Love, Laughter, and a Touch of Insanity

Pin It and Do It - My Progress Report

2012-05-30T07:30:00.000-05:00

Did I mention that May and June are my absolute busiest months at work? And that I've known this for the past five years? Ya--I'm beginning to think I really am insane for these challenges I'm whipping it up. Lisa did remind me yesterday that "Insanity" is in my blog title. I've always wondered why I included that...

So even though I feel that I've only barely chipped the mountain that is my Pinterest collection, when I look back at the things I've done over the course of a month I realize that I kicked this challenge's ass. Take that May!

All of the photos below are my own.

May Photo A Day. Original Pin. From Fat Mum Slim

I've been doing fairly well with this particular pin--though not so great at taking the pictures on the actual assigned days. But still.

Daily Notecard Journal. Original Pin. From Design Sponge.

I think that I'm caught up to about the 23rd of May. Bahahaha! But I did find this little wicker box at Hobby Lobby that I plan to wrap a ribbon around to pretty up.

Paint Card Bookmarks. Original Pin. From Bella Carta.

Love these. Scott hammered in the eyelet for me and I did a bit of trimming with the original paint cards and glued two together so there is pattern on each side. The flower is a stamp using StazOn ink.

Frosting Rosettes. Original Pin. From I Am Baker.

If you click on the original link then you'll see that my flowers are a bit softer than the original, which works well for this cake. Definitely need to use a stiffer frosting next time rather than cream cheese frosting, but I think this would look great on cupcakes. Very easy to do!

Banana Cake. Original Pin. From Exclusively Food.

I'll admit that I was surprised when this little cake didn't rise but it was SO good. Very dense but very moist. I brought the leftovers up to work and it was devoured with many compliments. Will definitely make again.

Bacon and Cheese Frittata. Original Pin. From All Recipes.

A coworker gave me this link when I was asking for springform recipes. It was very tasty but I think I like a crust with a dish like this.

Potato au Gratin. Original Pin. From My Recipes.Com (sorta)

This was half pin and half experiment. The original pin has a crust which I really wanted to do but didn't have any pie dough in my freezer/fridge and didn't want to take the time to make it right then. Note to self, make up some pie dough and put in freezer.

Tortilla Pie. Original Pin. From Martha Stewart.

Thanks to JoAnn for introducing me to this recipe! It was very tasty and has endless possibilities for filling. Will definitely make again.

Pride and Prejudice Mug. Original Pin. From Brookish on Etsy.

Yes. I bought this for Mother's Day and my 6 year anniversary. :) I did use Scott's credit card if that counts.

Pinterest Whale Text (my text in blue). Original Pin. From Tumblr.

Need I say more? ...

I mean really. Kicked this challenge in the butt!

I'd like to attempt a wrap-up post with everyone's progress, so please make sure you link up your own progress! There are already so many great links for you to check out. I bet it will help you get Pinterested.

There has been some interest in continuing on with this challenge. At this juncture I cannot host monthly but I do plan on a Pin It Do It Redux this fall. Tell me--September or October??

Photo a Day May - Part 3

2012-05-23T00:00:00.000-05:00

Hi! Ok, I think by now you know what's going on. If not, I'm participating in Fat Mum Slim's Photo a Day May. No, these pictures were not all taken on the day they were supposed to be. But I did them all! Whew. ;)

Day 16: What You're Reading. (Loving it)

Day 17: Snack. (Atomic Fire Balls. I got the giant bin from Sam's)

Day 18: Something you made. (part of my #PinitDoit challenge!)

Day 19: A Favourite place.

Day 20: Something you can't live without. (Beauty)

Day 21: Where you stand. (no, I rarely have my toes painted...and desperately need a pedi)

Day 22: Pink. (you knew I couldn't resist...)

Week 1 Photos
Week 2 Photos

I think I'll post the rest next Thursday instead of Wednesday.

If there's a Photo a Day June do you think you'll participate?

The Stand...along - Sign-ups and Meme

2012-05-21T00:00:00.000-05:00

It's here, It's here!! I hope you're all as excited as I am. Or nervous. Or scared. Or all of the above.

Can I admit that I'm TERRIFIED of reading The Stand? Horror or even scary(ish) is NOT my genre. Then why am I reading this (Lisa really wants to know)? I have NO idea. But I'm hoping I can rope a few of you in to hold hands with me while I tackle this beast.

And beast it is! The book picture above is my first copy of The Stand--a 1978 Book Club edition. But come to find out that the original version of The Stand is "cut." Or rather in 1990 Mr. King decided to publish an "uncut" version of this giant doorstop. At first I waffled and thought, "eh, I can just get by with reading the original version" but then I decided that if I'm going to propose a readalong then I should at least make the effort to read the same version that the participants may. Since work is seasonally busy for me right now I do plan on listening to the audiobook as well (which is a daunting 47 hours by itself!). Please note that you can read whichever version you desire. Doesn't make any difference to me.

My Ginormous new copy is 1150 pages (still hardback--I think trade paperback is around 1400?). You all voted on 8 weeks but since I'll be in Hawaii for a week in July we'll make it an even 9. June 1st through July 27th but feel free to read at any pace that you like.

The Stand...along Basics:

What: Readalong of The Stand by Stephen King. I'm calling it the Standalong. :)

When: June 1st through July 27th.

Where: Sign up on this post. Midway post will go up July 1st. Wrap-up post will go up July 27th. If you are reading the original version, you should be at Chapter 38 for the midway check-in. If you are reading the "uncut" version, you should be at Chapter 48 for the midway check-in. I know, confuses me, too.

How: However you want. Original (shorter) version, Uncut version, Audio version. Post on your blog or don't. You don't have to have a blog (but it does make it fun). Chitchat on Twitter. Think I'll be using #standalong or maybe #thestand. Input?

Why: Why not?? Ok, don't answer that. To have fun!!!

(see meme below before you sign up)

Sign Up:

Standalong Get to Know You (if you're posting about the readalong, which I would loooourve if you did but understand if you don't, answer the questions below so we can all get to know you better and where you stand with The Stand)

1. What makes you want to read The Stand?
2. Describe your preconceived notions of The Stand.
3. What was the last scary(ish) book you read or movie you saw?
4. Which version of the book will you be reading from?
5. What are you previous experiences with Stephen King?
6. Anything else you'd like to add (bonus points for being extra random).

Deep Breath. YAY!!!!!!! Oh, and don't mind me if I get started a little bit early. Even though I'm a bit apprehensive I'm even more excited!!

Anyway questions, let me know in the comments below.

5.19.2012 - Sixth Anniversary

2012-05-19T06:00:00.000-05:00

Today Scott and I celebrate six years of marriage. I loved this man six years ago but what I feel for him now is so much more than love. What a blessing our life together has been. It has twisted and turned in ways that I couldn't have imagined and I can't wait to see where the road of life takes us. As long as we're together it will certainly be the best adventure.

What I would give to know what we're thinking in the picture above!

On the Blog:
One Year Ago - 5.19.2011 - Fifth Anniversary
Two Years Ago - 5.19.2010 - Fourth Anniversary
Three Years Ago - The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao - Junot Diaz
Four Years Ago - All the King's Men - Robert Penn Warren

Oreo Ice Cream Cake

2012-05-18T11:55:00.000-05:00

First, I apologize for the less than stellar picture above. I took three shots of the slice of ice cream cake and by the time I realized my picture was blurry, the entire cake was devoured. Thanks to PicMonkey for helping me salvage.

