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I make a really good soup with spicy sausage, white beans (canned), tomatoes (canned) and onions. I would like to put this up (can it). I know that I need to use a pressure cooker for meat and for beans. Two questions really: 1) Do I need to soak the beans overnight? 2) How long is the processing time? I have read lots of recipes and a majority of them advise soaking the beans if not actually cooking them. The processing time for both ground meat and for dry beans is 75 minutes at 10lbs pressure when in pint jars. Does this sound correct if everything is mixed together?

I have a recipe for gluten free scones. It calls for guar gum but I read that xanthan gum is actually better for baked goods. Additionally, its all the store had. The flour mix that I bought already contains xanthan gum. Can I omit it entirely from recipe?

I plan on making pickled eggs with a hot pickling liquid and fully cooked, cooled hard boiled eggs. Then once in the jar, they go into the fridge for one week before being eaten. Can I reuse a clean recently washed jar with a screw on lid?

I have polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) so I don't have regular periods or ovulate regularly. My doctor said that if I can't afford infertility treatments, I would probably get pregnant if I just lost weight. I know that stress can affect your period. If my job is stressful, would taking antianxiety medications for it help regulate my period in so much as stress is no longer a factor? (I understand that many antianxiety/antidepressant medications decrease sex drive.)

When icing/frosting is made with milk, butter, cream or cream cheese and large amounts of powdered sugar, is refrigeration required or does the large amount of sugar inhibit bacterial growth (enough to prevent food poisoning)? How much does temperature/humidity factor in?

Whenever I make Mexican food, the only side dish I can come up with is refried beans or rice. What are some other dishes I can make to serve with carnitas, tacos, enchiladas, etc?

I applied for a job recently and asked that they did not contact my current employer. Since then, I have been released from my job and it's known that I obviously will be searching for a job. I am not leaving under the best circumstances but also don't want to seem like I'm hiding things.

How do I phrase the response to this potential future employer that they can contact my current employer but may want to keep in mind the circumstances of me leaving? Do I mention that at all?

Our water pump for our well went on the fritz last week and stopped working. It was a reasonably easy fix but required part of our yard to be dug up in the area of the well. The well was charged with chlorine.

Since then, when you take a shower you smell like a swimming pool. That's not a big deal but the water is varying shades of brown. It tastes slightly off but I'm avoiding drinking it. When the water is ran for several hours, it can become clear but returns to brown later.

What is the cause? When can I expect it to go back to normal? Is it safe?

I have 13 young plants in my bucket garden. The buckets are 5 gallon buckets with about two inches of stone in the bottom and a mix of top soil and potting soil in them.

We had a terrible rain storm that left several inches of water standing on the surface of the buckets. Even when drained off, the soil is completely soaked! (Think quick sand consistency.)

I added more dry soil to the top and replanted most of the plants.

The plants that are having the most problems are the cucumbers, collard greens, brussel sprouts and broccoli. These plants are wilted and limp.

Any advice to save them? Will they be okay if we get some hot weather to dry out the buckets?

I have a rather large pumpkin-about 20# that has been growing on the vine for about a month now. It grew very rapidly and is now ripening. While the ripening is premature for Halloween, its good for entering in a fair.

A few weeks ago, I noticed several rough tan spots approximately the size of a nickle on the side of the pumpkin. These spots have not changed in size but appear that they are getting more open. Initially, I thought that they were splitting because of the rapid growth.

In addition to them getting more open, they have orange stuff coming out of them and are starting to get soft.

I'm dealing with powdery mildew on my vine and plan to treat that with milk and water.

Any thoughts on the cause and the treatment for these spots? Is it too late? I'd like to preserve my pumpkin till fair time (about a month from now).

Thanks.

My fiance and I must keep our wedding small due to the size of the venue and the cost. We have made our guest list and have little room to allow for extra plus ones and for children. How do we tactfully ask for people not to bring children and extraneous non-significant significant others (i.e. a boyfriend of a couple weeks)? (We are inviting some children-those of the closest family, but not those of friends, other family.)

I have a blog I've been working on for about a year on Blogger. I have over 500 entries because I copied and pasted over from two other blogs I've had in the past. Now I'm thinking I want to put the blogs into a different order. For instance, previously I would have entries in this order-1/1/05, 1/2/05, 1/1/06, 1/1/11, 1/3/05, 1/3/06, 1/4/11...

Now I would like everything to be in order for a year rather than a day. Is there someway to reorder these blogs without copying and pasting?

I have a six pound light metal medicine cabinet with the heaviest part being the mirrored door. I would like to hang it on a drywall wall. It has two holes for mounting at the upper back corners. Anything special I need to hang it? Just nails? Hit studs? Thanks.

I have two pumpkins I picked up a couple of weeks before Halloween on my porch. Minus a spot where a squirrel tried to eating one, I think they are in pretty good condition. They might have had a freeze thaw cycle several times as nights have started to drop below freezing here. Can I use them for pumpkin soup? Can I roast the seeds still? They are regular pumpkins for carving.

Of course, I'm in the middle of a project that needs to be done by Saturday afternoon and my machine is skipping stiches. It goes about an inch or two before going about a half inch with no stiches and then picking up again. Any easy fixes? I think it might be the thread tension but playing with the tension knob hasn't helped.