Duct Tape: It Doesn't Always Solve The Problem

I was under the impression that duct tape can solve the world's problems - it can hold a bumper to a car and close a wound in a desperate situation, so of course it should solve the problem of a slice in a garden hose, right?


Not so fast. It lasts for about 3.2 seconds before the water still managed to come out!


I know it's a lousy photo (waiting on the new camera), but can you see the big spray coming out still? lol

I guess the grass will be staying a few nice shade of tan for awhile longer! On the bright side, I managed to angle the new "sprinkler" towards my little planter in the yard, so at least those were watered tonight. ;) I guess a new garden hose is on my shopping list!

Dumpster Diving

Back when we lived at the apartment, I confess I loved to dumpster dive. OK, so it was mostly through the recycling bin for the coupon inserts, and the Coke points off the boxes (we didn't have plastic recycling), but just before we moved out, I found this lovely treasure waiting:


(Excuse my recycling bins that needed to go back in the shed!) Doesn't it scream potential? I don't know why the person who moved out left it behind, but I was one happy camper. Of course, it sat in the shed for over two years waiting for me to work on it (hey, life!), but with this hot and dry weather, it's been perfect for projects like this! Not only was the shelf free then, but I managed to get the spray paint for free using my Ace Rewards card too. Now if only all my projects were this cheap to finish... LOL Here it is after a good paint job:



Isn't it booo-ti-ful? I'm going to have it either outside my door or on the deck with some plants on it! See, there was NO need for this to end up in the trash!

So do you dumpster dive? What treasures have you found?

Giveaway: Add Up the Savings ($25 Grocery Gift Card!)

It's that time of year again... back to school! I was in Freddy's yesterday, and the entire front was full of school supplies! Along with the usual suspects of pens, pencils, notebook paper, etc, it's time to start thinking of healthy school lunches and snacks.

Tip: Before the insanity begins, sit down on the Internet with your kids and look at school friendly lunch ideas. It's easy to pack great lunches with a little bit of imagination thanks to all the great recipe sites out there! Print up your lunch ideas on notecards, and then at the beginning of each week (maybe just before grocery shopping), let your kids choose which lunch ideas they want that week!

Tip: Have a full set of re-useable containers, snack boxes, etc - one for each day of the week. This way, if a set gets left at school, in the car, etc, you can still get ready for lunch the night before. It also saves on stress factors, since you can portion out some snacks a few days in advance!


The Kroger family of stores (QFC and Fred Meyer, for my local folks; Baker´s, Owen´s, Jay C Food Stores, Hilander, Gerbes, Food4Less, Pay Less Super Markets, Kroger, Ralph´s, King Soopers, City Market, Dillons, and more for everyone else) will be hosting the "Add Up the Savings" Event from August 8 through August 21 (2010). When you buy 8 participating items from any of the Kroger family of stores, you´ll receive $4 off of your purchase! Combine that with coupons, and you can do some serious stocking up for back to school on shelf stable snacks and breakfast foods like Lucky Charms, Cheerios, Yoplait, etc, as well as items like Kleenex, Huggies, and Cottonelle. There's lots on sale!

Plus, all of these items contain Box Tops For Education (BFTE's!) that your school can trade in for supplies and cool projects like new playgrounds! Each BFTE is worth 10 cents to your school, so please keep them and turn them in. If your kids are no longer in school, or your homeschool, you can always choose a local school to give them to. (please remember many teachers end up buying so much out of their own pocket, and they already aren't paid what they should be!) If you haven´t already, is register at www.RewardYourSchool.com. Once you register, you will automatically receive 5 Bonus Box Tops just for signing up! You will also receive custom offers for Bonus Box Tops for purchasing participating products.

These great offers are:

* Buy any 4 Box Tops products and get 10 Bonus Box Tops

* Buy any 8 Box Tops products and get 25 Bonus Box Tops

To my readers with children going back to school: I'd like to challenge you to buy one extra thing for your child's classroom this year. It can be as simple as an extra box of Kleenex (which would only run about $1), or extra school supplies that can be scored for free after rebate (check Staples and Office Max!) or pretty darn close to free. I know we are all hurting in this economy, but a little goes a long way!

Win it! Thanks to General Mills, Kimberly Clark and the Kroger Family of Stores, as well as MyBlogSpark, I have one $25 gift card, good at any of the Kroger family of stores, to give away to one lucky reader! To enter, tell us which BTFE products are on your shopping list at the "Add Up the Savings" Event!

As always, you can receive extra entries for:

-Subscribing to my feed or following my blog
-Blogging about this giveaway with a link back
-Tweeting about this giveaway (leave the link or @psychotichouse)

That's four (4) possible entries! Giveaway ends August 21st at 11:59 PM PST, and please leave your email address in your entry or have it available in your profile. US only, sorry :( Good luck everyone!! :)

All tips, anecdotes are mine. General Mills, Kimberly Clark and the Kroger Family of Stores provided the gift card, sale information, and giveaway through MyBlogSpark. One reader will win the prize above.

Giveaway: Disney Create

Disney has launched a fun new website, Create. On Create, your kids (and you!) can use Disney character art and graphics to design works of art and share them with other guests online! They can design artwork, comic books, music videos, animated pets and more, all using Disney characters and graphics - so if their favorite character is Belle for instance, they can write a story and use the graphics to make their own comic book for instance. Pretty neat, huh? Everything they (or you, lol) creates can be kept in your own online art portfolio on Disney.com to share with friends and family! You can even print photos and cards to put in school lockers. There's a lot of fun things to do on Create!


You know you want to go play on it right now! ;) If you already have a Disney.com account, it's the same password and log in. (Just a heads up for the much younger set: there is a chat section on the site, so you may want to supervise their time on the site just to be safe.) It's take a little bit to get used to on Create, but even if you can't draw very well, there's premade graphics so kids can just drop them to make a design and change colors, add a few little lines, etc. It's quite fun!


Win it! Thanks to Disney, two lucky readers are going to win a Disney Prize pack that includes a magnetized white board with erasable marker as well as a pair of Disney headphones. To enter, tell us your favorite Disney character. (Easy peasy!) We love Jack Skellington over here!

