Jessica, it is funny about these DIY tasks, my stepfather, my uncles, my grandfathers and also my FIL could do anything. I married a man that didn't even know how to use a screwdriver.

Jessica~I don't know about this being part of the flu or not. The flu that's been going on here is quite severe and I haven't had any severe symptoms at all. But then, with our travel last month, I could have picked up a variant from someone else. Who knows. All I do know is that I slept like heck last night and am so tired today--and still with a stuffy nose. I'd like to have slept in but the darn cat woke me an hour before my alarm and then the dog bugged me to go out. I imagine I got a total of 2 hours of good sleep and 2 hours of not-so-good sleep and the rest was lying there pretending to sleep. I'd stay home today but it's housekeeping day and I hate to be here when they're here as I feel I'm in the way.

So I was watching this video on GMO foods the other day (an hour and a half long--that's a record for me! I usually won't watch a video online if it's more than 3 minutes long!). Anyway, I proceeded to download a guide to buying non-GMO foods and one of the things that seemed odd is that Aspertame (and all it's derivatives) contain GMOs. It sure made me leery of soy stuff as well, so for sure I'm discontinuing the Nutrisystem after we finish this batch of food. And I'll probably be buying more organic foods as well. So sad what Monsanto has done to our crops.

Allison-- my cold started two weeks ago today. It was a doozy-- I'm much better but my nose is still all stuffed up, my voice horse, and I still have a hacking cough. So, I suspect you and I have the same nasty cold. It just hangs on.....and on....

John welcome back! You and I help provide a slightly more gender-balanced blog thread.

Don't forget Billl and Gary when he is feeling better.

Is everybody who needs to be ready for the big blizzard in the NE? Sounds like a lot of snow coming your way and perhaps more power outages. I feel for those people who still haven't recovered from the superstorm.

Re: the slow cooker. I dump frozen meat in the cooker all the time with no issues. The slow cooker for me is all about convenience so I don't want to do anything but put all the ingredients in and turn it on.

Megan, sirachi and Ranch on everything? That would tick me off a bit, I think. Reminds me of a BBC show I watched about a chef who came out of the kitchen and berated a diner after the diner dared ask for mustard. I have to say that I dislike restaurants that don't put salt on the table. I usually salt before I taste--a bad habit, but I hardly ever find stuff to be as salty as I'd like. And, hey, two doctors have said to eat more salt so I should do as the doctors say, right?

I'm sorry my recipe killed your crockpot, Shannon!

Also wrestling the cold/flu thing. Mostly been a whole lot of post-nasal drip and the resulting little cough -but yesterday was a raging headache and maybe a low fever. I haven't had a fever in so long, I don't remember how they act. I stayed home from work and took it easy; today I'm back at the same spot except with more of a runny nose. I will be really aggravated if this tries to last multiple weeks. I am chasing it down with every home remedy I've ever heard of - and I will resort to the raw garlic this weekend. Figured I'd better save that one til I don't have to be around people!

This week is a chaotic mess of paperwork, trying to get DS13 registered back into the public school system, and getting him lined up with the proper track of classes. I'm beginning to see the problem with high-end private education - he won't have an obvious transition into 9th grade because he's already covered most of the 9-10th grade material in history and language arts. I guess we'll need to pursue testing him out of some of this stuff.

All around me, in CT, people are leaving work on time today, rather than staying late. I'm certain this is due to the blizzard that's in the forecast, though it's not supposed to start snowing in my area till around 3 AM tomorrow.

This is exciting stuff, so I like it, even though I know it could be dangerous and annoying. I wish no one harm as a result of it, but it's a change from the general dull gray skies and the tedium of winter. At least it is not likely to drown my apartment.

At this time of year, I feel my batteries running down. I must be partly solar-powered.

Does anyone use a heart rate monitor? Do you like them?
If so, do you have any recommendations? I'm thinking about asking for one for my birthday and the choices are endless. I'm thinking about a Polar Monitor but I've never used any. I'd love to be able to use it in Bikram Yoga so I'm thinking I need a waterproof one!

I use Polar on my treadmill and elliptical. You can sweat all over it and there is no problem. My DH has the "watch" part that he can wear when he walks. I would imagine it's waterproof to a certain degree as well. Polar, IMO, is a good brand.

Michele, I have an Acumen Eon Basic and it's been great - it's been in the pool and on the treadmill and it's surprisingly comfortable. I remember the first time I wore it on the treadmill - it was a surprise to discover that it was transmitting directly to the display. That was kinda nifty.

saef, I am starting to feel the sun deficit too. I had the great good fortune on Wednesday to take a two-hour nap in my comfy chair, with the sun beating on my face the whole time. It was glorious!

I'm looking forward to browsing the slow-cooker thread after I feel better.

I got ready for bed last night at 7 PM and went in to watch TV. At 8:15 I was so drowsy that I went to bed. Except for the dog barking around 10 PM and hte cat jumping on me at 3:45 AM, I had a great night's sleep! I feel so much better today. Still the lingering cold, but so rested!

Good luck saef and all you east coasters! They say cross-country skiing is the best exercise in the world, so polish up your skis if you have them and get some great exercise these next couple of days. The average person burns 700 calories/hour x-country skiing, didja know that? I'll never forget the great blizzard of 1982, when my then-girlfriend who later became my wife Karen cross-country skied down Colorado Boulevard, normally one of the busiest streets in the state! There were NO cars out and it was one of the great ski runs of all time...

Getting a good night's sleep is worth its weight in gold, isn't it?

Chris, when we lived in Colorado, we'd get the skis out and wander down the streets--it was fun. Don't ski anymore, but do like to snowshoe, although I'm not keen on the drive up to the mountains.

Tomorrow a group of dogs comes back to the shelter from the prison training program, and I volunteered to help them strut their stuff for potential adopters. A couple of months ago, I went to the prison to hand the dogs over to the inmates in the program so I'm excited to see how the dogs have changed. Most of them had no manners whatsoever so it will be fun to see what good citizens they've become. Then next week we drop off another group. I guess the prisoners become kind of unruly when they don't have dogs to train so they don't like to go too long without a group of dogs.

Hope everyone has a nice weekend.