Anyway. As soon as I deemed this month Operation Use My Springform Pan, I knew I HAD to make my mom's Oreo Ice Cream Cake. Problem was that I'd buy a package of Oreos and they'd be devoured before I could even melt the ice cream. Does anyone else have that problem with Oreos?

I figured out the solution to my problem--buy the single stuffed oreos rather than the double stuffed ones. They tend to last a bit longer.

But I still had to make this one quick before Scott caught on to my trickery.

Same thing with the ice cream. I'm sorry for you folks who don't have access to the goodness that is Blue Bell Ice Cream. NOTHING beats it. NOTHING.

Oh, and did I mention the use of my Food Processor for this little project? Still the most used appliance in my kitchen!

It took willpower not to eat the Oreo Ice Cream straight from the bowl. Though Elle might have had a lick or two.

OREO ICE CREAM CAKE

Ingredients
½ gallon ice cream (any flavor, but we always use vanilla)
1 package of Oreos (about 450g.)
¼ cup melted butter

Directions
1. Soften ice cream - either in fridge or microwave
2. Finely crush a little more than a third of the Oreo cookies (to make about 1 1/2 cups crushed)
3. Pour melted butter into a small bowl and mix well with the Oreo crumbs. Pat crumb mixture into the bottom of a buttered 9" springform pan. Put in freezer until needed again.
4. Crush the remainder of the Oreos--either finely or roughly to your preference and mix with ice cream. Reserve some crumbs if desired for topping.
5. Pour Oreo/Ice Cream mixture into springform pan and top with additional crumbs if desired.
6. Freeze until served.

Some Helpful Hints:
1. I used a food processor to chop the Oreos but if you don't have one put the cookies in a plastic bag and crush with a rolling pin. Or hammer. Ha!
2. To pat the crust into the bottom of the pan, use back of a spoon or a flat measuring cup.
3. To help cut through the ice cream cake, run your knife under hot water. The bottom crust will be pretty tough to cut but in my opinion is the best part. ;)

I'm kicking myself for not getting a picture of the cake without the springform pan, but there you have it. If you like Oreos and Ice Cream it doesn't get any better than this. Seriously.

All of the compliments I received from the partakers? Had to tell them that I learned it from the best. Thanks Mom for letting me share this.

Enjoy!!

Every weekend, Beth Fish Reads hosts Weekend Cooking. "Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, fabulous quotations, photographs." Hope you'll join the fun!

On the Blog:
One Year Ago - 5.19.2011 - Fifth Anniversary
Two Years Ago - 5.19.2010 - Fourth Anniversary
Three Years Ago - The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao - Junot Diaz
Four Years Ago - All the King's Men - Robert Penn Warren

Photo a Day May - Part 2

2012-05-16T00:00:00.000-05:00

Wednesday, what?! Every summer we have what's referred to as "busy season" at work and guess what--it started this week. On the one hand I love it because I'm really really busy but on the other it means getting to work much earlier and sacrificing part (or all) of my lunch. My fingers are crossed that this year will continue to be smooth but if I disappear for a few days here and there...that's why.

Anyway, Photo a Day! Join the fun--get the prompt from Fat Mum Slim. See my Part 1 photos.

Day 9: Something you do everyday.

Day 10: A favorite word.

Day 11: Kitchen (very floury flour canister)

Day 12: Something that makes you happy. Decompressing.

Day 13: Mum.

Day 14: Grass.

Day 15: Love.

Today's photo is for "What You're Reading." :) I'm currently reading Wild. What are you reading?

What would you have taken for these shots? Especially curious about favorite word!

On the Blog:
One Year Ago - Memity Meme Meme Meme
Two Years Ago - Wuthering Heights: Chapters 4-14
Three Years Ago - Sunday Salon 7 - Outside Looking In
Four Years Ago - FINE!!!!!

Sunday Salon 62: Bookish Babble

2012-05-13T02:00:00.002-05:00

Good Morning! Happy Mother's Day!

I think it was last week that Unfinished Person mentioned it's been a while since I wrote a Sunday Salon post. I looked and sure enough it's been a month since I posted about the double shelves. Huh. Not really sure where all that time went!

Maybe to reading. Because I've been rockin' it on the reading front lately. And by "rockin' it" I mean that I actually finished three paper books last month! Half of my entire year's number. Wahoo Waterloo indeed. Without looking at my list I think I also finished three audiobooks and my total for the year is steadily creeping up to my yearly goal of 24 books. Set the bar low people--makes you feel really good when you surpass that low mark. ;)

Maybe I'm getting my brain back after a mushy year of new motherhood? Or maybe I just feel like reading? (I haven't done any sewing lately and have kind of sucked on the blogging front, so maybe time has just been reallocated). Right now I'm reading The Fault in Our Stars. I'm about 30 pages left and haven't decided yet if I'll even review it. I like it but I don't love it. Definitely not my favorite John Green--by far. I'm hoping I can finish it tonight (being Saturday when I'm drafting this post) so that I can start Wild for my new face-to-face book club at my indie bookstore (A Real Bookstore...how's that for an awesome name?)

And what's even better? To date I've either posted or drafted reviews for all of the books I've read in 2012. Conversely I've only posted about one of the twelve audiobooks I've listened to. I just can't seem to figure out how to write about them. Does anyone else have that problem? How do you get over it?

THE STAND!!!! Many many of you guys have told me that you're interested in reading The Stand (Stephen King) with me--hand holding is how I like to think of it. I'm going to start the readalong June 1 (will put up intro with linky soon) but I wanted to get your feedback on structure. ~~My copy (hardcover) is 825 pages.~~ I just ordered the "uncut" hardcover copy which comes in around 1100+ pages. Think the mass market paperback I saw on Amazon is 14something pages (gulp).
So my questions (majority wins so speak up!!!):
1. How long do you want to take to read this bad boy? 8 weeks? Or longer?
2. How many check-ins do you want? Beginning, halfway, end? Weekly? Every other week? You tell me what you prefer!

Okie doke.

What are you up to today? What book is on your nightstand?

On the Blog:
One Year Ago - Memity Meme Meme Meme
Two Years Ago - In the Garden - Spring 2010
Three Years Ago - Sunday Salon 6 - Influence
Four Years Ago - Wicked - Gregory Maguire

The Kitchen Counter Cooking School - Kathleen Flinn

2012-05-11T06:00:00.000-05:00

Title: The Kitchen Counter Cooking School
Author: Kathleen Flinn
Published: 2011 Pages: 274
Genre: Non-Fiction; Cooking
Rating: 5/5

In Short: Struggling to find use for her culinary know-how, author and chef Kathleen Flinn gathers nine ametuer cooks and teaches them simple yet helpful lessons in the kitchen—everything from knowledge of knives to making soup to roasting a chicken.

Why I read it: I first paid attention to this one when Lisa of Lit and Life reviewed it and then Kim of Sophisticated Dorkiness read it. And then when Peppermint PhD reviewed it I immediately decided to recommend this one to my mom and sisters for our 2012 group read.

Thoughts in General: I loved this book. I think that the timing was perfectly right for me to read The Kitchen Counter Cooking School. I’ve been thinking about my own eating, especially as I’ve been really paying attention to Elle’s eating, and I started it around the same time that Scott and I started our Eat it Real challenge. I’m fairly confident in the kitchen but I don’t have a lot of skills—I’m eager to learn (thank you Ms. Beth Fish for letting me question your ear off) and am willing to make the mistakes to get the best end product. In that way I feel as though I differ from the other women in the book who didn’t have a lot of kitchen confidence and didn’t enjoy cooking. I may not be the best cook but I love cooking and experimenting.

