NaBloPoMo | Playgroups are No Place For Children

Category Archives: NaBloPoMo

This is for after Thanksgiving when you’re sick of leftover turkey

Written on November 23, 2009 by Jennifer in beef, Mouthwatering Monday, NaBloPoMo, Pictures, playing along, Recipe

I know that conventional wisdom would dictate that if I’m going to post a recipe on the Monday before Thanksgiving, that the recipe would be Thanksgiving-ish. Well I’m going to buck conventional wisdom and pour some hoisin sauce down her gullet.

So this is a recipe for great beef stew. To be perfectly honest, I don’t really like beef stew. Actually I didn’t really like beef stew until I met Mahogany Beef Stew and we began a torrid love affair. He’s so meaty and hearty, there’s plenty of him to share.

This would be a perfect thing to fix, say, today or tomorrow, then reheat and serve on Saturday when you’re really sick of turkey or have already run out.

Let’s put on our aprons.

(Recipe adapted from Bon Appétit) (Fancy! I know!)

4 tablespoons olive oil
3 1/2 pounds boneless beef chuck roast, trimmed, cut into 2 1/2-inch pieces (or pre-cut stew meat)
1 medium-large onion, chopped
2 cups red wine (pinot noir, cabernet, zinfandel…whatever you like)
1 can reduced-sodium beef broth
1 14.5-ounce can diced tomatoes with Italian herbs, undrained
1/2 cup hoisin sauce (can be found in the Asian aisle)
2 bay leaves
1 pound carrots, peeled, cut diagonally into 1-inch lengths
1 package of baby portabella or white button mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
1 1/2 cups of peas (frozen or canned)
1 tablespoon cornstarch mixed with 1 tablespoon water
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Heat 2 tablespoons oil in heavy large pot over high heat. Sprinkle meat with salt and pepper. Add meat to pot; sauté until brown on all sides, about 10 minutes. Remove meat from the pot and place on a plate to add back later. Allow the pot to cool or the onions will burn. Once cooled, set the heat to medium-low; add 2 tablespoons oil to pot. Add onions; sauté until golden brown, about 10 minutes. Add carrots and mushrooms. Cook for 7-8 minutes. Mix meat into vegetables. Add 1 cup wine, beef broth, peas, tomatoes with juices, hoisin sauce, and bay leaves. Bring to boil.

Reduce heat to low, cover pot and simmer 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the remaining cup of wine. Cover; simmer 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Uncover, increase heat to high; boil until sauce is slightly thickened, stirring occasionally, about 15 minutes longer. Reduce heat to medium, add cornstarch mixture and simmer until sauce thickens, stirring occasionally, about 8 minutes. Discard bay leaves. Season stew with salt and pepper. Serve sprinkled with parsley.

Head on over to Rachel’s place for more recipes!

6 Comments - Leave a comment!

Apparently my singing is…not good

Written on November 22, 2009 by Jennifer in Little Monkeys, NaBloPoMo, Quirky Me, video

I can’t believe that the very first video I’ll be posting is one of me singing. Most of you probably didn’t even know that I could sing. You are in for a treat! Ella is particularly impressed with my abilities.

Ella loves to hear her mommy sing. from Playgroupie on Vimeo.

27 Comments - Leave a comment!

Choco-LOT icing

Written on November 20, 2009 by Jennifer in Little Monkeys, NaBloPoMo, Pictures

Thank goodness that’s chocolate icing and, uh, not something else.

12 Comments - Leave a comment!

Control issues? What control issues?

Written on November 18, 2009 by Jennifer in Men?, NaBloPoMo, Quirky Me

Since I had to take Ella to the ER on Monday morning, Tate was in charge of taking Carson to school.

I had very little time to explain how the morning should play out. Quickly I showed Tate what to fix Carson for lunch and what containers to pack them in and where the lunchbox could be found. I rattled off what time to wake him up, what he should wear (A JACKET!! TENNIS SHOES! NOT his Crocs!!), and how much milk to pour into his cup. As I was running out the door carrying Ella, I remembered that I hadn’t explained the rules of the drop off line, realizing I should have spent more time on this most important of school rituals versus how much milk to pour for Carson.

See here’s the thing about school drop off. There are rules, rules that are in place for a good reason. When everyone follows the rules, the line moves smoothly, the children (THINK OF THE CHILDREN!!) are safer, and _I_ am happier. Which is vitally important. Yes it is.

I get a bee in my bonnet nearly every Monday and Wednesday morning when I witness blatant disregard for these drop off rules which I KNOW were explained to every parent at orientation. These weasel parents try to cut in line, they park in the spots right beside the drop-off line when there are specially designated spots (who doesn’t like SPECIAL SPOTS??!!), and then they dangerously walk their kids between the cars in line. They are lucky I haven’t “accidentally” run them over.

