Day Thirteen - M is for...

No money madness this weekend!

Lots of good M opportunities today, as we spent the first half of the day painting Christmas panels for use in the Worship Arts and then another 7 or 8 hours helping some friends put up their Christmas decorations, including a cool Christmas village.

For some reason (and a lack of attention is probably the leading cause here), I missed those big chances and landed instead on some greenbacks from my wallet to represent M in the form of MONEY.  

Had I done any of the crazy super sale shopping, this might have been more applicable, but I stayed safely away from the malls and big box retailers - my only real shopping plan for the whole weekend is going to be the Farmers Market on Sunday.

Perhaps the absence of spending is what kept the bills in my wallet and accessible to represent the mighty M!

The Pampered Schnoogs

Holly and I attended a Pampered Chef event on Sunday. Ebe has recently joined the ranks of the PC Consultants and in getting ready to take her show on the road, she hosted two parties with friends and family to get into the swing of things. This was the 2nd event, the first was about a week ago and was naturally wildly successful.

After church, we trotted on over to find Elizabeth already set up and ready for us, plus the bonus Miss Sadie (Ebe's cat who loves to stare) out and about, looking for attention. Our group grew by two more and we spent the next couple of hours eating and checking out Elizabeth's wares, along with being her test group for recipes and the general presentation style.

Good eats were not in short supply, and at some point in time everyone got in on the cooking action, including the Schnoogs who doubled as recipe reader AND garlic presser.

I was the official taster. I am proud to report that I excelled at my job!

Dream House

I have been entering twice per day, every day for the HGTV Dream House Giveaway sweepstakes for at least a month. The last day to enter was on Friday, and I fully expected to get a phone call on Saturday, congratulating the family and I on our new home in Stowe, Vermont.

Oddly, the phone call has not yet come, so I checked in on the website to see if the HGTV peeps have put out an APB for me, letting me know that it is time to pack the moving truck and make my way east. Those tricksters! The winner reveal and move-in is going to be featured in a special on March 19th.

I have things on my calendar, the HGTV team needs to give me a call and coordinate this soon if they want to have me do their special for them when I move in!

Texas Toasted

I had a consumer moment in Target this week. First, it was excitement as I realized that the family favorite "Texas Toast" was conveniently positioned in the freezer case, saving me a trip to Albertson's later in the day.

I picked up a box in anticipation of a panini night...texas toast with cheddar cheese and avocado...that is deliciousness like you can't even imagine! I tossed the box into the cart and thought that it felt kind of light, so I took a closer look to realize why.

The customary 8 slices (which is a tidy 4 sandwiches for our hungry little family - David naturally eats two) was horrifically reduced to 6 slices. What? I looked at the price. No change. We have a 25% reduction in product but no price break? C'mon, Pepperidge Farm, what is the deal?

I begrudgingly took 2 boxes because it would be inhumane to think that David could just make it on 1 sandwich, but I am not going to lie, I didn't like it one bit.

I might make that trip out to Albertson's after all to buy the house brand. It still has 8 slices per box...last time I checked!

Danger!

I offer this warning as a community service message. Either sunscreen is a dangerous product, or Holly is trying to kill me, or both.

Sunday brought on a church family picnic and softball game where the youth challenge the adults. Schnoogs busted out her mitt and skills from her middle school years when she played in the Conejo League, loaded up on sunscreen and set off.

About 20 minutes later, I came flying around the corner in the entry way for some reason or another and fell flat on my backside...the floor was as slick as ice!

It would seem that Holly liberally sprayed her spf 30 in the hall/entry way, leaving a nice film of slippery sunscreen in her wake.

That stuff should carry a warning label!

All Hail to the Pizza Stone!

Pizza is a popular dinner item at the Newton household, but only if it is home made. Holly and her friends will occasionally order from one of the many local sources, but we get excited when the pizza is being made at home...we even portion it out to allow for leftovers the next day, and each of us stakes our claim to our leftover slice.

The entire pizza experience was enhanced on Saturday when I tried out the new pizza stone that I finally bought. This item has been on my list of "to do" for quite some time, but I had not stumbled upon the one that made me happy or seemed quite right. I finally found the right one for the right price out at an outlet mall (along with a french press coffee maker, which has also been on the list of things that I fancy), so the debut run was on Saturday night.

What took us so long? Good grief, that thing is great! The crust is a bit crisper, the whole thing seemed to cook better and more evenly...if you aren't using a stone to make your pizza (assuming you enjoy the steps required to do this), I highly encourage you to do so.

