Has this ever happened to you?

Thursday morning I was up bright and early and I was reaching for my toothbrush when all of a sudden I heard a crunching sound.

A crunching sound that was my neck. It's killing me. Heating pad, cold compress, Advil, all that amounts to is me not getting any sleep.

I hate not being able to find a comfy position to fall asleep. Of course, the last two nights The Man has sleep like a log. Brutal.

Insult to injury, I can't think when I'm in pain. Hopefully tomorrow will dawn and I'll be feeling better.

Monday I'm checking to see if my new medical insurance covers chiropractic visits.

Note: I'm typing this post on blogger mobile, I like that it corrects my typos as I am typing.

On the lighter side here is the street right by a local golf course. Snicker, snort, 8th grade boy humor-- but I has to share!

Ever Heard of Froobi?

Froobi is a daily deal site I ran across via Swagbucks. Everyday, they send me an email and in it there are two deals. That's it. Just two.  They make it very easy for me to go ahead, click on the email and take a quick glance at what they are offering each day. 

Typically they do trend toward offering about 25% jewlery and about 20% baby/toddler related items.  So often the two deals are not of interest to me.  I click and check out my daily Froobi anyway because you never know! 

Now don't quote me on this part, because I could be wrong, but I think they offer free shipping.  Maybe not all the time, but it seems like most of the time.  Alway fun to get a deal and free shipping!

Additionally you get swagbucks for your purchases, so reward points just like a credit card might offer w/o the pain of revolving debt.  You can see my swagbucks on the left.

So there you have it, I recommend Froobi!  Try it and let me know what great deals you grab!

Some stuff is worth doing yourself.

If you want to, you can make pretty much everything yourself, and the instructions for it all are located on Pinterest.

Here are some examples:

40 ways to do shoulder-length hair. pin now, read later.
Mason Jars - Twenty Five Creative Ways to Use Them
Homemade Febreze

See what I mean?  Who knew you could just make your own Febreze and 25 things with Mason Jars.

Well I really need to go pin some more uses for glass jars.  We have tons of pickle and spaghetti sauce jars due to Patrick the Pickle Eater and Bryce who loves Pasta.

In the meantime, I have found for you something very much worth doing yourself!  It's easy! 

From Passion for Savings!

How to make your own Whitening Rinse


All you need to do is mix Hydrogen Peroxide, Baking Soda and a few drops of McCormick Mint Extract.

Too Easy!!!!

#WordlessWednesday Howdy!

Across from the future home of Golftopia, is Stampede a Western Wear & Feed Store.  There Anna found what she has been looking for, and now she says she doesn't have to brush her hair anymore.

Here she is making a goofy face.

It seems like a Sunday but It's #Wordless Wednesday!

Fireworks, Food, the Fouth

I was over on youtube, why was I on youtube?  I don't really remember. I think my brain has been fried by the heat. Earlier today we were out doing errands, and the walk from the air-conditioned car to the air-conditioned store, sapped my will to live.

Now what was the point of this blog post?  Oh yes.  The end of the Fiscal Year for Tastefully Simple has arrived and while it wasn't one of my better sales years, I am still extremely grateful for the flexibility my business  has given me in this crazy year of job loss, house loss and moving.

So July dawns and with it a clean slate and fresh goals for the new Tastefully Simple year. My goal this coming year is to introduce Tastefully Simple to hundreds of people in my new hometown and continue to be the fastest growing team in Western North Carolina!

Back to youtube, below you can see a video from Tastefully Simple with some great easy tips for your July 4th (or any summer) party!

Well, huh, who knew.

I've been busy just doing, what needs doing, dishes, working, sharing the Tastefully Simple love and finding stuff to keep the kids from 'boredom'.  And all the while,  I was very aware that my peeps back in Chicagoland have been having a crazy ton of  triple digit temps.

*side note: reminds me of the major heat wave back in 95.  Crazy hot it was, and I was 24.5 and single.  So my memories are all good.... good times. good times.

Anyway, I just took a look over at the weather.com, and holy CRAP it's gonna be HOT ALL OVER this weekend!

Damn!  That's hot!  We are going to hit 100 here tomorrow.  And the big question is....

Will I turn on the air?  It hasn't been on yet this year, I'm hoping we can get away with not turning it on.  Yes I know, I must be out of my mind.  But hear me out.

1. I've just come to the conclusion, we are going to the beach for the hottest part of the day.

2. It cools off a ton around here at night, so we can muddle thru without the evil money-sucking air conditioning!  Really it does cool off, Look:

Fri Jun 29

100^°F

66^°F

Sunny

Chance of rain:

0%

Wind:

WNW at 6 mph

Sat Jun 30

101^°

69^°

Sunny

Chance of rain:

0%

Wind:

WNW at 5 mph

Sun Jul 1

98^°

68^°

Mostly Sunny

Chance of rain:

0%

Wind:

NW at 5 mph

3. OR I'll drop the kids off at the beach and I'll go to the movies and see Magic Mike in Air-Conditioned Comfort.  I'm Kidding! That would be wrong.





STAY COOL ALL!

The Man take as a turn as Mr. Frugal

Sometime The Man is annoyingly extravagant.  Case in point, he was talking about joining a Country Club. Seriously. Can you say sooooooo not in the budget! I know he means well, he is just dreaming with his words.  Livin' Large.

Thing is, Livin Large talk makes me nervous.  I believe this is because one of my household duties is making sure the bills are paid.  Can you relate?

