Giveaway: Shop Til You Rock

Chances are if you have a 'tween or a teen, you probably spend either a lot of time at the mall with them - or picking them up from the mall. This is a big time of year, with serious back to school wardrobe shopping too!

"Shop Til You Rock" is a music-inspired mall tour (free!) being held at over 120 malls across the country. Some of the dates you'll see Disney Channel recording star Demi Lovato performing! The tour celebrates teen lifestyles - combining this year’s hottest fall teen fashions with special performances from more than 100 of today’s popular music artists, brought to you by Hot Topic. There are live performances from local bands, your teens may have an opportunity to meet the band, as well as enjoy cool activities designed exclusively for teens, including:

· Rock On Salon – Teens can release their inner rocker with an outrageous rocker hairstyle, all captured celebrity-style by Kodak. All photos will be uploaded online, where teens have the opportunity to change their hair color or style, share with friends and more.

· Just Dance - Mall goers can show off their rock star moves and challenge friends to a dance off with America’s hottest dance game Just Dance, featuring music from chart-topping artists. Teens who fan Just Dance’s Facebook page at the event will receive an “I ? Just Dance” T-shirt, while supplies last.

· Rock The Runway – Do you stand out in a crowd? Teens have the chance to rock the runway with Fusion Model Management’s search to reward guys and girls ages 13-19 with modeling contracts totaling nearly $400,000.

· Pepsi Refresh Project Lounge – This year, the Pepsi Refresh Project is giving millions of dollars to fund ideas that will refresh the world. Rock your world and make a difference by voting for your favorite project at the Lounge (www.refresheverything.com).

· Rock Star HQ – Teens can enable their cell phone’s wireless technology capabilities to win prizes, get the latest retail offers, register for sweepstakes and join GGP’s free, exclusive membership, The ClubSM.

· Center Stage - Popular retailers will host on-stage fashion spotlights to give teens inspiration to create their best fall looks. There also will be games, contests and trivia to win great Shop Til You Rock and participating sponsor prizes.


Isn't Demi Lovato just adorable? (I sound like such a Mom saying that. Geez. LOL!) I loved my music when I was around that age, but my walls were plasted with pictures of choices in the completely different musical direction. ;)

Win it! I have a $25 gift certificate to Aeropostale to give away, thanks to the folks behind Shop Til You Rock! To enter, tell us your tween/teen's favorite store to shop at the mall.

As always, you can receive extra entries for:

-Subscribing to my feed or following my blog (1 entry, your choice of ways to follow)
-Blogging about this giveaway with a link back
-Tweeting about this giveaway (leave the link in your comment below or @psychotichouse)
Enter to win $25 Aeropostale GC http://goo.gl/fb/yurHN ends 9/10 @psychotichouse

That's four (4) possible entries! Giveaway ends September 10th at 11:59 PM PST, and please leave your email address in your entry or have it available in your profile. US only, sorry :(

I didn't receive anything for this post, but one lucky winner will win the prize stated above, as fulfilled by the giveaway sponsor.

Random Thoughts Tuesday - 53K?!!

Bah... it's raining. I guess at least I don't have to water most of my plants today.

I think kids are never in school around here. They get out earlier, they go back later - and they aren't in school as long throughout the day. No wonder kids are having school issues - when do they have time to learn anything if they aren't even in school?

The grocery ads came in today, and I'm kinda disappointed in the sales. :( I was hoping for some better meat sales, and they are kind of bleh. The few deals that there is seems to be just processed foods - not that I don't use them in our home, but we already have plenty from previous sales. I noticed the milk prices are going up again, today. Booo!

The most dangerous email in my inbox: Half Price Books is having a 20% off sale for Labor Day. Do you know how difficult it is to delete that one? Booooooks. Boooooks. They call to me....

I need to go through our first aid and illness supplies. I think we used up the last of the cold medicine defeating our last battle, and with all the germs DH comes in contact with, it's better to be safe than sorry around. I seriously think it's the lack of sunlight/vitamin D - he never used to get sick in back in Texas, and he only gets stuff when it's back to cold and rainy. When it's hot and sunny - and dry, of course - we're all fine. (you can take the Texans out of Texas, but ya can't take the Texas out of Texans... or something like there. Hey, good tongue twister. lol)

I've been craving Subway - it's been awhile since we've had it.

