I am assuming the wooden spoon is to stir, but what am I to do with the brick? Threaten my husband with it when is laughing at me about this endeavor? :) It would have been a way cheaper shopping trip if he hadn't bought maglites and who knows what else. I found the perlite today, I will try it tomorrow evening. I decided the 18 X 18 planter would be too small on the inside, so going with a bigger box set up. Good my husband insisted on me buying the wire mess, after all. Is the reinforcing on the boxes with duct just a few wraps around the box, or am I covering the whole thing with duct tape? I have got about everything I think: perlite, peatmoss, an 80 lbs bag of premixed cement, and a really big cooler pad that is made of some shredded something that my husband has decided would be good to try too. For all his ridicule, he has alot of opinions on how I should be going about this. Then my MIL has a bag of some sort of cement she is bringing to donate to the cause. I was worried I would run short on supplies midway threw whipping it up, but now I think I need more molds. So, now I have another question: If I am using the wire mesh to reinforce the planter, do I make it go all the way around the planter and across the bottom? or am I just reinforcing the length of the corners? April

golddust, if you get into problems of a more technical nature, don't know if you know about crackberry, but their forums are outstanding for phone problems. It's mostly geared toward berries but they do have Droid & iPhone forums now. There are a lot of people trying to get their VZW iPhones up and running. Think I read some issues with syncing and what worked for some. See "vzw iphone just arrived" thread.

I'm one who would rather do anything than go shopping, grocery or otherwise. It occurred to me that if I used my head I could eliminate the backtracking that nearly doubled my time in the grocery store. Since I typically shop at the same store, I mapped each aisle and used the aisle numbers to organize the list of items I buy most often. I laid this out in Excel, allowing a few blank lines here and there. This list fits 2/page on letterhead size paper. The last section is dry cleaning/fish market/pharmacy/library/hardware so I can plan my route, save gas and reduce the number of side trips. I print 2-3 sheets at a time and post one on my refrigerator. Whenever I am low on something it goes on the list and it's rare I run out of anything. We staple coupons to the list and when it's time to go shopping, half the work is already done. Even DH, who is ultra disorganized, has gotten with the program. If he knows his errands will be near a grocery store, he will take the list or call home and I can rattle it off in seconds. Any store layout changes (a pet peeve) are easily updated in the Excel file. The 15 minutes this took years ago has repaid me many times over.

Wow, lots of great information for you RNMom! I love that you're taking the time exploring what's out there to see what will work with your kids and to help -- cause that's what moms do best:) My daughter has been with her husband for about two years; if I were to guess what was one of the biggest "adulting" (don't you just love these words?) constants was What's for Dinner? Oh, and we have to carve out time to buy it? In Boston? Oh, and what do you mean we don't have that (fill in the blank) in the cupboard? Oh, and you mean that meat really isn't good on the seventh day? Oh, zucchini actually turns into mush if kept too long? You get the idea. She actually has a blog and wrote about her "meal prep staples." I'll snip her ideas here as it's a younger voice and may resonate with your kids a bit (not that we oldies (ME!) don't) Both she and her husband are professionals, Boston (driving is lunacy and serious TIME!!!!!!), long hours, both have food issues (LOW FODMAP , dairy allergy), he long distance runs, she runs, yoga, etc. etc. I guess what I'm saying is it will work, it evolves, and keeps progressing. I'm going to share that Saving Dinner website with her and some of these other ideas. Here is what she's worked out for now: "Shop on Friday // Don't be afraid of ordering: My first tip is that my husband and I have switched to 1) shopping on Friday night (if we don't have any other obligations) or 2) using Insta-cart for grocery delivery. I've actually always LOVED grocery shopping, but I've come to terms in the past couple of months that some weeks, it just isn't an efficient use of my time (I have a lot of other things I'd much rather be working on than battling my way through Whole Foods). .... Must-haves: I also wanted to share my absolute meal-prep must-haves each week that reduce my cooking time. This doesn't include my pantry staples that we always have on hand such as flours, sugars, spices, almond milks, etc. but I always keep these items in my freezer/fridge and can easily make a quick meal at any point during the week. Keeping these items in the fridge makes for an efficient meal-prep! Frozen sweet potatoes (I pick these up at Whole Foods) Frozen peas, spinach, and carrots Baby potatoes Organic broccoli or brussel sprouts Shredded broccoli slaw & shredded carrots Pre-cut peppers from the chop shop at Whole Foods Organic eggs One protein for the week (we usually do either organic chicken, organic pork, or salmon), a lot of times we will freeze and de-thaw when needed One sauce (typically tahini or hummus) In-season fruit - we always pick up bananas and clementines, but have been subbing in strawberries in recent weeks Organic brown rice Spend a couple hours to set yourself up: In all honesty, my meal prep for the week is NEVER more than a couple of hours, and I find that allocating this time pays dividends during the week. In those couple of hours I roast veggies (usually sweet potatoes, broccoli, and brussel sprouts), make a quick broccoli slaw, prep a quick sauce (tahini or hummus), throw rice in the rice-maker, and roast or cook the protein for the week. I never look forward to prepping food by any means, but I find that if I put on a good podcast and zone out, I'm actually really efficient and have food ready to go for the week. My husband also loves to cook, so between the two of us we divide and conquer. If you're feeling really crazy, plan for a mid-week meal: One area that I really struggle in is planning far enough ahead so that when I shop for groceries on Friday, I'm picking up ingredients for a mid-week dinner. One tip that's helped me out is to buy some frozen meats on Thrive. That way, the only additional items I need to pick up are veggies/starches. Her last sentence:)" Is this always a perfect formula for every week? Of course not. There's a lot of weeks where I'm not prepared, or not super excited by the food I'm eating. But that's ok - it's all a learning process!" Maybe some of that will resonate with your kids, RNMom. I know that money, time, enjoyment are all individual variables to take into consideration. BTW, I have no idea what Thrive is LOL! The other thing that I know that they do is some batch cooking on weekends, she eats tons of salads and does sheet pan meals. Maybe some of those ideas will help. Good luck! CathyinSWPA One last thing: When we were in Boston, my SIL and I made a Blue Apron meal together. While it was delicious, it really took a bit of time (I feel fairly adept in the kitchen), a lot of clean up for the amount of food it made for some active adults. It just wasn't a good fit for them, but may work for yours.