Beware. I have some issues to get off my chest, plus I'm tired and cranky. Apparently I have Olympics Fatigue. This is a real thing. I know it is, because I saw it on television. But I already knew it was real because I keep sleeping through my alarm clock.

Why is this an issue? Because NBC has chosen to show us only swimming or diving Olympic events from London before 9:30pm ET. I don't find it interesting to watch hundreds of people  swim up and down a pool night after night. A couple of nights. Sure. Synchro Diving. Interesting. But every freaking night for two weeks. No. And I'm pretty sure that the most often said phrase during the NBC Olympics broadcast is in fact, "And now back to the Aquatics Center."

I do realize that some people enjoy swimming and diving and for them these are the premier summer sports. Okay. Great. We've now watched so much diving in our house that my youngest daughter has decided she wants to be a Chinese diver when she grows up. "Because they are the best." While she is right about this, the problem here is that this is the only sport she's been able to see because, even by extending her bedtime by an hour, it's the only thing on NBC. But surely the Olympics should be about showcasing every sport in some way, shape or form. This year we haven't seen as many of the biographic pieces that usually go along with Olympics coverage. Or maybe that information is being covered on the NBC cable channels. Along with all the other coverage I want to watch.

I'm more than a bit irked about NBC's decision to put women's soccer on their cable channel. I did get to see two matches. One, I actually watched on TV while we were on vacation at a house that had cable. The other match I watched using the NBCExtra app on my iPhone using a temporary guest pass. This was not an ideal way to watch the women's soccer gold medal match. I missed a lot of the match and the screen was very tiny. What ticks me off is that everyone talked about how iconic these matches were and still they were only available to those people who had cable TV. How are American kids supposed to learn about sports and look up to these athletes if they can't even see the game?

And don't get me started on women's gymnastics! I've been up until nearly midnight for how many nights trying to see some of this coverage. My daughters, at just the right age to be impacted by these triumphs, aren't able to stay up late enough to see any of the competition. Why? Because the Olympics are in London and I live in the Eastern Time Zone. It's about advertising. The 'good stuff' has to be shown to the most number of people in the US while they are awake and apparently that happens after 8pm Central.

So, even though we all knew - according to every website in the world because no one chose to use Spoiler Alerts except Brian Williams - who won the gold medals we still had to wait until nearly freaking midnight!! Sure, there's a chance we'd have seen a greater variety of events if we had cable but I'm not sure about that. And I'm really curious about whether Americans are really that interested in swimming and diving or if those of us on in the Eastern Time Zone were taking one for the team because no one else was actually watching.

There you go. I hope you're enjoying the Summer Olympics. I've seen some amazing feats and some wonderful and inspirational moments. I'm guessing there might've been more but unless NBC puts together a clip reel we won't see them. Let's all hope that coverage of the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia is better than what we've seen from London.

My new Mac is almost a month old and I'm beginning to work my way through the bookmarks I had stored on my PC in hopes of getting a Mac again. One of the sites I had bookmarked was Vitamin-R.

I read about Vitamin-R, or heard about it more accurately on Storywonk with Lani and Alastair. I'd looked at it then but, of course, I didn't have a Mac. Now that I'm back in the Land of Mac and writing again everyday, or close to it, I'm looking at Vitiman-R as a way to help me chunk out my time and avoid procrastination. I'm avoiding it now - I've downloaded the trial and I'm looking forward to the white noise. I think that's going to be my favorite feature!

Now that I'm back in the land of Mac I'm returning to software that I know and love. Scrivener is one of my favorite writing programs. It's a wonderful way to break down novels, screenplays, and I guess anything bigger than grocery lists, into a manageable size. There are wonderful features like cork boards, which make moving scenes around so much easier than hunting around for your work in a lengthy, volume then cutting and pasting. There are 'full screen' features in case you are easily distracted, split screens in case you want to work on various versions, name generators, and when you are done Scrivener will compile your work into one full document. I've only scratched the surface of the parts of Scrivener I use, and I don't even use all of the wonderful features in Scrivener.

While there is a PC version of Scrivener, and I used it for a couple of years, I much prefer the original Mac version. But don't take my word for it, test it first and see if you like it.

It's hard right now not to spew my ire at the lousy work NBC is doing on the Olympics. Instead I'm going to take a deep breath and hope that they are working hard to make the second week in London better than the first.

