Happy Fourth of July!

What a wonderful day!

 Enjoy your friends, family, and our wonderful Country.

We'll be getting candy at the parade, and then eating, and swimming, and eating, and swimming, and then watching fireworks.

And we'll do this.

(Man, the kids are getting big.  They are in middle and elementary school now!)

Yarn Along--Almost late but not quite!

Joining the Yarn Along at Ginny's Small Things...what a great blog.  You should visit.

Here's what I'm currently reading and working on:

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand.  You MUST read this.  Everyone must read this.  I can't explain how incredible this story is.  I absolutely loved it...just finished it a couple of days ago, and even stayed up until 1 in the morning reading one night.  Now, my husband will tell you there is nothing that can make me stay up that late.  But this book did it.

The project is a skirt from Knitting Wrapsody, out of Cascade Ultra Pima.  I was making it for a swimsuit cover-up.  When I thought I was getting a pale turquoise swimsuit and also that I would enjoy the pattern, I was excited.  But Athleta was out of stock in the turquoise, and so I have a royal purple swimsuit.  The pattern is also four rows of okay plus one row of major PITA.  So I'm kind of meh about it now.  I think if I had something I was excited to knit I would be knitting a little more.  I'd like to start a navy blue cardigan for P so it will be ready to wear for school.

Here is a picture of one of my completed projects from an earlier Yarn Along:

This is D with her wrap, exactly as I expected her to use it.  She likes to wrap up in it while she reads in bed at night.  A fun pattern...I am pretty sure I'll make #3 this winter.

Now I have to go see what everyone else is making!

ps:  This is not my second downer post that I mentioned yesterday!  I am working on it and should have it ready tomorrow.

Fast and Furious

I've got two serious posts, this one and the next, and then we'll be in need of more comic relief.  I've started this post a couple of times, but I just get so mad and then the post veers off the rails.  Hopefully this time it will stick.

The title of this post, "Fast and Furious," refers to an Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Bureau (ATF) project.  The aim was this:  (a) get guns into the hands of Mexican criminals; (b) wait for the guns to show up at a (Mexican) crime scene; (c) and finally bring down the Mexican drug cartels based on the guns present at the scene.  Please don't ask how (b) follows (c).  It never worked.

In the past few weeks, Congressman Darryl Issa and Senator Chuck Grassley have gone public with their investigation of "Fast and Furious."  In months of requesting documents from ATF and Justice, they would receive page after page that looked like this:

Did Justice think they were being cute, or did someone need to buy time?  What an insult!

News of FnF began to leak out in December, when an ATF whistleblower finally blew loud enough.  Unfortunately, the only ones who picked it up were the "wacko" gun-rights advocates, not the "respected" main stream media.  Finally, in January, World Net Daily (not exactly a bastion of moderate thought!) also ran with this story.

Right now, at least TWO United States law enforcement personnel have been killed by guns sold in the FnF program.  Don't you wonder what the FnF planners THOUGHT would happen?  I am pretty sure that a Mexican crime scene would involve more than loitering or possibly some spray paint on a wall.  As a matter of fact, I am pretty sure that a Mexican crime scene involves a lot of bodies everywhere.  Did this NOT matter in any way to the people planning this stupid pursuit?

So, Stupid Action Item (SAI) Number One:  Someone was going to have to get killed for this to work.  What a disgusting, reckless disregard for human life.  Oh, it would probably just be some stupid drug dealer?  Well, I'm pretty sure that all the people on this map would disagree with you.

Go Here for the interactive version:  http://www.dailybrisk.com/2011/06/mexico-killing-map.html

Yes, I know that only a fraction (between 12% and 17%) are due to guns from the US, so only a fraction of those (1/4? I'm guessing here) are due to FnF.  Which 3% would you like to have still alive?

SAI Number Two:  The gun dealers participating in this had to keep their mouths shut, while simultaneously being excoriated by the same Federal Government that had planted cameras in their shops for FnF.  Yes.  While this program was going on, other people at Justice, and even the President himself, were blaming escalating border violence on the gun dealers.  (And check the date on that Justice link!) Read that again:  While this program was going on, other people at Justice, and even the President himself, were blaming escalating border violence on the gun dealers.  And someone was feeding stories right to the Washington Post during the months immediately after FnF came to light, blaming the ATF agents in the field for losing guns!  Which leads us to...

SAI Number Three:  The guns sold as part of the program were required to fall from sight.  This is directly contrary to standard ATF procedure.  (Go about half-way down this article to find the agent's testimony.) Remember, we aren't talking about one gun to one guy, once a month.  This was dozens of guns, several times a week, to one person.  Standard procedure is to follow the buyer until the gun is recovered.  FnF required the guns to leave the oversight of the ATF agents, on the hope that they would magically reappear at a crime scene. 

Excruciating, isn't it?  The list of outrageous actions goes on, including the very hands-on actions of the ATF director himself.  Kenneth Melson requested and was provided with the web addresses of the webcams set up in the participating gun dealerships.  He would personally watch the sales of guns from the comfort of his office in Washington.

In the last couple of days, two of the ATF whistleblowers have been threatened with firing.  One claims to have receieved a letter of termination.  There is an atmosphere of protection and fear that is pervading the ATF.  This action on their part shows just how rotten an agency it is.  There isn't one mission the ATF fulfills that could not be adequately addressed by another agency.

The Department of Justice is also rotten here, though.  ATF should not be the only ones to pay for this fiasco.  Like the Black Panther case that came to light last year, this has politics written all over it.  Blocking the Congressional subpeonas and then failing to cooperate in any way with the subsequent investigation have shown their true colors.  The question at Justice is not "Did Holder know?" but "How MUCH did Holder know?"

Finally, note again the utter hypocrisy coming from the executive branch.  One agency had to co-op (legal and law-abiding) gun dealers, encouraging them to take actions that they themselves knew to be stupid, even illegal.  At the same time, other agencies were decrying the violence south of the border, blaming the wide availability of guns in this country and specifically the same border-state gun dealers!  One might even believe that they were using FnF to create chaos in Mexico, so that they could then justify shutting down gun-dealers and restricting gun access to law-abiding Americans.

