These are my boys.

All four of them at about the same age. They grow up way too fast!!

Confession Friday

Back in the day, when I was a catholic school girl, I went to confession every week. Once I started going to the satanic stronghold that is public school my time in the confessional dropped dramatically. Now, thanks to blog technology and Glamazon I again have the opportunity to confess my wrongdoings.

1. Try as I might, I just can't keep up with pop culture. Just today I discovered the phenomenon of pants on the ground thanks to Sean's Ramblings. While I do like the one on Sean's Blog, being a Neil Young fan I like this one better.

2. Speaking of pop culture. I recently started watching the new season of The Bachelor on Hulu. While I find it repulsive I just can't look away. It's like a trainwreck. Plus I'm waiting for the cra-zee girl to snap. (I'm only on episode 2 or so, so don't give it away.)

3. I feed my kids baby carrots when I don't feel like making them a "real" vegetable.

4. I have a crush on one of the dads on my kid's swim team. He has this sexy British accent....how can I resist that??

5. I let my kids watch too much TV.

6. I ate roughly 50 million peanut M&M's last night.

okay...off to say 10 Hail Marys and an Act of Contrition.

Nutters

Todays blog post is brought to you from the treadmill at my gym. I have been a member of this gym for about 2 years now and, since I'm here three or four times a week, I consider myself a regular. The other regulars (and I use the term very loosly) run the gamut from totally put together productive members of society to complete nut jobs. I like to think that I fall somewhere in the middle.

I'm fully aware that I'm not all that put together. It's a good day if I make it through without getting someone lunch spilled on me (more often or not it's my own lunch). I wear jeans every. Single. Day. I may have a pair of khakis jammed somewhere in the back of my closet, but they haven't seen the light of day since I stopped working four years ago. I don't know how to accessorize and I only have two pairs of shoes. But in my defense I'm not a total nut, I know because I see them every day st the gym.

The gym is full of people whom have made questionable personality choices. Most of these strange behaviors are fairly innocuous and pretty darn entertaining. For example, there is a woman who is ALWAYS dancing. On the treadmill, in the lockerroom, while talking to a trainer...always getting her groove on. If there isn't music she wil make her own by singing. Loudly. And badly. There is one guy who power walks back and forth across the gym floor, right past about 200 treadmills. I'm not entirely sure why he bothers to pat the membership dues. Finally there is the woman who takes a newspaper into the steam room. I don't even know where to go with that.
Other nuts at the gym are, while not strictly dangerous, a bit more insidious. For example, the woman who insists on giving herself a hot oil treatment in the shower. I mean are you kidding me? The shower floors are slippery enough without a reenactment if the Valdez oil spill.
My husband tells tales of men who use the gym provided hair driers to blow dry ..... Well let's just say not the hair on their heads. Would YOU want to use the hair drier after that? Furthermore, in order to gain greater access, they put one foot up on the sink counter. Uuugh! The mental image us bad enough (sorry about that by the way) I think if I had actually seen it I would have to gouge my eyes out.

My question is, is there something wrong with my gym or is every gym full of a bunch of nutters?


UNRELATED ASIDE
Mr. Jobs, I would gladly offer my services on reviewing the ipad. You need only provide me with a brand spanking new ipad with always on 3G technology and 64Gb of memory. In return I will publish a high quality review of your (most likely spectacular) product here on my blog where it will be viewed by literally dozens of people. I can be easily reached by clicking the contact me button in the nav bar. I will look forward to your email.

PS. You look great! Have you been working out?




- Posted by Krista from my iPhone

Post-it note Tuesday

menu plan Monday - Home Alone edition

This week my husband is traveling for work. When he is gone meal planning generally goes to hell. I take the kids out to eat, we buy pizza or we eat Cheetos for dinner (Okay...the last one isn't really true - the kids have to eat carrot with their Cheetos). I'm going to try to do better this time. I am sticking to kid friendly and easy to prepare meals.

