I receive a lot of economic stuff, via email, because of DH. I was just reading a report from the bank's economist this morning that contained this... "...several retailers warned that customers are trading down to save money, buying chicken instead of steak, burgers instead of chicken. This is consistent with the recent drop in gasoline sales (volume, not dollars) as well. Consumers are finally feeling the pinch of food and energy prices to an extent that is forcing behavioral change." Right now, oil is trading at 107.73. DH tells me that they are seeing more & more people use CCs to pay for groceries. They are also receiving more applications for 'Pay Day' loans. Their application drop-out rate for mortgages has risen to over 40% because of excess debt (25-30% is considered normal for his conservative shop). He told me yesterday that discussion of heating oil prices has replaced Britney & Paris in the company lunch room. Even though I don't stock pile grains anymore we do still maintain a rotating food storage program. In anticipation of continuing higher & higher food prices I'm going to start moving my storage away from luxury goodies & increase the basics. I'm also going to get DH to help me fill-up both our Excalibur dehydrators with granola. I've got a 5-rack & an 8-rack. My granola is darn near a complete meal. I use rolled oats, rolled triticale, dry milk powder, wheat germ, peanut butter, molasses, honey, cinnamon, nutmeg, almonds, pumpkin seeds, & sunflower seeds as a base & then add lots of dried fruit after it comes out of the dehydrator. Vac-packed & stored in the freezer, it lasts a year. If food get too high we can always eat granola! lol /tricia

I just would like to do a couple of follow ups to the questions people have had for me. I am hoping this helps answer mine as well. One- they both get leash walked, however, Sampson doesn't go very far and he doesn't care for the cold much (thank God, it's starting to warm up). Truman goes on a lease and a harness b/c he's about 100 lbs and he does so much better with his harness. The puppy goes for a couple of short walks a day and Truman goes for a lengthy walk each day (usually when we get home from work). Second- I used the word "only" to describe where we were at that day, purely so that people could see that he has gone outside to potty. Using the word "only" doesn't mean I don't want to fix the problem, it means it's not fixed yet. Third- Usually my fiance and I are off by 10:00 every night, so we certainly aren't sleeping during the day. I am up , among other times to clean the crate, by 8:00 am at the latest every day. The dogs are taken out to potty and then fed right then. The second time we feed them is at around lunch time, although sometimes they decide not to eat...annz, I think you are right, if he decides to skip it, then I should too. That is where I have messed up, b/c I feel bad and so I want to feed him later b/c he ate his lunch later...We do have a gal that comes by when we are both at work to let them both out and wet their whistle. Usually neither of them eat at that time. The youngest dog is about 16 weeks old. I am certainly not comparing my dogs to dobermans by any means. I was just making the point that some dogs, even the ones who haven't been on schedules their whole lives can be very well behaved and trained. I am so trying to find better ways so that my dogs are happy and so are we. We love them dearly and just want to find a way for all of us to make our new house a home. Thanks for everyone's advice. If anyone has anything to add, please feel free. I know there isn't a magical pill to fix things- I will try anything (but neither of us can quit our jobs. Our schedules are just backwards from most...when others are working during the day we are home, when they are at home in the evening, we are working. Plus, we do have the gal come over to let them out (which Truman doesn't need but likes her coming over anyway). Michelle

Today I made some bran muffins and threw in some orange zest off a drying out orange...squeezed the juice from said orange and added that......also threw in some marashino cherry juice from a jar which mysterious is minus the cherries, added some shredded zucchini (three medium size firm ones from reduced basket at grocery store - 49 cents - shredded and froze the rest), tossed in some cinnamon sugar and flour left over from another baking project and saved in a small container.....so used bits and pieces of this and that...better to toss into muffins than toss into garbage. Bud.

"I am somewhat uneducated on what an alchohol evaluation entails, and not being much of a drinker -- I dont mean to be pessemetic, but is it something that if you have some notice, you can fake your way through it." Good question! DH asked the same thing today. He was concerned, as well. Because this is court ordered, and because it will be done at a state treatment center, ALL the court records will be sent over ahead of time. So whoever does the evaluation will have seen the police report, the GAL's report, and the court order. Don't forget, too, BM had a DWI a few yrs ago and she blew so high on the breathalyzer that she had to do a special SATOP lock-down weekend at a hotel. They only do this for people whose blood alcohol level is extremely high. This is on her record. So BM can sit there and say "oh, I don't have a problem" but my guess is that's going to be tough to argue when the evaluator has all the facts on the table. I would expect (hope) that these people are trained well and know that many addicts/alcoholics will lie and deny, deny, deny. ANOTHER added bonus to DH paying for the evaluation is that DH will also be "interviewed." This is really good! Our attorney also said the evaluator will most definitely want to meet with the GAL on the case, as well. AND we also found out that the CURRENT GAL had contacted the old GAL we had for the school district---to get his thoughts on everything--and he said BM definitely has a problem that needs to be addressed. He said that was his impression before, but that there just wasn't any concrete reason to investigate further.