This post is a bit of a smorgasbord.  (Don’t you just love smorgasbords?  I wish I had sat down to one for lunch.  We had frozen pizza instead.)

 

A Winner

FIRST, I’d like to announce the winner of the Homemaking 101 DVD by Jennifer Ross.  Congrats to Stephanie in SC!  Stephanie…doing a jig down there in SC!  Woo Hoo!   I’ll be sending you an email to get your addy…and we’ll get you all set up with your new DVD.  Throw out YOUR frozen pizzas, because YOU are destined to homemaking greatness.  Thanks to the rest of you for participating.  And a pink, fluffy, cotton candy thank you to SWEET Jennifer for donating a free copy of her DVD.

 

Rice Cookers

We eat a lot of rice here.  I’ve always wondered if having a rice cooker would be a worth-while gadget to have in the kitchen.  This year for my birthday, I got some money from my parents and my in-laws, put it together, and bought a 10 cup Zojirushi Umami Rice Cooker.  It was the word “Umami” that got me.  Doesn’t that sound exotic and…well, sort of like “Yummy” and also like “Mommy” all at the same time?  I like that.

Turned out to be a great brand…and a great rice cooker.  Amidst much mockage from my family, I’ve purchased every kind of rice imaginable and tried it.  Totally Umami.  Even brown rice…something healthy I gave up on a few years ago because, well…I like really umami food.  Now we can eat brown rice, get healthy, and be happy all at the same time.  Isn’t this an amazing machine?

But here’s the really grand thing.  This particular cooker can do some slow cooking magic too.  Like chili.  Without getting the sides and bottom all brown and crusty gross.  AND…my new favorite: Porridge.  You know…like in all the old fashioned and romantic fairy tales?  Here’s my fast and easy and SO umami porridge recipe that I got from The Ultimate Rice Cooker Cookbook by Beth Hensberger and Julie Kaufmann. (This is my variation…makes 4 hearty servings)

1 cup granola

1 cup rolled oats

3 cups water

raisins or other dried fruit if desired

Select the porridge setting…and sit back for an hour while the machine makes the most delectable hot breakfast in the world.

(That cookbook, by the way, is chock full of some great recipes for your rice cooker.)

So are you wondering what umami means?  It means the fifth dimension of flavor after sweetness, saltiness, sourness and bitterness.

Kind of weird.

I like “Yummy Mommy” better.

 

Varicose Veins

Not so umami of a topic, but something a few of us have to deal with.

Mine started a few pregnancies ago…and while they are fairly ugly to look at AND fairly painful when I’m pregnant (which is why I wear support hose)…the varicosities in my legs are not my real topic here.  I wanted to bury this deep in the middle of the post because it is somewhat of an embarrassing/private topic, but it’s something I’ve discovered a LOT of women secretly suffer with and aren’t sure what to do about.  (I’m going to whisper it: vulvar varicosities.)

Now that we have that out of the way…let’s talk about relief.  Most women don’t know there IS relief from this very painful problem.  Why?  They are too embarrassed to bring it up to their doctor, and they instinctively know that it would involve a standing examination (not ovation), since the varicosities won’t reveal themselves unless gravity is at work.  The other problem is that most doctors aren’t asking their patients who suffer from varicosities in the legs if they are also having issues in their pelvis area.

I found a V-2 Support belt several years ago, and it made a world of difference for me.  My OB/GYN office didn’t know what they were.  (See a problem there?)  This last week, I found another solution that I like even better: the Baby Belly Band Support Wear System.

I like it better because it offers more control over the placement of the support band as well as the intensity of the support.  In addition, I LOVE the belly band…it has given my back a lot of relief from the extra weight of my growing belly.  (I’m 6 months pregnant at the time of this post.)  I don’t necessarily recommend the shoulder straps.  They don’t seem to be doing much of anything.

****UPDATE**** I’m still loving the Belly Band part of the “Support Wear System”, BUT…I’m realizing I need extra support through the center of my pelvic area…and the bands that come with this particular system only support the sides.  So I’m actually back to my V-2 Support belt for that issue…and I use the belly band to help support my growing abdomen.

I hope this little tip helps some suffering soul out there.  Let’s move on now, shall we?

 

E-Readers

Although I’m a total book freak, I have put off getting an e-reader.  Why?  Because I’m a total book freak.  I adore the look and feel of books.  I love libraries.  I love beautiful covers.  I love the feel of leather.  I love to highlight my books, write notes in them and bend their pages.  I’m ALL ABOUT a dog-eared book.

An e-reader?  What’s to love about a hard, flat, machine?   Plenty, I’ve recently discovered. My husband bought me one for my birthday.

NOW…when I’m drawn to an e-book…rather than dismiss it because I refuse to sit and read at my computer…I buy it, download it onto my e-reader…and read it before I go to bed at night.  (That’s my favorite time to read…mainly because it is the only time there are no children around.  Theoretically, anyway.  They are supposed to be sleeping.)

NOW…when I see “Kindle edition available” on an Amazon book I’d like to read….I get instant gratification and a nice discount on the book when I download it onto my e-reader.

NOW…when I see FREE e-books on some of my favorite websites, like American Vision, I download them onto my e-reader.  My most recent find was The Reduction of Christianity by Gary DeMar and Peter Leithart.  Awesome book.  Totally free.

NOW…I throw my e-reader in my purse and read MY books at the Dr. office and while waiting for my daughter when she is in speech therapy…instead of the ridiculously repetitive and shallow pop mags that I used to pick up off the tables there.

And I can bookmark and highlight to my heart’s content…and then press a button that pulls up all my notes on one page!  COOL!

I’m so in love.

So there you have it.  A few opinions.  After all, what are blogs for?