It’s my birthday month so my blog posts are all going to be about me.

Since I’ve just recently gone back to work my brain is stuck in interview mode. There’s something about having been through the interview process and the preparation for the dreaded “Where do you see yourself in 5 years’ question that makes me think about the jobs that I’m already too old for. I’m turning 42. Statistically, and in accordance with the longevity of my family, I’m at about half my life expectancy. But as we all know there are jobs that I won’t be asked to apply for as a 42 year old woman. Here are some of my thoughts.

I’m going to discount jobs like professional cheerleader or supermodel. Yes, they are behind me but they really weren’t realistic career choices for me anyway. I can put professional soccer player on the list as that was one of my goals when I was 9 – along with concert oboist and President of the United States [more on that later].  I am definitely too old to play pro soccer even if I had enough talent. Those women who won back to back World Cup trophies were my contemporaries and even they are retired and broadcasting from the booth. But thank goodness for Title IX that this was a possibility for some women.

Now, while I’m not too old to be a concert oboist I am old enough and self-aware enough to not put any one I like through the pain of listening to me anymore. Every again. You are all lucky that no symphony will take me. Really. 

If you have Netflix Streaming you might have noticed that in January they showed the James Bond movies. That got us to thinking when in the careers of each of the title actors did they begin playing that role. [I’m going to stick to the major film actors here.]

·         Sean Connery – 32

·         Roger Moore – 46

·         Timothy Dalton – 41

·         Pierce Brosnan –42

·         Daniel Craig –38

Except for Roger Moore each of these actors began their work in this quintessential role before or around their 42^nd birthday. I’m not knocking Roger Moore, as these are the Bond movies I grew up on, but most people don’t consider these to be the Best of Bond. However, as trends go, if you want to be James Bond you need to secure this role while you can still pound down the martinis, run a lot, and not need a body double for ALL of your body.

In truth, President of the United States is the only job I can think of with a minimum age requirement. [Well, other Constitutional officers do as well – such as Congressional Representative and Senator.] So, I guess that while many jobs are never going to be open to me again I can always hold onto the fact that the highest elected office in the land is available to anyone as long as they are

• a natural born citizen of the United States;
• at least thirty-five years old;
• a permanent resident in the United States for at least fourteen years. 

[Article II, Section 1, Clause 5 of the Constitution]

And, of course, as we all know James Bond can’t be elected President so it leaves just one more job open to some of the rest of us.

I was working near Washington, DC this week and rode the Metro into town. Due to work on the line I was riding I had much time to sit and read the posters, and enjoy the pen and ink drawings, describing the new Google privacy stuff.

At one stop I was joined my a gaggle of college students. I'm not stereotyping. I know they were college students because I was one once. Long ago. In case you are worried I'll describe them. There were five of them: three women and two men and they were roughly 20 years of age. All of them were dressed casually but nice. All of them were texting, probably each other. Two of the women had large shopping bags from Georgetown Cupcakes. And like I said, they traveled in a pack.

So, college students. They were nice and polite and had various conversations with one another as we moved from station to station - or sat on the platforms waiting to move. The one of the women asked one of the guys, "What's a google?"
He replied, "You know. The search engine."
She rolled her eyes. "No, I mean. It means something. I know it has a definition I just can't remember what it is."
He looked at her like she was crazy. "Really? It's a word."
"Yeah. I think it means 'to search', but I can't remember."
This is where it becomes so hard for me to hold my tongue that I might have actually pierced it with one of my teeth. Of course it's a real word. Of course it means something. UGH. And did any of them with their phones that can text think to pull them out and Google it? NO!

Yeah, I know. The month is almost half over, but like most things recently it’s taking me a little more time than normal to get into the swing of things. One thing that I’ve already got a handle on is writing “2012”. That was an easy shift and probably the first time in my life when I didn’t have to train myself to change the digits as I moved my pen. Of course, I don’t use a pen much anymore – it’s the keyboard now a days.

For anyone who’s been when this blog for any length of time [Hi, Mom!] I have actually done resolutions in January each year. Sometimes I do them in September, too, as a back to school thing. This year I’m going to continue to put out there a few things that I’m working on.

This one won’t be a surprise since it comes up again, and again and again and again and – yes, you get the picture. Meal Planning. It’s been difficult since day one. It’s my nemesis. If there’s a method out there, I’ve tried it. Now, I’ve added another layer and so far it’s working for us. I hate that I have to kill an entire day but if that’s what it takes, so be it.

I’m going to continue to collect recipes/ pictures on Pinterest. I’m also using a Theme Night idea as part of our plan so that we have a chicken night, pasta night, crockpot night, etc. Then we sat down with a monthly calendar and planned out a month’s worth of menus – except for weekends. Why leave out two nights a week? Well, we wanted some flexibility and we wanted to plan for leftovers.

