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house management

WFMW: Bed Sheet Storage

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I now have 3 kids that are in twin beds. That is a lot of sheets. So here is what we do to free up the linen closet for the many towels that we also need;). It isn’t rocket science and I am not saying I invented it(I have been accused of such before;). First, I fold all the sheets, put them into the pillow case, and fold the case over to make a nice square bundle. That means everything is neatly contained. Then we have the under bed bins and we place all that kid’s sheets in it (except Nerdling’s because he has a race car bed). You also can put a mattress cover in the bin. The other benefit is if you have to change the sheets in the middle of the night, they are right there.

That is my tip for the week! Go see some more at WFMW!

math, TOS Crew

Math Tutor Review

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I recently had the opportunity to review a couple of videos from The Math Tutor. I have to say that I am not a fan of these. I tutored math for years and I was looking forward to videos but they just didn’t hit the spot with me. The math seems solid but they are boring. If you have a student who has never dealt with the subject matter and you are looking for a teacher, they might do. But if you have a kid whose is already having an issue, these will bore the student and cause them to tune out. They have many dvds in various areas of math. I could totally be off but that is my opinion.

A plus, I may have been inspired to create my own videos!

TV, Video

Jackman’s Oscar Musical

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I am not a big Oscar watcher. I figure that I will see a list of the winners on the internet and watch a tv show to see the prettiest (and ugliest) dresses of the night. My only regret for not watching this year was Hugh Jackman. I mean, what kind of girlie-girl nerd would I be if I didn’t adore a man who can be both Curly and Wolverine? (No, I haven’t seen The Boy From Oz) So I was delighted to find this great clip of Jackman’s musical opening number from the Oscars. It even has a little help from Anne Hathaway!

Food

Hell’s Kitchen 2/19

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Here we meet again for an anger packed episode of Hell’s Kitchen. Lets see how it all goes!

I think the girls are really at a disadvantage since Ji had to quick over her foot. I wonder if they can pull it together this week.

So they off on an unknown field trip and Scott asks if anyone has a heart condition and tells them to grab a barf bag. They are in a meat processing plant. It is pretty obvious that they are going to have to break them down because Scott tells them where everything is on a side of beef. They get back to Ramsay who has big fake cows and a bunch of cuts of meat. First challenge is identifying what type of cut and the second is where it comes from. Basically a person came up and put the cut name on the meat. Then you found out how many (not which ones) were wrong and then the next person tried. Then ones all the cuts were identified they moved onto labeling the cow. The guys ended up winning and Lacey really messed it up and took a while to do it. It was obviously that Lacey was moving labels just to be doing something. Maybe if she would have quit then someone else could have done it.

The guys got to go wine tasting and out to dinner. The girls got to butcher whole sides of beef (duh). These girls are ridiculous. One said it was like a scene out of the Godfalther, please. Then Ramsay arranged for a tasting for the girls of all the ickier parts of the cow. Let the puking begin!

Ramsay said that Hell’s Kitchen will be a steak house (once again duh). The twist is there will be 2 seatings with 1 team cooking while the other team serves. The men chose to cook first. Each team get 2 hours to serve as many as possible.

Now the girls were a little mean to the guys because it took 20 minutes to get the first order in. But that didn’t seem to help. The guys got a bit in the weeds with the salads. Ben sent out 6 desserts before the first appitizer went out. Then they are rushing the steaks so that they are sending out basically raw steaks. It is really going to bite Giovanni because he runs a steak house. Then the guys run out of filet so Ramsay sent Seth over to cut some more. Seth had no idea how to clean a tenderloin so he just hacked the thing. It didn’t help that he tried to hide the waste and Ramsay dragged it out and made a huge deal about it. Ramsay ended up closing down the blue kitchen.

Then it was the girls’ turn. Charlie was the one who messed up the salads wasn’t doing much better in the dining room. He asked another guy to go see if he took someone’s order. Colleen couldn’t remember how many and what kind of salads were needed. But salads did go out with so of the shrimp being partially raw. Back in the dining room Charlie is dumping bacon everywhere on a table. Andrea seemed to be rocking out the steaks but the guys kept bringing back steaks. But Ramsay decided that many of them were perfectly done.

The women didn’t quite finish but it seemed Ramsay called it right at 2 hours where as the guys had more time. Charlie was the worst waiter and Lacey was the worst waitress. The women served the most entrees. So the guys had to come up with 2 people to nominate. Seth was honest that he wanted to pick the best to go.

Ramsay asked Jay who the nominees were. The nominees ended up being Seth, because he doesn’t have the experience, and Charlie because of his execution issues. Then Seth wanted to go down the line and see if everyone agreed. Ramsay wasn’t having any of it. Seth went on and on about why he should stay. In the end Ramsay sent home Charlie.

I agree! Charlie claimed how he had more experience but if so why has he been in the bottom so much? Seth may not have as much experience but that means maybe with a little knowledge he might have done better. Where as Charlie had the knowledge and didn’t do it. Ramsay also said that Charlie was a prep chef and that isn’t what Ramsay needs.

The next episode looks like it will be very interestig so I will see you all next week.

Food

Top Chef Finale Part 1 Recap

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First off, Leah’s gone!! So would Fabio’s hair be considered a Mohawk? I love Carla’s hair straight. Emeril owns 10 restaurants? Oh my!

Quickfire:

The chefs competing in the quickfire are Jeff, Jamie and Leah. The winner joins the finalists in the elimination challenge. They will each have 1 hour to make a dish with crayfish. Leah says she has never cooked with crayfish. Did she not know that she was going to New Orleans?!?!?! That is one of the most quintessential New Orleans’ ingredients. Leah is making a gumbo she has never made. Jeff is making crayfish and shrimp. Jamie is making an actual original dish with some sort of corn cake with an egg and crayfish. I hope Jamie wins!!!!

