What-What?! Week of May 10th

Happy Mother's Day to all the mommies out there.  Have a great day! :)

This past week was mostly spent just running the house and keeping things going.  Our bathtub faucet has developed an intermittent leak, which is extremely aggravating -- it'd be nice if things could wait to break until we've fixed all the things that are already broken. :P

Osric's Birthday Celebration

Yesterday, we celebrated Ozzy's third birthday.  I made him a chocolate cake with buttercream frosting, themed after the TV show The Octonauts.  The cake is the character Kwazii, who is a pirate cat:

This cake was actually a bit problematic to make, mostly because we moved.  I couldn't find my frosting dyes, so I had to run out and buy more.  I have also lost my offset spatula, so the frosting isn't as smooth as it would otherwise be.

After blowing out the candles, he tried to eat it all himself, with no utensils.

Briefly, he shared his toys with his siblings.

Oz got a lot of toys; a Little People boat, a biting shark toy, Transformers, Legos, and Octonauts toys.  Everything but the Transformers and the Legos can go in the bath, and you better believe they've been there once already!  That little boy loves baths now.  While unwrapping presents, he was squealing with excitement.


I feel like this photo is pretty representative of my husband as a person: Doing manly-man things, but always with a novel in his pocket.

The husband barbequed hamburgers and hotdogs.  This doesn't seem particularly special, but it is quite an occasion for us; since moving into apartments, we've barbequed only once.  Barbequing was something that we did at our parent's houses, never at our place in California, since it was forbidden in the lease.  We did barbeque once last year at the Washington apartment, but that was pretty unpleasant.  Barbequing yesterday tasted like delicious victory; the freedom and privacy to do whatever we desire is exactly why we bought a house.

In other news, I received another royalties check from Amazon for my ebooks!  It's just $100, but it's still pretty gratifying to actually be paid for writing.  Between this and a check I got in October, I've made half again as much as I did the prior year.  I've also just had a boom of sales in the past month that's not reflected in this payment; because the info in my papers is pretty academic, I find that sales coincides with college finals and midterms.  After mid-June, I'll have a big drop in sales, then they'll pick up again in the fall.  I should get back to serious writing again.

What-What?! Week of July 6th

This week was pretty exciting.  The husband and I took the kids and a friend to the Woodland Park Zoo, which is discussed in this another post.  We had a great time.

We finished getting our car stuff figured out, which was more difficult than getting ourselves licensed, but still not overly so.

Peter now has a job, which he'll be starting this coming week.  It will be nice to have income again.  I'm still looking for a job, but that's neither here nor there.

Writing: My Newest eBook is Published!

I finally finished writing, editing, converting tables and graphs to images, creating a cover, description, and so on.  Now Specialty Grocery Retail Industry Leader Profiles has been published, and is available on Amazon as an eBook.  It covers the leading companies in the specialty grocer industry, with an emphasis on their target markets and how they market themselves.  It's pretty academic, so I expect I'll start getting sales when universities start back in session.

News: Bolivia CongressClock Altered to Turn Anti-Clockwise via BBC News

This is... well, this is just kind of odd.  I mean, it's not something that I wouldn't expect from a country like Bolivia, because little countries like this tend to have some odd aspects.  The idea of it is to question norms and to encourage creativity, as well as the mindfullness that this is a country in the south, not the north.  The north versus south thing I'm not entirely sure what to make of, but I get placing value on creativity.  Of course, is creativity good when it takes a useful object (a clock) and makes it difficult to use?  I'm not so sure.  There are certainly clocks that are art first and functional second, so I suppose this falls into that category.

What-What?! Week of June 8th

We're now at the one week countdown to our move date.  It is exciting and horrific, terrible and terrific.

Wednesday, I told my class at work that I wasn't coming back next year.  When I started working, they all wondered and questioned why the previous leader had left, and I didn't want them to be in that position again.  The kids seemed pretty sad; one even wrote me a thank you note.  The older kids in my coworker's class also seem sad that I'm leaving.  One of the sixth grade boys told me that he liked having me there this year.  For a sixth grade boy, that's a pretty strong sentiment.

I'll miss the kids, and I will definitely miss my coworkers, too.  This year has been a challenge, but it's been made way better by having such a supportive crew to work through it with.

Been slowly working on my paper.  I got about two hours worth of work on it yesterday, which is the first time I'd touched it in nearly a week.  I've resigned myself to the fact that it isn't going to be finished before we move.  So, there's that.

