On chapstick, chopsticks and computer desks

It’s time to get out the chapstick. Once the furnace goes on in the fall, it seems like we suddenly have a problem with chapped lips. I wish I could find a good remedy that isn’t just a tube of wax, the name-brand Chap Stick just seems to dry my lips out more. And so many products have petroleum jelly in them…ICK! That really dries out lipskin! I’ve tried pure shea butter, but that doesn’t smell the best and the one-pound jars I buy it in aren’t purse-worthy. Anyone know of any smellgood, feelgood, healgood lip protectant?

We eat out 2 or 3 times a week and one of our favorite restaurants is called Mongolian Grill. It’s one of those places where you choose the size bowl you want (we always get the Barbarian size because the leftovers are yummo!), fill the bowl with whatever your heart desires, and then hand your bowl over to the cooks who saute your food on a huge flat walk-about wok that is heated to some ungodly temp…500° or something like that.

The cook walks around the wok, pushing your food around with a long bamboo stick. There’s a huge array of coarsely chopped veggies, 3 kinds of thinly sliced frozen meat, sometimes shrimp, 3 kinds of those tangled long thin Chinese noodles and probably 15-20 types of sauce that you ladle over your filled bowl. If I go very light on the noodles or take no noodles at all, it’s a great diet dish that is very satisfying and delish. I love it because I can put in anything I love or want…making my own creation every time. I love to use chicken, pineapple, pea pods, green bell peppers, water chestnuts, lots of fresh cilantro and a few peanuts. Then I top it with a few of their great tasting sauces: curry, garlic, ginger, and orange.

I always opt for chopsticks because, to me, it’s way easier to eat it a piece at a time and a fork just doesn’t work for me with this type of food. Maybe it’s a mental thing, but I love using chopsticks for Chinese food! I use them a lot at home too. I buy them by the pack at the Oriental grocery store (10 sets per) and go thru them quite quickly. They’re re-usable but I find they’re not only fun to eat with but make great plant stakes, have zillions of craft/art uses and so many other weird non-chopstick-like uses.

I am so excited. Fiwa challenged all of us to post photos of our computer workspace and coincidentally, for the past couple months, I’ve been in the market for a new computer desk that hides all my clutter and junque. I wanted a roll-top desk but have had a terrible time finding one that’s the right kind of wood and that’s small enough to fit in the tiny dining room space I use to computer. I thought it would never happen. I couldn't even find what I was looking for on the internet!

I had Friday off work due to parent-teacher conferences at both school districts I haul kids to and had a couple errands to run, but decided to take a few minutes to go shopping since we were in the neighborhood. Well, 4 furniture stores and almost that many hours later, I found the desk I want. The salesgirl told me it would be 2-4 weeks because it had to be special-ordered, but I was so happy to have found the size/color/price range I wanted, I told her that was fine. As she was processing the order, she happily told me I’d be getting a call from their warehouse on Tuesday…they had one in stock! Hopefully, by mid-week, I’ll be posting a photo of my new workspace!

Thought for the day...

"It is the ability to choose which makes us human."

Madeleine L'Engle