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The Dolla Store

I must admit, I happen to really like the dollar department stores (Dollar Tree, Dollar General, whateva). I won't buy certain things there (wrapping paper), but there are other things for which shopping there makes excellent sense.

Organizing tools are my numero uno favorite thing to buy at the dollar store. They always have a bountiful selection of clear plastic shoe boxes ($2 at Container Store) and other various plastic containers for cheap cheap cheap. Pair those with the erasable labels from Container Store (tons for $7) and you can organize most things on the cheeeeep. Continue reading “The Dolla Store”

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Car Love


As previously mentioned, my car went to the shop yesterday. Along with an oil change, Matt had them check out a couple of minor things, including some harder shifting from the transmission. They couldn't find a cause for this and speculate that it may be the beginning of the end for my transmission. It still probably has a couple of good years left in it, but it's making me face the fac that someday I'll have to get another car. *Sob*

I love my car and this is all that much more crushing because since the folks at Honda couldn't leave well enough alone and have had two new body styles since mine, so the new CR-Vs don't look a thing like mine! And I like mine so much … it's all sporty. And the new ones look like mini BMW SUVs which is OK, but not me.

Matt, of course, wants me to get some leather-covered mom mobile (I probably should start embracing momish things, though, now that I think about it) with GPS and heated seats. Silly boy. I don't like leather, and I think Loki would be paticular murder on a nice car.

Maybe when the time comes I'll have to get Continue reading “Car Love”

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The Blahs

I'm having some blahs right now. No biggie. I'm pretty sure most of them stem from not sleeping so well lately (sleep being one of the largest pillars of my happiness), but there you have it. I had to get up early this morning to take my car in for service and since it won't be done until late, I'll be putting extra time in at the office waiting for it to get finished instead of doing what I really want to do which is go home and watch Tivo. But I'll spare you more whining. Things in general are fine.

Here are some good links that I've been enjoying …
* 101 ways to save $$
* ever heard of non-newtonian liquid? basically, if you mix the proper amounts of cornstarch and water, you get a liquid that gets hard when you apply pressure to it and soft when you don't … these guys filled a pool with it. check this out
* input a random word and this spells it out with Flickr photos
* interesting gift guides
* luvin these teeeny houses
* always makes me feel better

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What a Crock

Well I finally added a couple of crock pot recipes to the cookbook. In fact, I gave them their own recipe. I have at least one more to add … the one for red beans and rice … as soon as I can find the dern thing. Matt is starting another one this morning so dinner will be all ready when I get home. Yay.

We had a pretty nice weekend. I spent Fri afternoon with Kelly doing random things including taking Loki to the dog park so he could have a swim (in 40 degree weather, no less) and manically chase balls until he was dry … and then playing Rockstar Games' (the fine folks who gave us Grand Theft Auto) new game, Bully. Matt took off a bit early and joined us. We met up with my parents and my dad's brother for pizza at a great place in Lousville which I shall add to the travelog soon. Continue reading “What a Crock”

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Beef Stroganoff (Crock Pot)

from: 161

Ingredients
1/2 C orange marmalade
16 oz can whole cranberries in suace
2 tsp. orange zest, grated
3-lb turkey breast

Directions
Combine marmalade, cranberries and zest in a bowl. Place the turnkey in the slow cooker and pour half the mixture over the turkey. Cover. Cook on low 7-8 hours or on high 3.5-4 hours until the turkey juices run clear.

Add the remaining half of the orange-cranberry mixture for the last half hour of cooking. Remove the turkey to a warm platter and allow to rest for 15 min before slicing. Serve with the orange ranberry sauce.

Nutritional Info (1/9 recipe(
270 cals, 1g fat, 125 mg cholesterol, 90 mg sodium, 18g carbs, 46g protein

from: 161

Ingredients
1.5 lbs lean stew meat, trimmed of fat
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced,
1 tsp. salt
1/4 t black pepper
1 lb fresh mushrooms
can cream of mushroom soup (healthy variety)
1 C water
1 C fat free sour cream

Directions
Combine all ingredients except sour cream in slow cooker. Cook on low 6-8 hours. Stir in sour cream. Cook on high for a few minutes to heat sour cream.

Nutritional Info (1/6 recipe(
240 calories, 7g fat, 75 mg cholesterol, 900 mg sodium, 15 g carbs, 27 g protein

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Cranberry-Orange Turkey Breast

from: 161

Ingredients
1/2 C orange marmalade
16 oz can whole cranberries in suace
2 tsp. orange zest, grated
3-lb turkey breast

Directions
Combine marmalade, cranberries and zest in a bowl. Place the turnkey in the slow cooker and pour half the mixture over the turkey. Cover. Cook on low 7-8 hours or on high 3.5-4 hours until the turkey juices run clear.

Add the remaining half of the orange-cranberry mixture for the last half hour of cooking. Remove the turkey to a warm platter and allow to rest for 15 min before slicing. Serve with the orange ranberry sauce.

Nutritional Info (1/9 recipe(
270 cals, 1g fat, 125 mg cholesterol, 90 mg sodium, 18g carbs, 46g protein

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What We're Up To

It's a cold grey day here in the Mile-High city, which is logical since we had highs yesterday in the low 80s.

We haven't been up to a whole lot, just working and such. I picked up the audio version of Freakonomics from our library last week and Matt and I both enjoyed it immensely. Basically a couple of economists use economic methods to answer bizarre questions. They cover various topics from teachers cheating on standardized tests to the business model for an urban drug gang. The answers are frequently pretty surprising. A good book to check out.

We've also been on a crock-pot kick at home. It's the perfect time of year for the crock pot and it's a nice thing to have your meal mostly made by the time you get home from work. We picked up Fix-It and Forget-It Lightly and we've made two great recipes from it so far – one for roast turkey breast with orange cranberry sauce and one for beef stroganoff. Both turned out quite well. I'll try to remember to post the recipes at some point.

I spent part of last night playing around with Microsoft Photo Story 3 (which you can download here). Basically what it does is create a photo slide show and turn it into a wmv film. It's pretty simple but does some pretty nice effects. You can do narration (possibly for your travel photos?) and include music. I did one of Loki photos last night to the peanuts theme. It was pretty cute. Anyhow, we're planning to create a photo slideshow for my grandma's memorial service so I think we'll use that.

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It's Beginning to Look a lot Like …

First of all, thanks to all for your condolences. They were very sweet and heartfelt.

Well I am starting to get some Christmas prep going. I'll be heading into 3rd trimester on Dec 1, so I'm especially keen to get going early cuz I'm moving a bit slower these days.

Over the weekend, I picked up both of these publications. On the left we have Martha Stewart Living's Holiday Handmade Gifts, which so far seems interesting. Lots of things to make from sweet stuff to personalized gifts to toys. Can't say I'll prolly do tons out of here, but I like some of the ideas.

The other is from a magazine I'm not familiar with called Cuisine at Home and it contains only cookie style recipes (some bars, barks, etc. as well). They all come with nice photos and instructions and I like the wide variety they included. Last year I got together with a friend and we baked a bunch of different cookies to give out as treats to friends and neighbors and we both enjoyed that and are planning to do it again this year … so it will be nice to have some new ones to try!

Anyone else got some holiday fun up their sleeve?