How to diet fast 1 week

How was your Thanksgiving? We had a great day. The food was perfect, the kids behaved, and all of the relatives got along.

win win win.

Were pretty much recovered, and the kids have begun decorating for Christmas. There is a garland of kid-cut snowflakes hanging over my head. Im pretty sure our living room will never look like it was taken from the pages of a Pottery Barn catalog.

but its perfect. I love it.

I do have a new slow cooker recipe to post----I made this chocolate creme concoction with a layer of ganache on top. ITS WONDERFUL.

but the pictures are on the desktop, which is in the room where the baby is napping. And Im not going to disturb that scenario for anything.

In the meantime, Ive got two giveaways to share with you in honor of Cyber Monday. 

1) an Olay 7-in-1 review is up on Totally Together Reviews because Im getting so old I now need an anti-aging moisturizer. And! Olay is giving away a $100 Visa giftcard just for reading all about it.

2) Im done holiday shopping, thanks to Uncommon Goods. I fell in love with this catalog even before they decided to give me free products to host a giveaway. Thats up on Totally Together Reviews, too.

Do you have  a turkey carcass in the house? (I type the word carcass way too often. Its kind of morbid.)

you should make turkey and wild rice soup! or turkey stew!

I will write about the crockpot chocolate pots de creme as soon as I can. 

maybe after the well-baby check up.

or clarinet lessons.

or the PTA silent auction meeting.

oh, that reminds me. Does anyone have any good ideas for silent auction items? Or how to best organize a silent auction? Or how to best not lose your mind while trying to organize a silent auction?

 

I began writing this book when my oldest child was a baby---over nine years ago. I was running a drop-in childcare center at the local courthouse and my little one came to work with me every day. I was listening to time management seminars on tape while I worked, and kept thinking that there should be a day timer for moms. Not a blank one--- those already existed--- I wanted someone to TELL me what to do.  

 I wanted someone (or thing) to tell me to change the sheets, to disinfect the remote controls, to wipe down the blinds, and to call my mom. I wanted to be reminded to do a breast self-exam and to make dental appointments for me and the family. I wanted someone to walk me through the Winter Holiday months (in a non-preachy or judgmental way).

I wanted encouragement.  And someone to tell me I was doing a good job, even when I was sleep-deprived and had spit-up in my hair.

So I emailed the Franklin Covey company and told them that they should make a planner for moms. I corresponded back and forth with their development department a few times before I was kind of blown off (they sent me a 15% off coupon and a form letter). 

I then did what any good red-blooded American would do. I got mad and made one of my very own.

 This book has had a rather long and difficult pregnancy. It took me 2 years for me to find and secure a literary agent, then another 3 years for her to find a publisher (Ive got an awfully nice collection of reject letters).

And then that publisher backed out (due to the economy) after it was ready to go to print.

(years 6 and 7)

and it took another year for me to find a new publisher.

(year 8)

meanwhile, the crockpot thing was taking on a life of its own, for which I am eternally grateful, because if it wasnt for the crockpot thing, this book wouldnt have come to life.

but its here. And its because of you.

Thank you.

I really hope you enjoy it.

"There is just too much to do and nowhere near enough time to do it!" All over the world women are faced with the daily dilemma of trying to cram more and more into an already over-crowded schedule. Who has time for a monthly breast self-exam when there is weekly dusting and vacuuming, daily meal planning, hourly diapers to change, a baby to nurse, and a sibling argument to referee every five to ten minutes? How on earth can moms take the time to exercise and floss when showering daily is a luxury in which many dont indulge?

As a new mom I found myself wishing for some sort of guide that laid everything out. Some sort of system that reminded me to make dental appointments for everyone in the family every six months. A planner to help with the daily, weekly, and monthly chores so nothing was forgotten. A little bird to whisper in my ear that its time to update the baby book and family scrapbook. A pat on the back and a friendly nudge to take a long bath and take the time to shave my legs properly.

I came up with Totally Together: Shortcuts to an Organized Life as a way to help me as I waded through the vast number of "shoulds" and "shouldnts" that I came across in parenting, housekeeping, and self-help books and magazines. Totally Together gave me the permission and tools I needed to whip through the daily chores and minutiae and move on to what I really wanted to do: spend time with my family and enjoy living life. My hope is that your Totally Together journal will be of help to you and your family, too.

When I sat down at the computer and wrote this post eight years ago, I couldn't imagine what an adventure I was starting with this little food blog.  Since then I've retired after 30 years of teaching, met a lot of fellow food bloggers and become real-life friends with some of them, been inspired by the amazing women at BlogHer, been a speaker at a few food blogging conferences, remodeled my 100 year old house in Salt Lake City, got an amazing stove, built a raised-bed garden,  and started a second blog focused on Slow Cooker from Scratch recipes.

I've written 1,958 posts on Kalyn's Kitchen in eight years (!) and I'm grateful I now have a fabulous web designer as well as my nephew/cooking assistant Jake, who helps me test recipes to make sure they work when you try them in your own kitchen!   I also appreciate the ongoing design help from my brother Rand, who originally suggested I start a blog (and how can I ever thank him for that?)  Rand has created all the headers and other graphics you've seen on the blog through the years. 

Eight years have brought a lot of changes, and this year I decided on another big change and bought a bigger house in the town where I grew up north of Salt Lake.  As hard as it was to leave the house and garden I had lovingly refurbished and a neighborhood filled with nice people, from the time my father died in early 2011, I wanted a house big enough for my whole extended family to gather.  I found a wonderful house that's perfect for having family and friends over, and since I've been promising to share kitchen photos, that seems like a fun way to celebrate eight years of food blogging.  

But before I get to the photos, I want to give a big Thank You to my readers.  Without readers and your encouragement and comments there would be no incentive to keep blogging, and I'm tremendously grateful for the support you've given my humble little blog.  In last year's anniversary post on Seven Things I Know About Food Blogging, I mentioned my goal of staying focused on things that are useful for readers, and I'm hoping I can continue doing that for many more years to come!