Grocery Shopping Strategies

I've got food on the brain ... and an empty stomach and 'fridge, so I'll write about it instead of eating (yeah, that'll work).

I recently read where the average American buys groceries twice a week. Are You Serious?!?!? Are you like me and don't really love the grocery store? It's not bad, it just takes a lot longer than I feel like it should and that's my basic beef with it. Not a quick thing -- so, maybe that's why people go twice a week and make 2 quick trips. Not efficient, Cupcake.

The price of food, along with everything else, is going up. Brace for your grocery bill to rise 4-5% this year compared to last year. What can we do to make sure we get the best bang for our grocery buck? Here are some of the things I do:

• Clip coupons ... but only the ones you already buy.
• Make out your menu list for the week before heading to the store. This way, you won't have to make that quick trip later on to pick up that one item because you will list all ingredients needed for your meals when making your shopping list.
• The Main Squeeze, an efficiency expert, was impressed when he discovered I listed needed groceries working from the south end of the store to the north end. When I run out of frozen waffles, for example, I write it down on the bottom portion of the list because it's on the north end of the store (and I get the frozen stuff last so it won't melt in the heat).
• The less expensive meats are poultry.
• Freeze meats that you're not using within a day or two, especially when they've been marked down because stores typically do this on the last date of sale before expiration.
• Did you know that store brands are typically 15-20% cheaper than national brands? Noodle that one.

I'd love to hear your grocery shopping tips. Share with the group.

My New Favorite Grill Item

Cupcake, you know how I love all things grilling. Well, I've run across this amazing gadget that is simply a must-have item. And the price is beyond excellent. Williams Sonoma (don't you just Love that store?!) has come out with a mesh pan, like the ones used in the Basque region. You remember, that tiny, tiny area between Spain and France. They're really nationalistic and don't want to belong to either of those countries. Anyway, one of the great things they've added to cuisine is cooking in innovative cookware over the grill. (Photo source: williams-sonoma.com)

When one grills in a mesh pan, several amazing benefits spring to mind:

1. No more sticking to the grill with that fun, fun subsequent scrubbing and burning off stuck-on food.

2. You can soak the mesh pan in a wonderful device known as your kitchen sink to get it really clean

3. The mesh pan allows the food to cook without adding oil to the veggies, which is important to those of us watching our fat intake and who have been advised not to hand-pour olive oil while cooking (yes, this from my Italian-origin trainer -- more on that sacrilege another day, Poodle).

4. If you use chips in your fire to enhance the flavor, your veggies really absorb it better in the grill pan

5. You can slice up the items in your grill pan smaller than you'd be able to do otherwise on your grill

Check it out on http://www.williams-sonoma.com/. Let me know what you think.

Oh! And sorry for the absence. I'm cooking up something else and will reveal it soon enough, but it's taking up a lot of my time right now. Miss you, Strudel!

Hot, Hot Olympic Merchandise

You know that people collect hats, pins, and t-shirts commemorating the Olympic games. Then there's the good old American ingenuity inspired by love of sport, great competition or just a crazy name that gets products churning out. But, please, please don't discount the effect that hottie male swimmers have on the American female home viewer. I have refined diva girlfriends who are almost in cat fights over Michael Phelps being their next boyfriend. I've overheard other girlfriends talk about how they think that swimsuit is just going to peel every so slightly to reveal the plumber crack and giggling about it. They are all in phases of depression now that swimming is over. PS I'm laughing at all of you.

Anyway, here is a delightful product that was sent this morning for my perusal (thanks, Allen!). I am compelled to share it because it just makes me laugh even harder.

Should you need to acquire this immediatemente, I understand it's available at The Hotness Factory. Google it. I can't look it up,

'cause the tree removal dude finally showed up to take down my gigantic, totally dead oak tree. Must run.

Toodles~

American Idol Auditions today and a diva pal is there

Just want to let you know that Diva pal, Katie Jones is in Jacksonville, FL at this very moment and will audition sometime today for American Idol. Katie is very talented!! Ruben Studdard's manager has heard her sing earlier this spring and was very encouraging about her pursuing a music career. The manager, though, doesn't know that Katie is auditioning for 'Idol' - not that it matters one whit, just thought it was an interesting side note :).

Wouldn't it be SO GREAT to have another Birmingham 'Idol' contestant??? And to have a DIVA on 'Idol'??? I have already promised Katie that if she goes to LA, I'm flying out to be in her posse.

I'm SO PROUD of her following her dream. Katie told me that she has wanted to audition for years, but always came up with an excuse not to. She's there today because she ran out of excuses. When are you going to run out of your excuses and go do something adventurous? You'll only regret not trying.

GO, KATIE!! SING YOUR HEART OUT, DIVA!!! And please dish with us here when you get back home. I for one can't wait for news!!!!!!! XOXO

School Supplies for MOM

No, I'm not going back to school. My liver couldn't take it, Poodle. However, the start of the school year is a great time for you to organize your household. I've talked in prior posts about the endless ambush of school papers coming home in those deadly backpacks, but golly PETE, they're relentless and will absolutely destroy your counter tops if you don't take preventative action.