Sunday - Leftover pork chops

Monday - Beef Stroganoff. The mushrooms can sometimes present a bit of a challenge, but the kids will generally eat this up.

Tuesday - Leftover Stroganoff

Wednesday - Slow cooker vegetable curry. My kids love this. They are rather adventurous eaters.

Thursday - Leftover curry

Friday - Chicken saltimbocca. This is chicken with sage and prosciutto. Hubby should be back by Friday so i'm planning something a little more grown up.

Saturday - talapia. My kids will inhale talapia.

Sunday - Chicken Corn Chowder. This is a personal favorite of mine. After a full week alone with the kids I think I deserve a little something special.

Well, there you have it. I'm keeping the faith that this plan is easy enough to make and to get my kids to eat that I will stick with it. Wish me luck!

My little echo

Don't you just hate it when you hear your words emerging from the mouth of your child? Nothing slaps me in the face harder than when one of my choice and often used phrases comes flying at me out of their lips. For example:

Boy2: I can't take this anymore.
Me: you can't take what anymore?
Boy2: all of this - making wide sweeping gesture around the room.

I couldn't immediatly determine exactly what was threatening to send him over the edge. Could it be the pepperidge farm goldfish ground into the carpet? Perhaps it was the fact the he had to dress himself from the laundry basket every morning. Was his steady diet of fruit roll-ups and baby carrots finally catching up with him? That's when I realized that he had misplaced one of his 2x2 duplo pieces and could not complete his masterpiece. I dig around under the couch for a few minutes (what? Where do you keep your legos?) and eventually emerged with a slightly yogurty red 2x2 duplo. Tragedy averted, until next time. Stay tuned for "I don't have time for this".




- Posted by Krista from my iPhone

Coffee

I have a love/hate relationship with coffee. I love to drink coffee. I love the way coffee smells. I love the color or coffee be it black, as my hubby drinks it, or with cream and sugar, as I drink it. I love just about everything about coffee. I hate when there is no coffee.

Coffee making in the asylum I call a home is a complicated matter. I don't have a Mr. Coffee - well I do, I call him my husband. Coffee making involves the grinding of beans, heating of water, transfer of beans to a filter and finally the application of said water to the beans. The water must be the correct temperature. The beans must be ground correctly. You can't add the water too quickly. It's a process. I can not make my own coffee. I have tried and it never turns out well.

Coffee making is purely the domain of my husband. He has the perfect temperament for the fiddly task of coffee making. This is a man who, if a recipe calls for 1/4 inch dice, will pull out a ruler. Yes, we have a kitchen ruler. This is why it takes him 3 hours to make any kind of meal.

Coffee buying is my domain. Coffee buying is quick, easy and requires only a phone and a credit card (we have our coffee delivered from a roaster in Pittsburgh...don't ask). I can order coffee while I change a diaper and catch up on world events. I'm a free spirit. This is why I can whip up a meal in 20 minutes...though it will never taste the same twice.

(Aside: My husband is making tea right now....How do I know? The timer just went off. He steeps his tea for exactly 3 min in water that is 190 degrees F. I'm not kidding.)

Hubby and I complement each other well. He is methodical and precise. I am fly by the seat of my pants. If it were up to him nothing would ever get started around here because he weighs the pros and cons of every situation. If it were up to me nothing would ever get finished because I don't have the patience to deal with the little details. He doesn't deal well with people he does't know. I like most people more until I do get to know them.

I'm glad we found each other. We would make normal people miserable.

