Little things to be thankful for...

Fall is my favorite time of year. In addition to the many BIG things we have to be thankful for, I decided to start a list of the little things, that we often take for granted, that I am thankful for.

1. On a cold fall morning -- when you take a shower the water is warm and you know it will warm you up right away.

2. Extra blankets at the foot of the bed when it's cold.

3. Electricity - when you flip a switch, the light comes on

4. Library books

5. Gas stations in close proximity

6. Easy access to an airport

7. The curious thrill of advancing technology.

8. Advil / ibuprofen

9. Warm socks

10. Hot coffee on a saturday morning

11. Getting up extra early, and while driving to your destination, observing all the houses that are still dark with their residents still dreaming inside.

12. Clean clothes.

Anyone care to add to the list?

Leftover Soup

When it comes to soup, I tend to throw ingredients together and forget about a recipe. Here's one I did on Saturday that turned out well, so I am going to try to put the list of ingredients down before I forget. It is basically leftover soup...

Drizzle of olive oil.

Onion, chopped

Garlic chopped

3-4 cups defatted chicken broth

2-3 tomatoes chopped (or one can)

1-2 carrots sliced, or a handful of the mini carrots sliced

Celery, including leafy tops -- chopped (about 1 cup?)

1 jalopeno, seeded and chopped finely

Left over taco meat (about 3/4 cup?)

1 small can tomato sauce

a healthy dash of seasoned salt, cumin, and chili powder.

Cook the onion and garlic in the olive oil. Add broth and all the other ingredients and simmer until the carrots and celery are tender. Add the seasonings toward the end of cooking.

There's no science to this -- you could add other vegetables (corn, green beans, cabbage --whatever you have leftover).

This combo turned out nicely!

CNN Outdoes SNL

Is a parody of a parody a paradox? I don't know either, but when CNN fact checks Saturday Night Live -- really! -- I'm pretty sure I'm living in a parallel universe. I keep glancing nervously at my office door to see if evil Kirk and evil Spock are here to kidnap me (and, by their clothes, force me to perform in an evil intergalactic version of the Village People.)

For CNN, it's a move so desperate it reminds me of a girl from high school, Sally, whose nickname shall not be repeated in the family blog (let's just say it rhymes with nutty).

Right Track/Wrong Track/Laugh Track

(Ignore the Youtube user edits -- text on the screen)

Black Bean Soup...YUM!

Soup-ey Sunday is Soup-er Fun and here's one that's Soup-er Easy! Last week we made the South Beach Diet's version of Black Bean Soup. I was a little nervous because I had to admit to Joshua that yet again, this was going to be another "vegetarian" soup. I had made it before and he scoffed at it and wanted nothing to do with it. However, this time he was surprisingly optimistic about it, so I went with it. Good thing, too, because HE LOVED IT and SO DID I! It's a very filling, very healthy, very yummy chilly day kind of soup. It's a little spicy, but not bad at all...I'd go for more spice if my hubby's spicy food tolerance was a bit higher!

Anyway, here's the recipe! We tripled it and wished we had made more (we like to take it to lunch throughout the week). Also, I pureed the beans beforehand (the recipe says after you cook it for a while) and it worked fine...it just takes out an extra step towards the end.

Enjoy!

Serves 2
Ingredients

1/2 cup fresh tomato salsa (plus extra for garnish)

1 (15.5-ounce) cans black beans, drained and rinsed

1/2 can fat-free chicken broth2 tablespoons fat-free sour cream (optional)

2 teaspoons fresh cilantro

Instructions

Heat the salsa in a large saucepan over medium heat, stirring frequently, for about 5 minutes. Stir in the beans and broth, then heat to boiling. Reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer 15 minutes. Cool slightly, then spoon half the soup into a food processor or blender and puree. Be very careful pureeing hot liquids. Return the pureed soup to the saucepan and heat through. Serve with 1 tablespoon of sour cream per person, cilantro, and additional salsa.

Not to be outdone by this "soup" thing...

Here's a recipe for soup that I threw together this week-end and it actually turned out rather tasty.

4 cups brown beans, with juice (you can use canned if you don't have leftovers)

1 onion, diced

drizzle of olive oil

1 carrot, grated

2-3 cups beef broth, or about 4 beef bouillion cubes

chopped garlic

2 bay leaves

salt

black pepper -- lots

chili oil -- a drizzle, or maybe a teaspoon

Drizzle the olive oil in the bottom of a large pan and add the diced onion. Begin to cook the onion in the olive oil while adding the garlic (to taste) and grated carrot. Cook on low until all vegetables are becoming tender. Add the beef broth, bay leaf and beans. Cook on low for about 30 minutes (or so). Add salt, pepper and chili oil at the end of the cooking period. Stir thoroughly.

