« October 2008 | Main | December 2008 »
The GPS system in Andy's car is called COMAND. Yes, with one "M." Isn't that so clever? I can only hope it's an acronym for something. Anyhow, when you fire it up, this is the first screen you see:
What on earth does this mean? Shouldn't it say "Caution: Using COMAND may divert your attention away from road & traffic"? Or am I missing something here?
I'm still walking on air from a charitable event I helped chair yesterday at the temple. In the past, we've had a winter outerwear drive for the homeless, then a toy drive for needy kids around Christmas-time, and finally a book drive in the spring for schools and libraries in underfunded areas. This year we decided to consolidate them all into one massive Drives Day, and to incorporate a family learning component into the event. It was all part of our Tikkun Olam ("repair the world") initiative.
All month we've been soliciting donations of new toys and gently used books and coats from the congregation, and the goods have been pouring in. Yesterday nearly 200 people (about 65 families) came together for an afternoon of working together for the greater community. First we divided the kids into age groups for a brief learning program and craft project. (For instance, the 8-year-olds learned about what it might be like to not be able to read important signs, then they made bookmarks to be donated with the books.)
Then we divided the families up to begin sorting through all the donations. We had hundreds of coats and toys and thousands of books. After sorting, everything was packed into boxes and bags for delivery by still more volunteers to our recipient organizations:
Children's coats went to Cradles to Crayons, women's coats went to the Women’s Lunch Place, and men's coats went to the St. Francis House.
The smallest toys were given to Project Smile to be distributed by police officers to children in traumatic situations; the large toys were divided between the Franciscan Hospital for Children and the Grow Clinic for Children.
The children's books went to the Potter Road School (our temple has a literacy partnership with them, where volunteers from our congregation help students learn to read). All other books were divided between the Morin Foundation, which provides books to schools and shelters, and More Than Words, a used bookstore that employs youth who are in the foster care system, are homeless, or have mental health or substance abuse issues.
It was truly heart-warming to watch kids of all ages and their parents working together to make our world a brighter place. For me, it was most definitely a day of feeling grateful, for so many reasons.
I realized that I never shared a photo of my trick-or-treaters this year—but at least I took the photos, unlike last Halloween. As you can see, we had all the bases covered in terms of death, with a Grim Reaper, an angel, and a devil:
It's that time of year again, when I schlep the giant jar of loose change to the CoinStar machine. As I hope you know, if you take your payment in the form of a gift card to Amazon, Starbucks, iTunes, etc., the counting fee is waived! Otherwise you have to pay a hefty 8.9%, and who wants that. But for the next few weeks, they're also running their annual promotion: If you cash in at least $40 worth of coins and take your payment in the form of a gift card, you get a coupon at the bottom of your receipt that you mail in for an additional free $10 gift card! Such a deal!
So, I had a big (maybe quart-size?) jar of pennies, nickels, and dimes and a bowl of quarters. (We used to save quarters separately for tolls, but now we both use the FastLane thingy, so we don't need to do that anymore.) The jar also contained 2 errant quarters, 7 Canadian dimes, 1 Canadian dollar coin, and 1 now-defunct New Hampshire toll token.
How much do you think I got? Hover your mouse here to see how much the jar contained and here to see how much the bowl contained. Talk about your "found money," eh? You get three guesses which gift card I chose, and the first two don't count. Time for some shopping....
The lovely ladies at Mom Central sent me a coupon for a free* bottle of new Clorox 2 Stain Fighter & Color Booster. You know that I'm not very discriminating when it comes to doing laundry—I just throw everything in together and hope for the best. So this is a great idea, because it's a non-chlorine bleach that is meant to be used along with your regular detergent in each load of laundry. You can also use it to pre-treat really bad stains.
The stuff is concentrated, so you need only a small amount, and I was delighted to discover that it's also available in an unscented formula and is completely biodegradable. For more info, check out the Dare to Be Colorful site, where you can get your Clorox 2 questions answered—and upload photos of your family's "messiest moments."