It's All About ME

In an attempt to populate the navigation bar I present to you

100 76 things about me

1. I was born in Pittsburgh, Pa.
   
2. I was adopted when I was 4 days old.
   
3. I have since learned the names and addresses of my biological parents.
   
4. I have exchanged e-mail with my biological father.
   
5. It wasn't the life altering experience made for tv movies would lead you to believe it is.
   
6. Despite not working very hard, I graduated near the top of my class in high school.
   
7. I was accepted to my top choice college
   
8. Due to not working very hard, I graduated near the bottom of my class in college
   
9. But I did graduate in four years, which was better than 50% of my peers
   
10. I met my husband in college
    
11. During my senior year, I basically lived with him in his dorm room
    
12. He lived in an all male dorm
    
13. I wasn't the only girl living there
    
14. I didnt know what I wanted to do with my life after college.
    
15. I got my teaching certification
    
16. I taught for one year
    
17. I hated it.
    
18. I eventually got my MS
    
19. I defended my thesis when my first son was 3 weeks old
    
20. My husband was in the military for four years
    
21. We have lived in 7 apartments/homes since we graduated from college
    
22. I am a compulsive knitter
    
23. I'm trying to break into crochet
    
24. My favorite thing to knit are socks
    
25. I can crank out a pair of socks in about 18 months
    
26. Motherhood has severely cut into my knitting time
    
27. I would like to write a novel
    
28. My favorite drink is Milk
    
29. I can drink 5 gallons in a week
    
30. I have three sons
    
31. I nursed the first two until they were nearly three
    
32. My mother found this appaling
    
33. I plan to nurse the third just as long
    
34. I have two cats
    
35. All of the creatures in my home are male - expect for me.
    
36. I went to a jewish preshcool
    
37. I went to a catholic elementary school
    
38. I went to a public high school
    
39. I went to a private college
    
40. I have a bachelors degree in biology.
    
41. I have a masters degree in molecular biology.
    
42. After more that 6 years of higher education I have only worked for 3 years.
    
43. I'm pretty sure that I will never work as a biologist ever again
    
44. I consider myself to be a little bit of a foodie.
    
45. Having 3 kids and eating good food can be difficult, but not impossible.
    
46. I go to the gym 4 days a week.
    
47. I run on 3 of those days.
    
48. I am not a runner.
    
49. I only run in hopes that it will give me a fabulous butt.
    
50. It's not working.
    
51. On Mondays I do yoga.
    
52. I have terrible balance.
    
53. I live in Virginia
    
54. I'd like to move back to Pittsburgh
    
55. I'm a Pittsburgh Steelers fan
    
56. I cried when they won the Super Bowl in 2006 because it meant that my second son would be born in a year when they were the world champions
    
57. I cried again when they won the super bowl in 2009 because it meant that my third son would also be born during a year when they were the world champions
    
58. I would gave another baby if it would clinch another Steelers super bowl ring.
    
59. I was in the marching band in high school
    
60. I have little to no musical talent
    
61. I am very liberal
    
62. My father is very republican
    
63. We don't talk politics in my parents house
    
64. I have a whole series of irrational fears
    
65. The least bizarre involves one of my children getting his finger stuck in the drain at the bottom of the pool
    
66. I could explain the rest but I would need charts and graphs and an easel.
    
67. I am a natural blond
    
68. I dyed my hair purple in college
    
69. I thought about getting a tattoo
    
70. I didn't because I couldn't think of anything to get
    
71. I have difficulty feigning interest in things I don't care about
    
72. This may be why I have very few friends
    
73. I am younger than most of my kids' friends parents
    
74. I act older than most of them
    
75. I love chocolate
    
76. Especially with peanut butter
    
    
    
    
    

Wrap it up

Just wrapping ip some loose ends here.

The blog redesign is pretty much finished off. Lots of thanks to the Princess of Sarcasm and Nalamienea for their spot on suggestions for tweeking the design. I think I totally love it. In fact I had such a good time doing it that I can't promise that there won't be another (smaller scale) redesign in the new future. Or maybe I'll start a another blog just so I can decorate it.

The navigation bar up there nearly sent me to the loony bin until I realized that bloggers preview feature doesn't do links. Anyway, the bar content is on the way. In the meantime Jane called me out so the contact button now works so you all can harass me over email if you desire.