The weekends also allow me to do some baking because we’re not going to buy store bought bread. I use the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes aDay method so bread is pretty easy to make. Dump ingredients in a bucket, let it rise, put in pan, and bake. I’m testing out softer bread recipes for school lunches – especially since Comfort has lost so many teeth and has a hard time chewing. So far the buttermilk bread recipe is working for us pretty well. I love the idea that our bread won’t have preservatives in it and I can just whip it up in my own bucket!

There’s more to come but it’ll have to wait. What are your plans for the New Year? Are you embarking on a new plan or just pushing yourself to stay on track?

This is the time of the year when magazines and TV shows do the "Year in Review" to give us their take on who was most influential, most popular, most 'whatever'. I've read several magazines lately that gave me their take on the Year in Review and I've had some thoughts.

The Royal Wedding was a Really Big Deal. Not only did this bring the world together for a few hours to watch the same thing, it helped our collective soul. In the midst of financial and political unease and distress I think the world needed a fairy tale to believe in, complete with the Happily Ever After.

The publishing industry doesn't know what's going to happen next and authors are willing to figure it out on their own in the meantime. Self-publishing doesn't mean what it used to thanks to the internet. Anyone, for good and for bad, can publish their own book. First, of course, you have to write it, edit it, and upload it to a channel by which readers can find it. And readers are finding new books by self-published authors. They are also finding books that authors are re-publishing themselves - and doing so really well. In the absence of establishment publishers figuring out how to harness the power of the internet to publish their own books, authors are going to do it for themselves. This is entrepreneurism at its best.

Politics as usual is over. Everywhere. I'm gonna have to learn a whole new list of names of despots. Or maybe not. Amazing.

If you are a sports team in Russia, take the bus. Really. You'll live longer. And speaking of living longer as an athlete, don't play professional football. Okay, this is not a scientific study by any means. This is just my reading of the Sports Illustrated Obituary section for this year but the football players are either really old, meaning they played football in non-serious helmets or before huge players and heavy hits, or they were fairly young, meaning they played in my lifetime. I don't think this bodes well for the average NFL player.

I've never been one to follow fashion or even to notice it much but I'm glad to say I love that color is 'in' again. It makes it much easier to find items I like when I get a chance to go shopping. I don't, however, get the deal with sea salt caramel, but that's because I detest caramel. For those of you that love caramel, I expect you to eat it all up so that chocolate can come back into fashion!!

And as part of my own, personal Year in Review I joined the millions of people around the world who have a smartphone. I Love Apple. I think we'll miss Steve Jobs more with each passing year, for what he could pull out of thin air, or push people to create out of nothing, or imagine could happen. That's entrepreneurism and brilliance wrapped into one.

I've only scratched the surface, but the kidlets are ready for more festivities. I'd love to hear what you think makes a good Year in Review or what you're looking forward to in the New Year.

Here is another item you are going to want to get for yourself and probably another for a friend and another for your daughter or your mom/ cousin/ neighbor/ teacher, etc. Really. Pop on over to Amazon, B&N, or your favorite bookstore of choice and take care of your purchase. I'll wait. .... Okay.

I'd heard about the Totally Together Journal before I ever saw one because I followed Stephanie O'Dea's A Year of Slowcooking.  Then I signed up for the Totally Together emails that followed the next year in which I got a daily email that reminded me to do seasonal things, PROM the kids toys or pile of mail, or to remember to take care of myself. The Totally Together Journal is geared more toward women with families but I don't think women without kids would feel excluded. Heck, we all still have to take out the trash, plan our meals, and do seasonal cleaning around the house no matter what our family situation is.

One of the things I truly appreciate about Stephanie's writing, both on her blogs and in the Totally Together Journal, is that she does a phenomenal job of pulling together a lot of information in one place in order to help us with our daily lives. It might be cooking. It might be cleaning. It might be just remembering to enjoy life. No matter what it is, she writes with clarity and sense of balance. It's not about doing things right - in the way that a woman in white gloves, pillbox hat, and a disapproving scowl is going to come into your house and 'tsk, tsk' when she finds that that you aren't following it precisely. And might I say, Thank Goodness! We all live our own lives and our homes reflect our individuality and our needs. Totally Together Journal respects that, too, and understands that you are going to use it as it fits in with your own life.

I can tell you that I've worked this journal hard in the last few weeks. Not only have we been preparing for the holidays, but I've just gone back to work. This is the first time since both of my kids were born that I've worked outside of the house. Thankfully I have lots of extra hands to help out but it's still been an adjustment. It's still going to take us time to get our feet fully underneath us and thankfully, I have the Totally Together Journal at hand to help keep me on track. And for that I am very, very grateful.

I was provided with a Totally Together Journal for this review. The review and the ideas for the review are my own.  You cannot have this journal, it's mine.

