April 2007

101 Things Update

2 Comments / 101 Things, Daily Dose /

Look an update! On time! Unfortunately I don’t have much to cross off!

We did go visit my mom.

We did stop at an unusual roadside attraction (that would be SoB and I dare you to say it doesn’t count!)

We tried to listen to a book on audio, got through 5 of the 7 tapes and gave up because it was bad. We’re listening to another now, that I know we will finish because we love Mma Ramotswe on audio.

I wonder if next month I’ll have more to cross out… probably not. Darn it.

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It’s like rain after you wash your car!

3 Comments / Daily Dose, Day to Day, Pet Peeves, Work /

I spent my weekend doing this:

53bags.jpg

That would be 53 bags of leaves and ferns. 53 and the front yard isn’t even close to being free of leaves or the ferns that have been taking over the yard. 53.

And then this pulls up in front of the house this morning.

treedudes.jpg

That would be the tree truck. Which means more leaves will fall when they do whatever trimming the city has requested they do.

Sheesh.

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Lose Weight! Win a Free Cookbook!

17 Comments / cookbooks, Daily Dose, Diet and Exercise /

Y’all know Carmen, right? Of course you do, everyone knows Carmen.

Since you know her, you know she lost a whole lot of weight and is doing a fantastic job of keeping it off. (That whole keeping it off thing is a lot harder than losing it sometimes.) How did she do it? The smart way. The only way I encourage people to do it. She ate less fatty food.

That’s it, that’s her secret. It isn’t much of a secret but often it takes someone like Carmen to show you the way. Luckily, she’s up for the job and she’s launched a brand new blog called The ELFF Diet.

I don’t like to recommend diets or dieting or anything like that on my blog. In fact I really try to avoid it. But in this case I’m going to do more than recommend her blog and her ideas, I’m going to entice you to go over there and learn from her by offering a prize. One for you and one for Carmen. But you have to work for this prize. (Carmen doesn’t, she’s already done the work and is continuing to do the work by maintaining and by helping others.)

In order to win the prize (and help Carmen also win the prize) you need to go to The ELFF Diet blog and comment on one of her blog posts and be sure to say “Denise said you were smart when it comes to dieting.” That is it, that’s what you have to do. I’ll be checking her comments and she’ll be glad to tell me if you followed directions. Or you can come back here and post a comment to me telling me that you did it.

In two weeks I’ll put all of the names into an empty Cheese Straw box and Michelle Belle will pick one. We’ll post the video of the drawing of the winner ’cause that will be fun, won’t it?

Oh I should tell you what you’ll win, right? You’re going to win a cookbook. A cookbook by a dietitian I have no qualms about recommending any time, The Recipe Doctor, Elaine Magee. It will be your choice – you can either have Fry Right, Fry Light or Comfort Food Makeovers. The one that you do not choose I’ll give to Carmen!

The reason I have selected this prize is because Elaine also believes you can lose weight and be healthier by eating less fatty food. Her recipes help you do just that. She lightens our favorite recipes without losing any of the great taste. She’s a foodie, you can trust her.

What are you waiting for, go check out The ELFF Diet and tell Carmen that I think she’s smart when it comes to dieting!

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The Sunday List of Dreams

2007, Books in Bed, Chick Lit, Feminism, Fiction, Queer, Women /

Another Radish book down, is it two or three more to go? I am not sure, I’ve lost track and they are beginning to blend in together just a little bit. Though Sunday List of Dreams was different from the other two in some significant ways (main character was just a little more reserved than the others and errr uhhh ummm the whole sex toy industry thing….sheesh).

TW didn’t really like this one, she said. The person who first recommended Elegant Gathering didn’t like this one very much. I, on the otherhand, liked it quite a bit more than Dancing Naked at the Edge of Dawn. It’s not often that you read a book about sex toys and the “womyn’s festival”.

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Daily Dose of Cupcakes

1 Comment / Cupcake Toppers, Daily Dose /

Here’s a cupcake topper for a holiday you might not normally celebrate. It’s also a great cupcake topper for kids who LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to do hair. Which means all kids under the age of 10 and an awful lot of kids over that age as well.

hair.JPGHappy Hair Stylist Appreciation Day (officially not ’til Monday so you have time to bake some cupcakes, top them appropriately and take them to your salon)

Just run over to your favorite Barbie supply store and grab the “hair care accessories” package. You might get lucky and find the knock off types at a dollar store so don’t overlook that if there’s one near you. If you want to do this for a kid, and not for Monday, then go to ebay and surf for barbie hair accessories. CHEAP and EASY!

