Vickster, Sorry, I meant to post this at Houseplants, not C&S, will try to cross reference it. Karen

I store leftover tomatoes in a Mason jar with the air removed like Cathy, but I then store the jar in the fridge. It keeps more than twice as long without air. It also helps to have a film of olive oil on top. If you do not have a Foodsaver, you can easily get all of the air out of a freezer bag and then store that bag in the freezer or fridge. I also freeze flat, to make stacking easier. Lars

I'm not sure I'll be much help on this subject since I'm just now decluttering and reorganizing my home. Here's a few little things I'm doing: Since I don't have a regular pantry (I'm going to make one somewhere, someday--lol) I keep all breakfast items in one drawer, like instant oatmeal, grits, hot chocolate, etc. So, I know in a glance what I need and don't buy extras. I just tear off the top of the pkg. and set the whole thing in the drawer. I also keep my ironing supplies on one drawer---irons, spray starch, etc. I actually had to buy a second iron because I couldn't find the first one---before I organized! I took all on my junky paper and cut it into note size, put it in my desk drawer. If I have pretty junky mail, or envelopes, I cut them up to use as gift tags or small note cards. I hate frying bacon, so I bake it now on a rack. It's healthier and I don't have to spend so much time at the stove. I actually baked a pkg. this morning, used it all at once---now, we have bacon for tomorrow. I don't have very many closets, so I'm using decorative tins and hatboxes (I went thru a hatbox-making phase a few years back) for storage of sewing and craft supplies, and anything else that I can't find a place for!!! LOL These things hold a lot, so I may not have to buy any shelves. In my foyer area, I have a narrow table with a mirrow above it. I just cleaned out that drawer in the table----I have a place for car keys (his & hers), gloves, hairbrush, and glasses. Since I wash my hands a zillion times a day, I keep either an old dish detergent bottle or shampoo bottle with soap, water (*and now hand lotion or baby oil mixed in) under the sink to wash hands with. I just saw a Dr. on Tv say that if you wash your hands too much and they're dried out, germs can enter your body thru the cracked dry skin EASIER!! They were talking about the flu viruses. He actually said that rubbing your hands back and forth, creating friction, would kill germs on your hands!! Rub your hands, rub your hands!!!!!!

With growing plants, patience is most definitely a virtue. Those are actually leaflets. The whole entire structure that these leaflets come from is the actual leaf itself. You can start a whole new plant from using the compound leaf, but you can also root a whole new plant from just the individual leaflets. Although, this takes much longer. That's how they started your new potted plant, with half a dozen leaflets. You can leave them just as they are. As long as they're still green, then they're still viable and photosynthesizing food for your plant. Once they're no longer needed, they will naturally shed these leaflets on their own. No need to remove them prematurely. Your plant is still relatively young. Give it time to grow bigger and make these decisions itself. All you have to do is give it plenty of bright indirect sunlight and water, and just sit back and enjoy it. Mine thrives on my "neglect," and it has already turned into a big beautiful monster, HaHa! :)