themartianchick

Dr. Oz mentioned that thyroid problems are often undiagnosed becaus many doctors only check for the bare minimum of hormonal levels.

I'm a mystery lover so I'm reading Dare to Die, by Carolyn Hart. I've read most of her books and since they are set in a mystery book store, she always recommends other mysteries to read!

This morning, I picked a pint of strawberries. I've been getting a few each day for the past 5 days but today's haul is amazing. Especially when you consider that it is still MAY!!

What? No apples?!?!!! I usually get mine from Beak & Skiff. I can't imagine that the lack of winter has ruined the apple crop...Say it ain't so, Michael!!!

We have one of those Mist-o olive oil sprayers. We haven't had any trouble cleaning up after it. I also have a couple of cans of some generic spray that I picked up at Ollies Bargain Outlet. That works great, too!

I have to agree with Mimi! The Kraft Mac and Cheese has lots of preservatives that help to keep it fresh and each pouch is individually sealed.

While a chest freezer is more efficient (as others have stated), my issue with them has to do with my height. I'm 5"2' tall and when cleaning it, I practically fall inside trying to get to stuff at the bottom. I have found a few wire coated baskets that I can use to help organize a chest freezer, but nothing to keep me from falling into it when trying to clean it or get that last pack of steaks from the bottom!

Nice to have you here!

It sounds great! I would love to have a view of the beach.

Congratulations! It is always so much fun to settle into a new place.

Those are really nice stories! I've spent so much time in the house lately, that I don't have a recent one. However... years ago, hubby and I spent a few days in Colorado. We went sightseeing and were determined to hit EVERY single tourist attraction that we could find. When we visited Garden of the Gods, a lady came up to me and handed me a few one dollar bills. "You've got money falling out of your purse!" she said. I was wearing a cute little backpack style purse and the zipper had unzipped itself! Other tourists in the park soon handed me more small bills that had fallen out. In all, I had probably lost about $12 or $15. I was astounded by the level of honesty that I experienced and benefitted from on that day. Hubby & I were sort of in your neck of the woods on Saturday, Michael & Lori. We spent the day walking along Seneca Lake in Geneva. It was the gift that I requested for Mother's Day. I discovered something completely epic and decadent...Chocolate Cabernet Wine ice cream from Giffords by the Lake!!!! Since it isn't available in my neck of the woods, I may have to find more excuses to go to Geneva again. (BTW- I did wave at the sign that announced the number of miles to your town! )

I don't own an ereader, but I did download the Kindle for PC. When I download a free book, I don't open up the Kindle software. That way, the book seems to stay in their "cloud" and I can retrieve it later. By the time that I'm ready to read it, I may have already deleted others that I'm no longer interested in. I have nowhere near the number of ebooks that the rest of you seem to have, but I don't like to store too much on my computer hard drive because I don't want it to slow down.

Thanks! I just snagged a copy.

I am so sorry for your loss...It is always hard to lose a beloved family meber. You raise a good point about the holidays. I know that it is an issue in my family. My guess is that my house would be the obvious choice, but you never know what people are thinking until you talk it over with them.

So the website is called EarthEasy.... Clearly the prices aren't WALLETEASY!! I do like the idea of the garden space on top. That is something that I could do with my quail cage. I already set lots of flower pots with herbs and lettuce up there. To have an actual raised bed would really increase the yield.

I've never seen that but it is beautifully written, Cat.

Thanks, Cat! I hadn't thought about that, but then I'm out there anyway! One of these days the men in black driving black SUV's are gonna pull up in front of my house. Using a bullhorn they'll say,"You! Inside the house we're commandeering your hoarded supply of toilet paper!" I'll be ready to cry then because y'all know how much I my toilet paper stash! All jokes aside, you are absolutely right, Cat! We should be more careful about stuff like that...

I think that most of the strawberries get separated from the tomato because they are attached by that flimsy thread. I did have one in my sewing box as a kid, but it is probably still in my parents' house. As a Girl Scout, we also made pincushions out of a canning ring and scrap velvet. I think we just stuffed them with poly fill and covered the bottom with a piece of cardboard that was glued into place. I'll bet that my mom still has that one, too!

I miss her wit and hope that things go well and that she is back in the coffee clatch asap!

My daughter uses Rosetta Stone, but she's 22. I'm not sure how it would be for younger kids. What language are you interested in? She used to belong to a website called YesJapan.com, which taught her Japanese. That site is geared towards kids and makes learning fun with mock game shows and contrived situations to allow them to practice using the language. There might be a similar site for other languages.

Very cute apron, Miki! I especially like the choice of t-shirt. I will keep the idea in mind in case I ever need to make one. (Of course, I already have a mighty fine apron that was made by Violet from the Mrs. Survival forums....) The writing is coming along. I spent the morning doing a number of outdoor chores so this afternoon will be spent writing.

Thank you all so much! I have been hard at work for the past few days. I'm really trying to get the sequel buttoned up. As much as I am enjoying these characters, I have some more in my head that are screaming to get out!! Looking back, it is funny how scary all of this once seemed. You all have been so encouraging... This really is the nicest place to hang out on the net and I plan to figure out how I can spend more time here amongst all of you! Okay...enough of the waterworks and sentimentality! I'll get back to work, now!

I hope you enjoy it, MomM!

Just rachet up the pressure, why dontcha? I've been hard at work despite a slight setback this week. Tomorrow will be devoted to more writing if I can just lock hubby out of my office...

Thanks, kamkelms! I'm so glad that you enjoyed it. Life has been intervening a bit, but I will be back on schedule with the editing tomorrow. (No, the sequel won't be finished tomorrow, but it will be a bit closer to being ready!)