How to Get Rid of Fruit Flies

I’m big on gardening. That’s not to say I’m good at it – I kill most everything – but this summer was lucky and we got tomatoes out the wazoo. The only downside of fresh tomatoes: fruit flies. They love fresh fruit and multiply quickly, so by the end of the summer, the kitchen looked…

Disillusioned at the Farmer’s Market

I’m feeling very Dr. Seuss today, if Dr. Seuss were more cynical, had an iPhone, and lived in Iowa. Two Mute Youths Two mute Youths follow the Farmer through the booths of fresh produce, Corn, tomatoes, snatches of herbs, rosemary, basil, potted flowers, and clean-cut bouquets, honey comb, and home-baked bread. Two mute Youths wearing…

How To Make Lefse

Every fall, my family tries to get together for a big family meal. When I was younger, Thanksgiving was the big family meal, but these days we try to get together for Halloween because 1) there’s a ton of cars on the interstate at Thanksgiving, making travel a pain for family coming from far away,…

Child Star to Writer = Smart Move

Remember Mara Wilson? Child actress, precocious, cute as a button? I’m talking about this kid: She’s been on some television shows recently where the topic was child star meltdowns (à la Lohan, Bynes, Renfro, almost every kid who’s ever had anything to do with Disney, etc.), but not in the capacity you’d expect. Mara Wilson,…

Why is Pink a Girly Color?

Speaking of reddit (I mentioned reddit in my last post – we’re getting episodic up in here!), one of my favorite subreddits is Explain Like I’m Five.  /r/explainlikeimfive is the subreddit in which people ask questions that are meant to be answered in simple terms that a five-year-old would understand. Like so: /u/Kezumi asks: Why is…

How to Crochet an 8-bit Mario Blanket

My niece is into video games, so for her 13th birthday, I made her this blanket. As a little kid, she played Super Mario Bros. on her folks’ NES, so I found this awesome pattern from Instructables that mimics the 8-bit style of those early games. The pattern is for the original Mario, but I made some alterations…

10 Years of Little Steven’s Rocking Stories

Little Steven’s Underground Garage is among the top five best weekly syndicated radio shows of the past decade. Thank you, Steven Van Zandt, for seeing fit to bestow your gift upon the world and restore life to the dying art of radio broadcast. LSUG‘s most recent show (aired 29 Sept. 2013) was also its 600th and…

This Post Made for a Teensy-Weensy Screen

My laptop, which is circling the drain, refuses to interact with my browser (or maybe it’s haunted, I’m not sure) so I’m making this post on my smartphone using the WordPress app. It’s amazing. Everything is tiny and I have no idea how to do simple things, like add photos. Oh. There we go. Anyway,…

October 1st: The Biggest Day So Far This October

Hello, Mr(s). National Security Agent! Are you filling out your Obamacare paperwork while you celebrate the first day of the NHL season? On a personal note: my credit card expired today! Take that, identity thieves! Now try to steal the money I don’t have. One yet another personal note: This is the first day of the…