While butterfly horses leap through the air I'll tell you that I am loving my new Macbook Air. I love my return to the world of Apple. It's intuitive, wonderful, fast, and the only thing that would make it better is if the machine came in different colors. I'm hoping to solve that problem soon my getting a skin or cover.

In the meantime, I'm getting some writing done - which is why it's been a little quiet here. But y'all are busy watching the Olympics right:) Yeah, that's what I thought.

Most of my driving is in the City these days. I drive to work. I drive home from work. Occasionally I have errands to run on a break during the day and since I work in the City I'm driving into and out of the City. I use the interstate as little as possible, especially since it's under construction.

I see a lot of different driving patterns and habits. I understand that people learn to drive in different places, have different styles, and perhaps different comfort levels.

That, however, is no excuse for not knowing the rules of the road. No one, not the youngest driver or the oldest driver, should be unaware of the most common expectations when they get behind the wheel.

As I mentioned in my previous post, we've had a lot of power outages lately. That means that a lot of street lights have been out, too. Sadly, many people were unaware that when a street light is out it is treated as a 4-Way stop. Or, perhaps they did know this rule and were unaware of how to negotiate a 4-Way stop. Either way, I was appalled.

Then, just last week, I was treated to one of the worst and most rant-worthy events as I drove down Monument Ave. Richmond's Monument Ave has several traffic circles. Some are true traffic circles and some are faux circles that you really just drive straight across even though there's a bend in the road. Either way, the rules are the same - don't give up the right of way if you are in the circle!!

Last week as I approached the Lee Circle on Monument, I yielded to the traffic in the circle [because a) this is what you do at a traffic circle and b) the world YIELD is painted on the road]. There was a car in the circle and it stopped. The man gestured to me to enter the circle. I shook my head and gestured back. He finally continued, exiting the circle there at the side street and I continued on my way.

What was this guy doing? He gave up the right of way because he wanted to exit the circle and didn't want to cross paths with me in the traffic. Perhaps he didn't trust that I knew how to enter a traffic circle. Perhaps he didn't know how to exit a traffic circle. You know people, if you can't get out of a circle just go around again until it works out. Use your blinkers so people know what you want to do. They are a communication device. I can't read your mind. And, for safety-sake, please don't stop in the circle and cede your right away. It puts us all in danger. It really does.

Just in case my fellow Virginian's want a refresher, here's the DMV manual. Enjoy.

It's been hot as all get out lately here in Richmond and we've lost power several times in the past weeks due to the vicious storms. In some areas of the country, and in the newer suburbs of Richmond, power lines are buried underground and are less susceptible to tree limbs and other storm damage. Sadly, that's not the case in my neighborhood. We have huge trees that the City is in the process of removing as they become dangerously ancient.

One good thing about living in our exact location is that are within walking distance to Carytown. We love the quirky, fun, and eclectic nature of the street and by luck it turns out that we share a power transformer with several dozen restaurants and business. Why is this such a big deal? Here's something that most people don't realize: the tax on prepared food in the City is 11%. I guarantee you that even if the businesses weren't concerned about the spoilage factor the City wants us out there eating and spending so they can get their cut.

So, Dominion Power - which has a location about 4 blocks from my house - usually has our power back up and running pretty quickly. Quickly is relative, of course. It usually means within 12 hours.

Is it fair? Maybe not. Do I like it? You betcha. Will I remember this next time I'm looking at real estate? Oh, Yeah!!

Have you found any unexpected benefits to the location of your house?

Yep, the car is scheduled for maintenance and the kidlets and I have all been to the dentist. It's so lovely to have insurance again. I'm not entirely sure why I need four insurance cards but I have them and I carry them proudly.

This was Joy's first trip to the Dentist. She did great and loved seeing the pictures of the inside of her head. Comfort barely stopped talking long enough for the Dentist to brush her teeth. Not a huge surprise. Her cleaning didn't take as long though as she's now lost 8 teeth. A few have begun to grow back but there's a lot of open space in her mouth. My cleaning was just as it usually does. It was a good reminder that even though I haven't been in several years my Oral B electric toothbrush, daily flossing, and good genetics have kept my teeth in great shape.