So I tried to hit the high points of the most important rules for Tate so that he wouldn’t be the subject of a future blog post titled, “Weasel Parents named Tate who screw up in the drop off line.” He assured me that he understood.

“How did drop off go? Did you remember to unbuckle Carson before getting in line? Did he have his lunch box when he got out of the car? Did you FOLLOW THE RULES I LAID OUT FOR YOU?!” I calmly asked.

“Oh man. It was…not good,” I could hear the trepidation in his voice. “I drove up on the curb, other parents were flipping me the bird, I had to do a 180 right there in the drop off line. You are probably never going be able to show your face again up at the school,” it was evident that he was trying to suppress a laugh.

“So it went fine, didn’t it,” I asked.

“Of course it did,” Tate said, though I thought I heard him mutter at the end, “Control Freak.”

I probably deserved it.

(It took every ounce of self-control not to chastise Tate when I found out he sent fruit snacks (I KNOW! FRUIT SNACKS??) in Carson’s lunch. Those were not on the “approved items for lunch packing” list I rattled off to him that morning. He should know that I only allow the children to eat crap like that when nobody is looking, I send the healthy stuff to school.)

****

Ella is doing much better, thanks to you all for your kind words, thoughts, and prayers here, on Facebook, and Flickr.

23 Comments - Leave a comment!

Good things about Monday

Written on November 17, 2009 by Jennifer in Little Monkeys, NaBloPoMo, Pictures

Fearing the worst, I was relieved that at no time did the ER doctor ever utter the words, “Your daughter is suffering from Scarlet Fever/The Black Plague/an incurable skin condition that will leave her scarred for life.” It certainly didn’t hurt that the doctor who diagnosed and treated Ella with an allergic reaction to amoxicillin was not only kind and helpful, he was also HOT.

Overall, I think Monday was a very good day.

30 Comments - Leave a comment!

A little bit of this and a little bit of that.

Written on November 15, 2009 by Jennifer in hole-y matrimony, Little Monkeys, Mommydom, my stream of consciousness, NaBloPoMo, ouch, Randomness

Phew. Betcha thought I forgot all about posting on this lazy NaBloPoMo Sunday, huh? No? You didn’t even notice? Well.

**Ella has this really red rash that started yesterday. By last night she was practically covered with it. I took her to a doc in the box this morning and the nurse practitioner thought that it she could be having an allergic reaction to her antibiotic that she’s been on for almost 10 days for an ear infection. So that lazy Sunday I mentioned in the first paragraph was not, in fact, lazy. It was filled with worry and tender kisses on itchy foreheads, calamine lotion, oatmeal baths, and holding and rocking a sweet baby girl. I fully embodied the spirit of Ma Ingalls.

**I came home from the doctor to my husband questioning me, which is completely different than asking me questions. “Why didn’t they do a histamine test?” “The doctor didn’t even know WHAT the rash was and was just giving a cop out answer that it’s a drug reaction, wasn’t she?” “You ARE going to call the REAL doctor in the morning, AREN’T YOU?”

In case you were wondering my husband does not actually earn a paycheck as a hard-nosed detective.

**There is a direct correlation between the number of sunny days and the amount of housework that gets completed. My house is a freaking disaster area. Can you guess the weather?!

**I never, ever (EVER) write reviews, but an opportunity to try out a Shabby Apple Dress came my way and wouldn’t you know, I wrote a review. You can check out my review here!

6 Comments - Leave a comment!

Blog Tip Sharing Project Redux: Blog Design

Written on November 14, 2009 by Jennifer in blog tip sharing project redux, blogging, NaBloPoMo

A nice* blog design makes people want to stay and read.

Nice (in reference to blog design) adj. “A blog that doesn’t make your eyes bleed.”

I think that everyone has opinions on what a nice blog design is, some of us think a background design looks really cool, where others think that lots of white space is the cat’s meow. Some people like two sidebars, others prefer three or even four. Since this blog series is about what has worked for me, that’s what I’ll focus on, but also include some links to helpful articles and blog posts I’ve read on the subject.

Megan from Velveteen Mind said it best, regarding blog design,

“In essence, we are slipping our books into the shelves at Barnes and Noble and saying, “Yes, the cover is plain blue with only my title centered on the front, no excerpts on the back, and no one knows I wrote it because I just brought it from home… but yes, everyone here should single it out on the shelf and buy it. Because it’s damn good.”

Don’t judge my book by its cover, right?

I know it isn’t fair. Our writing should be enough. But when you have millions of voices saying that their writing should be enough, what are our poor readers to do?”f

Let’s talk about overall blog design.

