Helpful Hint

Um, if you are ever stupid like me and accidentally use a Sharpie to write on your dry erase board, a little rubbing alcohol will take it off.

Not that anyone else would be so stupid. What the hell am I doing with a green sharpie anyway?

Quick Poll

Out of curiosity, I want to know how many of you out there have and regularly maintain houses that are “drop in ready” at all times?

I’m not talking about ready for a Mother-In-Law visit, because good lord, we all know those can take weeks to prepare for, depending on your particular mother-in-law and the state of your baseboards. But like if your neighbor rang the doorbell unexpectedly, would you feel comfortable inviting them in for a cup of coffee or would you make some excuse about a sick iguana and just step outside to talk to them?

I think just the fact that I’m asking this question tells you which category I fall into.

New Recipe Exchange/Cooking Diva Site

Hey y’all! Go over to Chop. Stir. Mix to enter for a kitchen goods giveaway. But stay for the recipes and tips, and even submit some of your own.

On My Mind

So Saturday at the baby shower, it might have been casually mentioned that I have a touch of OCD. All because when I was making the punch right before the guests arrived, I pulled out fruit juice ice cubes I had made the day before to keep the punch cold without watering it down as the cubes melted.

Now personally, I don’t view this as OCD behavior, nor do I think of it as particularly Martha-Stewart-esque behavior. It’s just a handy entertaining tip for those of us who don’t care for the punch made with sherbet, which tends to keep itself cool, obviously. It’s not like I hand embroidered linen napkins for each guest as a party favor or milled the paper I used for the invitations.

Personally I think that I am about the farthest thing from OCD there is - unless you can say that I obsessively don’t put away my laundry or I have a compulsion for forget to feed the dog. I’m far too lazy to be plagued by any OCD behaviors.

Or do I? Am I really in denial? Are fruit juice ice cubes a sign of mental illness or simply good planning? I’ll also admit to the fact that I made the cubes proportionate with the recipe for the punch. The biggest part was cranberry juice, so I made more cranberry juice cubes than I did orange and pineapple juice cubes. But again, I defensively say that it just makes sense to do it that way so you don’t change the way the punch tastes. It’s not like I did extensive calculations to figure it out or anything.

So tell me, am I treading on dangerous ground or am I simply a good party planner? It’s ok. You can be honest. I can take it. It’s not like your input will stop me from making my fruit juice ice cubes in the future. I’m just curious.

Soggy Salad, Be Gone!

Today I was so pleasantly surprised to find a package on my doorstep. I was even more pleasantly surprised to see a customs slip on it, which could only mean it was from the lovely and amazing Helen. Although, significantly missing was a smart ass answer as to the box’s contents. I guess you can only buck the system for so long before the post office starts “losing” your packages, though.

I literally squealed with delight and laughed for a good fifteen minutes when I opened the package to see a beautiful OXO Salad Spinner. You might remember that I am still a bit miffed that the one from my wedding registry was purchased for me seven years ago and yet never delivered to me. Jake came down to see what all the fuss was about and laughed as well. Apparently great minds think alike and he had thought of getting me one for Mother’s Day. I must have bitched a lot about soggy salads and rude wedding guests.

I can’t wait to make some salad. I actually saw a recipe by Paula Deen recently (or maybe it was Ina Garten, I can’t remember) that said to dry your greens in a spinner and I was bereft because I had no salad spinner. But now I do! My world is complete.

Thank you Helen!

Thwarted!

Y’all know I am severely challenged in the decorating department. It’s a gene I don’t have.  But the other day i was out and about and found a great mirror for our formal living room. And that’s a cop out because I can’t commit to a piece of art, so a mirror is the easy way out. Anyway, it was a lovely mirror and for a decent price. I brought it home and proudly showed Jake. Who noticed that it had a ginormous gouge out of the corner. Not even slightly subtle. I’m not quite sure how I missed it in the store.

