First of all I would not use aluminum foil trays over a rack and sterno butners. And I still don't know the quantity that a half tray holds. I have done more than a few engagement parties for 60. One thing I made was a sort of BBQ turkey dish....served hot in a large chafer with the rest kept hot in the kitchen and replinished. Sides were a pasta salad...with I think peas?? Rolls and a broccoli salad. Another time I made cornflake chicken....you know chicken rolled in evaporated milk and cornflakes and baked.....sides were potato salad and coleslaw...it was summer! Another time I did a casserole of hamburger and rice ( that was bad....I didn't make it!) How about a ham....either spiral cut or a boneless you cook and slice....a side of creamed dilled potatoes, pineapple and cheese casserole, marinated veggie salad and rolls. For appetizers you could do wings and a cheese platter and crudites and dip. I have also done a similar party with a huge whole poached salmon and platters of sliced ham and turkey a rice pilaf of brown rice cooked with onions, celery, and pecans and dried cranberrys,a marinated veggie salad, rolls and dessert. Remember the KISS principal...Keep It Simple Stupid! LOL! A meat dish or perhaps 2...a starch a veggie, salad and rolls is lots. Another thing I have doen is meatloaf....made special by a spinach mushroom and blue cheese filling...simple oven browned potatoes a veggie, tossed salad and roll.....appetizers and dessert. Shout if you need recipes. Linda C

Artie, this is the sort of thing we're trying to encourage at my kid's school. It might be a garden club but the idea is to encourage the kids to do some outdoor activities. I am always looking for ideas on outdoor activities to put in the garden club newsletter. I think we should be spending more time with our kids as a family not just driving them to sports training or similar. I know the kids need the exercise but shoving them into competitive sports isn't the answer. I think we should have more friendly, non-competitive games not competitive sports which is only pushing the kids all the time. They need to be able to relax, have fun and be kids. We need to spend more family time together kicking the ball in the backyard (or park), gardening together, going on bushwalks, even playing hide 'n' seek. Remember, families that play together, stay together. Kids are less likely to get involved with the bad elements if they have a close relationship with their family. There has been articles in a couple of papers over the last few months about reclaiming the streets. One neighbourhood has gained permission to use a cul-de-sac every Friday afternoon to have a neighbourhood street cricket match, etc. Parents take seats and refreshments and sit on the footpath chatting while the kids play and ride bikes on the road. A good idea though not always practical but can work in certain areas. I can go on about this for ages as I think it is very important. Starting the kids young is one answer. We need to get more schools involved. We're having trouble at school as even though the teachers agree in theory they don't want to be involved in practice. It is not hard to incorporate outdoor actvities with education. Then we need the parents to back up the teachers. Sometimes I feel like giving up and I'm running out of ideas so am looking forward to following this thread, it might help motivate me to motivate teachers and parents.

Roy, I've read and reread your post and I am at a total loss to work out what you are telling me? When I said "Stopped caring", I was refering to getting up tight and militant about the issue. I've given what I hope is a logical and reasoned approach to sizing water tanks, with my justification. Practical experience suggests that the long term averages are too high for tank sizing at the moment, but I still hold that if each household installed the tank size I suggest then we wouldn't be in the pickle we are in. As a result I feel that if I have done that much, then I should not feel guilty using water the way I do. I do not believe that having each house fully self-sufficient for water is economical or desirable from an environmental perspective, as significant resources are used to make the tanks, to make the pipes and plumb everything in. There is always a diminising return on effort expended so you should think carefully about exactly what your goal is, and optimise for that. In my case I felt that we should be looking at the cost per L of water available each year. When I wrote that page it seemed reasonable to assume that there would be enough water in storage to tide over drought periods. Of course, as I was the only (near enough) person to think this way, our water supply has dwindled to the point where that assumption is no longer true. As a result, I am punished (reduce opportunity) for my efforts at water conservation; hence my disinterest in further efforts. Frank, regarding towns having higher rainfalls than the catchments; I think you are probably right. There is strong evidence that cities strongly affect local climate to the extent that standard weather models have to take them into account. If you can reasonably quickly fill that tank, and you have room, then go for it! Regarding PRV idea, it was suggested in ReNew a while back and had the blessing of at least one council in Brisbane, so there is precedent. I do collect all the water I can, despite living in a rental proprety.

So I am going. to read through all of these suggestions afain! MIL is coming back in town so we want to just order something for the dining table so its already done and she doesnt try to talk my husband out of it (he is a pushover, lol) I actually saw some chairs at tuesday morning as a for now fix, do you a fhink the actual table is that bad,? because I guess we are just trying to find the right thing and dont want tocwaste tons of $$. do yall know if paint is expensive? have any of you done it by yourself.? I saw an article about how to save on smaller stuff like rugs and coffee tables I am going to look into! Dining table is a biggie. But I def want to keep the room so that it could match any paint color (like a white maybe, or grey) a coffee table and area rug. so whatever we bring in will work. i am going to re-look into ikea and post some pics too. I actually found a lot on pinterest too!