Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving.   Thanks for the comments on the video I posted yesterday.  My daughter and I had fun with it.  If you haven’t had a chance to complete my reader survey, please click the link at the top of the page.  I’m hoping this information will prove useful to me…I’ll tell you about it soon.  May you have a wild and crazy Black Friday -  spend carefully, smile often, and drink lots of caffeine.

Although I’ve refused to cook a Turkey this year, my family is far from starving.  Considering the fact that both FringeMan and I are currently involved in weight-loss challenges, I must be doing something right.  The problem is that sometimes, I just want to eat something different. The internet is always good when you need a quick recipe, but there’s nothing like thumbing through a cookbook complete with mouth-watering pictures.

As fulfilling as creating a good meal can be, at times it’s much more satisfying to have someone else cook a good meal for you.  My solution is give cookbooks as gifts.  Odds are pretty good one of the recipients will make a recipe and feed it to you.  At least those are my hopes.

So here are a few suggestions for your holiday shopping list.

200 Best Panini Recipes – $14.95

*  I borrowed this cookbook from the library and drooled all over every page.  Includes many great ideas for leftovers.

The Bread Bible – $23.10

*  If you like to bake bread, you’ll love this book.  You’ll love it even more if you like eating hard, crusty loaves of rustic carbs.

The King Arthur Flour Baker’s Companion:  The All Purpose Baking Cookbook. – $23.10

*  If you enjoy baking, I think this is a foundational book.

The Pioneer Woman Cooks:  Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl – $13.50

*  I hardly need to mention this book.  Ree is traveling all over signing these books for millions of adoring fans.  On the other hand, how can I not mention it?  Her recipes are amazing!  Just be sure to take your cholesterol medicine, because Ree likes cream and butter.  If you gift your mother with this cookbook and she begins making these meals for your father every night, realize she may have an ulterior motive.  In the past women used cyanide, now they use butter and cream.  It’s much subtler.

The Biggest Loser Cookbook – $14.93

(Sorry, no picture)

*  This is for those of you on a diet.  Now if you give this cookbook as a present, make sure you won’t be insulting the recipient.  Could get you in trouble.

Healthy Kids:  Help Them Eat Smart and Stay Active–For Life – $13.56

(Wish I could get a quick picture of this book, but you’ll have to follow the link.)

*  I have this book.  I’m not a total health nut, but this book is loaded with good principles for raising a healthy family.  It also gives you lots of recipes full of good ingredients that your children will love.  If what you want is a healthier lifestyle for both you and your children, this book is for you.  It’s also a great gift for new moms or that ‘organic’ friend of yours.

I’d take any of these books for Christmas!  Mom are you listening?

Hello?

I know you read…

I’m done.  If you have a great cookbook to add to the list, feel free to leave the title in the comments section.  Happy shopping and cooking!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

It is my prayer that you all have a wonderful day with family and friends.  Enjoy every bite of your turkey!  I’m eating everything, but turkey.  I don’t know what I have against turkey this year.  Honestly Tom has never done anything sinister to me.  I’m just foul for fowl.

I have been abundantly blessed this year and I’m thankful for so much.   I would make a list, but you don’t have time for that and I don’t have time for that.  My kiddos are waiting for me to watch Christmas movies.

Because it’s a special day and I’ve started my Christmas shopping, I have a video for you.  FringeKid has been a great help this year with my Christmas shopping.  She’s working overtime.

See how!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3q2jJ6TQIsk

Make sure you save room for pie.  It’s the best part!

Don’t forget to take my reader survey...thanks!

I recently purchased a few new cosmetics that have made me very happy.  I don’t often buy make-up.  I use mine until it’s gone.  Shelf-life guidelines are ignored as I paint my face with the same boring colors day after day until I’m out of everything.  This month I ran out of foundation, moisturizer, lipstick and gloss…insert feminine crisis.  Only thing worse would be running out of mascara.