As always, you can receive extra entries for:

-Subscribing to my feed or following my blog
-Blogging about this giveaway with a link back
-Tweeting about this giveaway (leave the link or @psychotichouse)

That's four (4) possible entries! Giveaway ends August 21st at 11:59 PM PST, and please leave your email address in your entry or have it available in your profile. US only, sorry :( Good luck everyone!! :)

I didn't receive anything for sharing this information with you, but two readers will win the prizes stated above as fulfilled by the sponsor.

It's Been One Of Those Mornings....

I just cannot get anything done!

Contest: Chicken Soup For the Pet Lovers Soul Summer BBQ Pet Photo

As you may remember, I've done a few things with Chicken Soup for the Pet Lovers Soul over the last few months. Well, the theme for July is BBQing With Pets! My DH always has his furry helpers when he fires up the BBQ:


(Excuse our dead grass from the heat) They always get first taste as you can probably guess. ;) My father in law is known for also sharing first taste with any of the cats in the neighborhood who decide to hang out in the yard for the day with him. I'm guessing we're probably not the only ones who have dogs and cats not wanting to budge from the BBQ area! Do you have photos? If not, I have a reason for you to. ;)

Win it! Thanks to the folks over at Chicken Soup for the Pet Lovers Soul, I get to give one lucky reader an iTouch! Excited yet? Here's how to enter:

1. To enter, e-mail your photo of your cat or dog at your barbecue to casts44story@photos.flickr.com. Put the photo title in the subject line and the photo caption in the e-mail body.

2. Visit http://www.flickr.com/photos/chickensoupforthepetloverssoul/ and click on your photo to get the custom URL (the URL of the page that has only your photo on it).

3. Copy and paste the URL in the comments section of my blog post to enter the contest!

The winner will also get to have their picture posted on the Chicken Soup for the Pet Lovers Soul website, so your cat(s) or dog(s) will be famous! ;) One entry per family, US residents only (sorry). Giveaway ends August 14th, 2010 at 11:59 PST. I know that entering this contest is a little different than the way we usually do it around here, but this way we can make sure that every one who is entering really has uploaded a photo. (and it makes it super easy for your picture to go up on the Chicken Soup website!)


As a reminder, Chicken Soup for the Pet Lovers Soul has a page over on Facebook. If you "like" them, you'll be able to find out about new products, and specials going on with the brand. You can also follow them over on Twitter too!

I didn't receive anything for this post, but one lucky reader will win an iTouch, as fulfilled by the folks over at Chicken Soup for the Pet Lovers Soul.

WNBA Tickets Discount Offer

Remember how last month I attended a Seattle Storm WNBA game with my family? I shared with y'all a discount, and I just wanted to remind you of that discount so you can take your family and have a fun time too! Just go to TicketMaster.com/wnba and enter the promo code WNBABLOG and experience the exciting, affordable and family-friendly entertainment of the WNBA! Each team has a different deal going on, but it's up to 60% off depending on which one.


For my Seattle folks, the upcoming game on August 4th is part of Breast Health Awareness Week. (All the teams in the league are participating) You'll find promotions and activities at the arena as part of this!

This deal comes thanks to the WNBA and the folks over at One2One Network. By sharing it with you, I'm also being entered to win a gift card.

Thrifty Thursday - Laundry Savings

This week for my Thrifty Thursday post, I'm talking about saving money while doing laundry!

Obviously, the easiest way to save money doing laundry is to use coupons on the laundry products you buy. You can easily still be brand loyal - many brands put out coupons on a regular basis in Sunday newspaper coupon inserts. If you haven't already, be sure to sign up for your brand of choice's email and mailing list - not only will you be the first to know of any new scents or products, you may also receive exclusive coupons and rebate offers.

You can also make your own laundry soap - there's some great "recipes" available on the internet.

Do you only use a single laundry hamper? Consider purchasing a laundry sorter instead - a bin that has compartments. You'll be more inclined to do full loads, therefore saving on water and energy costs, if you have one - instead of sorting through one big laundry bin and getting annoyed.

If you use dryer sheets, most can be easily cut in half to save money. (I say the exception is on towels, where you need the nice smelling stuff the most!) Just cut them ahead of time, so you aren't fumbling around with each load. If you use a liquid fabric softener just because you hate static cling, did you know that a couple of teaspoons of vinegar in the fabric softener area does the same thing? Yup, it's nature's own fabric softener! If it's for the scent, consider using just half the recommended usage and see how it works for you. If you still have static, or it doesn't smell the way you want it, then adjust accordingly.

Speaking of dryers, don't forget to clean your lint trap out after every load! Your laundry will dry faster. Invest in a lint trap cleaning kit as well to clean out all the icky stuff that you can't reach - it's also a fire hazard if not cleaned properly.

Line drying your clothes will help you save on electricity, and it can also prolong the life of your garments if done properly. Be careful not to leave clothing outside in the sunlight for too long since it can fade the fabrics. For delicate clothes, think about hanging them inside. If you have a sturdy shower curtain rod already installed, simply hang clothes on hangers from it. There are also nifty retractable lines that you can purchase for hanging in your bathtub - your bras will thank you for it. ;) (You'll save the cost of the line by not having to replace even just one bra as often!) You can also purchase a drying rack. I have one, and in the winter especially it's great because I can keep it near the fireplace, and the clothes are dry in a jiffy! (Just be careful that it's not too close, or you end up with a fire hazard!)

Random Thoughts Tuesday - Murphy Will Not Move Out!

Hi, my name is Storm, and I'm an addict. A Diet Dr. Pepper addict. You know how Woody Harrelson's character in Zombieland is after the Twinkies? That would be me, in search of the Diet Dr. Pepper.

We finally got our hands on Leverage Season 2 from the library today. Wahooo! Little things make me happy :)

And I need happy because the dishwasher if officially kaput, the air conditioner is leaking, and the toilet is no continually running - at least THAT one is an easy fix at payday.

Turkey's in the oven... and I'm bad - I turned the AC up (ok, well down) so it feels more like fall in here. It smells soooo good already! Did I mention we had to go running to the store at the last minute to buy a new turkey baster? lol We had the turkey ready to go in the oven and had to make a mad dash!

When we went to paint the shed today, we found that the paint we were going to use was just, well, toast. The lid was rusted and by the time we got it open, the paint itself was a mess. Even though it's an outdoor shed and I don't really care so long as it's painted all one color (lol), but it's time to drop this one off at the hazardous waste station - yikes! I guess that process can wait another day or two. Here's hoping it doesn't rain!

