Moving

It’s been ages.  I’m moving here.  Please join me, won’t you?

Love,

LRR.

Thankful for

The secret to smart kids

Sucker

“This vacuum is sooo heavy.  I bet you couldn’t even move it.”

“I bet I could. I’m strong!”

“No, I think it’s too big for you.  No way could you push it.”

“I can do it, Mama!  Let me vacuum!“

Need. More. Coffee.

Busy. Busy. Busy busy. Laundry, researching health plans for next year, raising some people, getting prepared to clean the bathrooms, at some point hopefully I can shower today… too much in the hopper at once. What else is new? But, I feel guilty: been neglecting all my [two] fans, haven’t I? Haven’t been posting very regularly. Again, what else is new?

Not enough time to compose a thought here, so I’ll share a few “what I’m interested in” stuff for now. For now I need to enter the labyrinth of insurance coverage options. Whee.

See y’all later.

Leo at Zen Habits talks about “How to be childlike.” Now who couldn’t benefit from a little of that?

Surfing Scholastic’s booklist pages for inspiration.

Tsh again of Simple Mom, this time about balancing your never-ending housework duties with your never-ending parenting duties. Something I always need to work on.

I’ve had this cookbook, Love Soup, on my Amazon wish list a while now. Found Amy at Angry Chicken gives it an enthusiastic thumbs up. Now I really gotta have it.

I have a crush on Susan of Food Blogga. I read her article on sunday dinner and ran right out to buy all the ingredients for good old Italian “gravy” and meatballs. After eating it last Sunday, I think I love Susan even more.   You MUST try this recipe.  Holy crap.

Don’t tell me I’m “lucky” to have great kids.

I work my ass off to make them this way.

More on Resolution: Money

Did you know most banks have e-mail alerts??  I learned something new today.

Mine, for example, gives you the ability to sign up for daily balance alerts and/or to be notified if your checkbook balance falls below a certain point.

Now why did nobody tell me of this?!

Halloweeeeen

Organizing recipes with Del.icio.us is Bril.li.ant

I love cooking.  It’s magic.  Take a handful of raw stuff, chop and heat, stir and spice, and voila!  Feeding the bodies and souls of my loved ones… it never fails to thrill.  Except for that time I tried out Shepherd’s Pie and watched my children gag.   I suppose even the greatest chefs have a dud now and then and finish up the evening with a PB&J or a bowl of cereal.  Right?

Lately the joy of cooking has been waning.  When I first learned to cook [only a few years ago] I started with about a dozen dishes.  I made them over and over til I had them down pat.  Which was great for learning, but not so great now that everyone is completely tired of eating the same dinners over and over.  Time to expand my repertoire.

Been grilling my friends and family for new ideas.  I’ve been browsing my zillion cookbooks for inspiration.  But, mostly, I’ve been spending waaay too much time surfing the net for recipes.

My “Food” bookmark folder is now out. of. control.  Using the web as a cookbook is cool, but there’s just too much out there.  Everything looks good to me.  Kind of like grocery shopping on an empty stomach, and coming to an hour later and staring in horror at your overflowing cart.

I’ve been trying to figure out a way to organize all those awesome recipes.  I believe that bookmarking a recipe on the net is like putting it into the Bermuda Triangle.  Like I’m ever going to remember where that great frittata recipe is.  And what if I don’t know what I want to try tonight, but I know it’s got to have chicken in it?

Enter my savior, Tsh of SimpleMom.  She uses Del.icio.us to organize her online recipes. Now, why didn’t I think of this?!  Tagging recipes with categories, ingredients, and other keywords?  Brilliant.  If I’ve got a craving for pasta, I can search for pasta dishes.  Or, if I need an egg dish, I can search my recipes for eggs.  I’m even making a few tags for moods a’la cookthink – so if I need comfort food, or something spicy, or something good for a crowd, I can find it.

Read Tsh’s article and you too can have your own online cookbook! Creating my own Del.icio.us Cookbook ranks right up there with my first successful pot roast as the Most Thrilling Cooking Moment Ever.

If you care to join my network so we can share recipes, please do! Here is LRR’s network and Simplemom’s too.   I plan on shamelessly swiping as many recipes as I can from Tsh.  If you, like me, have been bored in the kitchen lately, and need some inspiration, perhaps you will too.

And thanks to my old friend of Mustache Robots and Books & Bars fame, I have my first recipe tagged.  Pineapple-Black Bean Enchiladas.   It’s 9am and I want to eat these now.  Thanks, JK.

All this food talk is making me hungry. Is it dinnertime yet?!

I heart Colorforms.

A friend of mine was reminiscing about eating one of them back in the day.  Anyone else remember these?

Not only are Colorforms fun for kids, adults like them too.  Exhibit A – Mr LRR’s work.  C3PO, R2D2 and Princess Leia:

If you’re interested in good old-fashioned fun for your kids, you really need these.