I Just Can't Get Enough

In trying to come up with a posting for how much I love my new steam cleaner, I'm at a loss. And then I had a flashback to 1990 and the Depeche Mode concert in Atlanta. But those guys have NOTHING on The Saturdays.




Seriously. I'm convinced that this song was written to a Wagner 905 steam cleaner. That's how totally awesome it is. This bad boy has 240 reviews on Amazon and only 13 of them are less than 4 stars. That alone should tell you something.

I'm in LOVE with my new steam cleaner. I won't tell you what I've blasted to kingdom come tonight. You might think less of me. ;-) Let's just say that instead of looking like a pin-up girl, I resembled something more like Lara Croft.

Earlier today I blasted about 3 years worth of cobwebs, dead bugs and dirt from the dresser that's getting redone. And it was *good*. But now? Oh my lands. This appliance - for which I'm not getting paid to sing it's praises - is even more of a workhorse indoors. It's cute, too, in it's yellow and black bumblebee-ish way. It's so cute it needs a name. I think I shall call it Bumblebee as an homage to the spunky Transformer of the same name. The same Transformer who "pees on the baaad wobots" according to Thing 3.

Lyrics are as follows - just in case you missed them:

When I`m with you baby
I go out of my head
I just can`t get enough
I just can`t get enough
All the things you do to me
And everything you said
I just can`t get enough
I just can`t get enough
We slip and slide as we fall in love
And I just can`t seem to get enough

We walk together
We`re walking down the street
I just can`t get enough
I just can`t get enough
Everytime I think of you
I know we have to meet
I just can`t get enough
I just can`t get enough
It`s getting hotter, it`s a burning love
And I just can`t seem to get enough

And when it rains
You`re shining down for me
I just can`t get enough
I just can`t get enough
Just like a rainbow
You know you set me free
just can`t get enough
I just can`t get enough
You`re like an angel and you give me your love
And I just can`t seem to get enough.

The Golden Rule?

OK, so I made my first Lutterloh outfit last night. Well, mostly made. Not sure what I think of it. It went together easily enough and my invisible zipper rocks, but for some reason, using the correct measurements, I have to make my seam allowance 3/5" instead of the 5/8" that I measured out from the pattern. Once I'm finished with it I'll post pics. Hopefully. ;-)

Hah. Proof that nearly anything can be found on the interwebz! The skirt part of the picture below is what I'm making.

Image courtesy of LutterlohSystem.com

Dude, You're Gettin' A Dell!

Does anyone remember those commercials? In case you don't here's one to jog your memory:

Anyhow, tonight, the Elder Princess Ella brings this to the dinner table:


Please to note the brand on the cover of this "laptop".



Please to note the attention to detail - including the "flying windows" button.

I am always awed at the sheer amazingness of my oldest child.

JenQu's Fabulous Mac'n'Cheese

For real, this is the most amazing mac I've ever eaten. I've never made "real" mac'n'cheese from anything other than a box before. And according to my kids, Annie's organic mac is "nasty".

Me: But it's ORGANIC, kids! It's GOOD for you.

Them: MOM IT'S GROSS!!11!!

I figured I had to do something about the mac problem. So while cruising one of my favorite Delphi mZinga forums I noticed that JenQu's mac'n'cheese (option 1) was considered somewhat legendary and decided that if I had to make mac for real, I'd try her recipe. I let the kids pick the pasta (mini shells) and off we went to make the mac that is a meal.

The only modifications to the recipe were:

• Shredded Cheese - I ended up using 8 oz each sharp and mild cheddar rather than 2 cups. MMMM Cheesy.


• Parmesan Cheese - Locatelli mmmmmmm nice bite!


• Breadcrumbs - I didn't realize we were out of these until we got home and so I had to use stale stuffing cubes that were pulverized.

Even though the recipe was modified slightly, it was still a winner.

Recipe follows for those of you who don't want to click the link above.