Today it had to go back and of course they had no more of them. And no, it’s apparently not an item that is available at all stores anymore. So I can probably go look at another store and hope it’s there, but that’s my only option if I want it.

Now I really need to get on to the pressing matter of this damn shower. Still no farther on the menu than I was before. I really ought to get to thinking about this.

Unprepared

So it just dawned on me that I’m throwing a baby shower in a little over a week and other than sending out invitations, I have done absolutely nothing. Not one thing. Haven’t given it a thought.

I have my standards for showers - the same yummy punch I always make (and no, the recipe does not include sherbet in any flavor thankyouverymuch) and petit fours from Stein’s bakery  - but other than that, nothing. I have to figure out decorations, games (because the guest of honor says her family would do better with games than to sit around and criticize her life choices, and I can see that so games there will be), favors, paper goods, a gift….. so yeah, everything.

Normally I go way overboard in the number of different foods I make for parties, so I’m trying to tone it down. Jake doesn’t want to eat left over shower food for three days. But I think in trying to reign myself in, I’m stifling my creativity.

So tomorrow, I must devote my day to shower planning. At least I have a new dining room table to serve it all on. Whatever it is I serve.

Today I Became A Woman

Don’t we all that that one thing, that one item we could own or event that could take place in our lives that we think will make us a real honest-to-god grownup person?

For me, that item was a formal dining room set. Don’t ask me why. But I’ve been dying for a pretty place to hold my china since we bought this house almost five years ago.  I guess because a china cabinet and a formal dining table aren’t necessities. You can easily live your life and entertain your friends around any old table since it’s the company that matters most anyway. And I’ve had my china stowed in my regular kitchen cabinets and it’s worked ok, even though I desperately needed that room for other things. It was serviceable  but not how I wanted it.

Today, thanks to the furniture delivery men, it is how I want it. My dining room, begun back in 2003 with painting and crown molding and a chair rail and picture molding is now almost complete. The only thing really that would finish it off would be if I could ever get some flingin’ flangin’ window treatments in there besides the wood blinds.

For now, though, I’m happy. Except now I have to go rearrange my kitchen cabinets to take advantage of all my room! Whoop!

Spring Cleaning!

Last week was a housekeeper week. Except their normal day to come is Thursday. However, I knew that Thursday was not going to be a good day for me so Jake called them and asked them to come Friday instead. We’d be gone by 10 a.m. so it didn’t matter when they came.

Sadly, in their quest to make the house look nice, they shut the doors to the laundry room. The problem with that plan is that they locked Kiri out of her litterbox. Poor thing then had to find a spot to go and chose the carpet outside the bathroom that used to be where we kept the litterboxes. Totally not her fault. I’m annoyed at the housekeepers but also knew it was not a good idea to have them come when were not in town.

So today we had to get the carpet steam cleaned. It was a lovely cool day so we opened all the windows to let the carpets dry and that prompted me to (are you sitting down?) clean the windows.

I know!

Sometimes the planets do align and miracle can happen.

Drudgery

I don’t know why it is but all of a sudden, I am so fucking tired of washing that damn high chair tray. I feel like I am constantly washing it. Oh wait, that’s because I am constantly washing it. Breakfast, lunch, snack, dinner…. We use the snap off tray as a second tray so theoretically we’d only have to wash every other feeding. But sometimes Bridget makes such a mess on the top tray that you pop it off and use the bottom tray for the rest of the meal. She really likes that with most of her cups, if she turns them upside down and presses, she can create a lake of milk on the tray. If we don’t watch her like a hawk, we’ll turn around and find her splashing milk everywhere. So sometimes (very often) I have to wash both pieces after every meal. Thank god for our dog, newly nicknamed The Cleanup Crew.

I think this chore may have replaced putting away laundry as my most hated chore of all time. At least until the high chair years are over and then I can go back to hating laundry way more.

What’s your most hated chore?