Okay, so while out shopping for a shelf to display my The Tick collection, I found myself Christmas shopping instead. I love close-out stores, so I hit a few of those and ended up buying Kindred Castle Greyskull, five He-Man action figures (yes, Erin, I looked for an Evilyn for you, but they didn't have her), and an Imaginext playset...all at half price. :D I also hooked myself up with some Muppet Plushies...I love them, I got the Vetrinarian's Hospital group of Dr. Bob (ralph), Camilla (chicken), Nurse Janice and Nurse Piggy. I also went to an antique store where I almost bought something for Erin and something for another friend, but I made myself put them back. Antique stores are not really bargain spots, LOL. I know it's still a couple of months away, and we here in the US still have Thanksgiving to get through, I start getting excited right about now and usually put up my Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving. If I lived in Canada that would just be next week. Anyone else do their Christmas shopping this early?

Oh I know what you mean Melanie. This year I have been anticipating the holiday season more than usual (probably because our August was on the chilly side for most of the month).

But, today we are celebrating Thanksgiving here AND I am burning all these scented candles that smell like things baking which only makes me feel MORE festive. lol I have been thinking about Christmas gifts already and scoping out stores for what cool things to get! LOL LOL

I really know how you are feeling Melanie!

(Oh and I haven't forgotten about the sweater...must get that ready to send out to you - I can't wait for Taigan to have it. LOL!!)

All this "holiday" talk...I feel like baking so I am going to have to find some good recipes w/ sugar subs in them. LOL

I would be holiday shopping already if I had money.. although I have already bought some things for Rain!

where do you find these discount stores? I didn't even know they sold Castle Greyskull!!! too cool!!!

Jon finds everything! We went to Pier 1 Imports and I thought it was over-priced and not very practical so we decided to stop at this thrift store and it was in this shopping center, so after that I saw nbc (name brand clothing), which is a close out store or something cuz they sell name brand stuff half of half of the original store's price. So, it'll be a bra for like 26 bucks, half of that would be 13 and half again would be 6.50, so it's a pretty decent store for me! Then, we saw this store called Tuesday Morning and we just decided to check it out. That is where we found the close-out items. We just go shopping and that's how we find stuff. We did go to two yard sales, our first together, lol, with the kids and I got Walking Plush Baby Big Bird (I don't know it's real name) and Kindred got some toys. I love yard sales too, but we never see any. I can't wait to find out who my berry kin is going to be for the SS secret santa thingy, so I know who to buy for. I have ideas of what to get so many of my friends, but it is still so early! I have a gift for Adline already, but I want to send it closer to Christmas...only patience is not one of my virtues. LOL

Erin, I never really get into baking, but I do love pumpkin pie. What kinds of things do you make for the holidays? I think I asked you this last year, but I've forgotten. LOL Jon says Turkey for Thanksgiving and Ham for Christmas. He'll probably just buy a small stuffed turkey breast for himself since we'll be having stuffed tofu. I'm way too lazy to bake!

Yes those discount stores do sound great!
There are a few stores around here like that. They have brand name clothes for a fraction of the original retail prices. Very cool to get deals like that. I remember mentioning my new Levi's about a month ago...I got them for $15 (cdn dollars too, mind you! LOL)

Hmm...as far as holiday cooking... we love turkey here so we get one when they are on sale. For sure, Thanksgiving is time for turkey. BTW...I can't help but think of the Everybody Loves Raymond episode where Marie made tofu turkey! LOL LOL (I don't know if you watch it or not but it is so funny!) LOL!!

And...for Christmas, I either make a turkey or ham. All my life we never had a sit down meal for Christmas day but now that we are adults now (yes! we are adults! lol) I tend to make a nice meal for the two of us.
I think last year we had a ham.

As far as baking...I [b]love[b/] baking. I usually would at least make cut out sugar cookies with colored decorator's icing. I will probably make at least one batch this year too along with some other new recipes that I find online (ones that are made with sugar substitutes and wholesome whole grained ingredients). It's not going to be too much fun to find some good ones so I will probably start looking and start trying some out now! lol

I have no idea what I am going to do this year for my Christmas morning tradition of having Pillsbury cinnamon rolls. I will have to find a good recipe for cinnamon rolls, I think. lol
( BTW, If anyone knows of one that uses whole wheat, please let me know! :) )

Oh yeah, and I forgot!! I usually bake a homemade (EVERYTHING from scratch) Dutch (or some people call it French) Apple Pie. This is the pie with the crumbly topping instead of the pie crust topping. Some years I even bake a homemade pumpkin pie (from scratch using a real pumpkin).
As you can tell, I love making things from scratch :D

So....
What do you all cook/bake for the holidays???