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quirkyalone

1 Comment / 2007, Books in Bed, Don't Read This, Non-Fiction /

I’m finding it difficult to blog about quirkyalone. It was a weird book. I don’t have any problems with the quirkyalone label. I understand it. I might actually be a quirkyalone together person. In fact I probably am. I also think Michelle is quirkyalone. Jenn and Chris, totally not quirkyalone. But that is neither here, nor there. I’m talking about the book.

I ended up with the book because librarian Katie was talking about it on a message board. Which reminded me that sassymonkey did not like it, (though I think she doth protest too much – she is quirkyalone and I will explain to her later how one can be a quirkyalone together). I figured it was time to check it out and see it for myself. I had to get it through Inter-Library Loan because obviously the Alachua County Library system would not have it. There is nothing quirkyalone about this county. Fake quirky maybe but definitely not real quirky much less quirkyalone. Too many people wearing matching shirts all the time.

I liked bits and pieces of the book but I was mostly just disappointed. I don’t like my books to look like ‘zines, even if the author is a ‘zine writer. I like social network profiles but I don’t want my books to look like someone went to some social networking site (which by the way there should be a quirkyalone social networking site and I should be hired to run its community) and pulled various profiles and just plopped them into the book as content. Profiles aren’t content. They’re good lead ins to content. They’re a good way to tie up content. They’re good filler between content. But full pages of profiles – not content. Boring as all hell.

So where the book wasn’t formatted like a ‘zine, I liked it. I liked the resources in the back, those were nice but nice enough for me to want to buy or even read the book in order to get to them. I can just get those online, ya know? And where it wasn’t just straight profile, I liked it. Which means I didn’t much like the book, it was full of stuff I just didn’t like. I do, however, like quirkyalones.

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So what if I’m not Jewish!

2007, Books in Bed, Favorites, Non-Fiction, Religion /

Is it weird that I was really excited to see The Modern Jewish Mom’s Guide to Shabbat on the BlogHer HarperCollins Virtual Book Tour? Is it even more weird that I was really really excited to find a copy on my doorstep 3 days after I requested a copy? Is it crazy weird that I really enjoyed the book? Nah, you don’t have to be Jewish to enjoy the book or to find value in its message.

The first thing I need to say is not positive – I hated the paper the book was printed on. I hated it so much that I had a hard time turning the first few pages. I almost put it down because I really hate that scratchy paper in a book. But I persisted and fought back the shuddering and found ways to balance the book so I only had to touch the paper when I turned a page.

The next thing I need to say is very positive – Meredith Jacobs is very readable. I had only read a few paragraphs and I was smiling. TW was reading over my shoulder and said “She’s very readable, isn’t she?” Why yes, yes she is! And I love that in a self help book.

Now, about the content. I mentioned I’m not Jewish, right? Well it just doesn’t matter. Shabbat is about being together as a family, making that connection sacred. The religion is icing on the cake and I don’t need icing, I need cake. The very real ideas about how to juggle real life issues and still come together for Shabbat can be used by anyone. They’re simple and reassuring.

I found the religious instruction pieces excellent. Very interesting and not, umm, preachy! Heh. I love religious education of all forms but I don’t like religious education that screams at you, makes you feel guilty or attempts to make you feel wrong if you don’t believe exactly what the writer believes. Jacobs doesn’t do any of these bad things. She’s straight-forward and honest and not pushy.

When I requested the book, I thought I’d read it and then run a contest on ClubMom and give it away. I’ve changed my mind! I don’t want to give the book away. I want to keep it. I want to find a spot in the PURPLE section of my bookshelf and let it live there. I want to pull it down and try all of the Challah recipes (I love Challah.) I want to pull it down and hand it to a kid to read bits and pieces of the Torah section. I want to pull it down after a particularly Jewish service at the UU Fellowship and let the kids look through it and choose a recipe or a craft project or an idea to talk about. Nope, I’m not giving this one away. I might, however, buy another one and run a contest anyway.

I think I need to go and buy some fresh yeast. And think about how to incorporate some of these ideas into our lives REGULARLY.

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Made to Stick

2007, Books in Bed, Non-Fiction /

TW raved and raved about Made to Stick and I still almost didn’t read it. I’m way behind on my TBR stack and I wasn’t looking forward to yet another non-fiction/self-help book. But, I thought it would be quick and easy so I picked it up. It wasn’t as quick as I expected. It started off great, lost steam in the middle and ended strong. Or maybe it was just my life at the time that was influencing my reading? I don’t know. In the end, I was glad I read it. A lot of it seems to be “sticking” with me. Now the question is – can I make these ideas work for me at work (and at home)? We shall see.

What a coincidence, one of our online community favorites, Lee LeFever reviewed the book just as I was losing steam with it. His review encouraged me to pick it back up and finish it.

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