Review & Giveaway: Rubbermaid Reveal Mop

Rubbermaid recently contacted me and asked if I was interested in reviewing their new Rubbermaid Reveal Microfiber Spray Mop. At first I thought, oh no, another cleaning appliance in the corner. Soon enough my kitchen is going to look like a janitor closet - LOL! But as I was watching the informational video, I went oh... wait a minute... this one's a little different!


Instead of using brand sponsored refills and cleaning pads, it uses just tablespoons of your favorite cleaner with water. Yes - whatever cleaner you already have in your cabinet, whatever you got with a coupon deal! (Of course, if you have wooden floors, you'll want to be careful what you use) And the mop pads are the microfiber reuse able ones - so nothing else to buy there either, unless you want to have more than what comes with the kit (one, plus one spare if bought online). Bonus: no electricity or batteries used either, so your cost really is just the cost of the Reveal to begin with!

I was given advance notice of the Reveal arriving, so I decided to ignore my flooring for a few days - all I did was Swiffer with a dry cloth. Look at this lovely spot:


Ew! When the post office delivered the Reveal, I ran to get it started. lol I just couldn't stand the dirt anymore!

The Rubbermaid Reveal was super easy to put together - just two pieces that you snapped in together. However, for those of you who go to purchase the Reveal in the stores - yours will already be put together, so there's no worries for you! The microfiber pads velcro to the bottom easily, and unlike some mops *coughs*, they stay in place. You won't need to bend over and fix it 5 million times while mopping your kitchen - well, at least I didn't.


The bottles are easy to use, and marked for how much cleaner and hot water you are supposed to pour into them. (By the way, you can use plain hot water, if you want to) The great part about purchasing an extra bottle so you would have two bottles is that you can use a stronger cleaner for rooms like say, the bathroom, and vinegar for other rooms like the kitchen! All you have to do is quickly switch them out as you clean. And bonus: the bottles are top rack dishwasher safe, you can clean them in between uses!

Tip: If you're new to the world of microfiber, let me give you a heads up that you are not supposed to wash them with fabric softener. If you use fabric softener on all your laundry, you may want to start a separate bin for your cleaning rags, and get a couple of extra pads so you can do them all at once in a load of laundry. Skip the bleach too - these will ruin them!

The Reveal was easy to use - the liquid spray comes out towards the bottom, and the squeeze part is at the top of the handle so you don't have to bend over for this, either. Warning: the spray does go out several inches. Be careful when using the Reveal that you aren't spaying too close to furniture, bookcases, etc that can't get wet!

It definitely cleaned well on the wooden floors: (pardon the scratches on the floor, that came from last Summer's um, moving olympics - sigh!)


Hmm... when I look at the photos, they look exactly the same. So much for great before and after pictures! lol Hey, I tried! I'd show a picture of the bathroom floor, but it's this UGLY brown that won't show the dirt right either. I'm not going to say my flooring was instantly dry, but it certainly was dry much faster than my current ways of mopping! If I use disposable wet sheets, we'd have to stay off the floor for at least five minutes - this was under a minute I think.

Alright, so maybe it looks a bit like a janitor's closet in my corner, but I'm very pleased with the Rubbermaid Reveal Microfiber Spray Mop. I've used it every day since it arrived!

The Rubbermaid Reveal Microfiber Spray Mop retails for $29.99 plus shipping and handling if you purchase it online, or look for it at your favorite big box style store like Target and WalMart. If you don't already, you can follow Rubbermaid on Twitter or visit their page on Facebook.

Win it! Thanks to Rubbermaid, one lucky reader will win their own Reveal Spray Mop to help with their cleaning duties! To enter, confess how often you mop your floors. Do you think you'll mop more often if you win the Reveal?

As always, you can receive extra entries for:

-Subscribing to my feed or following my blog
-Blogging about this giveaway with a link back
-Tweeting about this giveaway (leave the link or @psychotichouse)

That's four (4) possible entries! Giveaway ends August 14th at 11:59 PM PST, and please leave your email address in your entry or have it available in your profile. US only, sorry :( Good luck everyone!! :)

Rubbermaid sent me a Reveal Mop Kit of my own, in order for me to put to the test in my own home, and share my opinion of. All opinions and personal anecdotes are my own, and not of Rubbermaid's.

Review: SmartShield Sunscreen

My family and I recently received a bottle SmartShield Sunscreen to review. We're in the middle of a hot (for here, anyways lol) and sunny dry spell, so it's been put to use!


SmartShield is an eco friendly Sunscreen company. It's all natural, hypoallergenic, and oil free, so it shouldn't clog your pores. It also won't stain (most) clothes, and because it's natural, shouldn't sting your eyes. Ever forget that you have sunscreen still on your face and rub your eyes? I do that a lot, and the burning sensation from some brands is definitely not pleasant!


The neat thing about SmartShield is that it's approved for use in natural marine habitats since it is completely bio-degradable. If you do a lot of swimming in lakes and oceans, you'll probably feel like this is a good thing too. We humans put enough junk in our water supply; it's always nice when we can take a step that helps prevent more junk. It also means after you apply it, touching your water "toys" and equipment such as snorkels and fishing rods won't end up greasy!

With the sun, we've been playing outside and doing chores as much as we can. SmartShield really does go on easily, and doesn't have a greasy feeling. It didn't make my skin itchy, either, and there's no overwhelming scent - it's very faint, so guys won't feel like they fell into a bucket of body butter. ;) We are/were sunburn free over here! By the way, the bottle is a decent size that you can keep it in your diaper bag of medium-ish purse so it's on hand for quick last minute trips to the park. (Remember that it takes 20 to 30 minutes after applying for sunscreen to start working!)

The one thing I did notice - and this could be just the container I received - is that sunscreen kind of bubbled out of the container when it was flipped open - almost like someone opened the flood gates. You use a lot of sunscreen if you're applying it correctly (remember, most bottles should only last a day or so at the beach for several people), so it's probably not a problem - but just keep this in mind in case your are opening it over something you don't want to get the sunscreen on, even if it is non-staining and not greasy.