Frugality, on the other hand, is the way to my heart.  That and a clean kitchen. So recently, The Man did real good and I have to give him his just due.

When we moved into our new place on the shores of Lake Chatuge, the previous owner had left behind a propane tankless, Char-Broil Grill.  Tom cleaned up the grill and then..instead of buying a shiny new propane tank...

He was at the landfill and spied someone throwing away a propane tank.  Right, that isn't protocol for acceptable household waste for sure.  So the fellow working at the dump was OK with The Man taking the dirty, empty propane tank.

The Man brought the tank home and cleaned it up.  Yes, I said cleaned it up.  Personally, I think it's superfluous to clean up an empty propane tank, but he did.  Then we took it to the Bi-Lo where you got a $4.00 off if you exchanged an empty tank for a full one with your Bi-Lo card.

1 new propane tank would have cost $55.00.  1 propane tank exchanged for a full one at Bi-Lo was $16.98.

So we are now grilling at a total OOP (out of pocket) cost of $16.98!

Way to go The Man!

I received a coupon link from My Insite which is a blogging reach-out marketing arm of General Mills/Betty Crocker. This time around they are saying "hey don't forget about our Suddenly Salad when you are looking for a quick BBQ side". 

 I have a secret fondness for the Bacon & Ranch Suddenly Salad, so I'm sharing the coupon link! Enjoy!

 PS often these are part of 10 for $10 deals so a good coupon esp. if you are able to double-coupon !The coupon can really help you get a box of Suddenly Salad for peanuts. Plus they have the Boxtops for Education.

Squeee!!! I figured out how to make pictures linkable, click the picture to grab the Zesty Pasta Salad Recipe!

Hey! I have an idea for a series of posts!

I think I have signed up and used about all the daily deal sites there are currently on the Internet. This is how I explain having over 3000 emails in my email inbox.  It's all those daily deal emails. Because I haven't met a deal site I wasn't willing to give a try, I thought I'd share my feedback for you, in a series of blog posts called "Hey! I have an idea for a series!"

1. Groupon.  Who doesn't know what Groupon is at this point? AmIright?  Or is that incorrect? Should it read: Who doesn't know who or whom Groupon is at this point?  Yes, I'm cracking myself up now.  Any who...

Groupon is great if you like to go do stuff, I would say make sure that you only buy Groupons that you are sure you can use in a short time frame.  For example, The Man bought oil changes in February.  A set of 3 oil changes for $39.95.  Yes it is a great deal, but we moved in May, so only 1 of the 3 oil changes got used.  Not such a good deal.

So if you Groupon, make sure to read the fine print, and make sure it is a place you can go to within say 6 weeks of purchase. 

One HUGE con to Groupon is the annoying writing they use for their deals. Are you familiar?  I bet there is a Facebook page dedicated to the antifans of the Groupon Prose.  ***runs off to check***

Well there aren't any Groupon Copywriting Is Lame pages on Facebook.  This leads me to one of two conclusions.  I am the only person who doesn't like their attempts to seem 'hip and cool' OR Facebook censors groups who would discuss how lame Groupon is because Groupon probably buys lots of targeted ads from Facebook.

Yes. Major Conspiracy it is.

Final verdict: Skip the deal descriptions if they annoy you, but make sure to click and read the fine print before you buy!

Just Needs Some Spinach

I like to try the recipes I find in the paper next to coupons. This fondness for a deal with a recipe lead me to a new recipe for chicken from Swanson Flavor Boost.

You can click below to see the original recipe or you can read on to see how I doctored it up.

 My version:

1 1/2 tbsp Meyer Lemon Infused Oil (divided)
1 lb boneless chicken breasts cut into strips. (I cut it while it was still mostly frozen so it was easier to cut)
1 8oz package of mushrooms, sliced.  I think I will try baby bella mushrooms next time.
1/2-1 tbsp Garlic Garlic
1 pint grape tomatoes
3 green onions sliced white and green parts about 1/3 cup
2 packets of the Swanson Flavor Boost concentrated broth
2 tbsp of water

Next time I'm going to add a bag of baby spinach to the ingredients. I think it will be great with addition. I will cook the spinach at the very end of the cooking process.

• Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat.  Add the chicken and cook until well browned, stirring often.  Remove the chicken from the skillet.
• Heat the remaining oil in the skillet over medium heat.  Add the mushrooms and cook until tender, stirring occasionally.
• Add the garlic, tomatoes and onions to the skillet and cook and stir for 1 minute.  Return the chicken to the skillet.  Stir in the concentrated broth and water and cook until the chicken is cooked through.
Must have pasta?  You could spoon this over pasta if you'd like.

 the original recipe is clickable below.

Campbell's Kitchen: Chicken with Grape Tomatoes & Mushrooms

The quicker picker upper.

Bounty One Sheet

Three kids and pets, plus my love of cooking from scratch equals a constant need for paper towels. Constant!

So I was really excited to get a couple of coupons to try the latest and greatest paper towel from Bounty.

Why me?  How did Bounty know that I am always buying paper towels?  Well they don't follow me around or monitor our trash, I received the coupons because I belong to Vocalpoint and am part of their "Be the First Program".

So how does the Bounty work?  Is it as described? One Sheet?  Well, I used it for a spill of orange juice.  Anna (AKA Trail Mix) Trail Mix spilled about 1/2 a cup of the stuff onto our counter.  It looked like too much for One Sheet, but I was pleasantly surprised that one sheet did the trick.

