Magic Hour?

Best birds for pets? My dog prefers chicken.

By the by--since this meetup's already on the books, I wanna give a shout out to anyone running the Princess Half Marathon on Feb 26th. There's at least a small handful of us already; any other WTMers planning to run it? Yet another chance to meet IRL! Extra points to anyone willing to dress as a tiara-wearing bee.

Served the turkey for supper tonight. Dh very, very carefully ate everything around the turkey without touching it. :nopity:

So sorry about your dog :grouphug: What's for breakfast/lunch today? No appetite. It's manure-spreading day in our 'hood and we can't breathe. I don't even want to open the fridge, lest I risk manure-air mixing with my salmonella turkey. What's on your schedule for today? I think we'll go out in search of fresh air. Who can do school when there's no breathable air?? Do any of you scrapbook? No. I don't do anything cute or pretty; it's a major character flaw. But you can go to Walmart with me to escape the stench if you wish.

Update: Thanks to my personal culinary advisers (y'all) and the poll on facebook (of whom 92% agreed and 8% just like polls)--I am going to bake the turkey. And now I should conduct a poll on whether my dh will eat it.* * Hint: pigs are to flying as ____ is to eating the turkey.

Oh yes, I freeze shredded cheese all the time. Very handy!

Dh says it's not the part in cold water but the part sticking up out that worries him. He doesn't want to eat it. Would you???? How fast does bacteria grow?

I got out a frozen turkey yesterday afternoon and very responsibly thawed it in cold water, changing out the water every 30 minutes just like a person who knows what she's doing. Except, oops, never put it in the fridge--got up this morning and there it still is, in a pot of cold water in the sink. Turkey is still cold. Should I bake & eat it or should I, with tears and gnashing of teeth, toss it out? :crying:

CONGRATS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Would love details! How long did you train? How did it go? Do you feel great??? What recommendations would you make to someone who's running her first half in, oh, say, four weeks from today, for example?? :D

What's for lunch? Lunch--ahhh, I have friends and their dc coming over for "a day in the country," starting with lunch. So it'll be a roast chicken, mashed turnips, cornbread, split pea soup, and mixed fresh berries. Oh, and iced tea. And then, I don't know. What are you supposed to do on a day in the country? Should we go cow tipping? Get waaaay too deep in each other's business? Going anywhere today? Depends on if I get the house cleaned before friends get here. If not, I'll be ducking out just before they arrive and coming back just after they leave. What's on your mind today? Mind? Mind???? what mind????? that thing's looooooooooong gone.

Apologies for a secondhand review--but a close friend has just started Ripped in 30 and LOVES it. She's done Shred before (and has spent time with Shaun T in Insanity; just saying she's not a newbie)--and she says she's noticed a difference already just in a few days doing Ripped. The exercises are tough, and unlike Shred, you don't repeat any, so she says it's more interesting. AND, more importantly (in my view), the people exercising behind Jillian don't CHEAT. :D

I make this salad--but swap the apple cider for balsamic vinegar. Just awesome.

Love, LOVE mujadarrah. Even when accidentally overcooked (not naming names), the dish is frighteningly good. We love chicken posole here and I was craving it the other day--but didn't have chicken, so subbed lentils. Wow!! A new favorite dish! Lots of room for imagination, but here's how I did it: 1 can yellow or white hominy, drained (or corn) 1 can Mexican-style diced tomatoes 1 can medium red enchilada sauce 2 carrots, diced 1 med onion, chopped 3 garlic cloves, minced 2 tsp cumin (who are we kidding--I use a lot more than that) 2 cups lentils, with veggie or chicken stock/broth to match Optional toppings: chopped cilantro, lime wedges, tortilla chips, pickled jalapenos Saute carrots and onion for a couple minutes in canola oil. Add garlic and cumin. When it smells so good you can't stand it anymore, add everything else and let it simmer forever until the lentils are done (ok, really that's only like half an hour, depending on the type of lentil). Top with yummy stuff. Add salt if you want. Serve with warm whole wheat tortillas.

Er, so am I the only one feeding the dc Cheerios for supper? :biggrinjester: Lentils posole for me, which is what the blessed infants WOULD have, if they were some other kind of children who ate foods not from a box.

