We made some big changes at Casa Petrie this week. We canceled Direct TV, my Verizon cell, and our home phone. We bought a high definition antenna and Roku streaming media player, ordered Netflix and got a family cell phone plan. The initial cost of some of these pieces of equipment will be offset by [...]
Last weekend we took a trip to the Bandelier National Monument outside of Los Alamos, NM. We usually spend our weekends doing work on the house and hanging out with the family. Mr. Petrie recently read that taking a few short vacations increases happiness more than a long, expensive vacation. I think that enjoying the [...]
I am embarrased to admit that I usually throw our old stuff in the car and drop it off at the Goodwill I’m closest to that day. But no more: I’ve decided to try selling stuff on Craig’s List. So far, I’ve posted three things and sold two. I’ve sold some baby clothes… and diapers… [...]
We have wood laminate flooring. When we installed it we really thought it would be super easy to keep clean, but it’s actually kind of a pain. Anything that gets onto the floor is really visible. I sweep the floor daily, but between 3 dogs and 2 kids, the floor can look dingy. One day [...]
I have a confession to make: I am not a breakfast eater. I know how bad it is to skip that first meal, but I haven’t craved breakfast since I was kid. However, I know that when I eat breakfast I feel more alert and less hungry for the rest of the day. I truly [...]
Last week I finished Sara Gruen’s Water for Elephants. The book is told from the point of view of an old man remembering his life as a circus veterinarian during the Great Depression. The end of the book surprised me and helped me appreciate the animal characters in the novel. But let me warn you [...]
This week I taught myself to use the Picnik editing program that comes with our Flickr account. I usually ask Mr. Petrie to Photoshop pictures for me, but I really needed to be able to do it myself. Here are the results of my experimentation. What did you learn this week?
Mr. Petrie bought me a subscription to Sunset magazine, which I love. I always think the recipes look incredible, but I had yet to try one. Well, I tried one and it was awesome. Asian Peanut Slaw with Pork (Picture and recipe from the March 2010 issue of Sunset.) Prep Time: 20 minutes Yield: Serves [...]
In my quest to push myself beyond my comfort zone, I am reading a book from a different genre this week. As you may know, I’m a BIG fan of paranormal fiction. If a book has vampires, weres, fae, witches, warlocks, demons, angels, time travel or alternate realities, I am a fan. I am reading [...]
I was reading Woman’s Day magazine yesterday and saw an article about spring cleaning. There were instructions on placing a duvet in a duvet cover in less than 1 minute. Strangely, I thought to myself, “Even though it takes me several minutes to do this chore, I don’t want to learn how to do this [...]