I've seen the angel chimes, both brass and wood, at gift shops--even Marshall's--at Christmas. Just start looking at Thanksgiving, or even before, sad to say. If you want a truly wonderful, memorable Scandanavian Christmas experience, then put the Lucia celebration in early December in Boston on your calendar. Santa Lucia is a major Christmas festival in Sweden and I have celebrated it for many years, tho without a drop of Swedish blood. The good ladies of SWEA Boston have the most fantastic festival every year--lots of delicious Swedish food to eat there or bring home, lots and lots of Swedish Christmas decorations, and of couse the traditional Lucia procession. That is barely scratching the surface. One year, Will Ferrell was the host. His wife is Swedish. And sorry to say, I had never heard of him--"Who is this guy making jokes?" My kids were shocked, horrified that I was so dumb. I have been enlightened. BTW, SWEA means Swedish Women's Educational Association and it promotes Swedish culture worldwide. What fun, even if you're Irish :) Here is a link that might be useful: Lucia Day in Boston

Glenda, What you said is so true, and for decades now, if you say you eat or garden organically, a lot of people instantly lump you into that whole 1960s-hippie-back-to-the-land-movement (not that I mind that). Even when we moved here in 1999 and I put a big organic veggie garden in the front pasture, between the road and the house, everyone thought I was crazy. The old farmers and ranchers couldn't wait to tell me how I was doing stuff wrong and was going to fail. They didn't think much of my wide raised beds, narrow paths, hay mulch, companion plants ("you're wasting space on weeds") and (horrors!) my reliance on manure and compost instead of liquid fertilizers. When I refused to use pesticides, they gave up on me. One even said to me "You probably do yoga and eat granola". (I do! LOL) They also weren't impressed with the appearance of my heirloom tomatoes, which were the wrong colors, too lumpy and bumpy, etc. You know what, though? Every now and then over the years one or another of them has asked me about an organic solution for this or that, so I've won over a few of them. There are aspects of the green movement that bother me, including the way the government dumbed down the organic standards and allow practices which devoted organic gardeners never would use, but for which the commercial industry had lobbied. I do think a lot of the green news we hear has more to do with marketing than with doing anything for the right ethical reasons. Still, I do see lots of folks (many of them right here on this forum) who are quite serious about gardening in the most healthy way, eating organically when possible, etc. That gives me hope that we're realizing there's a better way to raise food and take care of Mother Earth too. The spice place made me nuts, but in a good way. I didn't want to leave. Tim just stood in the pepper room talking on his cell phone while I put bag after bag in the basket. At one point I handed him the basket to hold for me while I was looking for the turmeric, and he headed for the cashier's register, thinking I was done. I had to chase him down and say "Wait, I'm not finished yet!" LOL Silly guy. Just because the basket was full, he thought I was finished shopping. I want to know why Fort Worth has all these interesting food places now---they didn't have them when we lived there. Dawn

"Shake and Bake" refers to the nickname given to the state of California, which it is not only named for, but it is the state flower for :) California is often referred to as "Shake and Bake, USA WELL DUH!...lol, FANNA WHO IS Hysterical laughing at herself for FORGETTING THIS FACT about Callie! See I am afraid to TRY any Poppy for breadseed because what if someone sends one they THINK is safe and it isn't? JASMINE, I ACCIDENTLY TYPED THE WRONG NUMBER! All is WELL it WAS Margos I was working on and since I believe I meanted the gift she gave me it was clear it was just a slip of the finger or brainwave or something along those lines..... Lisa I stayed up last night til 5:00 am or would that be stayed up this morning til? Oh well, which ever that is what I did. It is just a matter of me bring ODC and can't stop until I feel HAPPY with the results....lol!!! WOW you all are sending in some REALLY REALLY good stuff!!! Wendy, thanks for my GIFT...I will be on a CHOCOLATE high tonight, haha! That was so sweet of you to think of me, thanks again. I am actaully taking a breather at this minute to eat supper then I will get back to the seeds. :) Fran I will go ahead and post #11 thread!

"Steph- it is an Elite 8 quart" from hsn? I saw they had them on their ? electronics specials (or whatever they call it). 8 qt would be huge for me. I looked for 1 @ 4 qt, then 6 qt. keep us posted on how it's working for you. just for me it seems a lot of $s. for a family it isn't tho. still might be worth it to me (a smaller one). do they sell the other insert also? then the other day I found my very, very small crock pot in the old place. never been opened... I wondered where it went. it looks big enough for the 2 chicken breasts I usually buy and cook up. (they last me about 6 wks) I'm not good at making them anymore - I usually forget about them and they're dried out by the time I remember them. even if I don't forget them, they aren't all that tender. I'd like to blame the actual meat, but I'm sure it's just me. but, maybe I'll give it a whirl. would be good to know what all else you make in it - so keep a list to post! wish I'd had one of those when raising my kids. would have been a great time saver making dinner.