So for kicks and giggles, we've been pricing vehicles online - we started with brand new just to kind of see... and DH was talking about a Dodge Ram (truck) so that was the first one we did. I'm thinking my face was pretty priceless when the model he started adding stuff to was $53K - and that was without snow packages! I'm still fanning myself in shock just writing that out - the guy can DREAM ON. LOL

Menu Planning Monday - Time To Get New Ideas

I have the motivation of a snail today when it comes to planning dinners this week. Nothing sounds overly interesting, and I when I asked DH if there was anything he craved, he just said Surprise me. Gee, thanks for the inspiration. lol I think a trip to the library is in order to borrow some new cookbooks and get some more ideas.

Monday: tuna melts, seasoned potatoes

Tuesday: Slow Cooker BBQ Roast Chicken, salad, rolls

Wednesday: Spicy Mediterranean Wraps

Thursday: DH is grilling, BBQ beans

Friday: recipe of the week

Saturday: homemade slow cooker split pea soup, rolls

Sunday: breakfast for dinner - pancakes, bacon, eggs

Check out Organizing Junkie for other great Menu Plans!

Review: Green Mountain Mustard Sweet Hot

I have died and gone to heaven.

Mustard heaven, that is.

When the opportunity to try out Green Mountain Mustard appeared, I jumped on it - probably faster than a speeding bullet. We love different mustards around here, and at any time you can open my fridge and see certainly three of four different varieties. (See? I meant it when I said we love mustard! It's even used on pizza around here!)

Green Mountain Mustard is a small family owned business out of the beautiful state of Vermont. GMM got it's start years ago in the family kitchen, where it was a big hit at the family's BBQs. One day they noticed that no one else was selling mustard at the farmers market they were going to, so an idea was born. They showed up the following week with just nine jars of their mustard, complete with address labels as the label. Guess what? All nine jars sold in just thirty minutes!

These days, there are several varieties to choose from, and while the business is a little bigger, they still only use local ingredients whenever possible.

Green Mountain Mustard sent us on over a jar of their Sweet-Hot mustard. It's sweetened with Vermont Maple Syrup, and it has eggs and a little bit of red pepper flakes in it.



First, we tried it on a BBQ chicken and Gouda sub with all the fixin's. It was good, but the fixin's I think overwhelmed the taste of the mustard. So I went straight for one of our other favorite sandwiches - tuna on a toasted bagel.

Oh my word. The mix of the tuna and the mustard together? Sweet divine-ness! There's just a little bit of kick to the mustard, not an overwhelming burn - so if you don't like spicy, don't run away quite yet. The taste of the maple syrup doesn't overwhelm it either - in fact, if I didn't already know it used maple syrup, I would never have guessed. It has a pretty simple ingredients list - just eight, and they are all items I can not only pronouce, but I could pull out of my own kitchen. There are no strange chemical ingredients leaving you shaking your head trying to pronouce them!

An 8.25 oz jar of the Green Mountain Mustard's Sweet Hot runs $5. They also several other varieties: Horseradish, Jalapeno, and the newest variety, Maple Wholegrain. (By the way, for anyone with gluten and nut allegies, they are produced in a gluten and nut free facility. However, if you have problems with eggs, they do use those.) If you happen to live in Vermont, you'll find it at several smaller stores. (check their page for locations) If you're like me, and live elsewhere, you can purchase their mustards online. You can even purchase a 3 pack sampler of all three flavors.

You can follow Green Mountain Mustard over on Twitter, or if you're on Facebook, you can find their page over there too.

Our jar is almost empty (in less than 3 days LOL), and I'm willing to bet if you love mustard as well, you'll fall in love too!

I received a sample of the product mentioned above to sample and share my thoughts of. All opinions are my own, and you'll probably find me clutching a jar of this yummy goodness when they bury me. LOL

The Good And The Bad

Happily, my cord for my beloved laptop arrived yesterday.