In the meantime, I've been given 4 additional free* coupons to give away to you, my dear readers, so leave a comment here by midnight on Sunday, November 30, if you'd like to be entered to win one. The next morning I will randomly choose 4 winners. You'll need to provide a valid email address in your comment so I can contact you if you win, at which time I'll ask for your snail-mail address so I can send along the coupon. Good luck!
*Please note that the coupon goes up to only $6, and the Clorox 2 cost $7.49 at my market—$1.49 still seems like a pretty good deal to me, though!
Update 12/1/08: So I wrote all the entrants' names on slips of papers and put them in a bowl. Andy chose one ... and Dana wins! Steph chose one ... and Susan wins! Pete chose one ... and Deborah wins! Julie chose one ... and Lisa ones! Congrats to the winners; I'll be in touch via email to get your snail-mail addresses.
See this bag? I bet that you can't guess what it's made of. In fact, I bet that even if you were holding it in your hands, you couldn't guess what it's made of—at least not at first.
I'll give you some clues: The mostly light brown color is very typical. The feel of it reminded me of very lightweight, waterproof straw.
Give up? It's supermarket plastic bags, sliced into strips and crocheted! My sister's friend makes these bags (and other items, like yarmulkes and belts) for fun. She uses only the crinkly kind of plastic bags you get at the market, not the smooth kind from other types of stores. I just looked through my bag drawer (what?) and found a great big royal blue one I'm going to give her.
According to Cover & Bake
I tried this recipe one night last week. The kids are still a little weirded out about casserole-style food where everything's touching everything else, but they deemed this "OK." I loved it and will spring it on them again.
Chili Mac
1 Tbsp salt
½ lb. elbow macaroni
3 Tbsp vegetable oil, divided use
1½ lb. ground turkey or ground beef
2 medium onions, chopped medium
1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped medium
6 garlic cloves, pressed
2 Tbsp chili powder
1 Tbsp cumin
1 (14½-oz.) can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 (28-oz.) can tomato puree
1 Tbsp brown sugar
8 oz. Co-Jack (mixture of Colby and Jack) cheese, shredded
Heat oven to 400°. Bring 4 quarts of water to a boil in a Dutch oven. Stir in salt and macaroni and cook until al dente, about 5 minutes. Just before it's done, dip your Pyrex measuring cup in and reserve ¾ cup of the pasta water. Drain the pasta, transfer it to a bowl, and set aside. Don't bother washing the colander yet.
Wipe the Dutch oven dry and set over medium-high heat. Add 1 Tbsp of the oil and heat until shimmering. Add the ground meat and cook, breaking up the pieces with a wooden spoon, until no longer pink and beginning to brown, 5–8 minutes. Drain the meat through the colander, discarding the fat, and set aside.
Add the remaining 2 Tbsp oil to the Dutch oven and return to medium-high heat. When the oil is shimmering, add the onion, red pepper, garlic, chili powder, and cumin. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are softened and beginning to brown, about 7 minutes.
Add the diced tomatoes and their juice, tomato puree, brown sugar, reserved pasta water, and drained meat; bring to a simmer. Lower heat and cook for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, to allow the flavors to meld.
Stir in the cooked pasta and season with salt and pepper to taste. (I didn't bother with the seasoning, figuring–correctly—that the dish was already flavorful enough.) Pour into a 9x13" baking dish and sprinkle with the cheese. Bake until the cheese is melted and browned, about 15 minutes. Cool for 5–10 minutes before serving.
I just voted! There was no wait at all at my polling place, and I even ran into a few friends there at the same time.
My hand was shaking so badly that I couldn't hold my iPhone still enough to get a decent photo:
Don't forget to vote! Don't leave it to someone else! Every vote really does count; read Miguelina's cautionary tale if you don't believe me.