Spirographs via Math Playground

This is a cool spirograph thing.  The math itself is too complicated for my kids, but they still have fun making pretty pictures.  To see the math part, you can click on the "Where's the math?" button.  The first time we sat down with this, we probably made about 20 or so.  :P

News:  Swedes Test a Future of Less Work, More Play via Yahoo! Finance

In a lot of ways, this makes sense.  Technology should make life easier for humanity, but even with the huge productivity gained from industrialization, our workday has stayed pretty much the same as 50 years ago.  In other countries, workers are mandated a certain amount of vacation, and then they use it.  Americans don't seem to do that, especially without huge amounts of guilt.  I think that a 6-hour workday would probably be really beneficial for the health of our nation; with more time to cook and shop for healthier foods, it means that there are fewer reasons to eat out or from the frozen foods section.  I'm always a little appalled at how often I see the families I work with eat fast food, but I understand that they don't have someone at home to cook like I do.  This would also give parents more time to spend with their children.

...But I don't expect this will happen here.  Workaholics are too prized here.

A Simple Riddle

Thought of this when I woke up this morning:

Two lovers, separated by the knowledge of the world.
They help hold up this knowledge, but know nothing of it.
What are they?

Bookends.

(highlight to reveal)

What-What?! Week of March 16th

This past week has been pretty busy.  I've been at work early the whole week, which has been somewhat stressful trying to create enough activities to fill up all the hours.  Consequently, I have almost nothing prepared for this post.  I have also been sunburned often.  I need to find a new sunscreen, because mine smells too much.  The day that I first wore it, one of my kids looked around and said "it smells like the beach?".  Ha!  I didn't tell him it was me.

Yahoo! Voices published an article of mine, Your Child and the Fourth Grade Reading Slump, which they paid me upfront for!  Yeah!  That's the first time, ever.  So that's pretty brilliant.  After reviewing some spreadsheets, I've also found that my Amazon.com ebook has been making about 2-4 sales a month, which isn't bad for something that I consider a learning experience.

I recently read the kids the book Rosie Revere, Engineer; at the end of the book, my daughter asked me what an engineer is.  So after I explained that it's someone who builds things, both she and Corwin (my older boy) piped up saying how they want to be engineers.  Then they began listing the things that they want to make:  A convertible (car), boat, airplane, submarine, helicopter, computer, and a boat/car/airplane hybrid (of course).  Also, mechs.  So that's pretty cool.  Saffron was pretending to be an engineer a few days later, and had a few books that she was pretending to read plans out of.

News: New Lotus Motorcycles Look Like Tron via Yahoo! Tech

This "hyperbike" amuses me greatly.  If not for Top Gear, I'd probably have no idea who Lotus is (they make the Elise and the Exige, both beautiful cars).  Sadly, Lotus is only going to make 100 C-01 motorcycles.


The 80's are calling, yo'.

Designed by Daniel Simon, who designed the motorcycles from Tron: Legacy.  The style itself reminds me of a cyberpunk anime from the late 1980s, Bubblegum Crisis.  The motorcycles from the show are what originally turned me on to motorcycles as a cool thing (however, the reminder of my own mortality soon caught up with me).

(imgs via Yahoo, zerochan)

What-What?! Week of October 6th

After much talking and thinking, the husband and I have decided that we will be relocating to Washington state, specifically the Seattle area, sometime in the next year.  Because I continue to be unable to find fulltime work, we think it would be prudent to move on to greener pastures, as it were.  There are actually many reasons to choose that area, enough that I actually wrote an article discussing them.  Funnily enough, since writing the article, I keep stumbling into more and more information that goads us towards the Seattle area.

On another note, I am now registered for the BehavioralEconomics class at EdX; it’s being offered by the University of Toronto Extension, and will start in just over a week.

Film:  Mean Girls via Amazon.com

This week, I watched Mean Girls.  Yeah, it stars Lindsay Lohan.  No, I’m not a Lohan fan.  However, the film is entertaining, and well written.  Rachel McAdams is delightfully evil, and I appreciate the awkwardness that Lohan brings to the role of a homeschooled student thrust into conventional high school.

