meaning to look one up in our biggest city here, the one that is 250 miles away, but since I'm not familiar with the city and streets, I haven't found it yet. I go to Michael's while I'm there and also Walmart and all the other big ones. We make a trip over there about once every 3 months. We do have a small store in here our town which carries basically Red Heart Yarn and that's it. I order all of my yarn off the internet or else have a list ready for when we travel to the city. We just got back from there so I have a few bags of yarn stocked up to keep me busy till we go back in March. I think you're lucky to be getting a Michael's. Wish it was our town that was getting one. I think you will be pleased.

Lou - LOL! I hate any store bought cookie - even the "gourmet" ones. They are all too greasy or oily or dry as dust. Thank you everyone for your comments! My Kitchenaid makes cookies and cakes sooooo easy! I pre-measure everything and put it on paper plates and just dump each plate when the recipe tells me to. If I don't pre-measure, you can bet I will leave something out. Here are my favorite 2 recipes that everyone goes nuts (pun intended) for. Cookies: Oat-rageous Cookies 1/2 C shortening 1/2 C sugar 1/2 C brown sugar 1 egg 1 Tbsp water 1 tsp vanilla extract 1 C all purpose flour 1/2 tsp baking soda 1/2 tsp salt 1 C quick cooking oats 1 C semisweet chocolate chips 3/4 C cranberries 1/2 C chopped walnuts 1/2 C English toffee bits In a mixing bowl, cream shortening and sugars. Beat in egg, water and vanilla. Combine flour, baking soda and salt. Gradually add to the creamed mixture. Stir in remaining ingredients. *Drop by rounded Tbsp 2" apart onto ungreased baking sheets. **Bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned. *I use a cookie scoop and get 32-36 cookies per batch. **I prefer to bake them at 365 for 15 minutes. ***I leave out the chocolate chips. Bundt Cake: Ingredients � 1 (18.25 ounce) package devil's food cake mix � 1 (5.9 ounce) package instant chocolate pudding mix � 1 cup sour cream � 1 cup vegetable oil � 4 eggs � 1/2 cup warm water � 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips Directions 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). 2. In a large bowl, mix together the cake and pudding mixes, sour cream, oil, beaten eggs and water. Stir in the chocolate chips and pour batter into a well greased 12 cup bundt pan. 3. Bake for 50 to 55 minutes, or until top is springy to the touch and a wooden toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool cake thoroughly in pan at least an hour and a half before inverting onto a plate If desired, dust the cake with powdered sugar. * I add 1 cup of Angel Flake shredded coconut

I used the Grocery Game for a few months and saw a significant savings. It was time consuming cutting the coupons and creating a filing system, but once I found a system that worked, I had it made. I don't have alot of room to stockpile like they advocate, but I saved alot of money. There were many times I used the coupons and got $200 worth of groceries for about $20. The drawback of the grocery game is it is time consuming. I'd have to go to the store to buy the Sunday Paper, clip the coupons, file them - all on a Sunday, then I only had until Tuesday to go shopping. This was ok when I wasn't working, but once I started a FT job, something had to give. I just didn't have time for it anymore, so I gave up my membership. I think if there is something available online free and in advance like xamsx noted above, I would be more inclined to use that. The Grocery Game (aka Teri's list) was just too rushed for me.