dinner's in the freezer update...

I am pleased to report that we are into day four of "dinner is in the freezer (or the cupboard)"--and I'd say that a $25 grocery bill on Sunday screams, "Success!"

So, here's what I've come up with (I know the names are corny, but I had fun making them up):

• Popeye and Bocelli
• Turkey Burgers and Butternut Squash
  
• Green Beans and Goulash
  
• G-rice n' Garbanzo (pronounced G-reece)
  
• Chicken Spiedies with a side of Thai'd Broccoli
  
• Sucatosh Salad with Chicken

I've listed the directions here, if you want to give them a try. I didn't include exact measurements because I didn't really take any. If you have questions though, don't hesitate to ask.

Startin' off with a Splurge:

I started shopping for my daughter's Christmas presents online this morning at 6:30 am--and was finished by 7:15am. It's probably not a great idea to start off the week in a splurge-frenzy, but I feel a whole lot better now that I've done it.

Here's my favorite gift that we picked out for her even though she seems to make music out of most anything...

just a while longer...

The clock reads 8pm but my body and my mind are screaming bedtime! I've got some water on the stove for tea, the Christmas lights are on, the TV is off, and I'm looking at a stack of books that are pleading, "pick me! pick me!"

I hope that you had a relaxing weekend and that you find a way to squeeze 10 more minutes out of it to do something that you don't often get the time to do.

Today's Splurge:

I didn't splurge on it (yet) but Pete and I have our eye on this cinnamon roll at our new coffee shop. It looks like cinnamon and lots of butter rolled up in pie crust. Some people crush on people, I crush on pastries. :)

RED

I have been spending a lot of money at the grocery store lately. A lot.

And I could get away with using the "higher gas prices" excuse for a little while, but this has gone on for far too long. Especially since I really don't have much to show for it except overcrowded cabinets and refrigerator shelves.

So, I've extended my effort to simplify and surrender this Christmas season to the kitchen. For the next three weeks, I have challenged myself to resist a big grocery shop and instead, use every last frozen vegetable that is taking up space in my not-enough-space freezer and every canned good that has collected crumbs from the toaster that rests above them. That's right--let's see how creative this writing business has really made me.

I've dusted off this cookbook that I picked up for Pete years and years ago, and if you have any recipes to add, please send them along!

Splurge on RED:

I went to the store to buy my little girl some black patent leather shoes for her black and white Christmas dress.

They didn't have black in her size...

So I bought her red. Cherry red. They are adorable and besides, every little girl ought to have a pair of fancy red shoes. Actually, every big girl ought to as well!

Let it snow...

December only made us wait five days for its first snowfall here in Maryland.

It started falling at about 8am...just before Ava woke up. When I pulled her shades to show her the snow she said, "Claus?" I guess she's hoping for a white Christmas too.

We had some fun out in it and jingled all the way to the mailbox.


Then we tried to catch some flakes with our tongue.



We took advantage of other people's snow fears and got most of our errands accomplished in record time. We even stopped at a "Shebop" for a coffee and a "treat" and watched the snow fall a while. On those kinds of days, all you should have is time.



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Today's Splurge:

I've written about magazines in the past and the gobs and gobs that I receive in the mail. But there was a time when receiving a magazine in the mail was a really special thing. The New York State Conservationist is my earliest memory --my dear Uncle Owen gifted a subscription to my dad every year for Christmas until he passed.

And then there were the "puts you right there" photos in the National Geographic that we'd spend hours pouring over--when your imagination was still yours and not infiltrated by computers or television and at-your-finger-tips news and information.

Those two magazines, together with the compassion for people and animals instilled in me through nature and nurture, makes me someone who can open my heart and my wallet without pause when their health or safety is compromised through no doing of their own.

My splurge of the day is supporting the African Wildlife Foundation's Elephant Conservation Research Project. There you will also find lots of information about just how special these animals are--and just how endangered.

news making

I would never have recognized the relationship between two events I recently attended had they not occurred just days apart and had I not written about them independently. (And for the record, I think I might have stumbled upon the next big thing.)

Event #1: Open house at The White House

Event #2: Bringing Ava to the mall's new indoor playground (still gaygound to her)

If you're jumping ahead and figuring that the relationship has something to do with people, possibly even crowds, you're right--but that's about where the obvious nature of it ends.

Looking back, I am certain that Event #1, the open house at The White House, was attended by well-dressed but very discreet agents whose job it was to protect important people or places from harm or ill-will. To do so, they mingled amongst the rest of us, unknowingly, unobtrusively, uneverything. They are, afterall, the SECRET service. The point is, I am certain they were there not because I saw them but because I watch television programs, like Chuck.

Skip ahead to today, inside the mall but outside the entrance to JC Penny's, where a new we'll-give-your-kid-every-chance-to-break-her-neck playground was constructed just in time for this joyous shopping season--a favor, they claim, to parents. You know, a "break"...because letting your toddler stumble loose among a million other "let's see how many times I can make my mom's heart stop" toddlers is so relaxing.

On the drive home from Event #2 I was reflecting on how OBVIOUS (okay, ridiculous) my presence at the playground must have looked. If I wasn't tripping over my own feet trying to "protect" my daughter chances are I was tripping over a two-year olds feet or possibly his dad's. The more I tried not to hover, the more I hovered. The more I tried to get out of the way, the more I got in the way. I could not figure out where to stand, when to sit, where to look, when to act. To the trained eye, I was a train wreck.