You know what this means?  A roll of the Bounty should last longer than the generic store brand I usually purchase because it is the cheapest. And if it lasts longer, I can get the Bounty, use less, use a coupon and probably have a few extra pennies to add to the Family Rainy Day Coffee Can.

So Do You Know Lenin's real name?

Last week The Man and I went to trivia night with some of the members of my new networking group the Tri-State Business Women.  This local sports bar type place, has a weekly trivia game hosted by a DJ. 

Now listen, it isn't that easy bar trivia you might play when you go down to the Buffalo Wild Wings. It's not a bunch of multiple choice stuff.  This is old school.  You write down your answers on a piece of paper and hand them to the DJ.  You use a pencil and people don't google answers.

You would think with the event being so retro, I would have been able to indulge in an ice cold Zima.  I put a wiki link in there for anyone under 25 who might be reading. 

Alas, Zima was discontinued back in 2008 and not even playing retro trivia can bring it back to life.  Interestingly, I learned on wiki that Zima is Slavic for 'Winter'.  This segues right into the Bonus Trivia Question we ended the night upon. 

What is the real name of Lenin?  Not John Lennon of the Beatles. The other one, Lenin the Communist Russian Leader.  Look I don't even know his first name.  I thought he was a one-namer like Cher or Madonna.

Turns out his first name is Vladamir and his real last name is  Ulyanov. Why did he change his name? I do not know.  The wiki is long and was compiled by some smartypants with lots of Russian Characters that are indecipherable to me.

We are going back for more trivia one Thursday soon, to wash the taint of our Epic Russian Fail away! We want to win! 

And on the subject of wins, I got a link for a nice Living Social Deal for Grab Green a great website to find greener cleaners!

Pay $15 for $30 to spend on non-toxic cleaning products

Shipping is not included. Shipping is a flat rate of $6.50

Grab Green Living Social Deal

I burn my hands twice in one week.

The first time I burn my hands, it was definitely a 'shame on me' moment. I was attempting to create a scrumptious dish from Frank Stitt's Southern Table Cookbook in my own kitchen.

The recipe is called Lowcountry Red Rice.  I was very excited to try it and I was extra excited because The Man said he thought he would really enjoy it--if I made it with shrimp.  So I dove right in and made it as directed.  One thing I didn't do was put gloves on to chop up the jalapeno peppers...

So for two days after I made the dish, my hands felt like they had a sunburn.  I gave myself a first degree jalapeno burn! 

Icing on the cake was that I accidentally purchased and used jasmine rice instead of basmati rice and The Man didn't like the dish because he doesn't like jasmine rice and I know that.  My dish was doomed to fail from the moment I left the grocery store.

So here are my tips for making Lowcountry Red Rice.  Which was very good and is one of those dishes that tastes fabulous fresh or leftover the next day.

1. wear gloves when chopping the jalapeno peppers.
2. don't get the wrong rice.
3. I don't have a third tip, but to hear how I burnt myself again just a few days later, scroll down past the recipe.

LOWCOUNTRY RED RICE

• 2 cups peeled seeded chopped tomatoes, with their juices (or substitute canned, reserving the liquid)
• 1/4 lb bacon, cut into 1/2 inch wide strips
• 1 large onion, cut into 1/4-inch dice
• 1 large red bell pepper, cut into 1/4-inch dice
• 2 celery ribs, finely diced
• extra virgin olive oil
• 2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and diced
• 1 poblano peppers or 1 yellow bell pepper, seeded and diced
• 2 bay leaves
• 4 fresh thyme sprigs
• kosher salt
• fresh ground black pepper
• 1 3/4 cups chicken broth (or canned low sodium broth, or a combination of half chicken, half shrimp broth or bottle clam juice)
• 1 cup basmati rice
• 4 scallions, thinly sliced
• 1 small bunch basil or 1 small cilantro, leaves removed
• 1/2 lemon

Directions:

1. 1
   If using fresh tomatoes, drain them in a sieve or colander set over a bowl to catch their juices; set juices aside.
2. 2
   In a large Dutch oven, cook the bacon over medium heat until it is beginning to crisp; with a slotted spoon, transfer the bacon to paper towels to drain.
3. 3
   Return Dutch oven of drippings to the stove; add the onion, bell pepper, and celery; saute until softened, about 10 minutes (add a little oil if the bacon fat seems insufficient).
4. 4
   Add the jalapeno, poblano, tomatoes, bay leaves, and thyme to the pot; season with salt and pepper to taste; simmer for about 10 minutes, until the peppers have softened.
5. 5
   Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, combine the broth with a scant 1/4 cup of the reserved tomato juices (discard any remaining juice) and add salt to taste.
6. 6
   Bring to a simmer; add the rice, return to a simmer, and stir a few times.
7. 7
   Decrease heat to the lowest setting, cover, and cook until the rice is tender, about 16 minutes.
8. 8
   Add the rice to the vegetable mixture, along with the bacon; taste for seasonings.

Read more: http://www.food.com/recipe/lowcountry-red-rice-417289#ixzz1yHygjNVP


**********
Then just 48 hours after my hands stopped tingling with pain, I was again in the kitchen , preparing a lovely repast.  There I was taking out the perfectly roasted potatoes wearing my dollar store oven mitt and suddenly, my right hand was a mass of pain.

 Did I drop the potatoes?  No Ma'am, I got those on the stovetop, whipped off my mitt and plunged my hand into cold water.

