christine-murphy dot net

In no particular order…

high heels
pink baseball clothing
sexy costumes
pantyhose
dresses/skirts
tube tops
underwire bras
thong underwear
nail polish
fur coats

I guess my X chromosomes were wired wrong, because women ate *supposed* to like all of this stuff. And as far as I care, if women do like it, fine with me! It just isn’t me!

Except for the fur coat thing, though. Killing animals just for fur, when there are perfectly good synthetic products out there, is just plain evil.

If you came here yesterday and found something wrong with this site, I apologize. I was having some problems with the old installation of WordPress, and the only way I could think of to fix them was to upgrade to the newest version, 2.5.whateveritisthisweek.

Luckily, the upgrade went off without a hitch. I’m always afraid something will go wonky during an upgrade, that I will lose the entire blog. Never mind that I backed up EVERYTHING first!

This computer is acting a little wonky as well…I think I need some more computer memory to help speed things up a bit. Or maybe I just need a new computer.  Gotta think about it some before I plunk down any money.

Now, back to our regularly scheduled blogging!

I LOVE taco salad, and this is an easy and very tasty one to make at home. Click on the image above for a large printable copy of the recipe, this will open in a new window.

A few tips here – 90% lean ground beef is kind of pricey. You can buy cheaper ground beef and use that instead. Use a little more than a pound, maybe a pound and a half. After browning the beef for 5 minutes (as in Step 2), drain the beef in a colander to get rid of any excess fat. Return beef to the pan and proceed with recipe. This is important, as you don’t want your salad to be swimming in fat.

Cilantro – either you love it or you hate it. If you don’t like it, you’ll find that it has kind of a “soapy” taste. Use flat-leaf parsley instead.

Finally, you should definitely use the suggested garnishes – avocado (or guacamole), red onion, cheese, and sour cream.

And there you have it! An easy, quick and very tasty summer meal, courtesy of our friends at Shaw’s and America’s Test Kitchen! Enjoy!

…that I like to watch, but will probably never try any of the projects from, is The New Yankee Workshop. It features Norm Abram, who is also on This Old House, building a different piece of furniture each week. He has built everything from curio cabinets to benches and chairs to kitchen islands to poker tables.

Norm has every fancy power tool under the sun, no doubt given to him by the many sponsors of the show.  Also, his workshop is ginormous.  He makes the projects look so easy, but for those of us who don’t have the tools that he does, nor a workshop large enough to house them, making some of this stuff could be a challenge.  It’s easier just to buy furniture.

But still, the show is fun to watch.

I have been seeing this advertised in a lot of craft magazines, as well as discussed on crafty message boards. This is something I can definitely use, as I can’t fold a straight line to save my life.

The official website for this is HERE. You can watch the how-to video clips to see how these tools are used in papercrafting and card making.

However, I found the same set for five bucks less on Home Shopping Network. With shipping included, it comes to the same price as on the official site before shipping. Five bucks is five bucks, HSN wins here.

When I get this, I will get seriously back into my papercrafting, I promise! I’ve been wanting to, anyway, but have been busy with work and other stuff.

I’ve been hesitant to order ANYTHING online these days, due to a rush of bad luck with the Evil Post Office, Federal Distress, and other shippers. I already can forget about getting ANYTHING shipped to my home address, and now, I might even have problems getting anything shipped to our post office box. We’ll find out about that for sure tomorrow.

Anyhoo, *all of this trying to get stuff delivered* business is seriously aging me…I bet my hair is really grey by now…the only reason it’s not is because I color it. And pretty soon I will need to be looking for the top wrinkle cream, as all of this crap really can age a girl, yanno?

So I’m having it sent to Mike’s work.  That’s the only other address I have to send anything to, and unlike a P.O. box, any carrier delivers there.

There’s a serious lack of GOOD craft stores around here, so ordering online is often my only choice if I want any of this stuff.  Is it too much to ask to just be able to have a way to have it all delivered safely?