SmartShield is available online (a 4.5 oz bottle of 30SPF runs $13.50) as well as some small, sports and outdoor related stores. (You can check their website to see where the nearest location is) Use promo code: Sun2 at checkout to save $2 off any online order.

I received a bottle to test and share my opinion of.

*Bang Head*

Well, it turns out it IS the air conditioning that's doing the leak. All of a sudden it started gushing out washer through a drain hole a little bit ago. I have no clue why it's doing this - we ran it last Summer for a good 2 weeks in a row, and it never did that.

Maybe that's the problem: the moving truck. Sigh! Resourceful me now has a Rubbermaid tote lid underneath it to catch as much as we can, and we just have to dump it out pretty much every half an hour until we can figure out what on earth has happened. :(

On the bright side, my little friend from yesterday must have brought me some luck, because most of the seedlings seemed to have sprung back this morning thanks to a combination of extra fishy fertilizer and a good soaking overnight. Sadly, the one seedling that showed the most promise did not make it. :( Of course, that doesn't mean they will ever make it to growing vegetables, but hey, I tried!

Menu Planning Monday - But It's July

Well, we are working on cleaning out the deep freezer, and since we still have two big turkeys, guess what? It's Thanksgiving in July over here this week! ;)

Monday: spaghetti, salad, rolls

Tuesday: Turkey with all the fixin's

Wednesday: Leftover Buffet! ;)

Thursday: Slow Cooker Mexican Turkey

Friday: recipe of the week

Saturday: Cheesey Hash Browns

Sunday: BBQ Chicken Bake

Check out Organizing Junkie for other great Menu Plans!

The Black Thumb Returns

It totally is so not my day.

I had moved my tray of seedlings for DH to move something off the deck (I didn't want him to knock them over) and my seedling now mostly look like this:


Wah!!! That was the longest I had managed to keep plants from seed alive, and they were doing so well! I have such a black thumb. :(

The bright side is when I was watering my survivors (poor babies!), this little guy came out to greet me:


Now he makes me happy. I've had one visiting my deck every Summer. It's the first time I've seen him - or his descendents this year.

Book Review: The Disappearing Spoon By Sam Kean

I recently received a copy of the book, The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements by Sam Kean.


Poll for my readers: How many of you had Chemistry kits as a child? I had several - but each one, my poor parents had to hide the frog that came with it, because there would be no dissecting here. I left Biology in high school with a D+ because I refused to dissect one. (I also almost failed Health because I refused to do mouth to mouth CPR on the dummy that wasn't sanitized properly. Seriously, I knew my fellow students; it was a small town - I don't even want to think about what was lurking on that dummy! For what it's worth: I did take CPR on my own though and keep it up to date.)

Ahh... what a fun trip down memory lane that was. LOL To get back to the book, they had me at the first line of the book description: "Why did Ghandi hate Iodine?" My first though, he did? And then I realized my brain cells are going to mush. Really. Ghandi led a march against the British last century because of a salt tax. Salt = Iodine, although table salt - which is really what they were protesting that tax on - isn't the strongest form of Iodine. (In all fairness for me, this happened about 200 years too late for me.)

You see, for all my love of brainless reading to zone out in lately, I love me some books that make my brain work. The Disappearing Spoon could be considered a light read - if you're a science geek, that is. While I'm not a huge science geek - I'm a history geek when you get down to it - knowing how things explode and foam make me giddy with great joy. (I am after all, the girl who sent Barbie to the moon on a rocket for history class. We never did find the rocket afterwards... LOL)

Mr. Kean is definitely a science geek himself, but he shares the science with fun and sarcasm. If the The Disappearing Spoon was a Science teacher, we'd all want this Science teacher in every school because kids would pay attention without falling asleep in class... or writing notes to the cute girl two rows down.... Instead of just reciting what elements can do, he tells you with examples from real life. Think of it as Mythbusters in book form, only all the myths have already been proven as real.

Bottom line: if you like to read non fiction where you actually learn something - self help books do not count - or you're one of the aforementioned science geeks, you'll enjoy The Disappearing Spoon. If reading things like The Disappearing Spoon make you zone out like you're back in high school, leave it on the bookstore shelf. It definitely makes a good gift for any science geeks, or even for college students and teens taking Chemistry classes.

By the way, you do learn the tale of the disappearing spoon. It's a good trick... but I'll make you read the book to find out how it happens. I'm mean like that. ;)

The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements by Sam Kean is a hardcover book that retails for $24.99. You can find it at your favorite local bookstore, or online via places like Amazon, where it's on sale for just $14.61 as of this posting. It's also available as an e-book for your Kindle or other favorite e-reader.

I was given a copy of this book in order to share my thoughts on it.

Sun, Glorious Sun!

And not a single one of these in sight:


Well, originally we were going to go to the Whaling Days festival over in Bremerton yesterday, and then the Mustang Show here in Port Orchard today, but DH's schedule ended up being changed around at the last minute (as much as I want to complain, we need the money and it was a few extra hours in the end) so instead, it's now project weekend.

We have either a leak or a feline terrorist in the bedroom - it doesn't smell like cat, so I'm not sure what on earth is going on. It's near the air conditioner, but not close enough that it could be that... and of all the things, it's right on the area that was already having major issues on the flooring. (The only room we didn't get to replace the flooring before we moved in was our bedroom, go figure!) It also happens to be the only room with carpeting, so I've steamed it twice already this weekend and I am getting nowhere. This is me over here waving the white flag.


OK, not really me, but you get the picture. Did I mention I scream into my pillow on a near nightly basis these days?

I'll share some pictures of my one project later on when everything is dry, and I've got a few reviews to post too. :)

Where Does $20 Worth of Gas Take You?

Armed with $20 in gas, a picnic basket with snacks and drinks, and a well rested family, we got into the car with no schedule, no must-do list - we just went.

We got on WA-3 (that's in the Bremerton direction, for the local folks), and drove towards Poulsbo. Poulsbo, for the non-Washingtonians, is an adorable little town where folks proudly show their Norwegian heritage. Signs throughout the small town are both in Norwegian and English - some even with Swedish too. It's a quiet laid back area, with used bookstores, small boutiques and art galleries, and you can sit outside many different restaurants and enjoy a meal - or a beer for those who drink. You can also walk along the marina waterfront here, and have a picnic at one of the many picnic tables.