Finally, look out in the next few weeks for supahmmmy's supah awsome blogvivor contest. I will be playing the part of Pavarti. I'm not sure exactly what this is going to entail, but quite frankly I'm a little scared.

I'm off to brush up on my fire starting and bug eating skills, laterz!




- Posted by Krista from my iPhone

What I meant to say...

I wasn't going to participate in what I meant to say wedsesday. As an act of sanity preservation I try not to remember the situations where I have not lived up to my full potential. (This us likely why most of college is a blur...or it could be because of the alcohol - either way.) But when I let the opportunity to speek my mind to someone I really don't like slip past with nary a bitchy eyebrow raise I knew what fate was telling me.

When the helicopter mom extraordinaire in my son's swimming class said "Maybe he'd be better in the toddlers class." and I said "well, he is a pretty good swimmer."

what I REALLY meant to say was "Listen bitch, my three year old can swim circles around your snot nosed 5 year old golden child. Yes, I realize that he doesn't always listen to direction and sometimes splashes around when he shouldn't. But at least he has some character, unlike your kid who has the personality of play-doh. And while I'm at it, would you let the kid blink once in a while without telling him how to do it?"
"oh yeah, and you can totally suck it!"

I'm going to print this blog post out and have it ready for next week.

- Posted by Krista from my iPhone

Post-it note Tuesday

Menu plan Monday - the chili intensive edition

Just a quick note about how I plan my meals and how I ended up with 4 nights of chili in one week.

We do a BIG shopping trip every 3 weeks. I draw up a list for enough meals to feed my family for 21 days. We load all the kids in the car and head on down to the local army fort. We get haircuts for the boys, or at least the three of them with hair, we scout out the BX (that's the base exchange for you civilians), and we go to the commissary. The commissary is the military grocery store. In general, the commissary is cheeper that your standard grocery store. Things like meat and spices are a lot cheeper, fruits and veggies are a little cheeper, and pantry items are about the same ... Generally speeking. So, we do the bulk of our shopping every three weeks and sometimes that ends up with my family getting a healthy dose of chili.

So, here it is, a chili intensive Monday menu plan.

Monday - crunchy baked pork chops

Tuesday - white chicken chili

Wednesday - leftover chili

Thursday - vegetarian chili

Friday - leftover chili

Saturday - skillet carbonara

Sunday -Swiss steak



- Posted by Krista from my iPhone

Supah Book Club

Looks like Supah is hosting a book club and I am so there.

This week's reading questions are:

What are you currently reading?
When do you find the time to read?
Where do you do most of your reading?
How do you choose what you read?
From where do you get most of your books?
What do you do with a book after you've finished reading it?
What are your book (reading) quirks?

#1 I am currently reading Another Thing To Fall by Laura Lippman. I got it when I was in Pittsburgh, because I finished the book I brought with me and I needed something to read.

#2. I do not have nearly as much time to read as I would like. Back in the day (AKA before I had kids) I could easily read a book every few days. In fact, Sundays was designated as "reading day". It was a glorious time when we slept in late, stayed in our pajamas all day and did nothing but read....ahhh..the good old days.

#3. I like to read in bed or on the sofa or in my rocking chair (yes...I'm 80 years old, I read in a rocker). Just about anywhere soft, where I can put my feet up and snuggle under a blanket is a prime reading location.

#4. I will read just about anything that crosses my path. I generally prefer science fiction, but not weird science fiction...it's a fine line. I don't much like romance novels or anything mushy like those chicken soup books. The exception to my ban on romance books would be a series of historical romance books I read as a teen. They were each named after the lead female character (I remember Savannah and Roxy being two) and centered around her choosing between two boys during a significant historical event. I can't remember what the series was called. Does anyone remember those?

#5. I get my books from the library or from McKay's used books. I usually just grab a few books from the McKay's free bin whenever I stop by.

#6. After I have finished a book I almost always freecycle it. Unless it is a particularly fabulous book I don't see much reason is hogging it to myself.

