More idle and Idol thoughts

We are headed into night 4 of daddy out of town and the kids and I are getting into a groove. The time change nearly derailed everything, but last night was better than the night before, so it's all up from here. After last week's total crapness, it is nice to be feeling better. With this new found joy, I thought I would share a little what's the what with my loyal readership of 12.

It's best to start with Idol. It still sucks. Even the contestants that were good didn't get me out of my seat. (Figurately speaking, of course. I'm no Paula!) I don't understand the judges. Paula has been so sharp all season, but last night she was off (or on) her meds again. I do find it interesting, that even in her diagonal state, she is the only one of them that actually gives advice. That's new this year.

I can't for the life of me figure out why Simon would say that Idol isn't the place to try new things, when just last May the winner of the competition changed it up every week. Billie Jean, anyone? Or Blake Lewis kicking Bon Jovi's ass two years ago? Wouldn't Simon get bored hearing the same bombastic crapola every week? Really though, it's not the contestants artistry that is the problem, it's that they are all tools. Well, maybe not Scott MacIntyre. He's just boring.

I'm going to disagree with Slezak's inital thoughts about Michael Sarver. I not only really liked his vocal last night, but I don't care that he is up there because Simon said he deserved a break. He does! This country sucks right now and if dude gets a few months away from the oil rig, and hopefully gets to go on tour, it will suck a little less for Michael Sarver. He's not hurting anyone. It's not like he got picked to be on the Secret Service. And he's a better singer than Jasmine Murray, who was a fembot last night. Even Jorge Nunez' audition for Fantasy Island performance of "Never Can Say Goodbye'' had more heart than Jasmine's performance. Jorge and Jasmine are my picks to go home.

I think two people are going home tonight, although there is some surprise that I couldn't get a bead on between Paula's slurring and all the cross-talk. I am sure it will be the kind of surprise you find on the bottom of your shoe after what you thought was a nice stroll in the park. That would be on par with the rest of the season.

Other quick impressions from last night:
Adam: Still gives me the creeps. Still hate his hair. Kid can perform though.*
Alexis: She wants it, but I think she's just alright.
Anoop: Wasn't as bad as the judges said. Not sure he has much of a voice though.
Alison: Acts like a 16-year old. Sings like, well, Ann Wilson. Love.
Danny: He's really growing on me. He's a good singer and I liked his big, funny family.
Matt: Don't remember him, so I'm going to say 'not memorable.'
Kris: Very cute. Love the guitar. He'll go far in the competition I think.
Megan: I love her husky voice and I don't care that she doesn't hit the notes (Brooke White didn't either — didn't care), but that has to be the worst song choice in Idol history. And did I see her flapping her arms like a chicken? Really, dawg?

In the category of idle — and random — thoughts, wanted to quickly share a kickin' recipe that I tried last night. It's flat bread that I made with garbanzo bean flour. The kids made theirs into pizza and I dipped mine in tomato sauce and hummus (I like chick peas with my chick peas) and ate it with olives and manchego cheese. I've been cooking a lot lately and this is one of the tastiest recipes yet. It's a Mark Bittman recipe. He's been my cooking boyfriend lately. Here it is and enjoy! http://www.markbittman.com/recipes/easy-whole-grain-flatbread

* Just watched Adam Lambert's performances of "Satisfaction" and "Black or White" again and I'm reconsidering him. I think he might be the grown-up of the group, and even with the Broadway stylings, he can kind of really rock. My skeeves might be fading.

Squeezing My Mind Grapes

One week ago I laid out my resolutions and I think it's time to check-in, because I know at least 8 of you can't wait to find out. (Speaking of that, I want to give a mini, inter-blog, shout out to my Jersey contingent. Thanks for reading! Heck, thanks to all of you.)

1) Write at least 3x a week. This is my seventh post since January 5th, so I am definitely kicking that resolution's ass. That said, it's really hard. Not peace in Darfur hard, but the reasons that kept me from writing for so long haven't gone away. I still have to take care of my kids, cook dinner, do laundry, check Facebook (seriously, I do), go to the gym, run errands, see friends. That's a full day. Now, I realize there are 8 million working poor in this country, who often have to choose between food and rent, who are often uninsured. I know how fortunate I am. But, I can only live my own experience and I don't like putting my kids in front of the TV so I can write.* I don't mind putting them in front of the TV so I can have some peace and quiet, but that's a blog for another time. The writing itself is hard too. I'm constantly questioning what I've written. Reading it over and over again. I am alternately satisfied and mortified, but I keep on. The feeling of euphoria I get from writing, especially if I think it's good, but even if it is bad, extends to everything else in my life. It's as if I've opened up a part of my brain that had been asleep. Anyway, it's a good thing.

