From: How to buy corn to a pencil lead in his ear.

News from Dollar Stretcher website.
Advice from the Farm

We've all seen people at the grocery store peeling down the cornhusks a little to check if they are buying nice looking ears of corn on the cob. Yesterday, I ran into a lady who told
me how her farming father taught her to select the best ears of corn.

Never peel down any of the cornhusks until you are ready to eat the corn. Pulling down the cornhusks releases the moisture and dries out the ear of corn. Instead, feel the corn silk. If it is wet, the corn is moist and fresh.

For several years now, we have been cooking our ears of corn in the microwave instead of a pot of boiling water. Leaving the cornhusks on the ears of corn, we cook each ear separately for about 3 1/2 minutes. Leaving the corn husks on not only gives the ears of corn great natural flavor, but it also keeps the ears of corn hot/warm until we are ready to sit down to eat together. We remove the cornhusks just before eating the ears of corn. We rarely use butter any more. We just don't find it necessary to slather on the butter and salt as we did in previous years when we boiled our ears of corn. Susan H.
Note from Lucy: I’m not sure I would cook my corn in the microwave with the husks on but I did learn not to pull back the husks….lol

Planning for Christmas

I am getting several Christmas gifts for friends and family this year for free! You might have heard of www.paperbackswap.com, but what you may not know is that they have beautiful hardback books as well. The best part is that you can trade your paperback or hardback books that you have already read and swap those for gifts for people on your Christmas list. For example, if you have a sports nut on your list, you can get them books on sports and maybe tie them up with their favorite snack, and you've got a great gift. Put some gardening books together with some garden gloves or some seed packets and you've got another great gift. Nicole B.

editor's note: I found many other similar sites by Googling "book swap sites". Or you can accomplish the same thing if you have a used bookstore in town. Just bring in your old books and use the credit to buy books for those on your Christmas list.

12 money-management tips for college students
Dollar Stretcher page for families
Cleaning Engineered Hardwood Floors

Well it has been a busy week here in the Stern household. We worried our way past Hurricane Gustav and now we have “Ike” lurking our there, trying to decide which way to go. I will be soooo glad when hurricane season is over. The Stern “roller coaster of life” is on the go with never a dull moment.

I was watching the grandkids last week and discovered an explosion of bananas in my freezer. I questioned JJ to find out why mashed bananas were all over the place and he said that he was trying to make a frozen banana float and he had to freeze the bananas first. He wanted to do it himself and he secretly did his deed while grandma was changing Jocelyne’s diaper. Jocelyne and I walked into the kitchen to see JJ whipping the floor with a bath towel, he was cleaning up, when Jocelyne exclaimed, “What a mess!” It was so funny that I just couldn’t fuss at him too much. BTW: I’m still cleaning up banana fragments in the freezer.

Another day last week, Jennifer called me to ask if I could go over to JJ’s school and help the nurse take some pencil lead out of JJ’s ear…..What? It seems that she was not allowed to put anything in his ear so the parents had to come do it. Jennifer was on the other side of town giving an estimate and she asked me to go. I got to the school and found JJ and two other students in the nurses office, the nurse was no where to be found. I waited a minute or two and decided to take matters into my own hands. I found a bottle of peroxide and poured a tiny amount into his ear. With his head to the side, we let the magic begin, the peroxide bubbled and tickled his ear. After a minute, I turned his ear to the side to drain the peroxide and the tip of a pencil came to the edge of his ear. I pulled the lead out and then cleaned his ear with a Kleenex. One more time with the peroxide and the job was done. I finely found the nurse, in the break room, and let her know that JJ was fine. School was to be over in about 20 minutes, so I decided that I would just take JJ home with me……I never did get an exclamation as to how the tip of a pencil got in his ear….What a day!
Have a great week everyone!