Unhappily, there's still problems. It seems that the inside where the cord fits in is bent (probably from that tumble awhile back) and you still have to jiggle the cord to get it to charge... and it has to stay perfectly still while doing so. I'm basically right back where I was before the cord went POOF!

You win some, you loose some. It doesn't do me any good to get upset about it - just deal and move on. Seriously, there are more important things in life to worry about! :)

She's Painting The Roses Red...

That doesn't have anything to do with my post, the song has just been stuck in my head all week - although, we still haven't painted the shed.

We need to get a move on it. It suddenly hit me a few days ago that Summer is almost over. That combined with the higher prices at the grocery store has been weighing heavily on me. The story of the Ant and The Grasshopper comes to mind:

In a field one summer’s day a Grasshopper was hopping about, chirping and singing to its heart’s content. An Ant passed by, bearing along with great toil an ear of corn he was taking to the nest.

“Why not come and chat with me,” said the Grasshopper, “instead of toiling and moiling in that way?”

“I am helping to lay up food for the winter,” said the Ant, “and recommend you to do the same.”

“Why bother about winter?” said the Grasshopper; “we have got plenty of food at present.” But the Ant went on its way and continued its toil.

When the winter came the Grasshopper had no food, and found itself dying of hunger, while it saw the ants distributing every day corn and grain from the stores they had collected in the summer. Then the Grasshopper knew:
“IT IS BEST TO PREPARE FOR THE DAYS OF NECESSITY.”

It's time to be an ant, and finish projects around the house. I have a strong feeling that this Winter will be much harsher for us here than last - we had a few snowflakes, nothing that even came close to sticking on the ground here. It was much warmer, which I think was a very good thing, as I didn't end up with as much food for the fireplace as I would have hoped for. This is where I turn into henny penny and freak out, because I only have my 2-3 day emergency supply of wood ready for Winter. I know if I am not ready, we will be slammed with snow - and the prospect of frozen pipes again REALLY do not interest me! (Forget being psychotic, I will be much worse! I need my running water!)

I am frustrated that my little garden has not done as well as I had hoped, but know I learned some valuable gardening skills - and I managed not to kill every plant. I also had a new record in that my plants grown from scratch have hung on - in fact, several of my from seed tomato plants are looking just beautiful! My compost pile is full of worms, so I know I have been doing that right as well. I'm still not too happy with the jokester that switched my store bought tomatoes tags - I thought my little batch of plants were to be Big Boy tomatoes - I kept waiting and waiting for them to grow. They were actually cherry tomatoes! They look like they belong on a Barbie plate. LOL!! So much for all the fresh salsa and tomato sauce I thought I was going to be able to can!

My to-do list around the house includes getting the windows and areas winterized - they leak so much energy! We have learned a valuable lesson from this house: never buy or build a house with so many large windows. I thought that they would make the house seem bigger, but it only makes it more miserable between being too hot or too cold (even after having taken steps to combat it with energy efficient films), and less space to be able to move furniture around - for instance, we would love to have the TV hanging on the wall, but there isn't enough wall space to do it, thanks to our open plan!

I also need to get cracking on the longer term menu planning, as well as try to figure out a way to maximize our food storage space.

So my fellow Ants: what projects do you need to finish before Fall is here?

DVD Review: Go, Diego, Go! Diego's Ultimate Rescue League

My family and I recently received a copy of the new animated DVD, Go, Diego, Go! Diego's Ultimate Rescue League to review.


Go, Diego, Go! Diego's Ultimate Rescue League contains three episodes featuring Dora's cousin, Diego: "Diego's International Rescue League", "Ocean Animal Rescuer" and "Diego Rescues Prince Vicuna".

