I keep a black magic marker in my kitchen and put the date on chicken broth cartons and condiments so I can remember how old they are. I like Progresso low-sodium chicken stock in the box and use a lot of it. Within 2 weeks is my limit. seagrass

Whoa, if you get a degree in industrial arts you get to acquire carpentry textbooks along the way?!? Sweet! Kim, I've always enjoyed/appreciated your contributions; given the wisdom of trial and error that was behind them, I see why they stood out. My mom got us a couple of the Reader's Digest fixit books (have to run downstairs, one of them might be the very one you have); I like the way they are encyclopedic and detailed. I know Jane Powell but not the Small Houses books (do you mean The Not So Big stuff by Susanka, or the Small House anthologies from Fine Homebuilding?) Thanks for mentioning books; I think I might start a reference book thread for this forum. Hey Casey, THANKS for taking the bait. And you are NOT a bloody genius, you are an old house DEITY for crying out loud! Would you please start your own show on youtube? Or maybe just a house tour? Even Petch house has youtube videos. Or, do you already have a project blog and everyone knows about it but me? Actually for someone with a degree in historic preservation, I am impressed with how low-key your posts come across; they read more like an old friend who's "been there" and wants to pass along lessons learned along the way, it's really very nice and encouraging. But if you ever want to browbeat me feel free; I would take it as a compliment. To be honest if I post about something I'm thinking of doing to my house, and you don't opine, I figure one of two things is going on: 1) you're not on the forum; or 2) you're politely disapproving. Most of the time I assume it's 2 because you seem to be pretty consistent around here. But I just want to say, and I hope I speak for many, that I love love love your posts, especially when I'm searching on a problem I'm trying to solve and something from you pops up! (PS I finally got around to using that general finishes gel varnish you recommended and it was fantastic, thank you; I will post photos to the woodworking forum sometime before the next census.) Oh, and I love the way you "aged" the color tones in the new pine beadboard in your kitchen; reminds me of the pine in my grandmother's kitchen. When I was really little I used to look at the gleaming pores and think it was the closest wood could get to 24K gold.

Dumplings or "doughboys" 2 tbsp shortening 2 cups flour 4 teaspoons baking powder 1/2 teaspoons salt 1 cup milk Rub shortening into the dry ingredients..Gradually add milk and mix lightly with a fork until it forms a soft dough...Drop by spoonfuls on top of stew being careful not to have the liquid higher than the veggies or meat....Cover tightly and do not peak for 12 to 15 min. I put a sprinkling of dried parsley in mine before adding the liquid...it is optional. These come out light and fluffy. one note* make sure your baking powder is fairly new as there is nothing more disheartening to make something this easy only to be a flop, or in other words gooey and chewy....not good lol. This goes for biscuits as well, most other things you won't notice that it doesn't act properly.

No I haven't seen that type of chicken before - but what do I know - there are so many models from all over the world.... It looks rather simple - from the 'goldfish/samurai hat base'? Just type 'origami diagrams' into your search engine & you'll see how many sites there are on the world-wide web.