Just came back from a foodie trip in Monterey/Carmel CA for three days. Just before we left, we had a fun lunch at the Culinary Academy of Monterey, on Cannery Row. They were doing "soup day" with 11 different soups and a basket of bread, 'bottomless bowl' (you could have as many/as often as you wanted) for a mere $10/person. They have a lovely outdoor patio overlooking the Bay. The day was sunny but the wind was cold, so I asked for hot tea instead of my usual iced tea. They brought the usual basket of pre-bagged teas, and there was one I had never seen before. The brand was Ambiance, and it was an Orange Jasmine Green Tea. I don't usually care for green teas, but this was very strongly flavored with orange and very nice! My DH who does like all kinds of tea, also liked it. If you ever run across it I recommend trying it. It reminded me of a variant on the old standby Constant Comment tea.

If I'd waited until the local garden clubs espoused hosta, I'd never have become such an addict. It started innocently enough, with a few hosta purchased for the garden up in Massachusetts. I was already a GWeb member for a long time, and a helter skelter gardener, just ripe for discovering hosta. My philosophy is to pay back to the organization that has kept the interest alive, or else kept the information and research into the science of it forging ahead. It is worth it to me, what--$30 a year?--to help find the "cure" for HVX or other hosta diseases. I'm not a person to be active in a lot of groups, since I am basically a loner. However, I like what Ludi says about approaching another person, a one-on-one situation, it reminds me of the way neighbors are supposed to act. And, it was the way my grandma did things. Then along comes Theresa saying the preschoolers are excited to be growing hosta, and I know that to be the truth. It was my two grandmas who inspired my lifelong love of gardening. But back more to the topic which began this thread. I joined AHS as a direct result of THIS FORUM. I was asked to join. Being ASKED is a powerful thing....it is empowerment. I feel that by contributing to the membership of those who are motivated to attend the meetings, do the hard work of keeping the organization viable, balancing the books, publishing the directory and the journal, tapping into the volunteer work done by Bob Axmear and countless others, that I am still part of the AHS, the silent part. Maybe one day I'll be able to tour a display garden, which would be breathtaking and as much inspiration as my first visit to the Art Institute of Chicago when I stood in front of a REAL MONET PAINTING.......I almost fell on my knees to worship! Well, it would be fantastic to know that those folks who take hosta to a higher level are forging ahead. And, maybe Ludi is the one inspired by THIS FORUM, who will be instrumental in saving the AHS one day. Who knows. Stranger things have happened.

STAYING IN MY PJ'S, ALL DAY! I love my flannels, and do this mostly in the winter months. Getting all 'gussied up' and going out to dinner at a 'fancy' restaurant with DD or friends. Talking with my best friend long distance for 1 1/2 hours!!! Bidding on a few of the internet auctions. Cruising the blogs! Having a Coke!!!(I never buy soda!!) Eating more than one Market Pantry(Target)cranberry/orange scones with my morning coffee OR a piece of chocolate cake! Making iced coffee in the middle of the afternoon and topping it off with whipped cream! Eating the chocolate cake in bed! Taking a nap on a rainy day. Driving down to the Quik Mart and getting an ice cream Drumstick. Making chicken/dressing or chicken/dumplings for myself. And of course watching ALL the Housewives shows, Bethanny's Getting Married!, Hoarders(and other Bravo reality TV!!), Hoarders~Buried Alive!, Kendra, The Kardashians, and other shows on E! Life is good! ;o)

Great thread! Glad to know others share my problem! I didn't realize how bad my problem was until I packed them up for the remodel into boxes and saw how much cubic footage they claimed. I have cooking magazines that go back to '99 and I accumulated probably a 100 kitchen & bath mags during the last year planning and executing the remodel. Even though I'm pretty much done, I still find myself looking at the racks in stores. In my defense, I do sit down and go through all the Oct/Nov/Dec cooking mags every year about October to pick out things I want to cook during the holidays that year. Some recurring favorites, some experiments. I find myself doing that in the spring/summer too, looking for recipes for fresh, seasonal food. My problem with clipping the recipes is that I want to keep the pics, too. Anyway, I wanted to say thanks for the scanning idea, Suzy. I intend to work on getting my office and guest room back into shape this weekend converting them back to functional space from them from my temporary remodel storage. I think I'm going to go scanner shopping first! And I might try just the ad removal for the holiday issues.