http://www.poptartsworld.com/nycSo, remember how long it took me to get used to the beginning of the school year. It's taken me nearly that long to get used to the end of the year too. Here are just a few things that have been going on in our lives.

Meal Planning - This lasted longer than I expected. In fact, I think it lasted about 5 weeks. Then I hit the wall. I was tired of figuring what the girls would actually eat. Seasonal food wasn't really keeping up yet and I was just tired. I'll give this another shot soon because this was by far the best option for me.

Summer travel - we're in the midst of all going in different directions and it's hard. Thank goodness for Nana who handled the days when dh and I were both going in different directions and the kidlets got some wonderful inter-generational time.

And speaking of my travels, on my way back from NY I was in Union Station in DC waiting for my train and I saw a brochure for Pop Tart World in NY. I thought - well, I can't repeat it here but it was along the lines of "You have got to be kidding. I was just there!" I didn't have much time outside the conference but I'd have made time to see Pop Tart World!! Today I remembered to look online and it seems that it's no longer open. Whew. I'm sad that it's closed but happy not to have missed on such a wonderful experience. Personally, I think Times Square definitely needs Pop Tart World back it would round out the experience:)

I wasn't emotionally attached to this alarm clock but I'm having a hard time replacing it. Apparently it's hard to find perfection.

I want it all. I want atomic accuracy. I want dual alarms. I want projection. I want....yeah, I've been reading the reviews on Amazon for days and I still don't have a clock.

So I decided to look at the classic alarm clock that I had when I was in high school and college. This was just enough then. It got me up for school and I never overslept unless I knocked the alarm clock off the foot of the bed:)

Surprisingly enough this clock was about $8 the first time I owned one. I think I had at least three over a decade or more. Now it's $32. If I weren't so cheap I might buy it again but now the idea of a $32 alarm clock that does nothing but tell time and wake up seems ridiculous - even if it was designed by Dieter Ram.

If you have an alarm clock that does everything you need - or more - let me know. I don't need it to sing "Rock and Roll Chicken" but there are a few things I'd like [see above].

Fox Network has canceled Chicago Code. Yep, apparently a television show with a good moral center just doesn't work on that network. What a surprise. Go check out the episodes on Hulu and then make sure to watch the remaining episodes in this season. Yes, there is a moderately annoying voice over at the beginning of each episode but it goes away. I promise. I also promise that this is a fantastic show that you won't want to miss.

It's time to try meal planning again.

You're not surprised are you? I usually post something like this every four or five months and my efforts last a few weeks at best. I know this, too. I recognize the pattern.

So, what's different about this attempt? Well - it's a multi-prong focus using tips from Erin Chase's The $5 Dinner Mom Cookbook: 200 Recipes for Quick, Delicious, and Nourishing Meals That Are Easy on the Budget and a Snap to Prepare and then populated with recipes from said cookbook, some family favorites, and other internet sites.

What exactly is this two-prong attack? I'll tell you but remember that it sounded better when I called it a 'two-prong focus' or whatever I just wrote. Erin, the $5 Dollar Dinner mom, talks about starting out with each night of the week already dedicated to a specific type of meal. We used this concept for a while when we had Taco Tuesdays, but now I'm expanding it so that my plan looks something like this:

Monday: Pizza
Tuesday: Breakfast for Dinner or Trip to Costco
Wednesday: Crockpot
Thursday: Pasta
Friday: Chicken
Saturday: Leftovers

I took out my blank template, wrote in the theme for the night and then began deciding what to make. I'm taking into consideration seasonal offerings especially since this is the first week of our CSA for the year. I also need to be realistic about what everyone will eat. I'm not about making more than one meal for the family so there needs to be enough available to everyone so that they can each be satisfied.

So far I have two weeks planned out and my hope is that I'll be able to stay a week ahead. I'm also hoping that this will make the remaining few weeks of school easier to handle because life sure isn't going to get simpler on it's own.

There's my plan. We'll see how it goes. If you don't hear anything that might be good news - or it might mean there's a need for another plan. If you have your own meal planning system and have something that really works for you, let me know. I have no trouble incorporating additional aspects into my new plan!

We've been spring cleaning the pantry by eating our way through items that we might have passed up for more sexy items. I admit it was not an intentional choice. It's because our Kroger is undergoing remodeling and I'm tired of the stuff moving around.

Well, that was true at first. Things moved and aisles were over-crowded. Now things seemed to have settled down but in truth the placement of items doesn't seem to make any sense. For instance, the canning jars [an item that might be needed by 2.4 people in my neighborhood maybe twice a year] has prime real estate opposite the nifty canned soup rack. I'm guessing this will not be the final resting place for these items and that makes me not want to get too invested in the store's intermediate setup.

And that's why we're eating our stockpile of pasta and canned fruit and frozen meats. It's actually been a good practice - not only for our budget, for stock rotation, but for space reclamation. No matter why it's definitely a Cool Idea!

I have a feeling that some of my friends might be a bit tired of hearing me talk about new ways to use the crockpot - this is why I'm releasing this into the blogosphere for y'all. The might be some of the best news since I learned [and made several times] to make chocolate pots de creme in the crockpot. However, I'm not feeding that to my kids. This isn't an 'everyday' treat either but it is one of dh's favorites and it's one that I'm absolutely horrible at making.

