Last year my sister gave me one of those chopper thingies from PC. She swears by it, but I have yet to try it. I like using a knife too much! This year she gave me a bottle/jar opener. I suppose I'll try it if and when I come across something I can't open by hand. That hasn't happened in a while though. As for the garlic press, I have the OXO. I really like the fixed cleaner, but aside from that I'm not too impressed. A lot squeezes out the sides. One of these days I'll buy a Zyliss which has gotten CI's top vote for years. Generally I like OXO. I have a friend who used to have "parties" for a different company. Until she realized her friends, neighbors and fellow parishoners were avoiding eye contact with her for fear of being asked to go to another party.

The reason why Pampered Chef pizza stones don't need to be preheated is because they are thinner than most other baking stones. Thicker and heavier pizza stones are more likely to break if they are cold and you stick them into a hot oven. Another thing that makes Pampered Chef's stones different and in some cases better is that it's ok to bake foods that have oil such as cookies on them because they have a surface that isn't porous. Here is a link that might be useful: Perfect Pizzas Every Time With The Pampered Chef Pizza Stone

We send our points in with a check on December 8, 2001 and have not heard anything and the check has not been cashed. So, either it got lost or they are holding off...? Not sure what is up, I think I will call them on Monday.

Both of my grandparents stayed at home until they were in their late 80's and then Mama had no choice but to put them into a nursing home. My GF lived about 3 years after and my GM is still living. She turned 100 in Sept. She has very good care and is the favorite in the home. She has a double room and has been lucky for the most part about room-mates but she has had a couple that were a chore to deal with. When they retired they had a substantial amount of savings and their home with a few acres of land. We hired one of the home health aides to come spend the night with them for a few months but were paying out about $300 a week and all she was doing was sleeping there. Anyway now my GM has been in the home for about 13 years and all of her money is gone. She gets $30 a month and goes to the beauty shop in the home once a week and the family pays for her TV and phone and any other things she needs. Her money was building up in her account and they told my sister that we needed to spend some of it because she wasn't allowed to have but a certain amount and she was over the limit. Family members moved into their home for a few years and then when it was vacated we sold it and the money went to the home. We had no problem with that. They've taken good care of her and know they will continue to. The main point is that people save their money for their old age and then when they get their and need it for health care the other family members often think it should be theirs. Yes, we've paid taxes most of our lives but nobody can live on the amount of taxes you pay in for a month. Probably the best solution would be to go back to many years ago where extended families just built onto the family home and the kids stayed after marriage and were there to help care for the elderly family members (great-grandparents) and the grandparents are there to baby sit for the grandchildren. Thus cutting out a lot of expenses. Of course we've gone away from this custom for too many years for most to want to do it. G'nite John-Boy! lol Nancy