Yes. I have a favorite. 

2/3 cup white sugar
1 Tbl cornstarch
1 cup boiling water
Boil 1 min.  Pour over 4 cups fruit in greased 9x13 pan. Sprinkle with cinnamon

In another bowl combine:
2 cups flour
2 Tbl white sugar
1 Tbl baking powder
1 tsp salt
Cut in: 1/2 cup shortening
Stir in 3/4 cup milk.  Just til moistened.
Drop in globs over fruit mixture. Bake 400* 30 minutes until shortcake is throughly cooked and filling is bubbly
Enjoy with ice cream or whip cream.

Check out my blog:  Justasmidgenoflove.blogspot.com

375 oven

Cut fruit into baking dish (big chunks are fine; any kind of fruit will do, although apples, peaches & pears are delicious.)

Sprinkle with flour, sugar, cinnamon & nutmeg

Dot w/butter

Mix separately: 1C flour, 1C sugar (scant), 1t. baking powder

Make a volcano.  Pour in 2 T oil.  Mix til like cornmeal.

Make another volcano.  Add 1 egg, mix lightly.

Spoon over fruit.  Bake til brown (~20 mins.)

(Btw, I usually make this recipe [my deceased grandmother’s] substituting margarine for the butter and about 1/4 C of applesauce for the egg b/c of allergies & it still turns out delicious!)

My mom always made homemade applesauce and depending on the type of apples, you sometimes don’t need hardly any sugar at all. 

I peel, core and dice 6-8 apples and put them in a heavy saucepan.  Add 1/4 cup of water, some sugar if necessary, a tiny bit of cinnamon (you can always add more but you can’t take it out—I found out the hard way) and a smidge of ground nutmeg (more or less depending on taste, but a little bit goes a LOOOOOOOOOONG way!).  Bring to a boil and then let simmer for about an 1 hour.  If you need to add more water, do so a little at a time.  The apples start to break down and get really juicy, so I don’t usually have to.  When apples are soft, use a potato masher or mash by hand until desired consistency.  I like chunky and warm, so I don’t mash all of the pieces.  Enjoy!

This year, I got one of those wall hanging file folder holders that teachers use in classrooms.  Part of the reason is because I am homeschooling one of my four kids.  The other reason is to deal with all the paperwork that comes in the house that needs to be dealt with but often gets lost in the bottomless pit that is my desk area.  I labeled folders for each child and I put their graded school work in there to be sorted through for the very best examples, then the rest trashed when I have time.  I have a folder labeled “next day” for things I need to address the very next day.  I also have a “review” folder, and a “to be signed” folder.  It’s working very well for me and I feel as though the paperwork beast is gradually getting tamed.

I think I first heard of this woman’s blog thru F&FL;, long, long ago…anyway, she has this thing called a “fridgefile” that came to mind when I first read your query:
http://orgjunkie.com/2010/06/the-fridge-file-helps-you-organize-life.html

(Her website is fun, too.  Enthusiasm galore - sometimes it actually rubs off on me!)

oh man, a little advice and a lot of sympathy!  I have a lot of trouble with this, so I’ll be watching this thread.  The biggest thing for me so far is I got a little cabinet at a yard sale, and important papers go right in there, so that they won’t get lost or accidentally thrown out before I can deal with them.  The baby can’t reach it, it’s closed so they won’t blow away, and it’s kind of a safe place where they can sit _until_ I organize and deal with them.

We absolutely love our front load washer and dryer set by LG.  But…I’m actually on here to tell you I would NOT recommend them.  Ours has been great and you get a good deal for the money.  However, we (and a few friends) have discovered the hard way that LG does not allow repair companies to stock parts.  We’ve had problems twice.  Not only waiting for the repairman…but then another 10 days for the parts to come in.  I will use them until they die but won’t replace any of my appliances with LG for that reason.  That being said, I love the sanitary cycle the best - I think that’s our most used cycle that we didn’t have before.  Also, we have NEVER had problems with mold smells as long as we leave the washer door open when not in use.  Good luck.

Happy Home Ownership!

