Project Fill-in-the-Gaps (Or Not)

I stumbled across a brilliant idea while shamelessly blog surfing today: Project Fill-in-the-Gaps.  I found it on the blog “Editorial Ass,” and there it’s attributed to the author of The Spanish Bow, Andromeda Romano-Lax.  The project addresses all of those many books that I’ve always had on my list to read (or maybe even on my bookshelf).  Here’s Romano-Lax’s original plan, as described on Editorial Ass:

She collected a list of 100 books that she wants to have read in her life to fill in some of her reading gaps of classics and great contemporary fiction. She knew it was a monumental task ahead of her–we all tend to choose fun things instead of things we should read, right? At least I do–so she gave herself 5 years to try to get through the list, and gave herself 25% accident forgiveness, meaning if she finishes 75 titles in 5 years, she’ll consider herself to have been victorious.

It’s overwhelming to even begin, though.  What makes the cut?  What doesn’t?  Should I include mostly classics?  Award winners?  I started to make my list and when I got to about five, I stopped.  It was disheartening – like I was taking away free choice for the next five years.

It’s been difficult to keep track of the many books that I’m interested in reading.  I’ve used goodreads.com, I’ve dedicated a reader’s journal to the project, and I have the “on the bookshelf” posts every once in a while, but nothing’s really worked.  I think it would be handier to have an ongoing list.  (Plus, I could make little checkmarks to the books I’ve read, which is always a treat for me.)  Maybe, as I put a book “on the bookshelf” on my blog, I’ll keep track of it on a separate page as well.  Hopefully this idea will stick!

The Happiness Project

After months on the library waiting list, guess what I picked up today?  The Happiness Project!  I am beyond excited.  I’ve been a fan of Gretchen Rubin’s blog for a while.  It’s inspiring, and I have used tips that she’s shared; however, I haven’t actually put her ideas and advice into an action plan.  After reading only one chapter of her book, I think I’m ready!  My own blog is actually the perfect outlet for documenting my own happiness project, and I’m already on my way with the goals that I developed when I started blogging, so I already have a head start.

The premise her happiness project is this: the author picks eleven general resolutions, and focuses on one per month.  In January, for example, Rubin works at increasing her energy level.  She then breaks down that goal into manageable, concrete tasks (in this example, they are: go to sleep earlier, exercise better, “toss, restore, organize,” tackle a nagging task, and act more energetic).  Each day, she checks off each task that she accomplishes.

I’m planning to take the next several days to get my resolutions planned, and will begin my own happiness project in April.  I’m excited to begin!

Spring Break Mentality

I’m am extremely, extremely lucky to get a spring break.  I truly don’t know how people who don’t get regular vacation time function.  I teach kindergarten and while I love my job, I do need to recharge my batteries every so often, and I appreciate the breaks and vacation days that spring up every so often (not to mention the long summer holiday!).

a vacation from your problems *

I’ll have off Thursday, Friday, Monday, and Tuesday surrounding Easter weekend.  I’ve decided, though, to start  my spring break early – yesterday, in fact.  I’m not taking any personal or sick days, but rather just mentally starting my vacation early.  I have to work just 25 hours this week, and but otherwise I’m free!  I’m going to come to work right on time and leave shortly after the kids do.  I’ll do “vacation-y” types of activities (going out to eat, shopping, spring cleaning, taking walks) before and after work tomorrow, Tuesday, and Wednesday.  This turns my six day vacation into an eleven day vacation.  I’m already loving it!

*If you don’t understand the reference from the photo, I suggest renting What About Bob immediately.

On the Bookshelf

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My Newest Love: America’s Test Kitchen

Now that I’ve found America’s Test Kitchen, I feel like I can never look at another cookbook again. The recipes I use from their cookbooks consistently turn out at a quality I’d expect to get at a restaurant (which is NOT typical of my cooking).

