I do all the cooking. I mean, if I’m at home and someone needs popcorn or cereal poured, its all me. Amy tried cooking once and she managed to set an egg on fire boiling it, so I do all the cooking. I’m usually struggling for ways to make dinner for the four of us that would be eaten by all. Its tough with two under five year olds in the house and something that I’m only successful at maybe half the time. Until I discovered E Mealz.

E-MEALZ Easy Meals for Busy and Frugal Families makes things a snap. “But mcangeli, how can that be?” You ask. Easy. E-mealz knows whats coming up for sale at your favorite store (wal-mart, aldi’s, publix, kroger, ralphs and other stores) and creates a dinner menu for 7 days based on the sale items. You not only get good meals, but you *SAVE* money as well. They also have low-fat menus available as well! Can’t beat that with a stick.

The kicker? Its only $15 for three months (use the Coupon word DAVE and save on top of that!). So, here’s the scoop, for $1.25 a week, you get a 7 night meal plan (with a main course and sides) thats built around the sales of the week. The Publix Plan has been a good thing for us as I now have a good list for food shopping and know what we’re having every night! Try it for three months. I bet you’ll eat better and save some money too!

Popularity: unranked [?]

Lately the weather here has been perfect for a round of golf. I finally got my clubs back from my brother who had borrowed them a while ago, the problem now is that I can’t find my golf shoes. We had found a good pair of timberland golf shoes at a timberland outlet and I can’t find them now. Anyone have an idea where they are??

Popularity: 5% [?]

So Stephen Colbert is apparently running for president. He announced last night on his show after letting viewers know on the Daily show that he wasn’t sure if he would run yet or not. I think it might be interesting for the race, especially if he manages to garner any kind of attention from the national media (he’s already made CNN with the story). I also think he could bring a lot to the race. Who knows, in the end it might be a good thing.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Halloween is coming! Grace is having a party at preschool and Amy has volunteered to help throw the party. I’m thinking about making Spicy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies. Wanna know how I’m going to make them?

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup butter flavored shortening
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 cups rolled oats
• 1 cup raisins

Now for the Hard part…

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, butter flavored shortening, brown sugar, white sugar, eggs, and vanilla until smooth using a Hamilton Beach® Mixer (ok, you don’t have to use a HB mixer, but it helps). Combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and salt; stir into the sugar mixture. Stir in the oats and raisins. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake 10 to 12 minutes until light and golden. Do not overbake. Let them cool for 2 minutes before removing from cookie sheets to cool completely. Store in airtight container. Make sure you get some, because they don’t last long!

Now, that recipe makes 3 dozen cookies. 36 cookies. If her class had 12 kids in it that would be 3 cookies apiece. However, there are 14 kids and the two teachers, plus the other parents who might show up. I might have to make 9 dozen cookies in order for there to be enough (not to mention the fact that I like oatmeal raisin cookies and these are awesome cookies!). The problem? I can’t mix 9 dozen cookies at once with my current blender, but I could with the cool new Eclectrics® Mixer from Hamilton Beach®. It can make up to 9 dozen cookies or 4 pounds of bread (1 pound loafs) in one go. Thats a powerful mixer.

Its pretty too. My grandmother had a stand mixer like the Hamilton Beach® Stand Mixer and I loved using it. It makes things so easy to mix and it does a good job every time.

Enjoy the cookies!

Popularity: 4% [?]

In a showing of just how freaking inbread this country really is, it turns out that Dick Cheney (you know, the current VP) and Barack (barry) Obama are 8th cousins. Thats kind of cool when you look at their skin color isn’t it? I’m willing to bet there’s more of this in the political field than we’ll ever know. Its a tight nit group who run the country and this only proves it more. The impressive thing is that Cheney didn’t learn of this until his wife started working on her book “Blue Skies, No Fences”.

Mrs Cheney said

it was “an amazing American story that one ancestor … could be responsible down the family line for lives that have taken such different and varied paths.”

It is neat to see one a die hard corporate schill and the other a sell out to the left. One wants your money and power, the other wants to give away your money to get power. I bet we won’t be seeing those two shopping for truck accessories any time soon.

Popularity: 4% [?]

This weeks ASMW is The Minor Canon. A group from Los Angeles, California, they have a good piano base that is reminiscent of Ben Folds Five and some hauntingly good lyrics to go along. Listen below to the Present time and see if you can pick out all six pieces of the group.

Popularity: 5% [?]

There is apparently an epidemic of superbug proportions going around the country. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus or as those in the know call it, MRSA is making its rounds and the CDC here in Atlanta thinks that it might be more deadly than the AIDs virus. Not a good sign when you think that this is really a basic staph infection that is immune to almost all current treatments. Staph infections occur from skin abrasions, cuts and other wounds where the inside is open to the outside. Its a scary thought considering that the ring finger on my right hand was recently the victim of an attack by one of my dogs (two of them got in to a row over some food on the counter and I made the mistake of trying to pick the lighter one up to move him away from the fight).

It would have been the perfect time for me to get a staph infection. However, those at greatest risk are those in

in hospitals and it has been spreading through prisons, gyms and locker rooms, and in poor urban neighborhoods.

Apparently its been going around schools as well. Mostly due to the contact that athletes have by sharing sports equipment. Its become more common and has even shut down a school system in Bedford County, Virginia where a student died this past week from the infection. Its pretty scary stuff when you think about it.

The good thing is that despite the fact that almost everyone carries staph on their skin (or apparently in their noses) there are things we can do to help limit its effects. Washing hands and minimizing contact with other people’s open wounds will help a lot. So will making sure that any cuts or scrapes you get are cleaned well and treated with an antibiotic ointment like Staphaseptic. Staphaseptic is used by medical professionals, police and emts and by many sports trainers across the country. The cool thing is that it helps stop staph infections at the wound.

Make sure you’re not at risk of catching this super bug, wash your hands, be safe and check out staphaseptic, I used it on my last cut and it healed great!

Popularity: 3% [?]