Lesson here, if your hubby buys a set of oven mitts from the dollar store, don't actually USE them.

#Wordless Wednesday!

Driving up to Youngstown, OH for my grandma's funeral this past wknd, we got to drive through a couple of mountains. Loooonnnnggg Tunnels in VA.

Observations from a South Sider.

So here we are down in the South.  Down here it's real Country. So we've been a trying to assimiate. 

This is our broken washer or it's our broken dryer,  On the back porch.  I said to the Man, let's roll that baby out front where it belongs and make it a planter. We could put some tomato plants in there. 

Now you know I'm kidding about the whole 'crap on the front lawn, we live down South now' but, the man and I do need to figure out what the heck to do with our appliances that no longer work.  See around here, you are your own garbage man.  You are also the one who sorts your recycling --no throwing it all in a bin for future sorting, no sir.

It's a good thing The Man and I didn't make our living as Garbage Pickers up North, cause down here there isn't a garbage day where everyone rolls out their trash to the curb.  Here you drive your own trash and recycling to the landfill.  At the landfill you sort your recycling and get it weighed.  So you pay for your trash by the pound.

The Man says since it's such a PITA to get rid of trash, it has created a thriving Thrift Store environment. People want to keep the amount of trash down.  I think it is because there are so many part-time residents that they forget what they keep in their houses here and bring duplicate stuff and then they don't want to take the extra stuff back to their main homes.

I suggested we just start burning our trash. The Man didn't find me humorous in the least.

So file this post under stuff you don't think about until you move to a distant land.  Speaking of moving to distant lands, I will have to ask my friend Tracy who just moved with her family to Kenya about the waste removal system in her new country.

Rainbow!!!!!!!!!!! Wordless Wednesday!

tell me this picture isnt' made of win.

Deadlocked By Charlaine Harris Review and Giveaway

Deadlocked by Charlaine Harris
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I imagine since this is book 12 in the series, that if you are reading my review you have an interest in the series. Furthermore, assuming you are up to speed on Sookie Stackhouse and the people of Bon Temps, let me share some non-spoilery review notes.

1. The synopsis of the book listed above is really not reflective of the actual book. Once again, I wonder if the people who are responsible for the book jacket/summary actually read the books they summarize.

2. I was extremely happy that Sookie's Can-Do spirit returned. I didn't enjoy Dead Recokoning because Sookie was so depressed.

3. I officially don't like the who will be Sookie's HEA mystery. Too much angst for me. I'd rather have the mystery minus the romance drama.

4. Lastly, I missed Eric and Pam. There is a large empty void in the book .  Not enough word count devoted to my favorite vampires and in my opinion, in the book and too many scenes with recently introduced humans.

Perhaps the reason for number 4. is foreshadowing that Sookie will work to be an 'average' bar owner and eschew the supernatural world in Charlaine's  final installment Dead Ever After?

Note: It's important to mention that I am a hardcore fan of the series. I read the fan fiction, I watch that awful HBO True Blood, I hang out at The Sookierverse Blog.

Now that I am done with the book, I want to give it away!  Comment below on your favorite Sookie Stackhouse Novel AKA Southern Vampire Mysteries Books and one winner will be chosen from the comments to get my hardback copy! 

Three quick things:
1. Be sure to put your email with your comment.
2. I'm mailing it Parcel Post.
3. Be a pal and follow my blog!

This is the copy I am giving away, see it has a prettier cover than the version pictured above!






View all my reviews

Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead

Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead is the title of a documentary my husband stumbled across over the winter on Netflix.  He greatly identified with Joe Cross the director and main actor of the film, and set off to start juicing.  Isn't that a funny word.  I wonder if it is really a word? Previous to this film I thought juice was strictly a noun.  Now it has become not only a verb, but a health movement.

Presently, The Man has fallen  back off of his small, shaky Healthy Living Band Wagon (HLBW).  I'm telling you, three of the wheels have done fell off.  So it is some amazing timing that I just received a BzzAgent Campaign invite to the Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead BzzCampaign. 

What is Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead?  It's a movie Joe Cross did as he spent several months on a juice fast while road tripping across the USA.  Joe had some chronic health problems and was about 80 pounds overweight.  He took a pile of pills daily and his health was still sinking fast. So he decides to go on an all fruits and veggie fast.  He uses a juicer and fresh fruit and veggies to make his juice.

I find the whole movie a real cautionary tale, for me it is like The Biggest Loser.  I don't want to ever have to go on The Biggest Loser because I don't want to work out for 28 hours a day.  With Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead, I don't want to go on a months long juice fast.  I like to eat my food not sip it. I imagine most people are like me and don't want to go on a complete long-term juice fast.

That is what is great about Joe's movie.  You can reboot your life with full on juicing or you can take a more moderate approach but still greatly benefit. At his website there are resources covering the whys and hows of juicing and most importantly you can see how 'everyday' people have used juicing to improve their health.  By adding juicing to your lifestyle you will greatly increasing your intake of quality nutrients leaving you feeling better. 

The best part is that after you watch his movie at the link above you can check out the tools and info that are part of the whole Join The Reboot lifestyle.  There are tons of great resources.  I'm going to be checking out this article on  A Kitchen Garden. 

Good Reads for Me! Up Jumps The Devil!

Last week I had nothing to read, and I am way to far from my old public library and don't have a new North Carolina driver's license yet.