Books:  Super Hero Philosophy via Amazon.com

This is a pretty cool book that I’ve been reading; it’s a collection of essays that look at philosophical elements that exist in super hero media.  The first essay, which discusses the concepts of justice and mercy in the Thor comics, was a particularly interesting read, considering that I am now responsible for a class of 19 children, and I frequently find myself having to decide how much mercy to give a rule-breaker.  I tend to be on the lawful side when it comes to alignment, which in my experience tends to favor the justice side of the justice/mercy balance.  Some essays are definitely more interesting than others, both because of writing style, and because some of these topics are ones I’ve considered before.  Overall, I think it is a worthwhile read, especially since the book is currently free.  If you don't currently have a Kindle or other reader, I suggest downloading the PC or smartphone (Android?) app from Amazon, which is also free (yay for free things!)

Food:  Chicken Tetrazzini Casserole via The Pioneer Woman
Now that’s getting colder here, I’m looking forward to eating comfort foods, hot dishes, soups and stews. Thursday, my husband made a really great sausage, potato and broccoli chowder; it would have been good anyway, but what really kicked it up a notch was some Worchester sauce. It added just the right amount of umami.

Friday, we took the family to Costco for our monthly shopping trip there, and bought a rotisserie chicken for an easy dinner that night.  We had enough leftover chicken that I made this delicious tetrazzini casserole yesterday, and we’ll be eating the leftovers for dinner tonight (if you’re not cooking for a crowd, I suggest halving the recipe).  This is good, basic, comfort food.  Yum!

I’m also looking forward to more baking, as well.  I bought a 4-pound sack of chocolate chips while we were at Costco, and I’m looking forward to making chocolate chip cookies and muffins with them.

What-What?! Week of August 18th

Was published again by Yahoo! Voices – EZ Squeezees Reusable Baby Food Pouch Review and Recipe – and I’m a little irritated by the editors choice of how the photographs are displayed.  If they’d posted it to Yahoo! Shine, then the photos would be quite a bit larger and easier to see.  At any rate, it was published.

Cooking: Strawberry Jam

This week, I made a batch of basic strawberry jam, following the directions on the Sure-Jell box.  I grew up on homemade jam, and am now pretty picky about what jams I eat.  I specifically avoid commercially made jams that use corn syrup, because it just doesn’t taste right.

This batch came out fantastically, and part of that was due to the ingredients.  A recipe of jam consists of fruit, sugar and pectin (what makes the jam thicken); because jam has so few ingredients, it is important that each one is high quality.  The strawberries that I used for this jam are of the Chandler variety, grown primarily here in California; they are specifically bred for flavor, rather than sweetness or stability during shipping, as many commercial varieties have been.  The sweetness of the berries doesn’t matter so much in jam, because jam has plenty of sugar, but the intense berry flavor makes for a great jam.

So far, we’ve eaten over half a pint jar!  Glad we have three more.

Jake and the Neverland Pirates Fan Art

Let me preface this by saying that I am no artist.  Sometimes, though, this happens:

That image came about because my two older children consistently call Izzy and Cubby from Jake and the Neverland Pirates “Dizzy” and “Chubby”.  I thought it would be fun to illustrate the characters that way.  I'm pretty pleased with it, considering that I couldn't find my nice Staedler or Sharpie pens, and had to use the world's worst pen.  Check out the full-size version here (I suggest using it as a coloring page -- my kids loved coloring this in!).

News:  Zombie Orpheus’ The Gamers: Hands of Fate

Okay, so this is pretty geeky.  My husband and I are gamers, and I don’t mean that in the mainstream “we play video games” sort of way (though we do that, too) – no, we play pen and paper role playing games, table top war gaming, and have played collectable card games.

This brings me to Zombie Orpheus’ newest film, The Gamers:  Hands of Fate.  A sequel to The Gamers: Dorkness Rising, my husband and I actually contributed to the Kickstarter fund for it (we’re getting miniatures! Yeah!).  Dorkness Rising was the story of how players’ relationships change over the course of a role playing game adventure, and this new film is a continuation of that, with more of an emphasis on collectable card games.  Dorkness Rising was an absolutely brilliant piece of work, and is much quoted by my immediate gamer friends and family.  While I haven’t seen Hands of Fate yet (due to work schedules), I am totally watching it tomorrow.  The film does have adult language in it, so be mindful of that if you have children or are otherwise particular.

Through August 31st, you can watch the film in full here (click "Stream for free").  Enjoy. :D

What-What?! Week of August 11th

This week, I actually started writing several posts, but they all turned into topics that were more suitable for stand-alone articles than for blogging.  Incidentally, I forgot to mention that I had two articles published last week, this time by Yahoo! Voices:  In Defense of New Grads, and Three Reasons Why the Job Market is Better than You Think – And One Reason it Isn’t.  I have another article that is currently going through the editing process, but should be published within the week, and another article that I’m still developing (featuring Jeremy Clarkson, of all people).

