I'm turning into a vampire

Good thing vampires are popular nowadays, lol. The ER doctor emphasized that I needed to keep out of the sun to prevent hyperpigmentation on my facial scars so I've been very careful about avoiding the sun. I've been out of the house three times since the accident five days ago. My "travels" have been to accompany Mr. Fix-it to his dad's. That was at dusk, but I still wore a hat and carried an umbrella. Then once to the doctor's and then this morning to the store because I needed some more bacitracin. It was overcast this morning so we rushed to the store before the sun came out. I look like one of those immigrant Asian ladies with my hat and umbrella. Guess they knew something about protecting their skin, eh?

And I wonder what the neighbors are thinking. On a couple windows, we only have valences, no shades or curtains. So I threw on towels over the valences to block the sun. Really classy.

Not Mrs. Kravitz

I've been home all week recovering from the auto accident (I'm okay, the car isn't, don't wanna talk about it) and I'm obviously not spending enough time peeking out the front window. I haven't noticed anything funny going on. Didn't even notice which neighbors went to work and which didn't. Haven't seen the new neighbor kitty-corner to us. I assume he bought the house, but he's never there. Haven't noticed kids walking to school; maybe they're all grown up and I haven't noticed?

But yesterday, I noticed some trucks pull up to the house kitty-corner to us in the opposite direction. Hmmm, what was going on? I wasn't brave enough to walk across the street to ask what was going on. The house is for sale, but I thought it had been emptied earlier. Unfortunately, there was only so much dishwashing I could do so I went to the living room to rest. By the time I went back to the kitchen, the trucks were gone so I have no idea what they took out of the house.

Then this morning, a little more excitement! It was street cleaning day and another neighbor parked their car in the for-sale house's driveway. Surprise! The trucks came back. Hmmmm. I wasn't 100% positive which neighbor's car it was, but I had an idea so I went to their house. Unfortunately, they did not open their door dispite their dogs barking and waking up everyone in the house. Yes, it was early, but not that early. The people w/the trucks saw me, but I did not talk to them (I was feeling a bit ugly/shy since I hadn't showered yet and the accident and all). A little later, I heard the neighbor's dogs going crazy again and it turns out the driver had gone to the neighbor's to ask about the car. Darn, another opportunity lost! Now I'll never find out what's going on with that house.

Dessert

Leftover cornbread, warmed in the microwave and covered in half and half. I would have used milk but we didn't have any. And I resisted pouring maple syrup on top. So this was the semi-healthy version, lol. On the other hand, since when is dessert supposed to be healthy?

Are your kids driving you crazy this summer?

If you're looking for activities for early elementary or younger kids, check out Angie's Finding Educational Activities in the Most Unexpected Places. She's got the e-book on sale for 50% off right now. And if you want to see what I thought of her book, check out my review.

$2.99

The usual summer spike in prices hasn't been too bad this year.

Vegetable tart

We made a veggie tart (aka crustless quiche) to take over to Uncle J and Aunt T's last weekend. I wanted to bring something that could be eaten at room temperature and was inspired by the yellow squash and zucchini from the garden. As usual, we didn't use a recipe, but here's my best recollection as to what was included.

Ingredients
4 medium yellow squash or zucchini
1/2 onion, finely chopped
olive oil
5 eggs
3.5-4 oz shredded cheese (about 1/2 package of pre-shredded cheese, we used cheddar-jack because that's what we had on hand)
powdered garlic
pepper
1/2 cup bread crumbs
optional: asparagus

Topping: mix together 1/4 cup bread crumbs and 1/4 cup finely shredded cheese

Directions
1. Grease a 9x13 pan.
2. Partially cook the asparagus for the top (we used the microwave).
3. Thinly slice the squash (we used a mandolin) and the asparagus.
4. Saute the onion and squash in the olive oil until the squash is partly cooked. If there is a lot of liquid in the pan, cook a little longer to cook off the liquid. Add the sliced asparagus and cook for another minute.
5. Add the eggs. You could scramble them first, but I just scrambled them in the pan w/the squash.
6. Add the cheese, bread crumbs, and spices, then pour the mixture into the greased 9x13 pan.
7. Top w/the asparagus, then top w/the cheese and bread crumbs.
8. Bake at 325 for about 30 minutes or until egg is set. You could broil this for a minute or so if the top needs more color.

Can be served warm, cold, or at room temperature.

My mom used to make this all the time, but included sausage. I bet it would be good with bacon and/or Italian spices.

