7 Quick Takes, Volume 9

--1--

I don't know about you, but I can't wait to see this movie! The Lucky One hits theaters next Friday, the 20th of April. When I relayed this fact to Joe he asked, "We're not going to see it are we?" "Well...I want to..." I replied. "It will eventually be on DVD," he said.

Well. Methinks there just might have to be a girls' night out for this one.

Nick is hitting the talk show circuit this week to promote the film; here's his recent interview on CBS This Morning. (And did you hear the kid in the trailer ask Zac Efron if he likes jambalaya? Well, there are all kinds of things to cook from the book, but jambalaya isn't one of them. I just might have to make some for this blog anyway.)

--2--

My dog gets into everything. Seriously. There have been times when my kids could truthfully tell their teachers, "My dog ate my homework." I have been trying to figure out a good place for a fruit bowl for years, where the dog can't get it and where it will be visible. I also have an iron skillet and a wok that I don't have a good place to store. For a while I had them on top of my stove, but I just had to move them around whenever I wanted to cook. Finally I found a corner where I could store both, and my wok could be my fruit bowl. Not ideal, but it works.

--3--

Last summer my crazy dog figured out how to open the cabinet under the kitchen sink and get into the garbage can. I found a plastic child safety lock left over from when the kids were little--the kind that's u-shaped, and you slide it through the handles and pull a little plastic thingy across to lock it into place. Well, it took her about ten seconds to chew through that. We're now keeping our garbage can in our laundry room closet (and we have to keep the laundry room door shut tight because she knows how to open THAT closet door, too).

My dilemma has been what to do with our kitchen trash so we don't have to make trips back and forth to the laundry room a bazillion times a day. For a while I was using a Rachael Ray-inspired garbage bowl system that I would empty from time to time, but that was filling up so quickly it was a pain. Finally I took my big pot (which, like my skillet and my wok, needed a storage place), stuck a plastic bag in it, and voila'! Instant trash can, and I can keep it above my stove. And when I need the pot for cooking I just take out the bag and wash out the pot real quick.

--4--

This is what my center island looks like on a good day.

If I could just keep my desk in the corner clutter-free, there would be someplace to put all that stuff. *sigh*

--5--

Curly's science teacher (the amazing Sister Frances Carol) told her students that right around the spring equinox, and only on a leap year, you could stand a broom on its bristles and it would stay. This broom stayed in our dining room like this for the better part of a month, I kid you not.

Of course, this was my favorite broom, and Curly insisted that no one touch it. I had to use inferior brooms for a while, but I didn't mind. One day Moe needed to sweep and inadvertently grabbed this one, thus breaking the spell.

--6--

Every year at school, they have Character Dress-up Day. This year Moe wanted to go as Count Olaf from the Lemony Snicket books. He found a jacket from Larry's old Mad Hatter costume, and a vest Curly had worn last spring when he played Lefou in Beauty and the Beast. I painted a single eyebrow on his face with eyeliner, and drew the eye tattoo on his ankle with permanent marker.

(See my mischievous dog looking for something to get into?)

Soon I'll be inserting food from A Series of Unfortunate Events into this blog. We've already made something from the first book, The Bad Beginning, and the kids got a big kick out of it. Stay tuned!

--7--

On April Fool's Day, this showed up in my kitchen cabinet.

Moe designed it on the computer, took a can of beans and replaced the label with this one. Nice, huh? (eyeroll)

I hope your appetite hasn't been spoiled too badly; coming up I'll share that Lemony Snicket fare we put together, as well as some yummy dishes from The Lucky One. See you soon!