In case you wanted to know...

I saw this one over on Meredith's blog and it looked like fun. So here goes:

WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE: Remember the actress Michele Lee of Knot's Landing fame? That was my mom's inspiration to name me "Michelle Lee." What can I say? I'm a child of the '70s.

WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED:
I'm not sure -- I can't remember.

DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING:
Yes.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT:
Boar's Head Honey Maple Turkey. That's pretty much the only lunch meat I'll eat.

DO YOU HAVE KIDS?
Three -- Jillian (5), Josh (3), Grace (1)

IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON, WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU?
Yeah. I'd like to think so.

DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT?
On occassion.

DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS:
Yes.

WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP?
I almost did, but then I chickened out at the last minute. It was so high up!

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL?
Grape Nuts Trail Mix Crunch

DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF?
Only if I tied them too tight to begin with.

DO YOU THINK YOU'RE STRONG?
At times.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM?
Rocky Road

WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE?
Their eyes.

RED OR PINK?
I didn't think I liked pink, until I realized that I wear it quite a bit. So, I'll go with pink.

WHAT IS YOUR LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF?
My tendency to procrastinate.

WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING?
I'm wearing black yoga pants and tan suede, fur-lined slippers (cute, huh?)

WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE?
A whole wheat english muffin with cream cheese.

WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW?
Nothing! Two kids at school, the littlest one sleeping.

IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE?
Turquoise

FAVORITE SMELLS?
Chocolate, cinnamon, jasmine, honeysuckle, lilac

WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE?
My sister

FAVORITE SPORT TO WATCH?
Tennis

HAIR COLOR:
Brown

EYE COLOR:
Brown

DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS?
Nope

FAVORITE FOOD?
Pizza

SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS?
Happy endings. My overactive imagination doesn't need any more fodder than it already has in the scary department. :)

LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED?
I can't honestly remember. But I know the next movie I'll see will be Twilight, coming out Nov. 21st. (Yeah, still obsessed.)

SUMMER OR WINTER?
Summer, hands down.

HUGS OR KISSES?
Both!

FAVORITE DESSERT?
Chocolate chip cookies and milk.

WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW?
The Lady of Milkweed Manor

WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD?
I don't have a mouse pad.

WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON TV LATE LAST NIGHT?
I didn't watch TV last night. I was reading blogs. :)

FAVORITE SOUND?
My kids playing happily together.

ROLLING STONES OR THE BEATLES?
Definitely the Beatles.

WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME?
Thailand

WHERE WERE YOU BORN?
New York

Makeup Application 101: Brushing up on the basics

When I first got married, I could not cook to save my life.

My culinary repertoire consisted of cold cereal, boiling water and, on a good day, maybe a scrambled egg.

Despite my gastronomic deficiencies, my mother and grandmother insisted on outfitting my newlywed kitchen with every utensil, gadget and pan known to mankind. At the time, it seemed like overkill. I mean, it was highly unlikely I'd be reaching for a meat thermometer to check a turkey when I was still trying to master toast.

But, as my cooking skills slowly improved, I discovered a need for various kitchen tools. Time and again I would be thrilled to discover the perfect tool hiding out in my kitchen drawer (lovingly purchased by mom or grandmom) for use at just the right time.

What on earth does this have to do with beauty?

When you're trying to do a job well, it pays to have the right tools in your arsenal. Cooking is easier when you have the right utensils. When it comes to makeup, what you use to apply it makes all the difference in the world. (read more)

Bloggy Giveaway Time!

I just finished reading one of the best book series I've read in a long time. It's one of those can't-put-it-down-for-one-second kind of reads.

I walked around depressed for a week when I finished because I didn't want it to end.

Seriously. It's that good.

So, to share the love, I'm giving away one brand-new, never-read copy of Twilight. It's just the first book, but it should be enough to get you addicted hooked started. (If you've already read it, enter anyway -- it would make a great Christmas gift.)

For a chance to win, leave a comment on this post by 11 p.m. on Friday, October 31st.

For a valid entry, you must include a good book recommendation -- because now that I'm done with Edward and Bella, I need something good to read. Help a girl out, would ya?