There is so much available to read about this right now.  Below, I'm linking to a bunch of articles and the Congressional record:
Report from Congress
Excellent Timeline 
Several articles as story broke
Video of Agent

Lighten up, already!

I realize I've been kind of downer here on the blog.  Following the economic news these days can do that to a girl. 

But today, I stumbled upon...Wave at the Bus!  What fun.  Bill and I looooove to embarrass the kids, and we do it early and often.  So you have to love this guy, who went out to wave to his fifteen-year-old on the bus on the first day of school.  When the son hated it, Dale knew he had to continue.  This is the result.

They sound like a great family who know how to have fun together!  And based on the response to their blog, it sounds like there are a lot of normal, happy families out there doing their best to raise their children with an intact sense of humor.

Have a wonderful Saturday.  Now, go out and embarrass those kids!

True Words

Written by Victor Davis Hanson:

10. Reduce much of what Barack Obama says, advocates, and tries to implement and you find a particular kind of despised but uniquely American species in his cross-hairs: upper-middle class, making $200-800,000 a year, employed as a professional or small business person, living in the suburbs or small town America, children in non-Ivy League private and public colleges, a nice house, perhaps a vacation home, boat, 2-3 nice cars, residing outside the east and west coasts without an aristocratic pedigree, for whom food stamps are as much an anathema as is Martha’s Vineyard or Costa del Sol.

Massive debt, ObamaCare, vast expansions in federal spending, new regulations, affirmative action, open borders, and environmental legislation are all targeted at this profile. He neither generates the cheap sympathy accorded to the distant poor nor wins the envy and admiration of the tasteful idle old money or the new mega-rich. When I see him plugging away on his vacation on a Sierra Nevada highway — a club cab new Chevy V-8 truck pulling a sleek powerboat or fancy trailer with two jet-skies — I think of a doomed wooly mammoth soon to go down amid the ropes, nets, and missiles from a vast array of gleeful hunters.

He is writing about my family.  And he is right.  When I read it I got that sick feeling right in the pit of my stomach, because in the last six months I have seen how we have become the bad guy.  How did this happen?  How did hard work to build something, employ people, and make money become awful?  When did PROFIT become a dirty word?

Unpredictable regulation is killing small business.  I believe it is a deliberate attack.  My husband has just gone through two and a half months of hearings with a government agency.  He's been joined at the hearings by the other major players in his industry.  After endless rounds of meetings, tens of thousands of dollars in lawyer fees for his company (and hundreds of thousands in fees overall) and several weeks of lost time at work, they reached an agreement on the recall of a part that had not caused one single death OR injury.

Then, just last week, he received not one but TWO notices from two other federal regulatory agencies about his parts, including one about the plastic polystyrene.  Polystyrene is everywhere, from styrofoam cups to bike helmets.  There was a third warning about fiberglass.  These notices are good indications of recalls and lawsuits coming in the future.

Add on top of this are the regulations regarding employees, especially the unknowable Obamacare.  My husband's company provides good benefits for their employees.  I know, because we get exactly the same insurance.  But what is coming?  We aren't big enough or important enough to get a waiver. 

I also read this recently.  Atlas Shrugged as truth, not fiction (cribbed from Dan Mitchell's blog):

Nobody professed to understand the question of the frozen railroad bonds, perhaps, because everybody understood it too well. At first, there had been signs of a panic among the bondholders and of a dangerous indignation among the public. Then, Wesley Mouch had issued another directive, which ruled that people could get their bonds “defrozen” upon a plea of “essential need”: the government would purchase the bonds, if it found proof of the need satisfactory. there were three questions that no one answered or asked: “What constituted proof?” “What constituted need?” “Essential-to whom?” …One was not supposed to speak about the men who, having been refused, sold their bonds for one-third of the value to other men who possessed needs which, miraculously, made thirty-three frozen cents melt into a whole dollar, or about a new profession practiced by bright young boys just out of college, who called themselves “defreezers” and offered their services “to help you draft your application in the proper modern terms.” The boys had friends in Washington.

"Friends in Washington."  So that's what we need.

A Shop-keeper's-eye View of Regulation

A couple of days ago I read this very interesting post by Amity Shlaes, author of The Forgotten Man.  The post is here, so go read it.

Fascinating reading, and so are the comments.  A few cast doubt on the idea that government can interfere with a small business so much that it becomes a drag on the economy.  I'm pretty sure they have absolutely no idea what they're talking about!

When I started my business I would have never, ever believed how much the government would have their hands in my little business.  My shop was the simplest possible business model:  buy things at one price, sell them at a higher price.  That's it.  So here's what the government, from local all the way to the big Federal Gum-mint, made me do:

I set up as an LLC, which involved a trip to the lawyer and then submitting forms to the Secretary of State in my state.  (1)  I had to also get a sales tax number from the state (2) which allowed me to collect sales tax.  That one took a while.  I submitted a different form to the IRS to get my Federal Taxpayer ID number, sort of like a SSN for corporations.  (3)  Not so bad.

So I needed to open an actual shop.  The space had to be remodeled, and the city had to sign off on the plans.  (4)  And of course I needed a sign, and so that plan also had to be submitted to the city.  (5)  I also needed to get an occupancy permit, the rough equivalent of a business license, from the city.  (6)

Six things, so far.  Not so bad.  But wait!  I needed employees, because I had no plans for doing this on my own.  I had to get a different number from the Department of Labor (7) and then fill out application forms for Unemployment Insurance Payments to start.  (8)  I also had the forms you are familiar with if you've ever had employment:  the Federal form with all the basic info so you can get paid (9) and a state form, again for unemployment insurance (10). 

Okay, up to ten, and I haven't opened my doors yet.  Don't forget...one misstep opens the door for the government to poke their noses around in ALL my business!  A tightrope, for sure.  But let's get started, and sell something!

Once a month, I file and pay my state sales tax (11).  Once a quarter, I file and pay the income tax for my employees--state (12) and federal (13).  Oh, wait, my employees didn't work enough to pay federal income tax.  But there was STILL a form to say that they didn't make enough, so I didn't owe (14).  Social Security withholding was a different form and a different method of payment (15).  And once a year I have to file a property tax statement and pay property taxes on my inventory!  (16)  Did you know that businesses have to pay a tax on their inventory at December 31?! Yeah, me neither. Also at the end of the year are my employees' 1099's (17) and my corporate tax return (18).