Or letting my daughter do my hair and makeup…

The Momma Lisa

Truth be told, cosmetics intimidate me.  I hate to buy something and then hate it.  I killed my money tree long ago, so I want to LOVE my purchases.

First, I tried Eucerin’s facial moisturizer with sunscreen.  Since I already managed to acquire a ‘sun spot’ on my face, I figure sunscreen is always good.  It doesn’t matter that the sun hibernates in northern states.  It was an eight dollar risk that I’m glad I took.  I like the moisturizer.  It gets fully absorbed and it’s good for my dry skin.

Second, I came to the conclusion that I just hate foundation.  Some brands give me pimples, others give me eczema, and the rest just feel like a mask.  Maybe I just haven’t found ‘the right one’, but I officially dumped foundation.  I’m only using tinted moisturizer now.  I like the extra moisture and sheer, light coverage.  Yes, you can see a few zits, but since I’m not fifteen, I don’t get a thousand pimples at once.  I think the strangers in the grocery store can deal with seeing a zit on my chin.  If not, there’s always therapy – FOR THEM.

I went to Target and stressed myself over finding a tinted moisturizer.  I ended up choosing Sonia Kashuk’s tinted moisturizer.  I am in love.  I definitely think it was worth the $12.

Next, I moved on to lipstick.  When I was in highschool/college, I wanted my lipstick to last for no less than 48 hours.  It didn’t matter if it was an oil-based permanent paint with a safety warning, as long as it didn’t come off on my cup.  I also gravitated towards the brightest lipsticks I could find.  At night, you could see my lips approaching before my body.  Lighthouses considered hiring me as a full-time beacon in the night.

Now I enjoy a more subtle, natural shade of moisturizing lipstick.  I think something happens to your brain after thirty and you just get smarter.  No offense to all those twenty-something’s out there, but the things I did to my hair and face should be punishable crimes.

My lipstick choice – Revlon’s Caramel Glace.  I even bought a matching lip-gloss since they were buy 1, get 1 1/2 price.  Who can pass up a good deal?

What I’m not happy with is my mascara.  Any suggestions?

Here’s the big question…

ARE YOU GOING SHOPPING ON BLACK FRIDAY?

I really want to be at Target at 5am.  I’m still not sure if that’s going to happen, but it’s my heart’s desire right now.

PS  I added a ’survey’ page to my header.  I’m curious to see what my audience looks like.  Check it out and take the quiz.  Thanks!   Click HERE to go to survey page.

Today I received my yearly overview letter of Social Security Benefits.  They let me know what I’d be receiving if I decided to retire at age 62; however, they also included what I like to call the “just in-case” clause.  Like, just in-case we run out of money, a scenario that is not only possible, but also probable.  The big date they gave for the storehouse of wealth to run dry is 2037.

It’s a waste of stamps to send me these letters every year.  They may as well save their stamp money, pay some poor old person with it, and send my kids one notice in about 30 years saying their parents need money.  Problems solved.

Anyway, I decided that I may as well take my retirement early before the well runs dry and my skin gets so baggy that I have to fold it into my swimsuit.  So see you all in Tahiti.  The second hut is mine!

Oh, wait.

I just checked on airfare and I think I’ll only make it to Florida.

That’ll do!

**New reader survey page…check it out.  Just look below the header picture.   THANKS!  You’re the best.**

I’m often told by complete strangers that I remind them of someone – a niece, sister, cousin, neighbor, highschool classmate, etc.  I’ve resigned myself to the fact that I have a common looking face.  Depending on your view, I’ve either been blessed or cursed with ordinary features.  I look like thousands of women who’ve preceded my birth and I’m sure many more similar looking girl babies will be born to generic looking parents.

I’m ok with the fact that I don’t ‘wow’ a crowd with my beauty or leave a lasting Victoria Secret’s model type impression; however, today my contentment with looking like the girl next door came to an immediate and tearful end.

