Testing the waters . . .

On Saturday, we're leaving for a week in Florida. Due to pregnancy and childbirth, I did not wear any of my regular summer clothes this past summer. I went through the summer clothes bin today. I have a large pile of "start getting with the program so you can zip these capri pants by summer" clothes; a small-ish pile of "these fit and I can wear them next week in Florida" clothes; a "let's move these to the fourth trimester bin"; and a pile of "whether they fit or not, I don't see myself wearing these clothes ever again." So, end result is "Lose It!" of about eight items. Plus, after having pawed through the boys' bins, I also found some Florida clothes for Little Bit that used to be Bub's ("Use It!"). Then, I pushed all but two bins back into the closet, creating a more convincing appearance of order.

Assuming I can fit into the clothes in the "start getting with the program so you can zip these capri pants by summer" pile, I will have to use this blog to answer the question of how many pairs of capri pants one woman really needs. Any thoughts?

Don't let the bed bugs bite.

"Lose It!"
* three sleep books -- I read many when Bub was a baby. I really did not care when he slept through the night, but I was desperate for him to begin taking regular naps that did not involve motion. In my experience, no parenting book "fits all." When I consult them, I tend get start a cycle of reading hoping for solutions and reassurance and often end up feeling more anxious and obsessive than when I started. I ultimately found a sleep book that was a keeper for my family. I know people who have had success with the books I'm tossing, but I know I probably won't need to consult them again.

If anyone out there is interested in these books, please let me know. I would be happy to send them media (super snail) mail. Leave a comment or send an email to mep at nottobrag dot net . . . If any mom is desperate as I once was, I hate to think of her being desperate and spending more money than she needs to.

Bunch of tossers?

"Lose It!"
* large red plastic tumbler-type glass with crack on side -- seems an obvious candidate, but has taken up valuable shelf space for years now where we weren't using it because, you know, it was cracked . . . it's still cracked but now it's in the trash


Obviously, I'm losing a little steam or, more accurately, shying away from "losing" things that are more difficult to let go of . . .

I'm pretty close to losing all my VHS tapes, but have been wondering whether or not they are good items for donation or not. I worry that Salvation Army and Goodwill personnel everywhere are tired of tossing other people's donated copies of Weekend at Bernie's and Mannequin.*

I'm also considering losing the response cards to our wedding. What do you think?

I'm counting on you all to help me out. What kinds of things should I put to the lose it/use it test? What are you losing of late?



*I do not own either of these movies.

Not the "other one."

"Use It!"
* I used Anne Byrn's What Can I Bring Cookbook and made "Tex-Mex Chicken Spaghetti." I found it quite tasty and asked my hubby to give his review, "It was good, but I think I like the other one better." I asked some follow-up questions and determined that "the other one" is Chicken Tetrazzini, a casserole I have only made once, at least as far as I can recall. All the same, "good" is a very strong review.

* three pounds of chicken -- only noting this because any time I can use proteins (do you like my Top Chef-speak?) before they need to go in the freezer, I am pleased with myself . . . once items enter the freezer, there are no guarantees they'll make it on to a dinner plate -- also, I ended up with eight pounds of chicken, due to a sale at Jewel and now it's (almost) all been used


Cookbook Challenge Stats: 6 down / 49 to go

Scrap it.

"Lose It!"
* two craft books -- one about scrapbooking and one about photo crafts. It's all I can do right now to take photos, upload them, and try to share them online. The next level for me is deciding what's next: photo DVD with music? design an album on Kodak Gallery? place in album with clever captions? create and frame a collage? I don't lack inspiration or ideas, just time.

For the record, I made the executive decision to stop scrapbooking before Bub was born, and I'm okay with that choice for me.

That's a Wrap

"Lose It!"
* overly complicated wrap sweater -- have had it a full year and tried to wear it the other day, attempted to wrap myself in it and kept ending up with an extra 16 inches or so of belt no matter what I did -- hope it finds a good home with someone who is smarter or possesses better dexterity than I

* turtleneck with horizontal stripes -- not doing me any favors, especially with postpartum rack

* Linden Hills by Gloria Naylor -- I started reading this book, one of The "Lingerers", but I wasn't feeling it. I've read and enjoyed two of Naylor's other books and that will have to do me. Plus, the cover is seriously bad. Now, I'm judging the book by the twenty pages I read, not by the cover. It might have gotten better, but sometimes life feels too short to gamble on that.

(Re)Discovering Dayton

I'm not a Junior Leaguer, but I do have two Junior League cookbooks, both of which I really like and use. Every recipe I've tried from the Cincinnati one -- I'll Cook When Pigs Fly . . . and they do in Cincinnati! -- has been fairly successful, especially the Hot Bacon and Swiss Dip (which I affectionately refer to as "Fat Dip"), oh so easy and cheesy. Causing a Stir, from the Junior League of Dayton, has also served me well, most notably for its Proscuitto Pinwheel recipe, a great success at a wine-tasting party in 2005.

Causing a Stir also includes favorite recipes from Discover Dayton, an earlier JL cookbook that my mom used quite a bit when I was growing up.

I was in the mood for chocolate chip cookies this weekend and happened upon a recipe in Causing a Stir. "Best Chocolate Chip Cookies" were soft, which is how I like my cookies, but not crumbly or insubstantial. I liked them enough to eat at least a dozen myself, and my husband dubbed them "fine" (fairly high praise around here).* I gave half the batch to our nephew, who was sweet enough to babysit for us last night.

The special ingredient in this cookie recipe is a 1.7 ounce package of instant vanilla pudding. I had pudding on hand, but only in 3.4 ounce packages. Do they even make 1.7 ounce packages? The 3.4 ounce box yields 4 servings of a .5 cup each, which is really not a lot of pudding. Would one really buy a box of pudding that makes 1 cup of pudding? I'm not buying that.

Do you have a favorite chocolate chip cookie? Which of your cookbooks have you used lately?

Cookbook Challenge Stats for anyone keeping track: 5 down / 50 to go.
I have the rest of 2009 to try one new recipe in each of the cookbooks I don't want to "lose."