One comment per person please (duplicates will be deleted). You do NOT have to have a blog to play along, but please provide a valid email address where I can contact you. I'm willing to ship internationally, but I'm not sure how the duty and taxes will work on your end. (If you're willing to handle that part, please feel free to enter.) I will randomly draw a winner and notify you via email over the weekend.

Thanks for visiting and, if you're new here, feel free to stop back when you have time to look around. Don't forget to check out all the other fantastic prizes up for grabs this week as part of the Bloggy Giveaways Carnival. Good luck!

The Great Computer Meltdown and... Soup's On!

***Recipe update below ***

Well, my little computer snafu will, from here on out, be referred to as "The Great Computer Meltdown of 2008." Really. It's worthy of its own Weather Channel graphic. If I was able to, I would have created a snappy little graphic myself, but I'm afraid to make one wrong move for fear that I'll screw something up.

My dear, sweet husband spent literally all weekend cleansing and rebuilding my laptop. Everything had to be wiped off the hard drive because this particular virus (or series of viruses -- I told you the virus scan discovered about 400) was ruthless. Fortunately, I did manage to back up our photos to an external hard drive before we left for vacation. And, for once my procrastination actually paid off -- I needed to download 1,145 pictures off my digital camera (I have a HUGE memory card), so I think the important stuff -- family photos -- was preserved.

My laptop is now like Fort Knox. Nothing should be getting through and we even updated the virus scan software to the "deluxe" auto scan version. I can assure you that was $70 well spent.

All that to offer you a friendly little reminder -- have you backed up your computer lately? How's your virus protection? Do yourself a favor and make sure it's up to date. Or buy a Mac. Either option would work.

Secondly, I did promise soup, right? I am so glad the temps are dropping because I can finally pull out all of my soup recipes. I love to make soup in the winter. And, while this is not a recipe blog, I'm going to try and share a soup recipe each Monday for a few weeks. If you have a recipe to share, leave a link in the comments. I'd love to try some new recipes.

This soup is a take on Panera's Cream of Chicken and Wild Rice Soup. So good! We had this the other night for dinner and my 5-year-old ate every bite. She'll be taking the leftovers for lunch this week.


Cream of Chicken and Wild Rice Soup
Serves 8

**I originally got this recipe from my mom, who is notorious for changing the original recipe. True to form, she revamped this one as well. I have changed the measurements below to reflect her changes.**

1/2 cup butter
1 finely chopped onion
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup sliced carrots
1/2 pound fresh sliced mushrooms (I leave these out, because if my daughter spotted a mushroom, she'd refuse to eat the soup.)
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
6 cups chicken broth
2 cups cooked wild rice
1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cooked and cubed (you can use a rotisserie chicken to save time)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon curry powder
1 teaspoon mustard powder
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 cup slivered almonds (optional)
3 tablespoons dry sherry
2 cups half-and-half

Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the onion, celery and carrots and saute for 5 minutes. Add the mushrooms and saute for 2 more minutes. Then add the flour and stir well to create a roux. Gradually pour in the chicken broth, stirring constantly, until all has been added. Bring just to a boil, reduce heat to low and let simmer.

Next, add the rice, chicken, salt, curry powder, mustard powder, parsley, ground black pepper, almonds and sherry. Allow to heat through, then pour in the half-and-half. Let simmer for 1 to 2 hours. Be sure not to boil the soup, or your roux will break.

**Note: The longer this soup sits, the thicker it gets. When you reheat it, you'll need to add some water or chicken broth to thin it out slightly.

And, if you're looking for more great menu ideas, don't forget -- it's Monday! Laura's got a whole slew of menus up for your perusal at Menu Plan Monday!

Experiencing Technical Difficulties...

I'm on a temporary blog hiatus, because my computer pretty much crashed last night. Hubs checked it out and discovered it had 400 viruses on it.

Yeah. You read that right.

400.

I didn't even know that was possible.

Turns out I was supposed to be scanning the computer regularly. I thought that the antivirus software was supposed to do that automatically. And that's when my husband informed me that we didn't pay for the "deluxe" auto-scan version.

Oh.

