Music Monday – Gotye

I just can’t get enough of this song.

Music Monday – Favorite Kids Albums

I thought I would share some of our favorite kids music.  The kind that I don’t mind listening to too.  Most of this music I wouldn’t even switch off if it came on and the kids weren’t with me.

1. The Best of Laurie Berkner Band
   
   
2. Frances England - Family Tree
   
   
3. Ziggy Marley - Family Time
   
   
4. Johnny Bregar - Hootenanny
   
   
5. See You On The Moon! - Various Artists
   
   
6. Kidzapalooza - Various Artists
   
   

Enjoy!

Straight Hair

I got my hair cut yesterday and in the process she straightened it.  My hair actually felt longer after the haircut. I thought I'd show a photo 'cause you know I won't take the time to straighten it again myself. 

Provost - I Do Miss That View

Top 5 Documentaries

I may have mentioned before that Curt and I watch a lot of movies.  We tend to stay away from mainstream movies and watch a bit of the alternative.  We absolutely love a good documentary, a chance to get a gimps into a world you would never otherwise experience.  Here are five of our favorite documentaries. 

 Dogtown and the Z-Boys

 Wordplay

Murderball

The King of Kong: Fistful of Quarters

Grizzly Man

Cookbooks & Mealplanning

I love these cookbooks. I flip through them all the time and probably cook something from one of them 6 nights a week. They continually give me new, quick, easy, delicious meals for supper. They are all much more than a cookbook and are chalked full of cooking and nutritional information. The two Sandi Richard cookbook give you complete meals so you don't have to think about what side dishes will go with the main dish and what veggies you should cook. They also give you a the time it should take to prep and cook the meal so you can flip through and choose a meal based on how much time you have. Crazy Plates has more than just meals adding snacks, baking, & sweets and the recipes all have ridiculously crazy names. I know these authors have more books out there and I look forward to adding them to my collection because they never disappoint.

I've gotten in the habit of planning my week of meals ahead of time, making a big grocery list of everything I will need for those meals and then going for one big shop. One trip to the grocery store is enough for me a week with two girls and then if I need to I can make a quick stop for another couple jugs of milk later in the week. Its so nice when 4:00 rolls around and I know what I'm making for super, I know that all my ingredients are there and my meat is thawed. Planning and seeing the whole week of meals at once I can make sure there's lots of variety, a chicken, a beef, a pork, a fish, a meat free. We try for at least one meat free dish a week and have been pleasantly surprised by the last two "Lentili Chili" & "Jack & the Bean Stack" both from Crazy Plates. I have this idea in my head that because its a vegetarian dish and lacking meat that it won't be as good, but I think they have been some of the best dishes I've made.

There's my tip for today, plan your meals ahead of time. It makes the 4:00 crazies much easier to handle.

Anyway I've been loving these books so much I just thought I would share. Happy cooking.

Genius

I love listening to music, all different types. For the last couple years I have been in a bit of a lull listening to the same thing because I don't know what else to pick. We previously loaded our entire CD collection onto our computer so our music is all in one place but it almost became too much all together. I couldn't just open iTunes and put it on random because I would always end up with some rap or death metal or Christmas music coming on. I've thought (and mentioned) many times that the best gift would be if someone would just make me a couple of playlists of the songs that I like and maybe add some new songs in there too. It hasn't happened and I just don't have the time to sit and make one of my own without just picking the same few songs I always listen to. Now I discovered something awesome recently, exactly what I was looking for. iTunes has a new (I think) feature called Genius. Basically you choose one song from your library and it will make a playlist for you. It will even suggest some new songs that you may like. You can then just listen to it, or save the playlist or refresh it if you're not happy with what you got the first time. I love it! So far I've had good luck with it and rediscovered some music in my collection that I had forgotten about.

Here are a few of the songs I've used to make playlists lately:

"If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out" Cat Stevens
"California Stars" Billy Bragg & Wilco
"Anywhere from Here" Polly Paulusma
"Only in the Past" The Be Good Tanyas

New Addiction

I have a new internet addiction. Its www.etsy.com. I've just discovered this site "Your place to buy and sell all things hand made" Why would you ever want to buy a gift at Walmart again? This is a place for crafters to sell the things that they've made with each person having their own store within the site. Some of the most amazing items can be found here. Please check it out if you need to buy a gift, want a treat for yourself, are looking for some inspiration on what to make or want to sell your own crafts. I hope to one day have time to make a few things and open a shop here. In order to do this though I would have to get off the computer, stop looking at all this great stuff & start crafting myself. Anyway just thought I'd share......