I can make an apple pie from scratch, but I can't make a dutch apple... the top always burns.

oh, and I LOVE Everybody Loves Raymond!!! I watch that show ALL the time, and I love the episode where Marie makes that tofu turkey! LOL. Marie always makes me so mad, and I wish I could tell her off myself!

We never had a Christmas dinner either... but now that I'm married, my husband HAS, so we always do now too, and yep, it's ham for Christmas, Turkey for Thanksgiving. I really like the ham! (I never used to like meat until my pregnancy with Rain, I craved it... now I like some meats, go figure) and I like having a Christmas dinner now.
I hate stuffing though!!! yuck! and I don't like the yams with marshmallows. I tell my husband, sorry, but he's not getting any of that. I won't make it.

I make my mashed potatoes from scratch, pies, cookies, I guess mostly desserts. I'm good at small dinners, but not anything grand.

Well, my mom always did all of the cooking when I was younger. And when we lived in CA we always had big family dinners. But, now I live in a rural area, isolated from most everyone, my closest friend is 5 hours away and my closest relative is 2 hours away. My mom came here last year for both Thanksgiving and Christmas, and if she gets the time off work she will again this year. She'll def. be here for Christmas. Jon's family is in OH and he has a friend in Wichita that spends the holidays with him when she's here. So, we may have her over for Christmas as well, since she should be moving back from NY by then. Anyway, we had a Tofurkey last year and Jon baked a Turkey. We did mashed potatoes (which I could never turn down...I am a potato freak!), gravy, lots of veggies, rolls, and stuffing. I always bake a pumpkin pie or two and an apple. I wish, wish wish I could do that Dutch topping you mentioned, but I haven't ever succeeded at it. I don't make my desserts from scratch, cuz I'm lazy! I suppose I could though. I like to get tiny pie tins, like the pot pie size, and make the kids personal pies too. My mom always did that for us when we were kids. And she would get clear plastic cups and make us individual jello and whipped cream desserts. I always thought that was cool, but haven't ever done it due to the fact that gelatin is a non-vegetarian item. However, I bought some Agar Agar at the Thai Binh Supermarket and I am going to try it this year. And we like to make chocolate, oatmeal, no bake, drop cookies. I know you know what I'm talking about! I add nuts and coconut. Mmmmm. Jon makes home made everything. His stuffing is the bomb, not soggy like my mom's. My mom's is even grey in color! Not very appetizing. Jon watches the cooking channel a lot, Food Network, I believe it is called. And he has me addicted to a couple of shows most notably Alton Brown's Good Eats. I do not watch ELR. I don't have network tv. Well, okay, I get some channels, but that would require I turn off the satellite and I can not willingly force myself to do that. :lol:

Oh, and as a side note and personal request: I want to see a picture of everybody's Christmas tree this year! :D

OK since you both spoke of the Dutch apple pie topping burning here is a tip. While you're baking pay close attention to the top. I'd check in every so often to see how fast it is cooking (it really depends on how hot your oven is). Ours cooks WAY faster than an average oven so I have to watch everything like a hawk to make sure nothing is burning. If you notice the top is getting golden, that's when you take some foil and lightly cover the top so it won't burn. ALSO, I like to use a glass pie dish. That way I can see the crust while it's cooking. lol I think if you watch the topping as it bakes and cover once it is golden you shouldn't have a problem.
I am curious to hear if you make one, btw. :D (I think the topping should consist of butter/margarine, flour, and brown sugar - from what I can recall off hand).

And, I also cook small dinners. I don't think I have ever made a dinner for more than 6 people. Since we have a small apartment, we can't really entertain but I am really looking forward to the day I can. We really really would love to have a Halloween party. I think it would be so much fun to decorate and make "scary" foods. LOL Have any of you ever had a cool Halloween party??? Man, I am dreaming for a house just to do that! LOL!!