This is what I looked like last week

Me - Books = Sad Panda

This week :

Me + Books = Happy Girl

I'm super excited because today my copy super, super hot off the presses came my copy of "Up Jumps The Devil"  by Micheal Poore.  I was so excited to 'meet' Mr. Poore via Twitter and am even more excite to review this book!  Here is a little blurb by one of my top 5 favorite authors in this Century:

"Even the devils of Milton and Shaw fall short in charisma and charm to Michael Poore's John Scratch. Up Jumps the Devil is a fine, funny novel by a talented writer. Buy it. Read it. Enjoy!"

-- Christopher Moore, Author of Sacré Bleu and Lamb.

****

If Christopher Moore says it's good reading, then it has to be great.

Up Jumps the Devil  is available for preorder at Amazon ! Get it for yourself? Get it for your dad--Father's Day is coming up! I'm going to be sinking my teeth into it this weekend and will be sharing a review as soon as I am done reading.

Now from a beverage-pairing perspective, I'm thinking that one could indulge in a Smore  Martini while enjoying Up Jumps the Devil seeing as Old Scratch is toasting some on the front cover of the book.

My thoughts on a Smore Martini:

Take a martini glass, drizzle some hot fudge sauce in it.  Then use the sauce to coat the rim of the glass so you can dip the rim in crumbled graham crackers.

Next  take a shot each of Marshmallow Creme Vodka and Godiva Chocolate Liquer shake em up and pour em in your glass and voila: fancy drink!

Jumping Juniper, Yep I can't think of a catchy title today

I just realized it is Monday not Tuesday. Yesterday I was hoping it was Saturday, but it was actually Sunday.  We've only been on Summer Break for a week and already I've lost all track of time.

We've only been moved into our new home for a week and already the kids have gone Native.  The Bman has decided that shoes are for sissies.  Anna, I mean Trail Mix,  noticed that people around her pronounce her cousin's name Will more like Weeeellll (long E) and is copying that pronounciation. 

And Mr. P or should I say "Lightning Rod" thinks trees are stupid and why do we have to have so many.  Okay well Lightning Rod is not going Native.

The man is researching opening a discount golf store, and can we all cross our fingers that he can make that happen as:

1. It's his lifelong dream.

2. He could write off going golfing as a business expense?

3. He'd be out of my hair.

*****

Are you looking for Summer Reads?  I just posted a review on goodreads.com You can click below and see my review!

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8667848-a-discovery-of-witches"

Updates from the Moving Truck.

I have survived the Great Southern Move of 2012.  In case you were worried, The Man survived as well. Now we are on to new challenges such as:
1. Where to put all The Man's stuff. I vote in the garage. He disagrees.
2. What bit the B Man?  His hand is swollen and itchy.
3. What is a better nickname for Anna?  T-Bone or Trailmix?

The great news is that not only did we all make it down here in one piece, my china set also made it in one piece!

Wait--It gets even better, I'm already up and running with my job.  On the Tastefully Simple front I attended my first meeting as an official member of the Tri State Business Women!  It's a great group, active and involved in the community as well.

On the Virtual Call Center Front our internet and phone were installed on Friday and I've been taking calls and have already racked up over 200 minutes.  (I get paid by the minute). 

Yesterday I also found the box containing my favorite cooking pot, I was beginning to think I accidently sold it. Here are some pictures of our adventures over the past week:

Boxes Blech.

The boy embrace their new bedroom.

The Man getting our chairs put together. And a deck that needs painting!

Picture of view on the walk down to our mailbox.

And you think you've got it bad

I received this heartbreaking email today.  What this poor poor woman has been through and yet thru it all her faith in God has remained strong.  So strong,  I think she has picked me to facility the donation of over $8 million dollars to churches around the world. 

I'm a bit unclear about her actual intent as she has not spelled it out here?  Perhaps she is afraid that some nefarious character will try and swindle her?  It is so clear she is not a Scam Artist.

I'm going to respond, she needs my help!

AM MRS. SONIA WILSON, A DEAF WIDOW TO LATE ROBERT WILSON FROM SEATTLE WASHINGTON,USA. PRESENTLY IN ISRAEL RECEIVING TREATMENTS, I AM 61 YEARS OLD, I AM NOW A NEW CHRISTIAN CONVERT, SUFFERING FROM LONG TIME CANCER OF THE BREAST,FROM ALL INDICATION MY CONDITIONS IS REALLY DETERIORATING AND IT IS QUITE OBVIOUS THAT I WON'T LIVE MORE THAN SIX MONTHS, ACCORDING TO MY DOCTORS,THIS IS BECAUSE THE CANCER STAGE HAS GOTTEN TO A VERY BAD STAGE. MY LATE HUSBAND WAS KILLED DURING THE U.S. RAID AGAINST TERRORISM IN AFGHANISTAN, AND DURING THE PERIOD OF OUR MARRIAGE WE WERE UNABLE TO PRODUCE A CHILD.

AFTER HIS DEATH, I INHERITED ALL HIS BUSINESS AND WEALTH. THE DOCTORS HAS ADVISED ME THAT I MAY NOT LIVE FOR MORE THAN SIX MONTHS, SO I NOW DECIDED TO DIVIDE THE PART OF THIS WEALTH, TO DONATE TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CHURCH IN AFRICA, AMERICA ASIA, AND EUROPE. I PRAYED OVER IT, I AM WILLING TO GIVE THE $8.6MILLION DOLLARS, TO THE LESS PRIVILEGED. RIGHT THE THE FUND IS DEPOSITED WITH A SECURITY COMPANY IN USA. I AM OF AWARE THAT THERE ARE LOTS OF SCAM IN INTERNET, I SWEAR TO YOU WITH THE NAME OF OUR LORD THAT THIS IS NEVER A SCAM.YOUR HELP WILL SAFE MANY LIFE IN THE WORLD, LET GOD TOUCH YOUR HEART TO HEAR MY CRY.

