As my family grows, many meals that were convenient are not scaling up very well. Grilled cheese for two: easy. For a family of six: not so practical.

Healthy, tasty, easy and frugal food is an ongoing, near-daily challenge. Thankfully, technology is a big help. Here is the process I am currently using to find, try, and keep good recipes available.

1. Collect tasty-looking recipes on Pinterest.

When I see a delicious looking recipe on any website – especially if it is described as “slow cooker” or “crock pot” – I pin it to my “yum” board so I can find it later.

2. Write a menu plan into a spiral notebook.

Yes, this is low-tech, but it works very well for us. We write the name of each recipe we want to cook that week, with a little symbol (and page number, if applicable) of where to find it if it’s not something we make a lot. We also annotate that week’s menu plan with a list of staples as we run out of them (for instance, baking soda, peppercorns, or my favourite snack, dried apricots).

3. Clip or copy/paste new recipes I want to try into Evernote.

If I’m feeling adventurous and want to try a new recipe, I copy the recipe from the internet into Evernote, with a tag “recipe”. I have a search set up in Evernote for notes tagged “recipe” but NOT tagged with “eBook”, so that only recipes I haven’t tried will appear in this search.

4. Order groceries online.

 

I cannot tell you how much time, energy, and even money (due to less impulse shopping) this saves us. With menu book in hand, we look up recipes wherever they are – Evernote, eReader, cookbooks – and click to order the required ingredients.

5. Cook dinner, tweak and evaluate.

If a new recipe is good, I reformat the recipe in Evernote to match my other recipes, noting any changes or substitutions I made. I then copy and paste the new recipe in the appropriate section of the 700-page Open Office Writer document that has become our family’s personalised cookbook. After the recipe is in Writer, I add the tag “eBook” to the recipe in Evernote so that it won’t show up in my “new recipe” search anymore.

If the new recipe isn’t to our taste, I tag it appropriately in Evernote and remove it from my “yum” board on Pinterest.

6. Export my updated cookbook as a PDF, then upload the PDF into my eReader using Calibre.

Having the cookbook on my eReader makes it searchable and easily accessible in my kitchen using this cover with integrated kickstand.

7. When someone asks for a recipe, I easily email them my annotated version via Evernote, or simply send them the original URL.

Evernote automatically saves the source URL when I copy and paste from any website, so I can always give credit to the original recipe creator.

With a smart phone or tablet you could eliminate the extra steps of copying approved recipes to a word-processing program and exporting as a PDF. Accessing everything in Evernote directly from a portable device would make the process even simpler.

How do you find and manage the recipes your family enjoys?

♥ ♥ ♥ how apropos to scan love letters in February ♥ ♥ ♥

February was a busy happy month. Michael turned three with a bang on his new drum kit! Now every morning after Nikki finishes her violin practice, we have a moment very like the Banks’ household in Mary Poppins. Whereas Mrs Banks yells, “Posts, everyone!” in preparation for six o’clock cannon fire, here we scramble to don our hearing protection before Michael lets loose with all joy and exuberance in percussion and song.

Although I didn’t realise it, having a goal of digitising personal correspondence was one of the most romantic things I could have done in preparation for and even after Valentines’ Day. Hundreds of love letters, cards, and postcards passed through my hands this month, reminders of the joyful intensity of all-consuming passion, perseverance, and ever-growing love. Every time I think about my relationship with Ben I am reminded of how blessed I am. This month was awash with remembrance. I love you, Ben.

Thanks to the speedy little ScanSnap duplex document scanner my sister found for me, I have met my goal this month to transform at least one moving box of paper into PDF files: I scanned three moving boxes worth, or approximately 2200 documents composed of over 9000 pages.

Both Ben and I were inspired by the phenomenal amount of scanning, and we took the process one step further: between us and the scanner we consolidated seven boxes of mementos into one Rubbermaid tub each. Although all the personal correspondence and important pieces of schoolwork have been scanned, we did keep several shoe boxes of the most precious letters, as well as other happy artifacts from our 30-something years.

I did not meet my goal of a weekly walk to meet Ben on his way home from work, but I did manage it twice. Two other times I embarked on similar-length walks with a trip to a local drum shop one week and a trek to the library the next. I nearly wrote off this past week with an injured toe. Sofa leg, ouch! Thankfully, the toe is healing quickly. God is good!

Chapter 7 of How to Talk So Kids Will Listen and Listen so Kids Will Talk was the last section of the book, namely, “Putting it all Together.” The focal point was a mother-daughter scene that went poorly. As a reader, I was meant to reflect on the scene and think of all the skills in the book and ways I could have done better. This was followed by the same scenario where the fictional mother did use her new skills and the outcomes were improved. For me, the chapter revealed that I have learned some, but that there is also a great deal of room for me to internalise these new patterns of speech and thought so that they come naturally to me in real-life situations. I will certainly read this book again – probably several times!

