Polly S.'s Profile

Some of those are way older than the 80s (as am I). The Rubik's Cube was from the 70s, and the Gumby was even earlier.

If you're going to buy silver plate for $312, why not buy sterling instead? Silver plate will tarnish just as badly, and the plating will wear through. Sterling will last for generations. I have beautiful over-200-year-old solid silver spoons that I bought for less than $20 each.

I love the bookcase-door idea.

For less than $19 you can buy a solid silver teaspoon handmade 150 years ago, plus all the twine you need.

Yes! Pack them vertically, not horizontally, and they're MUCH less likely to break. I learned this the hard way.

We don't have children and our apartment is very far from childproofed. I am happy to have your children at my party if you plan to hold them in your arms--and take them outside if they start to scream--or if they are old enough to play alone together without killing each other, falling out the window, scribbling on the walls, etc. We set up my tiny home office with children's books, board games, paper, and crayons and our friends' children age 8+ seem to enjoy hanging out there.

Young terrors who plan to bang the glass doors of our bookcases; pour out my big fishbowl of fragile, dangerous little antiques and throw them at each other; run up and down the hallway screaming; grab fistfuls of hors d'oeuvres, drop them on the floor, and grind them into the rugs; etc. should be left home with a sitter. I am very fond of (most of) those little terrors and would love to see them on another occasion--preferably outdoors--but not at my party.

I haven't figured out a good way to tell parents all this, though. Suggestions welcome.

Those two pictures don't look that different to me--the one on the right just has a few more quilts.

There is no such thing as a mouse, alas. They exist only in the plural. You don't have a mouse, you have mice.

The best solution, if allergies etc. don't forbid it, is to borrow a cat for a week or two. Repeat as necessary.

Oops, I got it backwards! Sorry! Other way around!

If you do substitute buttermilk for OJ, reduce the sugar a bit. Similarly, if you substitute buttermilk for lemon juice, add a bit more sugar.

Depends on the recipe. If it's just a little zest, then it's a flavoring and you can substitute in some other flavoring instead.

But if there's a lot of citrus--like a cup of orange juice--then it might be there to provide acidity so the leavening will work properly and the cake will rise. If that's the case, you could substitute some other acidic liquid, such as buttermilk.