I buy my seed envelopes at Staples - they're not cheap, but I find the plastic baggies hard to work with. The upside of the plastic bags is that you can see the seeds right away - the downside is that if seeds go into them that are the slightest bit moist, the mold probability is much higher than in the paper envelopes. When I was at Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum in London this summer, there were at least as many people (okay, women LOL) getting their picture taken with JD as there were people of both sexes getting their snapshot with the Queen. It's good to be gorgeous.

Why does tapioca fail to set? I've been making tapioca pudding with large pearls for nearly twenty years. I've used the same process every time, and most times it thickens, but occassionally it just doesn't. I soak my pearls over night. I use a double boiler. I use a combination of whole milk and half and half. I use excessive numbers of egg yolks, and whip the whites for addition at the end. I stir continuously after the tempering and additon of the egg yolks. I've read (somewhere) that the tapioca loses it's thickening ability if left on the shelf too long. Just this weekend, I made two batches of tapioca, with two different packages of pearls, that were purchased from different sources, the day before use. Both were soupy failures. I've made literally hundreds of delicious batches of thick, scrumptious tapioca in my life, but sometimes it just fails. I suspect (though have no proof) that it is the quality of the pearls purchased from the retailer. It's also possible that using an electric burner, vs gas, could have an effect. But, with a double boiler, that shouldn't really make a difference. Anyway, it's really frustrating, when you want to provide a special treat to your family, and it fails. Twice. Arghhh! Martha

mama here's my current stash and uses: Persil Pearls: All whites excluding the wife's unmentionables. Persil 2in1: All of my colors Cheer Powder: All wife and I's blacks, denims, navys excluding the wife's unmentionables. ALL F&C OXI liquid: All of the kiddo's clothes and remaining of wife's colors and unmentionables. Wisk: Because Wisk is going bye bye and because I wanted something to pre-treat my collared shirts. Ariel and Borax: For the obvious hard works Other detergents that will be finished off or gifted: Ecos: 3 loads remaining max B.R.U.'s version of Dreft: A lot left honestly but really rather use ALL F&C OXI Purex Naturals: Unopened but has been replaced by ALL F&C OXI

We've lived here through 16 Halloweens. We've stayed 'dark' the last ten, after getting between zero and ten children. Wouldn't you know, last afternoon about five p.m. we had a group of eight small boys with someone's big brother, then a pair of little girls, big enough to be out alone. We had no decorations and no lights inside or out, but it wasn't dark *out* yet, so they didn't realize we weren't 'doing' Halloween. Wah! Next year I will resume just-in-case-candy mode. Maybe our neighborhood is changing more than I realized. This is an area of houses set back on two to ten acre lots. The street has dim 'gas' lights, spaced far apart. The city allows trick-or-treating from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. DGS and DGD go out from their other grandparents' house. There are mostly 20-foot-frontage lots in the city. LOTS of kids -- local and 'imported'. TONS of candy. Whole new 'pathways' are created, shortest distance between doorsteps.