Mac and Cheese

• 1 lb macaroni


• 8 oz cream cheese


• 2 cups shredded cheddar


• 1 cup milk or cream


• ½ cup bread crumbs


• ½ cup grated parmesan cheese


• 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper


• 1 tbls butter

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Lightly butter 2 or 3 quart baking dish or pan (I use a long rectangular one..more crust!) Meanwhile, in a large pot of salted water cook the noodles until al dente, barely cooked, about 8 minutes. Drain and return to the empty pot. Mix with cream cheese until it is melted and getting nice and gooey. Stir in the cheddar and milk or cream. Transfer to the buttered baking dish (or pan, like I use) In a small bowl combine the breadcrumbs, parmesan and cayenne. Sprinkle over the macaroni and dot woth the butter. Bake until golden brown and bubbly, about 40 minutes!

A tale of two MP3 players

A couple of years ago, I got this for Mother's Day.

It served me well and was great for teaching dance class. No more need for CDs, just plug it in and Whoomp! There it was! But all good things must come to an end, especially if one's children get hold of delicate electronics and appropriate them for their own use. Now to be fair, the Zen DOES still work, the LCD just is dead. But that doesn't do much good when the whole functionality of this kind of MP3 player is predicated on it having a functional LCD.

Enter the Fuze...

This was $79.99 at Best Buy (not an advertisement, no one paid me to plug this). It's double the storage AND can take a micro SD card for additional storage. So far, I've got almost every playlist I use stored on it and I still have room for more. I'm a VERY happy camper.

You've got to be kidding me...

OK, so I was at the doctor's office last week and saw a J Crew catalog on the table. The only thing I knew about J Crew was that the First Lady wore something they sell. So I flip through the catalog and notice these:

You might be asking why I was so bemused about them? Well, for one thing, the 2006 catalog had a price tag of $198. And for another, I bought the same style of shoe (albeit with a more round toe) at Target in 2006 for a mere $14.99.

Granted, my shoes are gold metallic pleather and not the real mccoy, but still... For a shoe you wear knocking around to the grocery and playgroup? Almost $200? Even if I won the lottery, I STILL would NOT PAY that kind of money for a pair of every day, regular shoes. I wouldn't even pay that much for a pair of ballroom shoes in actual real gold leather. I did pay $99 for a pair of silver ones once upon a time, though. Nadia by International Dance Shoes.

Which apparently are now over $150 depending on where you buy them. My, my how time and money flies in the last 12 years...

OK back to the topic at hand. My Target house-brand shoes have been used and abused over the last three years. They've weathered pregnant lady feet, gardening and all kinds of abuse. I think I've got my $5/year out of them. The real question is "Would their high-ticket cousins have stood the same test of time?"

Livin' La Vida Laptop

Greetings and Salutations, gentle readers.

The new year has come and gone, Chinese New Year has come and gone and now we're solidly into 2009.

Today is the first day that my new laptop is fully up and running. I can't count the last two days since we had to revert the disk image back to factory default then delete all the crap that comes pre-installed and then install our own crap. I've got a nifty Acer Aspire 4530 in Pacific Blue with an nVida 9100m G graphics card. 3GB of DDR2 RAM. SWEET. And fast. For what it is I do on it, this thing ROCKS. Oh yeah, it comes with a webcam. Whee. Now I can vlog. Maybe.

You might ask yourself what it is I do on this little beauty. I write. I am a writer. And no, not just random rambling blogs or random YouTube stuff, either. REAL writing. That I get paid to do. Crazy, no? Who would have thought that little ol' me would actually fall into being a paid writer/editor?

Speaking of writing, the documentary on Helvetica at Netflix is pretty doggone interesting.

Beautiful Irony

I know I've been away for a while. I've had life. You know, the basics of laundry and child rearing and summer camp and 1st grade and Pre-K starting... Lest you think I've been all work and no play and thus become a dull girl, I'm going to tell you a tale of two books. They are beauty, they are the beast, but not a Tale of Two Cities.

The first is "Universal Beauty". It's the Miss Universe Guide to looking beautiful. And it's chock full of great advice on skin-care and such. And it's not really that geared towards the Pageant Girl.

