Hello, Friends,

So--

A man goes into a business office and there's a large dog, walking around on his hind paws, emptying all the wastepaper baskets.

"My goodness," the man says, "I've never seen anything like that before."

"He makes me do it. I have to earn my keep," says the dog.

"Oh, my! Does your owner know he has a talking dog?"

"Oh, please, mister don't tell him," begged the dog. "Or he'll make me answer the phones too."Empty nesters should never buy ten pounds of potatoes at one crack. I am posting this statement on the front of my refrigerator. It takes two people forever to use up ten pounds of potatoes. This is what I'm batching with tonight (the Frugal Swede went to see his mama):

Shortcut Potato Soup

(From Mister Food Cooks Like Mama)

1-1/2 cup chopped yellow onion
4 Tablespoons olive oil
4 cups diced potatoes
1 large carrot, grated
2 cups water
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
3 cups milk
2 Tablespoons chopped parsley

In a large, heavy saucepan, brown the chopped onion in the olive oil. Add the diced potatoes, the grated carrot, water, salt and pepper. Cook on low, stirring often, until potatoes are creamy, about 45 minutes. Keeping heat low, stir in the milk and the parsley. Heat through, then add the instant mashed potato flakes.

I serve this with crusty homemade rolls and sharp dill pickles.

Variation: add 1 cup chopped ham and 1 tsp. minced, roasted garlic.Darling Daughter goes through sewing machines like there's no tomorrow. First she had the one I won in a sewing contest in high school. Then she had the nice, nice one I ordered out of a Woman's Day catalog ten years ago. Last Saturday she made a six-minute visit home to trade me the out-of-kilter Woman's Day machine for my "blue jean" heavy duty machine. But in her hurry to get back out the door, she dropped the pressure foot on my living room floor. So now she's 200 miles away with a sewing machine that works, but no pressure foot. Ah, frustration builds character, eh? Yeah, right....