Thanks you all. After wishes are just as appreciated. Smiles. It was a good day and it's been a good weekend so far. We still have tomorrow. The canning has gone pretty good, but it sure is hard with two old ladies with bad backs one of which uses a cane, to haul all that hot water and such and schlep the stuff around the kitchen, clean all the jars from basement,. etc.. etc.. lol. Did a few dills and some tomatoes. Meanwhile dragging the canning stuff from the pantry closet[which is an under the stairs kind of deal so it goes far back but gets shallow] caused me to have to clean and rearrange that. I've just about killed Christy. She may never take another day off. LOL. Omg. Lars.. you made me laugh so hard. I read your post to Christy and she said.. "Jerseylicious..you... NOT..", then she proceeded to kill herself laughing. ..lmao.. omg.. good one. Don't have the accent. My hair is long and I've only had it cut professionally once in my adult life and that was a trim. I cut it myself. No hair products, except shampoo. Some eye liner and mascara sometimes. No animal prints..ever..lol.. I wear long cotton tshirt dresses or long tshirts and shorts/pants. Sorry if this disappoints.. smiles. Btw, around here we call that part of NJ.. New York New Jersey.

I got a card (late) from my boss (the owner of the company) today, but that was only the second one I got this year, and the other one was from a co-worker. Here I do not know how you tell if it is someone's birthday - I do not think it is as personal here as it was before. I do not think my birthday is on my profile here, but Scott knew it was my birthday because it was on FB, which I seldom visit. Sally, I try to make my butter cookies every Christmas also - partly because they are so easy, and I like simple cookies. I'll have to see how my pie is today. I used a metal pan instead of Pyrex, and the crust slumped a bit during the first baking, but I tried to push it back up the sides before it cooled. I had thought that I always used a metal pan, but maybe not this one, which is non-stick. Next time I'll try one of my new 8" metal pans. I think the pan I used for this one was too large, but it was 8" diameter at the bottom. I guess I'm supposed to measure the top diameter instead. Lars

Thank you very much for the good wishes, everyone: I appreciate them. One of the doc's assistants mentioned Imodium a while ago to try to slow down the personal portable solid waste disposal unit's desire to make those shipments fairly frequently. I meet the doc every Tuesday ... and last Tuesday he suggested that it might be helpful, I got some and it does seem to help. Thanks for the suggestion, Jasdip - I'll check with the radiators(?) tomorrow, and likely the Doc on Tuesday. February is Heart (and Stroke) Month, and they'd asked me if I'd approach about 30 houses on my road for a contribution. Either of them has certainly caused a lot of trouble for many people ... and the medical and research people have made major strides in dealing with it and many more are surviving than used to be the case ... back when I was a kid. To learn some info on signs to look for, and recent research results, check heartandstroke.ca/help. Should you happen to be interested in adding to my money-raising results, check there for "Edward Baker" - and the address is "Southwold". If I'm being a naughty boy, here - tell me and I'll delete it. Hope you all have a great weekend. ole joyful

It looks like I'm going to be freezing a lot of my lemons, as my tree is pretty much loaded at this point, and it won't be later in the year. I freeze the lemons whole and then defrost them in 10 second intervals in the MW - practically as good a fresh, but they do get a bit softer, which is great for limes, a bit less so for lemons, as it makes it a bit more difficult to zest. Nice to know that you are a fellow designer, Sleevendog! At one time I had hoped to be a set designer, and when I first moved to L.A., I was across the street from what had been MGM studios in Culver City, and I could see the MGM lion on top of one of their buildings from my kitchen window. It was no longer MGM by then, but the lion was still there, although it has been missing for some time. Kevin works there now and it is Sony Studios, but he unfortunately is not in any of the design positions. When I was a clothing designer in San Francisco, I also designed and made costumes for the stage, but never for movies. I will try to check out all of the stores recommended - I really should replace an office chair at home as well, now that I see more interesting options. I really wish I could get some of the dining chairs I designed for my house - or at least an occasional chair, but they would have to give me a deep discount. Thanks for your comment, Sally - that really makes me feel better! Sometimes I do not feel appreciated at work, except from my boss. If I get new chairs, I'll post photos, one way or another!