The Kitchen Counter Cooking School is divided into chapters by different Lessons. These range everywhere from the correct way to hold and use a knife to knowing the taste of your ingredients to making use of what’s in your fridge to understanding just what’s in that box you’re using. Each chapter contains anecdotes from the individual lessons, progress reports from the various participants, a bit of history or background, and then a recipe or two. I read this book rather slowly—maybe over two months—and the individual lessons made the book easy to pick up and put down. Honestly I’m not sure that this is one you would want to read really quickly!

Even though not all of the material was new material for me, I had so many Aha! moments while reading this book. Keeping a bowl next to your chopping board for discard scraps? Duh! Different spice and oil parings for flavor inspired meals? Awesome! Hand holding while I work up the courage to roast a whole chicken for the first time? Thank you! And many many more. While very seasoned cooks might not get as much out of this book as I did, I think that there is something for everyone. My only wish is that there would be more diagrams and pictures to go along with some of the instruction. For example, I had to actually pick up a knife so I could visualize how Flinn was describing the correct way to hold.

And...I didn't think that this review could be complete without attempting to roast a whole chicken for the first time (roasting a whole chicken is a big deal in the book). Overall it turned out great! Except, I think I need to review my chicken anatomy as I roasted it breast down with all the spices on the backbone. Oops!

Bottom Line: This is a book that I will refer to time and time again and know that I could re-read it and pick up so many more tips. While it would be impossible for my cooking methods to change overnight based on this book, I found it very eye opening and I am much more aware now of how fresh my spices are, the best way to cut that onion, how simple it is to whip up a tasty and healthy meal. I recommend this book to anyone who would love a few little lessons in the kitchen—there is something for everyone to take away. Personally I'll keep this one right next to the rest of my cook books!

Are you confident in the kitchen? How did you learn to cook?

Every weekend, Beth Fish Reads hosts Weekend Cooking. "Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, fabulous quotations, photographs." Hope you'll join the fun!

On the Blog:
One Year Ago - Memity Meme Meme Meme
Two Years Ago - In the Garden - Spring 2010
Three Years Ago - Sunday Salon 6 - Influence
Four Years Ago - The Innocent Man - John Grisham

Photo a Day May - Part 1

2012-05-09T00:00:00.000-05:00

One of my "Things" for 2012 was to work on my photography. Taking one picture a day doesn't work for me and most of my shots are taken on the fly. But thanks to some of you folks, I decided that I'd bite the bullet and work from photo prompts given by Fat Mum Slim. For the rest of the month I'll post the previous week's photos on Wednesday in lieu of Wordless Wednesday.

Day 1: Peace (taken in the pitch dark with the external flash. Blurring is my edit in Picasa)

Day 2: Skyline (at twilight)

Day 3: Something You Wore Today (my "T" necklace. love)

Day 4: Fun!

Day 5: Bird (baby bird was blown from nest during a storm. Mama was watching over him)

Day 6: You (unedited and in my "weekend" mode)

Day 7: Someone That Inspires You (My grandma--taken in 1943 age 17 or 18)

Day 8: A Smell You Adore (tough! but I do adore the smell of coffee)

(in case you're curious--I believe most of these were taken with my 50mm prime lens).

What would you have taken pictures of for these prompts?

Join the fun--get the prompt from Fat Mum Slim

On the Blog:
One Year Ago - Introducing Baby Girl - April 25th, 2011
Two Years Ago - Top 10 Best Workout Songs
Three Years Ago - Sunday Salon 5 - Back to Basics
Four Years Ago - Six Random Things About Me

The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern

2012-05-08T00:00:00.000-05:00

Title: The Night Circus
Author: Erin Morgenstern
Published: 2011; Pages: 387
Genre: Fiction/Realistic Fantasy
Rating: 4/5

In Short: Celia and Marco are tied together at youth to compete with one another in a battle of skill at the grand venue of the night circus. Set in the late 1800s.

Why I read it: Because if your friends jumped off a bridge, wouldn’t you? Also I’m testing out a new face-to-face book club and this was the April selection (though I asked for and received it for Christmas).

Thoughts in General: First there was extreme hype about this book. And then a fair amount of criticism. I feel lucky that I waited a few months for the hype to die down so that I could go into this one with lowered expectations (how’s that for a start?). The Night Circus is a vivid and vibrant book that will immediately transport you from your comfy reading chair to a magical and wondrous world. There is no question in my mind that this book will make a fantastically gorgeous movie—and I’m thinking that only Tim Burton could properly pull it off (movie has been optioned by Summit).

The criticism? That the book contains flat and/or underdeveloped characters. Yes, it’s true (well, about them being underdeveloped). Did this bother me? Nope. I do prefer to read more character centered books (generally speaking), but not always and this one worked perfectly fine the way it was. Sure I would have loved to know some of the back story—could there be a spinoff?—but I didn’t need to know. Honestly the book is about the circus and the circus is so well drawn that there isn’t much room left for strong character development. I still cared about the characters and was interested in them.

So basically what worked well for me while reading The Night Circus was the atmosphere, the phenomenal descriptions, the depth and layer of detail. The characters were all very interesting—and I disagree that they were flat. Perhaps instead there were too many characters for enough focus to be put on any one. My biggest quip comes from the heavy shroud of mystery; there was constantly so much unknown and it became too much of a tease to the point where I started to disconnect a little bit. I also did not entirely agree with the choice of ending—the “right place at the right time” wasn’t satisfactory enough for me given the heavy themes of fate in the book.

Bottom Line: I’m a big fan of going into books blindly without knowing too much, but I think with this one it’s good to know what you’re going to receive from the story and what you’re not. Brilliant setting and atmosphere and mediocre characters. This one was suggested at my work book club and several people had already read it—and loved it. I was the only one of the new book club who enjoyed this one! The big complaint was lack of plot (disagree) and not caring about the characters (also disagree). I will say that I was more interested in this one when I attempted to read 200 pages in one day—my heart was literally racing at some places where I tore past the pages. Bottom Line – I hope you enjoy it but don’t feel bad if you don’t. *wink*

Have you read this one? Love it, Like it, or Hate it? If you haven't read it, will you or no?

On the Blog:
One Year Ago - Introducing Baby Girl - April 25th, 2011
Two Years Ago - Brooke's Notecards and Bookmark Winner
Three Years Ago - Sunday Salon 5 - Back to Basics
Four Years Ago - Weekly Geeks #1 and Challenge Questions

Thursday Already?!

2012-05-03T08:21:00.000-05:00

This week has been one of those weeks. Not a bad week but just hectic with the days passing more quickly than it takes me to process which day we're even on. It all started last Friday when we let our daycare provider go and enrolled Elle into full-time daycare. It's been pretty rough on everyone, but I know it'll be an adjustment that takes time and it will be a good adjustment.

Anyway, between that and various birthday celebrations I've been feeling a bit overwhelmed. I wanted to do a post with the cake pictures, but as you can see below, some of them needed editing due to bad lighting and I just haven't had time to mess with it. But...the chickpea had a lot of cake during her birthday week and as you can see she quite liked it. In the fourth picture she's actually holding the entire piece of cake we gave her. Ha! I love the third picture with her little tongue reaching for the frosting.

We only celebrated with various family dinners but all of the celebrations were wonderful and I'd say that Elle had a great birthday.