Jon sounds like a wonderful chef! It is nice to actually sit back and let the hubby cook some times. LOL Mike can make a turkey dinner for us, no problem. He's seen me do it and he used to do it for his mother too so he has it down to a science. lol I always make the gravy though. He tried it ONCE and that's is all it took for him to make me the honorary "gravy-maker" lol

Cindie, I am a HUGE ELR fan!! I have to watch at least one episode a night before bed. lol It just relaxes me and helps me fall asleep. Silly, I know but it's true! :lol:

Btw, this week's episode was hilarious! lol Did you see it? (Debra was dressed "trampy") LOL!

You got it! You have to show us yours too! :D

Mmmm... talking about all this food is making me hungry! I love turkey and Thanksgiving foods! When I was at school, I cooked a Thanksgiving dinner, just for myself! I made most of the things from scratch. I think the only thing I "cheated" was using canned cranberry sauce, but making it from scratch isn't hard.

You know that Campbell's green bean casserole... the one with the French's onions on top? I made that for a Thanksgiving potluck the first year in Canada, and no one even knew what it was!

I love Apple pie! I've never made the dutch apple pie version... I think I prefer the traditional pie... but my mom likes apple crisp... no bottom crust and a oatmeal/brown sugar/pecan topping. I guess that's easier to make than pie. But, I normally make a pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving.

LOL Isn't that funny that most Canadians have no clue what Green bean casserole is?! I have never made that here but I know that no one would know what the heck it was! LOL

I think you are right. Apple Crisp is easier to make just because you are omitting the bottom crust. I LOVE making pastry and breads.

You know, one of my favorite things to make from scratch is cinnamon rolls!
I am going to search for a recipe that includes whole wheat flour instead of enriched white. Again, if you see one, let me know! lol I would substitute the sugar with Splenda or something like that.

Melanie, speaking of sugar subs, have you tried or heard that Stevia is a good option for baking? I forget. lol

Joyce, when you were in Canada, did you celebrate two Thanksgivings too?? Just curious. Mike gladly celebrates both because that way he has a good excuse to eat turkey again! :lol:

Yummy, Joyce that sounds so good. No wonder your mommy likes to make it like that!

Hmmm, Erin, it seems like it is good for baking. I think I read somewhere that temperature doesn't affect it's flavor much. In my Vegan cook book it says that these are all good sugar substitutes for cooking, but you'd have to check with your SB book to see if any are edible for you: maple syrup, cane sugar, date sugar, barley malt and fruit juice concentrate. I looked for a cinnimon roll recipe, but didn't find one in my book. Lots of pies, cakes and puddings though. LOL I'll keep looking.

wow! so much to catch up on from just one day!

Erin, I loved that episode where Debra dressed trampy! I loved it when Marie said she dressed like that at their anniversary, Debra said, "what was I wearing?" and Robert said, "that red dress with the low-cut back" then Amy says, "Robert, what was I wearing that day?" LOL!!! I'm a huge fan too!

I have actually tried the aluminum foil.... but only around the crust where it burns the most. the top was still burned, but the edges were soggy... so I'll have to mess with it and try it on the whole top, but only after it turns golden like you said. You must be a really good cook! I like to cook, but I really don't think I'm any good!

LOL, showing our Christmas trees! every year, I decorate mine elaborately. Now this year, I agreed to let my husband Sean and daughter Megan decorate it how they want. I always thought when they use different colored/homemade/popcorn! decorations that it looked like someone emptied a garbage bag over the tree. so, this will be the first year my tree won't look nice!
now I'm sure you all think I'm so mean! LOL but I do understand that it's more fun for kids to decorate the tree themselves.

oh! last year my cats ruined my tree!!! they wouldn't leave the ornaments alone! anyone else have this problem? I finally took a bow ornament, tied it to their collar for a few hours, and they hated it! then when I took it off, they hated it so much they finally stayed away from the tree... of course by then, it looked trashed anyways.
sorry I rambled on!

LOL, Cindie! I am so lazy, I wish the kids could do all of the decorating! I have so many ornaments that it's hard to find places for everything! I do let them go crazy with everything that is not extremely fragile, then later I go through and move things around to even it all out. You know some of my kids are barely knee-high, so our tree gets a little bottom heavy. LOL I bought MORE presents yesterday. *Sigh* I actually went in search of the SS bathroom stuff, anyone find any of this?? I don't think it ever came to my town. Cindie when you get a chance you should definitely check your Target for me.

Well, we will be putting up our tree next month, right after Thanksgiving. When do you all put up yours?