Lent, or the 40 days leading up to Easter Sunday, begins this year on the 9th of March, and two of my March goals are directly related to taking up my cross in my own small way and growing spiritually during this time.

My goals for March are to:

• at least once a week, take a longish walk – ideally meeting Ben on his way home from work
• continue my quest to eliminate unnecessary paper by digitizing (or tossing) everything I can from our 4-drawer filing cabinet – we no longer have room to put any more in, so something has to go!
• give up reading fiction for Lent – with a large backlog of highly recommended non-fiction to read, this shouldn’t be too much of a hardship
• more often than not, read aloud from Proverbs to the kids during lunch – I would like to make this a habit that continues throughout their formative years

I have had it in my mind for a while to write a post about the free tools I use to add and edit audio, video, and photos for this blog. Maybe this information will be useful to someone else, or maybe it will just be a reference for me in case our laptop dies and I have to start loading programs from scratch. Either way, here is a current list of my favourite free editing programs:

Nikki’s voice in Audacity

audio

I use a Nokia mobile phone for audio recording.

Mobile AMR Converter converts the AMR audio files produced by my mobile phone into WAV files that can be uploaded to my blog, or edited with Audacity, another favourite free tool.

the hard part is choosing my favourites from a photo shoot

photo

I use a Canon PowerShot for still photography and video recording.

After I upload photos, I first open them in Irfanview to quickly rotate any vertical pictures using the L and R keys.

After the photos are rotated, I open Picasa and use the thumbtack or ‘hold’ function to select my favourite photos from the day. If several similar shots are competing against each other, I use the ‘play’ feature to see them fullscreen and delete the also-rans. Once my ‘photo tray’ is full of just the photos I want, I export them to a folder on my hard drive. This makes it easy to select all the photos in that folder for uploading to my blog all at once. I delete the duplicates in the folder once the upload is complete.

image source

video

VirtualDub is my go-to program for shortening video clips to highlight just the right footage. It is important to select ‘Direct Stream Copy’ in the Video menu before you start editing, otherwise I find that my audio and images get out of synch.

I then import the shortened video clip into Windows Movie Maker and use the Save Movie File > My Computer > Best Fit to File Size options to reduce the file size for easier, quicker, and less-bandwidth-consuming YouTube uploads. I also use Windows Movie Maker for video effects and transitions (see a favourite example here).

When I want to add captions to a video I have uploaded to YouTube, I use Subtitle Workshop and save my subtitle file in the SubRip custom format. The trick with Subtitle Workshop is to press Enter (not Tab as I tend to try) when editing the Show and Hide times of each subtitle.

What free software (doesn’t have to be blogging-related) are you loving right now?

Prayer is an important part of my life. I think it’s amazing that the Creator of the universe loves to hear from me.

However, I find myself getting stuck in a rut with prayer, praying virtually the same thing each day for my kids: that they would grow to be more and more like Jesus.

Looking for some more specific ideas and variety, I found this prayer calendar for mothers at Inspired to Action. I printed the pdf and stuck it up on my refrigerator. That’s when I discovered I don’t actually spend much time reading the outside of my refrigerator.

It took me several months to work out the solution… converting the prayer calendar to a wallpaper for my computer.

I retyped the prayer calendar using Microsoft Word, taking the opportunity to make a few changes. I also changed the background colour of the document to dark blue, and the text to a pale gray. Then I saved a screen capture of the retyped prayer calendar as my new computer wallpaper.

Now, when I am waiting for a document or program to load, I use those few moments looking at my computer wallpaper to find that day’s date and pray for that day’s character quality for my kids. Simple, easy to implement, and already my prayers are more varied and specific.

This idea of modifying your desktop background would also work for scripture memory or anything else you wanted to meditate on for a few snatched seconds throughout your day.

Right. I’ve been researching internet service providers (ISPs) at our new location, and when it comes to ISP service reviews, ProductReview.com.au is amazingly helpful.

Here are some highlights (note, I edited these for brevity and inappropriate language):

Pros: Hasent broken yet

 

Cons: slow very very slow

 

Pros: Great, if you want to lose your hair and raise your blood pressure

 

Cons: Rude, Incompetent, Liars, Incompetent, Disorganised, Technically-inept, Incompetent, oh and incompetent. DoDo = DoDon’t

 

Overall: I must say that in all my years on this planet – I have never experienced such gut-wrenchingly awful customer service. It still traumatises me to think back to when I tried (in vain) to get my broadband provisioned using this sorry excuse for a company. This was over a year ago now and I’m still in counselling.

