denninmi, I think I've been down some of those streets while visiting your side of the state. In some areas it is very obvious that there have been massive tree die offs. As we travel along the main highways to visit relatives in Ohio and Pennsylvania it is obvious when we reach areas where EAB is rampant. One, if not the first, outbreak in the west side of the state is thought to have started at a shopping center a few miles from our home. From what I've heard, ash trees for landscaping were brought in from a SE Michigan nursery which was not supposed to be shipping any ash trees at the time. And, not surprisingly, they were infected with the borers. The city responded by cutting all ash trees within a certain distance...maybe a mile out, I can't remember the exact distance, but it was a large area. For weeks crews were cutting and chipping trees from yards and parks. And yet it did not look like a clear cut because there are alot of other species in the area. It did not surprise me when other infestations were found soon afterwards in other parts of the city. It seems like cutting and quarantine come too late to stop this critter. Like denninmi mentioned, there are some homeowner control methods that are looking very promising. A business park and a college campus outside the quarantine area took preventive action before any other EAB sites were found. They had key landscape trees identified and began have them treated regularly. Both places still have healthy ashes while most other places have lost some key specimens. Around here there is a group working hard to get up to date info out to homeowners. I got a strange look when I told my husband I was going to be attending a "Save Your Ash" workshop put on by a local environmental group. University researchers told of their latest findings, arborist told of their treatment methods, and city foresters told of options available to homeowners. A final part covered cultural impacts, something I hadn't considered. A Native American who is a renowned basket maker shared how his heritage is threatened by the possible extinction of black ash trees. His family's traditional harvesting swampland is unaffected as yet, but he was extremely concerned about the very likely loss of an age old cultural tradition. Black ash logs can be beaten, and the wood will separate between the growth rings. It is then cut into the weaving strips needed for baskets. No other wood works as well. He had the best business card I've ever seen. A clear label with his business info was applied to a paper thin piece of his basket making black ash splint and cut to card size. I hope his children can have the some card materials 30 years from now, but I'm fearful that will not be possible.

Lannie -- I've found there to be a learning curve; possibly all ovens have this? I don't love the spacing of the racks and the interior of the oven cavity is at once smaller and larger than I'd realized. Mine is a 36" so it's wider, but perhaps due to a lot of "professional"-type guts, it is less tall than I had bargained for. I'm learning to be used to all of the above, but it's been an adjustment. Note also that I have a manual-clean machine. The automatics are very different inside, with rolling racks which the manuals don't have, and a rotisserie -- I'm guessing that equipment might take up some space. There was a thread some time back where someone posted a picture of a half dozen loaves of bread baked at once. Another noticed a gradation in the "bake". When I had a similar experiment I also noticed that gradation. Capital came and checked with fancy thermometers the gradation of the temperature inside the oven and declared it perfect. However I definitely still notice a slight gradation. Note well please that it's not in any way a deal-breaker for me. I'm happy moving trays of granola about; gotta take em out to stir anyway, and it's not hard to learn to be especially careful about placement of pans. It is becoming quite second-nature to me and I don't mind. But I do notice this 'finickiness'. It's an adjustment for me also because it's a 36" oven which I've never had before. I feel pretty silly heating up such a yawning cavern for something small; I'm having to learn not to, to use my smaller, new electric "Speed oven" instead. I'm getting there. But because this is such a broad, deep but not tall expanse, the internal volume may be similar to ovens I'm familiar with of yore, but the convections inside, probably, are different. I have to remember to push in the convection fan button because it makes a big difference in the evenness of the bake and the temperature. It takes longer to come to temperature than I've been used to in a more commercially-shaped oven. Perhaps it is only that lacking an internal thermometer read-out, I keep one inside and am more aware when I am not yet up to temperature. I hate preheating! And I think it's more susceptible to closeness of pans to interior walls. I was always taught to be sure to leave air space between pans but it seems to matter more with this oven. It's also quite possible I'm just paying more attention. Bottom line -- I'm happy enough. But it has been an adjustment, and the learning curve is a little slow. But life for me is still flooded by other building issues and kids and aging parents and all manner of other of life's issues. I don't have the luxury to just immerse myself in baking and cooking, so the learning curve may be spread out by life's other interruptions. HTH.

My gosh. I thought I was the only one in the world, and here you all are! I'm 55. I had an hysterectomy when I was 41 and my ovaries removed at 43. I have been on estrogen only HRT since I was 44 with no issues. I had a normal mammogram six months ago. I started taking methotrexate for arthritis six months ago and my extremely sore and swollen breasts seemed to start when I moved to the higher doses of that drug. I even had some evidence of lactation from my right breast. My GP ordered hormone tests and they all came back in the normal range except SHBG which is a protein that binds to sex hormones to carry them around in the blood stream. I also had a mammogram which showed enlarged ducts with some debris. (My boobs are trashed after breast-feeding five kids but nothing they did is anything on this pain and tenderness.) I missed a couple of doses of methotrexate (taken weekly) and my breast pain seemed to start to diminish. I also stopped my HRT because I was so desperate for some relief. After a month, the pain has substantially subsided but I still have a residual tingly burn and they haven decreased much in size. I am yet to have repeat hormone tests or a repeat mammogram. I will try the flaxseed recommended above and post anything else that changes.

I made mine. Got the paper at Staples Office Supply. Retailers are now realizing that brides to be want to save major money, and are printing their own invites. The quality and varieties of the papers are awesome! Some people get really artistic using velum overlays ect, I just used what they call a formal invite paper. It had a nice embossed design running up the side. Then I glued small bows to the top of them. I bought smaller cards that matched to make my reception cards and response cards. And I printed them all using purple ink. The invites I bought did come with software, but i didn't like being limited to their font. I liked my font better. But it's a real basic program if that's what you are looking for. Final cost was probably less than $100 for 150 invites, reception cards and response cards. I used my Microsoft Picture It! Program to print everything. I printed our programs too, and got those papers on E-Bay. I also printed my own save the date cards, and printed out my own return address labels to use on them. All total, I used 3 ink cartridges. I could have gotten by using less ink, but when I did my save the date cards i printed a photo on the front of all of them, which used lots of my ink. Good luck. Once I got started, I had a good time doing it myself. It can be quite nerve wracking, so practice, practice practice on plain paper before wasting your invites! Penny