OMG Cindie! You made me laugh so much at those lines from ELR! :lol: It's Amy's face she gives Robert that cracks me up!!! LOL LOL!!!! I just love Robert as a character. Sometimes Debra gets me angry because I think that she can be unfair towards Ray at times. lol Last night I was watching the episode (called Bad Moon Rising), where Ray tries to give Debra the "magic pills" to get rid of her PMS! :lol: Too funny!!!

And, Cindie, I hope your pie turns out nicely. I have learned my lessons by actually screwing things up at first. lol I learned that the key is to keep a close eye on it and have your foil prepared to just throw over it once it gets golden. I hope you get a really nice one! I think you will do a great job (I have confidence in you) :D

Ah decorating the tree! The question this year is...real or crappy artificial one that we have had for the past three years. lol I wanted a real one for the past two years. I told Mike the year before last that "next year I am going to have a real one and I don't care what you say" lol The problem is space. (Of course. That is always the problem here). I do not want to have to look at the skimpy artificial one that we have (it is either a real one or a nicer artificial one). I hate seeing the center pole (all I can think of is a giant pipecleaner! LOL). :lol: So, we'll see what happens.

We have lots and lots of nice ornaments (from Carlton and Hallmark). We get them throughout the year when they are having "sidewalk sales" in the mall. They are forever trying to clear out ornaments and we get our ornaments for a few bucks a piece usually. :) So, we've been doing this for years now and we have accumulated quite a few now.

I like to string beads and ribbons. I do like the popcorn and cranberries look on a nice big, real, full tree. It looks old world and so simply traditional. I also like the elegant look but with our tree, we have so so many pop culture ornaments, I like to think of it as a pop culture tree and it's special because it has all the things (characters, etc...) we love on it :D

And Cindie (and anyone else)... feel free to "ramble on"!!! I love reading your posts!!! :D

Erin... have you tried baking your pie on the bottom rack of the oven? The top burns less, so that might help!

I also like glass pie dishes! My landlord had a huge 10" pyrex pie dish that I loved... and I wanted to get one for a friend's wedding gift, and then I learned they were discontinued in the 1970's! I ended up getting a set of 4 from ebay (2 10" and 2 9" ones) for myself.

You can probably substitute whole wheat flour for white flour for the cinnamon rolls... you just probably need more yeast and/or rising time. But I think they won't be as fluffy either way.

We have an 8 foot artificial tree... I've never had a real one. But ours is supposed to a pretty nice one... it's still in really good condition and it's 20 years old!

I (my mom really) bought a beautiful artificial tree two years ago, very full and real looking. It has the lights already strung up on it and it had these big round bulbs that were white. So the lights are all different colors and I bought blue replacement lights for the big orbs. So, it kind of looks like it has glowing blue bulb ornaments on it. Plus, our ornaments are very pop culture too, Erin. I have tons of Harry Potter and South Park. Growing up we had a skinny, artificial tree that my mom covered in tinsel and fake snow spray! She had those old bubbling oil lights and lots of blinking lights. My mom was big on making the tree shine and twinkle...the lights could never go out all at once, she would put the light strands all over the tree, cuz she didn't want one half of it to go out while another half was on, nope, that would not do! Anyway, because it always took so long to remove the light strands after the holidays, I never wanted to put lights on my tree. LOL Now, I don't have to, but my tree weighs a ton and I have to have Jon drive his truck out to the garage and bring it in that way, cuz there is no way we can carry it.

I'm getting so excited!! I want to buy up all of the Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer ornaments...anyone else? :lol:

Joyce, I love pyrex baking dishes. I got one free from my bank when I signed up for my free account. Wish it were bigger, but it works well for a side dish.

LOL!! I love all of this Christmas chatter in here! :lol:

I was thinking of just subbing wheat flour for white flour and maybe adding a small amount of wheat gluten. I have heard that it is suppose to make wheat doughs lighter.

I would just sub the sugar with Splenda (since I have a lot of it). I like to use the stevia for my coffee and yogurt (I buy plain yogurt and add stevia and flavored extracts). Thanks for the info on sugar subs. too Melanie. I forgot to add that earlier. Unfortunately, I don't think I can use any of them except maybe fruit juice concentrate. And really, I don't even think that is okay. The sugar subs are a very delicate matter it seems. My favorite one is Stevia but second would be Splenda. I do have a sugar free maple syrup that I use once in a while and I have used honey in my whole wheat pizza dough. :)

Then as far as the cinnamon roll recipe, the margarine I use is very heart healthy (Olivina) and made from olive oil - no trans fats/or sat. fat. The cinnamon roll recipe is pretty basic and it seems that I could just sub things in so it wouldn't be too bad at all. I should just give it a shot and see what happens. lol Thanks everyone for your suggestions with that.

