Blue Apron

Jennette wrote a piece on Blue Apron.

I thought it sounded very interesting.

I forwarded her link to my oldest, with a note that said it sounded like something he would like.

He read Jennette's piece, and said he had heard of it, maybe when it first started in 2012. And he said it did sound like something he would like.

So he signed up for delivery.

And he does like it. He said it was fun and interesting. He said the directions are very easy to follow. He said he had never done most of the skills it required, but he learned. And he said (as Jennette said) he used nearly every dish in his kitchen. That is not a lot of dishes in either kitchen, I suspect. Everything is included in his box except salt, pepper and oil. Everything is premeasured.

He also mentioned it would be a great couple's thing. No one has to plan or shop. The work, split between two, would go very quickly. Or at least quicker. He said it would be a good dating thing too.

He likes food. He likes to cook. He is interested in more (than I am) gourmet type meals. He likes to build his food and cooking skill knowledge base.

He said his grocery shopping will now be down to string cheese, yogurt, fruit. He will keep some frozen veggies on hand incase he needs to expand one of the meals.

He is on the three meals plan which is designed to feed two people (so six servings total) each week. He said when he finishes cooking, he divides each meal in two, and puts one away, so he does not just sit down and eat the whole thing. (We had discussed this in advance, hence the veggies in case he needs to add to any meal. So far he said the servings are just about right.)

He is really excited about this.

He said although it looks pricey at first glance, he thinks it will be less expensive for him. Because he was mostly eating out recently. His meals out will be greatly reduced.

His deliveries come late afternoon on Friday. He then plans to cook Friday-Sunday. And then start the week with ready leftovers in the refrigerator. It might be 3-6 leftovers depending on his social plans over the weekend. But he said cooking is too hard for him, right now, after work, because he is still very slow. And he is cooking by himself. He can suspend any week's delivery if he is going to be out of town, but has to do it well in advance.

So far, really good idea for him. And it is organic food.

Podcast post

These are the Podcasts I download each week -



The Moth

"Since its launch in 1997, The Moth has presented thousands of true stories, told live and without notes, to standing-room-only crowds worldwide. Moth storytellers stand alone, under a spotlight, with only a microphone and a roomful of strangers. The storyteller and the audience embark on a high-wire act of shared experience which is both terrifying and exhilarating. Since 2008, The Moth podcast has featured many of our favorite stories told live on Moth stages around the country. For information on all of our programs and live events."

Vinyl Cafe

"CBC Radio presents the stories and misadventures of Dave, the owner of the "Vinyl Cafe", the world's smallest record store, where the motto is "We may not be big, but we're small." The show also features Dave's wife, Morley, their two children, Sam and Stephanie and assorted friends and neighbours."

This American Life

"Official free, weekly podcast of the award-winning radio show "This American Life." First-person stories and short fiction pieces that are touching, funny, and surprising. Hosted by Ira Glass, from WBEZ Chicago Public Media, and distributed by Public Radio International."

The first two are new to me and recommended by our oldest. The third, This American Life, is
beloved. If I am ever in a coma, the kind where I might be aware, please have one of my kids buy the complete archives and play it for me, one show at a time, all day, to keep me sane. Really great.

Jennette just wrote about another podcast, Serial.

Vision Boards

Jennette Fulda (formerly known as PastaQueen) wrote a post about a Vision Board Party she attended earlier this winter.


Really fun (I think) that this is an annual event for this group of women. This would make a great non-food, traditional, holiday activity for an extended family too. Perhaps New Year's Day during all the games (for example).






If you remember middle is a RA in college this year. Part of her job is to have activities for her floor. She and the other RA's usually double up on these programs so it is half the work and a good turn out of attendees.


As soon as I read Jennette's post, I knew it was something middle would love. I wrote to Jennette to see if middle could borrow Jennette's Vision Board picture for middle's announcement signs. She said "yes". Since we have a colored printer, I printed a stack of these pictures so all middle had to do was add the date, time, place.

Youngest and I, on one of the few warm days, went dumpster diving for magazines (for middle who was at college and had no access to magazines). Believe it or not, I mentioned this to another mom, and she just stared at me. It turned out that when her kids needed pictures, she went and bought magazines for them to dissect. .  .


Our recycling center is very clean. Magazines (and the like) are put in two large bins. The bins are about about 4' tall and probably 4' across both ways. So these are huge bins. Luckily they were mostly full, that day, so it was easy to dig. If they had been nearly empty, youngest would have had to climb IN them to reach magazines for us.

We had to dig through a lot of catalogs and phone books, but found a wide variety of really great magazines. There was a horse one, athletic, house, gardening, etc. We collected several dozen magazines that day. Middle is actually going to keep this collection so as a teacher she has magazines for kids to use for projects.

I had a 20% off coupon and also a $5 coupon for our local art store. I bought 12" x 18" heavy weight tag board for middle. This is heavier than construction paper but thinner than poster board. In my opinion the 12" x 18" size was perfect because it made the project doable in one sitting and is a nice size for hanging on a college door or bulletin board.





Her dorm would have picked up the cost of the paper, but then the leftovers would have been theirs. I bought a mega pack for $8 (with my coupons) and then she had lots left for other projects.

This is not middle's board. It belongs to a friend. Middle's (still in progress) is very similar. They decided to just use words. The friend finds/cuts words and middle arranges/glues. They just happened to finish this one first.

Here is Jen talking about Vision Boards (2013).

Here is Karen (2012).

Here is Jane on her Inspiration Board (2011).

Art in a tiny box

Not only is Jennette very clever herself, 
she also finds clever things.