The other great book I read was The Photoshop Elements 6 Book For Digital Photographers.

I've always wondered how and wanted to learn about making a good picture GREAT. Well, that book tells all! And how...

The irony of it all? There's not ONE picture in the first book that was NOT manipulated SOMEHOW using the techniques in the second. Take a good look at the cover. I promise it has been enhanced.

Aliens & Lovers

or the controversy known as FoxNews' coverage of the new Xbox 360 game "Mass Effect".

What better way to ring in Valentine's Day than with a little Human/Alien Hot Stuff?

Apparently, FoxNews has stooped to letting their reporters use the internet and personal blogs as source material for their newscasts. Not that the search for the unbiased truth ever was high on the FoxNews priority list recently (Barack Obama a Muslim, anyone?) Anyhow, the following clip shows FoxNews Barbie and her sidekick Armchair Psychiatrist analyzing the new game while SpikeTVs correspondent attempts to set the record straight (poorly, I might add). here's the clip, courtesy of Kotaku.com:

The funny thing is, we rented this game Saturday afternoon, and I've been listening to the Prince Consort play it while I blog, edit videos and do other assorted office-type things. When he brought this story to my attention this evening on the way home from work, my immediate reaction ran along these lines: "WTF are they smoking over at Fox? Are they Ka-Razy? Say WHAT?!?!" Suffice it to say, after having listened to the "alien love" scene, last night and then watching it tonight (and videotaping it for reference), all I can say is... If the girl on fox who wanted this game to be rated AO (Adults Only, equivalent to R/NC17 in a movie theatre) actually WATCHED what the game actually showed, it's far less titilating or problematic than the sex scene between Sawyer and Kate in Season 3 of Lost, or even the sex scene between Sawyer and AnaLucia in Season 1 or 2 (I forget) of Lost. That Sawyer gets around. I LOLed at the description of Mass Effect as "Luke Skywalker Meets Debbie Does Dallas". I mean REALLY people.

If you want to watch a whole BOATLOAD of "sex scenes" from Mass Effect, this YouTube user has 'em all. And they're about as racy as... I dunno. Something rated TVPG-13 or PG-13 in theatres. Seriously, there's a LOT worse stuff out there. This game is rated M for Mature. And unlike it was said in the clip, ratings are not just on the BACK of the box. They are also on the front of selected ones, too. So now, let's get to know our ratings...

Live and direct from http://www.esrb.org/ratings/ratings_guide.jsp come the ESRB Rating Symbols

EARLY CHILDHOOD

Titles rated EC (Early Childhood) have content that may be suitable for ages 3 and older. Contains no material that parents would find inappropriate.

EVERYONE

Titles rated E (Everyone) have content that may be suitable for ages 6 and older. Titles in this category may contain minimal cartoon, fantasy or mild violence and/or infrequent use of mild language.

EVERYONE 10+

Titles rated E10+ (Everyone 10 and older) have content that may be suitable for ages 10 and older. Titles in this category may contain more cartoon, fantasy or mild violence, mild language and/or minimal suggestive themes.

TEEN

Titles rated T (Teen) have content that may be suitable for ages 13 and older. Titles in this category may contain violence, suggestive themes, crude humor, minimal blood, simulated gambling, and/or infrequent use of strong language.

MATURE

Titles rated M (Mature) have content that may be suitable for persons ages 17 and older. Titles in this category may contain intense violence, blood and gore, sexual content and/or strong language.

ADULTS ONLY

Titles rated AO (Adults Only) have content that should only be played by persons 18 years and older. Titles in this category may include prolonged scenes of intense violence and/or graphic sexual content and nudity.

RATING PENDING

Titles listed as RP (Rating Pending) have been submitted to the ESRB and are awaiting final rating. (This symbol appears only in advertising prior to a game's release.)

Now I'm sorry, NO I'M NOT! if you, the (responsible) adult, leave stuff sitting out that you don't want your kids to get to, tough nuts. It's your responsibility as parents.

