Calling all cooks

We're creating a community cookbook filled to the brim with the best recipes from the best cooks we know - and that includes you! I think. If you somehow manage to burn water then no, not you.

Anyhoo, the theme of the cookbook is a year of weeknight recipes for the whole family. With your help we'll have 260 main dish recipes and separate sections for starters, side dishes and desserts for mixing & matching. And in support of Meatless Mondays, we're planning to include 52 vegetarian main dish recipes. Between leftovers and eating out, you'll have a complete year of meals at your fingertips! All the profits from the sale of these cookbooks will be donated to the American Cancer Society through our Relay for Life team.

If you have a recipe to submit, email me for the form. All recipes need to be submitted by April 15th. Oh, and each recipe in the book will include the name of the submitter so you'll finally be published!

We are also including advertising in our cookbook with prices starting at $40. Email me for more info on that as well.

If all goes well, the books will be ready to purchase in June. Wish us luck! I can't wait to try all of these tasty dishes.

An open letter to moms who bring sick kids to public places

Dear moron fellow mom,

I understand how difficult it is to stick around the house with a sick toddler. Believe me, I do. We've suffered through 2 bouts of croup and the chicken pox in the last 18 months. But the rest of us aren't interested in attending whatever snot-filled germ party your kid is hosting. When I take my kid to a play gym, I expect the other children are healthy. And that their parents are abiding by the simple posted health rules (also known as common sense). So if your kid is sick, for the love of all that is holy, stay home.

Thanks to you I haven't smelled...well, anything in the past week. My right ear is completely plugged. Snot is being manufactured at record-setting rates. And I sound like a four-pack-a-day smoker. Oh and my kid and hubby are suffering with the same bug. Our house may require professional fumigation and disinfection when this stupid cold finally ends.

But hey, if it's more convenient for you to get out of the house and play among innocent children, by all means, don't let me stop you. It's obviously all about you. But be forewarned. The next time my kid has even a slightly runny nose, I'm letting him lick your car door handle.

Cheers,
Lori