I did a recipe mass email forward this week, and someone sent a recipe that I swear I used to eat when I was a little kid. I’m so excited. Now to Google to make sure I know Every! Single! Variation! in the recipe. Wheeee!

Meanwhile, I hunt for a babysitter. I will find one.

A good one. 

Baba O’Riley was home sick with me yesterday. A trip to the ped revealed no ear infections, no signs of Coxsackie (worst virus ever), and no congestion. But he is cutting 3 molars, and our ped’s own children (she has five) spiked fevers of 103+ when they cut molars.

Cue Baba: 103+ in the evening, with extra bonus vomiting in my car. My car now smells like Goldfish crackers and vomit, and Baba-Moose is home with Hubby, having a day of quiet playing, Baby Einstein, and hopefully, good long naps with extra Motrin.

Poor kid.

Freebird, however, is very careful and kind to Baba, and Hubby says that he even let Baba hold his Bear (the most important stuffed animal in his world) when Baba was crying. He is so kind to Baba when he knows that Baba doesn’t feel good, it makes me all weepy and proud.

Now: to Google “how to get the world’s worst smell out of my car upholstery.”

It’s not a good day when you realize the Statue of Liberty has better upper arm toning than you do. She’s a few hundred years old, and yet, no under arm wattle?

Shit. 

Here’s your quote of the day:

Feminism is not simply about achieving the power and status typically held by men. It’s about protecting and supporting the rights of women of all classes, races, cultures, and beliefs.

From the Women Against Palin blog, collecting women’s responses to Palin’s nomination as VP candidate.

That pretty much sums up my reaction to her as a candidate, particularly after seeing a big lawn sign in Glen Ridge that said, simply, “Sarah!”

My initial reaction: “What?”

My second reaction: “Oh, fuck.” It’s a sign that the momentum of his campaign rests on prodding voters to pay attention to the Cole Haan-boot clad lags of an attractive female. I said after her nomination that it was like he picked Britney Spears to fascinate the American populace. All of the gloss, with less of the depth.

I can’t even tell you how much sharing a gender AND a first name bothers me. Seriously. It’s infuriating. I’m still waiting for someone to say that those TWO elements in common should resonate with me.

I’m starting to think ahead to holiday gifts, and I’m making rules for myself. Money is tight in Casa Wendell this year, as the addition to our house, the new kitchen, and the collapse of the financial market have all put the squeeze on our nest egg. So I’m thinking creatively.  Here are my rules so far:

1. No clutter, tschotckes, or things that will do nothing, add nothing, and amount to nothing. Jewelry is different. Jewelry lives in a jewelry box (if you’re me) and is a simply, happy way to decorate yourself. But things that serve no purpose: not happening.

2. Useful.  MUST be useful (see above re: jewelry)

3. Recycled. That would be awesome.

4. Inexpensive, or, if expensive, going toward the creator, manufacturer, or artist as much as possible.

5. Consumable or otherwise experiential enjoyment (see “useful” and “not cluttering")

6. Simple. I’m not going crazy this year.

7. Charitable: some of the organizations I’m thinking of include Heifer International, the utterly destroyed Rosenberg Library in Galveston, and Feeding America formerly known as America’s Second Harvest, the national food bank. Any others you love? Let me know. And if you know me personally and have a charity you adore, don’t be shy. Let me have it. I have to put together a “Got $5 you wanna give, here are some ideas” entry on The Other Site, so I’m happy to have more links.

Honestly, when it comes to gifts for my own children, I’d most like to give them the money that they lost in their 529 college funds back. But that ain’t happening. So I’m hoping I can at least encourage easy, simple, enjoyable gifts. I know Freebird loves to cook with me, so cooking stuff for him would be easy and fun. I could paint a set of bowls with his name, and get him a personalized apron for cooking. As for Baba O’Riley, he loves books, music, and everything his brother has. I have to do some more thinking there.

As for me, I want the vise that’s around my life to ease up a bit and stop squeezing the time and energy from me every day. I’m so incredibly blessed and so incredibly busy! I need to breathe more. 

I made these on Sunday night in about 25 minutes total. They are amazing, and I found the recipe here. Any cookbook needs you have, look to Cooks Illustrated. No question.

Here’s another tip on making your food budget work for your dinner eating needs. I hate leftovers. HATE leftovers. Think they taste oogey no matter how they are warmed up. But - there are some ways to reuse food in new recipes so that you can pretend you’re not eating leftovers (trust me - this works for me. Just go with it).

For example: when you make pasta sauce, even if you’re doctoring sauce from a jar with additional garlic and caramelized onions, make extra. Save that in a container, and you can use it to make miniature lasagna rollups (put sauce and cheese in a lasagna noodle, roll it up, top with sauce/cheese, bake. Done!) or use it as part of a sauce for baked chicken. Red sauce is your friend. You can put it on bagels (I kid).

My goal when I look in my fridge is to have at least two options of what to make for dinner that are easy and yummy so that I don’t turn around and pick up the phone to order takeout. That’s really it - don’t challenge my imagination when I’m hungry and don’t order in. We’re trying to order in only twice a month, and I like to save it for Friday night family dinners. Boston Market is my friend (especially with coupons). So right now our dinner options are:

1. leftover pot roast from Friday night last week (about at the end of it’s use-by date) which I can thin-slice or shred, mix with sauce and serve over noodles.
2. leftover red sauce with meat which I can put on a bagel (I kid).
3. chicken sausage (garlic basil flavor) on which I can put that bagel - sorry, the red sauce
4. leftover grilled turkey breast from Sunday night (yum) with biscuits (homemade 20 min. recipe), plus some green vegetables for a side

There. Easy.

Also, a word about Boston Market: it is my friend. It can be your friend too. I find one three-person family meal plus one extra side will feed us for dinner, then two lunches over the weekend for $22, less if I have a coupon. If we get the whole chicken meal but request all white meat, we get breasts and wings, plus I get mac & cheese, potatoes and gravy, corn, and a salad. I buy the corn as an “extra” side and right now it’s $2 additional. So there’s Friday night (shabbat) dinner: chicken with awesomeness. Then Saturday lunch for the boys: any and all of the above left over, and the same for Hubby and me. One meal goes a long way - especially that side of corn. It lasts for damn ever. It’s like a bottomless pit of corn. The salad isn’t bad either, but I tend to doctor it by chopping up other stuff that we like and tossing it in the container it comes in. Again -bottomless pit of green stuff that lasts forever.