The best present? My sister who lives in San Francisco recently learned to play the saxophone (she played clarinet in high school) and sent Elle a little birthday video. The first song is a rendition of Happy Birthday some of you might recognize. The second is the Chickpea Banana theme song (yes, she has her own theme song...Chickpea Banana, Chickpea Banana, Chickpea Banana Girl x2). And the third is Hallelujah.

With special permission from Kim:

And in other news, I've kicked off my Pin it and Do it Challenge!! (If you missed the starting line/link up, I posted it on Tuesday)

My first project was Elle's birthday cake. The cake itself was kind of a disaster, and even the frosting was a disaster, but the icing method worked great and would work even better if I used a stiffer frosting rather than the melty cream cheese frosting. I actually had to scrape the sides clean because the poor flowers kept sliding off. Ha! Original Pin Here. Original Tutorial from I Am Baker.

Second I'm doing the Photo A Day by Fat Mum Slim. Think I might post these weekly on Wednesdays but not sure yet.

Source: fatmumslim.com.au via Trish on Pinterest

Day 1 Peace: (yes I did sneak into her room at 11 pm to snap this shot! Daredevil mom!)

With some Picasa editing:

Day 2 - Skyline:

And third I'm starting a daily notecard journal but haven't taken any pictures yet. Original Pin. Based on Design Sponge.

FINALLY. I wanted to thank you all for your very very very sweet comments on Elle's birthday post. I'm still hoping to maybe email a few responses since I wasn't able to respond here on the blog, but please know (as always) that I always appreciate your comments and they mean so so much to me.

ALRIGHT! Let's get this day started! Can YOU believe it's Thursday?!

Pin It and Do It: Challenge Starting Line

2012-05-01T00:00:00.000-05:00

Ready...Set...Go!!!

The Pin It and Do It Challenge starts today! If you haven't joined up yet, please go read the "rules" and join at any time. But basically, during the month of May DO those things you've been pinning! Link up to any progress reports you have throughout the month. If you aren't keep track via some type of blogging, tell us in the comments section what you've been up to (please don't link to actual pins in the Mister Linky).

If you are doing bloggity updates, please link to the pin or actual web address somewhere so that those interested can have access to what you're doing (and give credit where credit is due). Also make sure you link to your permanent url so people can easily find your post. If you need help with this, let me know.

I've started using #PinitDoit on Twitter to distinguish tweets for the challenge. Feel free to join me!

HAPPY PINNING AND DOING!

Operation Food Processor

2012-04-28T09:08:00.002-05:00

I never thought that I would need a food processor and never thought about buying one until I started making baby food for Elle. And let me tell you--having a food processor to puree fruits and veggies (and occasionally chicken) has saved me so much time and allowed me to make fresh and tasty food for my baby.

But...if I've lived my entire life without a food processor, what would I use it for once Elle moved past the stage of pureed foods?

In come Operation Use My...

Where to start? Well, I started by making a rough list of things I knew I could do with the food processor. Then I asked you guys what you use your food processor for. And then to Pinterest. Soon my list was longer than the time I had and I still have things that I would like test out in the food processor.

And while I have ten things listed below, I used my FP much more than that--this puppy probably got used two or three times a week. How's that for awesome?

The Recipes (as pictured left to right above)

Peanut Butter - A canister of peanuts, blend for several minutes, added a stream of agave nectar for a bit of sweetness. Was thick but tasty. Lasts about two weeks in the fridge. I think if I do this again I'll try honey roasted peanuts. Mmmm.

Pie Crust - a paper recipe--was seriously as easy as chilling all the ingredients, pulsing a few times, and letting the blade do the magic. Used the crust for my Chicken Pot Pie.

Finely Chopped Veggies - Steamed carrots, zucchini, broccoli, peas, and cauliflower for Elle. Add some cheese sauce and this would be a great side dish (could just roughly chop veggies).

Butter - this was Scott's project as part of Eat It Real Challenge. It was a lot of fun to make, tasted great. Ultimately not quite as cost effective as regular store-bought butter, though. Basically just heavy cream until the butter separates from the buttermilk!

Hummus - Recipe thanks to Beth Fish - with a little cumin added for taste. I've never had hummus before so I'm not sure if mine tasted like hummus? Was tasty with pita chips.

Chocolate Icebox Cake - Recipe torn from Real Simple. Basically just ricotta and melted chocolate.

Pesto - Recipe from Make the Bread, Buy the Butter and used in a stuffed chicken recipe from Don't Panic, Dinner's in the Freezer. Wasn't really sure how else to use the pesto as I added a bit too much garlic.

Coffee Cake - Mostly used to cut the butter into the flour when I made the Blueberry Coffee Cake.

Grated Potatoes - Hashbrowns!

Sliced Potatoes - I think this was our favorite discovery with the food processor. Nice thin slices of potatoes that we used for pan-frying as well as for potatoes au gratin.

Lessons Learned

I came across an article by Mark Bittman for The New York Times about using the food processor and it will literally make you want to run out to the store and buy a food processor immediately. Honestly? If not for baby food, I could probably live without the food processor. All of the the things that I made the past two months are either things I could make by hand or honestly just don't eat a lot of.

That said, I am seeing more and more recipes that call for a food processor and I can see myself getting a LOT of use out of this appliance over the years. In fact, I'm considering getting rid of my blender (something I've used maybe half a dozen times in the six years we've been married).

--The food processor is a work horse! I will never use a pastry cutter for making dough again.

--I found it difficult to achieve an even chop unless I wanted things finely chopped.

--Dishwasher safe but I'm already thinking about buying extra workbowls and chopping knives.

--I wish that I could control the thickness of the slicing blade as I feel it's a little too thin for general use.

Where do I go from here?

There were so many things that I wanted to try in the Food Processor but time slips away from me. I want to make bread crumbs, grate cheese, zucchini bread, or these zucchini cakes? Sliced veggies for saute, grated veggies for stir fry. Mayonnaise.

Bottom line is while I don't need my food processor, I can see it being used more and more in the future.

I'd love to hear what else you use your food processor for.

Next month's Operation Use My Kitchen Gadgets will be...

Springform Pan!

I received these bad boys as a wedding gift and have used them ONCE in six years. The only thing that I could think of to make in them in cheesecake and my only attempt at it was terrible. After my due diligence on twitter and pinterest, I have some exciting things I want to try in the next month! Including a tortilla pie and quiche. Who knew!

Other than cheesecake, what do you use your springform pans for? I'll share my Operation Springform Pan on May 26th.

Happy cooking!

On the Blog:
One Year Ago - Chicken Saltimbocca for Two
Two Years Ago - Wuthering Heights Wednesday Begins
Three Years Ago - Sunday Salon 4 - ARCs, Etc.
Four Years Ago - Snow Flower and the Secret Fan - Lisa See

On Your First Birthday

2012-04-26T00:00:00.001-05:00

To my sweet little Elizabeth Claire on her first birthday,

Your daddy has been giving me such a difficult time the past few weeks because my heart has been so heavy over your turning one. In some ways it feels as though the past year has just flown by but in other ways it's hard to remember life before you were born. It could have been lifetimes ago that we went to bed the night before you were born, the night of Easter, with such giddy excitement in anticipation of leaving for the hospital before dawn the next day. Or the next morning looking in the mirror one last time at my giant tummy that had housed you for nearly ten months and knowing that in a matter of hours I'd be holding you in my arms.

