Umm, HI! Can we say SALMONELLA. Where do I begin?

First off, I thought it was common knowledge that you should have two separate cutting boards. One for meats and one for vegetables and everything else. Also that the one for meat should be PLASTIC, not wood as wood locks in blood and germs in it’s fibers. Plus plastic can be thrown into the dishwasher for some heavy duty cleaning and disinfecting. Or you can take a solution of bleach and water and hose that plastic meat cutting board down. Makes sense right?

To be clear here are my “TIPS”:

1. Two separate cutting boards

BUY PLASTIC CUTTING BOARDS - for MEATS!

BUY WOOD or PLASTIC - for VEGETABLES and all assorted kitchen prepping!

Also here is a short video on how to maintain your wooden cutting board…

YouTube - Watch Link

Good grief, no wonder I have a stomach like an iron tank and rarely get sick from questionable food. All these years if this is how my Mom has been prepping food I have developed an iron constituition to edible germs.

I’d rather not test that theory any further though. Just some friendly advice from me to you. Hope it helps!

How many times has your heart skipped a beat when you almost slip and die on some poorly constructed front steps? Well it happened to me yesterday, it wasn’t even rainy! I really feel that architects or home builders should be aware of the material they use to construct stairs and steps. Seems awfully negligent to use materials that may be aesthetically pleasing but potentially dangerous! Sorry I had to vent for a moment …

Well if you are such a home owner and you don’t want to gut out your porch steps, take a look at these Safety Rubber Stair Treads! These genuine rubber stair treads provide safe footing and help prevent stairway falls. Unlike slippery vinyl treads, resilient rubber muffles footsteps and lessens the noisy clatter of bare stairways. Plus, I happen to think they look a lot classier.

You can use them on basement, attic, and back steps, they come in black. Treads are sold individually, so buy as many as you need.

Rubber Stair Treads - $3.45 each

I’m going to keep this nice and simple, you can save money and time with this featured Super Bowl Party Pack. It only costs $19.95 and includes the following items:

• 8 super big 103/4″ party plates
• 8 14 oz. cups
• 16 luncheon napkins
• 24 pc. red cutlery set
• 1 turquoise plastic table cover
• 1 ice blue 81 ft. streamer
• 1 red 81 ft. streamer
• 12 red latex balloons
• 12 white latex balloons
• 1 pkg. of white confetti
• 1 pkg. of blue confetti

Great deal right? If you bought all these items individually it would cost much more than 20 bucks.

To purchase the Super Bowl XLII Basic Party Pack, click here.

To shop for more discount Super Bowl Party supplies, click here.

Super Bowl Party Planning Tips and Entertaining Ideas

Now if you do have the time, creativity and the patience, check out these Super Bowl Party ideas and Entertaining Tips.

Super Bowl Snack Table - Create a custom Super Bowl Snack table that is sure to impress your guests. (see picture for results)

How to Plan Your Super Bowl Party - Tips for planning your Super Bowl Party including decorating ideas, food suggestions and activities, from your Entertaining Guide.

Super Bowl Cake - create a custom made Super Bowl Cake from scratch. This article contains step by step instructions, materials needed and photos.

Join one women’s quest (Astrelle) to turn Trash into Treasure at Apartment Therapy, Los Angeles.

Take your tunes to the shower, the kitchen sink, to the beach with tear drop, water resistant speakers that connect to your iPod or MP3 speakers. Read more about it at 2ModernDesign Talk Blog…

Check out the Organic Furniture with a Twist post on Blinkdecor.Features environmentally friendly furnishings and linens, their lighting selection is especially fun and original. It includes a twisted vine floor lamp made from old jungle vines and a chandelier made from reclaimed French Oak wine barrels.

This week in Smarter Home and Garden Blog:

Apple-Shaped Rattan Baskets - Take a bite out of these apples! Use them to store office supplies, napkins, whatever your heart desires.

