Sun is out again today, it’s fantastic. A guy came by to look at our floors — hardwoods, here we come! (I miss the oak hardwoods from our old house, but that’s about all that I miss.) The carpets, the cats who shed about two pounds of fur per day — allergies, asthma. Enough. We’re getting the bids and I can’t wait until we get the project started. (Make that “finished.” heehee.)

We just got our new copy of the “National Geographic Kids Almanac 2012” in the mail, yay! (Free copy for review, so here’s my disclaimer. Again.) My kids really enjoy these almanacs, they’re jam-packed full of fun stuff.

And another disclaimer… now that I’m retired and working from home again (wait… I thought I was retired? OK, writing = not really retired, eh?), I’m going to check out the marketing sites a little more often, BzzAgent and Vocalpoint, for starters. So if I am reviewing products (that I’ve received gratis) I will let you know. I also highly recommend signing up for some of the marketing sites, if you like to check out new products, or if you (like I do) have kids at home who love getting freebies in the mail.

For example, I just wrote this, then went to check the mail. Voila! There’s a coffee cup (paper, wrapped in plastic) that says, “take a break from aftertaste.” OK. I open it up, and there we have… chocolate! No. Damn. Coupons! For Breve Creme — one free pint, on them. And a string of cents-off coupons. I would have rather had a free cup of coffee. It’s the middle of the afternoon and I could use a jolt. But this is all right, too. So there you have it. Breve Creme.

Just remember, I never promote something just for the hell of it, even though I know that sounded like it (Breve Creme… mmmm Breve Creme) and I’m going to continue to give you my honest opinions on stuff. (Even though you’ve never, you know, asked me for ’em.) Or I will, anyway, once I try out this creamer. Dammit, maybe I should stop by Starbucks after I get the kid from school. So no buy-offs here, got it? Got it. Good luck getting any book reviews out of me, though… so busy writing that I’m not able to read as much as I’d like lately. Ah, well.

Here’s a magical recipe from the Sweet Suzanne (go buy her book, too! She worked hard on it):

Baby Reds with a Sprinkle of Magic

Ingredients

2 pounds small red skin potatoes, halved or quartered
1 tablespoon, extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
Salt (if you want) and pepper (I used seasoned pepper)
2 tablespoons, 3 or 4 sprigs, fresh thyme, leaves stripped and
chopped

Directions

Fill a skillet 1/2 full of water and bring water to a boil. Add
potatoes, simmer 13 minutes until fork tender. Drain potatoes in a
colander. In the pan you cooked the potatoes in, heat over med-high
heat, the extra-virgin olive oil and butter. When butter melts add
potatoes. Season potatoes with salt, pepper and chopped thyme. Coat
and brown the potatoes, turning occasionally, 7 or 8 minutes.

QOTD
“What am I doing? Nothing. I am letting life rain upon me.” — Rahel Varnhagen