There’s More Than One Way. . .

To fry an egg.

I didn’t realize this until the other day.  I was chatting away on the telephone

when I mused to my friend, “now that I’ve fed the children, what will I have for lunch?” 

She replied, “I think I’ll have a fried egg.”

“That sounds good,” I said. 

“I thought you didn’t like fried eggs.”

“I don’t,”  I admitted. “But it sounds good.  I just don’t like runny yolks.”

She told me she doesn’t make the yolks runny and proceeded to tell me how to do it.

Melt some butter in the skillet.

Crack in an egg.

When the white begins to set, break up the yolk.

Let the edges get all brown and crisp.

And flip.

When it’s all set through and through, slide it off to a plate.  Salt and pepper, and enjoy.

The first one was so good, I had another one on some toast.

No, I haven’t been reduced to teaching you how to fry eggs because I ran out of culinary ideas.

The storal of the mory, I mean the moral of the story, is try new things.  Fried eggs have long been one of those things I hated and feared because I was surprised by a sunny runny-side-up one time.  Sure, it looked good, but not for me.

It seems funny that I am not afraid to attempt some of the most complicated recipes I’ve seen, but the simplist thing had me worried. 

To thank my friend for her inspiration, I taught her a bit of trivia–I have issues, I know–the pleats in a chefs hat represent the all the ways he can prepare an egg.

So I thanked her for adding a pleat to my toque.  (That’s a freebie, a chef’s hat is called a toque.)

Then I sat and ate my fried egg sandwich with a new look on the world.  Something new had found its way into my life and I would never be the same.  (heehee, I think we know where my daughter gets her flair for the dramatic.)

Coincidentally, we had chinese food  that evening and my fortune cookie told me, “You find treasure where others see only the ordinary.”

 Maybe that’s the storal of the mory.  Treasure the ordinary.

Trivial Pursuit Follow-Up

Here’s the answer I promised you:

Yes, that’s right.  According to Arabian legend, the Cat is the offspring of a monkey and a lioness.

It makes sense.

I guess.

Doesn’t it?

I thought I’d mention that if you’re playing a trivia game you should know that the question often gives you a clue to the answer.  In that last question you’d have to think of an animal that would naturally be in Arabia, of course.

Sometimes it’s a statistical question, “How many out of ten. . . ?”  In Trivial Pursuit, it’s almost always one, zero, or ten. 

In one game version, every tennis question had the answer “Maria Navratillova” or “Andre Agassi”.  I didn’t really know anything about those two people, but I knew if it sounds like tennis, is is a boy or a girl?  There’s a good likelihood I can guess the answer.

Sometimes it’s the vocabulary that gives it away.  We had a question that asked about a simian movie.  Simian. . .I know that word. . .simian. . .what does that mean?. . .Oh yeah, ape-like!  Um . . . King Kong. 

No, it was Planet of the Apes.  But at least I had a guess.

If you watch Jeopardy, they bury hints in the clues all the time.  Alex Trebek will say, the best way to prepare for Jeopardy is to watch Jeopardy.  Because there’s a language to these games.

Oookay. . .enough analyzing my trivial strategies.

I told you I was a nerd.

Let’s Talk Layouts (not turkey)

We’ve spent most of this month talking about inspiration… I want to change things a bit this week and talk about some design principles. After all, once you have the inspiration, you have to do something with it, right?

There are all sorts of “rules” about design. I’m not a graphic designer, so I don’t know them all. But I have learned a few along the way that seem to work for me when designing scrapbook pages. One of my favorites is called (to me) “Visual Triangles.”

Basically, the rule of Visual Triangles is based on this… if you create a virtual triangle on your page – with photographs, text, or embellishments; you provide a “path” for your eyes to follow as they view the page. Take a look at this example:

If you look at the embellishments, you will see that I have created a triangle of sorts.

This provides some framework to the page and guides your eye through the collage of photos and across the two-page spread.

Here is another example:

Do you see the visual triangle here?

Again, this doesn’t have to be with embellishments only. I just happen to have those as the triangles on these two layouts. It may be a triangle you create with a combination of journaling and titles or with photographs on your page.

The key is to think about what areas of your page you want the eye to focus on. Try to use those as the “points” of the triangle. The viewer’s eye will naturally be drawn to focus on those areas.

What are some design delimmas you have? If there is anything you’d like me to help you with, post a comment. I’ll either address it in a return comment or feature it in a future column!

Happy Scrappin’ and have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Oops!

I made a dreadful omission in an earlier post.

I wrote, okay boasted, about being through with my Christmas shopping.  I had intended to mention the great help I had in that, but the post took on a life of it’s own, and I forgot to thank someone.

My sister!

Three of our Christmas presents are joint-effort.  The siblings in my family collaborate to give one gift decidedly better than we could each afford.  And the gift-recipients like it that way.

I must give credit where it’s due.  This year, my sister did the leg work.  And the brain work too.

Sister, if you’re reading, Thank you for organizing that this year.  I’d be way behind if you hadn’t managed that so ahead of the game.

 

I Lead a Trivial Life

Yes, I lead a trivial life.  Want proof?

The Man of the House and I decided to play a board game last weekend.  I opened our game closet and saw this:

 

A stack of four Trivial Pursuit games.  Further investigation revealed one more hiding among the other, rarely played games.

Yes, indeed.  A trivial life.  But I’m okay with it.  I’m a trivia nerd and I own it. I find myself locking away useless information for no other reason than:

I want to know all the answers.

I want to know who, what, where, when.