In other news, Netflix is no longer offering Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares (UK); I watch that show for both cooking and business inspiration, which it really has in buckets.  I am terribly disappointed, and now I have to go find something else to watch.

Disney Planes Travel Posters via BuzzFeed

As part of the promotions for Planes, Disney developed these brilliant travel posters – however, I believe that the one labeled Japan is actually for China.  Otherwise, these are very visually striking posters.  Click the link above for the other five.

Food:  Cowboy Casserole

In searching for this recipe, I read it described as looking “like dog food”, and another that described it as a lazy man’s shepherd’s pie (which is pretty close, actually).

Overall, this was a winner.  This recipe would be great for large families or groups, as it makes a full 9 x 13 pan of food, and it is quite filling.  One could not mistake it for a healthy meal, however, so a side salad is a must.  The combination of the creamy meat with the crispy potatoes and cheese was delicious, though using two cans of “cream of” soup was too much fake-creaminess, so I would cut it down to one (or even none, and use a basic béchamel sauce instead).  My husband suggested added some chopped mushrooms next time, which I think we’ll definitely try.

News:  5 Reasons Every Job Seeker Should Blog via Careerealism

This is kind of a funny article; when I started this blog, I never did so with the intention of improving my chances of getting a job.  However, I’ve had several interviews where the interviewer commented about it; generally, the reaction has been quite good.  One of the things that this article brings up at the beginning is blogging missteps, like inconsistent timing, walls of text, and inside jokes – I think that a lot of people get grandiose ideas about blogging, but when it comes to actually doing it, it just doesn’t happen.  Blogging is a lot of work, requiring planning, research, writing, and editing.  When I started this blog in January, I decided to post once a week, because I knew, even when I was in the middle of finishing my senior project, it would be manageable.

(Note: That the “5” in the title of that post should actually be written “Five”.  I have a whole handout from one of my classes devoted to the rules of when you should write out the word for a number or the number itself; I don’t believe that many people are formally taught this, though.)

Until next week!

What-What?! Week of March 17th

This week I’ve survived my husband being out of town, extra classes, turning in a major paper, and my first practice presentation for my capstone class.  But now, it is spring break!  Ooooooh yeah!

News: I’m in the Wall Street Journal! (second letter down)

In my post last week, I discussed an article titled #SequesterThis.  I did some editing and tightened it up, then sent it in as a letter to the editor.  And it was published!  It makes me quite happy.

Homeschooling:  Word Practice Eggs

I got the idea for these from FamilyFun magazine (which I believe is a Disney publication?).  Using plastic Easter eggs, write consonants on one side, and word endings on the other.  On mine, I did “at” words:  On one side it has a c, m, r, and b, and on the other, “at”.  Putting the two sides together makes the words cat, mat, rat and bat.  The example in FamilyFun is good up until you try to figure out additional word endings.  Bring in this website about word families, which has a huge trove of different word possibilities!

The only warning that I have on this project is that, though I used permanent marker, it slowly rubbed off the eggs.  I don’t know what else to use for writing on the eggs, but this was otherwise a huge hit with both my oldest children (ages 5 and 3).

Cooking:  Breakfast Enchiladas via Inspired Taste 

I made these last night, with some changes; I skipped the flour, used milk instead of half-n-half, and added salsa to the eggs as well.  It came out okay.  It wasn’t bad or anything, but it wasn’t very exciting to eat.  I think some sour cream or guacamole on top would have hit the spot.  Or maybe some black beans in the enchiladas?  I’ll have to think about it.

News:  5 Startup Naming Rules via Entreprenuer

 

This is a well-timed article on naming your business.  I particularly think that rule number one is good; you're creating a brand, not naming a business.  If the domain name you want for your business is taken, find a different one with the same name, or choose a different name all together.  Don't wind up adding, deleting or changing letters because of this.  No one will be able to remember it, and your website will just be lost in the vast sea of the interwebz.  I have one example of this that is pretty close to home: The California Farmers' Markets Association has the website cafarmersmkts.com.  I have been to this website numerous times, and still have to Google it every single time, because I just cannot remember it.  Californiafarmersmarkets.com is not taken, and neither is thecfma.com.  I think those would be easier to remember.