Someone told me that I look like a character from ‘The Office’.  I realize that I’m probably one of about only three American’s who haven’t watched ‘The Office’, so I did what any reasonably curious woman would do.  I came home and Googled the cast’s photos.

Now when this man told me who I looked like, his wife said, “No, her (the character’s) hair is much shorter.”

My hopes of looking like a beautiful actress plummeted as I clicked through the pictures and character descriptions.   I am left wondering how I’ve morphed from a youthful and not completely repulsive young wife and mother into a middle-aged “Phyllis”.

Look for yourself.

http://www.nbc.com/The_Office/bios/phyllis_smith.shtml

Why can’t I get away from the Phyllis’s lately?  First my tree and now me!

If I haven’t posted by noon on Tuesday, I’ve drowned in my own tears.

A sniffling,

To vaccinate or not to vaccinate, that is the question.

Mother’s are passionate about their little tykes and it’s usually their passion that drives them to their decisions on vaccinations.  Today parents are well-informed on their health care options.  Information is almost too readily available.  The great debates can set your mind to spinning and your emotions to flip-flopping.  That’s before we even consider the pleas of the grandma’s.

We all want what’s best for our children and for ourselves; however, ‘best’ is very individual.  Despite some bad reactions in myself as a baby, I chose to vaccinate both of my children to everything from measles to chicken pox to the swine flu.  For me, the benefits definitely outweighed the risks.

I have several friends who have chosen the exact opposite for their children.  They do not believe in vaccinations because risk is high, vaccinations are filled with toxic ingredients, and they do not want to subject their children to anything that is unnecessary.

We are both making informed decisions that we believe are best for our kids.

Recently, the H1N1 (Swine) flu shot has become available.  Parents are once again faced with a big decision.  Should they vaccinate their children?

The county health department held a flu shot clinic in a local church this past week and I not only chose to vaccinate my children to the swine flu, but my husband and I also rolled up our sleeves and took a shot.  Personally I have never before had a flu shot,

but this year I decided to stand in line for my quick needle and lollipop.  I’ve never before vaccinated my daughter against the flu and I’ve only gotten my son a flu shot once.  This year I chose to take the plunge because my son and I are in a high risk category due to asthma.  Vaccinating my husband and daughter reduces the risk of them bringing the illness into our home.

I don’t think everybody needs the flu shot and I’m not sure I’ll get one next year, but this year I decided that the benefits for my family were substantial.

Unfortunately, I was already sick when I got my shot, a secret I concealed from the little old ladies with the needles. I spent yesterday in bed with a fever, terrible congestion, and body aches; however, I’m not completely blaming the shot.  After all, I was already sick.  Thankfully I’m perking up today!  I’m ready to roll in the mud and I have an uncanny craving for corn on the cob.

What about you?  Are you planning on getting the swine flu shot and will you give it to your children?

For more great family discussions, you may want to read the following:

Co-Sleeping with Baby or Beyond

Parenting Advice

Feeding Baby

All it took was fifteen minutes of Santa Claus coming to town one silent night and my children were begging me to put up the Christmas tree.  I took out the same ugly tree as we used last year only to find that it’s still skinnier than my behind.  Disappointed that my plastic tree hadn’t grown over the past year, I opened it like an umbrella, except in reverse, and sat it in a bucket on a bench in front of the window.  I considered standing it on telephone books to add height, but I could think of no way to add width, so I decided to deal with the fact that my holiday decor won’t be featured in Country Living, Southern Living, or Hobo Living.

My daughter gushed over the memories each ornament triggered and my son strung lights and beads so quickly that my mind was left spinning .  I fear I will have little say in Christmas decorating until my children leave for college…assuming my trickery works and they actually leave at eighteen.

It took approximately eight minutes to have a completely decorated micro-tree and only a handful of bulbs were broken in the process.  No one was bleeding and I considered this holiday season to be victorious thus far.