While I'm open, the Fire Marshall can come visit and tell me to cover up my back door exit sign.  (No joke, that happened one year.)  (19)  The code enforcers can stop by and tell me to raise or lower my sign and take signs out of my window.  (20)  The Department of Labor will stop and inspect the back storage closet to see that I've posted the mandatory "Know Your Rights" poster for my employees.  (21)

Craziest of all, one month after I sold the shop, the new owner received a notice from the county of an audit that they would perform as of 12/31/10.  WHAT?! They sent a long list of paperwork they needed for the audit, including some information from my personal tax return.  (22)  We got through it but what a pain!

Many, many of these reporting requirements are addressed by having a reliable accountant, which I did.  But that has a cost, the cost of compliance with tax regulation.  And one thing to point out is that I had only part-time employees.  Were I to have full-time employees, we would have to worry about health care in the next couple of years.  I have to say there would be TREMENDOUS incentive to cut everyone back to part-time to avoid the whole issue!

I'm not arguing for or against any of these requirements (well, maybe a little), but there are just so many!  It's a Byzantine process, trying to satisfy each one of the government entities that believe they deserve a piece of my business.  How can anyone doubt that these requirements are a drag on small businesses, and that each layer is another business or two or three that doesn't form, where the owner just decides it's not worth it.

So, is all of this regulation worth keeping some great ideas out of the marketplace?  What have we missed out on?

Spenders and Savers

P broke her piggy bank this week.  This is a very big deal in our house.  Here's the pig:

And here's his impending destruction:

And here's the loot:

She had saved $198.87!  I was shocked and amazed.  To be honest, I don't remember how long she's been saving, but I do know this is her second piggy bank.  She knew immediately what she wanted to buy:

After putting aside $20 for church, she had plenty, and I am delighted to buy her a blue cover for it.

After she got done counting, her younger sister D sat and looked at that pile of cash.  "It's not fair!" she exclaimed. 

"No, it is fair.  It is just persistence and consistency that allowed P to do that," I said.  What an econ lesson right at the table!

"That's right, D.  You just have to put your money right in the bank, as soon as you get it, and then it saves up.  Otherwise it is too easy to spend." That was from P.  Such wisdom at nine!  I wish I could say I taught her that but I didn't.

Isn't it interesting that D's first response was "Not fair!"  It's to be expected from a child of seven.  Then I reminded her how she had saved up $15, and then SHE decided to buy herself a new pair of shoes.  (Shoes that she is very proud of, might I add.)  So she got a new pair of shoes from the Gap, and her sister did without while she saved for a Kindle.  (Unbeknownst to me.  Do I even live in this house?!)  And after a little reflection, D was okay with that.  She will NEVER save up for a Kindle, but I'm pretty sure she's got lots of great shoes in her future.

How often do we hear this in the news?  It's not fair, that he works hard and makes a lot of money.  It's not fair that she was careful with her choice of college, didn't take lots of loans, and now can enjoy no Sallie Mae payments!  It's not fair that they saved their money, put 20% down on a house, and got a conventional mortgage.  It's not fair, it's not fair, it's not fair.  The little exchange at my kitchen table put it all in perspective:  a bunch of children who have never been taught to defer pleasure grow up to be adults who look for "fairness," equality of outcome, rather than equality of opportunity.  Food for thought as we strive to raise good kids into better adults.

"The harder I work, the luckier I get."--Samuel Goldwyn

Summer Reading: Thomas Sowell

One of the lovely benefits of selling the shop is that I get to read, at least a little.  This is my summertime reading right now:

I am a political junkie but lately feel like I've reached the end of my knowledge on some things.  I am looking for a firm foundation in basic principles.  My husband read this book about a year ago and highly recommended it.  It is exactly what it says, a primer on economics, meant to be used as I am, or even as a college-level textbook.  (Light reading!)

I've just completed the first part, a section on Prices and Markets. Here are some quotes from the book that I've highlighted during my reading:

Life does not ask us what we want.  It presents us with options.  Economics is one of the ways of trying to make the most of these options.

(Discussing profits and losses)...losses are equally important for the efficiency of the economy, because losses tell producers what to stop producing.

Knowledge is the most scarce of all resources.

(In discussing fluctuating price levels) However, the fact that water seeks its own level does not mean that the Atlantic Ociean has a smooth, glassy surface.  Waves and tides are among the ways in which water seeks its own level.  (In other words, just because prices fluctuate doesn't mean the prices are wrong or the markets bad.)

People tend to do more for their own benefit than the benefit of others.

And one of my favorites so far:

Economic policies need to be analyzed in terms of the incentives they create, rather than the hopes that inspired them.

That last one is crucial.  Way too many programs are started with the best of intentions ("hopes") but create incentives that actually work against the original purposes.

I wish I could list all of the very interesting things I've read about:  price supports for food in ancient Rome; rent control all over the world; the evolution of the grocery industry in America.  This is good food for thought.

Here is the first in a set of videos with Dr. Sowell.  It is a nice change of pace to see a person interviewed in a calm, intelligent way, with no "gotcha" moments.  If you've never heard him, this is worth a watch:

I'm also well aware of Dr. Sowell's conservative political leanings.  So far, though, his conservatism looks to me to be rooted in his rational view of economics, rather than having his political views give flower to his economic ideas.  I'll be looking for something other views soon, just to round out my education.  Suggestions welcome!

Joining in the Yarn Along

My first time participating in Ginny's Yarn Along, sharing what I'm knitting and reading.

Knitting:  Here's what I touched this week.

D's little throw.  This is Tree Knitter's Sugar Maple Shawl, my second one.  This time it's out of Florafil cotton yarn, which is absolutely delightful to work with.  You can find it at a cute little shop in Peachtree City.  (Yes, this was my shop!)  It's off the needles because I hit the part where I have to pick up 250 stitches around the edge for a ruffle.  The only yucky part of that pattern. 

