An open letter to Kinex

Dear Kinex,

I'd like to thank you for sending my kids that free sample of your lego-like toy. They thoroughly enjoyed watching me put together the little helicopter so they could tear it apart 30 seconds later. I'm especially appreciative for that sample because it made me realize that I will NEVER buy your product. Less than 30minutes of being in my house, I stepped on one of the pieces and it's still embedded in my foot. Less than an hour later, we'd already lost 4 of the pieces (excluding the one in my foot). So kudos to your company who allowed me this small window of opportunity to discover a "No Buy Toy" before I actually bought it.

Sincerely,
A satisfied customer

Pay it forward

I've found another excellent opportunity to pay some kindness forward to someone.

This woman bakes and sells cookies that are sent all over including overseas to Iraq. For $9.00 she'll bake an extra dozen and send them to the troops in Iraq. Think of how many soldiers we could treat if everyone who reads this blog contributed just $9.00. It would be awesome! Here's her link and story:

Club Nine. Supporting our troops

Make me proud my friends!

I'm pumped!

We ordered our new media center and chair for the living room this weekend. I've been looking EVERYWHERE for a media center as I knew what I wanted in my head but couldn't find anything that I liked. I happened to stroll into JCPenny and lo and behold I found it! It was pricey (figures) but I really liked it and it was exactly what I wanted in design. Then I saw the chair...OMG I totally fell in love with it! I don't fall for many inanimate objects but this....this was love at 1st sight. I thought DH would be hard to convince but surprise! he liked it too. Here are some pics from the store as it won't be shipped for a while.















And the boys acting like boys:

The cider mill w/ 13 three year olds

Is there anything that SCREAMS fall like a trip to the cider mill in 85 degree weather? Cheeze and Rice it was hot. Anywho, I went to the Plymouth cider mill with O's class last week. We did have a good time but the heat and the freakin' bee's that were all over the place were a bit of a downer. On the plus side, O had fun, it gave us time to bond w/o Dad and L, the fresh apples were delicious and the doughnuts ROCKED!! We did find a 3 y/o kid there without shoes wandering around the pumpkin patch with no parent/guardian in sight. Every mom thought that he belonged to one of the mom's in the area but when I saw him wandering off and crying for "mom", I intercepted. We looked for his mom for like 10 min. before we enlisted the help of the staff at the cider mill. This kid was wandering around for at least 15 min. before I took over so you gotta figure he was wandering alone for like 30 min. I noticed a non-chalant mom stroll up to the cider dining hall and I asked her if she was looking for a child. She said yes, like she was answering whether or not she wanted fries with that, and I told her that he was inside with the staff. She had the audacity to look annoyed and it took everything I had not to punch that stupid heffa in the face. Thank God O decided at that moment to announce that he had to go potty or I'd have said something to her. What a effin ass. Do people not understand that there are people in this world that PREY on little children? I just don't understand. I never will.



Here are some pics from our trip:

Recipe of the Day

This recipe ROCKS! You HAVE to try it...trust me!!
Here's how we ate it:
On the toasted pita bread, I spread a little hummous then put the chili and coucous on top (I mixed the coucous and chili together after both were cooked, this is the only way to go!!!) and ate the pita's like they were tostadas. OMG this was even better on day 2 and 3! I NEVER eat leftovers much less day three so this is a winner to be sure! I could eat this every day.

Morrocan Chili with 10,000 grains of sand
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 pounds ground lamb ( I used 1.5 lbs of fresh ground turkey breast)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons chili powder
1/2 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 bay leaf
1 large onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 lemon, zested and juiced
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce, eyeball it
1 (14-ounce) can tomato sauce

Couscous (10,000 grains of sand)

2 tablespoons butter
1 1/2 cups chicken stock
A handful golden raisins 4 dried apricots, chopped
1 1/2 cups couscous
3 to 4 tablespoons toasted pine nuts
A handful fresh parsley leaves, chopped
A handful fresh mint leaves, chopped
3 tablespoons finely chopped chives
8 pita breads, cut into wedgesfor scooping

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Heat skillet with extra-virgin olive oil, add meat and brown. Season the meat with salt and pepper, to taste, chili powder, cumin, coriander, cinnamon and paprika. Add the bay leaf, onions, bell pepper and garlic to the pan. Cook until onions are soft, 8 minutes. Add lemon juice and zest, Worcestershire sauce and tomato sauce. Stir and reduce heat to simmer. Bring butter and stock to a boil in a pot with tight fitting lid. Add dried fruit and couscous, stir then turn off heat and set lid in place. Let stand 5 minutes. Add nuts and herbs and toss with fork. Toast pita wedges in hot oven or under broiler. Pile chili in bowls, top with "sand" and serve with pita wedges for scooping.