Daily Posting In December

In Repsonse, Random, WWW 4 Responses »
Nov 302011

 

For years I’ve participated in Holidailies, where you vow to blog daily from the first day of December (or whenever they start it) to the last day. Over the years they moved to a new format, and last year I simply couldn’t keep up with they way they had the group set up. No knock to Holidailies, I’m just not that hip. But I enjoy my daily December posts. So… I just made up my own little logo and my own little group (through Google, ’cause Facebook gets all the love).

If you want to blog along, go ahead. I’ll be starting tomorrow.

Posted by Groovy Mom at 9:21 am Tagged with:

Crunchy Betty Honey Face Challenge

Body Beauty, In Repsonse 3 Responses »
Jul 202011

I don’t know why I’m doing this. But I am.

Crunchy Betty's Honey Challenge

I started on Tuesday… no, Monday. Started on Monday? I don’t know. I think I started yesterday. At any rate, I’m in. Just for the fun of it, why not? Generally I wash my face with plain old water. Some days I wash with honey, some I use an olive oil/salt scrub to exfoliate. But usually, just water.

I’ve used honey in my conditioner, on my hair as well. Honey is a fun thing. I like it on my face better than I like it in my tea.

One thing I would add to the directions of the honey challenge is to use a little water. If you just rub honey on your face you’re going to be pulling and stretching your delicate skin, daring it to start sagging on you prematurely (or more than it already is). So, put about 1-2tsp. of honey on your hand, turn the water on and add splash to your hands, THEN rub your hands together; massage onto face. Rinse. Pat dry. The water thins the honey making it slip. Better on the face, in my opinion. If this weren’t a honey-only challenge, you might want to get all fancy and thin your honey with some milk.

Milk and honey. Mmm. Doesn’t that sound good? Or even some cream? Divine.

 


		

	

	

	
	Posted by Groovy Mom at 12:31 pm
			Tagged with: 

	

	

	

		

			

							
Feed The Pig

				

					Debt, In Repsonse, Pinching Pennies, WWW
			2 Responses »
				

			

			
May 162011

		

	

		


Today I was listening to the radio in the car. A commercial comes on, starts talking about saving money. Sounded interesting. Feed The Pig, the website was called. I thought of texting it to myself, but figured I should be able to remember a site name like that. I did. I checked it out.


I honestly don’t care how good the site might be. Thirty seconds of that pig with the slotted head, talking in his pink leisure suit gives me the heebie jeebies. I’ll pass.

		

	

	

	
	Posted by Groovy Mom at 10:33 pm
			
	

	

	

		

			

							
Self-inflicted Hiatus?

				

					Homemade, Homemade Laundry Challenge, In Repsonse, Laundry, Recipes
			6 Responses »
				

			

			
Apr 112011

		

	

		


It’s been a while. I know. I keep thinking of things I want to write, investigate, get feedback on… and then life takes a bite, and swallows me whole and it is sink or swim. Facebook posts are quick, not posting anything is quicker yet.


But, as life busies, I feel my brain turning to mush, wondering how I ever was able to function in college, writing, studying, thinking? My goodness, I’m only 38 years old, I shouldn’t be feeling the decline of an aging mind. What I’m feeling is the stifling of a creative soul. The yearning for something different. For being busy with creativity, wellness, inspiration. Rather than the drone of a hamster-wheel, day blending into day, excitement extracted only from a crisis, a blip on the chaotic norm.


Nevermind that, we’re going on a roadtrip. Out east, as far as our over-sized van can take us. Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York… off we go. Me saving money, me mapping the finances, me planning the trip, me reserving hotels (and contemplating a night’s sleep in the van)… it is working my brains and my nerves. And we leave soon. How soon I shall not say, as I’d rather not have my home burglarized (mwahahaha). Advice would be happily taken. Free, frugal stops – adored.


UPDATES ON PAST CONVERSATIONS:


Homemade Deodorant? Still using it!!! Haven’t looked back. Pits are healthy are less smelly than when I wore regular deodorant. Yay. Mine’s a version of the common one thrown out there (cornstarch, coconut oil, baking soda). Less of the baking soda, some essential oils, and voila. Good stuff.