I just started this shawl/scarf out of Macaibo.  It is going to be a shop sample.  Miles of garter stitch, mindless knitting.  The pattern is mine out of my head.

This is a mystery shawl I'm doing on Ravelry, from Misti Alpaca HandPaint Lace.  I've never done a square shawl, so the 2011 KALendar is a good one because it's just a little at a time.

And, miracle of miracles, I read a book this week.  It is only a little book, but worth your time.  I actually read it while I drank my second cup of coffee one morning.  Do The Work by Steven Pressfield.  And, while it would be a great book to buy, it's available as a FREE Kindle download!

Hopefully I'll be back for another Yarn Along.

And, credit to my friend Mary, who has a great blog at Homegrown Learners.  She introduced me to Small Things.  Oh, the things you discover on the interwebs!

Edited:  GRRRR.  Google doesn't want to load pictures right now.  I'll be back to try to update this later.

Edited again.  There.  I fixed it.

Oh my goodness, I've been quiet!

Too silent here.  This time, it's because things were brewing that I couldn't talk about, and those things consumed all of my mind.  Whenever I sat down to write, I could only think about the "verboten" topic.  I even quit cooking with French Fridays with Dorie.  (Wow!  My family is missing that one.)

But here's the news:  I sold my shop.  My precious sweet little yarn shop.  I am so proud of it.  And I am so relieved that I'm no longer the owner.  Two and a half years ago I had an idea, really just a kernel of an idea.  I was in graduate school in a competitive program, and was realizing that it wasn't for me.  As a knitter of about eighteen months, I thought I'd like to spend my days surrounded by beautiful color and fun customers.  So, after getting my FIRST EVER 4.0, I quit to open my shop.  Talk about turning on a dime.  My husband is a wonderful, patient man.

Fast forward two years.  (Really, super fast fast fast forward.)  My children are two years older, and we have found that we looooooove to travel.  They are also so busy, with track and lacrosse teams, theatre musicals, horses, horses, horses, and homework.  They weren't like this two years ago!  And my sweet little shop?  Busy as a beehive, thankfully!  I had wonderful employees (including my mom!), but also hundreds of customers who truly felt invested in my little shop.  If you've never been in a yarn shop, you should venture in sometime.  It really can be a little community.  I've been blessed to celebrate so many births and anticipated children and grandchildren, as well as friends who received the fruits of my customers' labors.  I've also shared the lows, the illnesses and deaths, and have cried with my friends.  What a blessing to be allowed to share all that life has to offer. 

If you have ever received a handmade gift, I am here to tell you that the maker thought and considered, prayed and labored, over your gift.  I saw it.

But one thing that I didn't count on was that, as the shop grew more successful, it would require even more of my attention, not less.  I had the crazy idea that it would start to run itself.  WRONG.  And as my fifth "baby" demanded more attention, my home was faltering.  Not just the messes.  The going on field trips, the planning parties, the inviting friends home, just on the spur of the moment.  Every single thing was planned to the minute, with no room for a sick day or even a "sick and tired" day.  Couple that with the realization that my sweet oldest boy had turned twelve, two-thirds of the way to college, and something had to give.  Of course that was my shop.

I believed when I opened the shop that I was following a path that the Lord had laid out for me.  So when, after much prayer and deliberation, I decided I had to exit the shop, I expected that I would see some sort of path.  It happened so much faster than I expected!  The first day I told my employees, one of them called and offered to buy the shop.  Just like that.  I almost dropped the phone when she called me. Since then, we've had some little roadblocks, with timing and such, but overall we have had such a good time sharing this experience.  The attorney handling the sale just shook his head as he watched us agree to a price.  It was that easy.  She is thrilled, and so am I. 

So, the blog has been quiet.  But now it isn't.  I think I'll try to be more open, and I have some ideas moving forward.  I wonder what it will be like to be "just" a mom again, for the first time in two-and-a-half years.  I'm a little nervous.  But I also look forward to the adventures the kids and I will have this summer, and beyond.  And I think I'm looking forward to cleaning the laundry room.  I know everyone else is looking forward to that.  And a horse in my future?  Mmmm, maybe?

Things I've learned today

Or relearned.

1.  Mayonnaise and Miracle Whip are not the same.  I'm a mayo girl.
2.  The expiration date on Coke is there for a reason.
3.  If you have to turn off the hot water heater, the dishwasher will not work.
4.  I hate making out a grocery list.  Hate with the white-hot heat of a thousand suns.
5.  A missing phone guarantees that at least five people will need to get in touch with me RIGHT NOW.

And it's only 1:30.

AND ALSO:

6.  I shouldn't have looked up.  Too many cobwebs.
7.  "Toes" by the Zac Brown Band is inappropriate for a piano recital.  An eleven-year-old will NOT understand this.
8.  It is going to cost a hell of a lot to replace my phone. 

Vacation eating--and good at home, too

We were in Montana a couple of weeks ago.  Can it really be a couple of weeks ago?!  We rented a house and spent our days skiing our legs off.  So at the end of the day, we'd pile in the hot tub and then relax in front of the television.  The last thing I wanted to do was whip up a gourmet meal in the kitchen!  And the second-to-last thing anyone wanted to do was sit in a restaurant to eat anything.  We wanted easy and comforting after a long day on the slopes.

Here's one dinner that I make at home all the time, but hadn't realized how really simple it is.  We had a simply-stocked kitchen, and I had also picked up Bisquick along with our other staples because we like pancakes or biscuits in the morning.  One evening we were hungry for a little taste of home:

Chicken and Dumplings, Vacation-Style

Two or Three Chicken Breasts--boneless or not.  (Pick bone-in for better broth, but boneless for quicker cooking)

Onion if you have one (I didn't)

A couple of celery sticks if you have them (I didn't)

A couple of carrots if you have them (I did)

Two cups of Bisquick

2/3 cup milk

A bag of mixed frozen veggies (the old-fashioned cubed kind)

Trim as much fat as you can from the chicken.  Place the chicken in a pot and cover with water.  Season with salt and pepper and add the fresh veggies if you have them.  You can also add thyme and oregano if you have them.  Heat over medium heat and boil for  little while.  For boneless chicken I always go about twenty minutes.  That might be too long but I am completely paranoid about undercooked chicken.

