Wingin' it in the Windy City

Winter Garden

2011-08-07T07:33:00.001-07:00

Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Wow. That's all I could think when I finished this book last night. I listened to the audiobook and while I was a little frustrated with the characters at the beginning of the book I got pulled in and blew through the last 5 discs last night; I just couldn't put it down. I was also pleasantly surprised that I got a little bit of a history lesson regarding the Siege of Leningrad. I haven't read a book this good in a long time. I've also tried to make this spoiler free so no specific details included ;-)

View all my reviews

Panhandlers

2011-05-16T19:34:00.000-07:00

I've written about this before and it's something that I never quite get used to, although after working in Chicago for 14 years one would think I wouldn't even notice anymore.

I don't know what the PC term is, but I usually say panhandlers. These are the people that hang around outside asking for money. Some hold signs, some stand wordlessly with plastic cups in their hands, some drone on like carnival barkers "spare some change t'day?" others stand or sit in the midst of the commuter route which forces the throngs to either see them or trip over them. Then there are the ones that bring their children with them which is particularly heart breaking. The one woman I see frequently always has very nicely dressed children, so that gives me some comfort that they are being cared for.

There are the regulars that I get used to seeing every commute into the office and every commute out to the train; if they aren't there I notice it. Two of these fixtures outside Union station are the elderly African-American man (he puts up a sign in July on his birthday which last year said he was 91 years old) and an older, hunched over Caucasian woman. They each stake out their respective territories; she holds her Streetwise magazines for sale and sometimes can be seen sitting and reading. He wears dark glasses (for the longest time I thought he was blind but have since figured out he is not) and has perfected the art of sleeping sitting up straight in his chair; now I know why he wears the dark glasses. They are both at their stations pretty much daily, regardless of weather.

I noticed three new faces these last few weeks.   One was a nicely dressed woman in her 50s. She wore a hat and held a sign that read "Lost my job, behind in my rent". She placed herself in front of a large utility box, maybe as a wind break or maybe to give herself a place to lean against. She was carefully made up and stood motionless, not saying a word.  The first time I noticed her she startled me because she was so very still until I met her gaze and she looked at me hopefully with her dark brown eyes. She had a purse and a carry-all bag next to her, one that she may have used when she was still employed. Something about her eyes and her quiet grace stuck with me.

Further on my commute, next to a Starbucks, was a young man who also held a cardboard sign. His said "Out of work. I just want to feed my Family". He had underscored the word "Family" three times. He didn't say anything as he stood there, shifting his weight from foot to foot, but he had a nice smile, a hopeful smile on his face, as he tried to catch someone's eye.

Then there was the older gentleman with the sign that said "Need to pay for daughter's graduation/prom". This almost made me stop and say "are you kidding me? Really?"  Then I thought, "well, at least he's honest".

After passing the quiet, dignified woman for several days I decided I would give her some cash. It wasn't much, but I folded up a $5 bill and put it in my coat pocket so it would be easy to get to when I saw her. But she wasn't there. She wasn't there the next day or the following day either. I wondered if she was OK and even thought that maybe she was able to find work and didn't need to ask for help anymore.

So today I walked with my $5 bill to the young man that just wanted to feed his Family. I approached him and as I took my hand out of my pocket, he extended his. I touched his hand and put the bill in it; he smiled and said "thank you, thank you". I smiled and kept walking. I heard him pause behind me and then call out "thank you so much!".  As I walked I imagined him gathering up the money he collected today and going to the store to buy groceries. I hope that is what he is going to do and I wish him the best of luck.

Japanese Noodle Soup

2011-03-26T18:07:00.000-07:00

I love noodles. Love.them. It can be cheesy, saucey Italian, sweet Pad Thai, chewy Kluski egg noodles, Spaetzle or Udon. I won't turn down a plate (or bowl) of pasta. Never.

Tonight we were craving Udon noodles. There is no good noodle shop anywhere near us so we decided to try and make our own soup. I found Asian Mushroom Soup on my favorite cooking website and decided to give it a try. Here's what I ended up with:

It turned out great! It was very simple to make and hearty too. I didn't even add the chicken breast but we didn't miss it. Seems my store didn't have anything smaller than a 4 lb head of cabbage so instead I used a bag of pre-cut cole slaw. It was the exact amount I needed, a time saver and was even on sale. I bought some fresh ginger to use but apparently the bagger missed it as it wasn't in any of my bags when I got home. I'd like to know how much of a difference that would have made as I thought the seasoning was pretty good as it was. Hubby did add a few drops of fish sauce to his bowl and deemed it "perfect".

Answer

2011-03-07T20:10:00.000-08:00

Good guesses!

Yes, it was a cardboard tube. No it didn't have a slug trail on it and no it didn't used to be inside a roll of paper towels.

Drum roll please.....

It was the cardboard tube inside a roll of foil. However, the cardboard tube was in the kitchen drawer where I keep the foil, waxed paper, etc. The box (also empty) was found on the counter. I don't even want to try to understand why my husband put the empty cardboard tube back into the drawer and left the empty box on the counter. Wouldn't you at least put the tube back into the box before putting the whole (empty) thing back in the drawer for me to find when I went to pull out some aluminum foil?

Thanks for playing - it was fun to see your guesses :-)

What Is It?

2011-03-06T06:44:00.000-08:00

Any guesses? Here's a clue: I found it in the kitchen.

I'll post the answer tomorrow.

The F Word

2011-03-04T18:40:00.000-08:00

My 6 year old daughter was recounting her day at school today. She mentioned a few people and described them by their shapes - one woman in particular was the "F" word. I asked her what that meant and here's the conversation that followed:

Me: So, what is the "F" word?
DD: You know - "fat" but I didn't want to hurt her feelings by telling her that.
Me: Well, people are all sorts of shapes you know.
DD: Yeah, some people are round like circles, some are like rectangles...
Me: Yes, that's right.
DD: And you, you're sort of a half circle.

I guess that's one way to put it.

Popcorn Cake

2011-02-20T17:38:00.000-08:00

Ever feel like making popcorn balls at home? Occasionally I do but the thought of having to fiddle with a candy thermometer to cook the syrup always puts me off. Today I found this fabulously easy recipe for something called Popcorn Cake. It's really just a giant popcorn ball but 100 times easier. If you can melt butter and marshmallows (a la Rice Krispie Treats) you can make Popcorn Cake.

I used our air popper; the 1/2 c measure yielded 14 c of popped corn. The recipe called for 18 c so I made a second batch and my hubby and little boy ate the leftovers. I was also able to use up a bag of marshmallows that had been languishing in the pantry since October, so everyone was happy. I see more of this yumminess in our future.

In the Kitchen

2011-01-22T19:40:00.000-08:00

I have been cooking up new recipes left and right lately.

This is a spinach, mushroom and mozzarella Calzone. The original recipe just called for mozzarella and pepperoni, which I made as well. It was really good and the whole family enjoyed them. I frequently use my bread machine to make dough and that was a great time saver here. The ingredients were simple and inexpensive:

4oz Hormel Turkey Pepperoni - $3
Mozzarella, spaghetti sauce and dough ingredients were already in my pantry.

Today I was inspired to make two dishes for our out-of-town company:

Ricotta Gnocchi - so good! It was easy (I had never made gnocchi) and delicious. I used home-canned tomatoes from last summer which I think made the sauce bright and fresh tasting. Another less than $10 meal; the only specialty items I had to buy were:

15 oz tub of low-fat ricotta cheese $3
Fresh basil $2.49 (which I also used for the recipe below).

Fresh Tomato Shrimp Pasta - another tasty dish but sampling it after the gnocchi made it seem bland in comparison. This dish had a few specialty ingredients:

Fresh mozarella on sale at $2.49 for 8 oz
Bag of fresh spinach $2.89
Fresh basil $2.49
Shrimp, which I already had in my freezer. You could easily switch out the shrimp for chicken to make this a less expensive meal.

One change I'd make next time is to eliminate the fresh mozzarella and add some fresh grated Parmesean before serving.

Each of these dishes made enough for four servings with leftovers.

Laundry Money

2011-01-09T17:27:00.000-08:00

January 1 of last year I decided I would save all the money I found while doing laundry. This is what I ended up with by December 31; it's $7.08.

Part of this reason I did this was to show Hubby how much money he loses by leaving it in his jeans. I generally give him the paper money back out of pity. This year I also returned a flash drive and various pieces of hardware. I cringe at the havoc a metal screw would wreak on the rest of a batch of laundry; thankfully it did not.

I think the eight years of nagging him may have made an impact because overall this amount is less than past years. It'll still buy me two tall mochas from Starbucks, so I'm happy.

Coming to America

2010-12-01T15:01:00.000-08:00

During the Thanksgiving season my daughter's Kindergarten class learned about Ellis Island, immigration and why some people may have wanted to leave their homelands to come to America.

One project they completed was creating a collage with pictures of the items they would bring if they could only bring one suitcase to their new homeland.

This is what she would bring:

A purse, towels, a gold necklace, earrings and bracelet set, three diamond rings, men's clothing, a pair of gym shoes, a pair of winter boots and pyrex containers full of food.

I'm relieved to see she made some practical choices such as towels and clothing (albeit men's clothing) but the jewelry made me smile. She is turning into such a girly girl which is so unlike her mom, but I still love her so.

Epilogue

2010-11-26T18:45:00.000-08:00

I froze my fresh pumpkin in order to use it in my Thanksgiving pumpkin pie, which I made yesterday. I noticed a few differences in the resultant pie - the color was a little brighter, it tasted sweeter and the texture was softer, which I did not like. It reminded me of the texture of mashed sweet potatoes. I liked mashed sweet potatoes as a savory dish, but not dessert.

This leads me to wonder what is pumpkin pie "supposed" to taste like? I assume that the pie that is made with fresh pumpkin is how the pie was intended to taste, but I don't like it. However, maybe I do not like it because I'm used to pie made with canned pumpkin and my taste buds don't know what the good stuff tastes like? Or if I had only been offered pumpkin pie with fresh pumpkin would I have decided I did not like it?

I do know this, I tried sweet potato pie once and no, I didn't like it which leads me to believe I wouldn't have become the pumpkin pie lover that I am today had I been exposed to fresh pumpkin containing pies as a kid. Next year I'm back to using canned.

We made one other change in our Thanksgiving menu this year. We opted to use fresh green beans in a dish that didn't include mushroom soup. They were delicious and I will absolutely make them again. Here is the recipe:

Garlicky Green Beans with Mushrooms

Cooked Pumpkin

2010-11-14T13:20:00.000-08:00

I've come to the conclusion that there is no good reason to buy a pie pumpkin (or sugar pumpkin) and cook it yourself so that you can collect the cooked pumpkin for another use such as pie or bread.

I was lured into giving it a try because the smaller pie pumpkins were on sale for $1.50 each. I Googled and found three ways to cook them; bake, boil or microwave. I didn't feel like baking them for over an hour and using so much engery for such a small item, boiling always makes me think about the vitamins leaching out into the boiling water so I opted to microwave. Each pumpkin weighed 2 3/4 lb so I microwaved them for 7 minutes per pound. After cooling I scraped off the cooked pumpkin; it was largely stringly, although I had thoroughly scraped out the seeds and guts pre-cooking. The first pumpkin yielded roughly 1 1/2 cup of cooked pumpkin, the second a bit more.

I checked the label on a 15 oz can of Libby's canned, pureed pumpkin from my pantry; it yields 3 1/2 half-cup servings which is about the same amount that my first pumpkin produced. The sodium was the other concern I had; the canned option contained 5 mg per serving, really nothing. The cost for the canned pumpkin was $1.69 not even 25 cents more than my whole pumpkin cost.

So, other than the seeds I saved for roasting I'm pretty disappointed at how labor intensive this experiment was. Unless I somehow end up growing my own pie pumpkins in the future I won't be doing this again.

I did just taste the toasted pumpkin seeds and they were delicious! Here is my recipe:

Remove any stringly bits of pumpkin from seeds and rinse thoroughly. Please the seeds in a small saucepan; add water to cover seeds. Add 1 T sea salt to water and stir. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer for 20 minutes. The seeds will look gray when they are done. Pour cooked seeds into a strainer and rinse. Drain thoroughly.

Preheat oven to 325. Place drained seeds on a jelly roll pan. Drizzle 1 T of olive oil over the seed; distribute the oil throughout the seeds with your hand and flatten the seeds into one layer. Sprinkle 1 t of sea salt on the seeds and place pan in the oven.

Bake for 45 or longer, until browned. Watch closely at the end of baking time to avoid burning the seeds.

Angry and Germy

2010-11-10T21:30:00.000-08:00

What goes around comes around.

My daughter had a boy named Jeremy in her class last year. For the whole school year she insisted his name was "Germy". She said it in a matter-of-fact way; she wasn't making fun of him, she honestly believed his name was Germy. I tried to explain that Jeremy sounds like Germy but he name is pronounced Jeremy. It all fell on deaf ears.

This year Germy is in another classroom but she has a new girl friend named Avery. She doesn't have any problem with this name but her little brother does. He insists her name is Angry. It's another case of that's just how it sounds to him and he refuses to listen to anyone who tells him different. It makes his sister crazy and his mommy laugh.

Samin

2010-11-09T11:58:00.000-08:00

Last night my daughter spelled her first word all by herself; it was "samin". Sound it out - can you guess what it was?

Her homework instructions were to draw a picture of a food that started with "s" and then write the letters based on how the word sounded to her. First she drew a sort of rough square and told me that was "salmon". I realized that she had drawn it like she sees it on her plate so I suggested instead of drawing it as a serving size maybe draw a fish instead. So she did, complete with whiskers (or eyelashes, I'm not sure) and slowly sounded it out, writing down a letter at a time. When she was done and I was actually able to read what she wrote I thought I might cry. She is learning to write!

Her reading is also coming along and she is picking out the words "the", "to", "go" in newspapers, books, billboards - it's really exciting to see how much she is learning and noticing these lessons in her real life surroundings.

Heaven

2010-10-25T18:56:00.000-07:00

This evening when I was tucking in my almost-six-year-old she pulled one of her usual delay tactics; she said she had to ask me a question. Then she blurted it out:

"What happens when we go to heaven?" and before I could say anything she added
"do we get made again? When we die, do we get made again?"

Silence on my part. I wasn't raised with much, if any, religious beliefs. My parents opted to let us make our own choices as adults. However, that isn't so easy when you were not raised with any foundation to refer to. In hindsight I think it was a cop out; one was raised Hindu, the other a Catholic - where would they even start? So they did nothing. The little bits that I did know were based on Catholicism but even that was woefully lacking. In 1999, while having a particularly difficult time in my life, I realized I felt as if something was missing from my life. I decided to attend RCIA or "Rite of Christian Intiation for Adults" the adult education program for Catholic church.

I was baptisized, received my first Holy Communion and was confirmed all at the Easter Vigil service of 2000. Becoming a Catholic gave me focus and a sense of calmness; feeling like I was part of a much bigger group of people - a huge group of people that believed the same things and did the same things during Mass any where in the world. That was a great feeling. The ritual of the Church and its history gave me comfort.

However in the days since that night in 2000 I, like many "cradle Catholics" have become more and more disappointed, dismayed and even horrified with various activies and positions that the Church has taken. I haven't been to Mass in over a year. I used to enjoy it and actually looked forward to that one hour a week where I knew exactly what was going to happen and was going to be surrounded with like minded people. It was peaceful, predictable and it soothed me.

So, now I'm a parent and have a child that is asking questions. Just what do I believe? I better figure it out; the questions are only going to get more difficult.

Mmmmmmalabrigo

2010-09-02T15:59:00.000-07:00

What's better than getting your hands on some yummy Malabrigo? FREE Malabrigo!

Check out the fabulous giveway here:

Malabrigo Giveaway

Becareful when you go on the Malabrigo website - you could lose an hour or two just ooohing and ahhing over all the lush yarns and vibrant colors.

Good Luck!

Vacation Drama

2010-07-17T12:57:00.000-07:00

Take four kids (2, 3, 4 and 5 years old) two sets of parents, one set of grandparents and stick 'em all in a house for the weekend during a heat wave and what do you get? Drama.

