Share your library finds tomorrow!

I don't know how I missed this before, but every month Sarah from This Heavenly Life hosts What We Found at the Library. I'm so excited about this, because there are some books I've been thinking I should tell you about, and this is the perfect occasion!

Sarah's latest picks were children's books that (as you may have guessed) they found at the library. But she confirmed that you can share about whatever it is you're reading – even if it didn't come from the library.

The next What We Found at the Library is April 1. (Nope, not a joke.) I'll be posting what I'm reading, and I'd love to know what you're reading too!

On the menu: the sequel

Here's the second part of the two-week menu plan I made last week, complete with a pic of my very-messy hand-scrawled original. (It was tricky working around last week's schedule, as evidenced by the scratched out items, arrows, scratched out arrows, etc.)

So here you go...

Yeah. Practically indecipherable. Like a secret code. Anyway, here's what it all means (for this week)....

Mon: Garlic chicken with couscous and cucumber yogurt dip
Tue: 10-bean vegetable soup
Wed: Pita pizza
Thr: red bell peppers stuffed with black beans, rice and veggies (*didn't end up making these last week)
Fri: Empanadas

Have a Mindful Menu you'd like to share? Join in!

Are baby slings dangerous?

I'm a fan of babywearing. I love how it gives parents a simple, practical way to hold a baby close, while they get things done around the house, shop, take care care of an older child or even head out of town.

So when I heard that there was a big baby sling recall going on, and that the CPSC was advising caution for using slings with infants under four months, I was concerned. I wanted to know what was going on, research what the issue was and find out how far-reaching the problem was. However, Megan at SortaCrunchy saved me the trouble.

She wrote a fabulous post about safe vs. unsafe babywearing. As it turns out, it all depends on what baby carrier you're using and how you're using it.

If you are interested in more information, I would highly recommend checking out her post and the resources she links to.

****

Photo by zimpenfish.

Perfectly Poetical: Haiku (Belated)

I've had a crazy month. And while I've managed to keep client deadlines in mind, attend the various functions associated with my brother's wedding, and remember to figure out what's for dinner each night (or at least to delegate the task), I plum forgot about Perfectly Poetical Tuesday.

Here's the really amazing thing, though: You didn't forget. Maybe not all of you, but some of you remembered and wrote haiku and then...I dropped the ball. (Which I feel bad about.) But it seriously warms my heart that you remembered!

I can't wait to see what you came up with!

Actually, I'm hoping they don't sound like this:

I wrote a haiku
There was nowhere to link it
Stephanie's a jerk.

Anyway. If you didn't already write a haiku, you can still join in the fun! Here's how to play. (If you tweet about it, feel free to use the hashtag #perpotues.)

The next PerPoTues will be April 13. The style will be free verse, so no rhyme, no meter, just let it flow from your heart. (Think Walt Whitman.)

And I won't forget that one, because it will be National Poetry Month! And a year since Perfectly Poetical Tuesdays began! So we're going to have to celebrate, but I'll be telling you about that later on.

For now, comment, link up and enjoy reading some haiku goodness....

On the menu: using up and working around

Since it's been kind of a topsy-turvy month, my meal planning has been pretty sporadic.

However, after lunch today, I sat down and hashed out a plan for the next two weeks, and then the Hubs and I went grocery shopping. Feels so good!

Because I've been so hit or miss with the meal planning lately, I've got an assortment of ingredients that need to be used up sooner than later: eggs, potatoes, a jalapeño (which we bought for stuffed bell peppers last weekish...then we ended up using the bell peppers for other things), leftover pork chops and cabbage (part of which went along with our traditional St. Patrick's Day dinner).

So this week's menu is all about using that stuff up, while working around a somewhat-full (although not insane) week schedulewise. On nights when I've got somewhere to be (or after a day I know will be busy), I try to plan something easy. And I don't plan crockpot meals for days I have to be somewhere first thing in the morning. (Why give yourself one more thing to do before rushing out the door?)

With that in mind, here's what I came up with...

Mon: TJ's pasta with eggplant with diced up pork chops
Tue: breakfast for dinner (eggs and bacon) with cinnamon oranges
Wed: red bell peppers stuffed with black beans, rice and veggies
Thr: potato soup
Fri: andouille sausage cooked with apples and cabbage

And there you have it. What's on your plate this week? Dish it at Mindful Menus!