Homemade Laundry Detergent Challenge? Verdict still out. Two batches and numerous loads later, I was not entirely unconvinced. However, once our water softener broke down, it was impossible to use. We have really (REALLY) hard water. It is a shame.


Pumpkin Bread and Pumpkin Puree? Fabulous. Just fabulous. And you can freeze those loaves for future snacking. They freeze just dandy. I wrapped in foil, then put in a freezer bag, brought it out a month (or two) later and the kids were all, Yay, pumpkin bread — when did you make this? and I’m all – Twahahahha, you know your momma takes care of you, hel-lo? and not feeling too guilty about defrosting pumpkin bread. I mean, I did make it. Just not recently.


I found another bread recipe that I love-love-love-love and will share that puppy soon.

		

	

	

	
	Posted by Groovy Mom at 9:13 pm
			
	

	

	

		

			

							
Pumpkin Dump Cake

				

					Cheap & Simple, Holidays, In Repsonse, Recipes
			7 Responses »
				

			

			
Nov 112010

		

	

		


Because, if I’m going to gain weight over the holidays, I’m taking you all down with me. Only addicts drink eat alone, so they say.


Pumpkin Dump Cake




Ingredients:


    

  • 1- 15 ounce can pumpkin
    • 

  • 1- 12 ounce can evaporated milk (I did not have, so I subbed powdered buttermilk and 10oz. water — worked fine)
    • 

  • 3 eggs
    • 

  • 1 teaspoon nutmeg*
    • 

  • 1/2 teaspoon ginger*
    • 

  • 1/2 teaspoon cloves*
    • 

  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
    • 

  • 3/4 cup sugar
    • 

  • —-
    • 

  • 1- 18.25 ounce yellow cake mix
    • 

  • 1 cup walnuts or pecans (didn’t use)
    • 

  • 3/4 cup or 1-1/2 sticks butter, melted (you KNOW I used this – heck yeah)
    • 



Preparation:


Preheat  oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease 9×13 pan. Completely combine 1st  set of ingredients. Pour into prepared pan. Sprinkle with cake mix.  Gently pat down with spoon. Sprinkle with nuts. Drizzle with melted butter.  Bake for 50 minutes. Cool and cut in squares.

* Or use 4 teaspoons Pumpkin Pie Spice or Mixed Spice




I’m sharing the fact that I made this, but it is not my recipe. It is all over the internet, though and I don’t know how we’ve never met, Dump Cake and I.


I’m also sharing the fact that you can’t judge a recipe properly if you’re a pig that dives into it very quickly after removing it from the oven (my kids and I did this, yes we did). Right away I was not terribly impressed. Too sweet, pumpkiny and just not very good. I chalked it up to it being an easy recipe.




And then I tried it again the next day. Can you say entirely different opinion? Momma’s taking this badboy to Thanksgiving. If I had to tweak it at all, I’d say don’t be afraid to pack in the cake mix nice and firm. But that’s about it. OK, not really. I had another thought – chocolate cake mix. That sounds super-dee-duper good, but who knows it might just be one of those things that sounds better on paper. If you try it, lemme know. That is, if I don’t try it first. Just remember, this is a good make-ahead cake.




Doesn’t look to special out of the oven, does it? More like a potato casserole or something. Hey kids, want some potato casserole? (Snicker)



		

	

	

	
	Posted by Groovy Mom at 7:28 pm
			
	

	

	

		

			

							
Tiger Woods

				

					In Repsonse, News Snippets
			No Responses »
				

			

			
Dec 122009

		

	

		


My thoughts on Tiger are limited, because I don’t give him much thought in the first place. But since I can’t make it through an hour-long news show without hearing about his situation, so I let my fingers crawl the keyboard, danging on the idea of it all.


I don’t like to hear of infidelities. I don’t think it is “no big deal” or a “big whoop” or anything other minor, skimable matter. It is a sad reminder of our slowly degrading society, a bar that is constantly being lowered for us grown women, and our daughters. Cheating is normal? I think not. I’m no fool, I know that people have been cheating for years. Doesn’t make it right or more appealing simply because it is becoming more standard.