I guess I can't complain. I know many families have much worse dynamics with their relatives and overall we are pretty civil and reasonable with each other. The problem comes with the "gotta get out of the house" folks vs the "I'm on vacation and want to take it easy" folks. You may have guessed that Hubby and I are on Team IOVAWTTIE while the others are on Team GGOOTH no matter if it's 100 degrees in the shade and simply stepping outside for 5 minutes results in heat exhaustion or not. The two senior citizens have insisted on going out for several daily walks (by themselves, thank goodness) and come back in fanning themselves with their hats and marveling about how unbearably hot it is outside.

We are staying in a nice suburban house - they have a lovely sizeable, shaded backyard with a great wooden swing set, covered back porch and plenty of water toys/activities. What's wrong with the kids playing out back, the adults sitting on the shaded porch and calling it an afternoon? Why do we have to pack everyone up and leave the premises in order for it to count as a fun activity "for the kids"? It's not for the kids, it's for the adults.

I just about lost it trying to negotiate with Team GGOOTH and figuring out the logistics of how to fit in a visit to the pool, a visit to the Science Center and celebrating the 2 year old's birthday in between naps and feeding times for the kids. I'm steadfast in not giving up my children's nap times in favor of doing a bunch of activities to keep the adults happy. Nope, not worth it. You will always end up paying for it later and it's just not fair to the nap skipping kid either.

After much discussion I stayed home with the napping 3 year old while the 2 year old went out with Team GGOOTH (of which his parents are members). We will be meeting up for dinner once he wakes up and I'm enjoying the quiet until then. Rest assured that dinner will be full of the antics of an over-tired 2 year old; I will relish my role as just the aunt and can stand back and let his parents juggle him in between bites of their cold dinners.

Indoor S'mores

2010-07-17T12:40:00.000-07:00

We are on a 4-day mini get-away this weekend. I brought supplies to make S'mores with the kids - did you know that Campfire makes a "giant roaster" marshmallow that is the size of a lemon? They are insanely enormous.

Personally, I'm ho-hum about s'mores; I think it's a fun idea but it seems that my marshmallow is always over or underdone, the chocolate doesn't melt enough and then there is the fuss of actually having to build an open fire to roast the marshmallows. Last night it was stifling hot so my SIL introduced me to a new version of s'more making. Read on at your own risk - they are addictive and now you can have them ANYTIME you want.

Take 1 graham cracker square (half a rectangle), put it on a plate and top with a marshmallow. Microwave for 20 seconds. Remove and place 1/2 of a Hershey bar on top of the marshmallow and then top with the other graham cracker square. That's it! Now brace yourself.

It's ooey, gooey decadence. I actually like the flavor of the marshmallow better - don't miss the smokey flavor at all. The chocolate is completely melted and the graham cracker is crisp. Oh my, this is really much too convenient for me. Dangerously convenient.

The Girl and the Guacamole

2010-05-19T16:14:00.000-07:00

Hubby and I watched several installments of Jamie Olivers Food Revolution on television last month. It was disturbing but made me feel good about the efforts we have made, and been relatively successful with, introducing and teaching our two kiddos about food and making good food choices.

Recently my daughter and I were talking to someone about how much we love guacamole - I asked her if she remembered what is in guacamole; within a few seconds she listed avocados, red onion and tomatoes. I think she even remembered the lime juice! I was so proud of her, especially since I had seen the Jamie Oliver episode where he held up various common veggies and the kids didn't have a clue as to what they were (I prefer to believe that was creative editing, but who knows).

Here is our go-to recipe for Guacamole - we absolutely love it and avocados have "good" fat, so eat in good health!

Where is the Off Switch?

2010-03-22T17:36:00.000-07:00

"I wish I could not think once in a while"

~ MaryAnne Williams

Ahhhhh, wouldn't that be nice? I've longed for an off switch for my brain since I was in college. I was the responsible one; planning, saving, thinking, organizing, careful about my choices. I had friends that used school loan money to go on vacation - Aruba and Hawaii to name a few. They "deserved" it after all. Me, well I did go to Ft. Lauderdale my junior year in college, drove down and split the room with two friends to save cash. As I recall I brought a giant bag of grapefruit with me thinking I'd eat that for breakfast and save on eating out.

Another friend wanted to know if she was fertile so she decided after she was married to find out. It didn't matter that neither she or her husband had good jobs; in fact her husband was still in college when she became pregnant. They lived in her parents basement until her baby was about three years old because that's all they could afford. She once told me "I can always continue my education at a later stage in my life; I'm only fertile for so long". I knew it was an indirect dig at my choice to wait to have kids. Thankfully, even though I was in my late 30s before having my first baby I now have had two healthy children and a good, dependable job to help support them. I have no regrets waiting and establishing myself in a career before hand.

I've saved for retirement since my first job. Sure, I was only 23 years old but I listened when the old-timers at the office told me it was the best thing to do; that before I knew it time would be flying by and if I waited it could be too late. So I did. I also increased my contributions to absorb raises I received; I didn't miss the money since I hadn't see it anyways. Another friend, she'd laugh and say "how do you know you aren't going to die tomorrow?" Well... that's true. But how do I know I won't live until I'm 85? No surprise, I'd rather make the safer choice and save. Funny, she started medical school married to one husband and finished it married to another. Apparently in the second divorce she cleared a chunk of money (his since they were married hardly one year) and was able to pay off those school loans. Funny how that works.

Which brings me to current day - raising two young kids with my husband. I have less chance to stop thinking now that I'm thinking for both of us it seems. Thinking about saving for college (again!), budgeting, making sure the property tax bill is paid. Wondering are my kids developing normally? Do they have good manners? Should I sign them up for soccer? Are they eating well-balanced meals? Did they wash their hands before dinner? None of these things would get done if I didn't think of them first and do something about them. It's exhausting, as I'm sure many women would agree. It also makes me all the more in awe of women who can do it alone; while my husband may switch his brain off when he gets home he does play with the kids, take them to the park, cook a good part of the meals and loves to read them stories before bedtime. I'm grateful for that.

But I'd still, once in my life, I would like to know what it feels like to be able to turn my brain off. Just for a day or two.

A Critter Mystery

2010-03-15T17:27:00.000-07:00

I came home from work today and as usual went to the back door to let the dog out. I stand there and usually look around to see if any of the squirrels we feed are out and about. I glanced up to the knot hole in our maple tree; we suspect they have a nest in there so it's fun to see if one is peeking out at us.

This is what I saw:

It's a squirrel alright, but I'm preeeety sure he is dead. I stood there for about 30 seconds and he was motionless (and 2 hours later he still is). Now I have questions running through my mind.

How did he die? Was it old age? Something we fed him? Was he sick? And how did he end up in that weird position? Did he have a rodent heart attack which caused him to fling himself backwards out of the knot hole resulting in him hanging out of the knot hole in a supine position and upside down? Or did he get stuck and hung there until he died? I hope that isn't what happened - poor guy.

Now what do we do? The tree is in the middle of our dinky yard so the dog and the kids will likely come across bits and pieces as he starts to decay. We also have visiting skunks, possums, raccoons and a great horned owl that visits occasionally; would one of them try to eat the carcass? Or not since it's already dead?

Do I send Hubby up there to extract him? But he’s pretty far up - at least 16’. He seems to think he can knock the squirrel loose with his branch cutter but I have my doubts. Or what if the squirrel falls apart as he is trying to knock the body out? Gross.

We'll see what happens this weekend.

Interview with a 3-year-old

2010-03-06T16:44:00.000-08:00

Not to be outdone my 3-year-old is debuting with his very first interview:

What is something mommy always says to you? "No"

What makes mommy happy? Happy

What makes mommy sad? (shows a dramatic "sad" face)

How does mommy make you laugh? Ha ha ha ha

What was your mommy like as a child? (no answer)

How old is mommy? 4

How tall is mommy? (both hands up as high as he can stretch)

What is mommy’s favorite thing to watch on TV? Snow White

What does mommy do when you’re not around? I don't know

What is mommy really good at? Snow White

What is mommy not very good at? Mad

What does mommy do for her job? Work on train

What is mommy’s favorite food? Chicken (what we were currently eating)

What makes you proud of mommy? Happy

If mommy were a cartoon, who would she be? Snow White

What do you and mommy do together? Play cars

How are you and mommy the same? I don't know

How are you and mommy different? (no answer)

How do you know mommy loves you? Give me hugs

What does mommy like most about daddy? Sucker (for the record I do not think my husband is a sucker!)

Where is mommy’s favorite place to go? Bannockburn (neighboring town aka work)

Interview with a 5-year-old

2010-03-04T17:23:00.000-08:00

This is my annual interview with my daughter (and this year my son participated too). March 2009 was when we did this the first time. She is now 5. Some of her answers were identical to last year (what makes mommy sad, how does mommy make you laugh and what does mommy like most about daddy?),

What is something mommy always says to you? "I love you"

What makes mommy happy? Being helpful

What makes her sad? Not being helpful

How does mommy make you laugh? Tickle me

What was your mommy like as a child? Medium-sized and happy

How old is mommy? 42

How tall is mommy? 42

What is mommy's favorite thing to watch on TV? The Olympics

What does mommy do when you're not around? Make stuff special for us

What is mommy really good at? Working

What is mommy not very good at? At burning your hand

What does mommy do for her job? Work at your work

What is mommy's favorite food? Vegetables (I wish! Last year it was "carrots and grapefruit" I'm very grateful she has this perceived healthy eating on my part)

What makes you proud of mommy? When you give me right things

If mommy were a cartoon, who would she be? The Simpsons

What do you and mommy do together? We go out to dinner

How are you and mommy the same? We have matching greyhound shirts (last year it was "we both match dresses")

How are you and mommy different? You're taller and I'm medium sized

How do you know mommy loves you? When I'm helpful

What does mommy like most about daddy? Marry him

Where is mommy's favorite place to go? Potbellys

He's Just Not That Into You

2010-02-02T17:37:00.001-08:00

I checked this movie out of the library this past weekend and have come to the conclusion that this should be required viewing for all young women.

I know it was a comedy, but honestly so much of it rang true to life. Everything from the beginning where little girls are told "Jimmy is picking on you because he likes you" to the crazy things women do (and yes, I did too) trying to analyze what a man did, what did it mean, what should you do all the way to the clique of waiting by the phone, checking 10 times to make sure it was working, etc. I have notebooks that I kept in high school jotting down what my crush did/said/didn't do with my resulting analysis. Just imagine where I'd be now if I had spent all that time studying something important like math, English or biology.

It was funny to watch now but a little painful to see it happen and remember that I really did do some of those things. Stupid, pathetic, low self-esteem things. Is there anyway I can prevent my daughter from going through those painful, useless gyrations? Someway to help her see it before she gets mired in the I'm-not-happy-or-complete-unless-I'm-in-a-relationship muck?

Much to my chagrin she is already idealizing Cinderella and the Price, Snow White and the Prince, etc. I really tried to keep all that stuff away from her but once one little girl at school had it and started talking princesses it spread like wild fire. My girl came home talking about this stuff without ever having seen it. I caved and allowed her to have some dress-up princess gowns, and allowed Grandma to buy her Cinderella and off we went.

Now she is talking about the song "All the Single Ladies" and while I know she has never heard it at home or seen the video it makes me a little sad realizing the influence her peers have over her. I'll just have to be more influential.

Kids and Drumsticks

2010-02-02T17:24:00.001-08:00

This is what my 3 year old's place mat looks like after he is done eating chicken. He cleans the bones off like an expert and lines them up. In real life it is one of the funniest things I've seen - that he is so methodical and organized. My 5 year old is no where near as skilled at eating chicken off the bone as her little brother.

However, she does say some pretty funny things. Of course she doesn't mean to be funny which is usually why it is funny in the first place.

Earlier this week I was cleaning her ears post bathtime. She stood nice and straight and said "Mommy, I'm not going to move around so you don't punch my drumstick" at which point I burst out laughing and almost did punch her drumstick, er I mean poke her ear drum.

Those are the moments that really can help wash away a day of stress.

Chocolate Banana Bread

2009-10-12T16:54:00.001-07:00

This is a loaf of banana bread I made yesterday. It's brown because it's chocolate banana bread. OK - the real name of the recipe is Whole Wheat Chocolate Banana Bread but don't let the whole wheat part put you off (it almost made me not want to make it).

The great thing about this recipe is that the addition of cocoa masks the sometimes overwhelming flavor of the whole wheat flour. I love whole wheat in bread but not always so keen about it in my baked goods. With this recipe you get the best of both worlds; you feel like you are eating a treat (which you most definitely are) as well as getting a little bit of some healthy whole grains. I also liked the fact that there isn't much oil - only 1 T and the sugar, at 3/4 of a cup, wasn't terrible either.

I modified the recipe as follows: used Rice milk instead of skim milk for my milk allergic son, used 1/2 white flour and 1/2 wheat (I was a little nervous to go all the way and use 100% wheat flour) but next time I will try and increase the ratio of wheat to white flour. And I only used 3/4 t of nutmeg instead of a full teaspoon. Nutmeg can be such a strong spice; even at the reduced amount it still came through loud and clear.

Hubby proclaimed this banana bread "perfect" in its current state and told me not to change anything. I can't get any better compliment than that.

When Life Gives You Lemons

2009-10-06T17:21:00.000-07:00

....step on 'em!

My Dad loves to send me those internet emails that go 'round the world. He has become a lot more selective, especially since I taught him to use Snopes.com. This was one he sent me this week. I liked the message - kind of the farm animal version of "Who Moved My Cheese".

"A donkey fell in a deep well. The villagers, not knowing if he had survived in good condition, decided to just bury him in the well.

At first the donkey was very upset and angry. "How could they do this to me? I worked hard for them and I never complained about the heavy loads. I was loyal and did a great job." he thought to himself.

As the shovels of dirt continued to fall on his head he realized that complaining and being angry was doing no good and certainly wasn't going to help him get out of the well. He finally decided that with each shovel of dirt that fell on his head he would shake it off and step up.

He continued to shake off the dirt and step up. By the time the villagers had thrown in their last shovel of dirt the donkey was able to step up and out of the well by himself."

Setting aside all my questions (how did a donkey fall in a well? If it was a dry well why wasn't it capped? If it wasn't a dry well why would the villagers risk their water supply by contaminating it with a dead donkey?) I liked the message: if you aren't happy with something that is going on in your life change it!

Blow... Didn't

2009-10-03T19:26:00.001-07:00

Tonight I finally got around to watching the 2001 movie "Blow". I don't know why it never appealed to me 8 years ago, but it was on regular old TV tonight and I was looking for some background that I could knit to so I decided to watch. I'm glad I did.

I thought it was quite good. Based on a true story - I always like those types of movies - it was intriguing to see the life of George Jung go from rags to riches to rags again. It was poignant and somehow I ended up feeling sad for him, but especially his daughter. I tend to try and avoid any sad movies nowadays so this one snuck up on me. Again, I'm glad it did.

Johnny Depp, as usual did a great job. Lots of other big names too - Penelope Cruz, Ray Liotta, Rachel Griffiths, Paul Reubens (Pee Wee Herman - I thought he looked familiar) to name a few. It's definitely worth renting

and Salsa-ing

2009-09-27T15:14:00.000-07:00

Looky who thinks she is Ms. Canner now? I canned 5 pints of salsa today - mostly because Hubby was feeling sad that I hadn't made anything he was interested in, plus we had a bunch of garden tomatoes to use up so, salsa it was.

He deemed it delicious and even though I had to supplement our fresh tomatoes with canned I did use the no-salt added variety so this salsa is just about sodium free and a perfect snack for him with his new low-sodium eating plan. My only disappointment was it seems a bit too liquidy but that's easy enough to resolve by just draining it a bit.

Cannin' and Jammin'

2009-09-26T15:30:00.000-07:00

I can now check off another item from my list of "Things to do Before I Die" because today I canned.

