In a continuing effort to cover the important things...

I'm over at Chic Critique today talking about THE BEST drugstore mascara. C'mon, you know you're curious. Head on over and check it out!

What's for Dinner This Week...

Well, being that last week was Spring Break for the kiddos, we weren't home as much in the evenings, so I have three carry-over meals for this week. Last week's Bourbon Chicken was delicious! Very much like something you'd get in a Chinese restaurant (definitely use a low-sodium soy sauce, though). The leftovers were even better -- I rolled the chicken and rice up with lettuce and carrots in wrap for lunch. Here's this week's menu:

Monday: Sweet Balls of Fire, salad, brown rice

Tuesday: Chicken salad on lettuce with poppyseed dressing

Wednesday: Turkey meatloaf, oven fries, peas

Thursday: Creamy Sausage-Tomato Pasta (recipe follows), salad, fruit

Friday: Thai Chicken Wraps, brown rice, edamame

Saturday: Enchiladas Suizas with Turkey (I use chicken), green beans

Sunday: Beef taquitos with salsa and sour cream, salad and fruit

(If you're looking for an easy downloadable menu planner, you'll find a great one here.)

For more menu planning ideas, don't forget to head over to orgjunkie.com.

Creamy Sausage-Tomato Pasta

Serves 6

I'm going to warn you -- this is probably one of the most calorie-laden meals I make. BUT...it is really good!!! I have tried to keep it a little lighter by using turkey sausage and decreasing the half-and-half to a little less than 1 cup. The changes don't affect the final taste too much, although naturally more half-and-half puts it over the moon! It makes a decent amount, so often, I'll serve 1/2 for dinner and put the other half in an 8"x8" disposable pan to freeze. I'm posting this recipe in its original form. It is taken from Better Homes and Gardens Menus in Minutes.

12 ounces dried gemelli or rotini

1 pound bulk sweet or hot Italian sausage

1/2 cup chopped onion (1 medium)

1/4 to 1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 28-oz. can Italian-style stewed tomatoes, undrained

1 1/2 cups half-and-half or light cream

3 Tbs. finely snipped fresh basil

Finely shredded Romano cheese (optional)

1. In a large saucepan cook pasta according to package directions. Meanwhile, for sauce, in a large skillet cook the sausage, onion, red pepper and garlic over medium heat until sausage is brown and onion is tender. Drain off fat.

2. Stir the undrained tomatoes into the sausage mixture. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Boil gently, uncovered, for 5 to 7 minutes or until most of the liquid has evaporated. Stir in the half-and-half. Simmer about 4 minutes more or until sauce thickens slightly.

3. Drain pasta; return to saucepan. Add sauce to pasta; toss lightly to coat. Sprinkle with basil. If desired, sprinkle with Romano cheese.

Worth the Read...

A few interesting things I read on the 'net this week:

Hands Only CPR -- CBS News

Geneva Hosts Huge Inventions Fair -- Yahoo. I'm sold on the self-making bed, but I think I'll hold off on the nose hair.

Easier Finger Foods -- Life's Not a Paragraph. Can I tell you how much aggravation this saved me this week? It's brilliant.

Wal-Mart Has Gone Soft -- This Ain't New York. This cracked me up! The characterization is dead on.

Have a great weekend!

Baring My Sole...

After I hit a certain age, I began noticing that my feet were not staying as soft and supple as they had been in the halcyon days of my youth. I remember looking down toward my toes one morning and thinking, "When did that happen?" The skin was dry. My heels were cracked. My feet looked old.

So, I did what I'm assuming most people do -- I went on with my life. I mean, I have kids. I don't have time for weekly pedicures and -- if I'm going to spend the money for a pedicure it will be at the height of summer when everyone else can enjoy it too, thankyouverymuch.