Some of you may really like to file things. I like the concept, except for when it's in a nice drawer, it's all of a sudden out of sight, out of mind. And that's not so good when school items have to be returned by a certain date or your kid turns into the loser who can't go on the field trip because mom neatly filed the permission slip that's lounging one more day in its climate-controlled, dark drawer.

So, how do I get the 'You're such an on-top-of it Mom' praise from the teachers? (I admit to striving for the Pet Mom designation.) I return items the very next day with a little help from my Mom School Supplies.

Mom School Supply List:
1 colorful calendar for the fridge (I use themes every year. Sometimes we learn about a country, activity, etc - I know, I'm waaaay into themes- but I plan parties as part of my living, and it just spills over into other areas of my life). Mark school holidays and birthdays immediately. Write due dates of everything. Include sport activities for each child. This is now the brain of the household.

1-2 clip-type magnets to hold said calendar on the fridge (they get heavy and slide down to the floor otherwise). If you post the calendar on a Bulletin Board, you don't need magnets, but may need push pins. Some folks like the dry erase board message center, but the dust from those things stain floors and makes a mess in my experience. But suit yourself.

1 diva-inspired 1" binder with pockets. This is your HOUSEHOLD MANAGEMENT BINDER. You are too glamorous for a plain one, Princess. Mine has a blue leopard print on it. It's fabulous. Some days, it helps to have a fabulous binder with mundane topics in it to inspire you to open it.

A hole puncher. I have a skinny one that fits flat and has ring loops for the binder, which is great because I don't have to run upstairs to my office to grab the big hole punch.

Color coordinating (if possible, otherwise, just colorful) tabs. My tabs are as follows:
~ School for general information, medication forms (keep clean and make copies), summer reading lists, Progress reports or daily reports, etc.
~ Room Parent Information if you're the Room Mom (I'm not this year, I'm pleased to report). One suggestion if you are the room mom, get one or two other co-room-parents if possible so that if someone is out of town, in a meeting, has a sick child, there's more than one person to fill the job. This tab is especially helpful for school carnival or fundraiser information/lists as well as for how to contact parents in the classroom.
~ A tab for each sport/after-school activity that your kid/s participate in. I keep team rosters for years because some of the kids don't go to the same school and inevitably, one child wants a teammate to come to a birthday party and if I've thrown out the list, I can't look up the dad's name to find the child in the phone book. You know... Basic Nightmare.
~ A tab for summer activities so I can refresh my memory in say March when Junior is bugging the stew out of me at Spring Break and I yearn for ways to get him out of the house for an extended period of time
~ A tab for birthday party organization per child as well as a record of what the birthday present was for the child
~ A tab for Christmas gifts so I can make lists for the whole family ... and I never throw the lists out so I won't duplicate presents.
~ In the front pocket, I keep the most recent school directory and some adorable pre-printed Note To The Teacher forms so I can just check off a box.
~ In the back pocket, is a legal pad for notes. I use it a lot.

Cute sticky notes/little note pads, 'cause I love them a lot. I have sticky notes with my company name on them, and then the fun stuff like in the shape of a purse, with shoes printed on them, leopard print, etc. I just picked up the purse-shaped ones at Target for $1 last week. It's my current fave!

Colorful envelopes for sending money in for lunch, PTO dues, field trips, donations to the school library, and whatever endless items I have to send continual checks to the school for. I have noticed that these don't get misplaced like the plain ones do (I happen to be out of them right now and I just got an email that said the PTO didn't get my check, which I DID send BTW but in a plain white A-10 envelope, so see, it pays to have the colorful ones!)

Paper clips. I have an unexplained attachment to binder clips. I just LOVE them a lot. Especially the little bitty ones. They're so cute. But, I do love having everything together. Those backpacks are a black hole. If you paperclip your bright envelope with the check on to the form, there is less chance either piece will wind up in the unknown mystery area where socks disappear to when you put them in the dryer and they never return. Have you noticed that parallel universe between backpacks and clothes dryers, too? Or is it just me?

Any needed pens, pencils, etc.

I'm a To Do list person, so I need a colorful array of legal pads and spiral bound notebooks. These may not be essential for you.

As a management side note, I also have binders for each volunteer activity I do (church committee, each of my singing groups, Junior League, etc.) as well as any special projects I have going on (home decoration ideas I tear out of magazines, for example).

Well, Cupcake, I hope this helps get you organized to respond to this school year and that you, too, can strive for Pet Mom status. If you have any tips that work for you, please post to the blog. I'd la-la-love to add to my repertoire. XOXO

From my cousin, Diva Eyes

It’s Children’s Eye Health and Safety Month! Many eye care providers are offering great discounts on children’s eye exams. Have you had your child’s vision checked? DO IT! 80% of learning in children is done visually.

Paris for Prez in Pradas?

You have got to see this. And I have got to figure out why I can't get this to run on the blog site. Maybe too big??? Anywho, click on this and go to the video. While I'm not a Paris fan (person or city), I do like a girl with a sense of humor.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/webscout/2008/08/paris-hilton-re.html