It is supposed to be a little spicey, so if it tastes bland, get the black pepper and chili oil out again.

"Souper" Easy French Onion

I liked Josh and Rachel's idea of Souper Sunday, so I implemented it. I made French onion soup in the crockpot. It was crazy easy and really good. Here's the recipe:

4 lbs. sweet onions (like Vidalias or Walla Wallas)
4 1/2 c. beef broth
1/2 c. butter
splash of Worcestershire
provolone or provel cheese (for you lucky St. Louisans)
french bread

Melt the butter. Chop the onions however small you like the chunks in your soup and put in the crock pot. Pour the butter over them and toss to coat. Stir in the beef broth and Worcestershire. Cook on low for 14-18 hours or on high for 8-10. Pour into bowls, place a slice of french bread in soup, put a piece of cheese on top and pop in the oven until cheese melts.

Yum.

Chicago Olympics?

The vote is today and the city seems to be buzzing. We found out around noon, Central. My office is even turning on the TV in the conference room for the announcement. Not sure what to bill that to.

I hope we get it. If nothing else, it'll improve transit! It'll also bring lots of jobs, money, and new PR opportunities.

Papa's Veggie Soup

Rach and I made a HUGE pot of Papa's veggie soup on Sunday for our new tradition of "Soupy Sunday" and have been eating it for lunches. It occupies an inordinate amount of space in our fridge, but it's worth it. We even experimented a bit with the recipe. We added some celery, a quart of beef stock, frozen veggies instead of canned, and an extremely small amount of broccoli (that was an accident, actually). It's good!

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.....

This is awesome. I love it when liberals assume that the corporations they like MUST be in line with their political views. I mean, the brands THEY buy just couldn't be part of that "big bad corporate machine" that's out to get us... could they? If that's true, they might have to give up their Macbooks. Then where would we be?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32471153/ns/us_news-washington_post/

My favorite part is when it says they should shop at Wal-Mart. Lol! Insert knife here, and twiiiisssstt.

Windows are Rattling

The Chicago air show is next weekend, which means they practice all week by buzzing my building (or so it seems). It's like the final scene of Top Gun outside, except of course no Migs, no explosions, and no homosexual undertones (will never understand why Val Kilmer does that biting thing). Actually, they're really just flying around. The windows are rattling, though.

Happy Birthday, Rachel!

Happy Birthday!
I hope your day is enjoyable and you get all of your wishes when you blow out the candles!
We love you!

3G(s)o excited!!

I ordered it on Thursday night. YAY! Everybody's out of them in Seattle, so I have to wait a few days. Not the instant gratification I was looking for, but this will give me time for app shopping.

PS. I know I said I was going to wait, but this purchasing decision may or may not have come immediately after a tequila tasting.

The View's Great, but did you see the dishwasher?

Josh & Rachel in their new apartment WITH a dishwasher.

The song from "The Jeffersons" was stuck in my head. "Moving on up to the DEluxe apartment in the sky..."

Happy Father's Day!

Curt received these great adirondack chairs for Father's Day. He got to put them together, too!

And since we needed the proper visual balance, we needed two -- so I lucked out! Ha!

We miss you guys!

Quote of the Week, June 18, 2009

The highest reward for a person's toil is not what they get for it, but what they become by it.
John Ruskin, poet, author, artist

4-square gardening

This is a photo taken of our 4-square today. The front L-shape is an herb garden. The back L-shape is full of tomato plants. The square with the trellis has a row of cucumber that we hope to train up the trellis and 2 zucchini. The front L-shape has Swiss chard, buttercrunch lettuce, 4 tomatoes, and a couple of small areas of replanting. The back L-shape is shaded, so I planted turnips, spinach, beets, kale. The square in front of the shaded L-shape has collards, kale, radish, lettuce. There is also some flowers sprinkled in and around that may or may not come up. What you can't see (because the photo is too dark) is our new compost bin sitting in the black hole behind the shaded L-shape.

Upside Down Tomato Planter Gizmo

This is the nifty tomato planter I bought at Sams. (Technically, Mom bought it for me for my birthday -- or at least that's how I used the money she gave me).

There is a photo that shows the 4 tomato plants and how they looked after we planted them. The second photo is the way they look today. We planted four different varieties to compare how they would grow. Early Girl, Better Boy, Celebrity, and Jet Star. So far the Celebrity is ahead in growth. I planted herbs on the top. Sweet basil, Pineaple sage, Holy Basil, Purple Ruffles Basil, Cilantro, chives, regular sage. Lots of fun and no tomato staking or weeding!