#7. My reading quirks are many and varied. If I am reading a book from a series I MUST start at the beginning of the series. I will rarely abandon a series until I have finished all the books, even if they are terrible. If I have read more than 10% of a book I CAN NOT stop reading it. 10%....I count the pages.

I am currently reading the Harry Potter books to my sons. I love reading "real" books to them. I am sad that I won't be able to share some of my personal favorites with them. As the mother of three boys I will very much miss reading the Little House on the Prairie books or Little Woman (one of my all time favorites) with them.

By the way - in case you didn't notice, I have a new blog layout. I'm looking for feedback. Is it too bright? To distracting? Super fabulous?? Please let me know!

Blog Makeover!

Check it!! I made the blog over!! I hope this works on other browsers, I have only tried it on Safari.

The blog has been looking a little boring for a while now and I was going to have a new design made for me, but I decided to do it myself. I'm totally glad that I did. It is rare now a days that I learn how to do anything new and this was a nice way to brush up on my html and my graphic design skills.

There is more excitement coming in the form of SupahMommy's Blogvivor contest!! So keep an eye out for that. As for now, I have spent so much time looking at the blog the past day that my eyes are blurry and I think I'm getting carpal tunnel syndrome.

Team cupcake

Tonight us PTA movie night. I'm on the baking squad.

Mad props to the first person who can guess the title of the movie.

- Posted by Krista from my iPhone

Credit where credit is due

A few weeks back I mentioned that my cable connection was not so great. Since I believe in giving credit where credit is due I want to say that Cox Cable did come through for me. They sent out a team of (very nice and incredibly tidy) technicians to check every connection and wire and whatever else in the house. Turns out, a big part of our problem was that our router was something like 10 years old (oops, my bad).

So we got a new router. (It is a very sexy little apple number, much nicer than our old SMC router.) Cox ran a new cable line into our house. (You can barely tell where they dug up the yard.) And we now have a crazy fast, reliable like a Japanese car, Internet connection.

So thumbs up to Cox Cable.

(Note: I don't work for or receive money from Cox Cable. I just had a very nice experience. Of course if they wanted to donate some items for Walk To School Week they know where to contact me *wink wink nod nod*)


- Posted by Krista from my iPhone

Perspective

If you are anything like me you spend your time worrying about what you will make for dinner, whether or not the kids need new shoes or what color granite you want for your new countertops. There is, of course, nothing wrong with all this, it is what keeps your family running. The events of the past few days have led me to gain some much needed perspective.

I look at my children today, and find them safe and healthy with a roof over their heads and food in their bellys. They have easy and reliable access to clean drinking water and advanced medical care. We are infinately lucky.

The sort of disaster we have seen in Haiti brings out the best and the worst in people. Like me, you likely want to do something to help, but you probably don't posses the skill or ability. Ibdo urge you to give what you can monitarily. There are dozens of charities to choose from. I am sending my money to doctors without borders. I am also contacting whomever I can in hopes of helping the children at the BRESMA orphanage in Haiti. Decide how you can help and then do something.

Sadly, there are those who are not so generous in times of need. There are those who would use the deaths of tens of thousands of people and the suffering of millions more to attempt to further their own agendas. These sorts of acts are not only unchristian but inhuman. Children who have lost their homes, mothers who have no water for their babies and men who have watched helplessly as their families have been killed do not need your condemnation. They need your heartfelt prayers and perhaps a small percentage of the take from your donation boxes.

So please, give what you can and keep the people of Haiti in your thoughts.


- Posted by Krista from my iPhone

To Do List Tuesday - January 12

(Yes, I know it's Wednesday. It's been a busy week.)

Another Tuesday, another to do list. This weeks list is going to concentrate on getting the house together. Husband and I have been talking about getting the kitchen redone for a while. We have a tendency to make big plans and then let them languish. I'm going to try to buck that trend.

1. Look into cabinetry refacing. I want to completely gut the kitchen and get new cabinets, but hubby wants to see about just getting new cabinet fronts. I am humouring him.