LASTLY, I ALSO WANT YOU TO ASSURE ME THAT WHEN YOU RECEIVE THE FUND IT WILL BE USED FOR THE SAID PURPOSE. MAY THE GRACE OF OUR LORD JESUS THE LOVE OF GOD AND THE FELLOWSHIP OF GOD BE WITH YOU AND YOUR FAMILY I AWAIT URGENT REPLY.

YOUR'S IN CHRIST.

Word to the wise

Friday night we hosted 7 girls  for Anna's early 8th birthday party.  Since we are moving, I was a bit of a softy (or is it softie) and let her invite a total of 10 girls. This was a crazy move on my part.  I am quite lucky they didn't all come as I would have definitely lost my ever-loving mind.

Now Patrick just had a birthday sleepover a couple of weeks ago, he had three boys over and aside from the fight the boys had  the morning after the sleepover, it was all good.  When I say fight, I don't mean that they were name-calling or angry, I mean they were playing some fighting game they made up.

The girls on the other hand, oy.  Drama.  Much of it due to some being interested in running around playing and others wanted to do more sedate playing (think board game).  This led to tears about once per hour from someone who felt left out, and about every 90 minutes one of the girls wanted to go home. *Sigh* Now I know why my mom would only let me have 3 girls sleepover for my birthday as a child.

Around 12:30AM all the girls wanted to go home because they couldn't sleep.  Why couldn't they sleep?  Because they wouldn't stop talking!  So I told them all no, no they couldn't go home because I wasn't going to wake their parents up. They finally fell asleep around 1:30AM.

  All the girls were up jumping around by 7AM.  I am not a morning person, and when I don't get any sleep I am not-a-morning person to the 10th power.  Saturday morning it finally proved fortuitous that I married an annoying morning person because I had to have Tom oversee the girls til I had my coffee.  I didn't want to snap their little heads off first thing.

Once everyone had gone home and Anna had napped.  I asked her if she enjoyed the sleepover. She said it was even better than she had hoped.

Crazyness

I was going to write about a conversation I had with the B-man, I had some other things I thought were blogable, but, here we are.

My mind is empty as we rush toward moving and I don't know what to do with all the stuff we currently have in our house.  Tomorrow and Friday we have our garage sale, I'm hoping for much stuff to leave our possession.

Yesterday I trashed a couple of bins full of old junior high and high school notes.  Notes are what we used to write back in the Stone Age to converse with friends at school. They are like brick and mortar texts. LOL  As an aside, not only did we write notes to our friends on paper, and pass them in class, we also folded the notes into decorative  patterns!

I had forgotten until going through my bins of paper, that I used to write Smut for my friends.  For example, one friend of mine, was a huge Sting fan (as was I) , so I wrote a story of how a freshman in HS met Sting and they had a torrid love affair. T'was Fan Fiction and I didn't know it, t'was 50 Shades of Grey in the 80s.

I missed my calling!

But back to things of a wholesome nature. My Blog Spark sent me an email with a link to print up coupons for Ocean Spray Fruit Snacks!

Watershed Moment

For the first time ever, I made a recipe I saw on the TV.  Last week I was watching The Chew on ABC while doing the dishes and they had on some moms with great recipes for their Mom Week.  One lady made pasta with a red lentil sauce.

Since I decided two and 1/2 weeks ago to try being vegan (except for a couple of times that I've had fish lately), I was drawn to this recipe that sounded different, was vegan and was fairly easy. 

So I gave it a go!  And mmm mmm it is so good, I am sending Felicia who create the recipe a major Thank You!  The recipe is linked here.  It called for some fresh ground pepper and I didn't have any of that, so I used some of our Tastefully Simple Green Tea & Peppercorn Seasoning.

 I'm so glad we've got the Green Tea & Peppercorn Seasoning back as a returning favorite for June and July.  I've missed it so! I'm also glad that as a consultant, I got to order the returning favorites a few weeks before June 1st!

Mother's Day Facebook Envy

I should preface this by saying, I realize this is silly and petty and I am almost over it. But, I've got to get this whine out of the way so I can move on, build a bridge, get over it and all that.

As you may know, this is Mother's Day and many a mom is enjoying a wonderful, wonderful day, as they should.  Children and significant others have made special plans and showered gifts upon the awesome moms in their lives.  They are also posting their thank yous and whatnot to Facebook. Which is great. I'd so rather see the love than see people arguing politics.

Nevertheless, I'm a little bummed for myself because no one at this house takes me seriously when I say that the best gift I could get for Mother's Day would be:
1. a clean house.
2. to not have to cook.
3. brunch.

I would also love some flowers, but they just die--or chocolate, but I gave up eating dairy so that won't work. So I'd really have liked my 2 other dreams to come true. 

Alas, it's not meant to be. I did get two wonderful handmade presents from Anna and Bryce.  HUGE thanks to their teachers for doing those projects. And The Man did go to the store and get some coffee. 

Then he asked me twice if I had made coffee yet. Bummer right?