Remove the chicken from the pot and shred it.  Pour the broth into a bowl and strain it back into your pot.  Make sure you remove your cooked veggies.  These should look gross now anyway.  This is where it is important to have trimmed a bunch of fat off the chicken--it's really hard to defat your broth because you don't want to wait around for it.

Put your shredded chicken into the pot with the broth.  Add more water (or canned broth if you have it) to cover the chicken and a little more.  Toss the frozen veggies in, too.  Bring this to a boil.  While it's heating, mix the Bisquick and milk.  When the broth is boiling, drop small biscuit-size pieces of dough on the broth.  You'll end up covering the entire surface of the broth with the dumpling dough.  Cook uncovered for 10 minutes, and cover the pan and cook for 10 minutes more.  

That's it.  Not fast, but easy, hands-off, and really tasty and warm.  The frozen veggies let the mom in me feel okay about the endless chicken fingers, hot dogs and hot chocolate we were consuming during the day. 

I didn't think about a picture of dinner when I made it, sorry, but the picture up there sums up part of our apres-ski routine every night.  I think they were watching Idol or something.

This post links back to my friend Mary's blog at Homegrown Learners, and her "Wednesdays What's for Dinner."  She is such an innovative mom, full of great ideas for homeschooling and being a mom in general.  Of course, she's also a really nice person, too.  Hopefully I'll have a French Fridays with Dorie post again, but for now my quick recipe here will have to do!

Were you curious?

Here's the book I was reading:  French Cooking in Ten Minutes a Day.  This remarkable little book was written in 1930 by a physician who decided that French cooking wasn't all that.  It was just about the freshest, most delicious ingredients possible, while always remembering how flavors will combine.  No braising, baking or roasting here, but great ideas for pan-frying and sauce-making.

I'll share one great piece of advice Dr. Poulaine gives:  as soon as you walk in the door, put a pot of water on to boil.  Why?  Well, you don't know yet, but chances are you'll need it for something, and you'll never get your meal made in ten minutes if you have to wait on the pot of water.  This is something I've started doing, and it works!  I almost always need it for something.

Now, the reason there is no picture is that I have lost the book.  It is somewhere in my house but I don't know where.  This is the second thing this week I've lost.  Sunday I lost my phone and I just don't know what to do.  It's out of power (of course) and I've retraced all my steps.  How long do you go before you get a new one?  I wanted a new iPhone but not this way. 

What book is this?

Cooking like a madwoman (why oh why can I not over-commit?), but I got the most wonderful book today via Amazon Prime.  Here is the first paragraph:

First of all, let me tell you that this is a beautiful book.  I can say that because this is its first page.  I just sat down to write it, and I feel happy, the way I feel whenever I start a new project.

Now, I have to put this wonderful book down and go make a breakfast casserole, but is that not the most delightful introduction to a book?  And what in the world could this book be about?  I want to sit down with a lovely glass of wine and marinate in this writing, but I have to run.  I want to hear your guesses!

Taking a moment

I've been quiet the past couple of weeks because we have been so crazy at home, and then this week because we've been on vacation.  Here.  Staying Here.  We have been going 90 miles an hour, even on vacation, until this morning.  It is -13 outside and we are tired.  And since we are on vacation no one can make us do anything but sit around and drink coffee and just enjoy the view.  Well, I'm sure the kids will be after me for pancakes in a little while but right now they are snuggled together in bed watching cartoons.  (Yet another vacation treat--we don't have televisions in our bedrooms at home.)

So here are at least ten things I'm grateful for this week:

1.  My wonderful traveling companions.  We have so much fun together when we go places.  It always makes me want to go more.  My guys are flexible and adventurous.  Who could ask for more?
2.  The special terror of watching my children race down a mountain, so far ahead of me that they are just specks at the bottom.
3.  Ski school, which allows my sweet husband and me to have date "days" while on vacation, instead of date nights.  The kids love it, too, because their instructors take them all over the mountain on the blacks that I hate!
4.  24 degrees with seven inches of fresh powder, no wind, and blue blue skies.  We had one day like this and count ourselves lucky.  It was the kind of day you might get once in every two or three trips.  Truly special.
5.  The owners of this beautiful home we rented for the week.  They have been gracious and welcoming from thousands of miles away.  This lovely house really has felt like a friend's home we borrowed for the week--very comfortable and relaxing.
6.  The majestic scenery at Big Sky.  We have been several places out west skiing, and I've seen mountains all over the world.  This is truly, truly amazing.  One peak, Lone Mountain, rules over the base area, and the entire bowl is ski-able (by crazies, not me).  We are eager to see it in the summer!
7.  Long tables in the cafeteria area, which allowed us to enjoy lunch one day with some "lifties."  It was fun to get a little inside scoop on the life of the young people who make this place run.
8.  Long rides up the ski lifts, which are a great time to chat with my husband or kids.
9.  No lift lines!  Even on that perfect President's Day, we only waited three or four minutes on the busiest lifts. 
10.  The opportunity to be lifted out of our (now really crazy) busy day-to-day life and enjoy time together.

What a great week.  I'll post some more pictures, hopefully, but right now I can't find that cable that connects the camera to the computer!  (That one up there is from Bill's phone.)

I think I've had this before...

Back for another French Fridays with Dorie post, finally!  Last week's recipe was the delicious Almond-Orange Tart.  If you could see my calendar right now you'd understand why we didn't get around to it.

This week was easier, and my post will be quick.  We are headed to Montana in about eight hours.  A whole week of great big sky.  Frankly, I'm not feeling like the short ribs are going to get done for next week, either, but I'm scanning the recipe so I can take it with me.  Anyway...

This week was Green Beans with Pancetta.  Or, as my children called them, Green Beans with Bacon.  I think I've had this before, Dorie!  My grandmother always always always put some pork in to cook with her green beans.  There were only two differences between hers and this week's recipe:  first, either we had undercooked beans this week or she completely overcooked hers; and second, she just put her pork (fatback or bacon) on top of the beans while they cooked all day, while we sauteed crispy bits of pancetta.  Oh, and a splash of olive oil.  But the flavor combo of pork and green beans is unmistakable and universally yummy.