When I finally stood back and looked at the finished product, I could do nothing but laugh.  I’m not certain anyone other than the legally blind can gaze at my tree and not burst into riotous laughter.  To think that it stands on display for the neighborhood and every passerbyer (I made up that word) to see makes me shutter in a mixture of shame and amusement.

It looks remarkably like….

this, less the martini.

Two Thousand Nine will be known as the year we celebrated in the light of our Phyllis Diller Tree.

See for yourself.

See the resemblance?

I know you thought I was kidding.

Have you started your decorating yet?

This year I am skipping Thanksgiving.  If anything, I will eat a turkey sandwich and canned corn to commemorate our Pilgrim history.  It’s not that I’m ungrateful, because this year I am thankful for so much; however, I do not feel like cooking a feast in a just over a week and I’m repulsed by poultry.  Shocking news since I’ve eaten so much chicken it’s caused feather growth.  My current disdain for my feathered friends is causing me sleepless nights.

Could it be a funk?

A change in tastebuds?

Pregnancy?

I gotcha on the last one.   I think it’s a funk and for this reason, I’m skipping right to Christmas.  In honor of that decision, I give you my tree story.  I was a guest blogger last Christmas and this post never made it my site.  I thought I’d relive last year’s tree with you….

After several years of living on a shoestring budget, I decided that I was going to create a fabulous Christmassy mood in my home this year.  I mean, even the mice are getting tired of the popcorn strung on my tree and our stockings have wear holes because we use them for extra socks throughout the year.

This Christmas would be different.  This year I’d buy real presents and not just re-gift my mother’s work cast-offs, I’d buy a new tree, and even splurge on pretty wrapping paper.  I was so excited.  FringeMan would surely be impressed and my children would dream of sugar-plums dancing in their heads.

FringeMan has vehemently hated our tree for several years.  He’s deemed it worse, much worse, than Charlie Brown’s pathetic twig.  He calls it a dollar store knock-off of a folk art nightmare.  Ok, so you can see bark (the cheesy paper mache kind) through the sparse branches, but I never hated it.  I simply don’t like the fact that the tree is skinnier than I am.  When I stand in front of a tree for a Christmas picture, I definitely want the tree to be wider than my behind.

I went to purchase a new Christmas tree last week.  I shopped around online for artificial trees and discovered that they are much more expensive than I’d anticipated.  You know how it is – inflated prices, the economy, moths in my wallet.  Because I didn’t want to spend sixty or eighty dollars on a 4.5 foot tree, I went to The Christmas Tree Shop.  If you’ve ever been to one of these stores, you know it is only one step above the dollar store.  Their motto is “Don’t you just love a bargain?”  Oh, I do, I really, really do.

My daughter came shopping with me.  After fighting our way through the crowds of shopping carts, women cranked on Starbucks, and grumpy old men, I found the perfect tree.  It was only $19.99.  My only problem came when I realized that I couldn’t see it or touch it…definitely a gamble.  I held the box up and wondered out-loud, “Do you think this is ugly?”

A middle aged woman stopped, looked at the picture on the box, and in all seriousness asked, “Honey, are you going for the ugly look?”

Pages from December’s Country Living Magazine flipped through my mind as I shook off the fog of my fabulous Christmas mood.  “Well, no” I said, “but I always seem to hit that mark.”

She looked at me with pity in her eyes, shrugged, and went about her bargain hunting.  What was I to do now?

“Buy the pink tree, mommy.”  My daughter’s full of good ideas.

I put the tree back on the shelf and retrieved it at least four times, finally buying it.  The entire drive home I regretted every penny of the $19.99.  After opening the box and actually seeing the tree, I went into a week-long depression.  This would be the most hideous Christmas ever.  I even considered using the folk art nightmare.  This tree had plastic branches.  It wasn’t even pretending to be real!