And there were at least 20 more of me (maybe even 30, I'm horrible at gauging)--which almost makes the train wreck national, maybe international news.

I would pay good money for an hour of Secret Service agent training--and I bet there are a hundred more mom's and dad's who would join me. Imagine, not just feeling but BEING discreet, at peace, (at home!?) at the next playground experience, the next library story time, the next two-year old birthday party, the next...

That's it. I'm starting this business. Are you in?

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Considering I've invested a small fortune in lotions and creams that do everything from helping you shave less to creating a natural glisten on your skin, you'd think I'd have found "the one" or at least "the combination of ones" that would alleviate cracked, dry, and so sore hands (mostly knuckles and in-between fingers skin) and hold up against at least one (two would be great) washings. If you have any suggestions, please pass them along.

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There's a new poll today. This one is on gift cards, with all the attention they seem to be receiving this year, I thought I'd conduct a splash and splurge investigation of my own.

By the way, 50 percent of respondents (six) in the last poll indicated that they'd rather hang by their toenails than shop on Black Friday.

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Splurge-a-la-la-la-La-la-la-la

I'm going to lay off the mint for tonight, but not the soy. This is so close to the real thing, especially with a little shake of nutmeg on top, that I'm pretty sure it would be bad for you not to try it.

stragglers

On Friday morning I was feeling a little bit preoccupied by the stragglers--the little things near and far that needed some attention--without a clear sense of exactly what they were and in what order to attend to them. These stragglers ranged from housekeeping tasks (spices that need structure, holes that need spackle) to Christmas decisions (cards? no cards? if cards, pictures? no pictures?) to work-related must-do's to I'm not sure what.

I desired a quiet place--somewhere to write down the "stragglers" and see exactly whether the urgency that had taken up residence in my brain was justified or undue. But I also wanted to make sure that the desire to escape wasn't a symptom of the Avoidance Disorder that I had recently managed to manage.

After a little bit of contemplation (but not too much) I went with what "felt right" and ended up at an empty table with a full cup of coffee looking out upon books upon books upon books.

Ahhh. The bookstore.

When I uncapped my pen and started to write, I didn't go straight for the stragglers. I took a different approach. I went for the completers. Those things I had done that week--big and small, personal and professional. It only took me four minutes to get it down, but...

Turns out, I did quite a lot.

And I bet, if we took a few more minutes at the end of a day or, maybe more realistically, at the end of a week, to jot down what we accomplished, we'd surprise ourselves each and every time.

I don't think we need to pat ourselves on the back for being productive, maybe just get off our back a time or two when we think we aren't.

After all, the best productions were once just stragglers in someone's quiet mind.

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My discovery on Friday left me pretty peaceful with many of the stragglers...but the magazine thing is definitely out of control.

After the bookstore, I stopped at Target to pick up a $3 egg timer to set for 20 minutes every day while I sorted through those glossy paper traps. I have decided, with the help of an article by Peter something (a professional "organizer" though not to be confused with Peter my husband who is not a professional organizer but maybe a pathological one) that when we hold onto stuff we aren't making room (in our minds or our homes) for the future. Since I'm planning on a whole lot of future, I've got some things to get rid of.

Starting with magazines and catalogs.

Anyway, I had the egg timer in my hand when I realized what a wasteful purchase it would be. Afterall, I have a timer on my phone, a timer on my stove, I have playlists with Christmas music that are 20 minutes long! I don't need to "buy more"--that kind of defeats the purpose. I need to figure out how to use what I've got!

So, the iPod is queued up. Tomorrow from 1:15-1:35, I'll be sorting and singing.

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The last splash of the night: we went in search of our Christmas tree today. Despite the cold (though still no snow) we scrutinized every tree, every pine cone, and especially Santa Claus before making any decisions.

I've posted a couple of pictures from last year (Ava's first Christmas tree outing) also. "Year-to-year" now fills up quickly with so much change and a mountain of meaning , that's for sure.

Splurge in the Season

I never get tired of hearing old songs in old ways and new ways. Even better when new ways and old ways collide.

skip skip skip to my lou, all on a saturday night

It's been a busy weekend and there is still one whole day left!

We decorated our tree today.


Just kidding. This is actually a picture of Pete in front of "The" White House tree. Friends of ours invited us as their guests to a holiday open house in its East Wing today. The history and significance conceived, maintained, and preserved in that house (in sight and in sense) was as manifest as the light that poured through the glass of its windows--you felt its presence but could not touch it. I've posted some additional pictures, which I hope are scrolling along the left hand-side of this blog.

By the way, the white chocolate replica of The White House was made with three hundred pounds of white chocolate. Everything that isn't white was made with marzipan.

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We made our Advent Calendar last night. You can see some of the latter stages of its development--the camera was charging for the first few stages. We haven't quite completed the bell yet, but the chain is made and it works very well as a scarf, by the way. We like to "fly" it through the air, too.



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Daily Splurge

Today I almost spent about $25 on something for someone that I knew they'd probably never use. So instead, I spent $25 at www.mytwofrontteeth.org on something I knew a little someone would love.