Quote of the Week, May 26, 3009

"A vision is a clearly-articulated results-oriented picture of a future you intend to create.
It is a dream with direction."

--Jesse Stoner Zemel (Co-Author, Full Steam Ahead)

Sweet Dreams, Merlin

We lost our cat, Merlin, this past week. He was 15+ years old and still a sweet and energetic cat. He was very pretty with his blue/gray fur and white accents. He came to live with us as a tiny kitten, eventually grew into his ears, and lived with us until his very last day on this earth. He earned his name because he could jump so high as a kitten -- it was almost magical. What causes us get so attached to our pets? Farewell & Sweet Dreams to one of the best cats ever...Merlin, Merlman, The Merls, a.k.a. Purr Bucket.

Quote of the Week, May 5, 2009

"Courage is not limited to the battlefield. The real tests of courage are much quieter. They are the inner tests, like remaining faithful when nobody’s looking, like enduring pain when the room is empty or standing alone when you're misunderstood."
-- Charles Swindoll , author, educator, pastor

Awards & Honors! Who knew?

Just a quick note to let you know that a couple cool things happened on my blog over the past couple days.

First, Jenna, who reviews books on her blog, The Hive, has honored "The Man Who Does Not Exist," with a One Lovely Blog Award.

Jenna writes, "I really enjoy your description. It really comes alive when you read it."

Jenna's most recent book review is of "A Thousand Splendid Suns," by Khaled Hosseini, the celebrated author of "The Kite Runner."

Even more significant, over on twitter, Noveltweets, recommended that her more than 3,000 followers read "The Man Who Does Not Exist," calling it "Poetic romance."

This is an especially inspiring recommendation as Noveltweets is written by Kristin Callendar. Not only does Kristin tweet, but she's also the author of, "The Truth Lies in the Dark."

Rome wasn't built in a day, so maybe I'm starting to get a little traction. Thanks for all the help and support!

More Matt

I didn't expect you guys to like Matt's video so much. Since you did, here's a follow up. Turns out, he went tons of places they didn't show in the final video. Here are a dozen or so more...

Someone Blogged About My Tweetednovel...

Hey guys -- Beth Fish Reads (http://bfishreads.blogspot.com/2009/04/publishing-and-twitter-good-mix.html) tackled whether or not a tweeted novel is a good thing. Please check out her post and please comment (bad/good, I don't care). Also, for those of you on twitter, please retweet her blog post or tweet about it. Going to email you this too. Thanks.

Where in the World Is Matt?

I admit I'm way behind on seeing this video. It got a lot of attention a couple years ago. Regardless, if you haven't seen it, it's well worth the four minutes. Who would think a white guy doing a silly dance could be so inspiring? (Josh we should have thought of this.)

35 years and a night out!

We celebrated our 35th Wedding Anniversary Dinner at Sydney Street Cafe. We had never been there before, but since we had a fabulous gift certificate, we thought this the perfect opportunity. (Thanks Josh & Rachel). Look at some of the yummy food we enjoyed. We highly recommend the blue cheese tarts (and the restaurant!).

NEPHEW!!!

1. Supporting his MU Tigers while being held by uncle Josh (a few weeks ago).

2. Just smiling away...he does that a lot now. He's so alert.

3. Heading to the office...Brittney brought him up to Luke's work for the first time wearing this outfit...yes, they're khakis. I love this picture!!!

He couldn't be sweeter or cuter! He's healthy and growing at rapid speeds (15 pounds now and he's about 9 weeks old). Luke and Brittney are having a great time with him and they are just the best parents.

Please Digg my blog, Digg is a pain so...

One more thing, can you also please Digg my blog? It would be extremely helpful and only takes a minute or two, but it's a bit convoluted, so here's the fastest/easiest way to do it.

1) Go to Digg and sign up.
2) In Digg's search box enter "the man who doesn't exist" (quotes aren't necessary)
3) You'll get terrible search results.
4) Refine your search by using the three drop-down boxes right below the new search box (which will appear roughly in the center of the page). In the first drop-down select, "title only". In the second, "all stories." In the third, "sort best match first."
5) This should yield my blog.
6)Then simply click on the white "digg it" button on the right.

Your done. Sorry so convoluted. There's an easier way to do this now that I've added new digg, stumbleupon, delico.us, etc. buttons. But if you go through the new buttons, it creates a brand new digg with no votes.

Thanks for all the help!