That is my whine in a nutshell.  I completely get that it is lame.  I am very lucky, far too many of my Facebook friends are missing a loved one who they'll never see again on this day and I am crabby about making Mac & Cheese. 

I'm shaking off my acting like a baby and restarting the day.  Happy Mother's Day to All!  I hope it is gloriously sunny and lovely by you today--and I hope you get spoiled, spoiled, spoiled OR that you do some major spoiling for a mom in your life today!

My mom with all her grandkids cept the baby, Byron, from last summer at Anna Ruby Falls in Georgia.

I've got to share!

So I've got to share, because for me this was super exciting. You may recall, last week, I saw an online premiere of an upcoming movie Mighty Fine  and then wrote a review of the movie on my blog.

Well today I got an email from the coordinator of the event over at Mom Central and it said that the writer and director of the movie "loved my post".  How cool is that!  A writer and director loved something I wrote! Squeee!

Totally Made My Day!

And then to top it off, turns out it's National Moscato Day!
Barefoot has a nice Moscato chilled with some gouda cheese and crackers. mmm mmm.

#Wordless Wednesday Happy Bday Mr P!

I had to go with a Silly Picture.
Happy Birthday Patrick!

Really Small Piece of Yellow Plastic

Remember how I was talking last post about getting rid of stuff in anticipation of our moving later this month?  How I enjoy the reducing of  'stuff'?  Well this morning, The Man was pretty bent out of shape. 

Turns out I threw out a piece of yellow plastic that was part of  his table saw.  Woopsie. As fate would have it, The Man realized it was missing after the garbage man had come and gone. Now I have to check with The Man before I clean out a drawer/cabinet or box.  *Sigh*

Wait, I just had an Oprah-worthy A-ha moment. I'm going to empower The Man to clean out and pack his own assorted stuff. This way I won't run the risk of throwing out other stuff that looks like junk to me that he likes, or is actually useful.
So after that debacle, which occured prior to my first cup of coffee...
I took my bowl of potato salad which I made with our new Garden Veggie Dip and headed over to Anna and the B-mans school for the Teacher Appreciation Luncheon.

Here is my Garden Veggie Potato Salad Recipe. I prepped the individual components last night and then mixed it all together this morning.

3 lbs washed and quartered yellow potatoes (skin on) boiled until they are fork tender
4 slices of Turkey Bacon cooked and crumbled. I made the turkey in the oven, that way the turkey bacon doesn't burn.
4 stalks of celery, chopped
1 bunch of green onions white and about 3 inches of green chopped
2 tablespoons of Garden Veggie Dip Mix mixed with 1 cup light mayo.

Super Easy, Super Good and 1000 times better than store-bought tater salad.

If I had a TV show

If I had a TV Show, I think this would make for a great theme song.

Of course I do not star in, write, or produce any half hour comedies.  Though I'm open to it!  I think if I could work with a team of writers I could manage something decent.  Or at least I like to think so. How terrible was that last sentence, first I started with Or and then I ended with so.  *shudders*

Here we are another Monday, and you know what that means?  Tomorrow is trash day!  I love getting rid of stuff.  For me, the best part of the moving process is getting rid of useless stuff we shouldn't  have been holding on to in the first place.

As I have mentioned, The Man is with us for the next few weeks to help facilitate the moving and so he can prevent me from pitching most of his stuff, especially what is in the garage.  Most everything that is in there looks broken or pointless to move.

 Tonight I am going to mention that we are having a garage sale this Thursday and Friday.  I'm hoping he will see the light that he will need to help. The man doesn't like garage sales. I'm thinking most men don't.

Hey that could be a swagbucks poll of the day!  Swagbucks is a search engine I use because I earn 'swagbucks' that can be redeemed for gift cards.  I'm always surfing the web, might as well earn some gift cards for my time, right? I also earn points for referrals, so wink wink, nudge nudge, here is my referral link.

The daily polls that they have are submitted by users and are on any subject you can think of to ask an opinion.  Today the poll concerns what is your second favorite way to eat potatoes.  So you see asking about garage sales would be totally fitting with the tone of  Swagbucks Daily Polls.

Mighty Fine, Movie Review

As I mentioned quickly yesterday, I was able to see an online premier of the movie Mighty Fine last night. Here is a short description of the story from the writer and director Debbie Goodstein:

The story of "Mighty Fine" is fictional, but it draws to a great extent on writer/director Debbie Goodstein's vivid memories of her childhood. "My father had anger issues, ups and downs, and living in his world could be a bit of a rollercoaster ride," says Goodstein. "He loved his family but had self-destructive impulses and a rage that made life with him unpredictable and sometimes very scary." Many of Goodstein's friends also had fathers similar to her own, and she contrived the character of Joe Fine as a composite. Goodstein sees Joe as a creature of his time, someone who couldn't exist today: "Joe Fine is the king of his castle, like so many men of the seventies. But even then, things were changing rapidly, and men like Joe, with all their bravado and patriarchal dominance, were poised for extinction. Today, with so many women in the workplace, that castle has become more of a stronghold of equanimity."

A good story, and a good movie more specifically, sticks with you long after the credits. Mighty Fine is such a story.  The mother and two daughters are held hostage to the mood swings of the father played by Chazz Palminteri. One moment he is a doting father and husband lavishly spoiling his children and the next moment he is brandishing a shotgun. His unpredictability adds all the suspense this movie needs.