A few weeks ago, however, my husband said, "Wow. Your feet are really dry." This is when I knew the foot situation was serious. My husband never notices things like that, so clearly, I had a problem. I started digging under my bathroom sink and pulled out an unopened jar of Bath and Body Works Heel of Approval lotion that had been given to me a year ago as a hint gift. I began slathering it on my feet every night before bed and then putting on a pair of cotton socks while I slept. After doing that for a couple weeks, I began to see results. The cracked, dry heels were gone. My feet felt softer. They looked great.

Now, if you're planning on giving this "Fight the Frump" tip a try, you don't need to use the particular brand I did. But, you do need to use a lotion that has an alpha hydroxy acid in it, such as lactic acid or glycolic acid, which will really help get rid of the dry skin.

Once your feet are back to looking fabulous, go ahead and paint your toenails a crazy new color. I always go for a pale pink, but while cruising the aisles of CVS the other night, I stumbled upon this:

That's Wet n' Wild "Deep Wine" -- and a flying leap out of my comfort zone. But I bought it, went home and painted my toenails. And I must say, the results have me feeling decidedly un-frumpy -- even a little sassy -- these days.

For more Fight the Frump Tips, head on over to Fussy's place!

If you're looking to kill some time...

80 words

Speed test

I saw this at Kisses of Sunshine and thought it would be fun to try. I haven't taken a typing test since junior high -- the pressure! :)

Please let me know when we get to the "break" part...

Oxymoron, noun: a rhetorical figure in which incongruous or contradictory terms are combined.

Jumbo shrimp.

Deafening silence.

Spring break.

How's the week been going? This morning, while packing my husband's lunch, I found myself indadvertently cutting his sandwich into small squares and triangles.

Obviously, the first stage of Spring Break dementia is setting in.

I've been running around like a harried cruise ship director for the last few days, trying to entertain and keep the troops happy, which, quite honestly, is a whole lot more work than when we're not on "break." Not to mention the fact that the house looks like a bomb hit it.

After a weekend of rain, Monday morning rolled around with -- more rain. The kids were climbing the walls. So, we took a road trip to a local toy store, which resulted in me leaving my digital camera behind. (Why did I even have it out? I was taking a picture of Josh who looked so cute with a play helmet and sword. I'd love to share it with you but, I don't have my camera). Fortunately, someone did turn the camera in to the shop owner shortly after I left. Otherwise, the two placemats I purchased, featuring maps of the United States and the World would have cost about $150. Each. That would have been a pricey geography lesson.

Tuesday hit and -- Praise God! -- we got a call from a friend who was just as desperate for activity as we were. She rented out one of those play areas that has multiple inflatable bounce houses and slides. It was only $50 an hour to rent the place out. Everyone chipped in and it came out to $10 a family for an hour and a half of play time. That was the deal of the century. (Heck, I was so desperate, I would have paid $50 for just my kids). We had a blast and the kids finally got to burn off a little steam.

Today, it's warm and sunny -- so we're going to head to the park for a picnic and we may even tackle bowling on Friday. Yes, Spring Break is a thrill a minute here and clearly there will be no rest for the weary.

Which brings to mind another oxymoron:

Working vacation.

Taming the Science Projects in Your Fridge

It's the "Greatest Hits Edition" of WFMW, where everyone re-runs a helpful tip they posted in the past. Seeing as how I've only run one WFMW tip prior to today, I thought I'd offer up the following instead:

Cleaning out the refrigerator. Not a task that I enjoy, per se, but one that needs to be done on a somewhat regular basis. In the past, my "clean out" approach was to put all items to the "Look and Smell Test," -- was the item growing mold or did it smell bad? If either answer was yes, into the trash it went. But, I soon discovered there were many partially-used items that had been in my refrigerator for a while, but didn't show the slightest fuzzy growth or emit the faintest foul aroma.

Salsa, comes to mind.

As does spaghetti sauce.

Capers.

Baby food.

Chicken broth.

How long had those things been in there? Were they safe to eat?

To help me decide, I started using a permanent marker and writing the month and date I opened the item on the lid. Having some idea of when the item was initially opened makes it easier to decide if a) it's still edible or b) I'm just entertaining a case of food poisioning.

For more great tips, head on over to Shannon's place!