Like any love, though, it comes with difficulties.  I know, without a doubt, that if I follow an ATK recipe to the word, I’ll have a delicious supper/dessert/snack.  (And now my whiny voice comes out…)  But the recipes take so LONG!  By the time I get home from work, walk or work out, and relax for five minutes, it’s after five.  Then I make dinner, which can take up to two hours between the prepping, mixing, baking, cooling, dishing out… and by the time we finish eating, it’s 8:00 and a pile of dishes are waiting.  It’s exhausting!  It makes me question whether it’s worth it.  Part of it is because I’m a beginner in the kitchen, so I know the more experience I get, the easier it’ll all be.

For now, we’ve decided to save the labor-intensive dinners for the weekends and during the week, eating leftovers and simpler recipes.

How do you juggle quality versus ease?

When the cat’s away…

My husband is out of town for two nights.  He left this morning, and I miss him already.  While he’s gone, though, I’d like to make the most of my alone time!  Here’s my list.

• Write at least three blog posts. I’m not always on top of this when H is home.  That’s good, because it follows my “act instead of plan” goal.  I do really enjoy working on this blog, though, so I’m really excited to have some alone time to do it.  (check!)
• Weed the garden. I’m not sure how it is possible that there are weeds when the grass is barely green… but unfortunately that’s the case.  (check!)
• Spray down old wasps nests. Does anyone know if it’s safe to just spray down old wasps nest with a hose?  They’ve been frozen all winter.  This is a job that neither H and I want to do, so I figured I’d surprise him.  (check!)
• Make a pennant banner. I’ve been wanting to make one for a few months, and I figure now’s as good a time as any.  I found a no-sew tutorial that looks easy enough, or a relatively easy tutorial that uses the sewing machine.  (not happening…)
• Take a walk. It’s too nice outside not to.  (double check!)
• Make the grocery plan for the week. (check!)
• Plan grocery trip. Let’s see if I can actually plan a successful trip using double coupon day, and armload of coupons, and a grocery store flyer.  (check!)
• Clean. While I’m not really looking forward to it, good spring cleaning is needed.  This is one of the last items on my list, though, so we’ll see if it actually gets done!  (half check! it’s not a spring cleaning, but it’s a good tidying up)
• Watch a lot of murder mystery television shows. H isn’t really a fan, but I always love a one hour open and shut case.  I already know this is a bad idea, because I always get scared when I watch CSI or any of those criminal shows… but I know I’ll do it anyway!  (check!  but I wish I didn’t, especially when I’m alone in the house.)
• Eat cereal for dinner. Another thing that I love but don’t do much when H is home.  (check!)

**Update… And, because I’m crazy and love to add things to my list just for the sake of checking them off, here are some other things to add to my list…

• Go grocery shopping. And save a bundle of money to boot.  (check!  but too bad I realized 3 hours later that I left the milk on the fridge.  Still drinkable?)
• Update groceryhop.com. This is my new way to track groceries.  I’ll post on it when I figure out how much I like it! (check!)
• Close an old bank account. (check!)
• Pick up shoes for Anne’s wedding. (check!)
• Put snow clothes in storage. (check!)
• Take out the garbage. (check!)

Nutritious Lunch and Snack Ideas

H and I bring brown bag lunches to work every day.  Well, thermal bag lunches, if we’re being technical.  I’m in a rut, though.   An average lunch would include a sandwich, apple or orange, NutriGrain bar, and Craisins.  A delicious lunch, yes, but it could use a little variety now and then.  I’ll sometimes throw in other types of fruit, yogurt, baby carrots, cheese and crackers, dry cereal, or applesauce.  Still, it’s your pretty standard lunch.  I’ve been looking to mix it up a little, and here’s what I found.