Let Dine Without Whine help you plan nutritious and delicious meals for your whole family! Learn more by reading the “Dine Without Whine!“post.

If you do not possess the time nor the patience to hand select your sheets, you can shop online and select a “bed in a bag”! Read more about the great deals being offered at JCPenney online shopping store…

Comment on the Photo of the Week! “Hey Buddy the Erasures Won’t Erase the Smell!”

Rain, Rain Go Away, Come Again Another Day! Check out the Ceramic Umbrella Stand to house all those wet umbrellas this season…

Bedroom Furniture Deal of the Day! West Elm is has marked down their entire Narrow Leg Storage Collection, save up to $300 dollars on some pieces!

Well I recently came across a website called “Dine without Whine” that should help you score some major points with your family. The premise is simple and catered to busy families like yours. They send you shopping lists and menus every Thursday via email in the form of attachments or PDF files. The difference between “Dine without Whine” and other menu planning programs or cookbooks is that the menus are actually “kid approved” and the grocery lists are simple and easy. The grocery lists are detailed, down to the aisle, the ingredients are all familiar and open to substitution if you wish.

This saves you the stress of thinking up something healthy and nutritious for your family to consume and let’s face it more often then not, settling for fast food (yeck!). Plus, anyone who has done the math will quickly discover the savings available when you give up fast food and start making regular trips to your local grocery store.

Hmm, let’s sum up:

• they email you the menus and grocery lists on Thursdays (you don’t have to go anywhere for them)
• the meals are “kid approved” and yummy (your kids and husbo will think it’s delish and stand awestruck in your presence)
• the grocery list itself is easy, detailed, affordable and substitution friendly
• you get to actually sit down and talk with your family (please note: your daughter died her hair purple and your son now eats worms, ha!)
• Oops! I forgot to mention the most important detail of all, the price! It’s ONE PENNY ($0.01) for a one week trial and if you choose to continue on after that, it’s $6.95/a month. No obligation, you can end your membership at anytime.
• COUPON ALERT: Get 20% Off a 3, 6 or 12 month subscription to the Family Friendly Menu planning services. Just enter coupon code: 04AO (Expires on 4/15/2008)

Well I shall leave you with these fine lyrics from Ms. Dolly Parton herself, may it get stuck on repeat in your brain as it is in mine! Feel free to contact me with any complaints or good experiences if you sign up, I always love feedback. (Email: Michelle)

Workin 9 to 5
What a way to make a livin
Barely gettin by
Its all takin
And no givin
They just use your mind
And they never give you credit
Its enough to drive you
Crazy if you let it …

To read more or subscribe to Dine Without Whine, click here.

Due to the collection of shirts I now own that bear the stain of foods that slipped from chopsticks and landed on my chest. I searched for novice chopsticks that can help “beginners” to harness their Zen and master the power of the chopsticks! Check out the Rookie Chopsticks that are offered by Sur La Table. They are available in sets of 4 and only cost $7.95!

More importantly they are easy to use and will teach you how to position your fingers and help you get a feel for the level of pressure you should apply. Some other things I learned about chopsticks from the locals and friends are:

• You should never spear your food with the chopsticks, apparently it’s rude and bad luck.
• You should never play drums with your chopsticks on your plate and tea cup, apparently its not funny and evokes looks of bewilderment.
• You should never strike your chopsticks together (to remove the shards of splintered wood) above the table, rather due so below the table.

Those are my major tips for now. If I learn anymore during the duration of my trip I shall update this post. Once you pass your novice level of chopstick use, feel free to start shopping and using decorative and beautifully crafted chopsticks.

购物 (Go Shopping!)

I am going out there to brave the crowds, despite my aversion to throngs, I am hoping that things have quieted down a bit. I am more apt to brave the after Christmas sales because somehow it lacks that sense of urgency and desperation I feel in the air, right before the Holidays. People are hopefully in better moods after Christmas or perhaps more people are hung over and can’t make it to the shops. Either way the ambiance of frenzy definitely burns at a low simmer after New Years.

