Ultimate Blog Party 2011

Welcome Ultimate Blog Party guests! 

I can't wait to meet new e-friends and find new blogs to never have time to catch up on read. {Word to the wise. Sign up at Feedburner or a similar site and let people subscribe by email. It's the only way I know that you have a new post! And greatly increases the chance that I'll get to read it! Even if I follow you on Facebook or Twitter, I miss puh-lenty of posts!}
Ultimate Blog Party is hosted by 5 Minutes for Mom and is a huge - and I mean huge - linky party! They even have different categories! Reviews/giveaways Mom bloggers. Mom blogs with very little product emphasis. Religious blogs. Specialty blogs... even Dad blogs! What fun! And they have prizes! Wheee! I wonder if I count as a "reviews" blogger, since I hope to some day be a corporate shill for fame and prizes; or if I'm a "very little product emphasis" blogger because I don't actually have any corporate sponsors to whore myself out for..

About me:
I'm a thirty-something mom to a little girl. She's almost no longer a toddler. She's already telling people that she's 3. In a few months. I'm extremely lazy, in that I like to avoid work. If I like doing something, I'm fairly avid at it. Luckily, I like being a mommy. My house leans more towards an episode of Hoarders than a episode of, say, Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. I am a very picky eater, but I'm also a good enough mommy to suck it up and eat the nasty green bell pepper to fool convince my child that it's good to eat. I even started eating spicier foods than I was comfortable with in my third trimester, to acclimate her to them. She'll eat some spicy Thai soup, say "Aaaugh! It's too 'picy!" sip her drink, then take another bite of soup! Now I can tolerate much more spice than before, and I no longer make the waitress tear out her hair trying to get my order. "Is there mushrooms in that? It doesn't say mushrooms, but last time I had something here it had something not listed on the menu. Is there anything in this that isn't one of these listed ingredients? And no sprinkles. If they're going to shake or sprinkle seasonings or garnishes on the top, I don't want it."

About me and "cooking":
I'm also starting to try and cook. I need very specific directions. "Bring water to a boil, add noodles, cook" isn't enough instructions for me. Boil it on High? At 8? Keep it on high to cook? Cover? So I often make rookie mistakes, such as not peeling apples for an apple crumble (it didn't say to!)
And did I mention that I do a monthly Kids Cooking Class with my MOMS Club? It's like the blind leading the blind. Only with picky eaters, picky noses, and picky-food-up-offa-the-floor.
I used to be fairly artistic, drawing and scrapbooking and such. But ugh. Who wants to lug all that stuff out, set it up for the five minutes the kid lets you actually do anything before needing more water, a snack, another story, a diaper change, urgent medical attention, etc. and then have to put it all away before someone eats it, puts it in the cat dish, or redecorates the house with it?
So now I make art with her food! I'm loving making cute bento and muffin tin meals, or at least getting to use some cute picks, cups or boxes with the food! And I love having a box of Ziploc bags last longer than a week, since I put most everything into reusable containers! My husband, who does the dishes, is not a fan of all the fiddly little picks and containers and hand-wash-only stuff (imported from Japan) though!

About me and my crap-ton variety of lunch gear:
I have silicone muffin liners. I have shaped silicone muffin cups. I have disposable paper cups. I have disposable lined paper cups. I have picks. And more picks. Little boxes for sprinkles or condiments. Little containers for dip. Enough cookie cutters in various shapes and sizes to create an entire cookie planet and ecosphere. Rice molds. Egg molds. Nori punches. And muffin pans. An entire cupboard shelf of muffin pans! Ones with heart-shaped holes. Star shapes. Shamrocks. Leaves. "Plain." Five different Christmas-shaped ones. Three different Halloween-shaped ones. A variety of butterfly and flower-shaped ones. And don't forget the lunch boxes! 6 different varieties (EasyLunch, Goodbyn, EcoLunchbox, Lunchbots, Sistema, and Laptop Lunches) plus all the traditional bento-style boxes! And the snack-sized ones (or for younger kids' meals,) like Sassy and the Nibble Tray. My husband thinks I'm bonkers. My sister thinks I'm bonkers. My daughter loves her "beautiful lunches," so they can all stuff it!

About my blog:
Obviously, this is the best, funniest, most well-written blog in the history of the interwebs. But I'm sure I have some "off" days. I like to cover the variety of crafts, learning activities (few and far between...) and other fun things that we do, but this blog is mostly food-related. New recipes I've tried. Cute bento and muffin tin meals. Techniques I messed up used to make something. Plus a little insight into my life.
I also try and do a linky party to link up anything new you've tried the past week, called Tried It Tuesdays, but I frequently sometimes forget. Plus it's not all huge and popular yet. *sniffle*

(Some of) My favorite blog posts:
WFLW: Ribbit, Rabbit!
Muffin Tin Monday: Pink-Z-licious
Project Lunch: My Little Muffins
My Crafty Valentine
Muffin Tin Monday: Gobble Gobble!
Are You REALLY Going to Eat All That? Other Fun Uses for Holiday Candy
Project Lunch: Tricks AND Treats!

Check out all the other fantastic bloggers and paaaaaartay!