Main Lunch Component

• p b&J
• deli meat sandwiches
• pasta salad
• deli meat and cheese wrap
• egg salad & crackers
• leftover pizza
• tuna salad & crackers
• cheese, sausage, & crackers
• cereal with separate container of milk
• celery, peanut butter, & raisins
• BLT or BLT wrap
• bagel with ham and cream cheese
• salad with dressing in small side container
• oatmeal packet with a separate container of milk (to heat up)

Snack

• fruit leather
• popcorn
• yogurt and granola
• nuts
• string cheese
• trail mix
• whole or cut fruit
• peanut butter balls
• carrot sticks or peppers with hummus
• cherry tomatoes
• hardboiled egg
• raisins
• muffin
• crackers
• pretzels
• cottage cheese
• cheese cubes
• banana or zucchini bread
• flavored applesauce
• granola bars
• dried fruit
• goldfish crackers
• snap peas
• rice cakes

I have more possibilities for lunch that H does.  I can hike down to the teacher’s lounge and use the microwave, toaster, or utensils to assemble my lunch if needed.  H eats at his work desk, so he has a few more restrictions.  For ease of eating, his lunches should be ready to eat.  He also doesn’t love containers all over the place – one for carrots, one for dip, etc.  His desk isn’t huge, so he doesn’t want containers all over the place, but I’m not a fan of plastic baggies.  I typically use small glass containers with plastic lids, and they do take up quite a bit of space.  They’re also a little embarrassing to have piled up!  I’ve looked at Bento Boxes (see below), but most of those that I’ve seen are either expensive or geared toward elementary school children.  I guess I’ll just stick with easily edible items, and keep my eyes peeled for affordable, grownup bentos!

Anything else that I could add to the list?

The Wooden Spoon

Introducing a new, non-cliche, non-boring (I hope) name for the blog!  I’d like you to meet…

It’ll be the exact same blog with an altered title.  While I really feel like I am “living the dream,” it just sounds a little cheesy, obviously overdone, and possibly a bit snobby.  The Wooden Spoon just says “home” to me.

My husband was actually the brains behind this operation.  I wanted a new title and he suggested one after another.  I toyed with several of them.  Here were the finalists:

War on Peas (my personal favorite, but not exactly a description of this blog…)
Great Expectations
Honeymoons and Hairballs
The Chocolate Chip Cook-y
The Life of Pie
Batter Up
Daylight Savings: Making the Most of My Time
**The Wooden Spoon**

I am so, so, so lucky to have a husband who supports and encourages me.  I am typically embarrassed of what I write, so it’s difficult for me to show him my blog in the first place.  Luckily, he makes it easy.  Now I just have to keep encouraging him to start a blog of his own.  He’s a creative writer, so he’d never have a lack of writing material!

Goal Update

It’s about time … *shudder* … to check in on my goals.  All of my goals.  Which I have been “working towards.”  In theory.

It’s not so bad, really.  I think I’ll find that I’m not doing quite as well as I thought, though, which is the reason for the shudder.  Here goes nothing…

1)  Make delicious, home-made dinners a non-event

OK, this is the goal that I’m probably doing the best on (so I’m really glad it’s first!).  I’ve gone from burnt grilled cheese sandwiches and soggy PastaRoni to oven fried tilapia and martini mac and cheese.  My current goal is to find some lighter recipes to try.  Grade: A

2)  Buy and make quality pieces for our home

I’ve given more thought to the amount of time any given item will last, and if it’s worth putting in a few extra dollars for a better product.  Sometimes it’s not – a book at Half Price Books will be the same as a book at Barnes and Noble – but if it’s something that will be an obvious quality difference (for example, the watch H wears daily), I’d rather buy one that will last.  I try not to balk at spending more on an item I know we can get for less, and instead focus on the quality.  We haven’t had any major purchases in the past few months, though, so I’ve only put this into action on a small scale.  Grade: B

3)  Continuously improve our marriage

I read The Five Love Languages (and I’d highly recommend it to any person, married or not), and I’ve put a good dent in my second reading of Men are From Mars, Women are from Venus.  In a stroke of what can only be called brilliance, I put that book on the shelf behind the toilet.  Best marriage move  yet.  That may be an exaggeration, but it really has been a success – I could never convince H to read a marriage book so frequently otherwise.  Grade: A