Once upon a time, these words came out of my mouth and they were followed by the name of a moderately famous singer. It just happens that I do not sing well so perhaps you get the point. If I had talent I could be 'moderately good'.

So, If I Had Talent... I could be a quarterback and I'm pretty sure I could play for the Redskins. Of course, I might not be able to see over the guys in front of me as I'm only 5'8". Wait, look at Joey Rodriguez at VCU. He's only 5'10" in a game where the guys can be nearly a foot taller. Yeah, I get what you're going to say. He already has talent.

So, If I Had Talent...I'm could be a coach for the Redskins. Of course, these jobs are hard to get. Sometimes coaches stay in a position for more than two years even.

Personally, I'd like it if they weren't run out of town before they had time to rebuild the team. That's what I'd do. Maybe that's subterfuge. I call it winning. And I don't think  you should get to keep the money if you get fired. That's just a bad deal and not very smart, but no one ever said you had to have talent to own a football team.

If you've been to my Examiner page you've seen my review of this book.
I do not, however, assume that I am the kind of writer that has a 'following' wherever I happen to pop up. So, I'm posting my thoughts about this book here because it is a truly extraordinary book.

In fact, it is so extraordinary that you should plan to buy it even before you know anything about it. Really. It's just that good. But, on the off chance, that you are more careful with your time and money or you'd like to find out what the book's about anyway



This is a story about Gwendolyn Reese. She's from a small, midwestern town and she's lived a carefully controlled life. Her Aunt Bea is exuberant and vivacious and and when Bea's mah-jong and sudoku group has extra tickets for their European tour Bea buys them for herself and Gwen. After sustaining a relationship disappointment and seeing her summer stretching into oblivion Gwen agrees to go along.

Gwen sets about touring Europe the same way she lived her life in Iowa - by a timetable and checklist until a couple of things happen. Gwen really begins to look around and notice the true wonder of Italy, their first stop, and realize, with her aunt's help, that there's no way she could ever see or appreciate everything there is in the few days they have on their tour. And their group of senior citizen puzzlers is joined by their 'sister group' from the UK and it turns out that this group is not full of octogenarians at all. In fact, there are two brothers, both in their 30's and full of life, who are very dramatic, very competitive, and one of whom is very taken with Gwen.


This isn't lost on Gwen but does pose some difficulty, in that Gwen is in a committed, allbeit, unfulfilled, relationship. I'll let you know now that Gwen chooses the high road and you'd be very proud of her! She and Emerson remain friends through the tour and it is in this blossoming friendship that Gwen and Emerson learn so much about their own selves.

But you could probably have learned this from reading the jacket cover.What I can also tell you is that this is a book full of incredibly rich language and beautiful layers of story. It's a story about relationships and families of many types and people who have chosen, or had chosen for them, different kinds of families. It's about epiphanies and those moments where we find ideas laying just ahead of us around the corner. It's about learning about life from the people around us and seeing the world through their eyes and knowing that you're understanding is richer for it. It's about life and aging and questions of death. It's about food and travel and coming to terms with the 'shoulds' in our lives and making new plans for ourselves when we don't like the ones we've made. It's Gwen's journey but it's the journey of everyone in this story in some way and I think you'll find that it's your journey, too.

Are you ready to head off for A Summer in Europe? I just bet you are. I know. It's not out yet. [It's available Nov. 29, 2011] Do a pre-order and you'll get it soon and then you, too, will find that you can't put it down. In the meantime, Marilyn Brant has a couple of ebooks that I mentioned recently before I even knew about this book - seriously. Hope on over to that page and take a look.

Have you tried Kroger's Truly Awesome Chocolate Chip Cookies? Well, we've been through a couple of boxes, thanks to Bzzagent, so I can pass along my thoughts.

First of all, I love chocolate chip cookies. Really. I think they are one of life's perfect foods. Along with pizza and macaroni and cheese. Yes, I still eat like a toddler. Not that I let my kids eat like this, you understand. I make them eat vegetables. But as an adult, I'm allowed to eat like this. It's the perk that comes with age.

That said, I'm a bit picky about my chocolate chip cookies. In a perfect world they'd either have to fit in my milk glass to be dunked or they would be soft enough to not need milk. Sadly, this cookie doesn't fall into either category. It is a hard, crunchy cookie that is almost the size of my fist. Actually, it would be good if you were going to make your own ice cream cookie sandwiches. It's that size.

Second, the bag is not resealable. This is a basic convenience but most cookie packages are resealable now. Also, I tried the serving suggestion to 'put it in microwave for a few seconds' to achieve a homemade taste. Well, it took 30 seconds to even get it warm and then it didn't taste anything like homemade.

So, here's my take on Kroger's Truly Awesome Chocolate Chip Cookies. If you like crunchy cookies or you are making ice cream cookie sandwiches - these are the cookies for you. If you are a 'dunker' or you like softer cookies, then you should probably look elsewhere or wait until Kroger makes a soft version of this cookie.

