Hi Yellowhair, I've been missing also. Don't even wanna mention the computer problems *sigh*. Both the telephone co. and the cable co. have been digging up the streets around here and I'm lucky to have hone service. My "high-speed" dialup is so slow it can take MINUTES to just change pages on this site when I have a connection at all. So sorry to read of your loss of your mom. It's hard I know. I am currently maintaining my 35LB. loss. Life has handed me a series of blows so the ability to maintain my weight is truly a positive right now. My DH put his foot thru our ceiling while up in the attic. He had surgery to repair some small bones. Two weeks later his foot became infected and after 2 surgeries to get the infection out he is now in a skilled nursing facility for a month recieving atibiotics through a PIC and intensive oversight to prevent more infection from lodging. Within days of the drywall incident, my son was t-boned (broadsided) while riding his motorcycle. He is ambulatory but has deep tissue damage and hairline fractures at his knee and lower femur. This femur is already plated and pinned from a previous accident. He will be having reconstructive surgery on his knee using cadaver parts on the 18th of October. All this happened the first week of Sept. In the last week my daughter discovered a tumor in her pet rat. Saddest of all is the fact that my 7 1/2 year old Bullmastiff/Lab mix collapsed last Sat. A night at Animal Emergency and much testing later, we have learned she has a tumor on her heart and nodules in her liver. Hemangiosarcoma of this kind is not curable and generally is not diagnosed before it has matastasized. It is a very fast spreading cancer. I lost my Black Lab, Max, to this same type of cancer a year ago March. After seeing the pain he went through after surgery, and watching him develope pnuemonia later that night I made the promise that part of his legacy would be that no dog of mine would ever suffer that fate again. So I have allowed a procedure to drain away the blood from around her heart ( the tumor had bled, causing the collapse) and now we wait. She is full of all the energy (that a Bullie can muster) for now and I intend to love her and spoil her for her remaining days. She could have an hour, weeks or months before another bleed or rupture. At that time she will be allowed to go to her final rest. It is what I owe her and I am crying as I type this. She was always Max's dog, not ours until his passing. If there truly is something after they will be together again. Not a day goes by that I don't mourn him. We have a Black Lab puppy of 16 months that is another part of Max's legacy....a love of hard-headed, hyperactive long-legged Black Lab boys :). Belle will have left her own memories and the things she taught us about gentle loving affection and a fierce protection of all she loved may one day have it's own legacy in a new life of a Bullmastiff puppy for our little black lab boy to play with. So I do lurk here and I am cheering all on their weight loss journeys. Welcome to anyone who is new. I sure miss McPeg and hope she is doing well and will be back on these boards soon.

dudleyfuddpucker, Im not here to argue any facts with you but I must respond to your comments. I'm not sure you read my ENTIRE post ... what I wrote was: There is a great website, Healthy Child Healthy World, which contains some great information. I pulled this from their site re: fabric softeners: According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and industry-generated Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) from the 1990s Is it only clear to me that Im referencing the HCHW site?? (I said I pulled this from THEIR site) The fact that you would compare Healthy Child Healthy World or the Environmental Working Group to a "Craigslist posting" shows you have no knowledge whatsoever of them or their work. They are legitimate organizations staffed with scientists, doctors, engineers, CEOs, etc and they do reference specific studies (but youd actually have to go to the site and read it). I pulled this from the EWG site: EWG's ground-breaking January 2010 report, Off the Books, documented that a loophole in the toxics control law has permitted industry to keep secret more than 17,000 chemicals. The report prompted a front-page story in the Washington Post and spurred the Environmental Protection Agency to begin denying some confidentiality claims. Regulators in 13 states asked Congress to crack down on excessive secrecy. EWG senior scientist David Andrews briefed Congressional and EPA officials. And for the record, no where did I write that YOU stuck your head in the sand. I think I was also pretty clear that it is up to individuals to make up their own minds (I assume the readers of this forum are intelligent enough to read and make their own decisions). This is why I posted links to the sites for them to read if they choose. I believe I said do your "do diligence" and read. Too many people sit back and say, "they sell it so it must be safe" or "the MSDS says its safe". I think history has shown that "they" dont always know if something is safe. Take flame retardants as just ONE example. Different chemicals were approved for use and then years later were deemed unsafe and taken off the market (after they doused children's sleepwear and clothes with them). The US is now taking action to remove Deca-BDE from the market as it can potentially cause cancer and may impact brain function (please see my link if youre interested in reading FACT not fiction). You are fooled if you think every one of the chemicals in use today has been tested for safety. Even if it has been tested, they do not test the safety of the chemicals in combination with each other. Nuf said, make up your own mind.

@Jill....the Bounce Outdoor Fresh in wash scent booster is hands down my FAVOURITE!!!! I do however really, really like these Purex ones too. I just bought another bottle yesterday. I switch off between the Bounce and Purex. I also have the Downy April Fresh Odor Protect scent booster, and it smells good used sparingly!!!

I recently bought a bottle of Gain original because it was larger than the same priced Tide. At that time I posted and many said I made a mistake because of the scent. We have started to use it and I find the scent inoffensive and very light when the clothes come out of the dryer. I use about 1/4 to 3/8 inch deep in the measuring cup depending on how many clothes are in our Samsung front loader.