4)  Be confident in my appearance

On the positive side, I’ve started wearing makeup on a regular basis, and I’ve started styling my hair once in a while instead of pulling it back every single day.  I haven’t been able to lose the weight that I wanted, though, so I’m disappointed most of the time  I look in the mirror.  Grade: D

5)  Be proficient on the sewing machine

I haven’t spent much time on this goal, so there’s not much to report.  I’ve only done one sewing project in 2010 (an apron), and it turned out well.  It’s nothing that I couldn’t have done in high school, however, so I’m going to have to give myself poor marks for this goal!  Grade: F

6)  Keep an organized, clean home

I’d say the house is organized.  We have a place for everything, anyway.  Everything in it’s place?  Not so much.  H is organized.  His jacket is never on the floor, his books are never left lying about, and his keys are always on the key hook.  I am a little more scatterbrained.  If I can see my desktop, it’s a good day.  I am working on it, though.  Whenever I get a spare moment, I play a game where I put away five things in every room.  (We only have six rooms, so it doesn’t take long.)  It’s made a difference.  Cleaning doesn’t happen quite as frequently as it should, but it could be worse.  Grade: B

7)  Act instead of plan

I used to waste a lot of time blog surfing.  I truly mean waste, too – I was subscribing to every semi-interesting blog that I came across, which quickly snowballed into over 250 subscriptions.  I’d fill up to 1000+ items in three days if I didn’t keep on top of it .  I’d spend hours just hitting next, next, next, next, on Google Reader.  I am very proud to say that I’ve kicked the habit!  I do still love reading posts, but I found a way to dramatically reduce wasting time on blogs that I wasn’t getting anything out of.  This left me with quite a bit more time to live in the real world, and I am getting only quality, interesting information daily.  Grade: A

8)  Keep a healthy household

After hundreds of dollars in dental and eyecare bills, I’d give myself an A just to make myself feel better about spending so much.  And that’s AFTER insurance.  We also joined the YMCA and have been regularly attending.  My $1 per half hour plan has been largely successful.  I’m still using and loving it, and H has made such a good habit of working out that he doesn’t even need to use the program anymore.  We’ve cut out chocolate and chips for Lent.  Next up: portion control and cutting the calories!  Grade: A

9)  Be confident in our finances

I use Mint.com to track all expenses, and I know where nearly every dollar goes.  That’s not to say that I rigidly follow our budget, however.  Something always seems to come up that we weren’t expecting, or that I thought would cost less.  I also would like to have a better “big picture” idea of finances.  H typically handles all larger transactions (stocks, mutual funds, etc.), and I do day to day items.  It would be better if we had a little more overlap… or at least if I had a better idea of our finances on a whole.  Grade: C

10)  Be a friend

After a long hiatus, I’ve made friends with Facebook once again.  As much as I dislike it in theory (more on that later), it does have quite a few redeeming values, and at this point I’ll use it for the purpose of being a better friend.  Also, another good mark: by the end of this weekend, I’ll have spent time with three different groups of friends – a really good weekend for me.  I’m still not making the grade, though.  One of my best high school friends moved into a duplex about a mile down the road two months ago, and I’ve seen him ONCE in all of that time.  Grade: B

11)  Give back to the community

Big fat failure.  Nothing else to say about this one.  Grade: F

That wasn’t so bad!  I think I need to check in on my goals every month – it has been eye opening, and it’s motivated me to get up off of this couch and get going!

Know the Low

After weeks of entering data from my grocery bill, I should now have a base of how much items cost.  I’m frustrated with myself, though, because I know I’m not using all of this knowledge to get the lowest possible bill.  I forget to bring the coupons, or I buy what I need when it’s not on sale, or I mistake a marketing trick for a sale.  Here’s my updated grocery price list:

Grocery Price List

If you didn’t read my last post about saving money at the grocery market, I vowed to learn the prices of frequently purchased items, so that I could stock up when needed and know a great deal when I saw one.  So far… not so good.  I really should take the advice of Coupon Mom – stick with my most common items.  At first, maybe I should stick to less than ten.  Keeping track of the prices of 38 types of food hasn’t been working for me so far.