2. Pick out cabinet doors and granite for counter top. Regardless of which way we go with the cabinets this needs to be done.

3. Continue decluttering.

4. Clean out the coat closet. This is a disaster. Think tv sitcom where someone opens the closet and is immedietly burried in a bunch or random junk. That my closet.

5. Make a walk to school week contact. I failed on this one last week.

6. Fix nursery closet. The whole thing fell down with a resounding crash on Sunday. Luckly no one was crushed.

7. Make cupcakes for PTA movie night. I'm on the PTA baking commitee, it's a great way to use up all the cake and brownie mixes I got for a quarter after Christmas.

- Posted by Krista from my iPhone

Whoot!! Who doesn't Love a Post-it??

We have a winner!!

Thanks to Random.org commenter #8 has won the free cereal coupons!! Congrats to Amanda!!!

I'm sending you an email so you can give me your address!

congrats again!

Menu plan Monday 1/11

Holy moly. It's Monday already? Where did last week go? Well, it must be meal planning time again. Some of last weeks meals were more productive than anticipated. By the time the ham was all gone my children were strongly considering a kosher lifestyle. This means that the short ribs got moved to Tuesday. This Friday is movie night at my kids school. Insted of buying pizza from the PTA I will bake my own pizza at home and bring it with us. Not only will this save us some money, but I make better pizza than Dominos. So without further ado, here it is:

Sunday - Thai chicken salad

Tuesday - short ribs

Thursday - white chicken chili

Friday - movie night pizza

Saturday - swedish meatballs

Sunday - crunchy baked pork chops



- Posted by Krista from my iPhone

Quitter

For the past few weeks I have been trying to save money on groceries. As of today I officially quit. Here's why.

Harris Teeter is currently running a "super double" coupon promotion. For those of you out of the loop, this means that they will double any coupon up to $1.98 face value. HT is not my usual grocery store. (That would be Wegmans, which I love.) I figured that this was a good enough deal to drive a few miles out of my way for. So I loaded the two little ones into Lucille and drove about 10 miles to the nearest HT.

I got my little envelope of coupons together and hustled everyone into the store. It was almost immedietly apparent that this had been a wasted trip. The prices were all higher than at my beloved Wegmans. In fact, most of the prices were so high that the doubling of my coupons would only result on the shelf price at Wegmans. The few products that would have been a good deal were all completely sold out.

As I was driving home, frustrated and hungry, I thought about the whole process. I had spent over an hour driving around, wandering through the store and waiting on line to save something like $8. This was time I could have spent playing with my kids, cuddling with my baby or heck, even cleaning my house.

So I'm giving up the pursuit of savings ... Or at least the pursuit of extreme savings. I'll probably still clip coupons and I'll still scope out Target a week after the major holidays. Fact is, I'm never going to feed my family on $10 a week, so I'm done running all over Virginia trying to.

This will give me more time to clean the house....or not.


Hey-don't forget to leave your comment to win free cereal coupons.


- Posted by Krista from my iPhone

The Mommy Machine

I'm totally in love with my new car. It is, in fact, not even a car, it is a VAN. I never really pictured myself as the minivan person, in fact I was sold in buying an SUV...this is until I saw Lucille. She is by far the most fabulous piece of engineering I have ever had the pleasure to spill coffee on. There are storage bins everywhere, plugs for Nintendos, a DVD player with wireless headphones (do I need to say it again....WIRELESS HEADPHONES!!), LATCH hook-ups galore and the backs of the seats are footprint friendly wipe-off-able plastic.

The biggest difference is how I feel driving the thing around. I feel like a serious mommy. No more pretending that I'm some hip single gal in my little sedan. No way...I'm driving a minivan. Look out!! I finally feel like I belong when I pull into the giant spaces at Target or expertly open my automatic sliding doors to unload kids in front of the elementary school.