With temperatures in the lower 70's, who could ask for anything more perfect? We spent the day browsing these little shops.




And treated ourselves to a scoop of ice cream from Mora Iced Creamery. Mora is made from scratch locally over on Bainbridge Island. If you visit Poulsbo, I highly recommend you stop and indulge here in a little sweetness. We tried the Cheesecake with Raspberries, and I wish I had a picture of this yummy ice cream to share with you, but Daddy started sharing before I got a chance to. Sorry! :)

Next, we hit up Barr Park, where they have a playground and a small (emphasis on that word) dog park. At this point, everyone was so tired, we headed towards home. By the way, we had plenty of gas leftover from that $20 for another trip.

Review & Giveaway: Breyers Smooth & Dreamy

Mom Central recently asked me if I wanted to be a part of the Breyers Smooth And Dreamy blog tour. Hello, chocolate and ice cream? Of course!


With the hot Summer weather, most of us turn to cooler snacks for treats. Frozen and fresh fruit is of course, the healthiest, but sometimes we crave a little something sweeter. I admit awhile back when we heard the ice cream truck, we went flying to get some. A frozen chocolate-y treat on a hot day? That's my idea of heaven! ;)

Breyers Smooth And Dreamy line is chock full of ice cream bars and sandwiches. All the packages come with six bars, and the average retail price seems to be about $3.99 a box (Safeway has them on sale right now for $2.99). This is a lot cheaper overall than the ice cream truck - and the good part is that according to the nutrition information on the boxes, everything is 160 calories or less per serving, so you can indulge in one without feeling too guilty! They are also free of artificial flavors and colors. (Have you noticed the coloring in some of the frozen treats available at the store? Eeek!)


We ended up trying the Triple Chocolate Chip Bars. Now returning readers know I love me some chocolate (I have hidden stashes LOL), so when I say these are almost chocolate overload, I mean it. If you can eat more than one, your sweet tooth must be way better than mine! lol I barely managed to eat one, it was chocolate-ly delight. Those dark chocolate chips just made it perfect. Next time we buy these, I think I am going to try the Chocolate Covered Strawberry and see what those taste like!

Right now if you visit Breyers website, they have an instant win sweepstakes going on, where you can win prizes, including a $10,000 grand prize! And I noticed they have a section with some great recipes using ice cream. (Go check out the awesome Day At the Beach Ice Cream Cake!)

Win it! Thanks to Mom Central, I have a giveaway of my own! Two lucky readers will each win two coupons for free Breyers Smooth And Dreamy products! To enter, visit the Breyers website and tell us which variety you'd try first.

As always, you can receive extra entries for:

-Subscribing to my feed or following my blog
-Blogging about this giveaway with a link back
-Tweeting about this giveaway (leave the link or @psychotichouse)

That's four (4) possible entries! Giveaway ends August 14th at 11:59 PM PST, and please leave your email address in your entry or have it available in your profile. US only, sorry :( Good luck everyone!! :)

"I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Breyers and received products necessary to facilitate my review. In addition, I received a gift certificate to thank me for taking the time to participate."

A Dole Smoothie Party! (And Giveaway!)

Dole recently invited my family and some of our friends to have a smoothie party using their frozen fruit! I love any excuse to host a fun time! They sent on over coupons to buy the fruit, some fun cups and straws, coasters, an iTunes gift card to download some party music, and I hit up my favorite party supply place, the Dollar Tree for the rest of the fun decorations you'll see some of in pictures. (plus the grocery store for other ingredients!)



(Note that palm tree above that I thought would be so much fun as a centerpiece? It's a cat magnet. Don't even bother setting up ahead of time if you have cats, because they will abuse it before your guests even arrive. Sigh!)

Dole has a bunch of frozen fruit available in lots of varities: Acai Blueberry, Blackberries, Blueberries, Dark Sweet Cherries, Mango, Pineapple Chunks, Raspberries, Sliced Peaches, Sliced Strawberries, Sliced Strawberries in Sugar Tub, Strawberry Variety Pack, Whole Strawberries, Wild Blueberries, Wildly Nutritious Mixed Berries, and Wildly Nutritious Mixed Fruit. (side note: When hosting a smoothie party, make sure your freezer is organized and has enough room BEFORE your trip to the store. There's nothing like flipping out two days before when you have a ton of frozen fruit, and no room in your freezer! LOL) Don't forget to have crushed ice ready to go too, and extra adds like low fat milk, yogurt, and ice cream to add to every one's smoothies.


Oh, and ask folks to bring a blender, if you can. I think my poor beloved Kitchen Aid blender got more of a work out in one afternoon than it has gotten since I bought it. LOL And the fresh bananas? To save yourself a little time when the guests arrive, cut and slice them into ice cube trays, and freeze them with some plastic wrap over them.

Here's some smoothie recipes for you to try:

Mango Smoothie
1 cup pineapple
1 cup mango
1 banana
1 cup low fat vanilla yogurt
2 cups ice, crushed (crush this in the blender first!)

Blend away. Seriously. How easy can it be?

Strawberry Banana Smoothie
1 tray worth of frozen bananas (about 1 1/2 to 2 bananas)
2 cups strawberries
1 cup vanilla yogurt or if you're not watching calories, vanilla ice cream!
1 cup milk

Fire up the blender!

Orange Peach Smoothie (recipe from Dole's website)
1/2 cup orange juice
2 cups DOLE® Fresh Frozen Peaches
8 oz nonfat vanilla yogurt
1 cup ice cubes
Dash ground nutmeg

We skipped the nutmeg because I forgot to pull it out, lol, but it still came out great!

Seriously, you can combine just about any kind of fruit together and it will come out yummy. (If you need more ideas, check out Dole's website) The big hit was blueberries and strawberries mixed with vanilla ice cream and milk. Not exactly easy on the waist line, of course, but oh so yummy! And yes, you can add your favorite hard adult beverage to many smoothies (skip the ones with ice cream and milk, and just use crushed ice and juice). It was pretty hot the day of my party, so all the action for the blending was inside. (sorry for some of the lousy pictures)

Some of the Strawberry Banana from up above before serving:


Weren't the cups they sent fun?