I think I posted about my attempt to watch this on Netflix. Or maybe I just thought about posting. Either way, it's new to me again because now apparently we're being saved from Valley of the Dolls - The Series because it turns out the developer doesn't have the rights.

My first thought was, thank goodness. I couldn't even make it through the movie. It's 123 minutes but I think i only made it two-thirds of the way through and most of that time I was fairly confused. I think the only good thing that could come from a contemporary adaptation would be better pacing and plotting, but don't hold your breath.

I watched The Academy Awards [hereafter referred to as The Oscars] like many people. It was my last hurrah to cable. Yep, I finally got rid of it. We’ll still have internet but I’ve stopped paying for the TV and phone which we never use.

Anyway, this is about the Oscars and the celebration of movies. Wait, is that what they were celebrating? I wish I thought to count the number of times they said the words “big screen” because I think there was a not so casual subliminal message going there. Either that or they were playing a different drinking game than everyone else in America.

I agree that watching movies on the Big Screen is something to be celebrated. I know that there are some movies that just need to be seen on a big screen. Of course, I watch shows and movies on Netflix all the time but we also go to the movies and by going to the movies I do mean the Big Screen.

You see we have a really Big Screen in our neighborhood. TheByrd Theatre, Richmond’s Landmark Movie Palace is right around the corner from our house and this is, for better or worse, what the kidlets are learning to appreciate as a movie going experience. It is true that the seats are less than comfortable but we cut them some slack as they are original to the theater which was built in 1928. The screen at The Byrd is very large, the curtain is red velvet and they use real butter on the popcorn!! Oh, and did I mention that tickets are only $1.99. It’s true that you need to wait a few weeks to see a show, but that’s okay with me. We saw “Hugo” Saturday night as a family and it cost us $8 – we leave the pennies in the jar. How many families can go see a movie on the Big Screen without using a credit card? Yeah, The Byrd is strictly a cash establishment but there is an ATM in the lobby now which is very helpful. But wait there's more....On Saturday nights there's an extra treat when they play the Mighty Wurlitzer! Yep, it still works and they play it every week. This, my friends, is not an experience that you’ll find at the multiplex no matter how much you pay for your ticket.

I realize that no one makes theaters like this anymore and that we are extremely lucky. It's one of the reasons we chose to live in our neighborhood. In fact, I'm not even sure this is what they had in mind during the Oscars when they kept referring to movies on the Big Screen. I think they meant going to a theater that would charge between $8 and $12 to see a movie on opening weekend. Personally, I think I'm getting a better deal even without the drink holders or extra leg room.

Mine does not live in a garage. I think that Detroit and Japan and ever other place that makes these  workhorses thinks that all Mom has to do is walk from her Suburban home, into the garage, open the door and drive away.

Some of us live in a city and park on a street and when the nights are (^&$^&&*%$$#%$&* COLD there is ice and frost on the windows that has to be scraped. Yes, the defrost helps to melt some of this but I can't let my car run by itself unattended. That would be insane. Can you just imagine the call to my insurance company when I tell them that my car is missing.

• "Well, ma'am, where did you leave it?" 
• "Oh, I left it running in front of my house with the keys in it so that I could go back inside and stay warm and let the defrost melt the frost off my windshield."
• [crickets]

That's not entirely fair to my neighborhood because it is a wonderful place but seriously who leaves their car unattended with the keys in it and running and assumes that it'll be there when they come back? So, let's just move on.

The point I'm trying to make is that the windshield is too high and wide for me.

Now, for those of you who haven't met me in person and think I might be a petite woman of about five foot two - first of all, God Bless you:), but second of all, I'm sorry to disappoint. I'm five foot eight and hale and hearty from years of childhood sports. I have a good reach, but apparently you have to be a freaking albatross to reach the middle of the windshield of a minivan and you definitely have to be taller than 5'8".

One solution might be a scraper with a longer handle. I thought of this. I did. This morning while I had my body flush up against my car and the radio antennae flipping about my head. This will help some but I worry about leverage. I think there will still be the section in the very middle and around the rear view mirror that I won't be able to reach but perhaps by the time I scrape everything else the defrost will have gotten to that part. Worst come to worst I'll just have to take my time and learn that this is just part of living in the city. It's part of the character of the neighborhood. Or I can bring the kidlets step stool from the bathroom and wouldn't that be cute.

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!