The hours on your birth day seemed to move so slowly and your daddy and I were so eager to meet you. But as slowly as those minutes ticked by, as soon as you were ready, you were ready and we met you with excitement and tears of joy. I cannot describe how incredible the feelings and emotions were as I went from holding you within me to holding you within my arms and see your those little arms and feet that prodded me and your sweet little face and rosebud mouth and of course that head full of hair.

It's hard now to imagine you as small as you were then. Daddy always tells me that you're a lot bigger than when you made your intial arrival and my goodness how you've grown. It seems incredible that when I bathed you, I could wash you entirely in my bathroom sink--the little turkey that you were. And when we went for daily walks you laid perfectly within the body of the stroller and now you love to dangle your legs along the foot rest. You absolutely adored your playmat and would squeal with delight but now you are more interested in opening up the kitchen cabinets and finding what you can bang around. I'm not sure that we'll experience another year that contains such drastic and wondrous changes.

It hasn't been the easiest year transitioning from a woman and wife to the new role of mother, but it has been one of the most joyous years of my life. I've cried tears of frustration and sorrow and fear but also tears of the deepest love. But mostly I feel my love for you in my heart--there are some moments when my heart feels so full for you that I simply don't know if I can bare it. I just look at you, and your amazing beauty, and your strong and willful spirit, and am filled with completeness. People told me that I wouldn't know a mother's love until I was a mother myself and now I am telling you that I simply cannot define the precious love that I feel for you. It is miraculous.

We waited a long time for you to join our lives and I am so blessed to have you as my daughter. While I know that it drives you crazy when I hold you like a baby, my favorite time of day is when you're in your little jammies and we are snuggled together in the rocking chair. I love that time when I can sing to you and look into your beautiful blue eyes and hold your little hand and just rock and rock and rock while I hold you close. It has been an amazing year and my heart is heavy at it being over so quickly never to have those moments back, but I look forward to all of the wonderful times ahead.

I love you my sweet little Chickpea Banana. You are my sunshine.

Love,

Mommy

My oh my oh my... I do have a twelve month update post drafted but haven't had a chance to go through last month's photos to upload. Just like yesterday was Elle's true birthday. A day in the life, right?

Thank you for letting me share this past year with you all.

The Day the World Ends - Ethan Coen

2012-04-24T06:00:00.001-05:00

Ethan Cohen, half of the famed Coen Brothers, has a new book of poetry out entitled The Day the World Ends. When I was contacted by Random House about receiving a copy to review my second thought was "Yes Please!" My first thought was along the lines of--can't they see that I suck at book reviews these days, but that's neither here nor there. I've been wanting to participate in the Read More Poetry event that Lu and Kailana are heading up, and since it's National Poetry Month, I figured this would be perfect.

Plus I love the Coen Brothers' movies.

Unfortunately I did not love this little book of poetry. I'm not even sure that I can say I liked it. Which makes me remember why I don't typically review books for others but stick more to my good old trusted bookshelves. The poems started off amusing and I chuckled a bit to myself at the dry and sarcastic wit. But then the subjects moved into the crude and then to subjects I just wasn't sure I wanted to read about anymore. Let's just say that I'd give this one a rating above R.

The Day the World Ends is 120 page collection of mostly short poems. Some a few lines and some a few pages. They're all pretty easy to read and not terribly abstruse. Rhymes and rhythmic. I don't want to be the one who asks what makes poetry good poetry. ;)

A sample that I'm hoping doesn't have any hidden offense:

Nonplussed

Who is this newborn,
Time will tell;
The old man dying
We know well.

For who departs we
Fit goodbyes;
How greet, however,
Who arrives?

I could have enjoyed a quick little book like this but the other topics are ones I don't want to mention by name for fear of the search engine hits. Haven't decided if I'll finish or not. Probably with some discretion. If you guys were me would you not have mentioned this little volume at all?

What do you look for in poetry?

On the Blog:
One Year Ago - Sunday Salon 44: The Day Before
Two Years Ago - The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
Three Years Ago - Tea and Other Ayama Na Tales - Eleanor Bluestein
Four Years Ago - Bookish Babble (my heart cried a little when I saw the mention of Dewey on this post)

Pin It and Do It: A Pinteresting Challenge

2012-04-22T06:00:00.004-05:00

You’ve probably heard me talk about my love for Pinterest. No? Well, I love it.

As many of you have also discovered, Pinterest is a virtual pinboard where you can “pin” posts/sites you’d like to visit again, share the ideas with others, and repin what your friends have pinned. Scratching your head? For example, if I see a recipe on a blog that I really want to try I used to either star the post in my Google Reader or add the link to my favorites or most likely just forget about it. But by using Pinterest I can easily find all of those posts again.

See below for an example of what my dashboard looks like (click to enlarge):

Pinning is a lot of fun (and can be quite addicting), but sometimes I forget to put the Pinterest inspiration to good use. In fact, one of my “Things to Do in 2012” is to make something that I've pinned on Pinterest. After hearing many others mention that they also would like to actually make the things that they pin, I thought I’d open the floor for a little Pinterest challenge.

Pin It and Do It: A Pinteresting Challenge

The Details:
1. To participate you will choose your level and then make (or do) that amount of pins during May 2012. Challenge ends May 31st. (can be new pins or old pins...doesn't matter)
2. Report back on your Pin It and Do It success. Ideally this will come in the form of a blog or tumblr post. Or you can post about it on Facebook or Flickr if you don’t have a blog or tumblr. Or create a board on Pinterest for this challenge. If none of the above, report your success in the Wrap-Up Post comments.
3. Anyone is welcome to join. If you need an invite to Pinterest, let me know your email address and I’ll send an invite.

The Levels:
Timid Pinner: 1-3 Pins
Pinterested: 4-7 Pins
Pin Obsessed: 8+ Pins

Some Pinterest Etiquette and Courtesies:
--If you create a pin from a post, make sure you are pinning the true URL of the post and not the main website so folks can easily find the link again.
--When you create a pin, try to include the website in the description of the pin.
--Do not include the entire recipe or instructions in the pin description.
--If you embed a pinned picture on your own blog, make it clear that it is not your original picture--a link back to the original blog post is always appreciated.

And other little tidbits...this does not have to be a food or crafting challenge. Saw an interesting photography lesson? Click! An outfit you'd love to put together? Yup! Organizing idea for around the house? Go for it! A workout Regiment? Kick butt! Really this challenge is endless--you just need to tell us what you pinned and what you did. Make sure to note the original pin wherever you complete your wrapup (or if you do progress reports) to give the originator credit.

So, Are You Pin? Ok I mean In. And while the challenge doesn't officially start until May 1st, if you happen to be Pinspired before then, go for it! (ok, sorry...enough with the pinalogies...)

Grab the button and join the fun! I'd love if you helped me spread the word!

Happy Pinning and Creating,

A special thanks to my lovey for patiently wearing the oven mitt while holding the cupcake for the button picture.

Ready Player One - Ernest Cline

2012-04-19T06:00:00.001-05:00

Title: Ready Player One
Author: Ernest Cline
Narrator: Wil Wheaton
Published: 2011; Pages: 384
Audio Duration: 15 hrs; 46 min
Genre: Science Fiction
Rating: 4/5

In Short: When James Halliday, the creater of the virtual/alternate reality world of The Oasis, suddenly dies, the quest of all quests begins as members of The Oasis embark in a hunt for Halliday's fortune. Wade Watts, a teenager who lives his life on The Oasis, makes a huge breakthrough in the Quest, but he realizes that his search for the fortune is going to cost much more than he bargained for.