I have been wanting to try to can for years. Thanks to my friends in the Motherhood Later group on Ravelry I have finally done it. We set a date and a total of four of us were in our respective kitchens today all doing the same thing; one in NY, one in Canada, one in KY and me in IL. Cool, huh?

I decided on Watermelon Rind Pickles - never heard of them? Well, the recipe was in my copy of the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving so it must be a legit recipe. My Grandma also used to make them so I thought it would be neat for this recipe to be the one I use for my first try at canning. OK - I'll confess, it was also because if I messed up the entire job I wouldn't have to think about throwing away a bunch of expensive produce - we'd have just tossed the rinds in the composter anyways.

First, my girl and I got the watermelon ready. It was an average sized seedless watermelon. We were looking for 16 cups of rinds and I assumed one watermelon would do it.

She washed and dried it and I cut into it.

NOTE: There should be a picture here but *%5E@%5E$* Blogger is making me insane so you'll have to use you imagination. Sorry.

It looked great - perfectly ripe and delicious inside. But man, it had skimpy rinds - I couldn't believe how thin they were. How was I supposed to get 16 cups of rinds from this melon? I remember as a kid having big chunky rinds after eating watermelon. I think those were the old-fashioned seeded watermelons. Those big, oblong-shaped suckers.

So my girl scooped out the melon and I peeled the rinds, cut them up and put them in salted water for their overnight soak.

This morning we rinsed 'em, drained 'em and boiled them in a syrup of vinegar, sugar and cinnamon sticks.

Since I only had 8 cups of rinds I made a half recipe - three pint jars.

NOTE: Imagine picture here - again thanks to the idiocy that is Blogger

The jars looked so small and lonely in my new, giant 21-quart canner. But it worked, the lids seemed to have sealed properly and maybe I'll open one up for Thanksgiving.

Not So Smart Spending

2009-09-17T13:32:00.000-07:00

After reading this article about posh dorms in the Chicago Tribune today I felt disturbed for a variety of reasons; however, the most annoying was this quote:

"You are going to be in debt anyways, might as well enjoy," said sophomore Ashley Hendzell of Tinley Park.

What?? Has she not noticed the financial crisis that so many people are currently facing? If she could talk to 10 of those families do you think they'd say "sure, go ahead! You'll be in debt after college anyways so why not throw a couple $5,000, $10,000 or more on those loans!" I'm sure more than one of them would grimly look at her and say "yeah, that's what I thought and look where I am now". I guess the mention of her 30 pairs of shoes kind of indicates she isn't the most fiscally minded student anyways.

I had a friend that went to a private school for both undergrad and graduate school. During those years she justified taking a nice vacation (Aruba and Hawaii are two that come to mind) by saying she "deserved" them; she was under a lot of stress, you know. And the money was, somehow, readily available via her student loans. Post graduation, after she married and tried to get a mortage her $120K in student loan debt made her enough of a liability that they left her off the mortgage altogether.

If you can pay for these posh dorms outright, than more power to you. If you need to roll the extra cost into your student loans then just say "NO". Isn't living in a cramped dorm room using milk crates as end tables kind of a college right of passage anyways?

Yes Man, Yes Ma'am!

2009-09-17T13:19:00.000-07:00

I took a sick day today - I'm tired, achy and feeling blah. After sleeping in I hauled myself into the shower and then out to get an iced coffee. I also decided to swing by the library and see what DVDs they had available.

"Yes Man" with Jim Carey was on their "new release" shelf so I grabbed it. Jim Carey movies are almost always entertaining if only in a silly, frothy kind of way and that's what I needed - some silly humor to distract me and maybe, if I was lucky, make me laugh.

It worked! This is a cute movie and if you really think about it, it's a good message too. If it made me laugh out loud (more than once), than that's saying something. Give it a try.

Chicken Cacciatore

2009-08-31T18:52:00.000-07:00

I just tried a new recipe from Allrecipes.com - Mom's Chicken Cacciatore. It's a great one-dish meal and easily made for less than $10, especially if you shop the weekly sales. Total cost $9

2 c all-purpose flour for dredging
1/2 t salt
1/4 t ground black pepper
4 lbs of chicken pieces - I used thighs and drumsticks which are cheaper than breasts $4
2 T vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 green pepper, chopped $1
1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes $1
1/2 t dried oregano
1/2 c white wine - I used chicken broth
2 c fresh mushrooms, quartered $2
salt and pepper to taste

Combine the flour, salt and pepper in a deep glass dish. Dredge the chicken pieces in flour until coated. Heat the oil in a large skillet (one that has a cover/lid). Fry the chicken pieces until they are browned on both sides. Remove from skillet.

Add the onion, garlic and bell pepper to the skillet and saute until the onion is slightly browned. Return the chicken to the skillet and add the tomatoes, oregano and wine. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes over medium low heat.

Add the mushrooms and salt/pepper to taste. Simmer for 10 more minutes.

Serve over your choice of hot pasta. I used gemelli ($1/box) - a new family favorite in my house.

Quotable

2009-06-23T07:43:00.000-07:00

"You don't fight ignorance with a sword or a gun. You turn on a light."

- Caspian Makan after his girlfriend Neda Agha-Soltan was shot and killed during the Iran protests

Help Racing Greyhounds

2009-05-30T19:20:00.001-07:00

No secret that helping racing greyhounds is one of my passions. These sweet, gentle, beautiful animals deserve so much better. I hope you see fit to click here and show your support by electronically signing the petition that the Animal Rescue Site is hosting.

If you'd like to help support animal shelters in general - The Animal Rescue Site also donates food to animals shelters for every "click" they receive - .6 of a bowl of food per click. You can click every day to help - make it a part of your morning routine - get coffee, turn on the computer, click to donate food and then go about your day. It feels good to start it off doing something to help animals. You can even sign up for a daily e-mail reminder to click; can't get much more convenient than that.

Quotable

2009-05-26T06:23:00.000-07:00

"You only find out who is swimming naked when the tide goes out."

- Warren Buffet

Slumdog Millionaire and Doubt

2009-05-23T13:48:00.000-07:00

In the last month or so I have rented these two movies (I love Redbox - can't beat the convenience and price at $1/night).

"Slumdog Millionaire" - I had been avoiding seeing this movie for a while and I'm not sure why. Maybe because I'm half Indian and knowing this movie took place in India and was about children that lived in slums made me uncomfortable. Or maybe it was because in some of the trailers I saw what appeared to be a Bollywood-esque dance scene and I thought, nahhhh, I'm not interested. But after seeing the Oscars and all the awards the movie won and hearing the music and reading a little bit more about the background of the movie I gave it a try and I'm glad I did. It was clever, sad, eye-opening and finally joyful. It is also funny to me how mainstream India and Indian people have become - I remember 30 years ago, as a child feeling so much the odd-ball, with the odd name, relatives that wore traditional Indian clothing, ate traditional India foods and being embarassed for being different. It felt like a burden having a mixed ethnicity when my classmates were Irish, Italian, German - not another "mixed" child or Indian child in my class. It was a big deal when Vietnamese refugees started coming to my school.

Now I'll bet if you asked 5 people what a samosa is 3 of them would know and also tell you how much they love naan as well. Who doesn't know what chai is? I have a friend that tells me how much she loves Bollywood movies and a neighbor that goes to Devon St. in Chicago and brings back Indian desserts for me and also listens to Indian music - she's a 50 yr old Jewish woman of Eastern European descent but sometimes I feel like she is more Indian than I am!

"Doubt" - a rather dark, heavy movie. Not what I expected and it left me with, well, much Doubt after I saw it. Doubt as to whether or not he did anything wrong and Doubt about whether I thought this was a worthwhile movie or not.

A Belated Happy Mother's Day

2009-05-14T20:11:00.000-07:00

I don't usually care for the mushy Mother's Day stuff, but this one got me. It got me and it will stick with me. I hope you enjoy it too.

*************************************
For All My Favorite Moms by Anna Quindlen, Newsweek Columnist and Author

All my babies are gone now. I say this not in sorrow but in disbelief.

I take great satisfaction in what I have today: three almost-adults, two taller than I am, one closing in fast. Three people who read the same books I do and have learned not to be afraid of disagreeing with me in their opinion of them, who sometimes tell vulgar jokes that make me laugh until I choke and cry, who need razor blades and shower gel and privacy, who want to keep their doors closed more than I like.

Who, miraculously, go to the bathroom, zip up their jackets and move food from plate to mouth all by themselves. Like the trick soap I bought for the bathroom with a rubber ducky at its center, the baby is buried deep within each, barely discernible except through the unreliable haze of the past.

Everything in all the books I once poured over is finished for me now. Penelope Leach., T. Berry Brazelton, Dr. Spock. The ones on sibling rivalry and sleeping through the night and early-childhood education, all grown obsolete. Along with Goodnight Moon and Where the Wild Things Are, they are battered, spotted, well used. But I suspect that if you flipped the pages dust would rise like memories. What those books taught me, finally, and what the women on the playground taught me, and the well-meaning relations --what they taught me, was that they couldn't really teach me very much at all.

Raising children is presented at first as a true-false test, then becomes multiple choice, until finally, far along, you realize that it is an endless essay. No one knows anything. One child responds well to positive reinforcement, another can be managed only with a stern voice and a timeout. One child is toilet trained at 3, his sibling at 2. When my first child was born, parents were told to put baby to bed on his belly so that he would not choke on his own spit-up. By the time my last arrived, babies were put down on their backs because of research on sudden infant death syndrome.

To a new parent this ever-shifting certainty is terrifying, and then soothing. Eventually you must learn to trust yourself. Eventually the research will follow. I remember 15 years ago poring over one of Dr. Brazelton's wonderful books on child development, in which he describes three different sorts of infants: average, quiet, and active. I was looking for a sub-quiet codicil for an 18-month old who did not walk. Was there something wrong with his fat little legs? Was there something wrong with his tiny little mind? Was he developmentally delayed, physically challenged? Was I insane? Last year he went to China. Next year he goes to college. He can talk just fine. He can walk, too.

Every part of raising children is humbling, too. Believe me, mistakes were made. They have all been enshrined in the "Remember-When-Mom-Did" Hall of Fame. The outbursts, the temper tantrums, the bad language, mine, not theirs. The times the baby fell off the bed. The times I arrived late for preschool pickup. The nightmare sleepover. The horrible summer camp. The day when the youngest came barreling out of the classroom with a 98 on her geography test, and I responded, "What did you get wrong?" (She insisted I include that.) The time I ordered food at the McDonald's drive-through speaker and then drove away without picking it up from the window. (They all insisted I include that.) I did not allow them to watch the Simpsons for the first two seasons. What was I thinking?

But the biggest mistake I made is the one that most of us make while doing this. I did not live in the moment enough. This is particularly clear now that the moment is gone, captured only in photographs. There is one picture of the three of them, sitting in the grass on a quilt in the shadow of the swing set on a summer day, ages 6, 4 and 1. And I wish I could remember what we ate, and what we talked about, and how they sounded, and how they looked when they slept that night. I wish I had not been in such a hurry to get on to the next thing: dinner, bath, book, bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less. Even today I'm not sure what worked and what didn't, what was me and what was simply life.

When they were very small, I suppose I thought someday they would become who they were because of what I'd done. Now I suspect they simply grew into their true selves because they demanded in a thousand ways that I back off and let them be. The books said to be relaxed and I was often tense, matter-of-fact and I was sometimes over the top. And look how it all turned out. I wound up with the three people I like best in the world who have done more than anyone to excavate my essential humanity. That's what the books never told me. I was bound and determined to learn from the experts. It just took me a while to figure out who the experts were.

Greyhound Mother

2009-04-23T17:22:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I received the email below from a friend who knows about my love of greyhounds. Within two hours I had four more friends send it to me - two of them were fellow greyhound lovers. Funny how things can zip all over the country once they hit the internet.

I did check out this story via Snopes.com and I was thrilled (and relieved ) to find that it is 100% true - the text and the photos (nothing was photo-shopped). Check out the Snopes link for the story with pictures (you must see the pictures!) or I have cut and pasted the text below.

Here is the story that just about had me bawling; however, if you have ever known a greyhound you know this sounds just like something one of these wonderful, sweet dogs would do.

"In 2003, police in Warwickshire, England, opened a garden shed and found a whimpering, cowering dog. It had been locked in the shed and abandoned. It was dirty and malnourished, and had clearly been abused.

In an act of kindness, the police took the dog, which was a greyhound female, to the nearby Nuneaton and Warwickshire Wildlife Sanctuary known as a willing haven for animals abandoned, orphaned or otherwise in need.

Geoff and the other sanctuary staff went to work with two aims: to restore the dog to full health, and to win her trust. It took several weeks, but eventually both goals were achieved.

They named her Jasmine, and they started to think about finding her an adoptive home.

The dog had other ideas. No-one remembers now how it began, but Jasmine started welcoming all animal arrivals at the sanctuary. It wouldn't matter if it was a puppy, a fox cub, a rabbit or, probably, a rhinoceros, Jasmine would peer into the box or cage and, where possible, deliver a welcoming lick.

Geoff relates one of the early incidents. "We had two puppies that had been abandoned by a nearby railway line. One was a Lakeland Terrier cross and another was a Jack Russell Doberman cross. They were tiny when they arrived at the centre and Jasmine approached them and grabbed one by the scruff of the neck in her mouth and put him on the settee. Then she fetched the other one and sat down with them, cuddling them."

"But she is like that with all of our animals, even the rabbits. She takes all the stress out of them and it helps them to not only feel close to her but to settle into their new surroundings."

She has done the same with the fox and badger cubs, she licks the rabbits and guinea pigs and even lets the birds perch on the bridge of her nose.

"Jasmine, the timid, abused, deserted waif, became the animal sanctuary's resident surrogate mother, a role for which she might have been born. The list of orphaned and abandoned youngsters she has cared for comprises five fox cubs, four badger cubs, 15 chicks, eight guinea pigs, two stray puppies and 15 rabbits.

And one roe deer fawn. Tiny Bramble, 11 weeks old, was found semi-conscious in a field. Upon arrival at the sanctuary, Jasmine cuddled up to her to keep her warm, and then went into the full foster mum role. Jasmine the greyhound showers Bramble the roe deer with affection and makes sure nothing is matted in her fur.

"They are inseparable, " says Geoff. "Bramble walks between her legs and they keep kissing each other. They walk together round the sanctuary. It's a real treat to see them."

Jasmine will continue to care for Bramble until she is old enough to be returned to woodland life. When that happens, Jasmine will not be lonely. She will be too busy showering love and affection on the next orphan or victim of abuse."

Open Containers & Take Your Child To Work

2009-04-23T17:14:00.000-07:00

Judging by the number of children on the train this morning, and walking around the Loop with their parents I'm assuming it was "Take Your Child to Work" day. I think this is a great idea, but why don't they do it during the summer when the kids are off anyways? I'd like to expose my kids to what I do for work, taking the train into Chicago, etc but I don't think it should supercede them being in school. I was happy to see that my employer decided to schedule their own "Take Your Child to Work" day and it will be in June.

On my way walking to the train this evening I saw a tall blonde woman that I often see on my walk to the train. Today I glanced over to her and noticed she was taking a drink from a small bottle of white wine! It was one of those screw top, single serving bottles. She was taking swigs and walking as if this was a normal thing to do; but it struck me as odd. I guess the fact that it was a bottle of wine kind of threw me - if she was drinking a Sprite I don't think I would have even noticed. As I was walking and pondering this I started to wonder "isn't that considered an open container?" and "can you walk through the streets of Chicago guzzling your white wine even if it is a single serving bottle?" Maybe she had a lot of people at her office that brought their children to work today and she really needed that post work drink.

Depression Era Tips - They Still Work

2009-04-06T18:18:00.000-07:00

I read this by Lou Carlozo in today's Chicago Tribune and thought it was interesting and reassuring.

Thankfully, most of these ideas have already been instilled in me by my parents although neither of them really were aware of the Great Depression as children - one wasn't born yet, the other just a toddler living overseas by the time the GD "ended". Something about seeing these tips in writing and written by someone else made me feel good - I guess reminding me that others out there think the same way and this way of thinking is good (although of course I already knew that :-) but it's always helpful to have a refresher.