Movies:  Wreck-It Ralph Review

Last week, Wreck-It Ralph was released, and being a video game geek, I had to pick it up.  I actually liked this film better than Brave; in Brave, there was all this buildup of characters and story, but then the ending was far from the epic conclusion I was expecting.  Wreck-It Ralph does not have this problem; it remained exciting the entire way through, with subdued humor and a great plot twist.  My only real dig about it is the toilet humor: I know it’s a children’s movie, but really?  Did we have to go there?  The other thing that bothered me was how the villain was dealt with; I’m not sure that my kids really needed to see that.  Of course, after the scene in Tangled, where Mother Gothel turns into dust, I’m getting the idea that Disney isn’t sugarcoating or hiding how villains are killed.  I just remind myself that, in the original Cinderella story, the evil stepmother had red-hot iron shoes put on, dancing to death for Cinderella’s amusement.

Despite these issues, it was redeemed by the nostalgia factor, interesting characters, and creative setting.  Oh, and the music; I thought that the music, especially the theme for the “Sugar Rush” game was brilliant.  It sounds exactly like something you’d hear in an arcade.  I give it 4.5/5 stars.  I expect to watch this film often over the summer.

Wasting Time: More Princess Celestia as the Stig

Yes, more.  See you next week!  :)

(photos via FamilyFun, Inspired Taste, IMDb)

What-What?! Week of March 3rd

I keep telling myself that, by six weeks into the semester, things would quiet down.  Well, we’re at nearly seven weeks in now, and it’s just as crazy.  This week, I’ve been writing about the language services industry, which has been pretty interesting.  If anyone’s looking for an industry to invest in, this is one that I would recommend; the industry has experienced a 50 percent growth from 2007-2011, and grew by 12 percent last year alone.  This kind of growth is expected to continue, and with the languishing economic recovery, that’s not doing too bad at all.

This week’s post is basically all about grocery industry stuff.  I have been so overloaded with school that I have just needed to do something else that’s interesting.  That something else has been reading about the state of the grocery industry.

Cooking: Bisquick Scones

Yesterday, I did make some scones.  My husband had seen Yvonne and her husband Matt from G:M:Me bakery last week, and they gifted him some of their delicious scones!  After eating those, I had a hankering for more.  Yvonne is out of the markets right now because she is taking care of her baby (who is beautiful!), so I had to do it myself.  I chose this recipe specifically because it included butter, which, in my opinion, is of utmost importance in a scone.  Something interesting I found while I was looking for this recipe is that, in the UK, on the box of Bisquick there is a recipe for scones, while on the U.S. box, it’s a recipe for biscuits.  In this recipe,   I subbed the 1/2 cup blueberries for dried cranberries, because that’s what I had on hand.  It turned out okay; not the best, obviously, but not bad for 20 minutes’ worth of work.  Next time I’m adding more butter, I think.

News: Nob Hill Offerings Sub-Par

On the topic of grocery stores, according to what I’ve read on a few couponing forums, it sounds like shoppers aren’t impressed with Raley’s/Nob Hill; the deals have just been sub-par.  This week I’ll be shopping there to pick up some peanut butter, but otherwise, I haven’t stepped foot into that store in weeks.  It makes me wonder if the recent union issues have eaten away at some of Nob Hill’s ability to compete with Safeway’s loss leaders.

News: Couponing Craze Dying Off

This article discusses some things that I’ve experienced in the last few years of couponing; reduced number and value of coupons that I want to use.   Apparently, there’s been a 6.5 percent reduction in food coupons in the past year, though really the thing to look at is the value of the coupons, which has declined to an average of $0.99 for food products.  Compounding the reduction is an increase in the number of items you have to buy to use a coupon; 45 percent of all food coupons require you to buy two or more items.

My experience reflects this; a year ago, it wasn’t difficult to find a one dollar coupon for one box of cereal.  Now, it’s neigh impossible, as the values have been reduced to one dollar off two, or even a dollar off of three boxes!  The food coupons have been replaced by more coupons for items like lotion, shampoo, and so on, and even those have been reduced in value as well.

I’ve reacted to this by buying less, and buying more private, store brand items.  My family now eats a lot more oatmeal and eggs for breakfast rather than cereal, and we eat a lot more whole foods in general.  As for non-food items, I stock up when I can get them inexpensively.  I no longer coupon over at the drugstores anymore, as the increased prices, shoddy sales, and reduced coupon values have combined to make it no longer worth the effort.  Many other couponers have made the same kind of changes in their shopping habits.  Overall, I think that companies are shooting themselves in the foot by reducing coupon values.