1. A unique design makes you standout (unlike those provided by Typepad, Blogger, and WordPress.)

I know that when I switched from one of Blogger’s stock templates to a unique three-column design with custom header, I had an increase in readership. Certainly there are exceptions to this, as two of my favorite blogs, Swistle and Oh, The Joys, simply use the Minima template provided by Blogger and they are doing quite well without a fancy pants design.

There are thousands of free templates that you can find simply by googling “free template for blogger/wordpress.” Also, simply adding a unique header, easily made with the assistance of a program like Photoshop Elements or even Picnik can spiff up a basic template. If you happen to use Blogger for your blogging platform, Tips for New Bloggers is a great site that walks you step by step through tweaking and customizing the basic templates.

My blog uses a free template, courtesy of Scribblescratch, I designed the header myself, and Jennifer from Dress My Blog (and Jayesel) has helped me do a little tweaking.

If you prefer a truly unique design, there are many reasonably priced web designers who can help you. Here are just a few…

Dress My Blog
Swank Web Style
Temptation Designs
NW Designs
Simply Amusing Designs
Graphically Designing
Designs by Shannon
Judith Shakes Designs
Izzy Blog Design and Graphics
Splat Creative Designs
Pixel Pop Designs

2. Your blog MUST be fast loading

When people have 1000+ unread in their Google Readers or those who’ve stumbled upon your blog have to wait for your page to load, they simply aren’t going to wait and will click away, resulting in LOST READERS! {OH NO!}

In the past, I’ve had to remove widgets from my sidebar that caused my blog to load slowly. Other things that slow loading time are cluttered sidebars with excessive blog awards, coding errors, and flashy ads or backgrounds. You know those little flashy buttons that say things like “I <3 breastfeeding!” and “Twilight fanatic!”?? THOSE? Are the devil Kill the look of a blog Really impact the time it takes for your blog to load. Please make them go away.

Designs where the content is on the left, with sidebar(s) on the right, helps with improving loading, since at least your content is loading FIRST. If something is hanging up loading time, people can still read your post.

3. Make sure that whatever template you choose for your blog looks nice* in all web browsers.

You can check this by going to browsershots.org. *ahem* Apparently my blog looks like crap in Internet Exploder. I don’t know how to fix it and frankly, I think those of you reading this via IE should pick a different browser. Try Firefox or Google Chrome.

4. Your blog should be easy to navigate.

a) Is your contact information easy to find? Like, is it ON your front page, not just on a “contact” page or an “about” page? Please, for the love of all things bloggy, put your email address or a button that links to your email on your front page!!!!!! There is no reason to have to go on a scavenger hunt to find your email address. This is particularly important for those of you who are review bloggers.

b) Is it obvious where to comment on your blog?

c) Is your header “clickable?” If not, you really need to make a button that people can push to send them to your “home” page. On my blog, there is a “Home” button along the top, under my header. If your blog template doesn’t support this, it is easily done in your sidebar, you just need to code it….

For example:

You can also make your header clickable…somehow…if anyone would like to share with the class how to do this, please do so in the comments section.

d) Is your most recent post the first thing at the top of your blog? The one exception to this might be for those of you who frequently do giveaways and have your current giveaway as a “sticky” post. I’m referring to blogs that have an “about me” paragraph or a “cast of characters” before the first post. That’s information that is better left on a separate page or in the sidebar.

5. Did I mention before the design should look nice*?

Oh yes, I did! And this is what I mean…

Think about these things…the colors you choose for your background, headers, links, and fonts. Make sure they are easy to read. White writing on a black background…not so good, except for Photo Blogs. Stay far, far away from tiny fonts, they’re too hard to read! Even the font on this blog is a little too light-colored, I think. I keep meaning to change it, um, uh…anyone know how?!

Beware of really elaborate or flashing backgrounds, as they can distract from your content. If you have ads on your site, make sure they don’t overwhelm your content.

There is also a debate around the blogosphere about music that automatically plays on blogs. Music that automatically plays isn’t my favorite, though I won’t definitely click away. There are people who swear that they immediately leave if music starts playing. It’s just something to consider.

Here are a few links to posts that discuss blog design…

Blog Design Tips from Typepad

43 Web Design Mistakes You Should Avoid

I’d love to hear what you all have to add about nice* blog designs. Please, please, please, please…make certain your comments don’t sound like “I hate blogs that…” I certainly don’t mind people putting in your opinions about what makes for a good blog design, just please consider the feelings of others.

Previously in this series…Writing Tips, Blog Promotion and Social Networking, StumbleUpon School

23 Comments - Leave a comment!