 

Cons: on the odd occasion where it cuts out, Optus are an absolute NIGHTMARE to deal with. Terrible customer service, waiting on hold usually for minimum of 30 minutes (regardless of time of day)… it must be their screening process – if you’re not willing to wait 30 minutes, your query obviously isn’t THAT IMPORTANT.

Cons: Sometimes line’s unstable and always slow. Making a call to a customer service centre is time comsuming job(about an hour and a half).

Pros: don’t know

 

Cons: Staff have only the same information as what you get on the net, so what’s the point in having them.

 

Overall: Lets face it, if you have to deal with voice recognition and staff on the sub-continent then it would be less frustrating to just slit your wrists

Cons: Their customer service is really strange, as it makes you go through a series of talking to answering machines first.

Overall: Extremely poor. Support is also poor. Poor. Very poor. Did I say that it was poor? Feels like we’re wasting our time with this provider.

Pros: None

 

Cons: Poor customer service

 

Overall: I telephoned this morning to find out about buying a 24 month 20GB ADSL2 plan. Made the mistake of asking if I could cancel the 24 month contract within a certain period if I cannot get it set up with all of my kit and working at acceptable levels. Woman was incredibly rude and hostile. Said their product ALWAYS works. I tried to explain that I was moving and have no idea what the lines are like at my new place or possible interference. She got more and more hostile and insistent that there could be no problems with their product. Gave up and hung up. I dread to think what they would be like if there was a problem after I had signed up.

Pros: Nothing!!!!

 

Cons: i was conned into getting this service, that was the con!

Pros: I hate to say this, but I can’t think of any.

 

Cons: Very long wait times to speak to anyone about technical problems (2 hours plus) although, suspiciously, if you want to sign up, it’s very easy to get through.

Cons: you took a month before you got around to restoring my phone line and charged me while i was on hold for almost 2hrs on my mobile before hanging up on me

Pros: There is nothing to like about it because it never works

 

Cons: Everything(a piece of string and two paper cups would work better)

Overall: None of my experiences with TPG have been very pleasurable and I have tried both their dial up and broadband internet.

Cons: cant connect to internet (i’m typing this on a friend’s computer)

Cons: Where do I start! Still waiting after a working connection after 4 FOUR months, yet they still attempt to direct debit my account.

Overall: I wish I didn t sign long term contract. I wasn’t happy the virginbroadband but this is even worser and it’s only my 1 week of the 2 year contract. STAY AWAY FROM THEM !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I mean it.

Overall: I didn’t want to go to Supernerd and have cancel the service with them but guess what? They still debiting my bank account without my permission. Where is the ethic?

Overall: Theiving rip off. waste of time and money. WARNING TO OTHERS TO CONTACT BANK TO HAVE CREDIT CARD DECLARED LOST OR STOLEN.

Cons: Complete and utter lack of service. Not able to contact anyone from this company at all.

 

Overall: Avoid Blitz like the plague. I am not kidding. For the last 2 days their entire ADSL network has been down for the whole country. Call their number and you get told via recording that the ADSL is down nation wide, they have no further information and the call volume is so high they are not answering any calls. So i have paid for a service I am not getting and I cant even speak to anyone about it nor can i get any idea when it will be fixed, If indeed it will be fixed at all. A company I would guess is run from someones backyard, only a lot less professional than a backyard company should be.

Cons: i primus internet is soooo slowwww ,you know what! a turtle would move faster than my broadband , lags , pages take ages to download and seems to have gotten alot worse this past year. A Customer service operator from iprimus rung me 2 months ago and asked me whether i was happy with my broadband connection i was quite frank with him.. i said it was *bleep*!!! he laughed and then tried to convince me to upgrade to a higher plan

Thank you, reviewers, for making this an easy choice! To leave you with a good review, here is what one customer had to say about the ISP we have chosen…

Overall: Came burnt and bleeding form DODO – so far billing great – one problem our end – tech spent ages with us till sorted – cannot believe have finally got a decent providor – speed as promised – could cry with happiness – even pay their bill early each month

Maybe it’s the plethora of friends and family who have birthdays this month. Or perhaps it is something to do with the department stores here already putting up their holiday displays. Whatever it is, I have been thinking about gifts recently.

I love online shopping, and often I will start out looking for one thing, then get sidetracked as I notice another thing which would be perfect for so-and-so. Unfortunately so-and-so’s birthday is 8 months away!

In the past I would have bookmarked the item, then been unable to find that bookmark again in 8 months time. Or I would remember the item, but not its name and would spend useless hours Googling for “you know, the perfect thing for so-and-so” before throwing my hands up in despair and sending them… an e-mail.

Then there’s that other dilemma, when I’m asked what I want. Usually I can’t think of anything sensible off the top of my head.