10. Shop only for necessities. Ask yourself, “Is this something I want or need?” This comes in handy often - especially since I'm a sucker for a sale! I'll remind myself that no matter how cheap it is it still costs money - do I really need it? Usually the answer is "no".

9. Throw away your catalogs. Do this as soon as one comes in the mail. Purchase only necessities. Yes - don't even open them up because you will find something you want (but probably not need). Go one step better and save a tree by calling the company's customer service department and remove yourself from their mailing list. When I'm on a really tight budget I won't even look in the Sunday paper sale ads unless I need a specific item.

8. Avoid eating out at restaurants. Make family meals at home; establish a limit such as one restaurant meal a month. If it's too hard to only eat out once a month give yourself a budget and put that money (cash) in an envelope. When it's gone, you are done eating out for the month.

7. Don’t spend money you don’t have. Pay cash for as much as you can and avoid the use of credit cards. Pay down credit balances to avoid paying high interest fees. This one seems like a no-brainer: if you don't have the cash to pay for something, then don't buy it. I like to use credit cards when they benefit ME - one with no annual fee and gives me points for some sort of benefit that I find valuable. No more airline miles for me - too many black out dates, etc so I use a Starbucks Duetto Visa which gives me points for free Starbucks every month. It's a small benefit, but I run all my purchases through the card (pay it off in full each month) and enjoy the no annual fee and free coffee (plus quarterly coffee bonuses too!)

6. Don’t ever pay full price. With retail stores offering sales like never before, wait until a coveted item goes on sale—or ask a manager if the item’s price can be reduced. Oh yes. If it is not on sale, I'm not buying it. Even my 4-year old knows this, especially with groceries. When an item I use regularly goes on sale I buy a few of them so I don't run out when they are NOT on sale. It takes some forethought and planning but it's a great way to stay within your grocery budget.

5. Plant more gardens. A fun family project, planting a garden can save you lots of money on food in the long run. We enjoy having a garden - both vegetables and fruit. We don't plant enough to sustain all of our needs but when you can pick two pints of raspberries in one day it feels great, especially knowing those would cost about $8 in the grocery store (especially for organic fruit!)

4. Conserve on gas and become more energy conscious. Avoid long drives, and at home turn off lights and space heaters/air conditioners whenever possible. We use our programmable thermostat religiously which takes out the need to remember to turn the thermostat up or down at night or when we are leaving for work. I also try and plan my errands so that I can either walk to do them on the weekends or drive in one big loop so there is no back-tracking or return trips needed. I look at it as kind of a game.

3. Be thankful for what you have. What truly matters isn’t accumulation of items, but relationships. Don’t spend on trinkets for fulfillment; invest in your friendships and relationships instead. I try to remind myself of this regularly, especially when I get jealous of a neighbor's new car, big house or fancy clothing. It's not easy to do all the time, but it puts things in perspective to remind myself of how lucky I am.

2. Pay yourself first. Put aside a defined amount from every paycheck into savings and investments. This one is another tough one to do, but if you wait until after you have paid all the bills to save something for retirement or to put in an emergency fund you will never do it. Take advantage of direct debiting to have money put into a 401K, IRA or savings account before you even see the money. My employer offers direct deposit (love it!) and also the option of me scheduling my paycheck to be diverted into accounts that I specify in advance. This allows me to not only put money in my 401K but my personal savings account too.

1. Look for ways to help others. The best way to overcome low feelings in this recession is to help those in even greater need. Acts of selfless giving and kindness cultivate riches no recession can steal away. Amen!

Permanent Solution to a Temporary Problem part 2

2009-04-01T13:18:00.001-07:00

You have got to be kidding me. Although that doesn't sound like the right thing to say about this given that someone took their own life, but I cannot believe another person has jumped from a building in Chicago. Right on the path I use to walk to work, no less.

From today's Chicago Tribune:

"The person who died in a fall from the Civic Opera House this morning was a 19-year-old woman, police said this afternoon. An earlier report incorrectly identified the victim as a man.
The woman's identify has not yet been made public, nor the circumstances of the fall. Police continue to investigate but said they were treating the death as a possible suicide.
Emergency crews responded to a call about 8:49 a.m. of someone falling from the 40th floor of 20 N. Wacker Dr., said News Affairs Officer Laura Kubiak. The building is the home to the Lyric Opera."

I walk by this building EVERY morning and EVERY evening on Wacker Dr. If I miss my usual train, I am walking this route at the time this woman apparently jumped. I can't even phathom what I would have done had this happened in front of me, or within eyesight of me, not to mention, did she fall on someone? There are a lot of commuters out at that hour - the Lyric Opera building is right across from Union Station.

Permanent Solution to a Temporary Problem

2009-03-25T09:58:00.000-07:00

This happened two blocks from my office this morning.

As I'm reading some of the posts at the end of the article I can't believe that someone actually witnessed this person falling. I can't begin to imagine how horrifying that was.

I also wondered about the need to post the picture of the car; showing the results of an impact between a body falling from X number of stories on to a steel and glass. It felt a bit gratuitious which is why I decided not to post the picture here. Thank God there is no obvious blood.

Unfortunately, in my line of work I do see this happen; in fact I have had a record number of people falling/jumping from high-rise buildings in the last 18 months - it's been over 5 whereas prior to that I could count on one hand how many I had in 18 years. With the economic times as they are sadly this spike over the last 1 1/2 years doesn't seem like a coincidence.

Chicago Olympics 2016

2009-03-24T08:38:00.000-07:00

Olympics in Chicago 2016. Could it really happen? It seems surreal to think that an Olympics could be held that close to my hometown and that I would be able to be part of them. My children would be old enough to remember the excitement and while the commute to work would probably be an absolute nightmare, I think overall it would be a really wonderful thing to happen to the City.

U.S. Senator Dick Durbin is sending around an electronic petition - if you see fit please sign your name to it (I already have!) and maybe, just maybe Chicago can pull this off.

Pickchicago2016

Do It Yourself Pizza

2009-03-22T10:02:00.000-07:00

We love homemade pizza in my house - we have a long used pizza crust recipe that I make in the bread machine. A few months ago I came across a bread machine version of a "Boboli" crust - this intrigued me because we enjoy the store-bought Bobolis but they get kind of pricey. The picture above is our first attempt at the "Boboli" recipe below - we shaped it like a heart in honor of Valentine's Day. I also like to use a blend of cheeses - in this case mozzarella with a bit of cheddar.

All of the dough ingredients are already in most pantries; add a green salad and I consider this one of my least expensive "Meals for $10 or Less". For you non-bread machine cooks I am also posting a recipe for a Boboli style crust I found that is made by hand; I haven't tried that one yet but rest assured it did have positive reviews on Recipezaar.com

Both crusts freeze well once par-baked, so this is a convenient and inexpensive item to make ahead of time and keep on hand in the freezer for fast homemade pizza!

Bread Machine Boboli-style Crust - dough made in the bread machine, ingredients below but click on the link for the complete cooking directions. In order to make a pizza you will also need pizza sauce, cheese and toppings.

1 cup water
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon garlic, minced
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon italian seasoning (I used 1/4 t basil, 1/4 t oregano)
2 teaspoons parmesan cheese
2 teaspoons active dry yeast
2 teaspoons parmesan cheese, to sprinkle

Pizza sauce - 80 cents
8 oz mozzarella - $2.50
Toppings

Bake at 450 for 8-10 minutes

Boboli-style crust made by hand - an option for those without a bread machine.

Free Tahki Cotton Classic Yarn!

2009-03-21T05:22:00.000-07:00

I admired the “Blooming Cotton Scarf” when perusing my latest copy of Interweave Knits and now L@@K - Knitting Daily is running a contest in which the prize is the yarn to make this lovely scarf! It’s easy - just chose the colorway you like and list your name/address. Deadine to enter is March 27. Good Luck!

Interview with a 4-year-old

2009-03-20T07:19:00.000-07:00

My friend Jennifer did this with her almost-4-year-old and I thought it was a great idea - interview your child! I'm going to do this every year; I think it will be interesting to see how the answers change. Keep in mind I'm taking dictation and keeping myself from correcting my daughter's grammar, as much as that pains me not to! Her favorite color is blue, so I'm putting her answers in blue too.

1. What is something mommy always says to you? That I go upstairs

2. What makes mom happy? Being not so naughty

3. What makes mommy sad? When we don't be helpful

4. How does mommy make you laugh? Tickle

5. What was your mommy like as a child? Knock knock

6. How old is mommy? 10

7. How tall is mommy? 50-42

8. What is mommy's favorite thing to watch on TV? Top Chef - only on Bravo (I kid you not, that's an exact quote)

9. What does mommy do when you're not around? She says "India" (said in a sing-song voice)

10. What is mommy really good at? Putting me to bed

11. What is mommy not very good at? Putting me on the pillow

12. What does mommy do for her job? Go to the park

13. What is mommy's favorite food? Carrots and grapefruit

14. What makes you proud of mommy? (no answer)

15. If mommy were a cartoon, who would she be? A princess

16. What do you and mommy do together? We go to Starbucks when Daddy's not here

17. How are you and mommy the same? We both match dresses

18. How are you and mommy different? When we have different clothes

19. How do you know mommy loves you? All we do is just hug and we hug

20. What does mommy like most about daddy? Marrying him

21. Where is mommy's favorite place to go? The place they make guacamole

It was so interesting to see how she responded to the questions; how she, in her 4-year-old way, interpreted what I was asking - like 2, 12, 17 and 18. By the way, I don't work at a park but the train station is near the park and she is with me every morning when I am dropped off at the train - that's the only connection I could make! 8 and 16 made me bust out laughing - I can't believe she knew Top Chef was only on Bravo or that she even knew what Bravo was! And some made my heart melt, like 19 and 20. In case you are wondering about 21 - there is a Mexican restaurant in town that makes fantastic guacamole and they do it tableside, so you can watch. She has only been there once but I guess it made an impression!

Found Objects

2009-03-19T15:05:00.000-07:00

Over the last few weeks I have stumbled upon various little objects that have made me smile upon discovering them.

The most exciting find was a few days ago when I discovered that my crocus were peeping their heads out! This is always thrilling for me - their bright, cheerful flowers give me hope that spring really is coming

And then while surveying the condition of the backyard I found this:

We had been wondering where the elephant-shaped puzzle piece had gone! Poor thing was snow bound for the last 5 months. He looks surprisingly intact!

and this - one of my daughter's plastic food items - a "head of lettuce". I thought it wasn't a very convincing replica, but apparently it fooled one of our squirrels. I'd like to have seen the look on the squirrel's face when he realized he was chewing a hole in a plastic head of lettuce. I'm sure his squirrel pals didn't let him live that one down for a long time.

Last - this one just was so cute. My little guy decided to "park" one of his cars in a houseplant. I'd like to think he was playing and decided this is where it landed after going over a bluff and landing in a ravine. But no, I think his 2 year old self just became distracted and this was the first place he saw to put the car. Lucky I guess, atleast I didn't step on it.

Quotable

2009-03-18T17:44:00.000-07:00

"Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds you plant"

- Robert Louis Stevenson

Mamma Mia, What Just Happened?

2009-03-17T09:47:00.000-07:00

That's what I was saying after I watched each of these movies this weekend - one day after the other. Ugh. It all started with a free rental coupon and went downhill from there.

"What Just Happened" - a direct to DVD movie (should have been my first clue, but Slumdog Millionaire almost went direct to DVD and look how good it was). It starred Robert DeNiro, Robin Wright Penn, Sean Penn and some other names. So, how could it be so bad? Embarassingly bad? Robert DeNiro played a big Hollywood producer and we follow him through his manic, frenetic life. However, I never ended up caring about him, his manic, frenetic life or any of the other characters. The movie was disjointed, pointless and worse yet, I'll never get the 1:43 minutes I wasted watching it back. My knitting even ended up messed up. What Just Happened indeed!

"Mamma Mia" - how can you go wrong with a movie that is full of ABBA songs? Most importantly, start by mis-casting the older female roles - that's crucial. Then add a frothy, silly storyline and you're done. I don't think this movie translated well from the stage to the screen - wasn't it a smash hit on the stage?? It was downright laughable watching the esteemed Meryl Streep act like a free spirited, single mother living on a Greek Island, running a broken-down hotel. Story is that 20 years earlier she had a few youthful indescretions (slept with three different men in a period of a few weeks) and ended up not knowing who the father of her now adult daughter was. Ummm, Meryl Streep is a leeetle bit long in the tooth to play this roll - I'm thinking someone in their mid-forties was about the oldest you could go and pull it off. It was ridiculous watching her dance and run around like an idiot. That and the two women playing her best friends (including Christine Baranski) - were just as bad. And the men - what a waste of Pierce Brosnan and Colin Firth! Although they were a little more believable in their rolls. Oy - Mamma Mia - what a waste of film!

A Birthday Brunch

2009-01-24T14:16:00.001-08:00

We had a family birthday party for both children today - we decided on a brunch in order to avoid the whole nap time conflict. We were really happy with the results so I thought I would share our menu, with recipes.

Amish Breakfast Casserole - from my fav recipe website Allrecipes.com. It is so delicious I could eat it for breakfast, lunch or dinner. We omitted the bacon and used one package of Canadian bacon instead. I think ham would be a tasty substitute as well.

Grandma Johnson's Scones - oh. my. goodness. If you think scones are hard to make (or that you could never make one that tasted like it was from a bakery) you must try this recipe. I divide the dough in half and kept one half plain and to the other half I added 1/2 c of semi-sweet chocolate chips. After shaping the dough into disks on the baking sheet I cut it with a pizza cutter which make them very easy to break apart after baking. These are HEAVEN!!

Cold Asparagus in Vinaigrette - blanched the asparagus in boiling water, chilled and served with Newman's Own Raspberry Pomegranate Vinaigrette drizzled over the top.

Fresh Fruit Salad - we used what fruit was on sale this week - strawberries, blueberries and some sliced banana (tossed in at the last minute before serving). I took a bite of this salad and a bite of the plain scone and it tasted like I was eating strawberry shortcake.

Happy Day

2009-01-20T10:58:00.000-08:00

Happy 4th Birthday to my girl and Happy Inauguration to President Obama!

"Democracy is...the conviction that there are extraordinary possibilities in ordinary people"

- Harry Emerson Fosdick (November 1925)

Merry Christmas

2008-12-25T04:48:00.000-08:00

“Joy is not in things; it is in us.”

—Richard Wagner

I'm Dreaming of a Green(er) Christmas

2008-12-22T19:22:00.001-08:00

This post may be coming a little late in the season to be useful for others, but keep it in mind for next year - please??

Some of the most wasteful Christmas traditions involve sending paper Christmas cards and using wrapping paper for gifts. Seeing someone haul out a new, empty garbage bag to stuff full of paper, bows and boxes drives me nuts (did you know that wrapping paper is recyclable?? Unless it's laminated, metallic, or has an extraordinary amount of tape on it - so why the trash bag?). I've decided to make some changes, starting with wrapping paper.

I never buy wrapping paper (or anything else for that matter) at full price. In the past I would always stock up on paper, gift bags, Christmas cards, etc at the end-of-season sales. That's going to stop - this year I'm not going to buy any new wrapping paper and instead either reuse paper from gifts my family has received or use another much more eco-friendly option - fabric! I got this idea from another person who bought a bunch of Christmas-themed fabric at the end-of-season last year and is now cutting it to size with pinking shears (which keeps the ends from fraying) and then tying the gifts closed with re-useable colorful cord or other ties. After the gifts are open you can give the recipients the option of keeping the fabric or giving it back to you for reuse next year. Over time you should come up with enough different sizes and shapes of fabric that you will be self-sustaining and not need to add to your stockpile anymore.

I'm hoping to take this a step further and try the Japanese art of Furoshiki or "cloth wrapping". It looks like a wonderful idea and elminates the need for a closure at all. I found a couple of videos on YouTube - check out demo 1 and demo 2, as well as this schematic if you just want to jump in and try it without watching someone else do it first!