Why I Listened: I consulted Twitter for an audiobook that I could not stop listening to and several piped up with Ready Player One. I was apprehensive because of the subject but their praise was overwhelming.

What You Wanted to Know:

Without being too spoilerish, what did you think of the ending? (Kailana)

Yeeep! I don't remember the ending. (But I discussed briefly with my coworker who just finished listening and he was really surprised). I have to hope that Wade's choice at the end makes him happy. I think it will.

Someone actually makes the Oasis a reality in our society, what are your thoughts on that? (Kailana)

The first time that I encountered reading about an Alternate Reality was when I read Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson a few years ago. It reminded me a lot of games such as SIMS, which I'm not entirely familiar with but I think that you play online with others using avatars? And of course there is a pretty big online gaming world. But the thought of a society that is mostly an alternate reality is very frightening to me. Which is a little ironic given how much time Bloggers can spend on the computer, but I also try to keep myself grounded and live in the here and now. But perhaps if we lived in a post-apocalyptic world, I'd want to stay holed up in my apartment living in a virtual world also? Nah--I imagine I'd want to be like Mila Kunis in Book of Eli.

I loved the book but I'm older than you so I wondered if it's still fun if you don't remember all the old computer games from the 1980s, etc. (Leeswammes) and related: Since you're younger than I am, did you "get" all the 80's references? (BermudaOnion)

Yes, I was a babe in the 80s, so I am more a child of the 80s who was shaped by the 90s. I did get a lot of the pop culture references, especially with movies and other random trivia. The parts where I didn't understand as much were more related to the gaming information. Other than my regular Nintendo and eventually Super Nintendo, I didn't play very many video games. I wish that I was able to understand these references more but it didn't hinder my enjoyment of the book.

Why in the world haven't I listened to it yet? @lithousewife

I don't think this was meant to be a question seriously addressed, but I'm going to anyway. I was a bit leery of the sci-fi, cyberpunk thriller premise of the book and have heard many others say the same. This is a common phrase: "This book was not something I'd normally pick up." Or "This book was way out of my comfort zone." But...I've seen very few people dislike it, so really--what are you waiting for? Plus there will be a movie, so why wait...

Bottom Line: If you are remotely interested in cyberpunk, science fiction, 80s trivia, gaming, or fast-paced adventures, this one is worth every bit of the hype it has received. Though this isn't something I would normally ever pick up in book form, I really enjoyed the listening experience.

A Note About the Audio: Wil Wheaton narrates Ready Player One and while I hadn't heard of him before listening (hangs head in shame), I can assure you he was the perfect choice. Well-paced, emphatic in all the right places, and tonality was perfect for the teenage boy he was narrating.

What's a book outside of your comfort zone that you read and loved?

On the Blog:
One Year Ago - Sunday Salon 43: Books I'd Love to Read Right Now
Two Years Ago - Hoppy Easter
Three Years Ago - The Outsiders and Sam's Letters to Jennifer
Four Years Ago - A Million Little Pieces by James Frey

What's in a [nick]Name

2012-04-17T00:00:00.000-05:00

La-da-da-da!!!

Nicknames. I love them. For myself, for others, for things, for anything. I have secret nicknames for some of you (jilly bean, I'm looking at you. even though I know you don't like jilly bean, I just can't help it in my head). I think I get the nickname thing from my mom--afterall, she is the one who gave me the nickname TriniCapini, which as many of you know is my Twitter handle and other various usernames across the web. This has been shortened to Trini, Trin, and even Tri Tri (the i is long so sounds like Tree-knee-Ca-pee-knee). Trini Capini is just one of many nicknames--friends have called me all sorts of variations of Tricia and Trish (I went by Tricia until college...a story for another time).

I've had about ten trillion nicknames for all of the various pets that I've had and just as many names for Scott. He drew the line when I called him Chalupa once so now most of the time it's just Scotty. Or honey bunny boo. Or lovey. Or... I know those are mostly terms of endearments rather than nicknames, but they kind of blur together. I'm sure it irritates him but I can't help it and my nicknaming isn't about to go away.

Many of you have asked about how Elle received her nickname Chickpea Banana (or CpB for short, but usually with "the" in front--The Chickepea Banana. The CpB). And if you're my niece Emma, it's Chickme Bamama Gurell (a very Texan way to say Girl). But remember how she was once Baby Billy Bob? And then Little Miss Baby Bill Sue? This nicknaming business started back when she was just a little peanut.

Chickpea Banana was half processed and half organic. My mom calls my niece sweetpea and peapod so naturally Elle was another pea; I always liked chickpea.. When she was a baby, I sang to her all the time (still do) and one day while I was peeling my banana I was singsonging Chiquita Banana which morphed into Chickpea Banana which I then started to sing to her and...it stuck. For the record she's also called Ellie Belly Boop and Ellie P Jelly and according to Emma her name IS Baby Elle. We never call her Ellie by itself--it's a cute name but seems so different from Elle and not very fitting of her personality.

I'm sure that by the time she's my age Elle will have had a million nicknames. And since her true name is Elizabeth there's even more room for moniker changes. But for now she'll be my little Chickpea Banana. And doesn't she just look like a little chickpea banana??

Do you have any particular nicknames? Did the name evolve from something particular or just sort of happen?

On the Blog:
One Year Ago - Sunday Salon 4: Books I'd Love to Read Right Now
Two Years Ago - Good Things - New Car Edition
Three Years Ago - Readathon!!! Kick-off Video
Four Years Ago - Indian Tales from Picuris Pueblo

Sunday Salon 61: Double Stacked Shelves

2012-04-15T00:00:00.002-05:00

Good morning lovely people!! Remember how I told you a few days ago (or months) that I was working on redoing my bookshelves? Well, I'm pretty close to being done but my "read" shelf was really starting to stress me out. I had to remove a stack of books before shooting the below picture just so you could see the chaotic mess. (don't mind the blurry shots...). I already filled one bin of books and sent many to the library for donations and have another stack that I need to mail out to a few of you (I'm sorry...)

I simply can't get rid of any more of these books. Not even the loathed Brothers Karamazov. But last week Lisa came to my rescue when she pointed to a Good Housekeeping article about cleaning/organizing your home library. The last slide in the article is all about maximizing shelf space by making two rows of books on the shelf and raising the back row of books so they're still visible.

Duh! Why hadn't I thought about this before?!

So I asked Scott how he thought I could accomplish this. I decided that the size of a tissue box would do the trick and he said he could make me some shelves pretty easily.

Yes...

Basically he cut a five inch wide plank and raised it with little stands. Again, sorry for the blurry picture below. And because of the structure of my shelves (the front framing), the mini-shelf is a bit smaller than the width of the main shelf, but Les Miserables and Our Mutual Friend helped bridge the gap.

10 bucks for four shelves AND Scott got to use his power tools. Win Win.

So now I have a raised row in the back and a lower row in the front. Seriously--how simple and genius is this? It's terrible to stack books like I had been (bad for the spines...though you can tell from the books below that I'm a reformed spine cracker) and now all the books are visible without me having to rearrange.

Gorgeous, huh?

Now, with my shelves it really only works with the paperbacks, so the hardcover books will continue to have their own shelves, but this definitely buys some more space and is much better looking than the chaotic stacks in the first picture.

One step closer, y'all. At the rate I'm going, I might even be able to have these shelves organized by next Sunday (rolls eyes and laughs head off...).