Anyhow if you know me at all, you know I’m big on the whole post exchange/return cycle. Chances are unless you picked up on one of about a million hints of what I specifically wanted for the Holidays, your gift is going back! Sorry but I am a particular type of gal and there is no way in hell I am hanging your plug-in, frozen waterfall portrait, even if the mythical fountain of youth streamed from its frozen facade. That’s just the way it is, don’t take it personal.

Consequently I have years of experience with the whole exchange/return game. My “RETURN” tales are the stuff of legend, I once returned a used DVD/VHS player! There was dust on the console and the cord was still warm with use but I convinced the manager that I needed to exchange it for a new model because this one no longer worked. I failed to mention that the poor thing was used within an inch of it’s life for the past 2 years!

So here are the “Need to Knows” of Returning & Exchanging:

Do it FAST, the sooner the better!

What I mean is, sure wait for the tension to die down after the Holidays, but don’t sit on your keister waiting for the sun to go up and down til’ February or mid-January even! Stores are getting much stricter with their return policies, obviously they want to retain their sales and could care less if you get stuck with a leg shaped lamp! Tighter return deadlines on holiday purchases mean that shoppers at some stores have just 14 to 30 days to return an item for its original price. Wait too long, and an item that may originally been purchased for 30 bucks may now be on sale for $9.99 and that is what you will get if you don’t have a receipt.

Which brings me to necessity #2: RECEIPTS, RECEIPTS, RECEIPTS..

Because I myself suffer from “return-itis” I am big on “gift receipts”. Having a receipt for merchandise during the Holidays takes all the stress and hardship out of returning. Even when confronted with a snotty, power mad, 18 year old retail peddler - with receipt in hand you can quickly bypass he/she and go straight to management. Also known as 20 something, snotty retail peddler. Ha!

If your gift is being bought from a merchant that does not offer gift receipts, you may want to re-think that gift. Chances are they will make it hell for your family or friend to return the item. Unless you enjoy giving your pals tension and heart smashing rejection for Christmas?

Be Flexible…and BE NICE!!

This is pivotal. I may have mocked said power-mad-18-year-old-retail-peddler, but as much as they infuriate you with their vacant “I can’t help you” eyes, BE NICE!! Nine times out of ten they have the power to return your merchandise with minimal fuss. Get on their bad side and you’re in for a fight, especially if your receipt-less.

Personal Note: Avoid peak shopping hours so employees are less frazzled and more willing to work with you. If you hit a brick wall of resentment, try a different branch. And here is the advice some people may not agree with, but personally I choose male, hetero-cashiers, whenever possible. Now given it’s retail, so its like finding a straight guy at a Madonna concert, but if you see one take him! They tend to care less and just do the return exchange with bare minimum of fuss. Women and fashionable males tend to take a vested personal interest in merchandise returns, and can get kinda snotty if you catch them at the wrong moment.

Donate it! Re-gift it!

Ok, I know it sounds harsh but if you failed at returning it, save it and give it to someone who will appreciate it. One man’s junk is another man’s treasure right? Or if you need a shot of heaven juice donate it to your favorite charity. Donating it to a charity not only earns karma points, but your good deed may get you a deduction on next year’s tax return.

If all else fails, SELL IT on Ebay or better yet, Craigslist!

EBAY, Amazon’s Marketplace, and Half.com (owned by eBay) let you hold a garage sale in any weather. If you don’t want to give these folks a cut for providing a selling platform, head to Craigslist.com, an online version of the local Town Crier that offers free listings and person-to-person transactions.

Well there you have it, that should offer you some options on what to do with your lovely albeit unwanted gifts. Maybe next time around, do a better job at hinting to that “giver” what you really want for Christmas, and heck if you know they can’t pick up a hint, just flat out say it! Save them and yourself the trouble.

Good Luck!