You will not be disappointed, except of course if you finish your leftover piece before the rest of the family does. Then, you just might find yourself eyeing that aluminum foil triangle package in the refrigerator, wondering if you could really play off "accidentally" eating a bonus slice.

Smog Check Gets Religion

The Lexus registration was due on March 18th.  David reminded me and I remembered to address it on March 28th, the last day of second late payment option.  Fantastic.  

As I was filling out my information on the DMV website, I realized that I also was due for a smog check, but couldn't get to it on Saturday (I had that big run, and then met a friend for lunch in Pasadena and THEN had to stop by to see one of our new licensed partners in training in a store...it was a busy day!), so I figured that I would do it right after church on Sunday.

In his very kind way, David told me that he didn't think the smog check place was open on Sunday.  I scoffed and told him that it would be, no problem.  Wrong.  As I stared at the roll-down doors of the place I've been going to for the last 16 years or so, I decided to outsmart the system by looking up every local smog check place on my Blackberry and then find one that was open.

Denied.  Every single one of the 6 places that I looked up in a 10 mile radius were closed on Sundays.  Who knew that the Smog Check process was so revered?  Naturally, David knew what he was talking about when he warned me (not to mention when he gave me a heads up that I needed to get it done a couple of weeks ago).

Thank goodness that I still have Holly to boss around.  She made a nice little trip on my behalf on Monday and we are good to go!

Basket Case

I am a big Trader Joe's shopper, tailoring many of my recipes to use TJ ingredients so that I can do all of my food shopping there and avoid the "regular" grocery store most of the time.

They strike me as a pretty cool company, and have a very loyal following. In fact, some very clever person made a video about Trader Joe's and posted it on YouTube. I only know this because my friend Joe posted it on his cool blog and I saw it there. It is lame to rip off stuff from someone else's blog, so check it out here and enjoy Joe's entry on Cool Things That Are Cool.

Back to my point. I was doing my usual Sunday afternoon shopping last week and got caught behind what I am going to guess was a 5-year old, organizing her mini-basket of groceries. Particularly interesting to me was the emphatic fashion that she was organizing her cart; she wanted everything to stack just so.

I can certainly identify with my smaller Trader Joe's counterpart; there are few things as annoying as having the yogurts flop around in the bottom of the basket with the bananas!

It's good to know that the breed of anal/obsessive/compulsive little kids carries on, for we grow up to make fine adults!

Pete the Parrot

Sometimes the silliest things give me the most laughter. Holly received a gift from her Grandma called "Pete the Parrot" for Christmas, primarily as a joke and a reminder of a good laugh that the two of them had doing Christmas shopping the day after Thanksgiving. As the story goes, they first saw the toy hanging in a Walgreen's. It takes a snippet of something that you say and repeats it back at you twice, much like the proverbial 'Polly want a cracker' parrot that mimics a phrase or two.

It seems that Holly and my Mom spent a good deal of time in front of this bird, talking and laughing as it repeated everything they were saying. Holly opted not to buy it because it really wasn't anything she needed, but my Mom (being a very observant and thoughtful shopper) went back to get it as a final Christmas gift.

Holly started laughing as soon as she opened the gift and began telling us the story of finding the toy when she was shopping. Wanting to share the excitement with all of us, she put the batteries in and turned it on - sure enough, it started to repeat phrases that she was saying, which made us laugh, which made Pete the Parrot laugh, which made the dogs bark (remember - we have the Christmas Daschunds there), which made PETE bark - pandemonium then ensued.

I will admit that we got a good laugh out of this gift and will probably never be able to look at Pete again without thinking of poor little Freckles (he is the larger and more anti-Pete the Parrot of the two doxys) going after him, determined to shred his feathers! Doggy want a parrot?

Wii might be hooked

I have dabbled in the various video game consoles that have come out over the years (even dating back to the dinosaur age of video games - Atari), but have never been one to get really hooked on a particular brand or craze, as I am really just not that good at the games and don't have the patience to spend the hours in front of the TV to figure it out - I would rather do something outdoors.

I spent a bit of time this weekend playing on a Wii by Nintendo and am almost embarrassed to admit that I am seriously considering a purchase in the Newton household soon. The concept itself is not that new to me and I have dabbled with it a few times, but this time...it was different. I played the Wii Fit and Rock Band for almost 3 hours, and time just flew by!

Wii Fit is in my opinion a brilliant move to shake the negative connotations that video games have for kids (and adults!) and their physical fitness. You register your fitness level using a personalized 'Mii', which records your age and weight, then calculates your Body Mass Index and Wii age. From there, you set up fitness goals for yourself and then choose from a multitude of different activities to start achieving them. It keeps track of where you are, when was the last time you worked out and it even reminds you to hydrate every now and again. Pretty cool stuff in my book!

