Cream of What?

My mother-in-law, the queen of the remake ("you just toss in this, and these leftovers and Oh! lets get rid of this...") swears that all you have to do to resurrect old, cold, gummy Cream of Wheat is to add milk and heat.

Okay, Beth, you're on!

Euw. Cream of Rubber and milk. Highly unappetizing, but I'll add some leftover cream of wheat from yesterday morning, too, in true Beth fashion.

Hmm. Somehow I don't think that went quite right. I'm pretty sure it's still edible... maybe I'll just selflessly feed everyone else.

Where have all the periodicals gone?

I guess you know you're not mainstream enough when all your favorite periodicals get cancelled.

Last year, when Cottage Living and Mary Engelbriet's Home Companion were cancelled, I thought the cut backs were all over.  Phew!  At least Cookie made it.

Turns out, that was only the first wave.

Now I have to put up with Southern Living instead of Cottage, and Lucky instead of Cookie.  These are pale, pale substitues.  Now I have no design magazines that don't consider 2,000 square feet a small house, and no parenting magazines that don't try to tell me how not to discipline my kids. 

I guess I must turn to blogs now, like the rest of Mom America.  I'm sure there are some good ones, but I'm tactile, people.  TACTILE!!!!!!!!!! 

Now I get catalogues, which is dangerous.  I'm increasingly tempted by all white rooms and starting to consider $300 for a side table a good deal.

Winter for Dummies...

Winter conditions do not maintain a constant temperature.  Occassionally, in the middle of a thaw, the temperature will drop suddenly.  This causes all the puddles of melted snow to freeze.  Likewise, all run-off from a house gutter will freeze.

Use extreme caution when leaving the safety of home to get the mail.  If you have a downspout right next to your mailbox, you likely will have a large, watery-looking patch of ice directly beneath your mailbox.

Warning: should you succumb to the ice, do NOT attempt to stay upright by grabbing onto your mailbox!  You will only injure your hand and look like an idiot.

Christmas Card solution

How do YOU display your Christmas cards? The Slapdashery saw this method in a Pottery Barn catalogue, and decided to be a copy cat. She isn't sure how she will keep the dashers from attempting to reenact Tarzan on them, but they are pretty for now.


PS: Don't you just love my surruptitiously flashy wall?