So, I've been officially "unplugged" until we can recitify the problem -- hopefully sometime this weekend.

With any luck, I'll have that soup recipe to share with you on Monday.

Have a good weekend!

Random Bits of Randomness

A few items of note...

1. The crafting continues. I bought more fabric today because I simply cannot stop at one small bathroom window. No m'am. I've decided to do my entire kitchen and great room -- because the crafting bug will not leave me alone.

I've been running around here like HGTV's next Design Star. I even found myself in Michaels today buying the items needed to make a fall centerpiece. Oh, my creativity clearly knows no bounds these days. With any luck, all this "design exuberance" will pass in about a week or so. But, not before I do a "big reveal" for y'all sometime next week. Think of it as Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. Only, not nearly as exciting.

2. As I was driving back from dropping Jilly off at school the other morning, I noticed an animal crossing the street in front of our house. At first I thought it was a fox. But, I quickly realized this animal was too big to be a fox. Then I thought it might be a dog, but I was pretty sure I didn't see a collar and the tail was much too bushy. The animal sought cover in the woods across from our house, and I stalked him with the minivan until he ran right out in front of me. I could have sworn it was a coyote. Later that day, a neighbor confirmed my suspicions.

This kind of disturbs me. For a while, I walked around expecting the coyote to jump out of a shrub at any moment to attack me or the kids. I've calmed down a little, but not enough to let the kids play in the front yard unsupervised.

3. In other wildlife news, I think I have a new favorite show. Anyone seen Man vs. Wild? My husband was watching it when I came in from karate the other night. The show features Bear Grylls, a most appropriately named survivalist, who demonstates how to survive in some of the world's toughest terrain. It's kind of like Fear Factor on steroids. My husband and I watched the entire hour with our noses wrinkled and our mouths hung open in shock. If you're brave enough, here's an example of what I'm talking about (and, a word of warning, I wouldn't click on it if you have a weak stomach):



It's oddly fascinating in a "I can't ever imagine doing that" kind of way. We've ti-voed the next several episodes.

4. I was going to share a delicious new soup recipe with y'all. But, for those of you who chose to watch the clip I embedded above, I can see that doing so would be wildly inappropriate at this point. The recipe will be another post for another day.

And on that note, I'm off to bed. My husband and I have been doing P90X -- which has involved a lot of early morning workouts. It's a lot easier to get up at 5:15 a.m. when I get to bed before 11 p.m.

Go figure.

Lookout! I'm feeling crafty!

I'm not sure what it is about fall, but this time of year always seems to find me channeling my inner Martha Stewart.

I'm not really a terribly "crafty" person. I do a little scrapbooking. I do crafts with my kids. That's pretty much the extent of it.

But then the temperatures begin to drop, the leaves start changing colors, and I start dreaming up home decor projects that must be executed immediately. Last year, it was a charming pair of fall wreaths for our front door. Armed with a couple twig wreaths from Michael's, a handful of fake foliage and my trusty glue gun, I created this:

Last week as I was scrolling through Works for me Wednesday posts, I saw this post for "Window Coverings in Minutes -- No Sew!" When I clicked over, I was absolutely amazed at the gorgeous window treatment Lora Lynn created with scrap fabric, packing tape and upholstery tacks. She called it a window mistreatment, and credited the Nester for this flash of brilliance.

I headed over to the Nesting Place to get a few more details, and my fall craft obsession shifted into high gear.

Did I mention we have about 80 windows in our house, not counting the skylights? Yep. I went through and counted them myself. I love window treatments, but when you've got 80 windows, you quickly come to the realization that mini blinds are the cheapest and easiest answer.

Because, after all, you do have to send the kids to college.

But the Nester says these treatments are supposed to be done with remnants. Scraps. Whatever you've got lying around or can find on the cheap.

And I'm all about cheap.

So, I headed up to the attic and unearthed about a yard and half of leftover decorator fabric (from a few fall projects ago). I got out my packing tape, bought some upholstery tacks and just look at what I did to our bathroom window:

See the upholstery tacks? I hammered them right into the wall!

Here's what it looks like when you take a few steps back.