This follows the idea of wrapping an item in a scarf or decorative towel - then the wrapping becomes part of the gift. Another idea I've used is reusing the wooden crates that Clementines come in and making that the base for a gift basket - I've done this a few times and loved the results. Or using the Sunday comics or other colorful ads or magazine pages to wrap small gifts. And what about making Magazine Bows for an additional festive touch?

The other change I'm making is going to be Christmas cards. I've noticed that the cards I enjoy the most are the ones that include a little newsy "Christmas update" letter - I love getting all the year's news in one place and I really appreciate the effort people make to put those letters together. My second favorites are the photo cards - there isn't any personalization but it's fun to see the pictures of the pets and kids in their holiday best. My least favorite are the cards that are just signed - no note or anything else to indicate they meant this card for me and not Uncle Tom or Aunt Betsy. Why bother? It seems silly and I feel like they should just save their postage for such a cursory effort.

So, with this in mind, I'm planning on sending e-cards to most of the people on my list - they will get the pictures I am sending in my paper cards, but most of these people are just going to look at the card and picture, smile and then after Christmas it will all go in the garbage. The other people - close friends and family - will get the paper cards and real photo. I know they will appreciate the extra effort and will probably put the photo in an album.

So, what to do with the cards you do receive?

Send them to a school or charity that can re-use them in art projects or even in making new cards as a fundraiser.
Cut off the front, attach it to some card stock and make your own cards for next year
Cut off the front and use it as a Christmas postcard - uses less postage too!
Cut out pretty shapes or images from the card and use them as gift tags
Cut out shapes attach a yarn loop and they become child-friendly Christmas ornaments

If you must buy cards at least look for cards or wrapping paper that are printed on recycled paper. Here are some sources for those products, courtesy of Idealbite.com.

RedStamp - cool card designs by different artists. Click Eco-Friendly under the type of card you want; some are even made from (sustainable) wood (prices vary).

Green Field Paper Co. - a bit pricey, but you can actually plant its Grow-A-Note cards after the holidays are over (about $4/card).

Pleasantrees - its recycled paper cards in traditional-ish designs (nothing too artsy-fartsy) come with free personalization, plus it plants three trees with every order (about $2/card).

BuyGiftPaper - not the schmanciest site, but it offers long rolls of solid and patterned recycled wrap ($14/roll).

Smith & Hawken - 30 feet of recycled, classic-looking, holiday-themed gift wrap ($9/roll).

Fish Lips Paper Designs - fun sheets of wrap, printed on recycled paper ($4/2 sheets).

Meaningful, one-size-fits-all gifts don’t have to cost a lot of money and you don't have to necessarily even wrap them - learn someone’s favorite tune on the piano, promise a month’s worth of back rubs, or issue a snow-shoveling voucher. Who wouldn't love that?

Lastly, light-emitting diode (LED) holiday lights use 90 percent less power than the old incandescent kind (even though I love those "old-fashioned" lights :-(. It’s also easy to forget to turn those lights off if you decorate outside; use a timer so you don’t let them burn longer than three hours. Lights left on all day can drive your energy consumption up eightfold!

Not a Garbage Can

2008-12-18T04:45:00.000-08:00

Another factoid from my Living Green: 365 Ways to Make a Difference calendar:

"Your toilet is not a wastebasket, and it’s wisest not to use it that way. Disposable diapers and tampon applicators are among the many items that sewage treatment doesn’t treat. All too often, they pass through the system and wind up in waterways and on beaches."

I hate to admit my ignorance here, but I had NO idea. I thought if you were on city water/sewer (vs a well and septic) you were OK! Whatever you put in the toilet went magically away to the water treatment plant and was filtered out, the water treated and back to our water facets it went.

Of course I know better than to toss a disposable diaper in the toilet, but now I'll be more conscientious about, um, other items!

Chicago Politics - WWALD?

2008-12-09T16:13:00.001-08:00

Just what would Abe Lincoln do? Think? Say? Or would he be curled up in a ball hiding in the corner just thinking about what politics in Chicago has become.

You may have heard that the Governor of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich, was arrested today (this afternoon he was released on $4500 bond) and faces corruption charges involving the newly vacated Obama senate seat, the Chicago Cubs and Children's Memorial Hospital.

It seems especially ironic that in the wake of Obama's victory and path to the presidency, which was built on his image as a man of integrity, honesty and change, we have Blagojevich who is trying to enrich himself by alledgedly trying to sell the vacant senate seat to the highest bidder? He is looking for the best deal and if no one gives him that well, then he'll just appoint himself.

I sat next to a man on the train ride home today and noticed he had printed and was reading the lengthy criminal complaint outlining just what Blagojevich had alledgedly said/done. Turns out he works for the Chicago Tribune himself and his brother-in-law is the one that broke this case. I congratulated him and then peered over his shoulder to read some of what the Governor, and even his wife, alledgedly said. It was disgusting, appalling and down right low class, some of the things they said and demands they made. I can't believe those words were coming out of the mouths of the Governor and First Lady of Illinois; incidentally, after reading the affadavit I use the word "lady" very loosely.

My first brush with Chicago politics and all the ugliness and dirt that can come with it was six years ago when my former employer was indicted by the FBI and is now in prison. He was said to be extremely politically connected in Chicago and the word was the vigor with which he was prosecuted was in order to make him an example. But he never cracked, talked or gave up any of his friends - or cronies as the paper said. I lived through all of that craziness and if nothing else I walked away realizing that you really can't (shouldn't) believe everything you read in the paper. I saw first hand how various situations ended up as carefully crafted (and sensationalistic) headlines. Never again will I read something and assume it is so; there are always two sides to the story.

However, with this one, I find it hard to believe there is anything that can redeem the Governor and his behavior, especially in light of the fact that his predecessor, former Governor George Ryan, himself is currently six and a half years for his racketeering and fraud gubernatorial missteps. Is that not enough to strike fear into one's heart and make them cross their "t's" and dot their "i's" knowing that they are also under the same type of scrutiny? The words "narcissist" and "sociopath" have been used to describe our Governor and now I understand why.

Ironically, just last week there were some stories about a push to have Ryan's sentence commuted; yes he is 74, and yes his wife is ailing and this and that. But I don't feel sorry for him - he did the crime so do the time. Look on the bright side Mr. Ryan; soon you may have another former Illinois governor to keep you company.

Quotable

2008-12-09T16:12:00.000-08:00

“In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous.”

—Aristotle

Vegetable Lasagna - the No Boil way

2008-11-29T17:19:00.000-08:00

Are you turkeyed out yet? Maybe just a little? Here is a convenient one-pan-meal that you can easily make for $10 or less.

I came across a recipe for "No Boil" Lasagna several years ago and since then I have not boiled one lasagna noodle. It's the best way to make lasagna and cuts the prep time in half if not more. You do not need to buy special noodles since the key is to have a little extra liquid in the mixture as well as sealing the pan tightly in foil to allow the steam to build and cook the noodles.

This is a veggie version that Hubby and I cobbled together over the years - we love it because it has a lighter feeling than a meat lasagna and the leftovers are delicious! You can use any combination of vegetables you have on hand - fresh or frozen. When we made this last week we only had onion and mushrooms and it still tasted great.

I submitted the recipe to Recipezaar so you can see it there, or I have included it below.

Noelle's No Boil Vegetable Lasagna - $8

8 lasagna noodles (1/2 of a 1 lb package) $2
1 (15 ounce) container small curd low fat cottage cheese $3
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese $1
1 teaspoon dried basil
2 eggs
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup frozen broccoli (thawed and drained)
1 cup zucchini, chopped
1 cup green pepper, chopped
2 (26 ounce) jars spaghetti sauce, any flavor (read the label on your jar for ounces - many are 24 oz; if so add a little more water)
2 cups (8oz) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese $2

Preheat oven to 350.

In a large bowl combine cottage cheese, Parmesan, eggs and basil; mix well.

Heat olive oil over medium heat; saute garlic and onions for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add rest of vegetables and cook until tender, about 5 minutes. Add veggies into the cottage cheese mixture and mix well.

Spread 1 c of pasta sauce in bottom of a 13x9" baking dish and spread evenly. Layer with half each: uncooked lasagna noodles, cottage cheese mixture, remaining pasta sauce and mozzarella.

Repeat layering.

Cover tightly with aluminum foil and bake 1 hour.

Uncover; bake an additional 15 minutes or until hot and bubbly. Let stand 15 minutes before serving.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-26T06:52:00.001-08:00

An especially appropriate quote for Thanksgiving, don't you think?

“The ultimate test of man’s conscience may be his willingness to sacrifice something today for future generations whose words of thanks will not be heard.”

—Gaylord Nelson, Earth Day founder

First Ever Giveaway

2008-11-20T15:43:00.001-08:00

UPDATE: As of Dec 2 the shoes are clean! Congrats to theredqueen who guessed Dec 1 and was the closest guess we had. Your prize will be coming shortly!

This is what I came home to last weekend after Hubby and my little guy where doing yard work. Both of their shoes tossed outside along the driveway. Can you guess what is on them?? Come on, take a guess............

Nope, not mud. It's worse, much worse.

It's dog poop.

The good news is that the shoes have made it from the driveway to the back deck. The bad news is they are still in their less-than-dignified condition four days later.

Here is the giveway part - how many days do you think it will take Hubby to clean BOTH pairs of shoes and return them to the inside of the house? Count days starting from November 15, the day the poop incident occured.

Winner gets.... something yet to be determined but it will be a worthwhile little prize - possibly a handknit item from yours truly. One entry per person please :-)

So get to posting your guesses!

Giving Thanks to Mother Earth

2008-11-13T15:43:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving is coming - time to pull out the nice dishes, silverware and linens, right? How about taking a minute to make a few changes in some of your preparation in order to be a little more gentle to our environment?

Just in case you do actually have flatware that needs to be polished and will be serving coffee with the pumpkin pie check out these tips from my Living Green: 365 ways to make a Difference Page-A-Day Calendar (email edition)

"Want to shine up the silverware for Thanksgiving without resorting to the petrochemicals in silver polish? Just boil a few strips of aluminum foil in a pan with baking soda and put the tableware in the simmering water. Presto—off comes the tarnish. Dry thoroughly and buff to a high gloss"

Speaking of aluminium foil...

"Holiday cooking seems to spawn a lot of used aluminum foil. It may not have occurred to you, but it can be recycled, just like beverage cans. Check with your local recycling authority. Most want it rinsed off first."

And for those of you that brew your own coffee:

"Dioxin is among the chemicals that go into making bleached coffee filters; a study from Ohio’s Wright State University shows that the chemical leaches into the coffee. Buy widely available unbleached filters, or sidestep paper altogether by going for cloth or gold-plated metal filters."

Quotable

2008-11-11T15:33:00.000-08:00

“A clear stream, a long horizon, a forest wilderness and open sky—these are man’s most ancient possessions. In a modern society, they are his most priceless.”

—Lyndon B. Johnson

Domestic Diva

2008-11-09T18:40:00.001-08:00

This was one of those really busy but refreshingly domestic weekends. A weekend full of time in the kitchen like I used to have BEFORE having children. Ironically now that I have a bigger family that could actually benefit from my love of cooking I don't have nearly as much time to actually do it. However, this weekend I was able to make a big batch of apple butter, bake a pie pumpkin and freeze the puree to use in our Thanksgiving pumpkin pie and whip up some homemade soup. Hubby wanted Chicken and Dumplings but I wanted to try and avoid using any canned soups and the recipe he loved so much uses 2 cans of cream of chicken soup in the recipe. Instead I cobbled together my own version which isn't so much stew-like but is a soup - not creamy but still yummy! And it qualifies as one of my "Meals for $10 or Less" - especially so since I snagged a 6 lb Perdue whole chicken on sale for 99 cents/lb. In reality after you buy the chicken you should have most of the ingredients on hand to make this healthy, hearty, meal-in-a-bowl soup.

Homemade Chicken and Dumplings Soup - $8.98

1 whole chicken - appx 3 lbs ($6)

2-3 bay leaves

10 whole peppercorns

1 tsp sea salt

3-4 celery ribs washed and cut into chunks - use the leaves if you have them $1

1 lb carrots (divided) washed; half cut into rough chunks, half cut into bite-sized pieces - 79 cents

1 large onion, peeled and quartered - 69 cents

2 medium red potatoes washed and diced into bite-sized pieces - 50 cents

Additional veggies to taste (optional)

Chicken bouillon cubes (optional)

Rinse the chicken; reserve the giblets for another use. Place chicken in a large stockpot or Dutch oven; cover with water adding the sea salt and other spices, rough cut carrots, celery and onion. Bring to a boil and then simmer until chicken is cooked through. When tender, remove chicken to a platter and allow to cool . Remove meat from bones and set aside.

At this point I like to let the broth cool so the fat will gel and you can skim it off with a large spoon (or if it's cold outside do what I did and put it on your deck for an hour or so). After skimming the excess fat start to warm the broth up again. When it's warm strain the broth to remove the whole spices and cooked veggies; discard these and return broth to the pot. Taste it - if it tastes weak I cheat and add chicken bouillon cubes until I get the full chicken soup flavor I am looking for. If the chicken flavor is good then adjust seasonings to taste and add the bite-sized pieces of carrot and potato and as much cooked chicken as you like. I usually also add frozen peas; tonight I added frozen green beans and frozen corn because I had them on hand. Return the soup to a gentle boil. In the meanwhile make the dumplings.

Dumplings - these are rolled dumplings which taste like homemade noodles (not to be confused with a biscuit or drop dumpling which has a cakier texture like a biscuit).

2 c all-purpose flour

1 t baking powder

1 c hot chicken broth

1 egg

Sift the flour and baking powder into a large mixing bowl. Make a well and pour in 1 c of hot chicken broth, mixing first with a fork then with your fingers. Add the egg and mix well. Add additional flour as needed until the dough is workable.

Knead the dough for a few seconds on a floured board. Separate the dough into 4 or 5 parts; roll each section into a thin roll. Cut into 1" - 2" pieces and drop dumplings into the boiling soup. Stir and simmer for 10-15 minutes. Test carrots and potatoes for tenderness and serve.

Working backwards in my cooking spree, yesterday we decided to make a dent in the 1/2 bushel of apples we picked at the orchard last month, so we made Apple Butter. It's a fun recipe to make with kids if you have a crank-style apple peeler.

My daughter quickly took over the job of peeling while my little guy was happy to watch and eat apples.

We used a recipe similiar to the one we made earlier this year - it turned out dee-licious and since it cooks all day in the crock pot you get the additional benefit of having your whole house smell like apples and cinnamon. I love putting it on toast; the only thing that would have been better is if I had been able to squeeze in making a loaf of homemade bread in my domestic delirium.

Surprisingly my girl and I had a little down-time too, probably during one of Hubby's 4 trips back to Home Depot.

We discovered that we both enjoy Oreos with milk. She even likes to dunk them which I find especially cute. Yes, that's my girl.

Falling... part II

2008-11-04T18:40:00.001-08:00

Another fall tradition is the Sycamore Pumpkin Festival - a fun, small-town fest that I have been going to on and off for almost 20 years. (Yes, that hulk you see above is made entirely of pumpkins!)

The original draw for me, as a young single person, was getting outside, eating some roasted corn or other festival goodies and looking at all the original ideas the pumpkin carving/decoration contest participants had some up with.

There is a theme every year - I think this year it was "Pumpkintopia" but don't quote me on that. The entries are all separated by age but I'm always impressed by the level of creativity and effort that everyone puts into their pumpkins.

Then, after I had children the parade was just as big a draw...

My daughter made a new friend and 45 minutes later they were holding hands and walking to the parade. I love seeing how easy it can be for kids to get along like this - an hour earlier they hadn't even met and now they were pals walking hand-in-hand!

Settling in for the parade - apples in hand (picked two weeks earlier) and life was good. It was cold and very windy - notice the layers, hats and gloves - but the kids didn't mind. They had no recollection that two weeks earlier, in the apple orchard, they were wearing shorts and had red cheeks not from the cold but from the sunny and a-little-bit-humid October day.