And then there is Rock Band. There is not really any redeeming quality or health benefit that I can cite for this game, it is just fun. Singing tends to be the easiest of the options (we were playing with a guitar and drums), so I only got one crack at that. My drumming was abysmal and playing the guitar was borderline disaster, as it it backwards for me and switching it to left seemed to confuse things even more, as the prompts are all set up on the screen for a right-hander.

Undaunted, I kept strumming away (the truthful version here is simply I am far too competitive to fail out of something, so I just kept at the guitar until I could at least make it through a few songs without getting cut). Jonathan rocked the drums and Kristen wailed out the lyrics, so we have decided that perhaps we should practice a bit more and then prepare for a good old fashioned battle of the bands. Of course, to practice means that I am going to have to make an investment. Maybe the Newton family could benefit from a Wii Fit and if the Rock Band game just happens to fall into our laps, we would play it.

Sound convincing yet?

I Love Lucy

Just a quickie this morning - there is a big Conejo Crusher softball game tonight, so naturally another post will follow! We sat around for about 30 minutes this morning after returning from the big beach outing with the dogs and watched an episode of I Love Lucy. The episode that we watched was from 1955 - Lucy Gets in Pictures - and it totally cracked me up!

She was absolutely brilliant at the whole physical comedy thing. Kind of goofy, very silly and a slight bit ridiculous, but it makes me laugh out loud almost every time. Have you watched an episode lately? Check it out at TV Land if you need a refresher - there are tons of 2-minute clips that will also make you laugh out loud...at least they did for me! Holly and I got a good chuckle off of the "Where's the Beef" clip!

For our next bit of entertainment, Holly will perform the "VitaVeetaVegamin" routine word for word, a skill that she mastered at 9 years old - we really focus on the important life lessons in the Newton household!

A Public Transportation Snob No More...

I mentioned in a previous post that I have discovered the solution to dealing with traffic into LA - for anyone who has ever had to the trek from the west end of the Valley into Los Angeles proper - I know that you feel the pain! Due to some interviewing that I recently did in Universal City, I have happened upon one of the best-kept secrets in Los Angeles County...the Metro!

For $5 round trip and about an hour total time invested, I can take the Orange Line from Victory/Canoga to North Hollywood. I then switch to the Red Line (it runs underground) and in no time I am in the throes of the city without having to make the commitment to drive and park! It is brilliant and clearly makes me happy!

I have always been a fan of the public transportation dating all the way back to my pre-driving days in San Diego when I went to a High School out of district. Admittedly, I didn't enjoy the 3 different buses that I had to take or the transfer time - it was not the most convenient trip ever but it did get me from point A to B effectively (albeit slowly) enough. Once I started traveling for work, I learned my way through Chicago's CTA and their color-coded trains. It was a pretty easy and very efficient way to get back and forth from the airport to the city, especially when I was traveling on a budget! I spent the last 5 years on BART in the Bay Area and with exception of the inefficient step of AirBART between the Oakland Airport and Colisseum BART station, often praised it as the best way to get around versus fighting the traffic.

I provide all of that context to validate the fact that I am willing to do public transportation, but must admit that when it came to LA, I have been a bit of a snob. My assumption was always that the buses were slow, dirty and somewhat unreliable. I am here to tell you that in my experiences thus far, that is not the case. In fact, I will go so far as to say that it is probably one of the best transportation deals that you can get. Based on gas alone, I would spend something like $14 each day doing a commute to LA, but can ignore all of the hassle of traffic for almost one-third of the price.

I am a convert and a public transportation snob no more. Try it out for yourself and tell me what you think, plus you can call yourself a 'green' traveler as an added bonus!

Tech on the Go

My friend Elizabeth indicated that she expected 3 or 4 blogs a day from me now that I have discovered the mobile blogging features through my advanced basic computer and technology skills.

This one isn't as interesting as it is pertinent to the topic...I am furiously working to clean up, transfer and organize my files between the laptop and desktop computers so that I don't have any personal items on the laptop and all work items are removed from the desktop...this is like a break-up! I am grateful that this one is amicable, that is for certain.

At any rate, enjoy this little 'in the moment' update and be glad for the fact that I don't plan on blogging about every little detail, but this certainly does bring a new level of 'current' to the process!

Now it is time to burn the photos to CD...sigh.

Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone with SprintSpeed

Technology is a great thing!

