There are two important facts about the blood types of parents and their children that are not widely known. One of them caused an unexpected health problem in my family, and the other could have caused a much more serious problem but didn't. Please read the facts in red text, and click on the red … Continue reading Important Information on Blood Types of Parents and Children
Do you have the right to know if your food is Genetically Modified?
If you live in the United States, right now you do NOT have any way of knowing whether the food you buy contains genetically modified organisms (GMOs). These are plants or animals whose DNA has been manipulated in a way that does not occur naturally, usually combining genes from two or more species. More than … Continue reading Do you have the right to know if your food is Genetically Modified?
Don’t Save Room for Dessert!
One habit I am very grateful my parents taught me is this: When you finish your dinner, stop eating. If you get hungry again before bedtime, you may have dessert. In my childhood home, "dessert" was often canned fruit in syrup, homemade yogurt with jam, tapioca pudding, fruit crisp, a bagel, or something else that … Continue reading Don’t Save Room for Dessert!
7 Delicious Meatless Recipes from Other Sites
We enjoy plenty of our own recipes, but I also have fun browsing recipes online and copying down recipes we might like. Here are 7 that have earned pages in our recipe binder. If you are vegetarian or vegan or have given up meat for Lent or are observing Meatless Mondays or meatless Lenten Fridays, … Continue reading 7 Delicious Meatless Recipes from Other Sites
Thrifty Tips
Today is the Frugal Tips Edition of Works-for-Me Wednesday, so check out the money-saving ideas there! I happen to prefer the word "thrifty" myself. This is my big anthology of ways to save money! I have to start off by responding to Kristen (hostess of Works-for-Me Wednesday)'s first tip, which is to print your own … Continue reading Thrifty Tips
It’s like we’re related or something.
I have a very good memory for details. The best I can explain it is that I retain a lot of details from my experiences and reading, and they are connected to one another in a massive and complex web that I nonetheless find very easy to follow, moving along from one irrelevant-sounding detail to … Continue reading It’s like we’re related or something.
How the Dishwasher Changed Our Lives
A little over a year ago, we got a new dishwasher and became (for the first time in my life) a household that uses a dishwasher routinely. Read my previous article for lots of information on how dishwashers actually use less water and energy than washing dishes by hand, and read the comments for important … Continue reading How the Dishwasher Changed Our Lives
Are you pregnant and dizzy?
[UPDATE: Editing this article to fix a link, I cannot prevent it from being re-publicized on Linked In, so I want to reassure readers that at this time (February 2014) I am pregnant. Dizziness and low blood pressure have been less of a problem for me this time around, probably because I followed my own … Continue reading Are you pregnant and dizzy?
Holy Recycling!
It's Works-for-Me Wednesday, and it's also Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. If you don't belong to a religion that observes Ash Wednesday--or even if you do--you may never have thought about where churches get the ashes that are used to draw a cross on each person's forehead to remind us that our physical … Continue reading Holy Recycling!
Four MORE Weeks of Pesco-Vegetarian Dinners (winter)
A pesco-vegetarian is someone who eats no meat except fish. That's my family's policy when we're at home. Four weeks of our dinner menus made a popular post, so I'm posting another four weeks. I hope these are helpful to other people who want to eat less meat but aren't sure what to eat instead! … Continue reading Four MORE Weeks of Pesco-Vegetarian Dinners (winter)
Our Recipe Binder
I have seen online many beautiful recipe binders created by full-time homemakers who have master's degrees in scrapbooking or just great skill in making things look perfect. Daniel and I are part-time haphazard homemakers, both of whom like to cook, so we have had to come up with a method of recipe storage that works … Continue reading Our Recipe Binder
The Beauty of a Bus Pass
[UPDATE: Port Authority Transit now offers annual, monthly, and weekly passes or cash debit on the ConnectCard, which you can refill online. It's even more convenient than the paper passes were! Also, we no longer have zones; all trips are the same price.] In my purse is a 2"x3" piece of paper that is worth … Continue reading The Beauty of a Bus Pass
3 Good Children’s Books
Today's 3 Books on Thursday theme is children's books, and I am going to limit this list to just 3! Of course, there are many other picture books Nicholas and I enjoyed together when he was 18 months-5 years old, before he started insisting on chapter books for bedtime stories as well as on-the-bus entertainment, … Continue reading 3 Good Children’s Books
Butternut Squash Burritos
UPDATE: I'm linking this to Waste Not Want Not Wednesday, which is hosted at a gluten-free site. You could make this recipe gluten-free by using any type of gluten-free tortilla or wrap, by putting the filling over rice or quinoa in a bowl, or by being super-nutritious and wrapping the filling in big leaves of … Continue reading Butternut Squash Burritos
Mama’s Personal DJ
A couple of Saturdays ago, I was all set for a big cooking binge, making a batch of Tart & Tangy Baked Beans from The Moosewood Cookbook plus four loaves of Raisin Bran Bread, then freezing some vegetables and washing dishes while the food was in the oven. I thought my seven-year-old son would help … Continue reading Mama’s Personal DJ
Pajameter
This morning I realized that Today's Young People have created the need for a device which can assess the pajama-like qualities of one's outfit in a quick and objective manner to determine whether or not it qualifies as clothing for the purposes of, say, attending school. This pajameter could be used at the school entrance … Continue reading Pajameter
Liebster Blog Award: 5 Great Blogs!
Despite my occasional protestations that The Earthling's Handbook is not really a blog, it has received a Liebster Blog Award! I will set aside my feelings about the yucky-sounding word "blog" to graciously accept this award and acknowledge that at least one-third of my readers have come here via weekly blog carnivals to which I … Continue reading Liebster Blog Award: 5 Great Blogs!
Staying On the Ball at Work
This is an historic moment for The Earthling's Handbook. Almost 15 years after we started this Website, almost 5 years after we set up blog software so that I could write articles on my lunch break and post them easily, we have never posted any photographs. I've explained my reservations about photos but also said … Continue reading Staying On the Ball at Work
Spaghetti Sauce, January 7 Version (with turnip!)
This most recent in my series of spaghetti sauce recipes is thick and non-peppery, ideal for use in Stuffed Shells. We got a winter farm share this year, and last week it included two turnips, just two, a big one and a small one. When we divided the veggies with our friends, we got the … Continue reading Spaghetti Sauce, January 7 Version (with turnip!)
Composting in the Office
I've been composting some of my household garbage most of my life. At work, though, I had been putting compostable items in the wastebasket because there isn't a compost bin in my office building. Then one day in early November, I was setting my office wastebasket outside the door for the cleaning people to empty. … Continue reading Composting in the Office
The Earthling's Handbook 