LOL, Lars, now that you said that, it DOES look like a toupee! Tracey, those are lovely roses, you are getting quite good! Nancedar, I also smiled when I saw the cutting of dough with dental floss. A million years ago, in Home Ec, my teacher told me to cut cinnamon rolls with fishing line. I promptly went home and told Grandma and she tried it and promptly went right out and bought herself a roll of 25 lb. test, LOL. A couple of years later I mentioned dental floss and was flatly told that it was FAR too expensive to use to cut dough and that her roll of fishing line would last her for the rest of her life. I think it did! dcarch, the problem with that explanation is that others have posted how they roll out dough on the silpat and it comes right off like a charm. Mine doesn't, so why does it work for them but not for me unless they dust with flour like Lars does? Not that it matters, I've rolled pie dough on the counter for my whole life and it works fine, but I always like to see if I can find something faster, neater, better. Of course, I can't get that microwaved corn to shake out of the husk either, and I can't flip a pancake in the pan without a spatula and I can't get the egg to separate with a water bottle, although others can make all those things work. I guess I'll stick with what works for me and as you can see from the picture, rolling pastry on a silpat sure isn't one of them! I'll bet it would be great for no-bake cookies though.... Annie

Mom2, In a way, BM's performance over the weekend might have been the best thing, a "silver lining" event. The skids aren't that thrilled to be with her, she is being so flaky that you don't have to work to hard to accomodate her and my goodness, how many people are at the house? It sounded like upwards of 15 folks conservatively with all of the various kids? Let her come to you and yours. And let her come correct! It sounds like since you cooperated, you can uncooperate now without a confrontation. She needs to fit in with your team, not the other way around. It sounds bad but it might really help you now. ''how you can be a good parent to one set of children and then completely ignore your other kids. how can one do that???" BTW, my skids, SS30 in particular, feel that my DH is being a better father with our son than he was with them. From what I know, they are right. Dh completely ignores his grandkids which of course feeds right in to the hard feelings. Lovehadley is right, often dads look at the 2nd set of children or child as a means to do things over in a better way. DH is not Super involved at the school or extracurriculars but he does show up for meetings, parent teacher conferences, Tae Kwon Do promotions, the occasional kiddie party if he knows the parents and so on. I know he did not do that with his first set of kids, SS in particular. My SS30 is still very angry about this fact. I think it's pretty common but what can I do? Tell him DON'T be a better father to our child because you weren't great with your first? Good luck.

Well, what on earth is going on? I updated my browser and the post is still showing on my computer. This is bizarre! I'll try pasting my post again so that you can see it. Thanks for commenting Rhome! I miss seeing your posts around here, although I'm not spending as much time in Kitchens these days, either. I appreciate all the help you generously gave when we were in the planning stages. We ended up setting up a sewing area under the south windows of the master bedroom in the farmhouse. I banished the grain bins and grinder to the basement, lol! It was a pain in the romper, but it worked for the time we were there. When life got crazy with moving and renoing the new house, we switched to store bought baked goods--blech! We are just now starting to bake all of our goodies again. Keep your eyes pealed for the new kitchen reveal maybe in late winter or perhaps spring. It's very livable at the moment, but not ready for a full reveal. We still need to make the island, the hutch, paint the wall oven cabinet, and tile the bs. This is what the new place looked like when we moved in: Makin' Do and Gettin' Through Here's where the kitchen is at a standstill: Midpoint, good enough for now... But the playroom/breakfast room just off the kitchen is now a library: "Bookworms welcome"

I used to watch "The Hills" but couldn't take another season so I quit! I know who Heidi and Spencer are and I can't stand them. So I will not watch this train wreck!! What a waste of energy. Why oh why do they make these kinds of reality shows? There are so many that are worthwhile, fun and really interesting to watch. I do like "Deadlist Catch", "Project Runway", "Ice Road Truckers" and yes even "Housewives...". (Just my opinion-LOL) Susan