Out of Milk

Lists, lists, lists....
I'm a compulsive list maker. 
Not that it does me a whole heck of a lot of good, really.  Generally, I think people who make lists seem to get through them, but for me they seem to be more of a way of organizing my brain "out loud" than anything.  I'm not one of those people who are frantic about getting everything checked off; I LIKE doing that, but I don't lay awake at night in a cold sweat if there are two things left on the list by the coffee pot. 

Lists are crazy things.  I like to see how people write them, what sort of order, how they notate, their shorthand...
I make little boxes next to my list items, like bullet points.
If I'm in a big hurry, it's a little dash, then the item.  And I have sub-lists. 
Some people number, some people write mish-mash as thoughts come to them.
Some...bless their little OCD hearts...use different colors of pens.  I consider it gain if I find a pen that writes without skipping!

Grocery lists, though, drive me NUTS.
I can't seem to keep the one nice little notebook by the fridge with the list that I can add to as we go.  My notebooks have been known to walk off to other rooms, or, instead of tearing out the page I take the whole book to the store and don't get it back to its spot. 
If I tear out the paper, it gets crammed in my pocket or purse....sometimes it makes it to the store, sometimes it doesn't.  Shopping without a list is painful, especially as far from the store as we live! 

This week I found an application for my phone that will SAVE ME!
It may save you, too, if you have a rough time with shopping lists.
It's called Out of Milk, and it's brilliant.  Even I can run it without help!  It's the perfect blend of simple and expandable that I never seem to find in any computer programs. 

It has three sections:
Shopping List
Pantry List
To-Do List

Each of those can be expanded if you wish.  For example, I created a Christmas Shopping List that I can just punch ideas into.  The Pantry List also has a Spice List, because people like me who lose shopping lists, never seem to remember if they have pumpkin pie spice or not and buy it again in a panic, two days before Thanksgiving, only to get home and find its aged twin in the cupboard.  D'oh!  I love the spice list. 

BUT....
The absolute COOLEST feature on this little app is the ability to scan barcodes from a container you're about to throw away.  Yes.  Just like those little bippy machines in the stores!  (If you think I scanned about 25 things in a row, just to watch it work, you're right.  It's so cool.  You can't believe how fun THAT is...)

So when I'm out Christmas shopping...you know, the whole 15 minutes of that that I do every year....I can scan bar codes on things I think might work for the kids, then go home and look for them cheaper online. 

Rarely am I this excited about technology!

Rarely does technology work for me!
(Really.  I think that's why I can never get all worked up over things like Kindles.  I seem to find all the bugs that the programmers missed.)

Rarely do I recommend anything having to do with organization COUPLED with technology!  In fact, I may never have done so prior to this post.

Anyway, if you want to read the official blurb and check it out for yourself, go to
Out of Milk and see what I'm so excited about!

Your Manners Are Showing: The Handbook of Teen-Age Know-How

From the inside of the book jacket:

(Copyright 1946, incidentally...)

What's your dating rating?  Are you ever baffled by the right fork at the wrong time?  Do blue moods besiege you? Do you have money troubles, parent problems or clothes jitters?  Would you like to be more popular?

(So far, she just described me EXACTLY at age 40, with the exception of the dating rating...)

If you're like most teen agers, these are just a few of the everyday problems which come up one time or another.  So here's the book that was written especially for you.

YOUR MANNERS ARE SHOWING is the bright and sensible low-down designed to help you put your best foot forward in every social situation.

(Well, YEAH!)

These gay illustrations, breezy verses and simple gems of good advice make it easy for you to remember the basic rules of good behavior which are essential for smooth, smart operating.

Introductions, invitations, letters, waiters, dates, visits, parties, tablemanners, cigarettes or small talk will never seem so tough again aftyer you've read Betty Betz' (YES, that's her REAL NAME!) slant on how to handle them.

Why wait until it's too late to insure your social success when YOUR MANNERS ARE SHOWING makes it easy and fun to be popular?

Indeed.

I'm just reading this book now, in the hopes of dealing with many of those issues plaguing my social life.

Had I read it twenty-five years ago, who KNOWS where I'd be now?!?!

