HI GUYS! Well, the real estate agent I had over yesterday was SO nice. She said she really liked the house and we got along really well. So, my choice are narrowed to her and another lady. (There are mostly lady real estate agents in my area. In fact, no men have listed a house in this area in AGES.) Last night, I got an email from someone who was asking if my house was going on the market soon and then, this morning, I got a call from an agent who wants to preview it for a client. So she's coming on Tuesday. I'm ready to SELL and MOVE now! Today, I had to clean, pack, and have a visit from "V"'s social worker. The visit went well and she wants him to move with us to the the rock, so it's looking very promising. Please light a candle and send a positive thought that he stay with us through our move. Love has nothing to do with this move wher ethe state is concerned. It's all about visitation for the mom (who has not been heard from since just before Easter! The S/W's supervisor has the final say. Now, I'm off to pick up my DD (age 12) from school. She's been at a remote Eco-Camp this week--no communication, electronics, and no make-up! I wonder how it went! No doubt, she'll be re-working our house to make it "greener" now! After the move, I'm switching to cloth diapers. After NHSuzanne's info about them and my own reading, I am convinced it's the way to go! QOD: Saturday will bring the community recycling effort, where we can take all of our hard-to-recycle stuff (like monitors, TVs, batteries, motor oil, paint, and stuff) to the church lot and drop them off! I'm making a pile of this stuff and loading it in my truck. Then it's off to the granite place to choose a "bundle" of granite for my new countertops. After that, choose a sink. Yesterday, I bought a new SS cooktop and SS dishwasher. Sunday, the new appliances will be delivered so they can be templated for the countertops on Tuesday. Oh! And prom is this weekend. No rest for the WICKED! lol. Soon, we'll have picture of our home to post and then, hopefully, a SOLD sign will be in our yard! (Yet another candle, please.) Sounds like EVERYONE is busy! That's great! DeeMarie! I am very proud of your success on WW. I hope I can be JUST LIKE YOU! Right after this chocolate thumprint cookie, I'm going to get SERIOUS! :-) I miss Besh and Marci and Gretchen and Donna, JEN, and Maddie and of course, everyone's secret boyfriend, John...where are you guys?

This gift may be especially timely, as Grannie & Grandaddy are having some foundation work done in their apartment (they're in a retirement center), and they are just about at their wits end because of this. Grandaddy told my dad yesterday that, "This is the worst thing that's ever happened to us." And it's not, you know -- but at age 93, everything is magnified about 1,000 times, so the inconvenience of having to pack away some of their breakables and allow workmen into their home is sending them both into a tizzy. Nerves are frayed, instructions are being misunderstood, and my poor dad's trying to help them keep it all together ... trying to soothe them, and let them know it's not a huge deal -- "this too shall pass." It's hard for him, because G&G have reverted to being very childlike in many ways (displaying those characteristics big time these past few days!) -- and dad fights to keep his patience with them. Anyway - I said all of that to say that the memory jar and beautiful poem probably couldn't have come at a better time for them. They desperately are needing something positive and loving to cling to right now, and I am sure that this will fill that requirement beautifully.

I completely understand what you're saying, chloebud. I was also going to have lascatx double check the amounts she provided in case there might have been a typo somewhere. But, if hers turned out fine, then it'll be user error on this end. :) After the initial knead and refrigeration, the dough is actually fairly crumbly (probably due to the ground walnuts); and it takes a few minutes of handling before it becomes what I consider a perfect dough for rolling. That said, this time around I found I had to roll to 1/4", refrigerate the rolled dough to chill again -- pulled out the sheet cold, immediately cut, placed onto pan and baked. Even starting off with chilled dough, the cookies are done @ 11 minutes (tops) at 325 convection bake.

Thanks for the insight as to leaf prices, folks. Just got back from the orchid show. I enjoyed the show and even made some "pin money" as Rose calls it. The vendors I help out generously allow me and another gent use a bit of their table space to sell our plants. (He brought ant plants and cacti/succ. I had a couple "jewel orchids", a little over a dozen carnivorous plants, and a few AVs. So in that regard we aren't selling in competition with the vendor.) AV-wise, I took Kentucky Little Sister -- my mother plant + 3 baby starter plants (each of which had at least 6 leaves .... btw, is that a decent size for being called a "starter plant"?) -- and my mother plant of Rob's Combustible Pigeon. I had the babies priced at $3 each and offered leaves off the mother plants at a $1 each. Wasn't sure what kind of interest there would be. Sold the three babies and a few leaves. Doubt I could have gotten more than $1/leaf which was fine (though obviously more would have been great, heh) as I wasn't expecting much. Almost all of those who did buy leaves didn't realize AVs could be started from leaves. After talking to them about it, they decided "what the heck, it's only a buck" and to give it a try.