Hello Idyllers! You have not been Idle! I had to scroll through this whole thread to see when I posted last; great reading about all of the fall preparations. I note that Deanne has not yet started the annual fall relocation yet; Saucy, how do you manage to keep a Banana in the bathroom?? Your bathroom must be humungous! I have moved mine into the living room beside a floor-to-ceiling window where I hope to keep it happy. Unfortunately my two banana foster poarents have reneged now that they see how big the plants get. What am I going to do with three banana plants in the house???? Deanne mine are plain green Banana Ensete. I bought the seed from Vesey's and planted them March 13. The biggest one is almost as tall as I am now, and wider that I am *LOL* Norma, I envy you the Sweet Autumn clem. Mine died of unknown causes last year and I miss it. Yours is just gorgeous! Bug, I guess you will be home again soon. I hope Sarah is better, Skyler is enjoying school, same for your DH, DSL is weathering the ex-storm, Ivy is wonderful, and I must say that "Hawk" is kinda growing on me.....Any more news on your brother? Do you ever get to rest? Kathy you have really been on the move. The photos are beautiful; good for you to just pack up and go and have a great time, although I know that it isn't always just a breeze! Did you de-cement? Saucy and Michelle, I have been busy casting leaves too. I like the zucchini and hollyhock ones the best, byt the leaves are fragile and don't peel off the concrete easily. Keeps me occupied picking all the green off. Next comes attempts to paint. Maybe I'll ship them all to Deanne to keep her busy all winter.... Wow, Chelone, you and "Mr. Greenjeans" have been really productive. I can picture that area and I bet it is looking really attractive, not just from your side, but also from the road. Big job, and, as you say, the biggest part is sub-structure that doesn't "show" but allows the dressing and frosting. Great metaphor. Reminds me, how is Bruce? And I recall that you bought him a super-cool buddy not long ago. Kid friendly food here is Ceasar Salad, devilled eggs, pizza, yougurt, raw veggies, and Adrian is another cheese head. Cyn, we did decide to change schools this year, and so far we like what we see. Lots of thought went into the decision, but a fresh start seemed to be appropriate. Every morning I tell him: Good manners, cooperation, participation, good work. I point out to him at home when he exhibits these things, and he is trying harder to manage school. Meeting with the teacher and the special ed. teacher this week to get things started off on the right track. He is in grade 4. Just starting to get into the EAT program (Eliminate Annoying Things) and the first thing to go is this crappy hair cut. What is so hard to understand about "short on the sides, back and front, longish on the top"?? Julie jobs will soon begin in earnest. First of those will be Removing Fingerprints. Cheers to all, and waves to those I have missed. Julie

Good Morning and APRIL FOOLS DAY TODAY!!! Soups I like to make: Yellow Split Pea & Lentil or Carrot, Onion & Zucchini Basically I take the largest cooking pot I have and the heaviest...for the pea/lentil soup, throw in about a cup of split peas, 1/2 cup lentils, chopped up onion, bay leaf and gently simmer for half an hour, add more water if needed and as many chicken broths cubes as I fancy. Let sit for an hour, boil again for another half hour, let sit and do this on and off a few times and then let it sit to cool - the sitting inbetween lets the peas swell and soften more. I figure for WW about 3.5 for a large bowl. My other soup is fast, easy and 0 WW points. I mince an onion, shred the zucchini and carrot, throw in a pot, throw in water and a couple of chicken broth cubes and simmer gently for 20 minutes. You can add milk to this just before serving but then you have to adjust the point value. I prefer not to and just enjoy the flavours. I also enjoy adding 1 point by adding a teaspoon of low fat margarine to my bowl (great flavour boost). Those are my favourite home made soups. I do the pea soup on the weekends and alternate what soup I make so I don't get board. I loved stewed tomato but usually use them to make lowfat pasta sauces by mashing and gently simmering with onion, spices and throw in a beef cube and pour on my pasta followed by a LIGHT sprinkle of parmesean cheese (low fat if I can find it). I hope everyone is going to have a fabulous day today! Alice, really, really happy to see you posting and getting on so well with all of this. Its really not bad at all...if you enjoy cooking then it's like exploring your cooking/foods all over again and an opportunity to get creative. I too love steamed veggies and I agree that they really punch the flavour up! Cheers! Let's make today count! McPeg

The afterthought heel is my new favorite heel. I wear my slipper socks nearly all the time when I am at home and wear out toes and heels quickly. After snipping out the "regular" heel and doing an afterthought heel, I was so proud of myself. Now that is the only heel I use! Love2knit, it is just as if you were knitting a toe on a top down sock. If you are knitting toe up, then you just knit in a length of waste yarn about 2" from the end of your foot (for me this is just about where my ankle bone is) across half of the foot sts. Now go back and knit them again with your sock yarn. Then just finish knitting your sock. If you are knitting the socks top-down, then just knit in the waste yarn at about the same spot you would normally begin the heel flap, then go back and knit the stitches again with your sock yarn and again, finish the sock. Go back and weave your needles back into the stitches on the waste yarn, then pull the waste yarn out. I usually pick up an extra stitch at each end of my two circulars. Then, knit a toe. Yes, a toe. I decrease every other row at each end of the two circs until I have anywhere from 8 to 16 stitches left. This depends on the type of yarn and size of needles you are using. And you can try them on at any time to see if you think you need to decrease more. Then I close the heel with kitchener stitch (another thing that scared me until I gave it a try and found out I was making a mountain out of a molehill).

Once I get this 2 socks, 2 circular needle thing down (I figure about 6 pairs....and I convince DH I need MORE needles, I'll get a 1 or 2 Circ 40" or co and try magic loop! and then try that. I LOOVVVVEEEE making socks! Vickey-MN