Meal Planning

Technology I love:  Plan to Eat

I saved the best for last.  This is my favorite new thing.  I am a sucker for a good organizational system and this one is pretty great.  It is nice because you can sign up for a free trial (and you don't have to remember to cancel or they'll charge you, I didn't have to enter any credit card information).

First, I entered (or uploaded from the internet) my favorite recipes onto the website.

After that, I can arrange them onto a calendar by clicking and dragging.  It keeps track for me how often I've used a particular recipe.  I can narrow the recipe selection by category--main ingredient/crockpot/you name it.  It makes me giddy.

Then, it just keeps getting better.  It will generate a shopping list, even to multiple stores AND it will remember which store I usually buy which item.

I am in love.  Here's a link if you are so inclined:Plan to Eat

App Happy

Technology I love:  apps

My favorites:

TeuxDeux

This is a list makers dream.  (And I am a list maker.)

Here is a typical day:

If I decide with going to Disneyland, I don't have time to get that massage, I can drag it to a different day.  Also, if there's anything I don't accomplish, it automatically rolls over to the next day too.

Beautiful.

My very favorite feature of it though is that I have certain tasks I do every week.  For example, every Monday, I change the sheets on our bed.  After I'm done, I click on "change sheets" and drag it to the following Monday.  You would think that since I've been changing our sheets every Monday for years and years, I wouldn't need the reminder but there is something so satisfying in having a neat and tidy little list and getting rid of items on it.

Candy Heart Maker

In a nod to Valentine's Day month, I've been sending Adam candy hearts.  I think real candy hearts are nasty.  These aren't.

From this:

You get this:

It makes me happy.

We all have our favorite apps.

Adam has a NY Times primary election app that is pretty good. Among other things, it creates maps of the states and lets you know which counties voted for which candidate.  Without that app, I never would have known that Newt Gingrich won Mineral County in Nevada.  Have you ever been to Mineral County?  Our school used to play against the teams from Gabbs which is in Mineral County.  Gabbs is no longer a town because it got too small.  I now know they like Newt there, in that county with the depleting population.  (A question the NY Times primary election doesn't answer is why.) Thank you NY Times primary election app and you're welcome, readers, for giving you this cutting edge information about Mineral County, Nevada.

Emma likes weird apps like Zombie Highway.  I don't want to analyze why.

Mark is an Angry Birds kind of guy.  If you know Mark, I think that's obvious.

Braeden is my one child that isn't frequently asking me to play on my phone.  Maybe because I don't see that kid enough for him to get bored with the scintillating conversation I provide.  Why would he want to play on my phone when he could talk to me?  Am I right?

Apparently I didn't give my non-techie sisters enough credit yesterday.  They didn't know about Pinterest either.  Sorry girls.  And seriously, Marianne, programming your cell phone is not the gateway drug to other addictions.  You're just showing off that you have so many numbers memorized.

Thoughts on Pinterest

Technology I love:  Pinterest

I have the feeling that if I let it, Pinterest could take over my very life.  It is chock full of inspiration.  If I had the time/took the time, I'm sure I could find a myriad of ideas that would delight me every single day.

I just keep Pinterest more or less at bay because I don't need the distraction.

Here's why I love Pinterest though.  I love magazines.  I get ideas for books to read/what's for dinner/decorating/holidays all from magazines.  I used to tear pages out of magazines and have a pile of torn out pages to sift through.  Now I see something tear-out-worthy and look it up online and pin it.  Wonderful!

I pin ideas that seem like a good gift for someone and I pin stuff I would like for myself.  At Christmastime, I told Adam to look at my Pinterest boards for gift inspiration.

In our recent decorating of Emma's room, I pinned ideas that she or I liked.

(Alas, usually she and I didn't like the same thing at the same time but we eventually found a meeting ground...I will post pictures when the whole project is complete.  This may take awhile.)

My boards are a little anemic but I'm glad other people have boards brimming with charm to delight my senses whenever I succumb to the siren song of Pinterest.

(Are you thinking that this is insipid because everyone already knows what Pinterest is?  Well, I guarantee one of my favorite readers does not.  He's a handsome cowboy with a broken leg who still rides but has to climb on the horse using a chair.  Hi Tabor.  I love you and please be careful.)

Instead of TV

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Technology I love:  Hulu and Netflix

The cable we pay for is the bare minimum.  Below basic.  We like to watch TV shows on Netflix.  Mark soaks up Mythbusters and America's Funniest Home Videos.  We all love Phineas and Ferb.  We pull up Keeping Up Appearances when we need a Hyacinth Bucket fix.

We also are fans of Hulu.  Besides Masterpiece Theater on PBS, I don't think I've watched a show on TV--when it was actually on--in years.  We either connect one of our laptops to the TV or just watch on the computer.  I much prefer it to conventional TV viewing.  There are fewer commercials and we can watch it when we want.  It's our poor man's version of a DVR. 

I like to watch shows while I fold laundry.  Adam and I like to catch up with "our shows" over a span of a week because we rarely have time to watch them when they're actually on TV.  I love being able to be deliberate with my viewing.

Downside:  Because we don't watch TV, I never see movie trailers or advertisements for new TV shows.  What am I missing?  What are your favorite TV shows/ upcoming movies you are looking forward to?

I Love Technology

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I have been thinking lately, gratefully, about all the technology that makes my life easier and better.  (I do feel sometimes like I am in a battle with technology to keep my kids safe/from rotting their brains but it is pretty great too.)

I've decided to proclaim this week Technology Week.  Every day I will tell you about my favorite websites/apps/etc that make my life easier and better.  Please share if you have some of your own.  I am always in the market for easier and better.

There are all the general lovelies:  having my calendar on my phone, checking in with friends and cousins on facebook and blogs.  There's email.  I love texting.  It's all so nice and convenient.

But first, as Ammon would tell you (and I listen to that guy, even when he leaves cheeky comments on my blog), safety first.

I am glad I have Pinkie Pie's rugged cover.  It lent inspiration for a name (and really, a name is imperative in a phone...you need it when you say, "Where's Pinkie Pie?" or "Mark, bring me Pinkie Pie.").  But more importantly, I have dropped Pinkie Pie on her head often.  The other day she went careening down the stairs.  And that cover.  Saved the day, I tell you.

Also you may remember the tragic Diet Coke Incident of 2011.  As a result of spilled black gold on my keyboard, my z key doesn't work.  Because of magical Adam, I can adapt.  (He taught me how to work around it using special characters.  That guy's a whiz and I can only type that word because of him.)

Speaking of Adam, he Thelma-proofed my laptop for me for Christmas.

 

A thin skin over the keys to prevent a Diet Coke Incident of 2012 and a hard plastic shell, intentionally selected to match Pinkie Pie.  Because yes, I have also dropped my laptop on its head...I did (again) just last night. 

I love technology. I love covers and cases designed to protect me from myself.

I love Adam who keeps everything humming along smoothly.