Isn't it pretty?!? It took me about 15 minutes and cost all of 99 cents (for the package of upholstery tacks).

I'm so psyched, I can't wait to go hunting for more remnant fabric, because I've got a few other windows to dress.

Yanno.

Only 79 more to go.

Confession. It's good for the soul.

My husband was away on business earlier this week. Thankfully, this doesn't happen too often, but when it does, I find myself staying up way too late because I have trouble falling asleep when he's not around. My theory is that if I fall into bed completely exhausted, I won't be lying awake in the dark over-anaylzing every sound I hear.

I'm paranoid that way.

So, the other night, after I put the kids to bed, I sat down with my laptop and turned on the TV on for background noise.

But, I wasn't up for blogging that night. I was up for procrastinating. So, I started flipping through the channels and stumbled upon Rock of Love Charm School.

Klassy TV, I assure you.

As if watching Sharon Osbourne try to "class up" the women who were once vying for Bret Michaels' affections wasn't enough, I followed it up with the season premiere of The Pickup Artist 2. That's the show where "Mystery," the world's greatest pickup artist (don't ask me why, because really I don't get it -- they showed him "in action" and I wasn't impressed), shows socially backward men how to, well you know, get women.

You would think I surely would have hit my limit at that point, but no. I topped it all off with Paris Hilton is My New BFF.

Three hours later I peeled myself off the couch with a screaming headache and a nagging urge to shower.

There. I've confessed. I just had to get it out in the open.

Please tell me y'all have indulged in a little trashy TV every now and then.

I can't be the only one, right?

A bargain so good, it'll make you blush

I don't exactly live in a "metropolitan" area.

Most of the time, that has its benefits.

Less traffic.

Less congestion.

Slower pace of life.

But, for the times I'd like to escape hide from my kids take a little break, living in the sticks has its limitations. (read more)

I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried

Each fall I volunteer at a local baby consignment sale. The sale has grown dramatically over the last six years, and I can find tons of great deals on kids clothing and baby gear.

When you've got three kids, you're kind of all about the deal.

The reason I volunteer, is I get to shop first (before consigners and the general public), which is an even sweeter deal.

So, before I headed to the sale a few weeks ago, I called my sister to see if I could pick up anything for her kids. She had mentioned that 3-year-old Ashley was really into Barbie these days and that if I happened to stumble across a Barbie doll or two, that would be great.

I get to the sale and spot one Barbie. She's brand new, in the box, and comes with her dog. Ashley is a huge animal lover, so it's a win-win on two counts. I buy the doll and when we give it to my niece, my daughter pipes up, "Ash, when you feed the dog his food, he poops it out."

Um, what?

Jillian explains that she was looking at the back of the box and Barbie's dog most definitely goes poo poo.

I couldn't believe this would be the case -- but upon closer inspection, it appears this is, in fact, very much the case. Check it out: You lift the dog's tail to open its mouth and insert brown food pellet.

You push the tail down and the pellet comes out the other end.

And, to top it all off, Barbie uses the included pooper scooper to clean up the mess.

Because she's responsible like that.

I've gotta say, I was a little shocked.

I kept trying to picture the Mattel "idea meeting." A bunch of high-powered execs sitting around a table trying to dream up the next best-selling Barbie. Ideas are being thrown around and then someone says, "You know what girls today need to learn? Responsible pet management. How about a Barbie that picks up her dog's poop?"

The unanimous response seals the deal. The execs think it's a great idea, and Pooper Scooper Barbie is born.

Crazy, but probably true.

In Mattel's defense, Ashley thinks the whole feeding/pooping thing is just about the coolest thing in the world.

But really, I think I've pretty much seen it all now.

Best of the Beach

I finally got around to downloading all the photos we snapped at the beach.

I'm particularly fond of Josh's "King of the World" photo below and, I even included the one vacation picture that has me in it! (I've had to make a concerted effort to take at least one of these "mom is really with us" pictures per vacation so that my kids will have proof that I actually existed. Otherwise, just a cursory look through the scrapbooks and you'd think they didn't have a mother. A father, yes. But, me? I'm always the one taking the pictures, not in them. :)

Laundry Lifesaver

So, I grew up in a house where laundry was pretty much an art form.