Jeff won. He just seems so pretentious. In order to make it to the finale Jeff must win the elimination challenge.

They all are going to Emeril’s Delmonico restaurant. I hope everyone pays attention because the dinner often comes into play for the elimination challenge.

Elimination Challenge:

They will have to creat 2 dishes and 1 cocktail each for a masquerade ball that they will cater for 100 people. 1 dish must be a creole dish. The winner of the challenge will also get a car. Shockingly it is a Toyota and not a Saturn.

Jeff is making his own sausage. Carla is having a dickens of a time to shuck her oysters. Stefan is just screwing off. I wonder if it is going to bite him. Fabio was smart studing flavor profiles before he came. I agree with Tom that Carla should have steamed her oysters because they are going into a stew anyway. Carla gets there at the site and only has a third of them shucked.
They are given a bartender to help them but Fabio wants to mix it himself. I don’t know if he is but he wants to. Hosea forgot ustensils to serve the gumbo (and a whisk).

Hosea’s Menu: Duck, Andouille and Chicken Gumbo, Pecan-Crusted Catfish, Hurricane with Grand Marnier and Rum

Jeff’s Menu: Fryed Oyster with Sausage, Crawfish Pot De Creme, Cucumber Mojito

Carla’s Menu: Oyster Stew, Shrimp and Andouille Beignet, Non-Alcoholic Cranberry Spritzer

Fabio’s Menu: Sausage and Rabbit Maque Choux with Grits, Crawfish and Crab Stew with Caserecci Pasta, Muffuletta Bread, Bell Pepper Martini

Stefan’s Menu: Duck and Rabbit Gumbo with Grits, Apple Beignet, Black Cherry and Rum Cocktail

Serving and Judging:

No Tobey, Gail is back!!! They liked Jeff’s Cucumber Mojito. Fabio didn’t have enough heat in his food. They liked Stefan’s gumbo but the roux wasn’t dark enough. Carla used Emeril’s seasoning. They loved Carla’s food! Hosea studied up on the food and he did a real authentic gumbo.

So back at the Judging table Tom commended Jeff on making his own sausage and Jeff said he couldn’t win if he just stole someone else’s sausage and didn’t make his own. Burn!!! I think at least Hosea and Stefan used premade sausage. There was some dissing on Fabio’s food for not spicy enough and the drink was to sweet. Stefan got hit for not deep enough roux and Tom thought he was just a little to clam in the kitchen. When they got to Carla they asked her what they thought. She thought she might have had to much bay in the stew and both Tom and Emeril told her there was nothing wrong with that stew at all. You go girl! (It is obvious I want her to win;) Emeril even liked her non alcoholic cocktail. Gail loved her beignet and Emeril loved that they were fresh. They really liked Hosea’s roux and his gumbo.

According to the judges there was a clear winner and it was Carla!!! I feel bad for Jeff because I don’t think he lost but since he didn’t win he can’t go on. In the end Fabio was the other chef eliminated.

So who will be Top Chef? I think and hope it will be Carla!!! Join me next time to see!!!!

FRN, organizing

Scanalog WFMW and a Giveaway!

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I am in love!!! I am a pack rat. I try to dress it up but it boils down to I can’t get rid of anything and especially information. I have a file box of clipped articles from various magazines, wait I HAD! With Scanalog all you need is a scanner and it can help you handle the rest. This boils down to a filing system for all those bits of paper you collect with the plan to use in the future. You can use this software in a couple of ways: either scan straight into it or pull saved images off your hard drive. Then you can “file” all of them into either the provided categories (11 Master Categories and 102 subcategories) or make some of your own. I like that you can add categories because I had to add some for homeschooling art projects and folder games that I see out on the web. I am even thinking about using it for the kids’ completed projects (since I already do pictures).

Now it does cost a little money, $49.95, but I think it could be worth it. I have said for at least 10 years that I need to find a way to write a database with images and I haven’t. Even if I did, it would take hours. At $49.95, it is a bargain of time, sanity and money.

The 1 drawback…. When you move your mouse over the top bar (you can see it in the picture) it makes a clicking noise that you can’t turn off.

So if you are a pack rat too, or just like keeping all the information that goes through you fingers (that sounds better doesn’t it;) go check out all Scanalog has to offer!!!! Tell them that NerdFamily Things sent you!

Win it!
So how would you like to win your own copy of the Scanalog software?
To enter:

* Go to Scanalog’s website and tell me what Feature you think you will like the most.
* A random winner will be selected and notified on Feb 28th.
* The winner will then have 3 days to claim their prize.

To earn extra entries, you may do one or all of the following. Each one counts as an extra ticket but you must leave a separate comment for each one.

* Subscribe to my feed.
* Mention this giveaway on your blog with a link back here.

This giveaway is open to addresses within the US. Please leave a way to contact you in case you win.

(This is a Family Review Network review)

house management

Tackle It Tuesday: Mega Bloks and Little People

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We have lots of kids which means we have even more toys. The big cross age toys we have are Fisher Price Little People and Mega Bloksbecause all my kids love to play with them. When we lived in our old house they resided in under the bed bins and they stayed in those bins when we moved to the new house and the toys got placed in the play room. We also have severely outgrown the bins so we couldn’t put the lids on them if we wanted to. But I knew these bins weren’t the best choice but I didn’t want to do boxes with lids because the baby couldn’t get into them. So I was toodling around JoAnns and I saw these large bins on sale for 40% off (about $15). We were able to add a little vertical height and use the bins as shelves for all the larger pieces. Doesn’t it look pretty now? We may end up getting more of these or even the ones half the size. You can stack them straight up or intermix them!