Everyone loves a parade! My little guy didn't want to leave even though his hands were turning purple.

The car ride home was blissfully quiet - always the sign of a very good day...

Falling...

2008-11-04T17:59:00.000-08:00

You know it's fall when we head up to Wisconsin to go apple picking. You couldn't tell weatherwise but it was mid-October when we went. Last year it was terribly hot and humid - it felt like the middle of August, not October.

This year it was better - still not the cool, crisp fall-like weather but a bright, happy day nonetheless. The trees were bursting with apples high ...

... and even low enough that a 21-month-old could pick his own.

It's always a fun time - the whole apple picking activity says "Yay, it's Fall!" even if the weather is warm enough for shorts. There are hay bales, cider doughnuts, turning leaves, a tractor-drawn hayride to the orchard and who could resist climbing on the ladders even if you have a Daddy on hand to lift you into the trees...

Oh, and the apples! Nothing tastier than a fresh apple that you picked off a tree with your own two little hands.

Colleen Kueter 1968-2008

2008-10-24T08:46:00.001-07:00

I didn’t know Colleen personally but after reading about her and her life I am sitting here with a lump in my throat and a deep sense of sadness.

I learned about her from a notice of her passing on the homepage of a website I belong to called Ravelry. It's for knitting, crocheting and fiber enthusiasts. I didn't know her, but I feel like I could have known her…turns out we have so much in common.

I found out she was only 40 years old and died of an aggressive form of liver cancer on October 17, only two months after having been diagnosed. She had two children 5 and 2 yrs old who both had birthdays just weeks before she died.

I read her blog Spiffy Knits and found that she loved to knit and dye fiber and spin her own yarn. After reading portions of her blog I could feel her excitement about her yarn dyeing and spinning and how much she enjoyed being a WAHM (work at home mom). She was also an "older" mommy like me - she had her children when she was 35 and 38 years old and they are almost the same ages as my two children.

She left the corporate world to do what she loved - work with fiber by spinning, dyeing and knitting it under the name "Spiffy Knits". Just last year, almost a year to the day when she would die from liver cancer, she formed a little internet business called "Tiny Lady Cooperative" with two other women so that she could sell her hand-dyed yarn and fiber.

Through the magic of Google I was able to see her Obituary, her LinkedIn page, her Amazon wish list and her family's Flickr page. I saw photos from when her two children were born (2003, 2006), of her working on renovating her house and re-modeling her kitchen. I could tell from her smile and light in her eyes that she was an energetic, happy person. Her wish list on Amazon gave a glimpse into where her interests were and what was important to her at different times in her life - it varied from books on "How to Be Your Own Literary Agent" - marked in 2004 to "Nourishing Foods for Cancer Survivors" marked days after she was diagnosed in August 2008. In between those dates were books about motherhood and knitting; knitting patterns, books about color and about dyeing with natural dyes grown yourself. She seemed to have a zest for life, that much seems painfully clear.

My heart breaks to think of her family without their mommy and their wife. Her little boy, the two year old, will likely not remember her at all. My son will also be two in January and having that point of reference is almost too much. It all makes me want to cry. I cried on the way from my office to the train thinking about it all.

Her story moved me enough that I am going to make a donation to the college fund that has been set up for her two children. I feel like that is the least I could do for someone that I didn’t know but sounded so much like me and someone I wish I had met. There is a fundraiser going on at Celebrating Colleen organized by the internet cooperative she formed with two friends last year.

I guess I'm hoping that word will get out and maybe the fundraising activities will be successful and at least her children will have some sort of college fund of substance for them since they won't have their mother.

UPDATE November 6 : I just found out that I won one of the raffles I entered in Colleen's fundraiser! I'm so excited - check out the gorgeous basket of sock yarn . Even more exciting is the fundraiser brought in $12K for Colleen's children's college fund - I'm so happy that I was able to participate and it makes me feel so good to know that so many people cared about her and her children to try and help.

The Gift of Nothing

2008-10-19T19:38:00.000-07:00

I know in my last post I reminded everyone that the holidays are coming, so start repurposing those colorful magazine pages and make bows for all those gifts that you will be giving in a few months.

However, I really am anti-consumerism. I don't like the excess, over-the-top gift giving that is common in the United States. The idea of having to save for Christmas gifts all year long or worse yet, go into debt in order to buy gifts so that one can abide by an implied standard by giving a certain amount of gifts really turns my stomach. And it makes me sad too.

I try to stick to a tight budget and get a lot of pleasure from making gifts or finding gifts during the year and putting them aside for Christmas gifts (this works great as long as you don't 1) forget what you bought 2) forget where you put what you bought).

Last year we gave my daughter a terrific book that I found on the Mutts website (I love Mutts! It's a wonderfully thoughtful and pertinent comic strip drawn by Patrick McDonnell. I love his messages and the artwork really speaks to me as well. The characters are sweet and wonderful too!)

When I came across this book review for "The Gift of Nothing" I thought I would share it here on my blog. Maybe it will find its way on your gift list this Christmas season - you can find it here.

Magazine Bows

2008-10-18T13:53:00.000-07:00

This lovely gift bow was made from a page of a magazine - can you believe it? Sometimes I see really colorful, pretty ads or pictures in magazines and think "what could I make out of this? It seems too nice to throw away". Well, now I have a project, just need to find the time to give this a try.

While I haven't tried it yet maybe you can - check out this link for an easy tutorial. I also borrowed the picture from that website too. I think this would be fun to try with kids too - they could find the pictures, or put the strips on the brads? Minimal sharp objects or sticky materials to worry about.

Get going - the holidays are coming!

Tree Smart pencils

2008-10-14T17:21:00.000-07:00

From my trusty "Living Green 365 Ways to Make a Difference" calendar (email edition, of course). If you have to use a pencil why not try one of these out?

"Tree Smart makes pencils directly out of old newspapers, without any mulching or chemicals. They wrap the paper around the graphite and bind it with an adhesive that dries hard as wood, so the pencil is easy to sharpen. Funky-looking, too.

Do your part: One sheet of recycled newsprint makes four pencils. More information is available at www.treesmart.com."

Quotable

2008-10-07T17:54:00.000-07:00

“When we destroy nature, we diminish ourselves and impoverish our children.”

—Robert Kennedy Jr.

Oh My Goodness

2008-10-04T16:17:00.001-07:00

Uh oh, what is this all about? Hmmmmmm, it looks like an awful lot of yarn.... Lorna's Laces hand-dyed yarn to be exact. You can read all about the soft, woolly delights in my knitting blog.

In addition to that adventure this morning I also bumped into the last jerk - er, I mean man, that I dated before meeting my now-Hubby. I was with my knitting friends having a late breakfast before heading over to Lorna's. I was wearing typical Saturday morning attire - jeans, t-shirt and a hooded sweater. No make-up and the onset of a pimple rearing its head on my chin. So, imagine my sheer delight - more like horror - when I looked up from my cheddar broccoli quiche and noticed him sitting at the table right in front of me. With a wedding ring on. With his skinny wife (who, coincidence or not has short, dark curly hair just like me.... hmmmm....) After I got over the shock of course all I could think about was the pimple, the no-makeup and the extra 20 lbs I was carrying since I saw him last. Especially since one of the last things he said to me was "your body just doesn't match your mind" which was apparently a reference to my sharp-as-nails intellect cough, cough and my, let's say, rubenesque figure. All class, this man was.

Anyway, we clearly both noticed each other but thankfully neither acknowledged it. I was glad to see that he finally had a decent haircut - must be the new wife's influence - as well as a double chin. Guess his body is starting to catch up to his inflated ego and intellect as well.

Take Your Blog to Work Day

2008-09-24T07:52:00.001-07:00

Have you heard of "Take Your Child to Work Day"? Well, my kids are too young for that yet so I decided to take all of you with me on my commute to and from work. I thought it might be fun to share some of what I experience every day.

I've heard us commuters referred to as "cattle" and while I find that reference kind of offensive I guess when you see the mass of slow moving people all going east (in the morning) and west (in the evening) we do kind of look like cattle. Many of us just put our heads down and walk, knowing that our feet will get us to work without our brains really having to think about it.

Some days you will get dripped on when the window washers are working up on their scaffolds, so when you see soapy drips on the sidewalk you know to steer clear and do NOT look up! This particular morning a man was cleaning this metal pillar with soapy water and a rag. Yup, good old-fashioned soap and elbow grease! These buildings are beautiful and I can't imagine the cost to maintain them, including all the little things like washing all the windows regularly and keeping all the shiny metal looking good. I haven't washed the windows of my house and I've lived in it for four years.

This is a rare sight - a vacant lot. It seems to be in a prime location so I'm surprised someone hasn't built something on it. I used to be able to cut across this lot and shave a few seconds off my walk but then several years ago they put up the fencing. Shortly after that I saw that it was being used to store movie equipment when they were filming the Batman movies - "Batman Returns" and most recently "Dark Knight". I saw cars with the Gotham City PD emblem on them parked there as well as row after row of trailers for the extras.

Almost every morning I walk down Wells St. and get a chance to see this adult video/bookstore sandwiched between two fast food restaurants. It always makes me laugh a little - grab your take-out lunch at AsiaGo or Taco Fresco and then stop in the adult video store before heading back to work? In fact, in addition to this store I have counted three adult video/bookstores within a two block radius of my office. I'm not sure what that says...

Ahhhh, good old Standard Parking. If you ever drive into Chicago you'll probably park at one of these and it is NOT cheap. So take public transportation if you can! I wonder how this company was able to get a corner on the parking garage business...

I had to get a picture of the Sears Tower - can you see it peeking out? It has the two-pronged white antenna sticking up.

Here is another shot looking south towards the Sears Tower

I have been watching this construction project for quite a while, from when it was at ground level. Oddly about six months ago all work seemed to stop. Now with the financial crisis I wonder if this was a little foreshadowing of what was to come. These are "hotel condos" which I don't know a whole lot about but I understand that when you are not living in your unit you can have it used as part of the hotel option which can earn you some cash flow. But the building has to be finished first...

This is The Merchandise Mart - it is a huge building and actually has its own zip code as well as a lot of interesting history. You can't help but feel its presence when you walk by.

Marina Towers - you may recognize them from the opening credits of the "Bob Newhart Show" (I'm dating myself) or the crash scene from "The Hunter" when a car drives off the building and into the Chicago River below. The famous "House of Blues" is also located in Marina City.

You can also see the new Trump Tower, which is under construction, in the background. The old Sun Times building was razed to build the Trump Tower; while I am normally against tearing down perfectly functional structures in this case it was a definite improvement. The prior building was hideous and hugely non descript. In fact the building they moved into now is still pretty much just a brown shoe box... nothing like the beautiful Tribune Tower but I digress...

Just an interesting shot looking down Wacker Drive...

Ahhh, the elevated train! aka "the el". This is why the heart of Chicago's downtown is called "the loop" because of the pattern that the el tracks form.

It is absolutely deafening walking under the tracks when a train is going by, but you really feel you are in a bustling city when it does.

One of the many high rise office buildings I have seen go up. It's really fascinating to see them go up from literally a hole in the ground to this point and beyond. "Awwww, I remember when you were just a muddy hole in the ground - look how big you are now!!"

The Lyric Opera is right near Union Station which makes me think it would be ultra convenient to take the train into the city, catch a performance and then hop a train back home. Unfortunately, I don't care for opera... I wish I did, but I don't.

I feel very cultured every time I just walk by their entryway - just look at how pretty and elegant it is. This is one of the various street performers I see and hear on a daily basis. He is a regular and I really enjoy hearing him play his makeshift drums. He is always so upbeat (no pun intended) and seems to really enjoy himself. He changes what he plays and sings based on if the Bears are winning, or if it's Christmas time. Having played an instrument when I was younger I know how hard it is and always appreciate it when I hear a street musician playing and I make sure to let them know by dropping a few dollars in their bucket.

The water taxi - I love this idea and although I don't use it anymore (I walk instead) one summer season I used it every day and it was a wonderful way to start and end my day. The ride is only about seven minutes up the river but something about being on the water is so soothing.
This man is a bit of a puzzle to me. I've seen him for at least five years - interestingly he started out sitting in a wheelchair (always has had the dark glasses on but recently I saw him do something that makes me thing he isn't blind). About two years ago he switched to a regular chair, then crates and now in the last few weeks he has started to stand with his hands out. He doesn't say anything but is very friendly if you talk to him. He also used to have a different religious themed quote on a large piece of poster board that he had propped next to him. He has phased that out but will occasionally put a poster out - one of the recent ones was in July when he announced his 91st birthday.

He is one of three people that are always posted right outside the train station - I wonder if some of the changes he has made has been to "compete" with the other people asking for money? One of them is an elderly woman who sells "Streetwise" a publication for homeless people to sell to try and earn money, and another very frail looking man who holds a piece of cardboard saying he is a Veteran. Interesting how they all seem to appeal to different groups of people...

And here I am, at the end of my day and hopping the train to go home.

Hope you enjoyed your little virtual tour of Chicago!

Lester Fizz, Bubble-Gum Artist

2008-09-20T11:48:00.000-07:00

We just picked up a signed copy of this adorable children's book today. The author is a friend of ours and we have been looking forward to when the book would be released - here it is! She also gave me her blessing to use the above picture here on my blog :-) This hardcover book was released just at the right time for the holidays - it's a cute story and it's beautifully illustrated. I love the real-life art references too. I think it would be a lovely gift for children 4 years old and up.

Here is the write-up about the book from Ruth Spiro's website: "Everyone in the Fizz family is an artist. Everyone, that is, except Lester, whose paintings are pitiful and doodles are drab. He can’t seem to find a way to fit in with the illustrious Fizzes, until one day a mouthful of gum becomes a work of art in Lester’s talented lips. With inspiration all around him, Lester develops his special talent. The school art contest is coming up. Will he be able to show the Fizzes that, with his gum, he really is an artist? Ruth Spiro’s inventive text is bursting with wordplay, tongue-in-cheek humor, clever art references, and notes about the famous works referenced in Thor Wickstrom’s exuberant illustrations. This is a delight for young artists and bubble-gum fans."

Fresh Tomato Soup

2008-09-15T15:46:00.000-07:00

Many people find themselves with the end-of-the-summer tomato deluge - if this is you, try making this soup. I've also considered making the base first, freezing it and waiting to make the roux until I have thawed the base and am ready to serve the soup. I think that may taste better than freezing the whole thing, but I haven't tried either yet because we never have any leftovers.

I found this recipe last year because I had a ton of tomatoes to use up. I'm so glad I decided to give it a try because I never knew how good freshly made tomato soup could taste! I've tried to make homemade spaghetti sauce a few times, and while it's OK frankly, I've never made a sauce that made my face light up and say "oh my gosh, that's GOOD".

However, this tomato soup did just that. And even better, it's very easy to make. The original recipe is from Allrecipes.com and you can see it here or the original recipe is below.

Garden Fresh Tomato Soup by Charlotte (original recipe)

4 cups chopped fresh tomatoes
1 slice onion
4 whole cloves
2 cups chicken broth
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons white sugar, or to taste

DIRECTIONS

In a stockpot, over medium heat, combine the tomatoes, onion, cloves and chicken broth. Bring to a boil, and gently boil for about 20 minutes to blend all of the flavors. Remove from heat and run the mixture through a food mill (or strainer) into a large bowl, or pan. Discard any stuff left over in the food mill.

In the now empty stockpot, melt the butter over medium heat. Stir in the flour to make a roux, cooking until the roux is a medium brown. Gradually whisk in a bit of the tomato mixture, so that no lumps form, then stir in the rest. Season with sugar and salt, and adjust to taste.

Noelle's variations:

I blanched and peeled the tomatoes before chopping them. To make peeling the tomatoes painless cut a small "x" in the bottom of the tomato, plunge into boiling water for 30 seconds then transfer immediately to a bowl filled with ice water. Let it sit for a few minutes and the peel will slide right off.

I use a whole medium-sized onion (not one slice)
I omit the cloves (spice)
I add 2-4 sliced cloves of garlic (depending on your tastes)
I omit the added salt and sugar
Also, since my little guy is milk allergic I use Earth Balance spread for the roux and it works great.