Alright, so I really may have had too much fun with the decorations. I'm not sure why I have no picture of my deck (what was I thinking???) but I cut up some fake little grass skirts to hang along the railing, and every one had Hawaiian leis - even the Corgis:


See? Too much fun. ;) Thank you Dole! Every one had a blast and it was fun - even if I spent most of the party attached to the blender! LOL (frozen fruit is great to bake with too, by the way. I had a handful of strawberries left over, so I added them to a batch of brownie mix later on - it came out so good!)

Win it! I have some extra coupons thanks to Dole that I want to share! Two lucky readers will win FIVE free Dole frozen fruit coupons to have a mini smoothie party of their own! To enter, tell us what ingredients you'd use to make your perfect Smoothie!

As always, you can receive extra entries for:

-Subscribing to my feed or following my blog
-Blogging about this giveaway with a link back
-Tweeting about this giveaway (leave the link or @psychotichouse)

That's four (4) possible entries! Giveaway ends August 7th at 11:59 PM PST, and please leave your email address in your entry or have it available in your profile. US only, sorry :( Good luck everyone!! :)

I received the items stated above from the sponsor in order to host a party. Many items were purchased with my own money though to supplement. All thought(s) above are my own or my guests.

Book Review: The I Hate To Cook Book, Updated And Revised by Peg Bracken

I recently received a copy of the 50th anniversary edition of The I Hate To Cook Book, Updated And Revised by Peg Bracken with a new foreword written by her daughter, Jo Bracken.


The original The I Hate To Cook Book was published way back in 1960. Since that time frame, over 3 million copies have been sold. Considering many books are lucky to sell 3,000 copies, obviously the author was on to something.

The thing about The I Hate To Cook Book is that it's MY kind of cooking. Sadly. I'm not a fancy chef, and I'm not delusional in thinking that I ever will be. Especially not when dinner at midnight is considered an early dinner in our home. Now that doesn't mean that I hate to cook - I love it, I like having complete meals on the table, and I'm probably not the core audience technically the book was catering to - I'm a SAHM, and our kiddo schedule is rather boring at this point (story time at the library is about our only time sensitive weekly "appointment" lol). I definitely cannot complain that my days are filled with going to work, shuttling 2 kids to practices, etc. like many women do.

Geez. We have become boring. Good grief!

The book is full of shortcuts, tips to get kids to eat, menu ideas, and easy, simple meals that will not break your grocery budget. It's definitely not food art. Seriously, I hate those kind of books sometimes. The fancy cookbooks are like the Playboy of cookbooks - great to look at, drool over, but few of us ever obtain what's in the pages. ;)

Most of the ingredients you'll see in this one are easily found already in your cabinets - there's no trips to the overpriced market that only sells certain things. You know which ones I'm talking about, ladies. I love to shop them, I really do, but when I buy the fixin's for just one meal, I've spent my entire week's worth of dinner budget. Yeouch! The recipes are easily to follow along with, and simple to prepare. Some of the ingredients have already been updated for what's in today's pantries as well, so you won't be looking on your hands and knees at the grocery store for a funky ingredient they no longer sell by that name.

There is also a section on household hints (such as coating the center of buttons with clear nail polish to strengthen the thread - genius! no one wants to sew buttons back on these days.) If Peg was still alive (she pass away several years ago), I would love to have coffee with her. I like her sense of humor that shows through in the book. It makes a great fun wedding or bridal shower gift too. Weeeell, maybe if they aren't a gourmet cook in a fancy restaurant. ;)

The I Hate To Cook Book, Updated And Revised by Peg Bracken is a hardcover book that retails for $22.99. You can find it at your favorite local bookstore, or online via places like Amazon (where's it's currently on sale for $15.63 as of this posting)

I received a copy of this book in order to review.

Random Thoughts Tuesday, It Is?

Yeah, so I didn't even know it was Tuesday until I read someone else's RTT. I am losing my mind....

Wait, I already lost it a long time ago. Never mind.

I've noticed an oily looking film on our water, even after it's been through a PUR filter. Someone suggested a Berkley (sp?) filter? All I know is that they are super pricey. Sigh. Has anyone used one of them? I'm almost tempted to start buying bottled water again, so I guess the cost would probably even out in the long run. I just don't want the kiddo and pets drinking nasty water. How sad is it when we don't even have clean drinking water anymore in this world? What have we done?

We're contemplating a short road trip. Short is the name of the game, because I don't trust that dratted car of ours.

Since the rabbit already likes to play dead, we're trying to teach him to do it when we say Kill The Wabbit. It's not going so well, but it's amusing all the same.

Because we're nuts. ;)

It also happens to be major bunny blow out season (he's a Lionhead), so I feel like I have baby bunnies roaming around here. Add that with corgi and cat fur, and I swear I could create a line of stuffed animals stuffed with pet fur. You do not want to know how often I am Swiffering and vacuuming around here. It's absurd!

Send in the clowns has been stuck in my head all morning. I have no idea why, and clowns are creepy.

Super creepy. Ick. I have the heebie jeebies now.

I spent like 3 hours drooling on Etsy again last night. It's the best time waster, ever. ;) If I ever win the lottery, I will be going nuts on Etsy. Big box stores need not apply. ;) So many pretty things from so many talented folks!

Book Review: Fortunate Harbor By Emilie Richards

I recently received a copy of Emilie Richards' latest novel to review, Fortunate Harbor.


Fortunate Harbor is book two of the Happiness Key trilogy. Happiness Key is a little development with cottages in Florida, where five women live and share friendships. The story centers around Tracy Deloche, who owns the cottages; Janya Kapur, who struggles with infertility and wanting a baby badly; Wanda Gray, who's husband is a cop and she creates a pie-making business; Alice Brook, who's granddaughter Olivia lives with her; and Dana Turner, who is new to Happiness Key and is a single Mom who's arrived with her daughter Lizzie to rent one of the cottages.

While you can pick up Fortunate Harbor and read it without having read book one of the trilogy, Happiness Key, it's probably best that you do start off reading one before two, if only to understand more of the characters' backgrounds. It's impossible not to get a bit of the feeling of "knowing" these characters, and rooting for them as you read along. The book is well written, and while it's a longer read for this style of novel - over 500 pages - you are following along with multiple story lines that merge together and almost make you feel like you are reading intertwined shorter stories. It's hard to put the book down!