2) Send one pitch a month to some sort of magazine about something. I have not done this yet, but the month ain't over yet. (I have been notoriously bad at this, hence my flourishing non-existent freelance career, so we shall see.)

3) Do 20 squats and 20 lunges everyday. Nope. And I actually don't care. I go to the gym and walk all over creation with 60 lbs. of kids packed into a 20 lb. stroller - that's 80 lbs. for you English majors - isn't that enough? I might revisit this resolution when we get a little closer to bathing suit season.

4) Cook more vegetarian meals. I made a very tasty salad with manchego cheese, oranges, butter lettuce, sunflower seeds and homemade vinaigrette, from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian. It's just a salad, but it's a start. I made a pasta dish and a lentil dish that could have been vegetarian and threw meat into them, does that count?

My sub-resolution to cook more and meal plan is going well. I've cooked 7 out of the last 9 days. We had a house guest the two days we ate out. She graciously ate my chicken chili on Friday, but why should she suffer because of my complex grid of resolutions, co-resolutions and amended resolutions, so out we went. And it was so good. My April plan to not eat out for a month is going to really suck.

5) Learn HTML. So far I've only learned how do strikethroughs.

6) Do more crafty stuff and baking with the kids. We took them to MoMA, where they got much, much too close to the artwork and made clever and funny observations.

Me: How do you think Jackson Pollock held the brush to get the paint on the canvas like that?

Mimi: Just like a regular old man, Mom.

We are going to bake cookies today. The rest of the time they have been watching TV and playing dress-up so I can write. There is a reason that the children of writers, pen their own scathing memoirs as adults. I promise to do what I can to make that memoir interesting.

7) Learn to knit and sleep more. I just added these, so they don't count yet.

Don't worry I won't be tallying my accomplishments weekly. Maybe monthly.

Tomorrow: Another product review. Oh, the anticipation.

* I'm writing at Starbucks today, while the girls hang with Adam. Bliss.

• photo by studiosaynuk

I Resolve to be Resolute

I started off this blog talking about the self-improvement kick I have been on lately in order to clear out the cobwebs and make room in my life and head-space for writing and other endeavors. So far so good. The 7 days of 2009 have been productive ones. I started my blog; Violet got dressed seven times without having an hour-long meltdown and standing in the snow barefoot; I applied to be a volunteer at Tribeca Film Festival* and I returned to the gym after weeks of gluttony and napping. Still, there is more to be done and what better way to hold myself accountable than telling the 12 of you reading this, my resolutions for 2009. 

1) Write at least 3x a week. Today is my third time writing this week, so this is a manageable goal. 

2) Send one pitch a month to some sort of magazine about something. This one is a little vague and could use some work.

3)  Do 20 squats and 20 lunges everyday. I know it's not much, but the odds of me even doing this are slim, so starting small is good. I actually made this resolution 7 days ago and have done 0 squats and lunges everyday. 

4) With Mark Bittman's new cookbook, Food Matters, serving as inspiration, and to be both frugal and healthy — I want to cook more vegetarian meals. This is counter to Adam's resolution at birth to eat meat with every meal, so we will see how it goes. 

4a) Cook more.

4b) Plan the week's menu every Sunday and try to use what is in the freezer.

4c) Go an entire month without eating out or ordering in or buying any food other than groceries and Starbucks (I have to live!). I think April is the designated month. It should be an interesting failure experiment, to write about. 

5) Learn HTML. Adam promises to teach me. This might be like when my dad tried to 'teach' my mom to drive.**

6) Do more crafty stuff and baking with the kids. Winter-behavior has already started (mine, no mine, mine, no mine, MINE, MIIIIIIIIIINE, MIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINE), and I want them to live to see spring. 

That's it. I'm counting on the hounding of my 5s of readers to keep me on track. 

Tomorrow: My first product review. Can you stand the wait?

* I was put on the wait list before I even filled out the application. Stupid me should have applied months ago. Next year, I will know better. I'm now looking around for other similar volunteer opportunities. 

** My grandmother ended up teaching my mom to drive.