The Good Stuff - May

Such good stuff this month!

Grown-up Good Stuff

Summer Concert Tickets - Namely, my secret lover George Michael at the Verizon Center in DC on July 29 - his first American concert tour in 17 years. Don't have a place to live, don't have our stuff packed, but don't worry - we have GM tix! I'd also LOVE to catch Lyle Lovett at Wolf Trap on July 2 but that very well might be move-in day so I'm afraid it's pushing it. I've seen Lyle in several outdoor venues and there's nothing like him - the man is all class and magic on stage. He transcends genre and description....(but George takes a better picture.)

TitleTrader.com - So I was taking care of a few ebay snipes when I saw an add for Titletrader and decided to check it out. Read the info and signed up, though too bad I just gave a huge box of cd's to Salvation Army. I still have some to get rid of. Here's how it works: you set up a free account and post the stuff you have. People request them, you mail them, you get trade points. Once you get positive feedback you can spend your trade points to get other cd's, books, movies and stuff you want that other people are getting rid of. I started posting my cd's and within minutes I had requests. And I've used a few of my earned points to get books I want to read but don't want to buy new or earn late library fees on. My kind of used bookstore.

Zojirushi Rice Cooker - I like rice. Unfortunately I can't cook it, at least not like regular people on the stove. Is it my stove? My pans? My rice? No, it's me, and I'm OK with that because it means I got this awesome rice cooker last year after 5 years on my Amazon wishlist. Truly perfect rice every time. And I made sure to get the one with a brown rice setting because I do go through healthy phases. We've been eating a lot of rice lately, and I love, love, love this cooker!

Flor Modular Carpet - Shortened backstory: Ginger, and Hazel for that matter, makes a disgusting mess under and around her chair during meals. Not a problem now because we have an eat-in kitchen. It occurred to me we have to find a new place with an eat-in kitchen or hardwood dining room because they will ruin a carpet. Solution: area rug. Even cooler solution: Flor carpet tiles.

Checkstand $5 cookbook magazines - A few months ago I bought Everyday Food (Martha Stewart) at the checkstand because the dish on the cover looked delicious and simple enough for me to make. That month I made three recipes from it and they were all awesome. Mentioned it to Tona on the phone - she had bought the same one and tried several other recipes with thumbs up. Then last week at Rite Aid I bought Prevention Magazine's Slow Cooker Recipe Book because I am always looking for new good crockpot recipes. I love my slow cooker but honestly 2 out of 3 recipes turn out mediocre at best. This morning I thumbed through it with my post-its and marked TEN recipes I want to try. Also I'm into purging, not expanding, my cookbook collection. I'm all for these magazine-style cookbooks, both for taking up less space, costing less money, and also being seasonal and disposable if I don't like them.

New York Book Festival - Unfortunately I just heard about this and will be gone by June 27, but it sounds cool and the kind of thing I might make an effort to attend, so it's good stuff.

Ken's Light Accents Salad Dressing Sprays - We've been upping our salad intake around here lately, and that means testing out light salad dressings until we find something we can swallow without gagging. On our fourth try we found Ken's Light Accents. Ken makes good regular dressing so we had high hopes and have not been disappointed. So far Honey Mustard and Raspberry Walnut get the stamp of approval.

Kid Good Stuff

Puzzle Dinner Tray - I can hardly stand how cute this is! Where do I order, where do I sign? Oh, wait, it's $55?! As much as it pains me, I will be waiting for IKEA to put this out in the $12-20 range. But isn't it cute?

Munchkin Snack Catchers - Another winner from Munchkin! Their stylish and more voluminous improvement on the Snack Trap keeps the Goldfish debris on the carseats, stroller, and bottom of my bag to a minimum.

Recycled Leather Piggy Bank - I still keep my eyes out for good piggy banks to someday get the girls. I think this is the current front runner. Funky modern design, non-breakable, and hey, made from reconstituted leather!

Lights and Sounds Phone - This is one of our toys with staying power. It has been a favorite of one or both girls since Hazel was 6 months old. All kids love toy phones, right, or is it just mine? This seems to be just the right size, colors, noises or something because they love it more than any others. Yes, it's battery-operated but each button, when pushed, plays a little tune like Old McDonald or Oh Susanna at just the right volume to be heard when held to your ear, but barely audible across the room. Plus the flashing lights and stuff. It is a rare day when you don't find a kiddo walking around our house holding this to her ear, doing a little jig. We got ours (and our second and third one, since all the best toys get lost) at Target.

This month's favorite non-toy toys:

The Salad Spinner
And...

a Cardboard Tube!!!