Yep, that's it for this week.  Next week I'll be more interesting, promise. :)
(images from everywhere xP )

What-What?! Week of February 23rd

So, ordinarily I start working on my blog post about Wednesday of every week.  As I’m starting to write this, it is Saturday.  This week, in my capstone class we had our first major paper due; the history and overview of our client, Monterey Language Services.  This paper was pretty easy, especially in comparison to our next paper, which is the external analysis of the industry and competitors.

The other thing I’ve been working on is my portion of the community scan for my ethics class; I’ve been working on a map of Seaside and Sand City, with all the food pantries and other services highlighted on it.  The result has been pretty horrible; Sand City is one vast swath of nothingness, and Seaside is lacking some pretty basic resources as well.  In the image above, you can see what's there; what you don't see, is that all of Seaside north of Coe Avenue has nothing in it, other than what is at CSUMB.  Mostly it's golf couse, anyway.

Crafts: Paper Dolls

Last night, Saffron asked if we could find some paper dolls to print out for her to play with.  Looking on Google, I found many interesting and horrific ones; there are lots of skanky, big-headed, tiny-waisted, Bratz wannabes.  On the other hand, I did find some steampunk paper dolls, as well as some other historical ones, which is pretty cool considering that I’ve been reading the Felicity Merriman series of American Girl books.  The bestest one I found, though, has got to be the Girl Genius paper doll of Zeetha.  Get a load of all those daggers!

If you’re interested in this or other GG paper dolls, the Foglio’s have a whole page devoted to paper dolls.

Below is the one that I wound up printing out.  I was looking for one that wasn’t colored, because printer ink is expensive.  It was only after I printed this doll out that I realized it's Lucy from the Narnia series.  The website that this is attached to is actually kind of awesome in a geeky, not overly-Christian way.

 

If I wasn’t worried about ink, though, I would’ve printed out these great dolls from the 70s.  I love their clothes!  Particularly that yellow/green dress thing.  I dig those puffy Renaissance sleeves something fierce.

Writing: Tazo’s Redesign

One of my other projects that I’m slowly chugging away at is a paper/infographic critique on Tazo’s recent packaging redesign.  I think the greatest problem they face is that all their teas now look something like Wal-Mart’s Great Value brand.  The new design for the chai tea concentrate mix is particularly bad; it is very difficult to read the text, especially since Tazo opts not to pay high shelving fees, so the product lands on the highest or lowest shelves.  Look for a more complete critique and graphics soon-ish.

Geeky Stuff: Things to Buy
I have spent this week finding things to spend money on.  Don't ask me why, but they have just appeared this week.  Things I have found include an awesome orange/turquoise purse (makes me think of Jen from Epbot), and teacup-shaped muffin cups.  So cute!

Art: Octopus and Crab Art
I spotted this great piece of art while trolling Cracked; there is an artist name on it, but I can't make it out. :(



(images via all the places.)

What-What?! Week of February 10th

Another week spent reading horrific books and writing papers.  I keep telling myself that things will be worked out by the six week mark, but I’m starting to doubt that.  Just found out that I have to do service learning hours (community service) for one of my classes, despite being told that I wouldn’t have to.  Of course, this is kind of my experience with California State University, Monterey Bay: If it makes your life harder, then let’s do it that way.  Some things happened in one of my classes this week that really upset me.  Maybe sometime soon I’ll talk about it, but for now I’m keeping it under wraps.

My husband actually cooked something new this week!  He’s doing okay, though still in pain from having his wisdom teeth out.  He now also has a cold. :(

Food:  Cheeseburger Eggrolls via Taste and Tell

These were pretty good; we only had rice paper, so ours weren’t browned like the ones in the recipe, though they were still crunchy.  The kids also both liked them, though the crunchy wrappers made them a bit difficult to eat.  The thing that I did not like about these, is that the rice paper we used was really not the best choice; it fell apart easily, and then you had cheeseburger crumble.  Next time, I think we will use actual eggroll wrappers.

Food: Baked Tuna Cakes and Dip

I was inspired to make these based on a salmon cakes recipe off Tasty Kitchen.  My recipe turned out to be nothing like theirs, though.  This recipe is particularly brilliant for days that you are busy; basically everything for the cakes comes from the pantry, and it only takes about 30 minutes, start to finish.  Also, we ate these before I could take a picture of them.  D'oh!