Why hasn't anyone gone ballistic over Viva Pinata? That game is chock full of fornicating party animals. Don't believe me? Check this out:

After going into their little houses and doing their little "romance dance", those perky pinatas disappear, some hearts appear over the outside of their house and a short while later an egg gets delivered by Storkos. Even my 5 year old gets what this means. And she doesn't even know where babies come from ~really~. Did I mention that Viva Pinata is rated E for Everyone? Don't believe me? Check it out: http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/v/vivapinata/

Seriously people, it's NOT just teenage boys playing video games. No matter what the "experts" want you to believe, the largest demographic is actually males 18-35. You saw that right. Don't believe me? USA Today reported on this as far back as 2004 and STILL people are pulling the "teenage boys" card. It's getting old FAST. If *I* can Google that information in the space of a nanosecond, then SURELY the powers that be at FauxNews can do the same. Or is USA Today too liberal for them to take seriously? Here's a snippet from the article:

In fact, the average age of game players was 29 and the average age of buyers was 36, with men making up 59% of the playing audience.

and this report from Research and Markets,Guinness Centre, Taylors Lane, Dublin 8, Ireland which includes the following information (among MANY other things):

• Trends in PC Gamer Demographics 2004-2007
• Trends in Console Gamer Demographics 2006-2007 by Age & Gender
• Trends in Online Gamer Demographics 2004-2007 by Age & Gender
• Trends in Console Gamer Demographics 2006-2007 by Education
• Trends in Online Gamer Demographics 2004-2007 by Education
• Percentage of Various Gamer Groups

It will only set you back €3,210.00 for a PDF copy or €3,253.00 + EUR€ 50.00 Shipping/Handling for a printed copy. You read that right, THIRTY TWO HUNDRED EUROs and then some. If you want to know what that means in US$, go here.

Rightly so, EA Games issued a response to FoxNews - available at Kotaku here. I don't blame them. Reminds me of the Stealers Wheel song...

Well I don't know why I came here tonight,
I got the feeling that something ain't right,
I'm so scared in case I fall off my chair,
And I'm wondering how I'll get down the stairs,
Clowns to the left of me,
Jokers to the right,
here I am, Stuck in the middle with you.

People, it's simple. Know the ratings, monitor what your kids watch/play if you have 'em. But for the love of all that is holy and decent, MAKE AN INFORMED DECISION BASED ON ACTUAL FACTS, not just the rantings of some "journalist" (and I'm really stretching that term here, folks) on TV. Or even some random internet person's blog. Including mine. Be an informed consumer.

Merry Christmas Baby!

Today is the 1st Sunday of Advent which marks the official "waiting for Christmas" period. While Christmas songs won't be sung in Church until December 25th, and since stores and radio stations are probably inundating you with "holiday cheer", I thought I'd spare you a bunch of agony and just tell you what I think you should be listening to. Generally, I buy one or two new Christmas CDs per year. This year I scored FIVE. And every one is excellent.

Without further ado I present The Empress' Christmas Listening List:

That Special Time Of Year: Gladys Knight & The Pips (featuring Johnny Mathis on 3 tracks)

This album was originally released in 1979 and was re-released in 2006. It tops my list of most listenable. I "heart" Gladys Knight. She's my biggest musical inspiration.

---

Sounds of the Season: Have Yourself A Very KT Christmas (Target Exclusive): KT Tunstall

Has an AWESOME rendition of Mele Kelikimaka, one of my all time favorite songs. This album is chock full of KT goodness.

---

Stockings By The Fire: A Starbucks Exclusive

This album is full of classics performed in new and exciting ways. Sarah Maclachlan performs my all time favorite hymn "I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day" beautifully. It's wistful and longing and so perfect.

---

Noel: Josh Groban

Lovely and peaceful. And has an awesome rendition of Ave Maria AND Panis Angelicus. It's a Latin hymn double header. And well worth the price of admission.

