michalcrum's Profile

I gave this a try thinking it would be like a Thai-ish version of saag paneer. Boy, was I wrong. Sorry, we thought this dish was bland and gross, both in texture and flavor.

Yes, demeaning to women.
Yes, jumped the shark.
Yes, tasteless and out-of-place.
Yes, inappropriate.
Goodbye, AT.

I know a book collector who lined *every* wall in his house with 1 shelf along the ceiling, about 1 foot down. Think crown moulding, but with books. There was a certain beauty to it. It minimized the visual clutter by putting all the books above eye level, but maintained a visual continuity as well. My wandering eye always rested on the myriad of fascinating titles beckoning to my inner book-lover.

I say, invest in some nice shelves that will be practical, then embrace the "cluttered" look of thousands of books. If you love books, surely you like the "library" look. Then minimize any other clutter and you'll still have a designed feel to your living space. My dad is the book lover of all book lovers (he has thousands upon thousands, and my mother is ever at a loss how to store them all) and his library/office is beautiful.

PS--it works magic on stainless cookware and copper cookware too! As to the above concern about residue, do be VERY thorough in rinsing it off. It takes a lot of rinsing to get all the residue off.

PeaPod forever! I'll never go back.

Almost everything except a carseat and diapers. As long as it's a firm surface without entanglements, kids can sleep just about anywhere. Strollers are handy sometimes, but certainly not important. Same with high chairs, baby tubs, potties, and changing tables. Name just about any standard baby gear or item, and either I or one of my friends thinks it's a waste of money or space. So just watch your friends who are parents and see who seems to parent in what you expect will be your style. I knew I would be somewhat of a minimalist. Sounds like you'd like to be too. So decide what few pieces are really important to you, and buy something you'll really like and use a lot. We have a nice baby backpack, an expensive infant carrier (we like to be out and about where there aren't sidewalks), and for other stuff we just didn't care that much--a highchair from GoodWill, a hand-me-down crib from a friend.

We have a 2-year-old and a 1-year-old and we made it work. 1-year-old shared a room with us until he moved in with big brother. Big brother quickly learned to sleep through baby brother's frequent interruptions. I don't want to sound obnoxious, because I know it sometimes just doesn't work. But I've seen first-hand a lot of homes where families of 5 or 6 sleep in 1 or 2 bedrooms. If they can do that in Africa, I can in America (however, I make no promises--I'm just saying we have so far).

We gave up our microwave in December. My husband bought me a countertop convection oven, and we don't have enough counter space for both. I think that microwaves would be wonderful if they cooked something in 20 minutes that takes an hour in an oven. But we all know that anything that takes an hour in the oven is going to taste terrible cooked in the microwave, even if it only takes 20 minutes.

So the only thing we were using the microwave for was to speed up re-heating. I can re-heat something in five minutes on the stove top. That same dish would take 1 minute in the oven. Saving four minutes doesn't seem like that big a deal.

Bottom line--I thought I would really miss it. But I don't. Small Pyrex glass dishes, electric water kettle, make it none-too-difficult.

dumb. dumb. dumb. These are the type of products that convince people it takes a six-figure income to afford a baby and an addition to the house to store all the baby crap. I admit, I'm a bit of a minimalist when it comes to baby "gear" and "accessories". Most of this stuff is a waste of space and money. When I had my first baby my mom told me all you really need to be prepared for a baby is some onesies, diapers, a carseat and a breast. Advertisements scare us with suggestions of all sorts of other stuff we "need". Uh, it's a glorified towel.

I have a peapod and it is the best investment I've made in a long time. I hate pack-n-plays. They are so heavy and bulky, and as far as I can see, the only advantage they have over a peapod is that they can also be used as a playpen. We only used it for sleeping, so the peapod is so much better. We got rid of our pack-n-play completely. It took up so much space (even folded up!), was so heavy, was more difficult to keep clean, took much longer to set up and take down, and was generally a pain in the butt. We sold our Eddie Bauer pack-n-play on craigslist, got $50 for it, and bought the peapod with the same amount of money. Now, I recommend it to every parent I know. I got the smaller one because once my kids are 2, they don't need to sleep in an enclosed space anymore. And my 1-year-old has not figured out how to open the zipper yet, so I don't foresee that being a problem.