Finally a reality TV show that I can totally relate to. Worst Cooks in America is a Food Network reality show where two chefs have recruited some of the worst cooks in America. They will teach these kitchen neophytes how to cook. Each week they both have to let a contestant go. In the end, there will be two left who will cook a meal to pass it off as if it was cooked by the chef. The winning player also receives $25,000.

Each week the contestants are pushed a little more in the kitchen. The latest episode had them preparing two appetizers for 30 New York foodies. It definitely seems some are better cooks than other and some have learned more during this competition. I would love for each episode to be longer to be able to pick up more tips from the chefs.

Let’s hope this show is picked up for a second season as it’s been a lot of fun watching and learning.

What do you do with an old particle board desk that has seen better days? I had temporarily set it on the porch until I could haul it off to the thrift store. Then the rain came and ruined it even more. I then noticed that the cat seemed to enjoy lying on it. We had a spell of cold weather come through and my husband turned the old desk into a cat condo box.

He took some plastic sheeting and wrapped part of the desk. Then he placed on each shelf a blanket for added warmth. The front has strips of plastic sheeting as well as a flap to cover it. It should be very warm and comfortable. Too bad the cat has barely spent any time in it. We may have to tweak the design just a little bit to make it more inviting to her. We may have a few weeks before the next cold snap, so hopefully we can come up with the perfect design by then.

I, of course, think my child is a genius. She is four and already has a strong sense of letters, sounds, and even some spelling. She is definitely ready to learn to read so that’s why when asked if I would like to review a Vtech product I chose the Bugsby Pen and Learning System. We had seen this product in the store and my little girl played with it for at least five minutes before we had to finish our shopping. I knew that the Bugsby would be something that she could handle on her own and would keep her engaged.

The Bugsby learning system comes with everything to get you started – the wireless pen, book, and cartridge. Insert the cartridge into the back of the pen and then turn it on. Open the book and then touch the pen over the words to have Bugbsy read individual words or press the pen to the play button to have Bugsby read the whole page. It’s read in a clear voice and has a volume control.

What I like most about the Bugsy is that it is wireless. The books are about the size of regular children books so it fits nicely into her lap and is easy to store.

One issue I did have with the Bugsby pen is that it accidentally dropped from a chair to the floor with a cartridge in it. The cartridge then didn’t work. At first I thought it was the pen but after buying another book I was able to diagnose that it was the cartridge and not the pen that wasn’t functioning properly. So my advice is to store cartridges inside the book and to not leave them in the pen in case of an accident.

I received the Vtech Bugsby Learning System free of charge for review purposes. The above review is my honest opinion about the product.

Sometimes it pays to run out of an ingredient and have to borrow from your neighbor – in this case my neighbor is my mom. I went to make biscuits when I realized I was out of flour, so I borrowed some of hers. Lo and behold my biscuits tasted better. Could flour really make that much of a difference? Apparently so.

For a lot of ingredients I just put up the no-name brand and flour is one of them. There are some that I’ve come to realize that it’s best to have the quality of that brand instead of saving a few cents. I found out my mom uses White Lily self rising flour. I had been using self-rising flour, too. But my flour was a generic brand. Now I use White Lily since it does make a huge difference in how my biscuits look and bake.

My biscuits still aren’t nearly as good as my mom’s. My mom would tell me it’s from 50 years of cooking that her biscuits taste the way they do. I have a few more years to go but at least now with better ingredients my biscuits are on track to one day be comparable to hers.