Baked Tuna Cakes

• 14 oz canned tuna (I used two 7 ounce cans from Costco)
• 1 cup dry bread crumbs
• 2 eggs
• 2-3 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 1 tablespoon mustard
• Spices: Salt, pepper, dill, garlic, onion, or whatever sounds good

Preheat oven to 425F.  Combine all ingredients, and stir until well-incorporated; the mix should stay formed when you make a ball.  If it seems too dry, add more mayonnaise, but don’t make it too moist.  Spray cookie sheet or jellyroll pan with cooking spray, or rub some butter or oil on it.  Divide mixture into 8 parts, and roll each into a flattened circle.  Line them all up in the pan, and put in the oven for 10-15 minutes.

Lemon Fish Dip

• 1/3 cup mayonnaise
• 1/3 cup plain yogurt or sour cream
• 1-2 tablespoons relish
• Juice from 1 lemon
• Dill

Combine all the ingredient and mix well.  I should note that my husband did not actually like the dip; I think it's becaused I used yogurt and dill relish, rather than sour cream and sweet relish like he's used to.

News:  Greek D20 Dice

This is really cool.  Archeologists have found 20-sided dice.  When I first showed my husband, he didn’t realize that they were real; there are so many different themed dice sets out there already, it’d be totally believable that these are just some small company’s product.  But no, they’re real!  So.  Cool.

See you next week!

(photos via Taste and Tell and Met Museum)

What-What?! Week of February 3rd

This week has been busy again.  I still haven’t cooked anything interesting, mostly because we’re still cooking soft foods for the poor husband.  He’s been getting better, but slowly.  It doesn’t help that we are also hitting the end of the month, which means pickings are a little slim.  Happily, my mother-in-law gifted us some ground beef from a cow she had slaughtered, so that gave us some more options.  Also, this beef is seriously good; you don’t realize how un-beefy the stuff from the store tastes until you eat the real deal, so to speak.

As for school, that’s going well; my capstone team is complete, and our client will be Monterey Language Services.  We had our first meeting on Friday, which wasn't so good, but the owner is very excited and helpful, so I think it will still work out well.

After the semester is over, I might contact the Old Monterey Business Association and see if they’d be interested in an intern or something.  They need a new website, which I could possibly work on.

On Writing: Squidoo

This week, I posted up an article about the Mountain ViewFarmers’ Market.  Not much else happened, as I’ve been busy working on school papers.  I wrote one paper that was a history and overview of myself, which was kind of painful.  There was lots of editing, and eventually I started throwing out entire sections to get it down to the allotted three pages.

Local Life: MY Museum

 

This past week, we went to a children’s museum in Monterey, called MY Museum.  I really wish I’d known about this place before we got a membership to the San Jose Children’s Museum.  It’s much smaller than the San Jose museum, but at the same time, it didn’t have that packed kind of feeling.  I felt a lot more at ease; at the San Jose museum, I have to watch the kids like a hawk, but because this place in Monterey is so small, it’s a lot easier to see where a child is running off to without losing them.

At MY Museum, there are lots of different displays for the kids to play on; both the kids enjoyed the kitchen and cooking area, which had a real cash register, all kinds of play foods, menus, and fake money.  Saffron also enjoyed the “dollhouse”, which had a huge Melissa and Doug dollhouse on the inside, complete with wooden dolls and clothing.  She had a great time changing their clothes, and having tea parties with the other little girls.  The craft area at MY Museum is also a lot more manageable, so I took Saffron over there, where she had a good time crafting a picture of a dress.  While we were there, this kid showed me his craft, which was covered in white glue.  I was like O_____O “that’s very nice, now why don’t you take it over there, where there’s more space, hm?”.

News:  Small Businesses Say LinkedIn Works

I thought that this was a pretty interesting finding; I am not so surprised that Twitter doesn't work, but I honestly would have expected that FaceBook would be on top.  What I will say, though, is that I think this probably depends somewhat on the kind and size of business you run; a "small business" can mean that someone is working out of a garage alone, or it could mean someone who employs 50 people.  Like anything else in business (and life), your milage may vary.

Music: The 60s, Yo’

After going to MY Museum, we headed out for dinner, where we heard this awesome song.  It’s titled “Dandy” by Herman’s Hermits.  It's worth a listen:

What-What?! Week of January 27th

This last week has been busy; my husband had his wisdom teeth taken out, and school started for me.  Most of this week, I didn't cook real dinners, opting instead to have things like sandwiches, eggs, macaroni and cheese, and so on.  I made spaghetti once.  I need to plan better for next week.

