3 Reasons to Quit Using your Microwave. By Guest Blogger, Kate Croston

     If you are anything like most people nowadays, then you use your microwave for everything you cook, practically. You use it to defrost the meat for dinner, heat up the soup for lunch and even cook the turkey bacon for breakfast. You use your microwave to reheat leftovers and warm your children’s hot cocoa. Why wouldn’t you? After all, it is much faster, cooler, and easier than using the stove or oven. Well, I will give you three reasons to stop using your microwave.

1. Taste – Things cooked in the microwave just taste different. It is a fact. If they didn’t, then why don’t you microwave your steak? Or your hamburgers? Meat in the micro comes out chewy and flavorless. The same goes for lots of other things, but you’ve forgotten what they are supposed to taste like, so you no longer notice. Try cooking things on the stove for a while and see if they don’t taste much, much better to you.

2. Diet – A microwave is quick. That means you can make and eat a lot of food any time your heart desires. When you are bored, when you are in a hurry, or when you just don’t want to think. Those are the worst times to be eating because you are not making healthy meal choices at those times. But what if you had to put a little more effort into your food? Wouldn’t you eat better if you had to plan dinner in the morning so the meat could defrost naturally? Wouldn’t you eat a lot more fruits and veggies if you didn’t have a micro meal ready to pop in? Wouldn’t you cook balanced meals if you had to use the stove instead of whatever could be thrown in and eaten within minutes? Wouldn’t you eat less when you are bored if you actually had to prepare it? All these decisions add up to an unhealthy lifestyle that can be changed by removing just one element.

3. Health – Last but not least are the health issues. Yes, we have talked about diet, but what else does a microwave do beside cook fast? It cooks with radiation. No, I don’t think it is going to give you cancer or anything, at least not at normal exposure rates, but can it really be healthy to eat all that food that has been irradiated? Now, it is not like it is cooking with x-rays or gamma rays or is going to make you turn green, bulk up and start smashing things, but it is something to think about. Why not limit your exposure to as much as you can, right?

Just some food for thought. If you are addicted to your microwave, then try a little break from it. You may find out that not only can you live without it, but your life is healthier, happier, and a little tastier.


Author Bio:
Kate Croston is a freelance writer, holds a bachelors degree in Journalism and Mass Communication. She writes guest posts for different sites and loves contributing home internet service related topics. Questions or comments can be sent to:  katecroston.croston09 @ gmail.com.

Afghans and Recipes

With the kid’s dad visiting, I have been working on an afghan for Miles’ birthday. I am hoping to get it done by the 15th. I decided to do a granny square in red, black and purple. And if I have enough time, I will make two matching pillows to go with it. Hopefully I will be done by his birthday. I’ll try to get some good photos of it if I can find my camera, and I’ll post them on here. Hopefully he doesn’t read the blog before his birthday.

I’ve also been playing with my Allrecipes membership creating menus. With their dad here, I’ve mostly left them to their own devises and have been hanging at my friend’s house. I was trying to create a meal plan with all our dietary needs in mind, but I gave up. I ended up just making multi-main dish meals.

It’s too impossible to try to find a low-sodium, low-carb, heart friendly, allergen-free (milk-free, peanut-free, corn-free, wheat-free, fish-free, beef-free, etc.) low-fat, low-protein, high-fiber, low-sugar, low-cholesterol meal plan and still have something other than Broccoli on the menu.

I finally said… well, it was a few cuss words followed by “it” and decided everyone can keep making their own meals. Miles makes awesome smoothies, Mendek makes awesome chicken and their dad makes some pretty cool salads. They aren’t going to starve.

But, hey! If you are bored, feel free to try and come up with a meal plan! You’ll have to email me for the allergen list. If you are new to this blog, I’ll warn you… I have 47, Miles 33 and Mendek 26. But if you are up to the challenge… good luck!

Want to Talk to a Machine?

My son showed me a website that made me laugh. It’s called Existor and you can talk to the machine who, occasionally, thinks it’s human and you are a robot or software. It learns from what other people say to it. I have to wonder what other people say to it with some of the responses it gives.

During my first conversation with her, she said her name was Leon. I told her that she was lying and she told me no, I was lying and she was being truthful. On an up note, we are getting married on Sunday and she wanted to know if I told my mom yet.

Many conversations later, I asked if she liked burritos and she said yes. I said that I liked California burritos and she asked what I like about California. I told I didn’t say I liked California, I said I liked California burritos. She asked me where I lived then and I said Montana. Her response was “is that where we will wed?” Okay, so she remembers things from much earlier conversations.

But I had to tell her my name about five times. She insisted that I didn’t tell her and I told her she was forgetful. She told me I was stupid. I told her I was a genius and so she quizzed me with “How far is the sun from the earth?” I answered with 150 km and then she replied “and then what?” So, being the smart-butt that I am, I answered “Sun.”

She told me I was software and I told her that turned me on (<--- PUNNY!) and she said that made no sense. So I told her that she made no sense. Her reply? “You make no sense to say I make no sense after you made no sense.” Uh-huh. Okay.

We ended our conversation by calling off our wedding and calling each other names. I think my “8 bit bitch” insult was a little better than her calling me a “bipedal primate”. I’ll have to teach her better insults.

Anyway, if you want to have some mindless fun, you too can go chat with Leon or Betty or Super Being or Harry Potter or whoever she decides to tell you her name is today, by visiting Existor.com. Let me know how your conversation goes.

I am trying to like Windows Live Writer

I am trying to get into the idea of using Windows Live Writer for my blog writing. The last time I used it, it really messed up the lay out of my text and the font was either really huge or really small (so if you are reading this and the font is messed up, that is why).

I am trying it again so I can get back into blogging more and type where ever I am, even if I don’t have internet! I’ve figured out most of it now and if all goes well, I think I will be blogging more!

Oh and by the way, Camp Nanowrimo word count is now close to 6,000! I better get to cracking tonight!

I've been Working on FileWise

In case you are wondering what I have been doing besides CampNaNoWri, I have been working on getting the FileWise System up and running. Here it is for now. Click Here to see how far I have gotten!

Man, that is taking a lot longer than I anticipated! I am going to work on a Getting Started page and a "Let's get Filing" page too once I finish with the Index page. Next time I get a brilliant idea like "Hey I am going to post a whole filing system online!" Smack me.