Do you have any fun shelf organizing tips?

What's going on with you this weekend?

Blueberry Coffee Cake

2012-04-14T06:00:00.006-05:00

So you guys remember that last month was Operation Use My Food Processor, right? And that I extended it for another month because while I was awesome at making baby food in the FP, I didn't really do much else.

On the hunt I went for recipes that use a food processor. I found a recipe for Blueberry Buttermilk Coffee Cake but made some adjustments to the recipe to suit my tastes. I turned out so delicious that I had to take the leftovers to my mom's house so I wouldn't eat the whole pan by myself.

Blueberry Coffee Cake

adapted from Meals For You

printable recipe

Ingredients

½ cup brown sugar

½ cup butter plus 1 tbsp (divided)

(½ cup chilled and cubed, 1 tbsp melted)

2 tsp cinnamon (divided)

1 cup buttermilk

2 large eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

1½ tsp grated lemon peel

2 cups flour
1 cup sugar

1 tbsp baking powder

1½ cups blueberries

Every year my mom and I buy a big box of frozen blueberries from Oregon. They really are so good.

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F and grease 8x8 (or 9x9) pan.
2. In a small bowl, mix ½ cup brown sugar and 1½ tsp cinnamon with 1 tbsp melted butter for coffee cake topping.
3. Pulse flour, sugar, baking powder, and ½ tsp cinnamon in food processor. Add chilled butter cubes and pulse until mixture resembles cornmeal.
4. Whisk together buttermilk, eggs, vanilla, and lemon peel and add slowly to the dry mixture until just combined.
5. Fold in blueberries and pour into greased pan.
6. Sprinkle topping generously over cake batter.
7. Bake for 60-65 minutes or until toothpick/fork comes out clean.

Before the oven:

Before devoured:

The top was deliciously crispy but the insides soft and moist.

Mmmmmmm.

Every weekend, Beth Fish Reads hosts Weekend Cooking. "Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, fabulous quotations, photographs." Hope you'll join the fun!

On the Blog:
One Year Ago - Thoughts on Slowing Down
Two Years Ago - Good Things - New Car Edition
Three Years Ago - New Moon by Stephanie Meyer (self-interview)
Four Years Ago - The Robber Bride by Margaret Atwood

Things in 2012 - Quarter 1 Update

2012-04-12T06:00:00.001-05:00

Guys. I keep forgetting that 2012 is alreay a quarter of the way over. And after this month it will be a third of the way over. Every year the time goes faster and faster and I'm starting to get panicky over just how quickly time goes. But...that's not what this post is about. And I don't want to send any of you (or myself) into a spiral of time-depression.

Instead of a depressing post about the shortness of time, I want to write an update on my "Things to Do in 2012." Mostly to keep myself accountable but also because I feel chatty. And in case you're wondering, I do have a very colorful list of my Things to Do in 2012 in my handy notebook (similar to my Bloggiesta list). Because colored pens make me ridiculously happy.

The Book Things
--Read 24 Books: So far I read four books this year and listened to seven. That makes eleven. 46% isn't half bad for it only being April. Nice.
--Find a Face to Face book club. I sparked a revival with my work club. We'll see how long it lasts for. My local indie also has a book club once a month but I don't know that they've actually gotten off the ground yet. Would love to get involved/help with it but not sure about the time committment.
--Read The Stand. I'm scared. Hold my hand? Thinking about proposing a readalong. Interested? When's good for you?

The Quilting/Sewing Things
--Finsh that damn quilt for Scott. No progress. Sad face.
--Finish my Christmas Quilt. Same as above. Double sad face.
But, I did take a Free Motion Quilting class and loved it! I also finished all of my Virtual Quilting Bee blocks. And I kind of sort of started another project but then my mom made me feel guilty about not working on Scott's quilt. So...no progress anywhere.

The Food Things
--Use My Kitchen Appliances. So far success! I've completed Operation Crockpot and am working through Operation Food Processor. Which appliance/gadget do you think I should feature next?
--Twelve New Recipes. I've lost count. By the time the year is over I think I'll have completed this thing many times over.
--One Dessert a Month. I don't think I made anything in February but I got two desserts in January and one in March. It all evens out, right?

The Bloggy Things
--Continue to blog about all topics. Done and done.
--Try to get back to writing more about the books I finish. Do have written drafts of book posts count?!

Miscellaneous Things
--Run 5K Race. Done!!! It was chaotic and I don't have a final time, but I finished between 35 and 40 minutes. Not bad. Not great. But, glad it's done and I'm contemplating signing up for another.
--Attend four cultural events. 1 down! Dracula Ballet. Unfortunately after the Dracula Ballet I've been having a tough time convincing Scott to attend another event with me. Boo.
--Continue to work on my photography. Yup, until I can quantify this one, it's just me taking pictures. But I am using my manual settings more and more.
--Make Something from Pinterest. Yup! A few things--I made a hairbow frame (link to pin) for Elle and the Chocolately Trifle. I've been thinking about doing a Pinterest challenge--is that something you'd be interested in? Basically a challenge to get you actually utilizing the pins you create.

Overall I'd say doing pretty well. How are your 2012 "things" going?

On the Blog:
One Year Ago - Thoughts on Slowing Down
Two Years Ago - Good Things - New Car Edition
Three Years Ago - Sunday Salon 3 - Why I Love Readathons
Four Years Ago - The Robber Bride by Margaret Atwood

Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell

2012-04-11T06:00:00.002-05:00

Title: Cloud Atlas
Author: David Mitchell
Published: 2004 Pages: 508
Genre: Literary Fiction
Rating: 3.5/5

In Short: Maybe I should tell you guys what I knew about the book going into it: Nothing. :) You love me.

Why I Read Cloud Atlas: I picked this book up a few years ago at Half Price Books. I don't remember why but I was looking for it specifically. Maybe it's on the 1001 Books You Must Read list (yup, it is)? Or maybe someone raved about it? Anyway, I read it because Melissa and Care were doing a readalong and figured I might not read it otherwise.

Thoughts in General: When I told you above that I knew nothing about this book before starting it, that isn't an exaggeration. I kind of like going into books that way, but it makes writing down my thoughts on books difficult because I don't want to give away more than I need to and with this book I think that's impossible. So, if you don't want to know very much about this book, just move along and tell me what color makes you happiest if you feel compelled to leave a comment. ;)

Cloud Atlas comprises of six different stories set in wildly different time periods, locations, and circumstances. Some of the sections are narrated in epistolary format, some through interviews, some first and third person. And while each story nestles in some way into the next, the relationship between each is rather mysterious. Thus, the first half of the book was incredibly intriguing. The second half, however, did absolutely nothing for me and I got to the point where I simply did not care and could have set down the book without finishing and without batting an eye. Cringe.

The Good: David Mitchell flexes his literary muscles in the writing of Cloud Atlas. Each section is written in such a completely different style from the previous one and it worked. His language was authentic, his styles were convincing, and for such short periods of time spent on each character I thought that the stories and characters were all very well-drawn. The writing was lyrical and descriptive and sweeping--this book has all the makings to become one of my favorites.

Perhaps my downfall was the very middle of the book and the most difficult section. I've heard many people mention that they are intimidated by this book because they've heard it's hard (yes, I was one of those folks), but I don't think this book is necessarily difficult with the exception of that one chapter. Part of me wonders if we had completed the middle section during the first half of the readalong if I would have had a better feeling towards this book by the end, but I struggled and struggled and took about a week to read "Sloosha." After that I had forgotten a lot of what I had already read and then I started to worry that things would not come together as I had hoped and then...