On Writing: Squidoo and School

I had some happenings with Squidoo this week; a few new articles, some squid-likes and comments.  My lowest ranked article is at about #124,000ish, which is a far cry from the 20,000 ranking that is my goal (that's when the money happens), but much better than many of my others, which are in the 300,000 range.

I'll be doing a lot more writing in general now that school has started, but I'm hoping that some of the assignments will lend well to incorporating onto Squidoo.

Food:  Lemon Butter via Tasty Kitchen

This I did do.  I don't have a real double-broiler, so I had a pot of water with a bowl over it, and that worked out okay.  It still came out amazing!  So delicious!

Osric’s Birthday:  Hot Air Balloon Ideas

After making cake bites last week, I decided to go looking for other hot air balloon birthday ideas.  Here's some of what I found:



I found these brilliant woven paper hot air balloons.  They are so cute!  The pattern doesn't look that hard, so I might try them sometime.



This hot air balloon cake is a pretty blah by itself, but I think the idea has potential.  I could see maybe doing a group of them, maybe creating some kind of scene?  Marshmallow clouds could work.


These little cake pop guys on the left have some potential as well. (if you follow that link, beware the million pictures).

News:  Tips for Getting Your Product in Big Box Stores via Entrepreneur
Not much by way of news this week, but I thought this article was worth a read.  It's pretty fantastic that small businesses can get stocked at large chains, but her discussion of the required infastructure you need to have ready is somewhat staggering.  What she doesn't talk about are all the services that help you with that infastructure; you don't have to develop a national warehouse system or worry about shipping your items to stores, because businesses like UPS will do that for you.

Well, that's it for this week.  Hopefully next week I'll something a bit more substantial.

What-What?! Week of January 20th

On Writing: Publishing eBooks

This week, I published a short eBook on Amazon; it’s basically a reprint of a paper that I wrote for school a couple of years ago.  It’s pretty short and basic, and I published it mostly to get an idea of what the publishing process on Amazon looked like.  If you want to check it out, it’s here, available for $2.99: Trader Joe’s versus Whole Foods Market.

My Squidoo articles have basically done nothing.  I’ve applied to one Squidoo database in order to get some backlinks, but I need to do more to work them up.  I have a couple that I need to update more by adding more information and fixing things.

 

Food: Pork Stir Fry

So, I’d had some foods already picked out for this week…and then I didn’t do any of them.

Instead, I made pork stir fry, using bok choy, cilantro, mushrooms, carrots and bell peppers.  I wrapped it up in rice paper, and made summer rolls.  This last Christmas, Peter got me a mandolin slicer, which I decided to use for cutting veggies.
And then, like a doofus, I cut my finger on it. :P

So, moral of that story is to be careful using a mandolin slicer.

News:  E-Filing andthe Explosion in Tax Return Fraud

This article is well worth reading; it discusses how tax return fraud works with e-filing and direct deposit or payments, and what to do if it happens to you.  Unfortunately, this seems to be one of those things where the government’s technology hasn’t kept pace with fraudsters, and there’s little that you can really do to protect yourself.

Something cute:  R2-D2USB Cufflinks

Okay, so this is pretty useless, and expensive, but it is very cute! :)

Food:  Cake Bites, ala Bakerella

A couple of years ago, Peter got me Bakerella’s (that is, Angie Dudley) Cake Pops book.  It’s a great book, and very nice to look at, but I’ve never made any of the pops because it just seemed like too much work.  Saffron, my eldest, found it the other day, and asked if we could make some, so I decided “what the heck?”  Because I’m still myself, though, I decided to do it using the least amount of actual work.

Rather than hand crumbling the cake, I quartered it and put it into a gallon sized plastic bag.  Then, the kids and I mushed it up, which did a pretty good job.

Then, rather than using a spoon to mix the frosting in, I used my Kitchenaid mixer, with the beater attachment.  I put it on Stir for a minute or two, and then it was perfect consistency.

Peter and I picked up some chocolate molds from the craft store, and Saffron helped by putting the balls into the cups that I’d filled with chocolate.

After that was done, we dipped the tops into some red candy melts, and then Saffron put sprinkles on for us.

 

Everyone thoroughly enjoyed them, though Peter thought that they would be better without the chocolate pedestals. I think, in the right colors, it would make for a brilliant hot air balloon themed party. I have high hopes for my littlest boy’s first birthday party. Unfortunately, it’ll probably be ruined by my capstone class. Sorry Ozzie, your first birthday party will be after May 17th. D:<

 

 

 

(Photos via Bakerella, Amazon, and Squidoo).