Wedding card

I made a wedding card for a coworker last week. I was hoping to get by with the supplies I had on hand (because you know I've got enough to open a small store), but ended up buying a couple of things anyway. Thank goodness I had a 25% off coupon. I ended up buying the bling since I couldn't find the black Prima bling that I know I have (but I was planning on using it on a layout anyway).
I was so proud of myself for stamping the sentiment (even if it did smear a bit). I suppose that blue and black aren't traditional wedding colors, but her invitations were blue and white and I didn't have any white transparencies so I went with blue and black. Oh, and since she's Catholic, I figured she would be okay with the bible verse.

supplies: Mulberry cardstock, Creative Imagination transparency, Zva and Kaisercraft rhinestones, satin ribbon, Boxer stamps, Catseye ink, Fiskars border punch

Crockpot before and after

I know you're not supposed to fill the crockpot all the way to the top, but why make soup unless you're making a lot? The before picture doesn't show it all; I carefully added some turkey broth/meat too. The after picture also doesn't show the whole truth. I had taken out a bowl of soup before taking the photo (hey, I was hungry). I also added some orzo, but that was cooked on the stove and added separately to the individual bowls of soup. The leftovers are also stored separately in the frig. I don't want the pasta to absorb all the broth overnight.

Christmas in July

(most of) our haul from our annual trek to the Hallmark store. I am a bit amused that Mr. Fix-it collects more ornaments than I do. Although I am considering starting a new collection. Unfortunately, I won't be able to see that ornament in person until October. Yet another opportunity for Hallmark to get more of my money. Although some might think they have enough of my money since I've been collecting the Nostalgic Houses and Shops series for 27 years.

She said what, when??

For those of you who subscribe to this blog via a reader, I will be back-dating several posts since I like to keep posts in the order they occurred. Just wanted to give you a heads up so you're not confused.

Inspiration

I've been in a scrapbooking rut, no mojo, no motivation. But a recent trip to JoAnn's helped. This kraft cardstock was 50% off, plus I had a 10% off coupon, which would cover the tax. I've been wanting to work with kraft cardstock (and I have some on order w/SU, oh well) and thought this would be a cheap way to try it. I was pleasantly surprised by the weight of the paper. It will be interesting to compare it to the SU paper, which is three times the cost.

Here's the card I made from the cardstock and scraps (and I already sent it to a friend).Bazzill, CM, and no name cardstock, KI and Current (remember them?) patterned paper, Kaisercraft pearls, Catseye ink, Technique Tuesday stamp, CM punch, Cuttlebug embossing folders

Today's harvest

It might not look like much, but this is the second squash I harvested and I'm so excited about that! Usually, my squash plants die or the squash rots before I can harvest anything. And I've three more squash (squashes?) that should be ready to pick in a few days.

Happy 4th!

This is one of my favorite tee shirts. I wasn't thinking this morning and put on something else, but then I remembered the day and pulled out this shirt. I figured I should at least dress in the right colors for the day. This is a long-lived shirt with lots of memories. If you wear something only once a year, it is bound to last a little longer than usual.

Summer sandwich

A quick dinner made with ingredients we had on hand: toasted submarine sandwich bread, ricotta cheese, roma tomatoes, basil, marinated artichoke hearts, red onion, fresh ground pepper. No dressing/mayo was needed. So fresh and yummy...and fast!

Double whammy

The guys have been working on cleaning out FIL’s house for the past few weeks. It has been slow going and painful. I think if you’ve never had to clean out someone’s house, especially a packrat who liked to dumpster dive, you can’t understand how difficult it is. And if you have packrat tendencies yourself, it is even more difficult. And if you can't figure out the value of something, either monetary or sentimental, and your siblings can't either, well, back to the slow and painful.

At the same time, I've been "forced" to clean things up at home since we're getting a couple pieces of furniture. First, I gotta clear out a spot for them. Then I have to clear out a path to that spot. Or maybe I need to do that in the reverse order. No, I'm not as bad as that hoarders show, which I've never seen since we don't have cable because it is too expensive and we watch too much TV anyways and yes I'm going off on a tangent or two. Yes, I have lots of stuff, all valuable I'm sure. I did manage to part with some of my precious Tupperware collection, only because I've recently become convinced that glass containers are better (now I've started a jar collection). I found letters from J, Uncle T, and even, unfortunately, cards that I addressed and stamped, but never sent.

It has been difficult for me to see FIL's house being emptied and stressful trying to straighten up my own house at the same time. Somehow, I don't have a problem getting rid of his phone bills from ten years ago or appointment cards or junk mail that was made to look like it is from the government. But my own stuff? I finally got rid of checks from the 80s and the 46 cover letters from 1992 (even though the recession was officially over in 1991, no one was hiring in 1992. Anyone who is job hunting now has my sympathies). And the letter disputing a credit issue that was about 25 years old is gone. You should have seen the cute stationery I typed it on (yes, typed).