I took two Zolofts and decided to dress my plastic branches as if they were genuine Blue Spruce.  I’m happy to report that I love my highly processed, definitely un-organic tree.  I’m in the Christmas mood, Santa is on his merry way, and my children are dreaming sweet dreams.  Life is good no matter the trimmings.

Merry Christmas / Happy Thanksgiving

FringeGirl

P.S.  My tree is still skinnier than me.  I’m considering joining weight watchers, but since I’m not sure how many pounds I’ll need to lose, my tree will have to attend weigh-ins so we can both be measured.

This is a repost from October of 2008, but I just made this recipe last week and it really was good.  I thought I’d share it again, since you probably haven’t seen it anyway.  I apologize for the lack of pictures.

Either I’m a good cook or a bad cook, but never anything in between.  Tracking my cooking cycles is almost as difficult as tracking my hormonal cycles, maybe worse.  Unfortunately for our guests, I never know in advance whether I’ll be a good cook on any given day.

Eating at my house is much like playing Russian roulette with slightly less risk.  No one has died from my cooking, yet.  Another factor aiding in bad cooking is my lack of organization and planning.  Being a positive person, I view myself as spontaneous.  Spontaneity doesn’t work in a kitchen unless your kitchen happens to be right smack in the center of a grocery store.

I often find myself scrounging through my kitchen cabinets around 4 in the afternoon wondering what in the world I’m going to create for dinner.  By now my kids have been feigning starvation and grumbling so loudly I think the Lord may send manna from heaven and rescue me from this endless kitchen battle.

What does a person make with 3 cans of varied beans, pasta with no sauce, and salad dressing?  I always have salad dressing and not a person in my family uses it.  Other people tend to bless me with rather large bottles of Italian, Caesar, and if we’re all lucky, Ranch.

At times, I peruse cook books, gather delicious looking recipes (only ones with pictures) and make indulgent grocery lists; however, 3 aisles into shopping realty strikes and I realize my budget is blown and I only have food for one meal.  It’s then I abandon any ideas of feeding my family fancy meals and reapply my lip-gloss just in-case the Take Home Chef happens to be in my store.

If I ever happen to be in the same supermarket as the Take Home Chef, there’s no way he’s going home with anyone else.  My daughter thinks “he’s cute and may marry him when she grows up.”  As his potential future mother-in-law, he’d have to pick me!

Anyway, the whole point is that I’ve created a great recipe and yes, of course, I want to share it.  Don’t be scared, I already told you I’ve been having a few good cooking days.  Ok, here goes, get a paper and pen!

TROPICAL JERK CHICKEN

1 can papayas (don’t ask me what size cans, I have no idea)

1 can Libby’s tropical papaya mix

3 large chicken breasts (you can cut in half to make 6 or use 6 individually frozen cutlets)

Jamaican Jerk Rub (I used a bottle from The Pampered Chef)

In an oven safe fry pan (I used a square griddle that’s oven safe), place chicken breasts, sprinkle with Jamaican Jerk rub, and sear.  After you have nice brown marks on either side of chicken, dump both cans of fruit (with liquid) over chicken and bake in oven at 375 degrees for about an hour or until your chicken is cooked.  Leave uncovered.  It was great!

I promise I made this up.  It was an epiphany between defrosting cutlets and emptying the dishwasher.

Part of 2nd Cup of Coffee’s Fall Into Flavor – Go visit for more recipes!  Click HERE.

-FringeGirl

Now for my week in review…

Relax, I’ll just give you the highlights.

*  Butter was on sale in Wal-Mart for $1.50 a pound.  My heart is palpitating with joy.  Don’t tell the diet police.

*  I survived yet another set of parent/teacher conferences without getting sent to the principal’s office.

*  Our woodstove installation is complete (a story to be sure) and now I’m acting like my pilgrim ancestors and stoking the flames.

*  I really did lose one inch from my hips, despite the butter.

I hope your week was exciting.  Share your highlights in the comments section.  Be sure to tell me if you found chocolate for $1.50 a pound!

Happy Weekend,