---

Holiday Jazz: Lifescapes (Target Exclusive)

As smooth as a warm brandy. And just as tasty. Gets you in just the right frame of mind. Especially when there's a fire going.

So ask Santa to stuff your stocking with one of these. You'll be glad you did!

Will wonders never cease?

It was with shock and awe (no really) that I opened up my Blogger dashboard today and found - for the first time ever - that my dashboard opened without me needing to input any information. Apparently, Blogger finally fixed the "save my password" glitch. WAHOO!

12" Vinyl LIVES!!!

So I poster earlier about the new turntable, right? I have to say it is absolutely A-Mazing. I have ripped about 10 albums as WMA files and the quality is superb. I haven't done any digital clean-up of the files either. There's really no need. Most of the albums were in excellent to pristine condition so there was no popping or hissing to be dealt with. The one album that did pop and hiss a bit was "To Sir, With Love" (the original movie soundtrack released in the 60s).

My set-up uses the ion turntable as audio source, Windows Sound Recorder (yeah the basic thing that *comes* with Windows) to record & Roxio Sound Editor to make it all into separate tracks & remove beginning and end silence. Once an album is physically captured - done in real-time - it takes about 1 minute to convert a full side of a platter to separate tracks.

While I'm ripping in real-time, I scan the original album cover art in two pieces since I'm using a mulit-purpose print/scan/etc machine that has a legal size/a-4 size glass. I then take those two files into PhotoShop and edit them together for a pretty decent facsimile of the original cover. I tweak them a bit to get rid of any flaws from storage or what-have-you.

All in all, I'm extremely satisfied.

It's Just Like Christmas In July...

But it's October...

So yesterday was Dad's birthday. I *think* he turned 63. I lost count after 60. Anyhow, after getting the requisite Superman stuff from the grandkids, he got THIS nifty thing.

It's a turntable that is USB and regular old RCA line-out. It rocks. Now, you may be asking yourself "If dad got this, then WHY is she blogging about it?"

Gentle readers, THIS is why. I didn't just buy one for dad, I bought one for meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. Costco has them for $119.99 each. We saw them last weekend and I told the Prince Consort that I WANTED ONE NOW!!! He of course laughed and said "Maybe for Christmas". I whined a bit more and conceded that Christmas was OK but that I STILL WANTED ONE NOW!!!!!!

So when I went to Costco yesterday to pick up the one for dad and couldn't find them, I freaked out. WHERE were they? And would I get one for Christmas??? I asked a person who looked like they were in charge (and gracious me, they actually WERE in charge) and that person (Hank?) helped me locate them. He told me they had been flying off the shelves. And when we found them, there were quite a few less than there were the week before. So, I was all set to check out, got in line and then realized that I might not get mine if I didn't do it NOW. So back I went and got ANOTHER one.

Let me tell you that this thing is AMAZING. I love it. I'm capturing albums (those 12" vinyl platter thingies) into digital format and it is good. Some of the albums I have are rare, out-of-print stuff that has never been and never will be released digitally. But now I have them captured forever muahahahahahahahahahahahahah.

Baby Loves Jazz

And so does mommy! This disc is probably my favorite children's music disc of all time. I've spent a small fortune on music to broaden my kids horizons - Tom Jones to Barry Manilow and Abba to Shakira. You name it, we've got it. But this one is a particular favorite of mine.

I picked this up at the local Whole Fools Market this past Saturday (gotta love those impulse buys). The baby digs it so much it's awesome. He loves "Happy And You Know It" (track two). It's got this way awesome West Coast Swing rhythm and he claps along with it. As the saying goes "It's got a beat and I can dance to it!".

I think most anyone would love this. Let me be plain, it blows Baby Einstein CDs out of the water as far as listen-ability. First, it's REAL instruments not synthesized ones. Second, it's children's music done to adult rhythms (although I'd posit that Jazz transcends age barriers). This stuff SWINGS. I've counted West Coast Swing, Balboa, Lindy and Collegiate Shag (IIRC) among the rhythms. As a dancer, this thrills me to pieces.

