Archive for January, 2007

Britax Regent appears to be in stock now. 5-point harness car seat for older kids.

Remember seeing the video? Then remember trying to get a Britax Regent and finding that they were suddenly out of stock everywhere? It looks like you can finally get them again.

Sorry to say, I still don't know where you can get one of these seats in Canada, but maybe someone else can leave information about it in the comments? [UPDATE: looks like these seats are illegal in Canada :( ]

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Go Read It Today, Wednesday, January 31, 2007

You think Barney is weird? CityMama has even better examples of amorphous blobs entertaining our kids.

Not a funny story. Melanie has a creepy stalker on her bus.

Do your kids give personalities to every. single. thing. in the house? Then you'll sympathize and snicker at this.

Does your partner teach your kid "interesting" tricks?

This is a gut-wrenching story, wonderfully told. You never know how your actions will affect others.

Cross your fingers for insurance coverage for Neila's boobs.

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My personal Circle of Hell is apparently a foot-deep in puke. Who knew?

Chip has had a relapse of the stomach flu I thought he was done with, and I feel like we have a newborn in the house. I'm up every 2-3 hours at night and I constantly smell like puke.

Yeah, I know, "me me me." Of course Chip is sad too, but hell… he can get his own blog.

Oh great, look at that. The cat is yorking too. Hmmm. At least no one stepped in it.

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Go Read It Today, Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Health insurance companies can really screw you around.

Ever wondered what in the hell Finslippy means? Wonder no more!

Kalyn in Utah JUST got her water back — about time!

Marshalls jacks margalit's bank account!

Hey Neil, what a neat story!

Do any of you use Meebo for instant messaging? Anyone have one of their MeeboMe chat thingies on their website? It looks cool to me, but I want to know if you like it and how you use it.

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My Mother in Law's Cream Cheese Coffee Cake. Delicious. Delectable. Delightful.

5.jpgThis recipe comes from my mother-in-law who made it for decades. It is quick and delicious. But also very naughty, and SO not South Beach… Use sparingly.

pastry:
2 cups Bisquick (don't have any? make your own and thank me later)
1/4 cup butter, cubed and COLD
3 ounces cream cheese, cubed — the brick-style, not the kind in a tub
1/3 cup milk

filling:
about 2/3 cup fruit preserves

glaze:
2 Tb milk
1/2 cup powdered sugar

tools:
- pastry knife
- bowl with rounded bottom
- parchment paper and wax paper
- rolling pin
- cookie sheet

Pre-heat oven to 375° F.

Place Bisquick, butter and cream cheese in a round-bottomed bowl. Using a pastry knife, cut the mix together. Don't have a pastry knife? Get a regular knife in each hand and go at it.

Drizzle the milk over the mix and stir until almost combined. Dump it out onto wax paper and press into a log shape. Do this quickly so the heat of your hands does not melt the butter. Place another sheet of wax paper on top and roll it out until it is an oblong shape about 12 inches long. In the US your roll of wax paper is probably 12 inches, so you can use that as your guide.

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Don't have wax paper? You can use saran wrap instead, but don't blame me if it all ends up a ball. I can never use that stuff…

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Remove the top sheet of wax paper. Place a sheet of parchment paper on the cookie sheet, turn the dough out into the center, and remove the second sheet of wax paper. Score two lines down the center of the dough two inches apart to use as a guide. Cut flaps in the dough at an angle.

Don't have parchment paper? you can just smear a little butter on the cookie sheet instead, but it will be a little harder to get the pastry transferred onto the serving plate.

Now you'll add the filling. I used two kinds of preserves — apricot and cherry — but using one also works well. Leave about an inch at either end with no preserves.

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Start closing up the pastry by folding in one end so that the preserves don't melt out of the pastry when cooking. Fold each set of flaps to the middle being sure to squeeze them together so that they don't open up in the heat. Make another fold at the end to close it off.

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Bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown. Cool for 30 minutes.

Add 2 tablespoons milk to 1/2 cup powdered sugar. Whisk until the lumps are gone. Transfer pastry to serving platter and drizzle this glaze over top. Let it set before serving.

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We usually make this for holiday breakfasts, like Christmas and Thanksgiving. Slice and serve — yum!

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Go Read It Today, Monday, January 29, 2007

Have you been reading Follow Lingling as She Gives Lymphoma a Beatdown? Here's an evening where Leanne's husband has an almost regular night out. Everyone deserves that. (Tip: Amalah)

"If you're a less-than-perfect parent and would like to do a quick e-mail interview at your convenience…" Ah, you had me at 'less-than-perfect'. This post came into my feed reader marked as new, but alas I've discovered it is from last July. I hope it is still going on, though, and if so, you can see the instructions at Sweet Beatrice.

Here's a moment I've had myself when talking to someone who is newly pregnant for the first time.

I think this is my favorite in the What The Fuck Was Meredith Viera Smoking? series.

It's true, I do believe that we will pay for all that space poop sooner or later.

"Ovaries on Strike" is home with her babies!!

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Make your own Bisquick substitute. Because that's about as home-made as I get.

Ever need to make something fast with Bisquick, but then you realize you've even run out of that? Give this a try:

1 cup flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon Crisco

Mix dry ingredients together, then using a pastry knife cut the Crisco into the mix. Makes 1 cup Bisquick equivalent.

Unlike real Bisquick, this has to be stored in the fridge — which makes it less convenient than the real-deal, but it works in a pinch. It is also good if you’re concerned about all the weird ingredients found in Bisquick. (Haha, I know…)

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An energy conservationist's dream. But I am flipping Freezing!

I've realized that if I kept the house at 60°F the only one who would be cold is ME! I live in a house full of polar bears, I think. This makes it really hard for me to justify cranking up the heat on a chilly (for California) morning like this one. I guess I am destined to spend the winters in triple layers of fleece. However, I have found that Mr. Plain's fleece jacket fits nicely over mine, but the fucker sometimes actually wears it himself. So selfish.

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Go Read It Today, Sunday, January 28, 2007

Here's one just for me ;) I'm in the mother's club this post references, and this writer is spot-on.

Neil, I weep for you. Thank god you can tell a good story. Lemons, lemonade, and all that.

A beautiful post about savoring every moment.

Just reading this made me tired — I can't imagine actually doing it!

A writer's dilemma.

And finally, a roundup of some of the many opinions on the "Can a Mom ever have a drink?"* debate: Christine, IzzyMom, Christina, and The Zero Boss.

*Answer: Hell yes, I'm drunk right now! Now where in the world did I leave the kids…

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Why don't I ever let my kids watch PBS? Because I don't need them seeing all that violence.

One morning in 2005, Mike and Robbie were watching a cartoon on PBS. I thought I heard something strange, so I went in to check it out. What I heard was "Coming soon to a theater near you" and for the rest, let's just go to the email I sent the President of PBS on November 4th of that year:

My kids just finished watching Dragon Tales and I had to rewind the Tivo to make sure I saw what I thought I saw — you seriously put a commercial for the movie CAPOTE on after it?

My kids are 2 and 3 and they just watched people crying and being led off to the electric chair. Are you sure this was a GOOD CHOICE?

I'm OK (sort of) with the fact that the only commercials my kids ever see are on PBS when they watch Dragon Tales. But Smith Barney is one thing, an R-RATED MOVIE is another.

What in the WORLD were you guys thinking??

OK, so in my haste I said "electric chair" instead of "gallows," but don't you think I should have at least gotten a response? Don't you think it is a little harsh for my kids to be asking me "Mommy, why are those men crying?" at 7:30 in the morning?

This is why my kids will never watch PBS. Non-commercial programming my ass.

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