I am just about as lame as one can get on this but here are a couple of suggestions. I'll assume that you've taken a digital photograph and stored it in your computer. You'll then need to open an account with photobucket.com or some other photo hosting service. If you don't want to bother, you can just do a one-time deal thru tinypic.com. That outfit is owned by photobucket, anyway. Click the "browse" button and find your picture in the computer. Pick a size - I like 320 x 240 so it doesn't take too long for the folks here to open the thread. Click "upload." After, your picture is in tinypic - copy the "HTML for Websites" code. Paste it here in the Rocky Mountain Gardening "Message" box and click "preview message" to see how everything turned out. Then, let us see the baby!! Here is a link that might be useful: Tinypic

I second (third? Fourth?) the votes for a basement. You've got to put the furnace, water heater, laundry, gardening tools, seasonal outdoor furniture etc. somewhere and it might as well be out of the way. It might also give you a place to have a workshop, if that's something you're interested in. Also, I agree that it's super convenient to have direct access from the basement to the outside--it makes it very easy to USE the basement storage; you can just bring your gardening stuff right out to the garden, for example. Having a half-bath down there is also nice; you can come in from gardening or working on the car or whatever and use the bathroom right there, instead of having to get dirt everywhere by going into the main part of the house. If your house is built on a hill, so much the better: you could build into the hill, putting three sides of the basement underground and the fourth side on the downslope, at ground level, so the basement entrance could be there. That way you don't have stairs to deal with when you're trying to bring the patio furniture or whatever inside. If the topography of your property permits it, you could also have the garage (or at least a one-car garage) in the basement. It's very convenient to drive groceries, kids etc. right into the house when the weather is bad. As for windows, glass block is a time-honored solution. Leave a small space in it for ventilation (little louvers are popular) and to vent the dryer, and that's all you need; it gives you plenty of light, and great security and energy efficiency relative to regular windows.

Your pie will get soggy. Better to make the crusts, roll out and stack between sheets of waxed paper and wrap well and freeze and cut up the apples and toss with your sugar and spices and freeze....then put it all together and bake...but you will ahve to bake it for more than an hour. I would make something else, that will freeze well.... How about this....serve it with your vanilla sauce... Apple Cake 4 cups chopped apples 1 ½ cups sugar ½ cup raisins ( I use chopped other fruit like dried peaches or apricots) Mix and let sit for about an hour ( less is OK) 2 cups flour 1 ½ tsps baking soda ( I like ¾ tsps soda and ¾ tsps BP) ¾ tsps salt 1T cinnamon ¼ tsp nutmeg Mix dry ingredients 2 eggs ¾ cups veggie oil 1 tsp vanilla beat together 1 cup chopped pecans if desired. Add the oil and eggs to the apples and sugar and dried fruit. Stir in the dry mixture and add nuts if desires. Pour into greased 9 by 13 pan and bake 350 until doneÂ..40 to 50 minutes. Serve with cake gravy! Cake Gravy Mix 1 cup sugar 1 stick butter ½ cup evap milk 1 tsp vanillaÂ. Mix all and cook all in a sauce pan for about 3 minutes. Serve warm over the cake.

: A T-day dilemma I need help with........... A few clarifications please if you don't mind... 1. Are you asking for some specific help or just whining? It the same for me. When I've made an "oh carp! what have I done?" mistake. I whine a little to hubby (aka best friend)only, but I get over the whine and fix the problem. 2. Do you want a way to gracefully tell your DIL you are not going to do the T-Day dinner for her family? Call her, apologize and tell her after a time to think you realize you will not be able to accommodate so many people. Because of your health issues and the stress entertaining causes, you would prefer a more serene, smaller (immediate) family affair. 3. You are hosting but you want to tell them to bring side dishes? Since your DIL did the invites call her and tell her to let the family know they are expected to bring the sides and desserts. They don't bring they eat only what is available. 4. You don't want a drunken or stoned guest causing fights over their issues in your home? Let your DIL know to tell them there is no booze or illegal use of drugs in the house and any abusive or disruptive persons will be asked to leave willing once, then escorted to the door if necessary or by police if even more necessary. I would like to offer a few words of advice from experience. Marital problems between your Son and His Wife are their business and you may want to stay out of the offering your opinion business there or you could lose your son and grandson by vocalizing and publicly posting how much you hate the DIL. It would be much better to refrain from announcing to everyone your DIL's issues and problems in any way. My Son and his wife went through some very problematic times after a few years of marriage. I knew they were hurting each other and it could end in disaster. As hard as it was I Kept My Big Mouth Shut. I cried alone and prayed for them to find joy again. After being asked by son for my opinion. I told them both at the same time they had been together for reasons and they had taken vows to love, cherish and respect each other. I told them sometimes vows are hard to keep, breaking them is not planned, sometimes people change what they are and believe over the years. They had to look at the future and did they want to make the hard effort to mend the breaks and reseal the vows. If not they could break the final vow "till death do us part" and stop hurting each other and the people who loved them. Her Mom on the other hand bad mouthed my son to everyone including our grandson and interfered constantly in the problems. After they started to work on the marriage she continued to be a disruptive influence in many escalating ways. She is no longer welcome to the family gatherings at my DS and DIL's home. DIL will not allow her contact with our grand kids and they will not attend events where she will be. I don't think DIL and I will ever have a lot in common, but our shared love for my son and their children binds us as family, how it should be. Good luck with your dilemma. I try to remember a good heart has no room for hate. LIL