Marie, BM and DH did not go to court until their son was almost 6 years old. They were split from the time he was 1. For 5 yrs, DH paid 100% of daycare, health insurance, and paid for whatever his son needed, from clothes to tumbling lessons to swim lessons, etc They ALWAYS had 50-50 custody. My Dh has ALWAYS supported his son, always, always. BM was collecting food stamps, and medical benefits from the state, and put *unknown* down for DH's whereabouts. I know for a fact this is insurance fraud since DH has always covered his son under his work policy, but BM chose to not use it. So when they finally got into court (over school district issues) BM filed for child support. DH had no idea until then that she had been receiving benefits. His attorney pushed the fraud issue, and that was how it was determined that a portion (although we were told all) of the c/s would go to pay back the state. Seems fair to me. BM really just kind of screwed herself because if she had needed more money back THEN, she could have filed for child support rather than going through the state. Then DH would have had to pay more in support, but BM would have gotten 100% of it. It was basically robbing Peter to pay Paul. DH should have gone to court sooner, as well. He paid on average $200/wk for daycare for 5 years. That's $800/month. His child support, without 50-50 custody, would have been $600-something a month. In their parenting plan, it now states that BM is 100% responsible for any childcare costs. So DH paid more in daycare for 5 yrs than he would have if he had just gone to court and had child support established.

brickeye stated just to be argumentative: "All we are discusisng here is "20-Amp outlets throughout the house" so the entire statement is pointless in the present context, a house." But I had previously stated: "Reason I asked (sic: texasredhead) is that codemaking panels have tried for years to develop some sort of parameters to regulate the size of circuits and number of outlets on them to limit overloading, but none have never succeeded. One such scheme is the NEC's current one for residential wiring that requires 20 amp circuits for small appliance, bathroom, and similar power circuits. This is an attempt to reduce overloading by permitting the most common larger household loads to be served from larger cicuits. Another is the NEC's requirement to calculate receptacles at 180va for load purposes which has the net effect of setting a maximum number of outlets on any given 15 or 20 amp circuit." ------------ Apparantly brickeye does not know that the NEC code making panels consider adding the 180va limit for residential receptacles every code cycle.... Nor that my comments above were made in a direct exchange with texasredhead about his local code making panel in Texas now requiring 20 amps for all power circuits in a dwelling. So my responses completely to the point in the present context.... But now brickeye will just have another negative and baseless retort, as always, I'm sure.... (rolls eyes)

@aok @my3dogs He has very strong big feet but his nails are never a problem. They never get sharp. I do have them all trimmed regularly at the vet. I think I posted this before but this video shows you how goofy caique's are: http://youtu.be/_DIMJ2eENow My little rescue green cheek also likes to lay on his back and wrestle with my fingers. My rescue nanday rolls on her side next me and sucks on her toe. It is so endearing!

I'm BAAAACK! Thanks so much for your many good ideas and links. And, yes, I'm thinking more of a grainy, nutty, seedy bread with _some_ softness and some bits of seed/nut and dried ginger or bits of tart dried fruit, but not too much. I thought that I'd never escape Verizon Customer Service Con-Fusion Hell. Now, a neighbor is caught up in their Rabbit Hole machine. Pray for her. (I mean, put down your spatulas, get on your knees, and really pray.). She told me she'd lost her Internet and TV; I offered that was because Verizon gave them to me. Now it's her turn to speak with Any-Which-Way call centers -- all with conflicting advice and opinions and no one overseeing things or lending cohesion to the proffered "information." For about a week I could only get Internet access via an old "smart" phone and slow 4G. And the phone working memory space is lean. Then (now, still) my arm is sore. I think I lifted something a tad (x25) too heavy. My biceps deltoid hoopalongacepts muscle-tendon whatchamacallit is crazy painful. Even reaching for a cup of coffee, or reaching around behind me (for remote) is painful. And today is already too hot for me (Iceland and Northern California sound great). Back to bread (finger typing with sore arm, so please excuse errors): Some of you suggestions look really good. With my sore arm muscle, I truly might need to resort to a bread machine or Kitchenaid with dough hook. For the past year, I've been experimenting with my "lazy-busy-sore-hand" pizza dough recipe: I pretty much follow the Bob's Red Mill Artisan flour recipe for pizza dough, but make it a bit wetter. Then I let it rise at cool room temperature or fridge temp inside a thinly coated EVOO poly bag. When it rises to ~ double, I stretch/fold over the dough. After about 24-38 hours, I use it for pizza dough. Someday, I hope to learn Ann-T's recipe and technique. However, I want to try and not consume too many simple carbohydrates (the type that quickly raise one's blood glucose). I am a lover of things like pies, pastries, breads and cakes, but I am no longer 18, so must pay attention to what I eat. In another week or so, I will try either using my Kitchenaid with dough hook or the bread machine (ack) to make some multi-grainy, nutty-seedy bread. I will report back on how it goes (but don't want to bore the many accomplished bakers here). April was cold, snow, rain and wet. Then I had paper work to take care of. I never got much of anything planted, and now it's very hot (for me) in interior New England. My body hates heat and humidity and is _not_ supposed to be in this climate. Cornwall would be better ;-) Our garden rhubarb is ready and is even starting to bolt. Maybe I can find a way to make a few rhubarb dishes that won't send my body's blood sugar into sustained hyperdrive. I've not gotten any our our rhubarb for three years -- always some volcano, flash flood, or "other" to grab my time. Maybe I can freeze some and use some for a smart tart (galette) or bars.