I have been using the same cell phone for at least 4 years and when I bought it, it was an old model. I have always taken pride in having such a technological dinosaur...until today! Knowing that there are only 4 days left before I turn in my laptop and my Blackberry, I started to feel the pangs of separation anxiety for my beloved little Blackberry. How will I keep up with dates, occasions, notes and events? How will I be able to access a phone number or address on any whim? How will I stay in touch with my legions of friends via e-mail?? (or at least the 2-3 that regularly send me a message)

The answer is of course - technology. I did a little homework and price comparison before trotting down to the Sprint store this afternoon. They featured the Blackberry Curve (the Pearl, although sleek and slimmer in design requires you to do some deciphering on the keyboard as each key is two characters, so it is not my first choice) for $250 in-store less a $100 rebate for a net price of $150. But wait...I could do the same phone on Amazon.com for $215 up front, $115 after rebate. A-ha! The price was matched and I am now the proud owner of a fancy-pants phone, no more phone brick AND I can get all of those important e-mails right away!!

But wait...there's more. I think that I have figured out how to actually blog from the phone and post it from anywhere that I can get reception. Seriously? Combine that with the camera in the phone and I am going to be a menace...AND a blogging machine! There is one thing that you can bet on...this Gen Xer loves her the technology, it is indeed a great thing!!!

Vegetarian Beef - doesn't that seem odd?

I was cruising the aisles of my favorite grocery store (Trader Joe's, we may have to have a few blogs about their most outstanding items at some point in the future) and came upon a claim that just struck me as comical while at the same time a little odd. It's peak BBQ season, so the sample area was filled with all sorts of delectable items suitable to BBQ or bring to compliment one. In the cooler right next to the sample counter, there was a sign proclaiming the steaks as being the best because of the 'vegetarian fed' cattle.

It is a well known fact to those who know me that I don't eat meat. I have never eaten beef, pork, lamb, veal or any other animals that fall into the general MEAT category, although I did eat poultry for some time...at least until I came across an article about poultry houses and decided that I was done trying to convince myself that chicken wasn't so bad. I still eat fish, but do steer clear of any articles or conversations that might go into detail on how the fish are prepared for the marketplace.

At any rate, this is not about me judging the masses who eat (and rightly enjoy) meat or trying to convince any of you to not do it. It is really just about the humor that I found in the emphasis on cattle bred to be vegetarians (their natural inclination anyway). I know that some cattle farms put steroids and growth hormones to make the cows grow bigger faster, so knowing that you are eating meat that doesn't have any of that junk in it is important.

It was really just the fact that the claim struck me as the ultimate oxymoron and entertained me greatly for the remainder of my shopping trip!

Ice Cream - the old fashioned way (only better!)

It's time for me to put on my consumer advisor hat and wax on poetically about another one of my favorite gadgets...the ice cream maker! Previous blogs have made it clear that I am a fan of ice cream in just about any form or fashion and often find myself enjoying a scoop or two for any occasion that I can drum up. A friend of mine gave me my very own Cuisinart ice cream maker as a birthday gift earlier this year, and it is one of those gifts that I appreciate more and more each time I use it.

It should be noted that when David and I got married, someone gave us an ice cream maker. We never actually used it, but rather moved it 4 different times until finally David just gave it away during a purging of the storeroom one day, probably 10 years ago. We never used the thing (although I spoke regularly of cracking it out!) because it took something like 4 hours to churn and you needed some rock salt or something to make it work. I always relished the idea of making ice cream the old fashioned way, but never really had the energy or time to commit to it.

Imagine David's reaction when I brought home the new ice cream maker. There was much rolling of the eyes and a sarcastic comment or two of how much he is looking forward to ALL of the home made ice cream that is sure to be coming his way. Skeptic. Not to be outdone, I opened the box, read all of the instructions and put both of the chambers in the freezer to set up overnight. We went to sleep that night with David still not believing that home made ice cream was in his near future.

20+ years of technology has worked wonders for the old fashioned ice cream business. A whopping 5 minute investment to mix and pour in the ingredients and 20 minutes churning (all automatic, I just plugged it in) and voila!! We had some outstanding vanilla ice cream. I served it up with some butter wafer cookies, fresh blackberries and a little bit of whipped cream (that was a Holly addition, and I think an excellent finishing touch) Even the big cynic was impressed with the outcome AND it was so good that we made it again the next night!

Now that we are regular home made ice cream eaters David can finally agree that we are indeed making ice cream the old fashioned way - only better!

The Sweet Spice of Life

As mentioned in my last post, I spent a couple of days in Denver last week and had a blast. One of the activities that Allison and I enjoyed together was a visit to a little store called Savory Spice Shop. I will not deny that when Allison first suggested it, my thought was...Really? Spices? Nothing else?