Just a couple of pics: 

The pancetta crisping in the pan, and...

the green beans joining them.  The verdict was thumbs up all around.  I really like this quick change to green beans, and we'll definitely add this to our repertoire.  Even if it's just lowly 'Murrcan bacon and not (pinky finger extended) pancetta.

Finally, my sweet friend Mary is a much more faithful blogger than I.  Every Wednesday she's posting a recipe for a great family dinner, usually something simple, quick, and well-loved by the kiddos.  Check her out! 

A bientot and bon voyage to us.  I'll hopefully get to post more next week since we'll be away from the day-to-day craziness.

Cheers! It's Friday!

Whew.  Last week was a killer and I couldn't get to the dish, Chicken P'Stilla.  Plus it was Moroccan and I wasn't really wound up about it. 

But I'm back to "French Fridays with Dorie" with Basque Potato Tortilla this week.  This French egg dish made me think of a frittata, a pretty common light dinner around our house.  We usually eat our frittata with whatever's in the veggie bin, plus a little leftover pasta if it's available, plus some cheese and fresh herbs.

This recipe originates from an area in France near Spain and the Mediterranean.  It's no real surprise, then, that it bears such a close resemblance to Italian food.  Also, the word "Tortilla" in Spain doesn't refer to what we think of in Mexican food, but rather to the same type of egg dish as a frittata.  Anyway.  On to the cooking.

This tortilla is filled with potatoes and onions.  I just used plain old Idaho russets.  Here are the veggies chopped and ready to be browned in a skillet on the stove:

I promise there are onions in there, too.

Then the eggs are added and browned over a stove for a few minutes.  That is my grandmother's cast iron skillet.  I kind of doubt she ever made a tortilla in it, but it has seen more than its share of sausage, catfish and okra.  It is also one of the few items I'd grab if I had to leave my house in a hurry.

Finally the tortilla is run in the broiler to brown the top.  It emerges puffy and beautiful.  Then I of course deflate it a little when I take it out of the pan:

Judging from other people's posts in this little challenge I need to upgrade my serving pieces.  Noted.

The verdict:  Yum!  But it was very familiar, too.  I served it with salad and a little baked ham, so it kind of seemed like the hashbrowns/eggs/ham breakfast Dorie mentioned.  But it was also just like my frittatas only with potatoes instead of veggies.  Everyone like it.  I think I probably won't make this again straight out of the book, but I'll probably add potatoes as a filling option the next time I make frittata.  And I can also now call it tortilla, evidently.

Anyway, I also felt like I had betrayed the spirit of the challenge last week by not making the chicken p'stilla.  So I also made that on Sunday:

J loved it.  Bill and I also like it very much, and the other kids ate it willingly.  My biggest problem is that I'm just not so big on thighs (chicken ones, I mean).  I'll probably make this sweet/spicy dish again, but with white meat or a mix rather than all dark meat.

And then...there are the nuts.  Lord have mercy, reason enough to buy the book.  I went to a little meeting this past week and needed to bring a munchie, so I thought I'd bring Dorie's "Sweet and Spicy Cocktail Nuts."  These nuts were in the challenge before I joined, and they had gotten great reviews.  They are so wonderful I wanted to give them star billing!  (And I did, right at the top of this post.)

I used all pecans, from my uncle's farm and shelled by my sweet kids.  This recipe is worthy of them.  If you and I attend a function where food is required, I'll bring these.  Sweet, smoky and HOT all at once.  Absolutely habit forming.

So, I don't even know what dish is next, but I cooked a lot this week!  It has occurred to me lately that I like getting to know a cookbook with  distinctive point of view that one author gives.  Dorie has a very particular point of view, and while I don't always agree with her I like knowing where she stands.  Can't wait to see where we go next!

A good thought for this grey day

I came across this and think it is good to put in my pocket for today:

I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish small tasks as if they were great and noble.  (Helen Keller)

From What They Said, a gift from my sweet husband a couple of years ago.

And here is P as Helen Keller, along with her grandparents, at the school wax museum last year:

Have a great day!  More coming...I actually cooked my "French Fridays with Dorie" dish this week!

Just as grateful on a Tuesday

Well, one of the problems with this "Post x on this day of the week" is that it is painfully obvious how late I am.  All the time.  Anyway.


31.  My KitchenAid mixer that powers through endless batches of chocolate chip cookies, bread dough and, now, meringue.
32.  Neil Cavuto.  (I know, I just think he seems really nice and super smart.)
33.  The rawhide my dog gets so much joy from.
34.  My sons' Sunday School teachers.  Actually I love all my children's teachers, a fortunate position, but I'm feeling the love for a couple in particular today.
35.  Rain.  How better to appreciate the sun when it comes?
36.  Smart doctors, although I'm getting tired of being grateful for this one.
37.  My own healthy family.
38.  A cleaning service. 
39.  Smart bloggers and the millions of voices you can hear, thanks to the Internet.  The less-smart ones are also fun, and sometimes hysterical.  I should share some of my guilty pleasures sometime.
40.  Boy Scouts.

Often this list feels so banal, but it is fun to come up with ten things that I stop and appreciate, just for a second.  I've been at this for a month, not always on a Monday, but I think I'll try to keep it up.

Happy Tuesday!

Dang it, late again!

My French Fridays with Dorie posts are rapidly devolving into "French some-days or other whenever I can get around to posting and Dorie probably won't be waiting around for me anyway" posts.  I will point out that I actually made this on Monday/Tuesday of last week.  Was it good?  Double-chocolate mousse cake did not make it past Tuesday at my house.  Yummmmmmm.

The "cake" is actually chocolate mousse, cooked in a springform pan in two stages.  First, the chocolate is melted in a double boiler, and then the coffee, sugar and egg yolks are added.  Here is the dense chocolate mixture after the last egg yolk is added:

Then the egg whites are whipped and folded in.  No pictures, sorry.