If you're on a longer vacation, Fortunate Harbor is the book to pack. Sit down by the pool and just enjoy getting lost in the world of Happiness Key - or just pretend you're in sunny Florida during colder, dreary weather. ;) Two thumbs up from me for yet another great novel from Ms. Richards! I'm waiting as patiently as I can for book three.

Fortunate Harbor by Emilie Richards is a fiction paperback novel, and is available at your favorite bookstore (support the small ones folks if you can!) and places such as Amazon, as well as on download for Kindle and other e-readers. It's 528 pages, and the suggested retail price is $13.95.

Menu Planning Monday - Yep Chicken

Chicken was on sale, so I am sure you can guess what we'll be seeing a lot of this week. ;)

Monday: Sweet N Sour Chicken, rice

Tuesday: Semi Homemade Slow Cooker Mac N Cheese

Wednesday: DH is home so he is grilling out (hamburgers?)

Thursday: DH is home so he is grilling out again (chicken?)

Friday: recipe of the week

Saturday: fried chicken tenders, green beans, rolls

Sunday: Chicken Cacciatore

Check out Organizing Junkie for other great Menu Plans!

Review & Giveaway: Animal Charms

When our Pudgy passed away to the Rainbow Bridge last July, I went in search of a few pieces to remember her by. I did the rounds, mostly focusing on Etsy, and a few other sites that focused on pet remembrance jewelry. What I ended up with was nothing special - one hand stamped piece didn't last very long - and both DH and I were rather disappointed. I was beginning to be feel like some places were just cashing in on folk's grief. :(

So when the package from Animal Charms arrived, I honestly prepared myself for disappointment again. When I opened the package, it was anything BUT disappointment. The box was safely secured in the package, something others don't do. But it gets even better - the necklace was safely secured inside this pretty little gift storage bag inside a little box. For presentation, Animal Charms definitely gets an A+ from me! I feel safe knowing I could order this as a gift and have it sent to the recipient, and it will look nice upon arrival instead of just shoved into a bubble mailer.

The charm itself is wonderful! I was afraid that the picture I sent, while one of our favorites, might not be up to par, since it was only shot with a 5.0 camera. The way it came out makes it look almost like a watercolor! And the pendant itself is clearly good quality, a heavy weight that is not going to snap on you when wearing it the first time, either. (This is not mall booth quality, it's the real deal) DH teared up when he came home and saw it waiting for him on the counter.


Now the charm I chose is a dog tag style, but it's also available in a round shape and a pretty little heart shape too. You choose the picture - any one that you'd like, so long as it is a high resolution if you can. You can also choose text engraving, and have your pet's name and dates on the back if you'd like. It truly makes a wonderful memorial gift because of this, and the price is a great deal too - just $39.99. (and it's worth the $39.99, honestly!) You can also order a silver chain in several sizes to go along with it as well.

Right now, Animal Charms is offering a 10% discount off every purchase for my blog readers - just use promo code BLOG20 at check out to receive the discount.

Animal Charms is actually a family owned business (something I wish there was more of!). Steve Gerencser, is a jeweler, and his wife, Diane, is a retired Lt. Colonel from the USAF Reserves. Animal Charms was started in order to help raise money for animal charities - 10% of every sale is automatically donated to charity. (kudos!)

Win it! Animal Charms has wonderfully offered to give one of my readers their own photo pendant! To enter, tell us which shape you would choose, and tell us about the pet you'd have it made with.

As always, you can receive extra entries for:

-Subscribing to my feed or following my blog
-Blogging about this giveaway with a link back
-Tweeting about this giveaway (leave the link or @psychotichouse)

That's four (4) possible entries! Giveaway ends August 7th at 11:59 PM PST, and please leave your email address in your entry or have it available in your profile. US only, sorry :( Good luck everyone!! :)

I received product in order to share my thoughts about. One reader will win the prize stated above, as chosen by Random.org and fulfilled by the sponsor.

Printable Coupon & Giveaway: Hefty

When I host a BBQ or a party, the last thing I want to do is clean a bunch of dishes if I can help it - I'd rather use disposable. I know it's not always environmentally friendly to do so, but I'm an honest housewife here!

The thing with using the disposable, is that if you go too cheap - you know what I mean - the plates and cups can be rather flimsy. Your guests end up having double and triple up their plates so sauces don't go through, they don't bend and flap - well, you know what I mean, I'm sure. On top of it being bad for the environment again, because now they've used double or more, you also end up spending more in the long run. You might as well just go for the sturdy stuff to begin with!


The folks over at Hefty have this great video you can see talking about the same thing, as well as some great tips for saving money on hosting BBQs:



Direct link for the feedreaders

At the end of the video, there is a link to a printable Hefty coupon that will save you $1.00 off any Hefty trash bags!

I was hoping to include pictures of one of our picnics at a local park in here - some of you who read my blog daily may know I was super excited in finding a nice park close to home the other day - but that park just was shut down for swimming due to bacteria! Eeek! So we're waiting until it gets the all clear. There are other places we can take a picnic to, but this one was nice in that it also had BBQs. Sigh - Murphy's Law, it's the story of our life around here. When we move next, I'm making DH put a picnic table in!

Win it! I have a little prize pack to share with you, thanks to the folks over at Hefty! One reader will win a coupon for a free Hefty product and a little giftcard to the Safeway family of stores! To enter, tell us what your must have for picnics is.

As always, you can receive extra entries for:

-Subscribing to my feed or following my blog
-Blogging about this giveaway with a link back
-Tweeting about this giveaway (leave the link or @psychotichouse)

That's four (4) possible entries! Giveaway ends July 31st at 11:59 PM PST, and please leave your email address in your entry or have it available in your profile. US only, sorry :( Good luck everyone!! :)

I received coupons to write this post. One winner will receive the prize pack stated above.

Did Ya Win?

The winner of the Flings Trash Bin Giveaway is:

taylorbagels said...

Beef and noodles and vegetables.

The winner of the When A Woman Takes An Axe To A Wall Giveaway is:

Rachel said...

Ok, how much do they let you type in here?