And I must add that I LOVE the Rudolph stuff too!! My personal favorite is the Rankin Bass stuff... like The Miser Bros. (Heat Miser and Snow Miser) from The Year Without a Santa Claus. Anyone else worship that cartoon??? :lol:

I have also been excited about this Christmas season. I am making some of the gifts, so I have tried to get a head start on what I can. I have already bought some gift wrapping stuff, too.

My favorite thing to bake during the holidays are pecan tassies. The recipe is very very simple and if anyone wants me to post it, I will. They keep well for days and are great for putting in tins and giving as gifts.

I decorate our large tree with all of my ballerina and rocking horse ornaments. But, then I do several small trees around the house, each with a them (snowmen, santas, etc.) This will be our first Christmas in this house, so I am not sure where to put the trees, yet. :huh:

Wow, that is a neat idea Rebecha! It sounds very cute. Be sure to post pics when you get your trees all set up!

I love everyone's Halloween animations! Melanie, yours rock! I love the REDRUM! very scary-like... mine are so cartoony!

since we're getting Halloween-themed... Erin, did you see the ELR where Frank passed out Raymond and Debra's condoms to the trick-or-treaters by mistake?

I have always decorated the tree in the same colors... either all silver, or all red. This will be my first year with different decorations, so I guess Megan will be able to pick them out. Ornaments are expensive! Our first year married, we cut down our own Christmas Tree. It stunk, and had spiders!!! I wanted to tear it down before Christmas, cause the smell was so bad. We took it down within seconds of opening gifts! Since then, we've had fake trees, but our fake tree sheds more pine needles than a real one! I think it's time to get a new one this year.

Oh my! Spiders in your Christmas tree!? YIKES!! Makes me not want to get a real one...

Rebecha, I like the idea of having miniature trees of various themes all over the house. My aunt has been doing that since I was young and I have always loved it. You will have to show us some pictures of your little trees and things. :)

Cindie,
omg! That episode of ELR where Frank passes out the "things" is HILARIOUS. It is one of my favorites too! I seem to like the holiday episodes the best it seems. lol I also like the Christmas episodes. The one where Marie doesn't want to be in the family photo because Debra's parents are in it is so funny too!! Although, I also like the one where Frank, Robert, and Ray are painting Ray's house! I love the part where the wasps chase Robert! Poooooor Robert! LOL

And you people who don't watch ELR, I apologize...and also add: Watch it if you can! LOL LOL

And yes, we definitely need a new tree this year too (whether fake or real) LOL Cindie, is your tree nearly bare now since all of its "needles" are falling off?? lol I feel your pain... lol

LOL Erin! I love Robert!!! I feel so bad for him! hahaha

yeah, my tree is bare, but my husband keeps saying it's got a few more years! I like those pre-lighted fake trees. You don't have to worry about stringing the lights yourself!

do you put lights outside your house? my neighbors go all out, but I've never decorated the outside, and I feel like the neighborhood scrooge!

I didn't decorate Jon's house in the subdivision for any holiday! But,in our house, we have these awesomely beautiful etched glass sliding doors in the family room and I decorate that inside and out...pretty much wherever the kids hang out, that is where I decorate the most. Most of my Halloween window clings are in there and we always have a huge Wolverine window cling on the smaller front window of the Family room, I was thinking of decorating him! Like make a robbers mask out of black construction paper and put it over his eyes...and then a santa hat at Christmas time. :D

If Rachel and Israel elect to come here for Halloween, we are going to deck out the house and bake cookies and have a Halloween party. Just us, of course, but it will fun anyway!

I love having a pre-lighted tree, Cindie. It's really heavy, but it might be due to it's size anyway. I am just hoping that the lights don't do that thing where if one burns out none work...that will be a pain to fix!

