If I have the iron out for one thing, I will iron a few things and hang them up. I also try to make lunches the night before and if I'm planning on making a crock pot meal I will chop the veggies the night before to give me more time in the morning.

I've done this one as well as the other way where you lay on your back and bring your knees slowly up to your chest. You can really feel you back muscles stretch.

I like big band anytime, but especially in the fall, leading up the holidays when I start playing the crooners like Perry Como, Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Bing Crosby, Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald, of course. Their voices are smooth and warm.

This is fascinating!

I used to be so proud of my ability to make dinner for like $5 or $10 when I first moved into my own apartment. It wasn't gourmet, but it was nourishing. I'd get a small chicken, a box of rice, a bunch of carrots, some lettuce, cucumber and tomato and have a complete meal.

I also used to eat a lot of pasta with vegetables. I'd saute onions, zucchini, carrots, mushrooms, peas... and then toss it all with spaghetti, olive oil and cheese... delicious and cheap!

I like the idea of volunteering locally, spending time rather than money in a place that helps my community.

That's interesting, and that part is easy to grasp. The piece I'm having a hard time with is how so many institutions were able to loan so much money for so long to so many who really couldn't afford it.

It's like the credit card companies that continue to send new credit card offers to people who don't have jobs or who have declared bankruptcy. Either their mail lists are really in bad shape or they really are "predatory" lenders who will stop at nothing to ensnare more people in their tangled web.