SISTER WISDOM

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Recommended Reading, Issue #1 1

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From the feed reader…

  • Abby at New Urban Habitat, Frugal isn’t cheap: “But frugality can be more fun than the mindless consuming many of us got in the habit of doing in the previous decade, because we end up spending money on what we really want.”
  • Rachel at Small Notebook, My Real-Life, Practical Daily Routine: “Instead of having a schedule that would be ignored day after day in real life, I follow a daily routine of touchstones — key elements to mark a successful day.
  • Philip Brewer at Wise Bread, What I’ve Been Trying to Say: “You can’t go back and change decisions that have already been made, but that doesn’t mean that the design for the rest of your life is immutable.  Start today to design the life that you want to be living.”

From the bookshelf…

  • Eleanor Roosevelt, You Learn By Living

Read my full review here.

Mini Review: Practical advice for personal growth and a successful life, from the era before self-improvement was the big market share it is now. Roosevelt is easy to read and understand but profound. Her advice is practical, with personal examples, and I found myself copying lots of quotes and wanting to paste them all over the walls in my bedroom.
Find it on Amazon.

  • Mindy Stearns Clark, The House That Cleans Itself

Mini Review: If you’re not a natural housekeeping/organizing goddess, you will love this book. The concept is that instead of fighting our naturally slobbish tendencies (or those of family members), we should identify them and create systems that work for us instead of against us. Brilliant! I love this! I always feel like housekeeping is a battle, and I’ve already used some of her ideas and seen some of the most irritating problems get much, much better. I’m going to be tackling more of my house this year and Clark’s book is my guide.
Find it on Amazon.

What’s your recommended reading this week?
Join in by linking up your post, or simply share in the comments below.

Heads Up! Recommended Reading coming to – 1

Edit: This was supposed to be posted last night, but I had some intense disagreements with my computer. My husband had to mediate, and we finally came to a happy, working agreement this morning… So:

Heads Up! Recommended Reading coming today!

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Here’s the deal: I love reading. I love reading great blogs and articles online, and I adore (as in, extreme twitterpation and heart palpitation) a great book.
On the other hand, I despise wasting my time on sub-par writing of any kind. I find, however, it’s sometimes hard to put your finger on that great article or post or book or magazine you’re wanting, when you’re ready for your next great read.

Thus Recommended Reading is born.

Every Friday I’ll be posting a list of what I’ve read lately that (I think) is worth reading: books, blogs, and otherwise which I can whole-heartedly recommend to you.

I’m hoping some of you smart women will join with me and either put up a post or leave a comment with your own recommended reading, because, see, this is all kind of self-serving. I get kind of, uh, tense (hyperventilating, spasms, hives, stuff like that), when I don’t know what I’m going to read next. So if I can get some great recommendations, I can keep myself from those ugly little episodes.
I will thank you.
My whole family will thank you.

Tune in tomorrow later today for the first issue of Recommended Reading! I’ll include a Mr Linky so you can link up if you’ve written a post. And here’s a bloggie icon you can use to link back if you’d like.

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Happy Reading! See you tomorrow.

Menu Plan Monday: 09 Feb 2009 3

Click on the button above to visit OrgJunkie, home of Menu Plan Monday.

This week my menu planning is a bit different. I don’t actually have a menu made for this week, and I probably won’t be making a grocery trip. So I’m just picking up a few recipes here and there that fit with what I have in my pantry and look amazing… and that’s what we’ll be eating this week. Voila. I give you the blog-browsing-flexible-nonshopping-menu plan for my household this week:

  • These Lazy Day Cinnamon Rolls from Tasty Thoughts blog look amazing. Joe’s day off is Thursday this week, so we’ll probably have these Thursday for a late breakfast. And then an early lunch… I love cinnamon rolls.
  • For dinner tonight, Spicy Pinto Beans and Ham from Are You Hungry? blog. I have a big ham bone in the fridge that I need to use up, and I always have beans. We’re on.
  • From Laura at Min/Min, I’m grabbing a chicken salad recipe that sounds great. I love chicken salad with fruit in it, and I just happen to have dried cranberries and apples. I have a couple of chickens in the freezer (always) so we’ll have this for Tuesday or Wednesday. I better get that chick out to thaw…
  • I think this recipe for Roasted Vegetables in the Crockpot looks amazing. Found the recipe from the link on Practicing Thrift blog, which is something I need to do this week… see how well that works out?
  • From In the Moment blog I followed the link to this Chicken, Corn, and Tomatillo Chili which looks and sounds and, I’m sure, smells and tastes amazing. Now tomatillos are not something I stock regularly – call me crazy – but I’ll probably have to purchase diapers for Wick before Friday anyway….
  • If I can, I’m going to make a batch of these Bee Rocks from the Happy Housewife blog. I’m going out of town on Saturday (yes, Valentine’s Day…) and will be leaving my man with no cook but himself until Tuesday… he’d appreciate something made ahead for a quick meal.
  • I also really like the sound of this Pasta Fagioli soup from $5 Dinners blog. And since it’s only $5, I can swing picking up the couple of ingredients I don’t have already. You know, when I go get diapers and tomatillos.

The End. Happy Cooking, everyone!

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