Author Archives: Virtual Farmgirl

I swear I don’t get a kickback for pushing sales of Anupy Singla’s Indian Slow Cooker book. But when I make her recipes and share, I get a lot of questions about the book. I think the biggest hurdle is getting the spices organized in advance. No matter how good the ethnic section of myContinue reading “The Essential 7: Stocking Your Indian Spice Cabinet”

Google Map: Beebe, Ark. Wildlife officials in Arkansas are stymied as to why thousands of blackbirds have fallen from the sky near the small town of Beebe. Theories so far as as wild as they are mysterious: New Year’s Eve revelers shooting off fireworks may have literally scared the birds to death. A large flockContinue reading “Mystery: Thousands of Blackbirds Fall from Arkansas Sky”

When my daughter first opened a gift of several Scratch and Sketch art activity books, I thought, how perfect. She loves to draw, color and otherwise create. And she just loved these books. My Future Farmgirl/Artist opened them right up and started scratching and sketching away. The Garden Fairies book captivated her. So what’s theContinue reading “Messy Toy Alert: 'Scratch and Sketch' Activity Books”

My family woke to an earthquake this morning. The 4.2 magnitude quake is being reported as centering about 13 miles southeast of Kokomo at about 7:55 a.m. ET. The U.S. Geological Survey’s map shows it about halfway between Kokomo and Fairmount.  So anyone in northcentral Indiana is likely to have felt the tremor. Hoosier OutsiderContinue reading “4.2 Earthquake Rocks The Farm”

If I’ve learned anything, it’s that it’s tough to feel like I’m on vacation when I’m at home. It doesn’t help that I spent the morning working and that I’m on call more than I’d like to be. It’s also just hard for me to be home and not do things like tackle the laundryContinue reading “Building a Giant Snowman Beats Doing Laundry By a Longshot”

If I had it to do over again, I might have pleaded with my kids to wait until Yogi Bear 3D became available for rental.That way at least I wouldn’t have had to sit through it. But I figured, we’re all on vacation, they really want to see it, so why not? Well, I canContinue reading “Thinking of Seeing Yogi Bear 3D With Your Kids? Think Twice”

On our way back to Chicagoland, we started talking about the highlights of our trip. I initially asked the kids and Sim to pick their favorite part of the trip. Turns out that was just too tough. Between Christmas morning at The Farm and Christmas evening in Columbus, there were too many happy moments toContinue reading “These Are a Few of Our Favorite Things…The Christmas Top 10”

Archival CB photo from Power House’s website. Tonight everyone got a post-Christmas wish. The kids got to spend the night with their cousins, continuing to having the Christmas vacation time of their lives. And Sim got to try some local brew at the CB, also known as the Columbus Bar and more recently Power HouseContinue reading “A Night Reminiscing at the CB, aka The Columbus Bar”

One of the things that makes it possible for me to live in an urban environment is that, for the most part, I’m not afraid to get around on my own. I’ve embraced train and bus transportation since I first arrived in Chicago in 1997. That doesn’t mean I’m not careful. I’ve read Gavin Becker’sContinue reading “Sometimes the Best Gift is 'The Gift of Fear'”