A sneak peak at some of my favorite tips, so far:

(Go ahead.  You can take notes!  You'll want to...)

You can't know how many nights I've lain awake, fretting about a situation such as this.

My popularity has obviously suffered because I've introduced gals and lads in the incorrect order.

*sob!*

*Ahem...*

This should be superimposed on every locker in every school in our great nation.

And a goodly number of billboards, too.

 

Speechless in the horror of how many times I've made THIS faux pas....

(PRETTY sure no guys ever kept notes from me for more than the amount of time it would take them to read 'em and flush 'em....)

I'd be devastated if Jill ever found out what Phil REALLY thinks of me....

I'd lay $100 on the table, betting that any teen I sat across from today wouldn't know what the heck billing and cooing is.

Or why it would make someone "enrapt".

 But WAIT....
There's MORE!
Read this little excerpt from the chapter entitled "Raising Parents":

Intrigued?

Want to borrow my little etiquette book to improve YOUR popularity in a bright and sensible manner?

Tough.

You can come to my house and read it, so we can sit and snork together....

Coffee Snob

I am one. 

I didn't start out this way; it's not my parents' fault....they raised me on Folgers.

It's my friends.

They're the wicked but well-meaning souls that have steadily encouraged my obsession with this legal, addictive stimulant.

It's true.

My friend/cousin Kari took me to my first Starbucks in L.A., exposing me to the idea of buying beans to grind at home.  (I had no idea that was a possibility!)

My sister (I guess we're friends.  :) gave me a little home espresso maker that made luke-warm (but heavenly tasting) coffee. 

My friend Justin introduced me to my first French press experience, creating a deep and abiding longing to own my own.  A longing that persisted for a couple years and remained unfulfilled (because I'm too cheap to buy one) until.....

My friend Traci gave me the prettiest little French press pot for a Christmas present.  Turns out, beans need to be ground a little more coarsely for the French press. A whole new project...

And last year, for my birthday, my sweet friend Shelly sent me a coffee roaster.

That's right.

This is coffee snobbery taken to an almost absurd level.

I roasted one...ONE, mind you....batch of beans, dropped the glass roasting container while I was putting it away, sat in the midst of the shards and cried my eyes out. It turns out this particular model of coffee roasters is no longer being made or sold anywhere, despite its popularity among java junkies like me, and I thought all was lost.  And cried some more. 

The green coffee bean dealers, Sweet Maria's, apparently recognized the need for replacement parts in order to keep customers buying their product, so they found someone who would rebuild the glass container for a small fee! Rejoice!

So, the day before my birthday THIS year, my coffee roaster was restored to full working order and I began my Sunday custom of roasting coffee beans for the first glorious cup of coffee on God's day....every week. 

Let me tell you this: if you have any coffee snob tendencies at ALL, you'll want to stop reading right here, shut the little window down, and walk away.  Consider this a cautionary note, and I can't be held responsible for the consequences if you continue on in this post....

I made this extra large so you could read the label.

You can see that obviously there are crazier coffee people than me, who describe the under and overtones of the brew with words like "piney resinous aroma".

Seriously.

The worst part is.....

I detected that aroma, too!

 Basically, the coffee roaster I have is just a hot air popcorn popper on steroids, with a filter on top.  That's it!  It's laughably simple, fool-proof even for me! 

So the beans look like this when they start.

After about 2 minutes, they're like this....

After 4 minutes, even prettier...

 5 minutes....

 6 minutes...

Done, at 7 minutes!

Were you wondering why I was roasting outside? 

There's smoke. 

My family finds it offensive and they aren't really hip on the fire alarm going off first thing in the morning.

Buncha wimps...

:)

Filter with the chaff from the roasted beans.

The beans swell with the heat, pop and split, and the fan in the bottom blows the chaff upward and out of the roasting container.

And here's the finished product, ready to be ground!

*This particular bean didn't get as black and greasy as I like, but it was still pretty good.

The best tasting coffee comes from greasy beans...did you know that?

Someday, I'm going to have a coffeeshop (on a beach somewhere) called The Greasy Bean....

Come for a visit and I'll roast you a special blend!

And the blessed beverage, tempered with cream, in my favorite mug!

(Also from Shelly, who did the illustration you see on it!)