At this point you have dee-lish-us mousse, and actually I would have been fine stopping here.  (And eating it all straight out of the pan, thankyouverymuch.) But now you put about 1/3 into a springform ring placed on a cookie sheet:

This bakes into a soft "crust" that forms the basis for the next step.  You can either place the remainder of the mousse into the crust, unmold and enjoy; or place the remainder into the crust, bake, and enjoy; or place the remainder into the crust, bake, chill again, slice and enjoy.  I did the full monty for two reasons: first, it's Dorie's favorite; and second, I'd know if it would be worth the extra steps and time the next time I make this, because there WILL be a next time. 

If you look very closely you can see that there is a bottom "crust" that is more dense than the top part.  I served this with a little dollop of whipped cream.  It is dense and chocolatey, really delicious.  Four thumbs up from the kiddos plus big thumbs up from Bill.  One son said it tasted like a brownie, and he's kind of right.  But this is perfectly smooth, not grainy or gooey at all.  Next time I think I'll stop with the uncooked filling, well-chilled.  It is fluffy and light and so chocolatey.  (Yes, I know about eating raw eggs. I'll eat it all myself, if necessary.) This week was definitely a winner!

Monday--time to be grateful

We just finished five--count 'em, FIVE--snow and ice days here, which means that the kids have been out of school for ten straight days.  (They have today off for MLK day.) This week has been a high-wire act of schedule-juggling.  I suppose I have plenty to be thankful for:

21.  Grandparents who can watch the kids while I man the shop.
22.  And neighbors.
23.  Canned soup.
24.  My husband's four-wheel drive vehicle.  Somehow he never missed a single day of work.  Oh, wait.
25.  My friend Ann's excellent white blood cell count which enabled her to have chemo last week, after a three-week wait.
26.  Bayville Blue paint in my girls' room.  So pretty, and if I can find my son's camera I'll add a picture so you can actually see it.
27.  Peppermint sticks and the
28.  Ponies who love them.
29.  Giggly girls.  I know it won't last forever but it is music for now.
30.  Homemade chocolate chip cookies, with pecans from my uncle's trees.

May you have a wonderful and snow-free week!

Gnocchi Thank You!

Just because all the dishes are dirty doesn't mean the food's worth eating!

A little late this week with my French Fridays with Dorie post, in which I, along with a couple hundred other crazies, am cooking my way through Around My French Table by Dorie Greenspan.  This week:  Gnocchi a la Parisienne.

Right up front:  Fail.  Big time.  But you know how it is--the good dishes are all alike.  The bad ones are each interesting in their own way.  And away we go...

Wow!  Need to use a filter on these pictures...my beater is white!

This is a two-part dish.  The "gnocchi" are really a pate a choux, the same dough used in the gougeres and cream puffs and eclairs.  Here is the glossy dough.  Can you hear it?  It's saying, "Make the pastry cream!  Ganache, too! We'll be ready!" Sadly, though, it was not to be.  The gnocchi are made by dropping little pieces of the dough in hot salted water for a few minutes, like pasta, and then scooping them out to dry.  I tasted one.  It was a little doughy, with a cooked exterior.  Then I had to taste several more, and even though they were oddly habit forming I can't say they were good.  Rather what a boiled flat cream puff ought to taste like.

The little gnocchi are coated with the second part of the dish, the bechamel.  Bechamel is one of the classic four mother sauces and is made by making a paste of flour and butter, cooking it, and then adding hot milk.  Then I added nutmeg, salt and pepper.  It was very, very thick, more like a paste or goo than an actual sauce.  I don't think that was right but I figured I'd take a chance.

Run away, little gnocchi!  The Bechamel is coming!

Here is a picture of the gnocchi being attacked covered by the blob of bechamel.  This dish was not looking good.  I forged ahead.  At this point about 3/4 of the pots that I own were dirty, so why not?  (This is one of the recipes that makes it obvious that Dorie has someone else cleaning her dishes.)  So there was a topping of cheese, grated Emmentaler and Parmesan in my case.  And a further dotting of butter. 

Just out of the oven,  lovely!  Dorie called it kind of a French version of mac-and-cheese, comfort food.  But I found it heavy, too rich and a sad waste of choux paste.  As for the kids, J loved it, but he loves almost everything.  D was lukewarm on it, while for M and P one bite was plenty.  And Bill, he just said, "That was the most complicated macaroni and cheese I've ever seen." 

No gnocchi in our future.  But that's what this FFwD is all about, stepping outside my comfort zone.  I think very little of this was due to the my cooking; it just wasn't the kind of food we like.  What do we like?  How about this mac and cheese recipe, for starters.  Oh, and it all goes down better with a Winter Mojito.  Cheers!

Monday Morning Gratitude

A great time to stop before the week gets underway.  Actually today we have a little enforced leisure because of...

11.  Snow!  And ice, of course.  You can't have snow in the South without some ice on the side. 
12.  Pets whom we love and who love us. 
13.  A wonderful sermon which gave me a week's worth of thinking in the first five minutes.
14.  Handknit hats.
15.  Snuggling on the couch with the kids to watch a movie.
16.  The paperwhites which bloomed.  This is the first time I've successfully forced bulbs in the in winter.
17.  Brownie mix. 
18.  Photos.  We are so documented now.  Have you ever stopped to think how amazing it is that we have gazillions of images of last week, last year, ten years ago?  Imagine what it was like 150 years ago, when you only had your memory.
19.  Watching my children grow and nurture friendships.
20.  Emergency workers who are out working to make sure we are safe, even though the roads are really bad today.  (I got the road report from my husband who is at the office right now.)

Time for the second cup.  One child has still not emerged from his room.  I'd say that is taking full advantage of a lazy day!

Revisiting "Open to Buy"

I don't "shop blog" much.  Oh, the stories I could tell--maybe someday.  But a little while back I blogged about a way of managing my buying, called "Open to Buy."  I wanted to offer a little insight into how it is working out.

Wow...a budget!  It was tough to get used to having to pick and choose what to purchase.  There are tons of nice items to choose from, many would actually sell and more that would be nice to have in the shop.  But OtB forced me to prioritize--what do I have to keep on hand to keep people coming back?  What can I push to the next month?  Have I exhausted the demand for that item?  Hard questions sometimes.

We made it through the fall and Christmas rush very well, though.  I over-spent, by just a little, a couple of months, but according to the OtB system you need to do that as you head into your busier months.  Then you pull way back as you head into your down season, so that your inventory leads your sales more closely.  I am thrilled to say that we have come into the new year in a much healthier cash position than we had six months ago! 