So you rocked the Kasbah last night and rang in the New Year with a BANG! As fresh rays of sunlight hit the earth you are instantly regretting that last shot of tequila, nay strike that, you instantly regret the last four shots! So there you are, pounding head in palm…burping assorted alcoholic beverages like a parade of nasty…want to start the New Year by crawling into a deep dark hole and dying?

Let me ease your pain, I make no guarantees that I can take away the pain completely, but I did find this awesome and witty article that provides a list of hangover cures. Here is a list of items that I know work from personal experience and some odd suggestions, I think you should try first and then let me know if it works!

Hangover cure #1: The Patch

The “Hangover Free Patch” is a preemptive measure that sends low doses of vitamins and minerals into your system, while arguably making you look like a super-cool dude in the process.

Hangover cure #2: Bloody Mary

A classic “hair of the dog” remedy, mixing yourself a nice, tall Bloody Mary when you first wake up, has got three things going for it: 1. The vodka, which aids the body in its alcohol withdrawal (which is essentially all a hangover is, anyway); 2. The Bloody Mary mix’s spicy kick will jolt you out of your doldrums; and 3. It’s a remedy that prominently features drinking more, so question it. And instead of a celery garnish, how about a handful of aspirin? (I did this and I swear it works! The day after I had a killer headache and I drank two Bloody Mary’s and the pain started to subside…)

Hangover cure #3: Pickle Juice

Known for its restorative properties, a briny shot of that leftover juice in the pickle jar replenishes your body with sodium and minerals. This is a traditional Polish hangover cure, if it doesn’t work drinking a jar of pickle juice in the morning will probably make it easier for you to throw up. (Never tried this, let me know how it works out…sounds kinda gross).

Hangover cure #4: Sports Drinks

This one’s easy: Make sure it’s room temperature (because it helps the body absorb the electrolytes quicker) and make sure it’s Gatorade Frost (because that’s my favorite flavor of Gatorade).

Hangover cure #5: Vitamin B-12

Studies suggest that lower levels of B-12 equals a longer hangover. Turns out the ethanol in your favorite libations strips your body of much-needed vitamin B-12, so try keeping a bottle of this stuff handy. Legend has it that this is the stuff the Navy used to give its shipmen when they returned from a night of drinking.

Headaches and walks of shame aside, I hope you had a wonderful New Year’s Celebration!

To read the full article Hangover Cures by Metromix Los Angeles, click here.

When you’re ringing in the new year with your favorite red wine, this Oxygenation Set by L’espirit & Levin ($88) makes a perfect accompaniment. By increasing the air flow, the aromas are awakened allowing you to enjoy the red wine to its fullest potential.

Two years ago, my best friend Michelle got married and in lieu of the typical all girl’s weekend of debauchery in Sin City we went on a wine tour in Napa Valley. It was at the Robert Mondavi winery that I formed my novice foundation in the wonders of wine tasting, drinking and choosing.

Suffice to say the one catch phrase that my friends and I walked away with is “vulcanizing my esters” which basically meant swirling our wine (vulcanizing) in our wine glasses enabling the wine to breathe, (oxygenate) stirring the esters in the wine to full, delicious potential.

My bestfriend Michelle…

My friend Denise enjoying the goods…

Us learning to Vulcanize our Esters!

It was really a great trip and I recommend it to everyone. Not to mention the fact that I learned how to enjoy wine and the importance of oxygenating the esters. Which is why I chose to highlight the Wine Oxgenation Set by L’espirit & Levin.

Happy New Year’s Everyone!

To purchase the Wine Oxygenation Set, click here.

YouTube - Watch Link

Check out this informative little clip from the folks at Expert Village that walks you through the proper way to hang pictures and assorted wall decor.

Personally I find it extremely amusing when I visit a home that is impeccable, but where all the assorted wall decor seems slightly askew. It ruins the facade of perfection in an instant, not to mention the fact that if it is really crooked it gives off the whole “Pee Wee’s Funhouse” vibe.

Hey, you all think it, I am just saying it.