Why it is such big news, I don’t know. But then when you consider that, in our country, people can make a living and be on the level of a societal diety for doing something that many people do in their leisure time… you kind of put yourself out there for critisism. Much like a senator, mayor, congressman. We pay your salary, we want to know what’s going on behind closed doors. Apparently, mean. I don’t speak on this from my own emotional base necessarily.


But sometimes when I think, like really ponder the craziness that is our world, it makes my head hurt. Tiger gets paid to play golf, and gets paid well. It’s a game. It’s sport – fun. Fun stuff. You don’t have people performing heart surgeries for “fun” or social work for “leisure play.” But you do find people playing golf/football/tennis, etc. for fun.


Play a sport for fun, become popular, make bank. Practice medicine on the side, read to kids, mission work… we call that volunteer work and what a nice person you are for doing it.

		

	

	

	
	Posted by Groovy Mom at 12:17 am
			
	

	

	

		

			

							
Taco Salad

				

					Food, Homemade, In Repsonse, Recipes
			2 Responses »
				

			

			
Jul 072009

		

	

		


I’m always up for some easy summertime (or anytime) recipes. Works for Me Wednesday at We Are That Family recently did a “Summer Recipe Edition.” Econobusters posted this recipe for One Bowl Taco Salad. It looked like an easy lunch idea, motivating me to try it, like, NOW.


The picture I took is not that great, but the recipe turned out well and it was very tasty. Not to mention, more economical than picking one up at the drive-thru.




Since I have “issues” with recipes, finding it hard to follow them, I basically poured a bag of salad into a bowl, cut it up some more with scissors, turning the bowl over and over  to get smaller pieces. I threw some cheese on top of that, cut up two small tomatoes, threw them on top. Took a thick slice of onion, diced it up; added it. Crushed about 7 handfuls of taco chips; sprinkled them on top. Squirted an eyeballed amount of Catalina and tossed away.


I loaded up a plate for each of the boys (the 3 younger ones) and myself, added about 1/4 cup of leftover ground turkey taco filling leftover from last nights’ meal, and voila. Lunch.


We added a dollop of sour cream to our salads. The kids thought it was a pretty yummy, fancy lunch. I thought it was easy, tasty and just as good as take-out.

		

	

	

	
	Posted by Groovy Mom at 4:36 pm
			Tagged with: , , , 

	

	

	

		

			

							
Jon & Kate Plus 8

				

					In Repsonse, Random, Television
			6 Responses »
				

			

			
May 252009

		

	

		


jon-and-kate-plus-8 The internet is a buzz over Jon & Kate plus 8 (reality TV show on TLC)and the sad situation their family is in right now. I don’t keep up with it, honestly, beyond what I’m not practically forced to know by the magazines at the check-out counter at the grocery store. It bothers me.


I just know that way back when they were first on television, something didn’t sit right with me. It just seemed like such a gamble, to have life be chaotic enough with twins and then the subsequent birth of multiples. I remembered my own house when the twins were born. Two kids in school, one in diapers, plus nursing twins. I couldn’t imagine having cameras flocking around us on a routine basis. It wouldn’t have been a pretty site – nor would it have been good for our establishing family.


If you watch the show you can see how the house transforms, how the mom changes from flustered new mom of a multiples, to a reality television star with frosty hair and metallic sunglasses. How on earth did it come to that? I mean, are you serious? Their faces on mugs and t-shirts? Videos? Like winning the lottery and completely imploding over the course of a few years. I’m convinced that people can have too much of a good thing. Children, especially. No child would likely benefit from a life where they are toted around Hollywood, jetting from city to city (to promote… yourself — how weird is that?!), in front of the media, made a spectacle of at sporting events, the list goes on and on.


Too many options, worrying about what sponsorships to accept, appearances to make, what trip to film, what make-up to wear — and way less focus on the precious years of raising children, stealing moments with your husband.