Bzzagent provided me with product to test and coupons to make available to others. I have not benefited monetarily. Reviews were my own and not influenced by these offers.

Yep, It's been a couple of weeks, maybe a month, my friends and I've pretty consistently been planning our meals. I know. Quelle Surprise. Believe me, it was a necessity, not a choice. Once again I found the kidlets home from school in the afternoons surrounded by the 20 minutes of homework that they get and yet in that limited time they can go from fully functional to ready to eat a small mastodon. 

This meant there was no time to stare into the fridge and think, "I wonder what I can cook today." I was more like, "I wonder what I can put in their mouths RIGHT NOW." This is especially the case when Joy gets a particular idea in her head. Then that thought becomes a one word litany. "Juice. Juice. Juice. Juice. Juice." Sometimes she stops to breathe. Sometimes she acknowledges that you are speaking to her and letting her know that there is a) juice on it's way or b) there will in fact not be juice for some reason. Sometimes it's just best to make sure that food appears at regular intervals so that this doesn't happen in the first place.

Recently, I've taken and rolled all of my ideas up and I'm using everything I've got. We have a chicken night, a pasta night, a breakfast-for-dinner night, and a crockpot night. There's also usually a 'shopping at Costco night' or leftover night in the rotation each week depended on which week of the month it is. That's the basic structure and I grabbed hold of this with both hands when I saw this outlined in Erin Chase's $5 Dollar Dinner cookbook!

Once I have a structure then I just fill in the blanks with meals. I can usually get about a third of the way done without breaking a sweat. It's the rest that really makes me work. I know that this is probably not a hard thing for most people but trying to find meals that my kids with like and eat one any given day seems to actually cause me stress.

But now my stressful work comes with a shiny new package. I'm talking about Pinterest. If you haven't been over to Pinterest then let me entice you to the land of many pretty and shiny things. It's an Internet corkboard so that as you travel through the blogosphere you can put a 'pin in it' and type a description and it goes on the board. Other people can follow you, you can follow other people, or you can travel Pinterest in solitude. Mostly I've used it to gather ideas for meals to make.

Today I made the luscious garlic knots for fellowship at Church. These have been pinned for quite a while and they turned out exactly as they looked online. I'm not sure this has ever EVER happened to me, especially when I was cooking with the girls. Yep, they helped me make the second batch and they looked exactly the same as the first batch. Delicious, too.

And for dinner tonight we made the one pot macaroni and cheese. It did take a bit longer than expected but that was probably due to the fact that I used rotini and not elbow macaroni. Lesson learned. I can say that Joy was humming while she ate and this is a sign of supreme contentment and enjoyment.

I have several more recipes pulled from Pinterest already and I'll let you know how they turn out. I had definitely recommend Pinterest for brainstorming but if you only have a few minutes at your disposal don't go there. It's full of beautiful, shiny things and you'll never EVER want to leave. I promise.

It's declutter/ Fall Cleaning time at my house and along with that I'm Purging the Plastic! This has been an on-going mission of ours to remove the plastic and BPAs from our home.

First, we got rid of the kiddie plates and started using the small plates in our IKEA dishware set. They're just the right size and, like most IKEA dishes, practically indestructible. Then, over the summer, I made sure all of our water bottles for camp were either stainless steel or BPA-free plastic. The kidlets had new BPA-free plastic bottles for their adventures since they wanted cute colors and something a bit lighter. I already had BPA-free bottles.

Now, the food container drawer is getting the purge. It needed decluttering anyway. I think those plastic tops get up to some funny business when the drawers are closed! So, no more plastic. It's all gone.

We have one set of glass Snapware and I've added another. The new set [THANKFULLY] has been upgraded so that it can go from oven to fridge/ freezer to microwave and it's dishwasher safe. The previous set could not be put in the over. Ridiculous, I know. 

The next cabinet to get the plastic purge was the kids cups. Oh my, the leaning tower of kids cups!! We had a couple of colorful stacks of plastic IKEA kids cups. Yes, it was time to move on. I'd been checking out the Duralex Bistro glasses after seeing a post on someone's blog. I wish I could remember where I saw it because it was a fantastic post about these really fantastic glasses. Well, I priced them on Amazon and thought, sure - they're unlikely to chip or ding and the small glasses are light and are perfect for a kids hand. Let's get them! Then I saw them at Costco and for the price of the 6 Tumblers on Amazon I actually got a set of 18. So, the 12 larger glasses are still in the box in my basement until we need them and the kidlets are doing great with the bistro glasses!!

Not only do I now have three cabinets/ drawers that have less plastic in them but the glass is less cluttery which just helps me feel better. It'll also help us feel better in the long run, too, and that's such a Cool Idea!