What sticks with me most, is that in this movie Debbie Goodstein is able to show us that the father, Joseph Fine, is not one dimensional.  We know that financial difficulties and his own childhood are major factors in his deteriorating mental state. This insider knowledge makes it difficult to vilify Joseph and adds shades of grey to the film.

All of the actors gave wonderful performances.  Andie MacDowell, as the mother and a holocaust survivor, plays a women who was rescued by her husband and therefore is deeply indebted to him. At the same time she has two teen daughters who need her strength.  It is wonderful to see while Stella is bent by her wartime past, she is not broken.

The two teen daughters are played by Rainey Qualley, who played the older and most outspoken family member Maddie; and Natalie the writer played by Jodelle Ferland.

As a parent, this movie was a stark reminder of how harmful unpredictability and  uncontrolled anger can be toward children of any age.  While I am not much like Joe, I will certainly think of him often when I am tempted to lose my temper. Mighty Fine shows that most of the time, when parents are angry and take it out on their children, it's not because of anything the child may have done, but is due to outside factors.

The movie is opening up in select theaters on May 25th.  You can see if it is playing by you here.


Disclosure: www.momcentral.com/mcc “I participated in a campaign on behalf of Mom Central Consulting for Mighty Fine and the distributor. I received access to an online showing of the film and a promotional item to thank me for participating”.

Driveby Blogging

Hi all!
How is your Thursday going?  Im getting ready to watch an online premiere of a new movie.  I got the opportunity through Mom Central. Im very excited, I've got on an after 6pm formal dress. I'll let you know my review tomorrow. 

Plus The Man is home for  3 weeks to help us move!  Yippee! 

Wordless Wednesday Jellies!

At the Shedd.

Is it Yogurt or Yoghurt?

Today was a yogurt day. First I received this email response to my email to the makers of GoGurt, one of Patrick's favorite foods.

First here is my email:
Originated by Consumer: I purchased 2 boxes of Spongbob Squarepants Go gurt Strawberry Riptide/Bikini Bottom Berry. My son loves the Bikini Bottom Berry and won't eat the Strawberry. Much to my dismay both boxes I purchased contained 8 strawberry and no Bikini Bottom Berry. The complete info on the sell by portion of the package said: 31MAY 2012 RCJ 0036 26525 I would like product coupons to purchase 2 replacement boxes as these are a staple in my household. Thanks so much! And thank you for making gogurt now without artificial colors!

And this was the response:

Hello Ms. Hamel:

Thank you for contacting Yoplait with your inquiry.

The Go-Gurt product has had a reformulation. We have removed the artificial color from the product and replaced it with natural color. Due to this change, the Bikini Bottom Berry product is no longer blue. Please check the Go-Gurt tube to see what flavor is listed on the tube. If the tubes are all indeed strawberry, please reply to this email and let us know.

Oh the Irony!

And now I can't even check the tubes because Anna and her friend took all the Go-gurts, opened them and mixed them together in a bowl when they  were playing "Cooker"

*Sigh*

Then I got an email with a link to get 30 cents off a cup of the new Lactose Free Yoplait Yogurt. So maybe I'll give that a try?  Quite good timing for this coupon, Anna has been complaining about her stomach hurting frequently and we've begun to suspect she might be Lactose Intolerant to some degree, esp. since the Man is Lactose Intolerant.

Here is the scoop from My Blog Spark that sent me the link for coupons!

Lactose Free comes in four delicious flavors - Strawberry, Peach, French Vanilla and Cherry - and contains 50% of the recommended Daily Value of calcium, with vitamins A and D in every cup. Lactose Free contains no artificial sweeteners and can be used in some of your favorite recipes - like chocolate crème brulee and strawberry cheesecake.

Lactose intolerant or know someone who is? We wanted to let you know that you can visit http://bit.ly/IiJBKU to download a printable *coupon for $0.30

May Day! May Day!

S'almost May!  I love a good May, leaves on trees, warm breezes, not too many allergy days and my strawberries will soon turn red.

Yes I know, my strawberry patch clearly appears to need weeding. What I have found is that it thrives through benign neglect.  There will be a bumper crop of fresh organic strawberries this May. I am sure of it. Patrick and Bryce are already petitioning to be allowed to set up a fruit stand out front.

Maybe we could talk Pepe's Mexican Restaurant, located just steps away from our house, into sourcing their strawberry margarita strawberries from our patch?

Gratuitous Margarita Pic!

Recipe and Free Tea from Klout.com

Trying not to complain about the weather, am going to anyway. I'd like it to stop being cold and windy and go back to being 20 degrees above normal.  Like it was in June, I mean March.

Being all cold I thought it would be a good day to try out a recipe I saw recently in the Chicago Tribune . As far as I can tell it isn't available online. It was in the "How to Pair Wine" section and was a vegetable stew. One of the suggestions to go with it was Savingnon Blanc. 

Much to my dismay, now I can't find the recipe.  So for what is worth here is what I remember being in it:
Can of  Crushed Tomatoes
10oz frozen artichoke hearts
Can of small beans, I was going with Great Northern Beans
1 chopped shallot
5 cut up green onions, white and green parts
some tarragon
some chicken broth.
And a few things I don't remember.

No Vegetable Stew tonight for me. *sigh*


FREEBIE FOR TEA!  I have a link via Klout.com that you can use to get free samples of the new Lipton Honey & Tea instant drink mix.  It comes in those little packs you can use to flavor bottles of water. Click here to get your freebie!