But, I am a player and it was sort of on the way to the airport, so we decided to give it a go.

Let me tell you that if I had more time and was willing to spend even more money than I already did, I would have stayed overnight at the place! Allison made us a new best friend in Rose (pictured with us here) as they compared Italian recipes and cooking methods while Rose introduced us to every kind of sweet and savory spice known to mankind.

After tasting at least 10 different spice blends, salts, rubs, cinnamon, vanilla and ginger, I had to cut myself off due to flavor overload! I opted to ship everything rather than risk having something taken away by the compliance cops of TSA, so I am anticipating quite the bevy of seasonings to cook with this weekend when I return home.

Looks like it is BBQ time with the new fancy grill!

Order now!

I admit to watching my fair share of television, including the occasional infomercial. Sometimes the way that the different 'hosts' pitch their amazing new product entertains me. I don't usually order the items featured because I don't believe that they work nearly as well as promised.

I have seen the Magic Bullet featured a couple of different times and have even watched as the hosts effortlessly blend up smoothies, cocktails, dips and even Alfredo sauce. It looks easy and fast but I know that it isn't really that easy and there is no way that the set is worth $99, even if you DO get a 2nd set at no additional charge!

My friend Eric and I were recently over visiting another friend of ours - Mo - who whipped up a cherry smoothie for Eric using the Magic Bullet. I had not yet arrived, so I did not participate in the preparation or tasting festivities, but I heard plenty about them when I arrived. Eric mentioned it to his parents, who gave him his very own Magic Bullet for his birthday as a joke.

Turns out, the joke is (quoting Eric here), "one of the best kitchen appliances I have ever received." Not to be left out of the 'what's what in kitchen gadgetry', I trotted on over to Costco where I picked up my very own 21-piece set for $49.99. Eric is right. That thing IS pretty darn cool. I read a testimonial on the Magic Bullet website where someone declared that 'it has changed my life'. I am not sure that I am ready to make that claim, but I have certainly enjoyed the smoothies, iced caramel latte, lemonade slushy, salsa and chopped cilantro that I have whipped up thus far.

Here's to the Magic Bullet and all that it promises in our culinary lives. Order one now...I am sure that somewhere, operators are standing by (or there is always your friendly Costco for a better price and the instant gratification of taking it home with you!)

Good eats

Father's Day WAS a month or so ago, but we just got around to picking up David's gift this weekend...a new BBQ. The last time we purchased a BBQ it was a charcoal model back in 1991 for David's 30th birthday. We got our money's worth out of that one; it finally was sent to the BBQ bone yard this past Memorial Day.

A lot has changed in BBQ technology since I bought the last one (and put it together in the backyard with my friend Katsy while Holly - who was not even 2 yet - napped). It took David and I nearly 2 hours of hemming, hawing and chatting it up with Greg the patio furniture/BBQ guy at our local Home Depot. I will say that Greg was chalk full of information, advice and opinions...most of which were very helpful to us and all of which were entertaining to some degree or another. Let's just say that he probably isn't going to win the employee most enamored with their employer award!

Our careful calculations paid off and we brought home a propane BBQ that has infrared technology. I would like to believe that this is very cool in the world of grillers and we will be glad that we got this model. I must admit that some of the allure in this case is the easy clean-up and distinctive red cover. Call me superficial, but a grill needs to be functional AND look good too!

We opted to assemble it at home ourselves (and when I say WE, I naturally mean David) to save a trip back out next week and to get things up and running for the weekend. We did not have too many difficulties (note that I have once again used the word 'we' in a very loose context) and after about an hour or so of fidgeting, it was ready to fire up! Hook up the propane tank and we are all set.

Ah, yes, that little matter of the propane. While we were at Home Depot I asked David if we needed a tank, to which he confidently replied, "I have 3 tanks at home." Excellent. One little detail however, they are all probably about 10 years old and the valve/connector thingie doesn't fit. Good luck trying to find a propane tank at 7:30 pm on the Sunday of the 4th of July weekend. It isn't going to happen. We opted for a nice tamale casserole instead and can only hope that we get the tank hooked up by tomorrow night.

The first meal? Steaks, of course. Beef tenderloins from Omaha Steaks for the carnivores. I will do just fine with my Morning Star Farm veggie dogs, all sauced up and sequestered to their own little spot on the grill...far, far away from the beef juices. It will be a fine and tasty meal topped off with corn, baked sweet potatoes, garlic bread and homemade ice cream. Seriously, this is how we should eat every day!

Now if only we had that propane connected...