I first saw this on SwissMiss* and just had to share. If you click on the image, you can see a larger version.
* A flowchart by Wendy MacNaughton for a Forbes article on how and why to ignore your inbox.
Every year, the husband and I pack up and head on over to his brother’s place for Thanksgiving festivities. So once again I had to come up with foodstuffs that are not only Thanksgiving-y, but also something that travels well and doesn’t require any cooking once we arrive.
For the past couple years I’ve taken on the salad and corn casserole. Last year I added some fresh baked no knead bread. So this year I decided to go that route again. And maybe throw in a few extras ‘cuz I’m crazy like that.
So we’ve got my now standards: spinach, gorganzola, cranberry and walnut salad; corn casserole; and no knead bread. But I’ve also added on a cranberry upside down cake (it looks so good). And quite possibly cranberry and brie puff pasty bites – I haven’t yet decided if I have enough time in the morning. I’m also not quite sure how well they’ll travel, so I might just scratch the puffs.
So what did you decide to make this year? Any new recipes you want to share?
About a week ago I found out about Pinterest (and yes, I know that I’m so, so, SO very late to the game here). I find that I spend more “extra” time poking around an pinning things than I spend poking around on Facebook.
I’ve found recipes, art projects, cute clothes, gardening tips, beautiful pictures and motivational quotes. And that’s just sticking with only 2-3 categories.
It’s some good stuff. It’s some addictive stuff. But I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.
Feel free to…
And no, I don’t mean autumn.
We don’t have many, full on seasons here in LA. We’re pretty much either hot with cooler nights, or cooler with cold nights. And not all too much of anything else.
But what we do have is a rainy fall. And I love everything about that.
For someone reason, no one (but gardeners) seem to be aware that we rain on and off through most of October. They might recall that it often rains on Halloween, but not much else. Yet I remember each year and each year I get so excited when those 90 degree days drop down to the low 70’s.
Today was that first day.
The sky was grey as drove to work. The air was crisp. You could feel the humidity in the air.
Then as I was packing up for the day to head home I hear over the PA system “all teachers: rainy day plans are in effect.” Woohoo!
Mind you, it didn’t even rain long enough to rinse all the crud off my car. But it was enough to make things uncomfortable as I walked the block to my car. And now I hear that we’re 100% set for rain tomorrow and I’m thrilled.
Next up, I’ll be putting some soups, chile and stews on. And I can’t wait.
‘Cause tomorrow’s another day
and I’m thirsty anyway
So bring on the rain.
Seems they’re in the process of relaunching the hit television show, SUPERNANNY. This time they plan to go with a with a new American born & bred nanny. And in the meantime, when they fly the finalists out to LA they’re looking for several local Los Angeles families who would be willing to put these potential nannies to the test. You know, give them your toughest, brattiest, most challenging, problematic kids and problems.
Rest assured, all the women up for the role will first go through intensive interviews and then a select few will have to prove their skills by interacting with children and their parents at home. These tests will be taped, but they will only be used for viewing by the network and will not be aired.
The ‘Test Family’ Basics:
If you are a parent who is frustrated with an issue – it’s an issue for this parenting expert.
Of course, they know that your response is, “What? Up to 3 hours is all I get? I need a week!” and they invite all parents to apply for the full help of Supernanny!!!!
If you’re interested in being considered as a SuperNanny Test Family, please call Courtney Marino at (323) 904-4680 and let her know you are interested in the possibility of being a test family.
Best of luck!!
This Friday, August 12th, they’ll be free admission and free parking from noon-1:00 at the OC Fair. They’re also throwing in free, one-way skyrides (my favorite thing to do at the fair), from noon – 4:00. AND they’re offering up $2 rides, food and games – again, until 4:00!
If money is tight, this is a great way to still have some fair fun! And if you plan on making a full day of it, you can also get free lawn seating for the Three Dog Night-America show later that night.
Not a half bad way to spend the day. And as we all know, the OC fair grounds are a good 10 degrees cooler than things here in the Valley.
They say that it only takes 10,000 hours before you are an “expert” at something…anything. Well, I’m beginning to think that I may be well on the road to becoming a flea expert. And not by choice!
For the past three months or so, we’ve been dealing with fleas. We really didn’t think it was all that much of a “problem” since they weren’t bothering us or the cat. Basically, it was just one or two on the dog. For three months.
So first we decided to go natural and picked up some Vet’s Best Flea and Tick Spray. This stuff basically uses clove and peppermint oils to kill the fleas. And it works great. At killing the fleas. Unfortunately, it doesn’t tackle the eggs or the rest of the n0t-quite-fleas-yet buggers. And sadly for my little guy, it’s pretty potent stuff for his tender belly and it leaves him rashy (but their Hot Spot spray helps with that). Really, I can’t recommend this stuff enough, but unfortunately in our house, it wasn’t enough.