Once upon a time I was the kind of woman who could confidently mix up complicated chemical solutions, clone organisms hell bent on killing me and statistically analyze mountains of data. I'm pretty sure that I could still do all of those things, but I really don't want to anymore. I have aquired a whole new set of skills. Mommy skills, like continuing to grocery shop as a 2 year old screams from the cart because he wants cookies NOW. I have learned how to successfully navigate the intricate social hierarchy of the elementary school pick-up lobby. I can dose a screaming toddler with 5 ml of Amoxicillin with my eyes closed. My diplomatic skills have been honed to a razor edge by tough negotiations involving the consumption of such things as cauliflower and pesto. I have changed diapers that would make war-hardened Marines weep.

That's right people....Look out! I'm a mommy of three boys. Nothing you do can scare me. I even have the vehicle to prove it.

To do list Tuesday 1/5

Whew. Tuesday again already. The last two weeks have been insanity! Boy1 is back to school, hubby is back to work and I'm trying to get back on schedule.

This weeks list is going to finally finish up all the holiday crazyness.

1. Make one last sweep of the house to find and put away all the christmas stuff. This would include plates and dish towel that had to be washed as well as the new stuff I bought on clearance.
2. Declutter the hotspots that I previously cleaned. The buffet, tv thing, breakfast bar and dining room table have suffered under a barrage of food, cards, and other festive clutter. It's time for all if that to go.
3. Get rid of the cookies. With the possible exception of the biscotti, any cookies not consumed by Friday are destined for the compost bin.
4. Organize food containors. Any orphaned lids or bottoms or anything that has seen too many hours with spaghetti sauce is getting the boot.
5. Paint outside woodwork. Hahahaha! Who am I kidding? Hire someone to paint outside woodwork.
6. Figure out how to make blog layout 3 columns. I have some plans....
7. Photograph and blog about photo wall. I had totally forgotten about this during all the madness.
8. Make one contact for walk to school week. The event isn't until October, but some places need nine months notice.
9. Return library books. Seriously, the library police are going to be knocking on my door soon.
10. Make doctors appointments.

Yawn. Sort of a boring list after the fun of the holidays, but whadda ya gonna do?

Don't forget to submit your cereal memories to my free cereal contest!


- Posted by Krista from my iPhone

Dear resolutioners

Every year around this time my gym is innundated by resoulotioners. These folks show up on the first Monday after new years (aka today) to start their new work out routine. Great, good for you. Now get out of my way. We all know that 80% of you will be gone by March. And while you are here you will crowd up the showers, make me wait for a treadmill and arrive at yoga class late and think you can jam you mat into the 6 inch space between me and the mirror.

So that I don't have to kill you, here are some handy tips to follow for the next 3 months.

1. Treat the locker room as though it were your own bathroom. You don't leave wet towels on the floor in your bathroom, don't leave them on the floor in the lockerroom showers.
2. Wear a damn towel. I don't care how fabulous your butt looks, I don't want to see it.
3. Don't color or perm your hair in the lockerroom. You know all those reasons why you don't want to do it at home, well that is why I don't want you doing it in my lockerroom. If you just can't stomach the mess in your own bathroom, pony up and get it done professionally.
4. Don't chat on your cell phone while you are on the treadmill. This us just a personal pet peeve.
5. Yoga starts at 4. If you arrive late you screw with everyones chi.

Thank you for your time. Enjoy the next three months and I'll see you again in January.






- Posted by Krista from my iPhone

Menu plan Monday - Cozy food for a cold week

It's been rather cold this week so I'm cooking up some of my favorite warm and cozy comfort foods. One thing always in my menu is cereal - don't forget to enter my contest for two free boxes!!

Sunday - Minestrone Soup and Brown rice with Andouille, corn and Red Peppers

Tuesday - Spiral-Sliced Ham with Cherry Port Glaze. We are taking advantage of after holiday ham sales here.

Thursday - Chicken lo Mein. This got bumped last week because my hubby made gnocchi.