Here it is.... Rice Krispie Treats!!! Yes, you can make these in the crockpot. No more standing at the stove and constant stirring. Just pop it all in the crockpot, stir when you walk through the kitchen and when it's ready dump into your pan. It's amazing. It's wonderful. I ate most of this by myself while I was stirring but no one needs to know:)

And just in case you want to know more incredible things you can do with your crockpot you really should sign up for the emails. They aren't as frequent anymore but if I didn't get them I wouldn't have known this was in the archives. This is definitely a Cool Idea!

What does a toddler think is important to pack for a short vacation:

Joy's Backpack has...
A comic book
A blanket
A toy
A box of macaroni and cheese

Comfort's has...
Books
Books
Books
Scribble Doodle Book
Entire Jar of Vitamins
Pirate Hat

'nuff said

Kinda sounds like the alarm clock going off in Groundhog Day. Okay, maybe not, but now that I'm done with Turbo Tax [thank you very much!] I've rejoined the land of those who can pay attention to the rest of the world.

And it turns out that there are people out there with some very clever tax accountants. If I ever doubted that I shoulda been an accountant here's the kicker - GE got a $3.2 Billion refund last year on profits of $28B.

First of all, this kind of money is staggering. I don't have that many fingers and I've shut down my spreadsheets but I know that's a LOT of zeroes. I know that GE is gonna say - but we pay our share and we're good corporate citizens. Um, yeah. I'm a good citizen, too, but there isn't $3.2B in my checking account. Might be because I only voted once in the last election. That part always messes me up.

So, here's to the end of another tax season. To my friends who are in the profession - god love ya. Hugs! To those of you who get a refund - congratulations. To those of you who owe - I'm sorry. Hugs to you but maybe GE will be willing to share.

Yeah, I know they're not good for me and they're loaded with sugar and other cardboard like substances but I love them. I have since I was a child. Hmmm, maybe that's why I like them so much:)

Yep, I'm a child of the 1970s and never got to eat Pop-Tars unless we were traveling to see my grandparents. My mom used these treats to keep me quiet on the airplane. Of course, in those days they weren't made with High Fructose Corn Syrup and they only came in the 6-pack box. I ate the crust first then at the rest, savoring each bite, drawing out the pleasuring as long as I could because once those six Pop-Tarts were gone they were gone until the next time I saw an airplane. It was a long couple of years between chocolatey goodness.

Then I got a job in high school and started making my own money and I decided to buy my own breakfast occasionally. Pop-Tarts were still just as magical and they're just as magical even now that they're loaded with stuff made in the lab. But to me the flavor is layered in pleasure and still takes me back to those trips to see my grandparents. Sure, I rationalize that there are essential vitamins and iron --there used to me 9 and now there are only 7 - not sure what happened to the other 2?

I realize Pop-Tarts aren't like rainbows and unicorns but they help get me going some mornings. Maybe I need to grow up and find an adult breakfast alternative but until I turn 50 I'm sticking with Pop-Tarts!

I've mentioned before that until recently I haven't watched much television that wasn't animated or with furry monsters. That's what comes from having no time and small kids. Recently, however, we decided to ditch our premium cable channels and subscribe to Netflix. I cannot tell you want a different this has made. I've revisited old TV shows, caught up on movies I love, seen some I never had time to see in the first place, and I'm watching my way through some great documentaries.

Then Amazon decided to join the playing field when they added free instant viewing of TV and movies to the Prime Membership. Of course, there's some overlap with Netflix and Hulu but since I'm already paying for Prime I gave it a spin.

The first TV series that I've watched all the way through on Amazon was a season of Inspector Lewis including the episode Dark Matter. I was a huge fan of the Inspector Morse series and to know that Lewis gets his own chance now is great. Plus, it's fun to watch him be the master and pass along the wisdom he received from his mentor.

But as much as I loved Lewis I took a break because we found a great new show on network television. Yeah, it was a surprise to me, too.  If you're not watching Chicago Code then you're missing some seriously good television. I will say that if you're looking for a gritty cop drama about Chicago days of old then this isn't for you. This is a show about the way life could be - or maybe a better way to put it is that it's a show about the people who want their city cleaned up and what they have to do to get it that way. Oh, there's lots of good old Chicagoland politics along the way but this is a story about how life could be better and the challenges that everyone faces along the way.

I have no illusions that each episode of Chicago Code is going to end wrapped in a pretty ribbon but I do know that these are people who are trying very hard. Just like the characters in The State Within. This is a BBC production filmed almost entirely in DC and Florida it seems, with the main characters being the British ambassador to the US [Jason Isaacs] and the US Secretary of Defense [Sharon Gless]. It's only seven hours of drama and the poor British Ambassador has at least five people close to him [either in proximity or relation] die, he brokers peace talks, he tries to keep a man from lethal injection, he tries to tackle political corruption, and he tries to stop an international conflict. The first episode is hard to watch as it starts out with a plane exploding in DC due to a terrorist bomb but it's okay, the Ambassador is there to help. No, really, he is.

And while these shows couldn't be more different in some ways they are both similar in that the main characters believe that government and the people that work for those governments are supposed to be doing their best for the people and the slimy, corrupt people are the bad guys. It's still a good story with some good twists and turns and neither series has a pollyana attitude. So, give them a try. These are definitely good stories about people trying to make our world a better place..