I suppose you could be envious of the sponsorships, the trips, the free plastic surgery. But then you can also see what “deal with the devil” had been made. At the sacrifice of a marriage, of your children’s childhood? Hindsight is always 20/20, but reality TV doesn’t really care about who they are filming and what the ramifications of the intrusion of their subject’s lives will be. But possibly more thought should be put into shooting reality TV when it involves children. Time will tell if these reality TV “child stars” face the same issues as the child actors who seem prone to confusion, drug-abuse and issues with parents and their hard-earned fortunes.


What do you think?

		

	

	

	
	Posted by Groovy Mom at 9:54 pm
			
	

	

	

		

			

							
Warm For Winter - Knitting Project

				

					In Repsonse, Knitting
			2 Responses »
				

			

			
Mar 192009

		

	

		


I received an email from a woman named Sis. She said she used the Chunky Ribbed Hat pattern posted in the knitting section of my site. She said it was perfect for a knitting group she has that makes hats for homeless people in the Seattle area. The program she is working with is called, “Warm for Winter“  — A program sponsored by the Interfaith Council of Washington. Sis’ specific group goal is to make 100 hats by winter 2009. Can we help her?


I think we can.


warmforwinter


Here’s a little information from Sis:


…I have been very involved with knitting, started two groups at my Temple and along with this I thought it would be nice to give an afghan to each new renter.  I had labels made with my Temple’s knitting group name – “Knitzvah” which is knitting for a Mitzvah.  Mitzvah in Hebrew is acts of good deeds.  Most of the people we have put into apartments are women with children and each family gets an afghan.  I started out having folks knit strips which I put together but it got to be so much work that I figured why not make the whole afghan and came up with a pattern.  I have folks knitting in Florida, Arizona, Maryland, California and locally.  We have made close to 100 afghans and have placed close to 100 families into apartments;  mostly women with kids.  Then… I also got my folks knitting for hats for the homeless.  I watch for yarn sales and put together both afghan and hat kits and give them out to people I meet at book events, etc. around town.


If you’d like to knit a hat (or two, or three – with the Chunky Ribbed Hat pattern, or a pattern of your own) for the homeless, fantastic!!! Whip ‘em up.


Completed hats should be sent to:

Sis’s Homeless Hats

T.B.A. 2632 NE  80th St

Seattle, WA 98115


Thanks so much!!! Send me a picture or link if you have the time. I’d love to see your hats. Feel free to link to this post to help spread the word. (*Hats pictured above are made from Sis’s own hat pattern, which you can find here: Sis’s Hat)

		

	

	

	
	Posted by Groovy Mom at 8:30 am
			
	

	

	

		

			

							
Arby's - Bring Back the Martha's Vineyard Salad!!

				

					Food, In Repsonse, Random, Reviews
			3 Responses »
				

			

			
Jan 082009

		

	

		


I just wasted $15. It is my own fault, and my own choice to spend the money.


After work, I decided to swing by Arby’s to pick up a couple salads for myself and my daughter. The drive-thru was roped with cars; I was about fifth in line. As I pulled up to the speaker, another car pulled behind me. I eyed the menu, looking for old familiar: Arby’s Martha’s Vineyard Salad. I saw three salads. But none of them were my Martha’s Vineyard.


“Don’t you have Martha’s Vineyard?” I asked, when questioned on my order choices.


The answer was NO.


No? My favorite salad in the entire world of fast food?! Gone? The almonds, chicken, lettuce, cranberries and cheese salad sold by a chain restaurant directly on the path I take home from work? The salad that I add walnuts to and eat with oil and vinegar when I get home? The MAIN reason Arby’s even gets money from my pocketbook?


H-tothe-naw!!!


I ordered a consolation turkey-something salad and a crispy-ick salad instead. And some of the new eggrolls that they had, just because I was already down in the dumps, so why not? And a Diet Pepsi since I’d at least KNOW what that would taste like. My van sulked all the way to the “first window.” I could, should have just waited for an opening and burned out of there, spitting dirty snow in the face of The Man. Drove off. But I was lazy and hungry and trapped by the drive-thru.


Neither salad was worth $5, not even on a day when there’s no time and I’m lazy and hungry. Nu-uh. Nope. Sorry. I guess I have to pursue other means of fast-food salad happiness.

		

	

	

	
	Posted by Groovy Mom at 2:56 pm
			
	

	

		

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