I use tomatoes from the garden and you just can't go wrong. It's a wonderful soup, easy to make and it's even healthy to boot. Let me know what you think!

Soap Dope

2008-09-10T13:00:00.000-07:00

I e-subscribe to the "Ask Umbra" column on the Grist website. Sometimes I find her information interesting and other times it's a bit over the top.

Last month someone asked a question about Method brand cleaning products; this was especially interesting to me since I have had the same thought - if these products are being sold at mainstream stores is it really a good "green" product?

I'll let Umbra give you her answer but I was pleasantly suprised... Dope on a Soap

Thrifty Knits

2008-09-06T17:40:00.001-07:00

I've never been a big garage sale person or thrift stores either. In fact until last month I had never even been in a thrift store and I had never bought clothes at a garage sale (at least not before I had kids - now I know what great finds they are for children's clothing!). Since I've been learning about thrifty knitting (from Ravelry of course) I've actually been to both a thrift store and a rummage sale in the last month. I think you can say I've been bit by the thrifting bug!

Thrifty knitting to me means recycling/reclaiming wool from sweaters and knitting with it or felting (intentionally shrinking) a sweater and re-purposing it into something else; i.e. a purse or a bag.
This was one of eight sweaters I found at a church rummage sale today (I paid $1 each). This sweater was cute in real life but huge for my daughter and much, much too small for me. Plus it had some signs of age, such as pilling, etc. I decided to felt it (washed it in hot water with a lot of agitation and threw in a pair of jeans for extra friction) to see what I would get. The measurements started out as 19" wide (from armpit to armpit) and 17 1/2" high (from top of the shoulder to bottom of waist ribbing).
This is what I got after washing it two times. The measurements are now 13 1/2" wide and 11" high. I cut the arms off in anticipation of making the body of the sweater into a bag of some sorts but when I saw what it looked like I thought "wait, that would be an adorable vest for my daughter" but when she tried it on it was actually too small after all that shrinking, but it would have been perfect for the cool fall weather. So I'm going to let the ideas percolate for a few days before I go any farther and see what I come up with. I've also found a book called "Second-Time Cool: The Art of Chopping Up a Sweater" that I have requested from my inter-library loan; I'm excited to see what ideas it will give me too .

The great thing about felting is that once the wool is felted you can cut it up with no worry about unraveling; once the wool becomes felt it's just like cutting fabric. I will have to do some sewing but I am looking forward to learning more about this technique and seeing what I can come up with.

My thrift store find was a beautiful men's LL Bean Fisherman's sweater made of 100% wool and imported from Ireland. It was a thing of beauty and I grabbed it for $2.99. It is a size large, which is what size my husband wears, so I've decided to let him wear it for a year before I consider recycling the wool. It appears to have never been worn, so felting it feels wasteful. At the most I will harvest the yarn and re-use it, if I even do that. I'm guessing if I had bought that much 100% irish wool from a yarn shop I would have spent atleast $80 if not more.

I'll post more before and after pictures on my knitting blog and will update this post with a link once I get that done.

Wine Cork Reuse

2008-09-03T11:55:00.000-07:00

What do to with all those wine corks rolling around in your kitchen junk drawer ... hmmmmmm

How about this? These trivets may not be terribly attractive, but what a fun idea for kids. Sadly, I became tired of looking at all those wine corks so I finally threw them away a few months ago. Darn! I should have Googled "wine corks" back then and maybe I would have seen this idea. I'm always thinking of craft projects that I can do with my daughter, or take the necessary materials to her school so they can make the projects en masse.

Or, how about collecting the corks and sending them in to be recycled? Yemm & Hart is "collecting wine cork stoppers with the goal of converting them into a useful self sustaining products". Read more about their program here. They also mention that "... each contributor has been promised a set of the samples of the finished product ..." - cool!

Or you can do something right at home according to this article. It mentions using shredded cork as mulch, added to your compost pile or using cork as "bulletin boards, pincushions, or even potted-plant aerators".

Bet you never thought that much about cork, did ya? But it's another, albeit small, way that we can reduce, reuse and recycle to be kinder to the earth.

Weekend Update

2008-09-01T10:01:00.000-07:00

We had a Big Garage Sale this weekend - we decided to part with all our baby paraphenalia plus a few other large items so we could make room in the basement for the kids to actually play in. I'm happy to say it was a success and we made a little over $500! Which is going straight into the Property Tax fund since the second half of the bill is due tomorrow. Oh well, at least we have more room in the garage and the basement.

The goal of the sale was two-fold; get rid of stuff and make some extra money too. We tried to mark stuff to sell, but not ridiculously low. I knew that whatever I had leftover would be going to charity (and would be a tax deduction) or I would eBay or Craig's List it and sell it that way.

Hand in hand with maximizing our "profit" was minimizing our expenses. We put an ad in the paper but also asked some neighbors to go in on it with us so after we divided it by five it ended up costing each family about $7. We also put a free ad on Craig's List as well as had the neighbor girls get their markers out and draw some colorful signs we posted on a few key streets in the neighborhood. We had only one folding table, so we borrowed a second table and Hubby got creative with a few leftover sheets of drywall, two sawhorses and some folding chairs to create two more large surfaces to put stuff on. For the most part Hubby watched the kids, but we took turns too and also juggled them between customers - not hugely convenient, but we made it work. I was really pleased that we were able to keep our costs down to less than $10 to put the sale on.

A friend of mine had a large garage sale last month and she thinks so differently, it's sometimes painful to watch... kind of like a train wreck, but you can't turn away. I try to wave my arms and warn the conductor, but he just goes full speed ahead! Cutting costs just isn't an issue for her; she bought the most expensive ad for the newspaper ($60) and rented (it would never, in a million years, occur to me to rent tables for a garage sale) several tables at $14 a pop. She also prices stuff ridiculously low - like a full set of 6-month old Calphalon (purging this because of a new-found concern about the non-stick surfaces) for under $50. She bought it for $500. Of course it flew out of her sale, why wouldn't it? But I'm pretty darn sure someone would have paid more for such a nice set of almost-new Calphalon. But her goal was just to get rid of everything, who cares about pricing, just move it. That isn't necessarily a bad thing, but when you are living paycheck to paycheck that doesn't seem to be the smartest choice. She told me that after her expenses (including hiring a babysitter for her son so her husband could go and play tennis) she hardly broke even. It would have probably been a better option for her to just donate everything and get the tax deduction instead of sitting out in the blistering heat for two days.

A few weeks ago she mentioned they bought a new mini van, which surprised me because their old mini van was not even 3 years old. She said it needed new tires, was out of warranty and they had paid it off. So instead of buying the new tires, they bought a new mini van. My mind is still trying to comprehend the reasoning behind that purchase. To add insult to injury it was a Toyota; I've been a lifelong Toyota owner because of their dependability and longevity. My first car, a Celica, was 10 years old when I bought my current Toyota in 1999, which I still have, and plan to have for as long as I can. Would I like a newer, snazzier car? Sure, but my practical self can't justify getting rid of my current car which runs great and hasn't given me a stitch of trouble other than routine maintenance.

She is definitely someone that falls victim to Retail Therapy and has an excuse for why she needs everything she buys. It makes me sad, and we've talked about it but I think it's like losing weight. Once you hit a certain point it feels like you will never get to your goal weight, so why not just keep eating. Being deeply in debt probably feels like that; like you are never going to pay it all off, so if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

Sometimes I'm a little jealous of her reckless spending - I wonder what would it be like for just a day or a week to be in her body and spend that freely. 401K contributions? What are those? Kid's college fund? Oh, I'll worry about that when the time comes. Property taxes coming due? We'll just refinance the house and squeeze out a little more equity to cover it. Shop sales or clip coupons? Too much trouble and Whole Foods is right at the corner - very convenient to buy everything there.

Sigh... I've predicted to Hubby that they will be in bankruptcy within 5 years - I really hope I'm wrong, but the writing seems so clearly on the wall.

Telecommuting

2008-09-01T09:52:00.000-07:00

Another great factoid from my "Living Green - 365 Ways to Make a Difference" calendar:

"Telecommuters say they stay fresh on the job and save lots on commuting costs. They also produce a measurable reduction in each day’s accumulation of smog and greenhouse gases.With just a tenth of the workforce telecommuting one day a week, more than 1.2 million gallons of fuel would be saved and more than 12,000 tons of pollution kept out of the air."

Occasionally I do telecommute and I find it to be some of my most productive time - first, I can be at work ten minutes after getting out of the shower and getting dressed. Second, I have none of the distractions (annoyances!!) of working in a setting that can sometimes get very loud. Lastly, I get the added benefit (both healthwise and moneywise) of being able to make my own lunch in my own kitchen - eating out every day gets expensive and many times I am not organized enough to get a brown bag lunch organized to take to work.

The downside is I don't get my 2 mile/day walk to and from the train and sometimes it does get a little lonely being at home and away from the hubbub of an office.

Computer Recycling

2008-08-28T18:26:00.000-07:00

From my "Living Green: 365 Ways to Make a Difference" calendar (online version - no waste!)

"Although a number of computer manufacturers offer some form of recycling, Dell’s program seems to be a standout. Some makers accept their old computers only when you buy a new one; Dell will accept its old models regardless of whether you’ve made a new purchase"

This reminds me of the dinosaur I have in my garage - from 1995 - the year I learned ALL about what the internet was all about. My life has never been the same! I credit that time in my life with helping me leave my first husband and five years later find my Hubby - the man I'm married to and father of my two children. But those are post topics for another time...

Quotable

2008-08-28T18:23:00.001-07:00

"It matters if you just don't give up"

- Stephen Hawking

Almost Famous?

2008-08-27T08:56:00.000-07:00

Wow, I just received a comment on my very first blog post from March of this year.

Not only was it from someone I do not know, but it was from the author of a book I mentioned in the post. Cool!

I'm flattered that he took the time to write a comment, albeit an unhappy one, but find it strange that he bothered posting on my little nobody-knows-me blog. He is, after all a published author and has even been featured on the "Today Show". I guess I touched a nerve (which was not my intent - blogging is all about your own opinions/thoughts/ramblings, is it not?) enough that he dashed off that comment.

I wonder how he found my blog - was he Googling himself? Did someone else read my blog and forward my post about his book to him? Either way, I feel kind of famous now and seeing his comment did make me smile. Thank you, Jeff!

Adios Bar Cars

2008-08-27T08:52:00.000-07:00

Metra announced today that they will elminate the "bar cars" from the commuter trains. Yay!

I won't miss 'em. If you can't make it for a 30-60 minute train ride (depending on your destination) without access to alcohol then I think you have a much bigger problem. Plus it was always a hassle when you had to pass through these cars to get to the passenger cars on the other side - people standing there, alcohol in hand, gabbing it up and apparently oblivious to the fact they were actually on a commuter train and people needed to pass by. It just seemed ridiculous. Good riddance!

License Suspended

2008-08-22T12:54:00.000-07:00

Chicago Tribune photo

Not mine!

Theirs -> Fulton's on the River What makes this even more gross is that I took business colleagues there for lunch three weeks ago... ick!

If you allow yourself to really start thinking about all the gross, disgusting stuff that could be happening to your food while it is being prepared (did they wash their hands properly? did they sneeze on it? was the waitress mad at me and did she spit in it?) you will never want to eat out again. So, I try not to let this stuff get to me, but I do think that Fulton's is now officially off my roster of lunch restaurants. Too bad, they have a lovely location right on the river too :-(

Quotable

2008-08-21T19:21:00.000-07:00

"Maybe he is in a monster's mouth"

- My daughter speculating as to why her brother started crying while sleeping in his crib

Grilled Veggie & Goat Cheese Sandwich

2008-08-21T07:36:00.000-07:00

Wait - don't go away!! I know this recipe sounds a little strange but believe you me - it is FANTASTIC!

We signed up with a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) this summer. In a nutshell it means you pre-pay for a seasons (June through October) worth of organic fresh fruit and veggies from a local farmer. In turn every week he packs a 1/2 bushel box full of everything that is ready to go from his farm that week. There are a couple of things we really like about this program - 1) we are helping to support a local organic farmer 2) we are getting fresh organic produce and 3) we are forced to try new veggies!

We did this two years ago and although we had good intentions I'll admit by halfway through the summer we kind of pooped out and a lot of our wonderful produce ended up in the composter (we joked that we had really nice, expensive organic compost in there!). This summer we are spliting a half share with a neighbor so the amount of produce we get is a lot less and for us that seems more manageable at this point in our lives.

A few things we have eaten from our CSA that I normally wouldn't think of buying: beets and beet greens, kale, lots of different mixed baby greens, fennel, garlic scapes, green garlic, patty pan, cabbage (we tried it sauteed and it was great!) and then this sandwich. I normally do not like eggplant, but there it was in our box last week: a baby eggplant. Thankfully they also include some recipes they have gathered to use the ingredients in that week's box and I was determined to eat that eggplant!

This was originally found on www.epicurious.com. I loved the recipe as written but next time I would peel the eggplant. You can substitute whatever grilled summer veggies you have on hand.

3 T olive oil
2 large garlic cloves, minced
1 12-inch-long baguette, cut in half horizontally
1 small eggplant cut lengthwise into six 1/2-inch-thick slices
3 medium tomatoes, cut into 10 slices total
3 oz soft fresh goat cheese (such as Montrachet)
12 fresh basil leaves

Prepare barbecue (medium-high heat) or preheat broiler. Combine oil and garlic in small bowl; let stand 5 minutes. Brush cut sides of baguette and both sides of eggplant and tomato slices with garlic oil. Grill cut sides of baguette until toasted; about 2 minutes. Transfer baguette, cut side up, to plates. Season eggplant and tomatoes with salt and pepper. Grill eggplant until cooked through, abt 6 minutes per side, transfer to plate. Grill tomatoes until warmed though, abt 1 minute per side; transfer to plate. Spread goat cheese on bread, dividing equally. Overlap eggplant slices, then tomatos slices on baguette halves, covering completely. Garnish with fresh basil leaves. Cut each sandwich diagonally into 4 sections and serve. 2 servings.

Weekend Update

2008-08-19T17:05:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday kicked off a nice 4-day weekend and car trip to visit my new nephew in St. Louis. It's a five hour car ride and my little guy did not like it. And he made sure we all knew he did not like it. He cried, hollered, thrashed and swiped at his sister. She was a sport and just kept her head down until he got tired of it.

I wish we had more of this - it was fun when they were playing with each other.

I could have done with a lot more of this.

And this. You'll notice her arm is securely wrapped around her little red lunch bag. This girl is very protective of her food. She didn't put that bag down for anything.

Finally seeing my little 3-week old nephew made it all worthwhile! What a sweet little pumpkin he is! That new baby smell.... ahhhhhh.

We baked a cake for Hubby and my Dad, both of whom are August babies. The girls had a lot fun helping me. Notice my daughter (on the right). Yup, she is sneaking frosting right in front of me and I (inadvertently) caught it on camera for posterity.

I found out that mysteriously my little guy knows how to properly hold drumsticks - it was almost eerie. I'll have to dig this picture out to show him before he leaves on his first World Tour with his rock band in 25 years.

There are some things about Missouri that stick with you, even after you go home.

The Waffle House, for one. I know that it must seem a little nuts to the people that live where there is a Waffle House nearby but we always making a stop here for breakfast before we head back to Chicago. I know it's just a diner with diner food but I love their waffles. And they cost a whole $2.49.

This sign on their door however, not feeling much love for it. The first time I saw it I didn't know what to think ... but then I had a Waffle House waffle and I didn't care. Now I just laugh when I open the door and look for an open table.

Last but not least, how about this billboard. What a great combination! Beer, bait and bullets - one stop shopping! Yee haw!!!

Rock 'n' Roll McDonald's

2008-08-19T16:58:00.000-07:00

Chicago Tribune photo
Somehow, I don't think this is the kind of rocking and rolling they want at the famed Rock 'n' Roll McDonalds in the River North neighborhood. Even more scary is that it's within walking distance of my office. I guess I'm glad all this happened at 4 a.m.