A+ from the kids and 5 dance steps from me.

pediped shoes

Their claim is that they are the next best thing to bare feet. And they can make that claim shamelessly! Not only are they shoes excellent in quality and workmanship, there are enough styles for the fashionista in all our little ones.

Now let me say that BP (before pediped shoes), I was anti-soft-sole shoes. Not because I didn't believe the studies about them, but because they are the fugliest things I've ever seen. And I will not apologise for feeling that way about Robeez, Jack and Lily and their ilk. They look like leather socks. And I have a thing about socks. Can't stand 'em. So when an online acquaitance turned me on to pediped™, I was hooked. My only complaint is that I did not know about them when the girls were tiny because I could have spent a mint on them as many shoes as they've had.

Lorenzo has these three pairs:

I love these shoes. I will sing their praises from the rooftops. And I will buy more. Oh yes I will. Because you can never have too many pairs of shoes.

Let me also say these shoes are incredibly durable. The leather bottoms can take a beating and still look like new. The shoes are so well constructed that you can abuse them and they will last. Lorenzo wears a 0-6 months size at 13 months old. He's been wearing the brown and black ones since he was 6 months old and they look great. The leather is buttery soft despite being thrown in the bathtub! Don't ask. Lorenzo has a habit of throwing things into the bathtub while his sisters are bathing. Gel inserts for my shoes, books, his own shoes, you name it. So even with being completely submerged in bathwater, the shoes still look and wear great.

bumGenius Rocks Out Loud

I've blogged about how great these diapers are in the past. And I truly meant every word. Since then, DoulaJenn has released bumGenious v. 2.0 which I have yet to try. Reason? I've returned to the dark side of disposable diapering. Why? Houseguests. Houseguests who did so much laundry my head was spinning (not to mention the agitator on my washer) and I couldn't get int there to do the extra load or two per week. When was this? Ohhhhh December of 2006. Yup. It's officially been 5 months since I moved the diaper pail onto the back porch (full). Imagine if you will a diaper pail... It wasn't as foul as I had expected, actually. It stunk to high heaven, but if you consider that it's been out there since before Christmas and it's been in the 80s since February... I was expecting a lab experiment.

So, I dumped the whole affair into the washer, never kind the laundry tabs, never mind the velcro cuz I was SO NOT gonna touch it. Nuh uh. I had started the water and put a capful of Clorox bleach (the one with the pink label cuz it smells purty - that never hurts, right?)

1 oz. of Method laundry detergent (Morning Bloom Scent)

and up-ended the diaper pail into it the washer. The diaper bag,

a purple Bummis Tote, went in, too.

Set that sucker on SOAK and left it over night. It's a GOOD thing we didn't need to wash anything else the last couple of days... Fast forward to this afternoon (which is a story in itself) and I peeked in the washer. The water was BLACK. Opaque black. And it had STUFF floating in it. I couldn't tell what it was and there was no WAY in hell I was gonna stick my hands in it to find out, either.

I set the washer to PRE-WASH which basically agitates the fool out of the wash load and empties the water. No rinse. After the pre-wash cycle was over, I peeked in the washer. The covers looked GREAT but I couldn't see the Cotton Babies Microfiber Inserts as I'd left them inside the dipes. No problem. I will confess that the covers had some discoloration on some of them that seem to be from pee pee ammonia. But ya know what? Lorenzo isn't going to be going outside the house a la Madonna with his underwear as outerwear. So I don't care.

I threw the car seat cover and dress that had puke on them (that's the other story) in with the covers, ran a 14 minute wash cycle with 2 rinses using just the Method detergent. Result? Diapers that are clean enough to use - nay - look almost new! And a puke-free dress and car seat cover.

I don't know what the secret to the bumGenii are but I'm glad I invested in them. I truly thought I'd flushed a couple hundred bucks down the drain. So, folks, go out and buy some bumGenius! Now appearing at select Whole Foods Markets. Sadly, NOT the one that is local to me.