As an unmarried lady in a house I pretty much do all that I can before I have to pay someone else to do it. Oh, and my house is/was a fixer-upper. So I've taken a hammer to some awful accordian doors separating the kitchen from the living room. I ripped up ALL the old carpet (very loved on by dogs). That was probably the grossest thing ever because some spots still felt damp. I painted every room (except the garage), including the ceilings and accent walls! I installed knobs on the kitchen cabinets. Took out the ancient and caked in dust blinds and put in new blinds. Textured walls. Patched holes in walls. Replaced the outlet receptacles for the light switches, telephone plugs and wall outlets because the previous owner had painted over them.

Okay by now you have to be bored...suffice to say I know my way around a hammer, screwdriver and powertools. :)

And the winner of Renee Fleming's new CD Dark Hope is:

catnap said...

I get yer emails and read them every day.

Another Super Secret Johnsonville Grillville Code

Here's one of the last Johnsonville codes for you to use to enter:

This Week’s Johnsonville GRILLVILLE Secret Code Word is SAUSAGE.

Don't know what I am talking about? Check out my original post here - but hurry, the contest is over July 20th! (and don't forget to check out my blog page on Facebook, because you'll find different codes lurking over there for the Grillville contest!)

And I've got a Johnsonville contest of my own running right now along with an easy peasy recipe for you to try - head on over to win some free fixin's for your own BBQ for your family! :)

How Often Do You?

There's a discussion that started a few days ago over on one the Amazon forums - apparently the original poster asked a very good question - How often do you use your towels?

Since the majority of folks say they use them several times - some even for a week - I'm curious. How often do you use your towels before washing them?

We only use ours once. So maybe it's not frugal, but I've seen what comes off your skin even after you've just washed. I'd rather pay the extra electricity! (Towels are one of the few things I wash in hot water) So what about you? Use 'em once? Twice?

Get Your Random News, Promo Codes, Sales & Contests, Right Here!

Rather than swamp your feed readers or fill up your inbox, I'm condesning a bunch of great things into one post that arrived in my inbox from different companies over the last few days!

From July 12th through July 30th, Spreadshirt is offering a free accessory with each order of $40 or more. (You can even end up with a free messenger bag for school!!) Use promo code USACCFORFREE. Unfamiliar with Spreadshirt? It's a site where you can personalize apparel and accessories with images and text of your choice! It's a pretty neat way to make a special gift - or to have matching shirts and stuff for races, park trips, etc.

Wilson & Ditch Digging America is a new animated webisode series created by none other than the Jim Henson Company. If you're looking for something to waste a few minutes away with the kids, check out this visit to Flathead Valley National Park in Montana. It's meant for kids ages 6 to 10, but younger kids may enjoy it and learn something too - plus there's other little webisodes where they visit other places throughout the country. If you can't do a road trip, might as well go there virtually! :)

Remember my review on The Six O'Clock Scramble? Through July 31st, you can use promo code SUMMER10 at checkout to receive $2.50 off a summer three-month membership, $5.00 off of a 6 month subscription, or $10 off of the annual subscription.

If you're in the mood to trade off books, DVDs, and video games, but not in the mood to stand in line at GameStop, or hold a yard sale, don't forget to check out Swaptree.com. For the cost of postage, you can trade in those books, movies, and games, and get something new to watch, play, or read. It's completely free to use, so take a peek and see if they have something your family wants before paying full price new! (Plus: the bonus is that you can trade a DVD for a book, or a book for a game!)

It's Summer... which means it is even easier to give your dog a bath! Over at Happy Tails, if you buy one Bubbles n' Beads and you will get a Dry Dog Instant Clean FREE! If your doggy goes into the water a lot, the Instant Clean is perfect to have on hand this Summer. Promotion ends midnight PST July 20th 2010. I've used their Bubbles n' Beads with Captain especially, who thinks mud is fun, lol, and love it. It's not Target cheap, but the bottle lasts awhile - weeell, depending on the size of your dog. I'm sure if you have a Great Dane, you might go through it faster than us!

Pregnancy & Newborn has a cool contest going on right now for those of you expecting or who have a newbie: You can win a Noonie by Lala’s Pequeños. Have you seen these? They are adorable! The contest runs through July 16th, so hurry to enter!

It's National Ice Cream Day, by the way! Here's your excuse to go out and get a cone or sundae as a family! :)

Recipe: Italian Sausage Skewers (Giveaway Thanks to Johnsonville)

Did you check out my previous Johnsonville post last week? If you didn't, hurry on over, because I have code in the post that will get you some extra entries to the contest they are holding!

Kids are such finicky eaters, and one of the easiest way to get them to eat properly is to entertain them with food. Be it food cut into silly shapes, smiley faces made with condiments, we are always trying to get them to finish their plates. One of the more fun ways to get older kids to eat is with kabobs! The recipe I am making below is with meat, of course, but you can make fruit and veggie kabobs too. (Always supervise due to the sharp end!) They also make great BBQ food for us adults too!

The best part of this? No bread! It cuts down on those calories, not to mention keeps a BBQ cost down. And those skewers aren't that hard to find - a pack of 50 will run you about $1 at a dollar store, even cheaper at restaurant supply stores. (I bought 100 for just 79 cents!)

I made these with Johnsonville Mild Italian Sausage. Just cut the sausage into about 1" pieces using (food) scissors or an extra sharp knife. Do them same with the peppers - to make it even more colorful, use all three different colors of peppers! For fruit, I used pineapple - canned, because neither DH or I was in the mood to attack a whole pineapple lol but while fresh is best, you can use the canned ones too. You can also use onions, but because I have Corgi vaccum cleaners, we tend to avoid onions when grilling. ;) It was super easy to get ready - in less than 5 minutes I had an entire batch of these skewers ready for dinner!




Win it! Johnsonville had sent me a package of goodies, and I would like to share with y'all! One reader will get two coupons for free Johnsonville products, plus one for a Free Hefty product to get plates so you can host your own little family BBQ! To enter, tell me what you'd put on your skewer. Easy peasy! Would you go for the Italian Sausage? A Beer Bratwurst? Or are you more of a chicken fan?

As always, you can receive extra entries for:

-Subscribing to my feed or following my blog
-Blogging about this giveaway with a link back
-Tweeting about this giveaway (leave the link or @psychotichouse)

That's four (4) possible entries! Giveaway ends July 31st at 11:59 PM PST, and please leave your email address in your entry or have it available in your profile. US only, sorry :( Good luck everyone!! :)

I received a gift package in order to write my original post referrenced above in this post.