From there we moved onto the Frontline Plus. But for some odd reason, that didn’t seem to work as well as it had in the past. We were actually starting to wonder if we maybe got a bad batch.
About this time, we were considering bombing the house. But in order to do that, we all would have to leave…including the cat. So we were calling around to see if anyone did daycare boarding. We then called the vet to find out if his shots were updated so we could board. It was at this time that they told us that because we didn’t treat the cat with Frontline at the same time as the dob, the fleas still had someone to feed off. So off we go to the vet to get some Frontline for the fuzzy one.
So now we have both boys covered with Frontline, and we’re regularly spraying the dog and the room with the Vet’s Best spray. Still, we’re not really seeing and end in sight. Until a couple people start mentioning getting Diatomaceous Earth powder to sprinkle around the house.
We took the powder and sprinkled it behind the couch (in the dog’s favorite lounging place), in the dog bed, and on his pillow in the office. We also sprinkled him directly a time or two. We still want to sprinkle the couch, but we’re going for baby steps as this stuff isn’t safe to be inhaled directly (and wearing one of those mask thingies is kinda freaky in a claustrophobia sort of way).
I must say, we’re finally seeing an end in sight. I know the vet said we’d still be dealing with fleas over the next three months as the fleas in their various lifespan become adults. But it’s better than it was a few weeks ago.
And now, when we find a flea on us, or the dog, we pluck that sucker up and drop it in a cup of peppermint and clove oil water. Instant death!
Now it should be known, this LA Blogger Gal likes to shop just as much as the next gal. But…as a plus-sized gal, we don’t always get to same shopping experience our not-so-curvy counterparts get.
For the first time, plus-size, curvy gals had a day of beauty and shopping that they could call their own…Kurvee.
Now don’t get me wrong, this wasn’t quite the event that Shecky’s or Lucky Shops might have been (let’s face it, we just don’t have that many designers making clothes in larger sizes), but for a first time event, they had plenty of fun ways to spend your money.
They really had all the bases covered: hot clothes, cute bags, sparkly jewels, fun shoes, sexy lingerie, make up, chocolate and cupcakes, yummy bath products and even boudoir photographers.
I think for a first attempt they did a great job. So much so that I’m anxiously awaiting the next Kurvee event.
I think one of my favorite things about living in Los Angeles has to be the access to all the various sample sales around town. And not just sample sales, but whole, full-on events devoted to shopping the samples.
We have Shecky’s (though I’ve yet to go), Sassy City Chicks (love them), Pretty City (really looking forward to the next on coming soon) and the premiere Lucky Shops. But I must say, I’m most looking forward to Kurvee. An entire shopping event for the plus-sized gal. Awesome!
If you’re not up for a sample sale event, then be sure to check out Bargains LA and their killer sample sale app (available on iTunes). With the Bargains LA gang and their handy app, you’ll never be far from a sample sale.
Happy Shopping!!!
After a fun-filled weekend celebrating my husband’s birthday, I was more than ready to take part in my civil obligation and sit for jury duty. That was until I called in to register and see if I was scheduled to show up.
Turns out, out of all the repeated, highlighted and bolded information…phone numbers, juror ID numbers, circuit court numbers, websites, hours, scheduled date, address, etc.,…they felt the need to write out, only once, on the back side of the paper, that you have to register within 5 days of receipt of the summons. No date, just the phrase “required to register using the telephone withing 5 days of receiving the summons.” No urgency or date noted in the outlined, boxed, 4-step instructions, merely a mention in step 3 that you need to “register by phone”.
And now, apparently you can’t register the night before. So um…no jury duty for me this week. This works for me.
I had planned for the week, so I have nothing at all on my schedule. An entire week without any outside obligations. Awesome.
Luckily, it was easy enough to reschedule. So I looked over my calendar and made sure to pick a date far enough away that I could once again schedule around the entire week. And the minute I received my confirmation of my new dates and hung up I realized that I chose the very week that we had planned our vacation weekend on.
ARGH!!!
So now we spend most of yesterday and today trying to see if there’s any way we can still swing our vacation (and the member party at our favorite vineyard) and still get back in time.
I call back into the system to see if I can reschedule again. I figured I’d poke around until I reached a person and try to plead my case for a one week extension. Luckily, I didn’t have to. On a fluke I was able to reschedule my week without any problems (even though the recording assured me that this date would not change under any circumstances).
So now we get to go back to planning our vacation. And you better believe, this vacation will be totally and completely appreciated.
Oh and in case you were wondering…I wouldn’t suggest trying to call in and reschedule your jury duty while you hungover on a weekend’s worth of migraine meds. Just sayin’.