I’m going to start memorizing the prices of the following items.  Reasons vary, but for the most part, I’ve chosen items that are expensive, frequently consumed, or have a long shelf life.

• Frozen blueberries (it’s expensive, and I eat them 4-5 times per week on cereal)
• Carnation instant breakfast (H drinks daily)
• Peanut butter (I don’t like the cheapest kind, I eat it frequently, and I can buy multiple jars without it going bad)
• Dishwasher detergent (I just don’t know how much it should cost, at it’s easy to stock up on)
• Flour (I recently got tricked into thinking it was a great deal… the wound is still fresh, so I’m ready for revenge)
• Cheese (it’s expensive)
• Deodorant (easy to stock up on, and I usually don’t get it until we’re out)
• Face wash (same reason as deodorant)

I know that I could just print out my page, bring it to the store, and all problems would be solved.  It just seems somewhat time consuming, and, it I’m being completely honest here, it would be pretty embarrassing.  Maybe it would just look like a grocery list, and no one would know…

What do you think?  How do you recognize a sale?  And what would you think if you saw someone whip out a page full of prices in the cereal aisle?

Gift Elephant

About a year ago, my mom suggested keeping track of all gifts that I give out for Christmas so I don’t repeat myself.  (Looking back, I’m not sure if this was some sort of a hint… if so… sorry Mom!)  It really does make sense.  I can barely remember what I gave my parents for Christmas a few months ago, much less years before that.

One of the handiest tools I’ve found for tracking gifts given and received is Gift Elephant.  You type in a gift you’ve given to any given person, and when next Christmas comes around, you can be sure you won’t give them the same thing again!  It stores birthdays/anniversaries/etc., and will even send you a reminder in the week prior.  It also has some neat search features – you’ll have to check it out for yourself.

I’ve found only one drawback.  Who’s to say that Gift Elephant will still be around in 5, 10, 20 years?  What if it goes under, and all of my info is lost to the world?  I’ve e-mailed them about this concern, so I’ll update if I have an answer for you!

Does anyone else have any brilliant (or even mediocre) ideas?  How you keep track of gifts?

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**Update** I did e-mail Gift Elephant, and here’s what I got in return.  I’m satisfied!

…We’re working on adding the ability for you to print and download the info you’ve entered into your Gift Elephant account.

We don’t have any plans of shutting down the site (in fact, we’re adding more users every day). But in the unlikely event that ever were to happen, you’ll still be able to make sure your info isn’t lost to the world. :)

Thanks again!
The Gift Elephant Team

On the Bookshelf: Cookbook Edition

America's Test Kitchen Light & Healthy 2010 Special Issue

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America's Test Kitchen 30-Minute Suppers 2010

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Cook's Country Best Potluck Recipes

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The America's Test Kitchen Family Baking Book

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The Kitchen Detective

Blogroll

I’m adding a blogroll!  Here are some of the blogs in my “Keepers” folder in Google Reader.

The Happiness Project This is my all time favorite blog – it’s amazingly inspiring.  Gretchen Rubin, author of the book by the same name, set out on a quest to be a happier person by following research, studies, and theories on the topic.

OMG I’m a Mom! I’m not a mom… nor do I have any plans in the very near future to be one… but I can’t get enough of this blog!  I love it because it’s a completely honest, upfront look at being a new mother, and really, just being human.

Smitten Kitchen Her recipes are always good, and her anecdotes along the way are so helpful.

Christopher Kimball Blog America’s Test Kitchen in a blog.  Enough said.

Home Ec 101 The categories in this blog say it all: Clean it, Cook it, Fix it, Wash it.  Full of helpful tips, tricks, and recipes, I’m constantly filing away ideas from this blog.

My Kitchen Cafe Easy delicious recipes, and lists galore.  What’s not to love?

$5 Dinners I use this blog mainly for coupon links.  Helpful, inspiring, somewhat overwhelming!