Sunday Smorgasbord

When I was a kid, on Sunday night my mom would lay out all the leftovers from the previous week’s dinners and we’d just pick and choose. I always liked smorgasbords because it meant that I could pull out a tortilla, grate some cheese on it, stick it in the microwave and enjoy a yummy quesadilla. And by that point in the week my mom was too tired of doing dinnertime battles to insist that I eat leftovers, so she just pretended not to see what I was doing.

I’ve decided to employ the same sort of strategy on my blog today. In the last few weeks there have been several little things I wanted to blog on, but none of them warranted their own post, so I’m just going to lay it all out in this one. It’ll be sort of like quick takes but, less organized and probably less interesting.

Are you excited yet?

I used to think meatloaf was pretty nasty. So it follows that I’ve never made it, even though the Ogre loves it. But last week, in a fit of housewifely love, I made a meatloaf for the man I love.

I used the Pioneer Woman’s recipe because nearly everything I’ve made from her is staggeringly delicious, and I thought, if anyone can save meatloaf, Ree can.

A very important discovery followed.

Meatloaf is not nasty. It is vile, repulsive, and absolutely disgusting. When Ree can’t save a meal by wrapping it in bacon, you know there’s something inherently wrong with the concept itself. And what’s wrong with it is right there in the name: meatloaf.

It’s a loaf of meat.

Ugh.

This is a depression-era meal, so I understand how it came into being. But here’s the thing…we’re not in the depression anymore. We may be pretty poor, but we’re not so poor that I have to find a way to combine meat, eggs, bread, milk and ketchup because that’s all that’s in my freezer.

And if I did have to combine those things, do you know what I’d make? Some sort of ground-beef laden version of ketchup-laced huevos rancheros, on toast. With a glass of milk. Because it would absolutely, positively, without a doubt, be better than meatloaf.

Oh, and in case you’re wondering, the Ogre loved it, ate a ton of it, and then was sick to his stomach all the next day. And subsequently avoided the large amounts of leftovers. So instead of being a thrifty meal that he would eat for a few days, it ended up being a colossal waste of bacon, meat, eggs, milk, bread, parsley, and some other stuff.

Meatloaf. Is. Evil.

I totally want this bed. Isn’t it cool?

Although I’ve sort of known this for a while, it really hit home this week. If the house is sparkling and the beds are unmade, the house still feels messy to me. Conversely, if the house is a disaster and the beds are made, the house feels okay to me.

Lesson learned: make the beds in the morning, and then I won’t have to do anything else all day.


(I hope no one’s offended by this picture. I thought it was hilarious.)

Yesterday we compromised all of our principles and bought a TV.

Disclaimer: The Ogre would like me to reiterate that he compromised under duress.

Here’s why we did this: I love TV.

I love TV so much that we got rid of our TV a while back. We’ve never had cable, or even an antenna, but I have some TV shows on disc and lots of movies that I will watch over…and over…and over until the Ogre is ready to kill me and I’m ready to name our next child Veronica Mars.

So not having a TV actually worked pretty well for a while, but then a year and a half ago we moved into an apartment with three bedrooms and bought a new computer.

We needed the new computer. Our laptop was on it’s last legs, and was missing numerous keys. So we set up a study for the Ogre, which rapidly devolved into a room in which I could blog, surf the internet, or stream shows instantly while the kids wreaked havoc/colored/watched movies on the laptop in the living room.

It was a bad situation. It also made it easier for me to ignore the house and laundry if I spent my time shut up in the study.

But, well, let’s be honest here. We got a TV because the laptop finally kicked the bucket.

I do think it will be a good thing, though. It will make it possible for us to watch movies as a family, and I’ve promised myself that I will limit my computer time to blogging and a half-hour of blog reading time. And I will seriously limit the amount of time the TV stays on.

So, I hope it will be a good thing. The Ogre’s not so sure.

But our new 19″ flatscreen sure is pretty!

Sorry about the weird picture, I’m terrible at cropping

I know I’ve mentioned that the Ogre and I have been making jewelry, so I’m going to put up a few pictures. None of them are very good, but I would love to hear what you guys think about them. We’re trying to get a feel for if we can make any money off this. So peruse, and enjoy, and happy Sunday!