The Man Who Doesn't Exist

Hey guys -- In addition to tweeting my novel (#tweetednovel @johnmbaird on twitter), I'm also archiving the earlier tweets on my blog, The Man Who Doesn't Exist. Check it out and please follow me. Let me know if you love, hate, are confused, bored etc. I want criticism. Thanks!

Happy Birthday to me!

Okay, so you took a shot -- DISHES!

Who knew I would love them?

This is the cutest set of cups with glass spoons that sit down inside the handle.

Thanks kindly for the perfect find!

I played with them this week-end!

You Know Who Likes 500-Point Rallies?

The flood of tears is now more of a trickle.

Home Sales Rise; Beat Expectations

From the WSJ, below. But shouldn't it read, " ...climbing above expectations, BECAUSE prices plunged..."? Yes, it should. It's called a "market" and the WSJ should know that.

WASHINGTON -- Existing-home sales rebounded in February, climbing above expectations, but prices plunged again.

Home resales climbed to a 4.72 million annual rate, a 5.1% increase from January's unrevised 4.49 million annual pace, the National Association of Realtors said Monday.

Foreclosures and short sales reflect about 45% of total existing-home sales. Distressed properties are discounted, so the abundance of these sales prices new homes out of the market, discouraging construction and weakening the overall housing sector further.

With so many distressed sales, the median price for an existing home fell last month. At $165,400 in February, the median price was down 15.5% from $195,800 in February 2008. The median price in January this year was $164,800. The 15.5% plunge is the second biggest ever, behind January's 17.5% drop.

Hey Look A Post!

Sorry I haven't blogged in so long. LOTS of work to be done. And, when I'm not working, I'm writing. Thus, two, more-than-full-time jobs.

Trying to think if I have any news -- Yes! "I Love You Man" is hilarious! Can't believe it wasn't No. 1 movie this weekend. Apparently "Knowing" sucks.

Quote of the Week, March 18, 2009

The man who removes a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.

-- William Faulkner

Anniversary Flowers....

Yes, that's right -- 35 years ago today, two 'very' young adults said "I do" and the clock started ticking. The years have been busy -- jobs, kids, college, weddings, vacations...and it all goes by so quickly.
Dad's creative touch is evident again this year in the flowers. There are 3 white roses with blue tips (these were the kind used in our wedding) for each decade, and 5 red roses -- to total 35 years.
I wish you could smell them. They are lovely.

This is Ridiculous

Typically, I'm very much on the side of corporations. However, this is ridiculous.

CHICAGO (AP) — The tallest building in America is getting a new name.
Chicago's Sears Tower will be renamed Willis Tower after London-based Willis Group Holdings. The insurance broker announced the name change and other details of its agreement with the building's owners Thursday.
Willis is moving five local offices and nearly 500 employees into the 110-story building. The move is expected to be completed by late summer.
Willis will occupy more than 140,000 square feet at $14.50 a square foot. The company says it's not paying anything extra for the naming rights.The 1,451-foot skyscraper is owned by a real estate investment group formed in 2004 to buy the tower

While we're at it, I plan to call my congressman and see if we can change a few more things for a quick buck. What do you think of:

The Empire Cheese State Building in New York?

The Golden Arch in St. Louis?

The Virgin Galatic Space Needle in Seattle?

The FedEx Beale Street in Memphis?

Just brainstorming here ...

Come On!

Chicago weather has been more frustrating than usual lately. I left work on Tuesday and it was around 60. Yesterday morning greeted me with a balmy 20 and WINDY. At least it's supposed to be around 45 on Saturday. Rach, you want to go to the beach?

Quote of the Week, March 11, 2009

There are no great people in the world, only great challenges which ordinary people rise to meet.

-- William Frederick Halsey, Jr. (1882-1959) Military Officer

Greetings from the Vatican! (I just mean my desk)

So, I’ve been pretty bad about correspondence lately; not just on this blog, but with everyone. Many apologies. I’m going to try and be better about posting. Ironically, I don’t have much to report. However, Rachel and I did just host Melissa and John last weekend and had a blast! We covered museums and neighborhoods and fun dinner destinations. Also, Melissa about has me talked into a Triathlon in August. Yikes.

Let’s see, what else … Rachel and I picked a Nintendo Wii not too long ago! It’s very fun, though we don’t have a lot of time to play it. I’m trying to carve out more time to play, and to watch TV. And I’m trying to start smoking. Kidding.

I guess that’s it for now, but like I said, I plan to be better about posting!

Love all.

Josh

Rough Seas.......

Okay, so I'm struggling here. I"m trying to catch a line and get back on board.

I think that is Cap'n on the boat throwing the life preserver. He lost another 2.5 lbs this week!