Thankfully the clever people at Wishpot have come up with a simple, free solution to keep all this straight.

Sign up for a free Wishpot account, and download their button for your internet browser. Then, whenever you see something you might want to buy in the future, whether for yourself or someone else, click that button. Wishpot brings up a screen that saves the item to one of your lists. Easy!

Now if only I could remember the dates of my friends’ birthdays. If anyone can figure out how to get Wishpot to do that for me… well, you’re just that much more likely to receive a gift on or around your birthday! But then if you know me, you’ll know that’s still extremely unlikely!!!

Since moving over to WordPress.org, I have learned far more than I wanted to know about the nitty-gritty behind-the-scenes of blogging.

Fortunately, it’s not all boring!

A fun thing I stumbled across is how to add your own picture next to your comments. This will work not just on BlissfulE.me, but on lots of other blogs as well.

AND, it’s free!

Five simple steps:

1. Go to www.gravatar.com
2. Sign up
3. Upload an image from your computer or find one you like online
4. Preview the picture and crop if necessary
5. Leave a comment here and see your new picture shine!

Ever since an IT director made an offhand remark that could only have meant he had been reading my e-mail, my eyes were opened to the world of online privacy – or lack thereof.

(a) I don’t want to turn over my personal photos and other information to a faceless corporation. The following is a direct quote from Facebook‘s Terms of Use:

By posting User Content to any part of the Site, you automatically grant, and you represent and warrant that you have the right to grant, to the Company an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license (with the right to sublicense) to use, copy, publicly perform, publicly display, reformat, translate, excerpt (in whole or in part) and distribute such User Content for any purpose, commercial, advertising, or otherwise, on or in connection with the Site or the promotion thereof, to prepare derivative works of, or incorporate into other works, such User Content, and to grant and authorize sublicenses of the foregoing.

(b) Facebook is addictive (so I’ve heard…) and I only have so much time online. I would rather use it updating this blog and checking e-mail, as well as for research and shopping!

(c) In the wrong hands, Facebook is a spy machine. A couple of MIT students were able to data-mine Facebook information on students in four universities in one week using time allotted for one class.

(d) I’m already connected to colleagues and former classmates via LinkedIn. Using a professional network helps me keep in mind that whatever I post online could be used by any future employer (and maybe even my children’s future employers).

Even if I weren’t so concerned about online privacy, I would still be concerned about Facebook:

(e) Facebook initiated an anti-breastfeeding campaign, prompting a response, “Hey, Facebook, breastfeeding is not obscene!” Even during the “virtual nurse-in” Facebook continued to remove photos of mothers breastfeeding. I’d say they are pretty committed to “uphold policies that label breastfeeding as obscene or objectionable.”

At the same time, I don’t have any objection to other people using Facebook. You can even continue to invite me to join. I just thought it’s only fair to explain why I’ve decided to let the opportunity pass me by.

Thank you for all your kind comments on the new site!

The real kudos go to my wonderful friend, Chrissy, who designed the header. She is just amazing!!

For anyone thinking about moving from Xanga to WordPress, I will briefly outline the steps I used:

• Use Tim Wylie’s Xanga to WordPress Exporter. Without Tim’s help, I could not have made this work. Thanks again, Tim!
• Open the .XML file from your Xanga site in Notepad.
  • Do a CTRL+F (find) to locate any <DIV … > and </DIV> code in your file. I found that these appeared wherever I centered text or pictures in Xanga, and at other places as well.  You want to remove all the <DIV … > and </DIV> code because WordPress doesn’t like it.
  • I also took this opportunity to edit all my posts at once to do a find and replace for my children’s names to add a little more privacy.
• Two options on setting up a WordPress blog:
  • Free: Go to WordPress.com and sign up for an account
  • Not free: Buy a domain name and hosting, get WordPress.org running on the new site.
• On your WordPress dashboard (www.yourdomain.com/wp-admin), use the left-hand menu to go to Tools > Import.
• Choose the WordPress import option out of the list, upload the .xml file from Tim’s Xanga to WordPress Exporter, and watch your posts appear! Very exciting.
• Then (at least for me) the fun part begins and you get to choose a theme for your blog to determine how it looks. I tried eight or so before I settled down with Fervens. (In my opinion, a lot of the available WordPress themes were designed by men and have a masculine feel. Elena’s work at Design Disease was a breath of fresh air to me after trying a bunch of others.) Try a Google search of “Best WordPress Themes“, which was a better source for me than WordPress.org’s theme page.

I’ve still got some work to do on the About page and adding my links back in so you can continue spying on each other. LOL!

But now that we’re all happy with the design, it’s time for me to move right along and start posting family updates again!!