:iagree: When I was 19 and a senior in college (but living at home since I had to pay for my own tuition), my parents refused to let me go to a hockey game with a girlfriend in downtown Dallas. I had been working and/or attending college (30 minutes away) for several years, had done various international trips without them etc--but they deemed this "too dangerous." I wish they'd done a "how to be safe" speech (for the millionth time) instead of deciding I couldn't be trusted (that's not what they said; it's what I heard). Of course, I'm 30 (mumble mumble) years old now, and my mother still tells me to go to bed, or lock my car doors while driving, etc etc etc etc. :chillpill: AND my girlfriend still teases me about the time we almost went to the hockey game.

Here's the link. Come join the happiest losers! :D

:iagree: Same here. Results are FAST, and the test was super easy despite our pretty much only doing spelling so far where tests are concerned. I have myself conducted evaluations for other hs students, though, so I can talk a little about that. Unfortunately I can't evaluate my own kids' work :D, but when it comes to the evaluations, all the evaluator has to certify is the students have made sufficient progress. I do not include grade levels or specifics. Just, for example, "This year in math John studied addition and subtraction of double digit numbers.... His work demonstrates satisfactory progress." I also only discuss progress in those subjects specifically named in the parents' NOI. Let me know if I can answer any more questions about the evaluation process. HTH.

Sooooo awesome, y'all!!!! I'm training for my first half Feb 26 (8 weeks from today, but who's counting!). So far the furthest I've run is 6.8 miles, so I'll need every last day of training. Isn't it the coolest and freakiest feeling EVER!?

I did! Went from a suburb of DC to the sticks 3 1/2 years ago. (By "sticks" I mean the nearest Starbucks is half an hour away, we shop for food at Walmart, we haul our own trash to the dump, and we have well water. Oh, and we look out our windows at cows grazing. Er, except now, when the cows have been kindly escorted to market.) I'm the kind of girl who's happy wherever I live, and this place is just fine. I do miss diversity a LOT. However, the up side of everybody knowing your business is I have an instant family; in an emergency there are a million people I could call. My neighbors might not be close physically, but it's nothing like the frequent pre-occupied isolation of the city. I assure you nobody in DC ever brought me their extra turnips or cucumbers or famous brownies. :D Though yes, I do make sure I hit up Starbucks and Target when I run errands up in The Big City.

I'm in the Valley and belong to a very awesome and active group. PM'ing you. :)

Oh for sure, let me plug the weight loss challenge group. We do weekly weigh ins, and each month come up with different ways to motivate ourselves to keep going. The group size waxes and wanes, but there's usually at least a couple of us checking in every day. This group has been fantastic for me this year in helping me lose weight. Also a big fan of our WTM running group--this is a very active group, hugely supportive and helpful whether you're just starting out with Couch to 5k or a seasoned runner. In 2011 I went from over 200 pounds and lazy to losing 50 pounds (from size 18 to 10), running a bunch of races (5ks, 10ks, and an 11k) and now training for a half marathon in February. :svengo: My goals for 2012 are to lose the rest of my weight, tone muscles (I'm going to get through P90X if it kills me), and increase my running speed and distances. I'm going to redo ChaLean Extreme and then hit P90X. A year from now I want people who see my fat pictures to pass out.

Yes! It's so secret, in fact, it's a recipe only my dear, dear dh knows, and I'd never dare to ask... :D From what I used to see, however, he splits them open and stuffs them with cheese and fresh garlic, and then sautees them. Or he might sautee them first, then stuff them, then saute them a little more. I'm not terribly sure, especially since I'm usually hiding myself in a closet somewhere until he's done.* I'm more of a squid hotdog person, myself. * This also goes for when he attempts spaghetti.

Since I'm the cook, I usually don't have to make dishes I don't care for, but when we're at someone else's house, sure, of course I'll eat it even if it's wretched. Except for the time we were served half-raw chicken. I must say, however, that I can't stand beef or pork or game, and I never buy it--but God, no doubt thinking it hilarious, keeps sending that kind of meat to us for free. The latest: my daughter caught a PIG at the county fair, for example, and starting February we are going to be eating ornery pig for a long time. I've been assuming I'd just eat something else while they eat pork--but thanks to these threads I'm feeling sort of guilty. Does this mean I should eat the pork even though I hate it, to set an example for the kids, maybe? Or--I can be very grateful for the free meat without actually eating it, right?? Oh dear. This is one of those times Mommy Hypocrisy is allowed, surely??

My dh couldn't cook when we got married. And almost 12 years later, he still can't, so hats off to those of you whose cooking instruction classes (whether subtle or overt) succeeded. My dh's claim to fame (or rather, one of the stories I've made him famous for :D) is one time when he was trying to saute hotdogs, he spilled the oil on himself and had to go to the ER. Yes, he went to the ER from making hotdogs. Now that's a gift.