P.S. For those of you who enjoy the scans of my sloppily hand-scrawled menu plans, the Hubs is on the computer hooked up to the scanner (working away on our taxes, actually!), so I'll have to save that for next time.

P.P.S. Poets: The belated edition of Perfectly Poetical Tuesday will be up tomorrow.

I've had this feeling I was forgetting something...

A few minutes ago I just had this thought: "Wow, the last Perfectly Poetical Tuesday seems like a long time ago. I don't even remember what I wrote for my haiku. Wait...what day is it? Did I even do a post this month?" Yeah. Way past the second Tuesday of the month. And, nope, I didn't do a PerPoTues post. So sorry about that! I feel like such a flake! I guess when I postponed thinking I also (subconsciously?) postponed PerPoTues.

So, friends, what would you like to do? Should I do a post this coming Tuesday, so you can link up then? Should we just wait and do haiku in April instead?

I am open to suggestions.

UPDATE: A sweet and Not-Ever-Still friend let me know several haikus are up and ready to go. I'll do a belated PerPoTues post (with Mr. Linky!) this Tuesday.

Wedding shrapnel

You know when you're on the mend when you start noticing your house is a mess.

Last week was brother's-wedding chaos. Then, after I took two of the last out-of-town guests to the airport, I realized I was coming down with something. So this week I've been fighting off this cold/sore throat/cough thing and catching up with work and vaguely aware that the house needed attention, but too exhausted to do anything about it.

This morning (I'm using the term loosely. Does 3:30 a.m. really count as "morning"?) I woke up, mind racing with things (real and imagined) I needed to do. I finally got up to make some tea and realized it looks like some kind of wedding bomb exploded in my house.

The coffee table is littered with silk flowers, collage supplies I had out for bridal shower decorations (the shower was the evening before the wedding) and wedding magazines they keep sending me because I went to a bridal expo with Christine. In the corner of the living room are bags of stuff I brought back home from the shower and wedding. In one bag: two spools of ribbon (one mostly empty), nail polish, polish remover, scissors, lipstick, Bed Head, a vintage caketopper and a box with earrings in it (incidentally not the earrings that came in the box). I ended up with some things that belonged at my parents' house. Some need to go home with Ian and Christine when they return, and some of them need to find their way to my scrapbooking aunt. The rest just needs to be put back in place here at home.

At least the kitchen is clean, thanks to the Hubs. (Who is awesome.)

****

Photo by me. Yes, we filled out our census form. OK, the Hubs did that too. Sheesh, I feel like such a bum sometimes.

All good news!

Thanks for all your concern and wishes for health, regarding the headaches I was having and more recent sore throat bug.

The bad headaches left with the change in weather, and I'm just about over the sore throat and coughing. So yay!

Much more exciting than that is we got my brother all married off! He and his bride are honeymooning in London as I write this.

Also, I wasn't necessarily intending to write a blog post today, but I got rather long winded commenting on a post by verybusymomwith4, who was looking for feedback on saving money and still eating well. The topic intrigues me, and there is a great discussion going on over there.

I'd definitely encourage you to stop by and add your two cents!

****

Photo by me: Ian and Christine opening presents the day after the wedding. I was in the wedding, so I didn't take any pics then.

Ouch part 2

Still having some pretty bad headaches on and off. As far as this week's meals, yesterday the Hubs found some lentil stew in the freezer and heated that up for us. Today he was off work and decided to make this South American dish I can never remember the name of.

Better than any menu plan I could've come up with! ;)

P.S. Today was the birthday of Dr. Seuss. When's the last time you read The Cat in the Hat? (Been too long for me!)

Thinking postponed.

I wanted to join in with Jenna's Mindful Menus today, but instead I got a migraine. Since I'm typing this, you probably guessed I'm doing better (I am). But I'm still not really up for thinking too much. I have some menu ideas scrawled on a piece of paper, and maybe I can make it into an actual plan tomorrow.

Tonight I'm thinking pancakes sound good. Or anything the Hubs wants to make/pickup if he's so inclined.