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.

When I was "oldifying" my previous house, a 1994 Cape, I shopped at Bradbury & Bradbury (bradbury.com) for wallpaper, Rejuvenation for lighting, vintagetub.com (FANTASTIC customer service) for plumbing fixtures, ebay for accessories, Horton Brasses for door pulls. Now we've bought an old house (1900 Eastlake Victorian, albeit stripped naked and modest to begin with) I'll be back to all those companies, and soon I'll be headed down to Architectural Salvage in Exeter NH for parts for our broken mortise locks (I may have to buy the whole lock and scavenge the parts we need; it would probably make more sense to replace the whole thing but I'm sentimental about the parts that have been there for 107 years). He's a little expensive though. In a few months I'll go up to Old House Parts in Kennebunk ME, and check out the rumors of a Habitat ReStore in Portland (Maine, that is). jfpegan.com (who also sells on eBay as jfpegan) sells restored antique and handmade repro lighting at good prices. I picked up two slightly battered pan chandeliers at a yard sale this last week (15 bucks for both!) and when I'm a little more flush I'll send them off there for repair and restoration, which they also do. I'm not sure if I've seen anyone mention Bathroom Machineries (deabath.com). Sort of a mediocre website but they have things no one else does. Sadly, where I live (SE NH) the Arts-and-Crafts-that's-not-Mission ;-) furniture I love most is a rare critter, at least on the lower budget end. I've heard the Skinner "Discovery" auctions in Bolton MA have cheaper, less-fancy things; it's about an hour and a half drive but I'd rather bring something wonderful home from that than something from Ikea, which is the same distance in a slightly different direction.

I had a very simple (ie cheap) wedding. I sent out about 100 invites and 100-130 attended. I didn't do RSVP because I really didn't care who came. I had a set amount to spend on the reception food so if we ran out I figured they could just go to any of the many fast food places near the church. The wedding was for me (Eric would have been fine with running off to Vagas) so I didn't worry about what others thought or anything. LOL That said. I had little favors. I bought small clear tube thingies at Party City, I think they were 25 or 30 cents each (in 2000). At that time, Hershey had the HUGS version of the kisses. I made little stickers on the computer and used decorative scissors to cut them to the right size and make them prettier. The messages had "Hugs and kisses from the Mr. and Mrs.". I was industrious and made them way in advance (a bonus of using chocolate!). The night before, my maid of honor informed me that I used the wrong Hersheys!!! I had kisses and almonds. I didn't change them and no one else ever noticed (or mentioned it!). I also refused to make bird seed bags- I had made WAY too many (I was the last in my circle to get married). I bought two plastic bird baths the season before when they were on clearance. I think I paid about $10/each. I had extra flowers from making the bouquets and window decorations (I cannot be around live flowers so they were all artificial). I used the flowers and ivy to decorate the edges of the bird baths and placed them by the reception doors. Right before we left, someone filled the bird baths (too many little boys around to do it ahead of time, LOL). Everyone grabbed a handful as they lined up. After we left, there was no netting or ribbons to clean up so my family was happy!

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.