Deja vu? Yeah, so I’m a bit behind on my Real Simple Roundups, but I’m here to squeeze this month’s in so I can get back on the right track. It’s amazing how out of it I’ve been since my Twilight induced stupor. A world of vampires and monster babies can really take it out of you, right? I’m proud to announce that I’m not the only one, though – thanks for all the comments reassuring me that I’m not clinically insane. Oh, and Dusty’s account of Life After Twilight is pretty much dead on. Anyways, on to the Roundup!
1. Solutions: 8 New Uses for a Tennis Ball. With a house full of life-long tennis junkies and a dog who is obsessed with his fluffy green friends, we have our fair share of tennis balls. We basically use them until they’re beat to a pulp (or sufficiently soaked with slobber) but this little article gave me a few more ideas for our lovable, chartreuse ball. I’ve heard of using half of a ball to remove warm light bulbs from the socket, but did you that a few of these bad boys in the dryer can speed up the drying time of bulky bedding? Or that you can make a small slit and fill a tennis ball up with pennies to create an easy arm weight? No, of course you didn’t. Only RS would think of something so brilliant. Of course, I can’t guarantee that the neighbors won’t scoff when you’re struggling to lift a simple tennis ball on your morning power walk… just sayin’. Real arm weights might save you some embarrassment.
2. Keeping it Real (Neat). Oh goodness gracious. The neat freak that’s bottled up inside my less than perfect organizational body is just dying with envy. Can we say custom wrapping station? RS has delved into the minds of 4 obsessive awesome organizational whizzes to see how they keep things so incredibly tidy. Not only does RS show you pictures of the pristine order that would make even Martha swoon, but they give you some simple tips on how you can be on your way to anal retentive heaven. And because I’m feeling uber generous today, here are the pictures that are inside the article so you can drool along with me. How do people actually keep things this organized, especially with a husband in the house? Must be some sort of vampire magic.
My favorite is the digital file storage for photographs to keep your iPhoto library to a minimum. Oh, and the little plastic bags for all of those pesky wires. Oh, I DIE! You know how I loathe wires…
Closet and paper heaven. My kind of article.
3. 10 Ideas for: Cheese Ravioli. I said it once, I’ll say it again – Real Simple’s recipes make my heart flutter. We recently tried a recipe from my friend Evelyn’s blog that used store-bought tortellini, but kicked it up a notch with a few simple ingredients. Why hadn’t I thought of this before? Just because they sell the pre-made tortellini and sauce doesn’t mean you can’t add something else to it. Real Simple gave me a big dose of “duh” and showed me 10 simple ways to spice up the familiar standard: cheese ravioli. Some favorites include creamy ravioli with pesto gratin, and ravioli with fontina and walnut sauce. There goes the drool again… twice in one issue? It must be a winner!
Thanks for the shout out! Your round-ups make me want to pick up the mag.