Right now I'm assessing where we go in the waning months of winter and into our down season, late spring and summer.  I have time to add some fun things for winter yet, but I'm also keeping an eye to what I need to pick up for spring.  Unlike last year, I've given myself a framework to make decisions from.  It really limits the shop in some ways, but it ensures that we'll be around for busy seasons yet to come. 

One additional good point is that even when I've taken some riskier positions in inventory, I've been able to manage that risk by knowing how the position compares to the overall sales of the shop.  I've taken more calculated risks this year.  That includes holding sales--I've known how a sale is going to affect my inventory levels and thus my following month's purchasing.  Very interesting. 

Enough shop talk...time to gather the kids and head to church.  And if you ever want to visit a really cute yarn shop in Peachtree City, Georgia, you can google just that and come and see us!

French Friday with Mushrooms

I'm back with my next recipe from Around My French Table by Dorie Greenspan.  This week it was Paris Mushroom Soup.

This is how my girls sliced the 1-1/2 pounds of mushrooms that go into the soup.  The egg slicer makes quick work of the mushrooms with no risk of little fingers getting sliced.

Once the soup has simmered a while, making the whole house smell warm and yummy, you can either use an immersion blender or place the soup into blender.  This was the inaugural job for my new RED immersion blender.  While it was chunkier than it would have been had I used the blender, it was super fast and only made one dish dirty.

This is the finished soup.  The book doesn't have a photo (that I saw) and I think I know why.  It isn't very appetizing looking!  But the taste:  wonderful!  Musky and warm, perfect for an overcast and cold winter evening.  All the kids tasted it and enjoyed it.  J had two full bowls and M had one.

We served this with a small green salad, and the leftovers of roast chicken from the night before.  Delicious.  I'll make it again!

First Monday Gratitude

I have a friend whose blog I follow, and she's been posting things she's grateful for each week. It is a good exercise and, since I'm completely unoriginal, I am going to copy her. But of course I'll aim lower...for now just ten things I'm grateful for each week. Seems pretty pitiful considering my abundant life but you have to start somewhere.

1. The town I live in--our neighborhood had a couple of break-ins over the holidays, but I must have gotten ten emails that were passed around as soon as it happened, and the crooks were caught before Christmas. People like to complain but that is pretty quick!
2. My cool keyboard that I'm typing on right now, that goes with my iPad. Not sure how blogging from the iPad will be but I'm game for a couple of posts. There's an app for Blogger that I'm not using...maybe next time.
3. New rooms for all my kids. The boys and the girls each shared a room until three days ago. The girls had wanted to split up, but that required new carpet, blah blah blah, but then finally they were ready to make the move. Then out of nowhere the boys wanted to split up, too! I'm reeling from the change, and upstairs looks like a tornado hit, but I'm looking forward to seeing how their individual personalities are revealed in their own spaces.
4. The very delicious coffee my husband makes for me each and every morning with the French Press.
5. A final day off before school and the real-life whirlwind begin again. Time for that last little bit of coffee and then cleaning up.
6. The cool pancake squirter that lets me make very good happy-face pancakes in the morning. I'm afraid that a picture will have to come later. J is also thankful for that.
7. A cat who somehow always ends up on my bed, snuggled by my feet, in the morning.
8. Children who are bookworms.
9. Exact change.
10. A new page on the calendar and a fresh start! We are excited to see what 2011 brings.

Have a wonderful day. I will try to make this more link-y as I go along, especially to link to the other blogs!

First French Friday on the Last Day of the Year

I got an awesome Christmas gift (no, not the iPad):  Around My French Table by Dorie Greenspan.  As I was looking at the book, trying to decide which yummy recipe to make first, I decided to check out Dorie's website.  Turns out there's a "cook-along" of sorts going on, one recipe a week, "French Fridays with Dorie."  Sounds good.  So now every Friday I'll share my version of our week's dish.  Unless I don't.

This week I actually made two things and they were both great.  First up were the Gougeres, a cheese pastry.  That's not a good description.  It's "choux paste" which is the pastry part of eclairs or cream puffs, but with grated cheese added to the dough before you bake it.  The dough has lots of eggs in it so it puffs up beautifully in the oven.  Unfilled, they are these puffs of chewy cheesy bread.  Here's the dough in my mixer:

And then here the gougeres while I was switching the pans in the oven:

Finally, lunch.  Frankly, I love Dorie because most of her recipes seem to start with "These are really great with Champagne," but I had mine with tomato soup.  Also pretty tasty:

Now, finally, the recipe of the week, "Spiced Butter-Glazed Carrots."  I suppose these would also be good with Champagne, but we just had them with our dinner of pork tenderloin, rice, and sliced fruit.  These are cooked with sliced fresh ginger, onion, garlic, cardamom and butter.  A little more trouble than steamed carrots, but a whole lot more flavor.  The kids really loved them, and so did the grownups.  Thanks, Dorie!

And thanks to my sweet husband who knows that I just loved eating in France and is helping me hold onto the illusion for a little while longer...

Back to Wonkiness

There are a couple of issues in the news I like to follow, and one of them is the idea of a credit-driven bubble. The best and most painful example is our current housing bubble, but I personally believe there is a higher-education bubble, too. More on that when it isn't Christmas Eve.

The Dallas Fed just published an analysis of recovery from the current housing bubble. In the very first paragraph there is this:

9.1 million homes were built between 2002 and 2006, a period when 5.6 million U.S. households were formed.

If that doesn't jump out and shake you then nothing will. This report goes on to discuss how there can't be a "soft landing" from the housing bubble. There isn't enough money in the world to muffle the bursting bubble.

Capitalism is awesome, because it allows for the most rational and highest uses of resources to create wealth. It is also, unfortunately, subject to painful corrections, but those are the times when resources are getting re-allocated so that there can be a recovery. Like ripping off a band-aid, it hurts like crazy when you do it, but it is over faster and the recovery can begin in earnest. Programs to mitigate the pain, while comforting in the short run, are really just a waste of time and money. Kindness can kill us all.