And also WHY.  WHY is the biggest question of all.

If you’ve never ventured into the arena of Trivial Pursuit, here’s how it works.

Each player/team gets a “pie” as the game piece.  You begin in the center and move around the board answering questions that match the color/category of the space you are standing on.

See that orange space? I want to get there to play for a piece of the pie.  Some people correctly call it a “wedge”, but we just say pie.

You need to get all your pie pieces to win.

When your opponent lands on a space, you read him a question.

It would be rude of me to show you the questions and not the answers. Here they are:

And if he gets it right, he wins a pie.

Grrrrr.

This is what you don’t want to happen:

This is what you really don’t want to happen:

Yes, the Man of the House kicked boot-ay this time.   But it’s only because I had questions like the orange one on this card:

A monkey and a lioness?  Seriously?  If you come up with the answer to this, I’m giving you a prize.  (It may be only a fictitious honor, but a prize nonetheless.)

I’ll tell you the answer in a day or two.

Each different version of Trivial Pursuit has different categories and minor differences in questions or gameplay.

A Genus edition (not Genius) covers general knowledge from the dawn of time through publication date.  It can get confusing though, when statistics change.  It may be necessary to consult the box or instructions to find the copyright.  “Was this before Bill Clinton?”  “Are we talking like Madonna or Britney Spears?”

Above is the one we play when it’s just the two of us.  The Best of Genus.  The most recent.

This one is hard.  All the questions are from the last 20 years (Actually, I believe it’s 1983-2003).  You’d think, “Oh, I’d  remember that!” but no.  It’s ridiculous how specific the questions are when they have to write a thousand questions from only twenty years.

The best one for parties is the 25th anniversary edition (top of stack in first photo).   It’s got hard-medium-easy questions, and it’s rather cool how it works.  There’s more opportunity for non-trivial-pursuit people to advance. 

I remember lots of laughs and competitive spirit when my parents and friends and family playing Trivial Pursuit in guys vs. girls games on New Year’s Eve. 

I really believe in playing games with your family.  Even if Trivial Pursuit ain’t your thang, pull out a game or two this holiday.  Make a memory.

 

 

Oh, and that Star Wars Edition?  That’s all him.  I tried it once, and it was a futile endeavor.  “Resistance is futile.”  No, wait, that’s Star Trek.  Nevermind.

 

 

 

Raise Your Hand if You’re Married to A Pouty Little Snot

I just read a very frank and encouraging article about marriage.  It’s not completely eye-opening, earth-shattering, marriage-saving supreme wisdom, but it is honest.

And in the crazy, mixed-up world we live in, sometimes the truth is stranger than fiction.  Okay, no, fiction is definitely strange these days.  But “reality” is fiction.  And truth is often unbelievable. 

Okay, I’m not making sense anymore. Just read My Husband is an Overbearing Jerk. . .and I’m a Pouty Little Snot by Tracey Lanter. 

I think every marriage needs a touch of truth and humor.  (And if you’re not yet married, you need to know this is how life really is.)

Let me know what you think.  And just because we’re being honest, I’m a hyper-sensitive nag.  I’ll let the Man of the House define himself. 

 

One More Thought on Christmas

I don’t guarantee that this is the last thing I have to say to encourage you toward a debt-free Christmas.  In fact, I could likely guarantee that this is NOT the last thought I have on that subject.

One more reason I’m glad to be through with the shopping:

Resisting the impulse buy.  I’m as bad as anybody at giving in to impulse shopping during the holidays.  Throughout the rest of the year, I calmly stick to my list, avert my eyes from the big signs and lovely little items near the checkout stand.

As much as I love holidays–and I love me some holidays–I even avoid the “seasonal” aisle at Wal-Mart.

In October and November, I confidently strut past the beautiful leaf wreaths, the orange and green pottery, the awesome witch hat and the oh-so-cute scarecrows.  I am no fool; I am a smart shopper!

But when there’s a chill in the air, it’s dark at five o’clock and a million twinkle lights call to me from the tops of every store and home. . .something changes.

I’m aglow with holiday magic.  I want all the glittery things.  I begin to think about making a wish list.  Then I prioritize that wish list in my mind, but there are many things in the low priority range that I could probably afford for myself and before you know it. . .

Dum Dum DUM!

I think I just bought a tote bag for myself when I was shopping for my sister-in-law. 

Ooops.

Not to mention what I think of for other people.  I may have finished the shopping for my girls, “They need that!”  And, “oh, my mother would love this.”

It’s mostly the little things–one more ornament, a great deal on a holiday tray, another Christmas CD, that little book about Jesus. . .yes, they even pull Jesus into the temptations.

I mentioned the incidentals that add up for us.  Even planned spending like a dinner out while shopping can become more costly in December.   I can’t really explain it, but I know this much:  we are SO much more likely to buy dessert, hot chocolate, or some other rare treat in December than January.

How do you combat this holiday insanity?  My mother began doing all her shopping through catalogs.  This was mostly for convenience.  The shipping may eat into her savings, but I know she’s not likely to drop into the cookie place when she’s done. 

I had planned to do most of my shopping online this year.  You can get really great shipping deals through stores like Amazon or even Wal-Mart. (heh, heh, there’s an ad flyer in front of me that says “FREE SHIPPING on thousands of hot toys at ToysRus.com”.  I guess they’re on to us.

One last thing, if you manage to avoid the stores, and I think you should, don’t forget the bit you would have dropped into the donation buckets.  That’s one bit of holiday spending that I would hate to drop off.