Add all that to stressful week at work and I've been in tears all week. I guess it really has been a triple whammy. Thank goodness Monday is a holiday. Hopefully an extra day off will bring some much needed rest.

Garden update

Over the past few years, I've decreased my garden efforts and it shows with the abundance of weeds and the lack of produce. I used to run out of room for planting. I had so much produce, even with sharing with family and freezing some, I'd still bring in basketfuls of tomatoes, cucumbers, string beans to the office. Now? I'm lucky if I have enough for us.

This year hasn't been any better. I have two tomato plants, both from the nursery, not from seed. Only two, not six or eight. No cucumbers yet. Finally got some basil...from plants, not seeds. I don't have good luck growing basil from seed.
I also don't have much luck with squash. I was thrilled to see some flowers on my yellow squash. You know how people warn you not to plant too many zucchini plants? I have to plant lots because mine usually die. Of course, this year I've got four going strong. Hope I didn't just jinx myself.
And this thrills me most of all. It took forever for my string beans to sprout and then it took another forever for them to grow. They're looking rather sickly, but hopefully will still produce.

What's for lunch today?

As many of you know, my favorite lunch is leftovers. I'm not big on taking sandwiches to work (although I don't mind eating them freshly made) and prefer a hot lunch to a cold lunch. So last night, I packed up some leftover chicken and rice and topped it off with some cabbage that I had stir-fried. The rest of the cabbage went into another Tupperware container.

As usual, my coworkers went out to lunch and of course they invited me and of course I declined since I had my lunch. I decided to spend my lunch time surfing the net so after I heated up my lunch, I came back to my desk and started some mindless browsing. I'm eating, not really thinking, eating some more, wondering where the chicken and rice are...and you know where this is going, right? Yep, brought the wrong container to work. So I had to go downstairs to get something else for lunch since I didn't think a lunch of just cabbage was very appetizing or filling. Sigh. On a brighter note, at least I know I have lunch prepped for tomorrow.

I joined Swagbucks

Hopefully, I'll earn a few giftcards from this. If you'd like to join in on the fun, click on the link in the upper right. Theoretically, I should get a bonus if you join via the link. I hope so, lol. Thanks!

It was a profitable weekend

First, a trip to Target, where I bought two items for $2.99, used two $1 coupons, and got a $5 gift card in return. Even with tax, this was a small moneymaker. And then I won big at bunco. Even if I didn't win big, I still would have enjoyed seeing everyone. And then dinner with family on Sunday. Any meal I don't have to cook is a winner in my book. And time w/family? Priceless!

Review: Finding Educational Activities in the Most Unexpected Places

Sometime being an aunt is hard. I don't have the patience of a mom and I'm just not used to kids since I'm not around them that often. That's one reason I enjoy reading the blog Many Little Blessings. Angie writes about everything from crafts to going green to family/kids and sometimes all these at once! I'm always interested in posts about her kids and their activities since her kids are a bit older than my youngest nieces/nephew. While I don't get to babysit as often as I would like, I'm always on the lookout for activities we can do together.

That's why when Angie announced her book, Finding Educational Activities in the Most Unexpected Places, I was so excited for her and for me. Angie has a Master's degree in Special Education and does in-home therapy for young children. According to Angie, this book

was written as a reaction to comments that many of the families that I see doing in-home therapy have said. I often bring toys for the children to play with while we’re working, and many families have said things like, “I need to get something like (that toy)” or “You have all the cool toys.” I wanted to show those families that there are so many activities that can be done with just objects in and around their own houses. So, I wrote this book with them in mind. (I am giving the books, one section at a time, to those families at no charge.)

This 58-page e-book has over 200 activities to keep any child busy using common (and inexpensive) household items. The book is organized by props including such items as lids, poker chips, and blankets. While I don't have any poker chips, I do have other things I can use for the activities. See, she's already got me thinking! Given Angie's background, I'm confident the activities she's given will be fun and educational.


What I liked:
* In addition to the fun ideas, Angie noted the benefits such as hand-eye coordination or if the activity might not be appropriate for a child (for example, child with sensory defensiveness).
* Well organized.
* A list of her favorite books for toddlers and preschoolers. While I am familiar with most of them, there are a few that are new to me.
* The PDF format, which is low cost and easy to browse, but allows me to print out pages if I want hard copy.

What I would have liked:
* More details on which activities would be appropriate for what ages or age range (as a non-mom, I'm not sure what activities would be best/appropriate for a two year old or a four year old or a six year old).
* An index (but I'm old school that way).

You can purchase a copy of Finding Educational Activities in the Most Unexpected Places at Many Little Blessings for $7.50 US. Through the end of this month (May 2010), you can get a 20% discount by using this code: Scrapbook20.

Disclosure: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my review. I was not paid for this review nor received any other compensation.