Handmade Wrapping Paper

2008-08-10T11:55:00.001-07:00

Now that my little guy is 18 months old he is starting to bring home art work from school - mostly drawings on large 11x14 sheets of construction paper, such as this (excuse my photo - as much as I love this new camera I still don't know how buttons get pushed and I end up with B&W vs color photos ...)

I look at his art and say "awwwwww, my baby did that!" but realistically after putting one or two of these away for him, what else can you do with them? I feel bad just throwing them in the recycling bin.

I decided to re-purpose the artwork into wrapping paper. We used this particular drawing to wrap a book for a birthday party today. I also re-used some bright red ribbon that came on a gift basket we had received and the end result looked great, don't you think? The recipient (well, his mom) was thrilled that my little guy had "hand drawn" the wrapping paper and I felt much better knowing it went to one more use before (hopefully) being recycled.

The hardest part about re-using ribbons, bows and these art drawings are finding a place to store them but once you have that done it's easy to set these items aside for the next chance to artfully put them together and re-use them to wrap another gift with your own special touch.

MGA Won! And other doggy news

2008-08-06T10:16:00.000-07:00

I am so happy to announce that MGA (Midwest Greyhound Adoption) won the Chicago Pet Directory Contest! (the original post about the contest is here)

Thank you if you did take the time to vote in July. Winning this contest means the group will receive some free marketing assistance and a cash prize. Since MGA always takes in so many broken leg dogs (about 80% of their dogs) this is a "greyt" win for them.

Again thank you all for helping MGA WINNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cocoa Mulch Can Be Harmful to Pets

This is one of those round-robin emails that frequently travels all over the world to end up in my email; however, I checked this one out on Snopes.com and it is legit. If you use cocoa mulch in your garden and have animals that spend time there to you should read about the possible problems here .

Breast Cancer 3-Day Walk

2008-08-06T10:04:00.001-07:00

A friend of ours was diagnosed with breast cancer two years ago. She went through surgery and chemo, lost her hair but has come through it and is healthy now. She also did it with two children under the age of 6 at home.

She is participating in the Breast Cancer 3-Day Walk which starts on Friday. We made a cash donation but I also wanted to show her a little extra support, so I knit up this hat. I love how it turned out! I can't claim design credit though - I found the pattern on Ravelry.com and it was designed by Carissa.

No one in my family would humor me and put the hat on their head so I could get a picture of it on someone - my 18 month old was crabby, my daughter just stared at me with her thumb in her mouth (I do not like it when she does that) and my husband said (in a very un-husbandly manner) "I don't want to show up on the internet wearing a pink hat!" Even when I told him I wouldn't take a front on picture with his face showing for heaven's sake...sigh... And me, I have a giant head and I didn't want the pattern to get all stretched out, so a self portrait wasn't an option.

Instead I opted for a upside-down vase. It's not the greatest model, but you can get an idea of what the hat will look like on someone. Or atleast someone that has a flat head.

Date Night

2008-08-03T18:06:00.000-07:00

Ahhhhhhhhh, yesterday was Date Night. Before kids I thought it sounded silly/cliche/too cutesy to have a "Date Night". Then I had kids and realized that it becomes very easy to just not go out as a couple anymore. After our daughter was born in 2005 Hubby and I didn't go out by ourselves for 13 months so we decided we had better start Date Night in our family. I now understand the value in having at least one night a month when you do go out with your husband. Sometimes we go out by ourselves, other times with another couple. Although sometimes all the prep work(getting a babysitter, cleaning up the house, organizing what they are going to have for dinner, etc) makes me want to just stay home, but we persevere and most times it's actually fun!

This Saturday we went to see Gipsy Kings at Ravinia, a really nice outdoor venue with lawn and pavilion seating (we always opt for the lawn). What a romantic, fun, get-up-and-dance (and I don’t even dance) concert. I'm proud to say I liked the GK before they were popular here in the States - I have their first album and get this - it's on cassette. Man, that's a long time ago...

It was interesting to people watch and see all the young couples - women in long floaty skirts, some in heels. I was in shorts and a cotton sleeveless shirt - very suburban mom. As I sat there I tried to remember back when Hubby and I went to Ravinia while we were dating or before we had kids. It sure was a different experience and I did find myself a little melancholy for those days.

Still, by about 9:45pm all I could think about was going home, hugging my baby boy and getting to bed - I could hardly keep my eyes open. This seems to happen to me a lot on Date Night… I miss my kids and just want to get home to them and then go to bed. I think I need to work on that.

Anyway, if you aren’t familiar with the Gipsy Kings’ music I found a bunch of stuff on Youtube - these two are really good - Volare and Un Amor. Listen and tell me if you were able to resist dancing - or at least tapping your foot. I've had "Volare" in my head all day - but that's a good thing :-)

Common Sense

2008-07-30T19:40:00.000-07:00

There have just been all kinds of crazy things popping up on my commute lately. One phenomenon was mentioned in a few articles in the Tribune yesterday - namely people who walk and text at the same time. You can read one of those articles here .

Then you have the cell phone talkers; people jabbering on their cell phones - they kind of behave just like they do when they are driving and talking - they slow down when they are walking, don't pay attention to what's going on around them, etc. I can't imagine how much of what they say is heard and vice versa (if you have ever walked under the el when a train was going by you know what I mean).

Then I started to notice people reading. Books. While they were walking through the Loop on their way to work. How the heck do you read a novel and walk through rush hour traffic in a busy city like Chicago? Obviously there is a safety issue - believe me the streets (and sidewalks) of Chicago are not in pristine condition; there are cracks, holes, construction cones, spit blobs (or worse) that I tend to want to notice well in advance so I can walk around them.

Then from a practical standpoint - just how enjoyable is reading while you are walking? Generally when I am reading a novel (versus say a business report, or trying to quickly absorb something for a meeting) I am reading for pleasure. I want to be in a relaxing atmosphere, maybe have my feet up and something to drink. I do not want to try and negotiate the city streets with one eye while trying to read the latest John Grisham book. How much fun is that?

So, texting, talking, reading all while walking through the City of Chicago. You have to wonder... which leads me to part II of this post. I think it dovetails nicely, don't you? (thanks to my Dad who faithfully forwards me all of those internet chain mails he gets, bless his heart)

Obituary for Common Sense

Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense. No one knows for sure how old he was since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as:

Knowing when to come in out of the rain.
Why the early bird gets the worm.
Life isn't always fair.
Maybe it was my fault.

Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies: don't spend more than you can earn and reliable strategies: adults not children are in charge.

His health began to deteriorate when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children. It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer Tylenol, sunscreen lotion or a band-aid to a student but could not inform parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.

Common Sense lost the will to live as the Ten Commandments became contraband, churches became businesses and criminals received better treatment than their victims.

Common Sense took a beating when it became punishable for you to defend yourself from a burglar in your own home but the burglar could sue you for assault.

He began to lose ground rapidly when well-intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a 6-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate, teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student only worsened his condition.

Common Sense finally gave up the will to live after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled it in her lap and was promptly awarded a huge settlement by a jury of her peers.

Common Sense was preceded in death by his parents Truth and Trust; his wife Discretion; his Daughter Responsibility; and his son Reason.

He is survived by his 3 stepbrothers; I Know My Rights, Someone Else Is To blame, and I'm A Victim.

Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone. If you still remember him, pass this on. If not, join the majority and do nothing...

Hershey Store Robbery

2008-07-25T12:14:00.000-07:00

If I was going to rob a store, this is probably what I would do. Forget about the cash, give me the chocolate!

Seriously though, this happened right on Michigan Avenue which is a tourist mecca and generally busy, even later at night. Guess someone really needed their sugar and decided to risk it. Maybe they didn't know the Ghiradelli store is only a few blocks north of the Hershey store?? But you know what, I prefer Hershey's too. You can't go wrong with a classic Hershey bar. Or two. Or three...

You can read the story from The Chicago Tribune right here.

(Minor) Celebrity Sighting

2008-07-25T11:55:00.000-07:00

I've worked in Chicago for 10 years or so; in that time I have bumped into several celebrities.

Last year I saw Matthew Modine walking in the Loop - he really blended in and looked just like a tourist with his camera around his neck. The next day I read in the paper he was in town for a play he was in. Then there was Jerry Springer and Chris Farley (they each lived in the residential side of the building I worked in), Stedman Graham (got to stand right next to him in the elevator for 5 floors). Various athletes too - Frank Thomas (had an office in the same building I worked in), Phil Jackson (he practically filled up the entire revolving door at Water Tower Place), Toni Kukoc(at Bob Chinn's Crabhouse), Bill Cartwright (riding his bike down my street).

For those of you who know Chicago the names Harry Caray, Steve Stone and The Cubs are familiar to you, you know their relationship to each other and their level of Chicago "celebrity".
Before Harry Caray died a several years ago he opened a restaurant called Harry Caray's; of course it is a Cubs themed restaurant and bar and it also has pretty good food too. I go there every so often for lunch and for speed's sake we usually sit in the bar area so we can get our food quickly and get back to work.

Yesterday a friend and I were sitting at a table in the bar and in walks Steve Stone (on his cell phone, of course). He went straight to the back of the bar area and sat down (this happened to be at the table immediately behind my friend and I). I noticed him walk in but didn't really think much of it other than "he sure is short!". I also had my back to him once he sat down so it was easy not to look. However, the tourist family sitting in front of me were very excited to see a Chicago celebrity and the woman (also sitting with her back to Steve Stone) kept twisting her head to look behind her and see what SS was doing, or perhaps who he was meeting for lunch. She did this repeatedly - probably 10 times in the period of 20 minutes; each time she craned her neck around she had to look at me first, since I was in front of SS. After the first two times I have to tell you it became really annoying and I wanted to say "could you just sit forward and please eat your lunch!".

So, while I'm no celebrity I was unexpectedly able to experience what it's like when someone is gawking at you while you are just trying to quietly eat your lunch. Worse yet, this was just one nosey woman - imagine what it's like when there is a hoard of people or if you are an A-list celebrity, it really must be a nightmare.

In the past I never approached these people or acknowledged them anyways - mostly because 1) I like to give them their privacy, 2) I don't want to make their heads any bigger than they already may be and 3) I guess I like to have a little dignity and somehow gushing over them or asking for an autograph just seems silly. However, now that I have had a taste of what it feels like to be in their shoes I'll be sure to continue to pretend I don't notice them.

Kool Aid Dyeing

2008-07-23T12:25:00.000-07:00

My daughter and I have been having a fun time with Kool Aid lately and NO we are not drinking it (in fact when we went to the store to buy some for this project she asked me "Mommy, what is Kool Aid??" and I realized her pristine little child's body has never ingested the likes of it before. And I felt good about that - the longer I can keep the inevitable junk out of her body the better!

All you need is some Kool Aid, a heat source (microwave will do) a glass bowl, plenty of newspaper and plastic wrap and some yarn or a garment you want to dye that is made of at least 50% wool. For all the details on this fun project check out my knitting blog here

Competitive Streak

2008-07-21T18:25:00.000-07:00

I cannot turn down a challenge - a mental challenge that is. I love board games, especially Trivial Pursuit and Scrabble. Those games they do at baby showers - oh boy, let me at 'em (it's rather embarassing, this competitve streak I have). So, when the Starbucks and Yarn Swap I am participating in on Ravelry posted a Scavenger Hunt - well, I was ALL OVER IT. We are supposed to post our answers in our blogs, so here they are. They won't make any sense to anyone not in the swap - sorry!

Within Your Blend:

1. What U.S. state has the most folks in your Blend: Three way tie between MN/FL/CA
2. What is the most popular Ravatar choice: Raveler's own picture (or with spouse incl)
3. Someone with over 100 posts: Anniebananie (604 posts)
4. Longest term Raveler: Woollywizard since 5/27/07
5. Newest Raveler: BellaAnna 6/29/08
6. Anniebananie is a sock knitter
7. Grannysheep is a spinner
8. Two people with the same favorite drink: Grannysheep and Rdodo enjoy their lattes
9. Find two bloggers: Kathie77 and Knitknot
10. Find two non-bloggers: Wannabemuse and BellaAnna

Outside Your Blend:

1. Two people who dye yarn: Setembrina, Shelbyknits, Snowmoon4, Crazy4knitting
2. Two people with the same favorite color: Knit1kids2, Karidyan, Chloecat262 all love purple
3. Two people with the same favorite fragrance: Lavender for Mspalmtree, Sscerrato and Sheepishone
4. Two people with the same favorite yarn: Miami99 and Mspalmtree love alpaca
5. Someone with more than four kids: Kelly41momof5 (5 kids), Bartons15 (13 kids)
6. Three people who live outside the U.S. Sibylle (Germany), Lynnsanjac (UK), Knittingbunnymum (Canada)
7. Someone with an unusual pet: Mikelswool - 16 sheep
8. Someone with at least three pets: Kelly41momof5, Mikelswool
9. Two people with birthdays in the same week: Happylady (Feb 19), Juliebie (Fed 21)
10. Two people with the same favorite curse word: Jebns, Marian, Sheepishone, Cabingirl and Shelbyknits all favor the "eff" word.

Rough Weekend

2008-07-20T19:10:00.000-07:00

I'm tired.

This was one of those weekends filled with runny noses, teething, a lot of whining and gnashing of teeth (both kids and parents). It was brutally hot and humid so most of the weekend was indoors. I'm getting sick myself and I'm not ready for work tomorrow.

The good news is that as I was going through my pictures from this weekend I found a few that I especially liked.

I love my little guy's smile - it conveys such a sense of complete happiness, doesn't it?

My girl doing a mad dash down the sidewalk - she just felt like running after dinner, so she did. Up and down the sidewalk out front, simple as that. Love those orange shoes, don't 'cha?

One thing about digital cameras that I love so much is I am so much more quick to take pictures of anything that grabs my interest - after all, I can just click "erase" if I don't like it - and in doing so I think I have captured some neat shots that I normally (back in the day of the film camera) would not have taken. Like old big foot eating an ice cream cone.

Surprise Assault

2008-07-16T15:01:00.000-07:00

Below is a letter to the editor I wrote to the Chicago Tribune earlier this week. It was posted in their "Online Exclusives" where other people can input thoughts and comments.

******************************************************

I was assaulted on my way to the train Monday evening.

It happened as I turned from Wacker to Madison, heading toward Union Station. I missed the first attack - I was too busy talking - but the second one hit me squarely in the gut.

It took me a minute to figure out what it was - and suddenly, with horror, I realized I was looking at a poster-sized photo of a baby that had been dismembered - I'm assuming this was the aftermath of a partial birth abortion, as the image I saw was of an infant's head missing its jaw and its body, tissue hanging from the base of its head.The people committing this assault on me where holding these posters followed by a religious message which I hardly noticed since by the third poster I was sick to my stomach and on the verge of tears.

This is not the first time I have been subjected to this on my way to the train after work. Why is this okay? What if my child had been walking with me? It's summertime, after all, and some people bring their kids to their office as a treat. How are these horrifying, graphic images any different than someone standing there with poster-sized pornographic photos? Why are these people allowed to forcibly subject the unsuspecting public to this? I had a lump in my throat the rest of the evening. This assault and the group of people that inflicted it upon me is not something I will soon forget nor forgive.

Lilies - Bang For Your Gardening Buck

2008-07-11T18:58:00.001-07:00

If you want to get a lot of bang for your gardening dollar try planting lilies. This plant is just one bulb and look how many beautiful flowers are on it.

This is my front garden - these bright, colorful lilies make me feel so happy when I drive up to my house. The pop of color is really eye-catching. I think the bulbs multiply over time and every season it does seem like I have more.

This is a grouping of white lilies (not the same plant as the first picture). The prior owner of my house had planted them and overtime they became buried under the foliage of a monster hydrangea. A few summers ago I happened to notice them stuggling behind the hydrangea so I moved them and they are absolutely thriving now. They remind me of a bridal bouquet - pure white, full and just lovely.

If you have some space in your garden that needs a little dressing up give lilies a try!