Okay, where do you get glow-in-the-dark paint? Cause I've got youth group kids coming over to my house at the end of the month and it would be amazing to have a few sheets of glow foam core hanging on the walls in the dining room and a few flashlights.

I remember using the dishwasher door as a prep/mixing surface when I was a kid. In fact, as I got bigger, I often wondered why we made oj (used the frozen and just add water kind) on the door when it was easier to make it in the sink. It a while to occur to me that Mom just had my sister and I do that because it…

When I'm sleeping somewhere other than home, I always keep my keys in my shoes and my shoes near my bed. In the case of an emergency I don't have to go hunting for my keys. And, since I have a flashlight on my key chain, I can easily find a light should I need it.

@infmom: Me too.

@ninedosus: I do the same thing...both with keeping a dish towel over my shoulder when I'm in the kitchen doing just about anything and occasionally walking out of the house with the towel still over my shoulder.

If I'm getting out the mixer, I'm just going to go ahead and make the cookies from scratch. Only takes marginally more time and, overall, I think the taste is better (I'm not a huge fan of Pillsbury mixes or doughs. They just don't have as good a taste as some of the others).

Some tips from my years of frequent business travel:

I was taught that the key to getting good, flaky pie crust was keeping the butter as cold as possible...which means handling it as little as possible. Maybe the refrigeration before rolling it out is equivalent. #recipes

I generally eat at my desk while watching a tv show on DVD or something on the web. It provides me a good mental break and is usually exactly the right length for my roughly 45 minute lunch break. I'm also fortunate that most people in my office respect others lunch time, treating it just like we were away from our…

This summer was the first when I've had a GPS while driving across multiple states. It was very helpful in finding the grocery store closest to our route to stop and get donuts for the high school kids in the back (volunteer church youth leader). Having the estimated time to destination was nice too. But I still…

I've been working 9/80 (every other Friday off) for a number of years now and I really like it. The 9 hour days (which usually turn into about 10-10.5 hours in the office, if you include lunch and incidental time) take a little getting used to, but having a short day one Friday and being completely off the next is…

@balls187: My cats have two jobs. Control the indoor pest population and take a nap with me on Sunday afternoons. This arrangement seems to work well for everyone involved...except maybe the pests.

I tend to shop based on combining coupons with sales. Then I cook and eat based on what I have on hand. I also have a fairly good idea of the regular price for most staples that I buy. Some people keep this in a price book, I tend to keep it in my head. It's not exact, but it works for me.

It does bother me when people I'm talking/eating/hanging out with are regularly texting/emailing/taking cell phone calls. I can understand if there's something legitimately important that needs to be dealt with then or a family emergency and the person makes an apology and deals with it quickly, but just random…

For breakables, I've had good luck wrapping them in t-shirts and putting them in the middle of my suitcase.

@wickedcupofjoe: Another ziploc bag fan here. I use them for all sorts of things when I travel. The gallon size are especially great for keeping magazines and books from getting mangled in my pack. Even if the bags aren't zipped, they work well.

@Fierock: Wait, there's more than six people in the Nothern Hemisphere who don't have a cell phone? No way!

@Tim Raines: And then us big people who like the sugary cereal (makes a great evening snack when you're in the mood for something sweet) have to search for the Coco-Frosted Sugar Bombs.

@William Mize: I love Target clearance, especially digging through end caps that have a bunch of random stuff collected together. I've gotten some great deals that way.

I tend to keep and use things way beyond the sell by, use by, expiration date and have never had any problems. My personal method of determining if food is still good is first by sight/smell and then by taste. If it looks bad, smells bad or just doesn't taste right, has changed consistency when it really shouldn't,…