Saturday - Thai Chicken Salad. Not really a warm dish, but oh so very yummy!

Sunday - Braised Short Ribs. These need to be started a day in advance and are NOT lowfat.

Hmm..I'm getting hungry just thinking about it all. Since the Thai Chicken Salad is just so crazy yummy, I'm going to reprint the recipe here. I think that as long as I tell you that the original source is Cook's Illustrated that this is okay. As I have mentioned before, I love Cooks Illustrated and receive no compensation from them (though I would be their shill at the drop of a hat).

THAI STYLE CHICKEN SALAD WITH SPICY PEANUT DRESSING

3 - 3.5 pound whole chicken (You can also use a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store and skip step 1)

1/2 cup canola oil

3 tablespoons smooth peanut butter

1/2 cup fresh lime juice

2 tablespoons water

3 small cloves of garlic minced or pressed through a garlic press

2 teaspoons finely grated ginger

2 tablespoons light brown sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons hot red pepper flakes

1 cucumber pealed, seeded and cut into 1/4 inch cubes

1 medium carrot grated

4 scallions sliced thin

3 tablespoons cilantro leaves

1/2 cup chopped peanuts

1. season the chicken with salt and pepper. Roast at 375 degrees until instant read thermometer inserted in the thigh registers 165 to 170 degrees, about 1 hour and 10 minutes. When cool, pull the meat off the bones in 2-inch shreds, discarding the fat and sinew. Reserve 5 cups for this recipe; set aside the rest for another use.

2. Puree oil, peanut butter, lime juice, water, 1/4 teaspoon salt, garlic, ginger brown sugar and red pepper flakes in blender until combined. Transfer to a large bowl.

3. Add the cucumber, carrot, scallions and cilantro to vinaigrette. Toss to combine. Add chicken and toss gently to combine. Let stand at room temperature for about 15 minutes. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper and sprinkle with peanuts.

1. 
   

Cereal

A few weeks ago I bemoaned my inability to provide a hot breakfast for my children. As fate would have it, soon after I received an email from blogspark touting the benefits of good old fashioned cold cereal. There were a number of facinating tidbits like the fact that folks who eat cereal consume less fat, less cholesterol and more fiber than those who don't. Cereal is jam packed with vitamins and minerals. Cereal, even those sugar cereal that your kids my kids okay, I love contribute only 5% of sugar to kids diets. I know from personal experience that feeding kids cereal is one of the best ways to get fiber into them (and everything else out).

So that I can continue my love affair with cereal, General Mills, via MyBlogspark, sent me 4 coupons for a free box of General Mills cereal. Each coupon is good for a single box of cereal up to a $6 value. I don't think I've ever seen a box of $6 cereal, but you can bet your butt that I'm gonna try to find one.

Since I'm totally a giver, I'm giving two of them out to one of my blog readers. Here's the deal, leave a comment below with a cereal related memory from your past. On Monday, January 11th I will randomly choose a winner.

Here is my most vivid cereal memory. I still remember it like it happened yesterday. It was my sophmore year in college. I had just finished my last final of the spring semester. I poured myself a HUGE bowl of Lucky Charms. I poured the milk in and settled into our old green vinyl lounge chair. I dug into the cereal. After the first bite I realized that the milk was sour and my entire bowl of cereal was ruined. I was so upset and had been so looking forward to that bowl of cereal that I cried.




Okay- your turn.

Goodbye 2009, you have been a year to remember. This year has brought more of somethings and less of others.

This year have done much less knitting than in previous years. With the exception of a bunch of baby knitting in the first half of the year, I have not completed a significant project since July.

This year has also brought so much more love and laughter into our home with the arrival of Boy3 in July.

There has been less sleep and more snow. Less sanity and much more laundry.

Boy1 and Boy2 have continued to bring a happy level of chaos to our home, which seems to be getting smaller by the moment.

Here's hoping 2010 brings more of everything...except maybe the laundry.