When it came to doing the wash, there were rules that had to be followed. And the women in my family, well, they took laundry very seriously.

The cardinal rule: Always sort your loads according to color and/or type of fabric -- whites, pastel colors, primary colors and fragiles.

That rule has pretty much stuck with me.

Except that after a while, I get lazy.

That's when I start throwing everything in together. Just so I can finally be done with the laundry.

So, that's exactly what I was doing the other night when I threw my daughter's white school uniform blouse in with a pair of red shorts. The shorts had been washed a bazillion times before. I had never had a problem with the red color "running" over other articles of clothing.

Until that night.

In fact, I was in such a rush to finish laundry duty, that it was only after I took the blouse out of the dryer that I noticed the pink splotches.

Great. There goes $30, down the tubes.

But, a moment later I recalled a conversation I had with a friend about laundry mishaps and she heartily recommended this:

My friend had washed a pair of white pants with a rust colored shirt and claimed that Carbona Color Run Remover worked miracles. It contains no bleach, formaldehyde or phosphates -- but claims to be effective, even on previous color run accidents where the streaks or dyes were set in the dryer.

I dissolved the powder in a bucket of water and emersed the shirt. Within seconds, the stains were gone.

Whew! Now if I could only find a spot remover that was as instantly effective.

For more helpful tips, head on over to Works for Me Wednesday!

Finally back from the beach. I've returned as a swooning adolescent...

So, I'm finally getting a moment to sit down and update y'all on our beach vacation.

We traveled to Myrtle Beach with our family, my parents, and my sister and her family.

Really, there's not too much to recap for you. I could sum it up in one word: Challenging.

Lots of sick kids (colds, ear infections, roseola).

Which made for lots of crying and whining.

And, of course, there was the nor'easter that blew in with 40 mph winds for a few days.

But, we did try and make the best of it. We managed a trip to the aquarium and enjoyed a few sunny days -- even if it was a little breezy.

The weather also provided a perfect excuse for me to dive into some new books.

Have you read them!?!?

Y'all. Y'all.

I'm a little obsessed. These books may just have eclipsed Jane Eyre as my favorite read. (And you have no idea how that pains a literary snob like myself to say that.) I've read a lot of good books this year, mind you, but none that I haven't been able to put down so I could go wash clothes and make dinner for my family.

Until I started reading these.

Total guilty pleasure, these are.

Now, initially I was a little gun-shy to pick the books up because they're young adult fiction and one of the main characters is a vampire.

I'm not really into that genre.

But, Rachel assured me that it wouldn't be what I was expecting. And when Shannon began raving about it right before I left for vacation, I finally got myself to Walmart and picked up the first two books, telling myself that if I didn't like them, I would return them.

Less than a week later I was at the Walmart in Myrtle Beach buying books three and four.

I wasn't done with book four when we returned home, so the derth in my blogging (while I'd love to tell you it was due to catching up on laundry and unpacking) was really due to my insatiable desire to finish this book. When I finally did, I breathed a huge sigh of relief. I could finally go back to being a wife and mother to my children.

But, then I heard there was an exerpt of a follow up book on the Stephenie Meyer website. I figured I'd pop over and check it out. What it could be, a chapter or two?

264 pages of a Word document.

So, that pretty much shot the next day, because I had to read that as well.

Now that I've read every possible thing to do with the Twilight Series available, I'm trying to get back to life as usual (while also waiting for the Twilight movie to come out November 21 -- see, I told you I sound like an obsessed 13-year-old).

All I have to say is go get the books. Go get them now. Read them.

Just make sure you're caught up on laundry and you've pre-made a few dinners.

How do I love thee, Smashbox? O, let me count the ways...

I'm going to be straight with y'all.

I'm cheap.

I'm the type of girl who would never spend $80 on a pair of sunglasses, when she can find a similar style for under 10 bucks. I love to shop the outlet stores. I'd buy a no-name purse over a designer bag any day of the week.

And, truth be told, I rarely spend an exorbitant amount of money on makeup.... (read more at chic-critique.com)