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Posts Tagged ‘postaday2011’

I haven’t bought Girl Scout Cookies in several years, mostly because it got really awkward in my former workplace when five co-workers were selling them at the same time. I certainly couldn’t afford to buy them from everybody.

Confession: I don’t really care about Thin Mints. I know.

My all-time favorite is the Samoa (weird, because I generally don’t like the texture of dried coconut), with the Tagalong running a close second.

Today, Serious Eats offered a recipe for Homemade Tagalongs that I might have to try. I’m thinking they might be even better using freshly ground peanut butter from Earth Fare.

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So far, I’ve snagged three free boxes of organic truffles from Earth Fare via the store’s free-stuff-with-a-$5-purchase deals. They’re going to be worth every penny when I actually have to buy them, however, given their rich, layered flavor and creamy texture.

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The “Do One Thing” series chronicles my yearlong effort to tackle one project every day to organize my life and home.

Day 50: I declare today a sick day for the Do One Thing challenge, although I did manage to read and recycle two magazines.

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The “Do One Thing” series chronicles my yearlong effort to tackle one project every day to organize my life and home.

Day 48: You know how employment experts are always going on about how you should have an up-to-date resume on hand so it’ll be ready at the spur of the moment? Totally didn’t do that, so I spent a good part of the day gathering information and formatting it. Because what’s better for organizing your life than actual employment?

Day 49: Every month, I go through an envelope filled with credit card receipts and compare them to the statements before shredding them. And every month, I silently lament the waste of time, since every receipt matches every entry.

But not today. A restaurant charged me nearly $19 for what my receipt clearly showed was an $11 charge. I guess there really are discrepancies to be found.

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Is there such as thing as a pie gauntlet? If so, then Mrs Dragon has thrown it down.

In celebration of Pi Day — 3/14 — she has issued a pie challenge, complete with nifty prizes. I certainly won’t be making any more sweet potato pies, but I do have some pecans awaiting their destiny in the freezer.

I also have an awesome recipe from the folks at America’s Test Kitchen. All I lack now is the ability to properly roll out a pie crust.

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The “Do One Thing” series chronicles my yearlong effort to tackle one project every day to organize my life and home.

Day 47: This is going to sound totally lame, but I’ve wanted a groovy tissue cover box for a while. I mean, if you’re going to have to keep a box of tissues around, it may as well look good. Bless their hearts, tissue makers try, but their box designs just scream “Go get grandma her tissues.”

Target has been slowly marking down tissue cover boxes for a few months And by “slowly,” I mean they’ve been marking down $19.99 boxes to $16.49. Not exactly what I call a clearance.

Today’s Target journey, however, turned up the beauty pictured above for $4.99. It was the only one that I could find, and it was perfect. It’s groovy without being flashy, because a flashy tissue cover box would just be gauche, no?

Previously:

Day 46: Tightened a couple of cabinet pulls in the master bathroom with the handle on a pair of nail clippers. Because sometimes rattling cabinet pulls compel you to fix them RIGHT NOW without having to wander into the freezing garage to search for a proper screwdriver.

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The “Do One Thing” series chronicles my yearlong effort to tackle one project every day to organize my life and home.

Day 45: Rescued a florist’s vase from the garage. Normally, this sort of thing would end up in the thrift store box, but I like its minimalism. I cleaned it up and filled it with colored glass pebbles that I bought for a tiling project. (We were going to intersperse the pebbles in a pattern among the tiles, but it turns out that both my husband and I HATE tiling and there was no way we were going to work any more complications into the project than we had to.)

Anyway, I’m sort of not digging the whole colored pebbles in a vase thing, so it may end up at the thrift store anyway, but at least the garage is a little neater.

Previously:

Day 44: Dropped two magazines from our subscription list. Both are guilty of misguided attempts to blend their print and online operations, attempting to increase subscription prices while publishing all stories on the Internet for free. This is not a survivable online strategy. Besides, my husband cashed in a bunch of airline miles a couple of weeks ago for still more magazine subscriptions, so we’re still in the dead tree business.

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And another Valentine’s Day passes without a Haggerty contribution to Hallmark or FTD. Because, seriously, isn’t it nicer to do something awesome for your significant other when they least expect it, rather than when the world tells them they should?

Grand gestures: They’re not controlled by the calendar. Little gestures also mean a lot.

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The “Do One Thing” series chronicles my yearlong effort to tackle one project every day to organize my life and home.

Day 42: I picked up a Michael Graves drawer organizer, priced at $4 rather than the normal $10, at Dirt Cheap, which seems to have an unending supply of items from Target this winter. I had three small kitchen cabinet drawers filled with accessories and gadgets, all of which I use sometimes, but some of which I use ALL the time. And drawers are like handbags — the thing you need is always at the bottom under other things.

Now I have the stuff that I use all the time sorted into four little organized rows in a larger drawer. I moved the contents of the larger drawer (rolls of foil, plastic wrap, parchment paper, etc.) into two small drawers, and the third small drawer holds the things I use sometimes.

The three small drawers before organization.

 

(If you haven’t heard of Dirt Cheap, it’s an offshoot of Hudsons Salvage. When I was growing up in South Mississippi, Hudsons was known for selling what I called “disaster merchandise” from stores that had suffered fires or flood. Today, Hudsons and its offshoots, Treasure Hunt and Dirt Cheap, sell what’s known as “problem inventories,” which apparently include everything from closeout stock to seconds. Shopping at these stores is an adventure, to say the very least.)

Also this week:

Day 41: Filled all the liquid soap containers with liquid soap, then forgot to bring them upstairs for a whole 24 hours. But it’s the thought that counts, right? And your hands can’t be that dirty anyway.

Day 43: Sort of organized some school files I brought with me on a CD from my last job. This is the sort of task that makes Dropbox pretty appealing.

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I’m not a vegetarian, but I always seem to bring vegetarian dishes to parties. I guess I’m a sympathizer.

This is a recipe that several people have requested. Last week, a friend remembered the dish from a year ago and asked me to bring it to a gathering tonight.

It’s ridiculously easy to make. The original recipe, which someone emailed to me a few years ago, called for a couple tablespoons of olive oil, but I left it out after the oil got clumpy in the refrigerator once. You won’t miss it. Also, the original recipe says it makes four to six servings, but it makes tons of servings for a potluck-style dinner.

Black Bean Salad

Two 15-ounce cans black beans, rinsed and drained
2 tomatoes, seeded, chopped
1 small bell pepper, chopped
4 green onions, chopped
2 tablespoons minced cilantro
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
Salt and black pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients, mixing well. Chill, covered, for at least one hour.

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