Pray for the Lost

today a prayer for family, friends and strangers

be with them whether they notice

comfort them whether they need it

angels, sinners and soldiers

doing the things they believe they must

without help, hope, love

happy, sad and angry

show them the light of honesty

the warmth in happiness

save, believe, dream

bring them inspiration

conquer their fear

Amen

START YOUR CHRISTMAS SHOPPING

I am just getting to my Martha Stewart episodes on DVR for the past couple of days and this is a GREAT item.  Triwa is a company out of Sweden and they have so many amazing colors and are affordable!  Check them out...the minute I win the lotto, I am buying one in every color!  Woot!

Today is a GOOD day

A little cynical, politically incorrect funny for you today.  Go out and make the world a better place today, I trust you to!

My Urban Flock



Darby, 8 years old



We have kicked around the idea of housing

an urban flock, sometime in

the next couple of years, primarily because

we use a ridiculous amount of

eggs.  The secondary reason for that

is that the kids get some

responsibility for helping take care of the food they eat and we know what

kind of diet the chickens would have.  Of course, this will likely

only happen when we no longer house our feline urban flock. 

Halloween, 11 years old

Darby and Halloween are our oldest in the group and none too happy

when others arrived.  Despite the sudden acquisition

of the badly abused and homeless Devil Cat (Masa), some

 how everyone has figured out how to negotiate territory

and sometimes, just leave each other alone. 

When I took her in, it was interesting to discover Masa was pregnant

and subsequently she tried to kill Darby.  No, not

kidding here, threw him down a flight of stairs!  To say it took

Darby a while to adjust is an

UNDERSTATEMENT.  Enter Jack and Harvey,

twin boys to Masa that were to go to a family that later reneged, and

you have a house hold that is never short on drama. 

Yes, sometimes its crazy but its home!





Jack, 4 years old



Harvey, 4 years old

Masa, 6 years old

Best of the Web

It's been a while since I have done one of these so I am thinking "here you go."  For those of you thinking "this isn't the best of the web" I say "suck it."

One of my favorite blogs for my daily dose of gratuitous violence, dish, all things vamp and more, I check in with True Blood Dallas on Twitter.  Check out the blog as well for a posting on the potential new CBS show based on the Harris novels.  True Blood continues to entertain so this should be interesting.

A long time fan and contributor to the big orange Daily Kos (I blog there as DFJtoo) I advocate their front page for a lively, daily conversation on all things political.  While working as a progressive format, I am constantly surprised what a BIG TENT that involves.  My favorites on the blog continue to be Bill in Portland Maine and DarkSyde.  Go check them out, expand your thinking or hell, just start thinking.

I am a foodie.  There, I said it.  I am not sure this was a secret but there you go.  It has gotten so bad, I volunteer at Central Market just to earn credits to turn around and take more classes.  GOOP is making this much more difficult for me as I am now completely unable to stop printing recipes, cooking and trying new things.  Check out Smitten Kitchen and Stay at Stove Dad that I found as a result of Ms. Paltrow.  UGH.  So much further down the rabbit hole now...

Now that gift giving season is upon us, I will reiterate my plan to purchase a large volume via Amazon.com with my gift cards earned with Opinion Outpost and Swagbucks.  In times of economic hardship, this has allowed me so much more flexibility than I thought possible before.  For more unique purchases, my top three sites (in no particular order) are Etsy, Think Geek, and Tanga.  Etsy is amazing, handmade unique items for such great prices! Think Geek is pretty self explanatory.  Whether you have a geek in your house or someone that just likes Family Guy, this is the site for you.  Tanga, a recent find, has great daily deals but I go to them for the amazing deals on funny t-shirts.  The one down side is if you want multiples, you have to place separate orders, but the ridiculously low price makes it completely worth it.

So there you go.  Head out into your respective worlds and do great things.  Peace out!

Eat local and Learn to Can!

In our ever increasing quest to eat local, eat healthy AND on the cheap, we decided to check out a local only farmers market in our area and it was AH-mazing!  the kids had a great time and we spent very little to come home with arm loads of tasty things.

I was lucky enough to win a canning book over at one of my favorite sites and quickly bookmarked a million things to try.  I started with Peach Butter and Pickles (though not in the same jar)!

I will say, to get the right consistency took FOREVER, but man were we rewarded!  This stuff is summer in a jar.  This will definitely be something we make to give away as gifts.


 *makes mental note to get busy for Christmas

The pickles were fun.  Leave it to me to have NO IDEA there are a million different recipes for this.  They turned out great but they are not the crispy Vlassics I am accustomed to.  Also unknown to me until I started the process but to get this crispy pickle you have to put an additive in the mix.  Since I was trying to do the local and organic thing, I opted not to do this.  I guess I will have to decide next time if that is the way I will keep it.  I think a pickle recipe without the additive would probably be better done as thick slices.  But that just the foodie in me over thinking it...

Fun stuff!  Think about finding a place in your area and try it!