Tammy’s Top Ten (t3 report) to Carve Out More Time

I was talking with my friend, Tony Smith the other day. “I’m maxed out,” I said.  He snorted a deep chest guffaw and said, “I suggest that maxed out is your preferred operating style.” Truth be told, he’s right but as I delve into a PhD program, I need plenty of tricks and tips in order to at least pretend to keep the balance.

Carving up the Schedule

Carving up the Schedule

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Tammy’s Top Ten (t3 report)Tips for Eating Out

It’s the height of summer and we’re vacationing far and wide. I love this time with my family. I love to see new sights, to see what inspires them, to get to know them in a bit different setting and to just be together. While we’ve been able to rent a couple of places with kitchens where we can prepare our own food, we’re certainly finding ourselves dining out far more frequently than we do at home. Here is a list of tips that work for us.

The Boys Contemplating the Future

The Boys Contemplating the Future

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Tammy’s Top Ten (t3 report) Food Quotes

Food and words and words and food. It shouldn’t surprise anyone that it’s a combination I prefer. Maslow coined food as one of the most basic human needs. Yet when do words come into his famous pyramid? Do they enter in the layer just above bodily function called safety which includes things like family, employment and morality or are they contained in the middle ground of love and belonging where we see friendship and intimacy?

tsakshaug flickr creative commons

tsakshaug flickr creative commons

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Tammy’s Top Ten (t3 report) Ways to Celebrate Valentine’s Day

I have to admit straight up that I loved the rant by Nat’s mom on why we should ignore this most commercial of days. She’s not wrong – it’s a retailer heyday but at the same time, if you are celebrating it, there are some ways that we can use the holiday to contribute to the greater good.

Love in the Desert

Love in the Desert

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Tammy’s Top Ten (t3 report) Holiday Decorating Ideas

The irony is that I’m not doing it this year. We’re busy. We’re traveling. And I don’t want to arrive home after Christmas only to have to pack away decorations that I didn’t get to appreciate. But I keep thinking about it!

flickr.com/photos/marissamullen

flickr.com/photos/marissamullen

Perhaps it’s my recent post on tradition or perhaps it’s the way my brain is wired but in the absence of decorating, here are 10 ways to create a holiday setting with just a bit of effort and little cost:

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Tammy’s Top Ten (t3 report) Reasons to Have Family Dinners

The kids have been back in school for nearly two months now – long enough for the sweet lazy days of summer to waft into a distant memory. While I miss the unstructured homework-free schedule, there is something reassuring to falling back into a routine.

One of the best parts of autumn is that our dinner time routine stabilizes so that I can look everyone in the eye over a meal and assess how the day has gone. Why I take such personal pleasure in this is probably because it was part of my food and family heritage but now, there are some compelling reasons why we ought to hold onto this tradition and it’s not just for memory’s sake. Here are 10 strong reasons to hold them regularly:

flickr.cc/walkadog/3432071719

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Tammy’s Top Ten (t3 report) Apps for Food Lovers

This quirky pastime of taking photos of our food will haunt us in history books. Have you noticed? There are some beautiful dishes out there and my propensity to photograph is no exception. I’m also a recent convert to a smart phone. That said, my husband is old hat at it and has shared the delights of numerous helpful apps from the one that allows me to see what I might look like if I gained 200 lbs to the one that helps me to remember where I’ve parked in the multi-story lot. I was recently inspired by a blogger known as omnomnivores to look more deeply into food apps. While I’ve certainly not covered the gamut and the gamut is large, here are the results of my research.

Food Photos Gone Mad!

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Tammy’s Top Ten (t3 report) Ways to Influence Good Health Habits

It’s no secret. I’m battling extra pounds. No, I haven’t hit the obese rating on any chart but I am squeezing into once comfortable clothes and struggling against the scales. Age is not making it any easier.

Nemesis

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Tammy’s Top Ten (t3 report) Kitchen Tools

Our kitchen setup is quite traditional. We have a beautiful Dacor range that we installed several years ago when we bought our home, a respectable stretch of concrete countertops where stains and acidic rings indicate frequent use, and a few other high-tech pieces that I’ve grown to love. In past posts, I’ve introduced you to Alex and you know that I rely on our Vitamix daily. Still, there is a short list of rather low-tech items that I’ve come to depend on and find useful everyday.

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Tammy’s Top Ten (t3 report) Tips for Less Food Waste

It’s not a problem in my home with three growing boys but when it does happen, it’s typically around food items like a tub of sour cream – purchased as an ingredient for one recipe yet afterwards, left to develop green scum in the back of my fridge. But, here’s the deal: This is a real problem and while I could already surmise that the U.S. would top the wasteful list, it’s a global issue.

Heading to the Compost Pile

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