I am certain I will be in the minority…but here goes.  We have a front-loader that we bought a few years ago, and it doesn’t use much water.  But…I miss my old top loading washer.  I think it did a better job of getting things CLEAN!
We just got back from vacation, and the cabin had an old model.  Sigh.  I liked soaking, and stopping it whenever to throw a few more things in, plus my baby couldn’t get into it.  Just my two cents

I have a Bosch front loader and while it uses less water and does clean the clothes well, I wouldn’t recommend it for a few reasons. First, I’m with Donna above who likes the option of soaking and tossing that wayward sock or shirt in while the machine is running. You cannot do that with a front loader. You can pause it and open it but water will run out onto your floor. Also, my machine takes an hour to wash clothes. I have four children. I do not have an hour to wait for clothes. And that is just the regular cotton or perm. press cycle. The cotton cycle wrings out the best so I just use that. The perm. press cycle leaves the clothes much too damp. There is also a special baby clothes cycle but it takes two hours and forty-five minutes. Really? Also, no just toss them in for a rinse cycle. Doesn’t exist. I can drain and spin but sometimes I just want a quick rinse to freshen a load that sat a little too long in the washer before I could get them in the dryer. I, too, do not have a problem with mold as my machine is in the basement so it’s safe to leave the door open. I also wipe it out when I’m done with last load for the day. Hope this info helps. Such a huge purchase needs a lot of research and consideration. God bless your new home!

Jo, congrats on the new home.  As previous posters have explained:

Pros for front loader:
-less water used
-really spins out every last drop of water, therefore, shorter drying time needed
-usually bigger drums (as in, king size comforter)
-usually have a super hot, sanitize cycle

Cons:
-usually need to leave door open to allow dryiing out & prevent mold/mildew
-no soaking
-no short cycle (our “speed wash” cycle is 38 mins.)
-takes longer to add in a forgotten sock (need to wait for water to drain & door unlock)
-sometimes you can have a problem w/unbalanced loads & on spin cycle, machine dances all over! (This happens alot w/mine)

I grumbled about switching to a frontloader for about a month or two; by then I had sort of “re-learned” my laundry habits.  Things that need soaking now have their own bucket.  I wish we had splurged on the base/lifter thingy-accessory.  I have since learned that they can keep the machine from dancing when unbalanced, plus, I am tall and bending over to peer into the cavernous front loader while yanking heavy wet clothes out can do a number on my back.  I used the beeper/signal turned up loud so that wherever I am in the house, I can tell that the load is done.

In a nutshell, I like ours (GE) but need the base/pedestal.
http://products.geappliances.com/ApplProducts/Dispatcher?REQUEST=SpecPage&Sku=WCVH6800JWW

I have a front loader and I soak clothes in it all the time. I just select whatever water temp I need (I usually use hot for soaking), add the oxy clean and clothes. Then when the water stops I turn off the machine. The next day (or whenever) I select the “drain & spin” option on the machine and when that’s done I launder as usual. I love my front loader and would highly recommend it. It’s a Frigidaire. Oh, and it’s enormous…I can’t believe how much I can fit in it. The other thing is I can select a shorter wash option (I think someone mentioned that their front loader takes an hour, although even my regular wash with the extra rinse doesn’t take that long) for less dirty clothes and it’s done in 28 minutes. Oh, and I’m doing laundry for six of us, so I use it for at least a couple loads a day. Hope that helps!

I have a Samsung frontloader and love it. I can pause it up to a certain amount of time into the load to add more clothes (most times it doesn’t drip on the floor, and when it does it is minimal). To soak things I put clothes in, start the washer, and when there is enough water I just pause it for a while. (I often do this overnight so that I can actually use the washer during the day.) Mine has a sanitize cycle which I use for things like underwear with poop, or sheets with vomit. It also has silver care, which is an antiviral option you can add to each load. Mine also has a child safety lock which means that even though I need to leave the door open when it isn’t in use, I don’t have to worry about a child deciding to wash the baby. The dryer has this feature as well. The washer has a delay start, so I can put clothes in and set it so that the cycle will finish just as I am getting up in the morning. I have had no problems with mold or mildew on this washer, and it seems to clean the clothes very well. But my favorite thing about the washer is that when I am pregnant it is still easy to take clothes out! It was so hard and almost painful for me to lean down into the traditional washer when pregnant and I have no trouble now. My washer has a separate rinse and spin cycle, a spin only cycle, a quick wash cycle which is about 30 min, and all the different cycles come with the option of pre-washing, which I always use on my kids’ clothes because they get so dirty. The only con I have for the washer is the price: for the washer, dryer and two pedestals it was $2200. We did get some energy rebates though from our state and our power company, but the cost was still significantly more than a traditional washer. (The pedestals really are great though. Now that I think about it, I probably wouldn’t think the washer was any easier pregnant if I didn’t have them.)

The new front loading models are bigger, some quite significantly, than the older style of washers. So be careful before you buy. We could not switch (not that we want to, we have an old Maytag that I love love love) because we would not be able to close the door where the washer/dryer is if they were even an inch deeper—and since the door leads into my bathroom, closing it is essential!

Was this the calendar you were looking for?

http://www.motivatedmoms.com/products.html