Well since we are in an apartment the most we do is hand lights in our front window :) My inlaws live on the main floor apartment beneath us and they usually put all these SUPER tacky gigantic lights out there. There's this one wooden Santa head that we call "Crackhead Santa" because his eyes are like stars & he has a big goofy smile. LOL We always make fun of that. I think Mike's uncle made it. lol I heard this year that Crackhead Santa won't be hung up this year soooo YIPPpiiiieeee!!! :lol:

Melanie, you should decorate Wolverine!! LOL!! If you do show us a pic of that! LOL You should dress him up like a pirate for Halloween! :lol: ARrrg Matey! LOL

Hmm, we saw those prelighted trees and were thinking how nice that would be! lol Last year it was such a pain in the butt to put up the tree. For one, I hate the actual tree... and two, Mike gets totally ticked off while stringing the lights up. LOL We were at each other's throats and if I don't like something he does, many times I just keep quiet and change it myself later. I am too picky and he has no patience and is in a bad mood for a while after if I say I want something changed. LOL!

Prelit may be the way to go. Maybe we will see one for a good price. I wouldn't think the lights would be set up that way (what is it called...series circuit?). Our lights that we bought go out one at a time and you just change the bulb so that is probably how MOST Christmas lights are made now. The other way is SUCH a pain!!!!! Oh, I am annoyed just thinking about it!!!

Megan asked if we were going to decorate for Halloween, and I said no. She said, "Then how will people know to come trick-or-treating?" I said, "because the porch light will be on"... LOL... so I said maybe I'd buy a black lightbulb for the porch. Then she said, "What about Christmas?" I said I'd put a red or green lightbulb in the porch light... :D I'm just too lazy to put it up... and I'd never take it down.. I'd be one of those people with lights up in July.

Fake trees are so expensive! we were going to buy one last year after Christmas, so it would be super-cheap, only there weren't any good ones left!!!

Ugh...I shudder to think about the prices of an artificial tree. I am right there with you. Money wise, I lean toward buying a real one but I also think about your ordeal now with the spiders and such too! LOL I probably could get one if the weather is super cold (it gets REALLY cold here, btw). That way I know any spiders would be good and dead before it comes into the house. :lol:

Artificial trees are really expensive it seems. Our tree is over 20 years old (we took really good care of it), but it was on sale for like $20 (which was a super cheap price then too!) when we bought it. The branches are all individually assembled onto the pole... we still have some of the original twist ties that held the set of the branches together!

it gets pretty cold here too... It was snowing like crazy when we cut down our tree... but I think it had spiders cause it was fresh from the forest area... and we cut it down ourselves. You may be okay from spiders if you buy one from a tree lot that someone else has already cut down. I just had having to deal with throwing the tree away too! cause our garbage pickup won't pick up trees! our neighbors have 3 Chrismas trees from the last 3 years in their backyard still!

I wish I could find a good fake one.

I wrote this big, long spiel about spiders and Brown Recluse Spiders specifically the other night in response to ya'll's talk about real trees and spiders, but I closed the window accidentally before posting it! :( Anyway, my fake tree is in our garage, and I could never figure out how to get it to fit back into the box it came in, so the lid is pretty much open. We have so many spiders here! Well, insects of all kinds. Kansas is a flat state and insects have no trouble travelling through/to here, not only that, but it's also an agricultural state, so they have lots of food, so with lots of insects comes lots of spiders! In my house since spring, I have seen and even picked up (accidentally) a lot of spiders. Most of them have been Brown Recluse spiders, a couple have been black jumping spiders and I saw one really cool Wolf Spider. There are always daddy long legs crossing our side walk and we have those big hanging ones in the evening. Anyway, my point is that I just know there are going to be spiders in my fake tree...probably dead ones because most spiders only live one-two seasons, but I don't want to touch spider egg sacks either! And I wish there was a way to keep Brown Recluse spiders out of the house without calling an exterminator...I am not all that comfortable spraying the house down with chemicals.

We would be buying one from a lot..so that is good news. It would be MY luck to have one anyway though! :lol:
Another good thing about having a real tree here is that all you have to do to get rid of them, is to dump them at the closest park (which for us is only a few blocks away) and the city disposes of them all. :D

Melanie, all those spiders would totally freak me out!! *shudder*
I feel like spiders are around me now...... :unsure:

so scary Melanie!!! I hate spiders!!! we pay $30 a month for an exterminator... they come out once a month (or more if we call them) and they take care of EVERYTHING. except I wouldn't let him spray for the mice... I had him put down little boxes that catch them... it's too sad to me. But, I've only seen a baby mouse once in the garage after they built the house next to us... so it's not a problem. I'm hoping when my neighborhood is finished being built that we'll have less bugs... they seem to come out more each time they dig a new foundation!

I'd freak if I saw a Brown Recluse!!!!