Bottom Line: I'm eager to hop around to the other posts of the Cloud Altas Readalong to see where the other participants landed with their final thoughts. The last two pages held a lot of great meat, but that meat would have been much more satisfying had it come earlier in the book. I wish I liked this one better but I just can't get over the overwhelming feeling of "what is the point." I did get the point of the book and maybe it's one that I'll re-read again and appreciate more? But in the end it wasn't what I was hoping for. Good news for you is that I'm pretty sure that I'm in the minority.

What's a book you read that you had such high hopes for but ended up falling flat?

On the Blog:
One Year Ago - Sunday Salon 42: Readathon End of Event
Two Years Ago - Classics and Non-Fiction Five Challenges
Three Years Ago - The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
Four Years Ago - A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah

Eat it Real Challenge - Finish Line

2012-04-06T10:54:00.001-05:00

Well folks--our month of going au natural is over. We had our ups and downs but overall I think we learned a lot about our eating and the way that we can cook.

If you missed the first and second update--check out those posts. But I'll sum everything up here again and include some of our favorite recipe discoveries as well.

The Goal: Eat as naturally and unprocessed as possible for the month of March.

The Pitfalls:
**Lack of planning makes it tough to grab something spur of the moment. This was especially true for snacks. I can snack easily on fruit, but because of Scott's allergies he can't. Easter candy might also have been a problem.
**I suck at making bread. No, I haven't given up yet, but I never did make a successful loaf of sandwich bread.
**It wasn't until the last week that I figured out what to eat for lunch. Salad! Duh!! I also made some peanut butter and freezer jam. While I still had packaged bread, it was still satisfying to know I mostly made my own lunch from scratch.
**Eating out. Stupid eating out (mmmmm, eating out).
**Not realizing that dry beans should soak overnight before cooking them. Ha!

The Successes:
**Delicious recipes such as spaghetti sauce, pizza, tortillas, desserts, stuffed pork chops, roasted sweet potatoes.
**Dinner was the best meal of the day for both of us. Everything was more or less from scratch (the exception was ingredients such as apricot preserves or ketchup, etc).
**Spending time together in the kitchen and realizing that we both enjoy to cook (even though I'm a bit grumpy upon the discovery that Scott is the better cook).

What We I Learned:
Homemade food tastes awesome. But it does require planning, and it does require at least some upfront work. I could not have done this without Scott's help--well, I could have but I would have been really stressed out and crazypants. While I do think that we can kick the box habit, I do not think that I can give up storebought bread. I'm also going to try to make a better effort to ditch the frozen SmartOnes meals I eat for lunch. It doesn't take that much longer to make a sandwich or salad (when I don't have leftovers).

People have asked me if I think that cooking the way that we did in March is less expensive and I think it might be! It's hard to tell for sure because I always buy miscellaneous stuff at the grocery (shakes fist at Target and its awesomeness), but what I did notice is that my grocery shopping was much quicker as I spent less time in the aisles and I came home with much more fresh produce and meats. I did have to go to the market occasionally on non-grocery shopping days to pick up produce but as long as I'm a good girl who doesn't wander into the Easter candy aisle, these trips shouldn't be costly.

I don't feel any different physically. It wasn't that we were eating unhealthy before--it just wasn't as fresh as it could have been. And I don't think I've lost any weight. Again--this wasn't a diet and we weren't eat badly before. Maybe over the long-run we would notice some differences but I'm guessing the change is all stuff that might show up on a bloodscreen rather than the scale. You know?

The big win for me was spending time with Scott in the kitchen and both of us getting excited over the creations.

Favorite Recipe Discoveries
Crockpot Meaty Italian Spaghetti Sauce via Betty Crocker
Steel-Cut Oats with Cinnamon and Apples via The Yummy Life
Pizza Sauce via Allrecipes.com
Tortillas via Tasty Kitchen
Roasted Sweet Potatoes (why hadn't I tried this before?!)
Boston Baked Beans via Allrecipes.com
Old Fashioned Pancakes via Allrecipes.com
Viniagrette Dressing with 8 Variations via Food.com
(for peanut butter we literally poured peanuts into the food processor and let her whirl)

Where do we go from here? Well, at the grocery store the other day, Scott may have stocked up on Mac and Cheese. I kindly told him that I could make it for him from scratch, but... Ha! Regardless, we came away with some new favorite recipes (yay homemade pizza!) and will be much more aware going forward.

What do you think wins? Convenience or Freshness?

Happy Eating!

Wordless Wednesday: Nom Nom Nom

2012-04-04T08:05:00.000-05:00

[Scott, Lexi, and Godzilla - Halloween 2007]

[[rescued from drafts during Bloggiesta. Ha!!]]

Bloggiesta Finish Line - Spring 2012

2012-04-02T00:00:00.001-05:00

Oooooooooooooooooole. Not to be confused with Ole!!! Basically, I'm exhausted. But I'll take the exhaustion as Bloggiesta was very productive. I had a daunting list of tasks, but I completed many of them (and more)! Only the really yucky things are left and honestly I think I'm kidding myself by thinking that they'll ever get done.

As I stated the other day on my Bloggiesta starting line post:

What is Bloggiesta? Basically a big group of bloggers signed up and committed to blog updating this weekend. There were lots of mini-challenges and tips from experienced bloggers. 200 people signed up and we had a great time chatting on twitter throughout the weekend.

BLOGGIESTA THINGS I DID

2. Create "Favorite Posts" on Sidebar
3. Footer Copyright
4. Update Review Lists (35 reviews added)
5. Create a Recipe Index
6. Add picture to About Me page
10. Sign up at Creative Commons for copyright
12. Header Update (big thanks to Faye for designing!)
13. Create labels for sidebar (went with dividers instead)
14. Widen width of blog body
16. Draft up some posts (Ready Player One post)
18. Figure out BlogHer Ads and if I want to continue
19. Edited social media buttons
20. Collapsed Blog Archive in sidebar instead of removing
21. Random formatting changes--font, tabs, sidebar spacing

BLOGGIESTA THINGS I DIDN'T DO

1. Fix Big Black Signature (from when I accidentally deleted uploaded photo)
7. Create Page for Operation Use My Kitchen Gadgets
8. Fix old travel posts where pictures got deleted
9. Trish's Reading Nook broken links
11. Clean up/Delete old drafts
15. Read links that I've emailed myself this week via twitter
17. Labels - blehhhhhh

And the before and after screen shots.

The change is subtle, especially for the time I spent working on the blog--googling this and that, but I'm happy with the changes. Plus I got to play around with picmonkey.com a bit since picnik will be going away this month.

I'm going to continue to play around with the main background because I'd like something a little simpler, but I need a break from blog editing! And as for the rest of the work...bah. The signature definitely needs to be fix (I sorta fix through March, so if you want to see an example, hit a post from January to see where my signature has changed to a big black box), but I might just tackle this one month at a time.

A big thanks to Suey and Danielle for hosting the Bloggiesta. And of course to Natasha for creating the event. I was a bit selfish with my time--focusing on just my blog rather than hopping around, but I enjoyed chatting with some new people on twitter and look forward to catching up with some of the linked blogs at the finish line.

So--anything you like? Anything you think could use adjustments? What was your biggest accomplishment this weekend during bloggiesta?

Didn't participate? How was your last weekend in March?