"Diego's International Rescue League" is actually a double length episode, where Diego and his crew are over on Rescue Island, and must work together with some fun little gadgets to save lots of animals from around the world. The fun part of this episode is that there are kids from different parts of the world with different animals they can focus on helping (one's a diver so they are great for sea rescues). Of course, the "rescue" theme is apparent through all three of the episodes included on this disc - a cause near and dear to my family, and making Diego a great choice for anyone else teaching the values of animal care and rescue to their children. The DVD is full of the usual matching and learning skills that's the norm with the Dora and Diego series, along with the usual peppering of Spanish words. Kids should come away with learning a little something new.

Go, Diego, Go! Diego's Ultimate Rescue League hits the streets this Tuesday, August 31st 2010. The total running time is 94 minutes long, and it's full screen format with no bonus features. It's not rated, but intended for the 2 to 4 preschool crowd - older kids may start to snooze their way through the disc, especially on multiple viewings. The suggested retail price is $16.99, but Amazon has it on pre-order for $12.99 as of this posting.

I received a copy of this DVD to view in order to share my family's opinions.

DVD Review: iCarly: iSpace Out

My family and I recently received a copy of the new DVD, iCarly: iSpace Out, to review.


iCarly: iSpace Out is the latest installment from the popular Nickelodeon 'tween TV series. It contains six new to DVD episodes: "iSpace Out", "iWas a Pageant Girl", "iEnrange Gibby", "iFix A Pop Star", "iWon't Cancel the Show", and "iBelieve in Bigfoot".

In the title episode, "iSpace Out", Carly, Sam, and Freddie are invited by a billionaire to broadcast iCarly live from outer space. First, they must compete against the hosts of a rival web show for the chance, and pass some tests to prove they can handle the closed quarters first. Sam hiding beef brisket and creamed corn? Yes, you'll see it in this one. lol

The episodes are all typical iCarly fare (though, no appearances from Freddy's overbearing Mom on these - hurray!). The best episode is probably the final one on this DVD, "iBelieve in Bigfoot" - where they take off in Spencer's RV in search of Bigfoot and the BeavCoon. Even parents will get the hysterical giggles on this one! Don't know what a BeavCoon is? That's alright, I didn't either until we watched this one. (Only Spencer... LOL!) The one episode I could have lived without was the "iFix A Pop Star" which seemed to be a bit of a parody of Britney Spears - the "star" was crass, sullen, and parents who are horror movies fans may recognize the actress as Irene from My Bloody Valentine - after having watched that movie previously, I don't feel she belonged on the cast of a kids show, even if just for one episode - it kind of gave me the heebie jeebies watching her "prance" around on stage.

iCarly: iSpace Out contains a little bit of bonus features: "iSpace Out" iTrivia - where you can see pop ups with iCarly trivia throughout the episode, and the bonus pilot episode of Victorious, a new show on nick that most iCarly fans will enjoy - it's the same age range, only with a lot more singing and dancing. (You may recognize the lead character from Zoey 101)

iCarly: iSpace Out hits the streets this Tuesday, August 31st. It's full screen format, with a total running time of 145 minutes. Not rated, it's safe for the tween age range of about 7 to 12. (and adults too! lol) The suggested retail price is $16.99, though Amazon has it for just $12.49 as of this posting.

You know the drill: I received a copy of this DVD in order to view and share my opinions. Yada, yada, yada...

Bad Weather, Bad!

So yesterday we had all these grand plans. We hopped into the car - on time, might I add - and headed off in the direction of Bainbridge Island, complete with Coleman camping gear. It was supposed to be a nice day yesterday, and rain coming in today.

Welcome to Washington State, where the weather never is what it's supposed to be. So much for the fun aspect! We stopped at the Clearwater Casino - before anyone rips on me and give the Bad Parent speech, most casinos will allow children in to the restaurants, and many have a special entrance just for that purpose near their food areas. We had a really nice lunch at their buffet (can't beat $9.95 each, with kids under $5 free!), and DH wandered off for a few minutes at the slots (*yawns*) where he doubled his $1 allowance I gave him. LOL!

We left Clearwater where the sky opened up. Scratch going to Bainbridge, because it's no fun wandering around in the rain. We stopped at the dog park in Poulsbo - a very sad, boring excuse of a dog park, really. It's small, and dry. And by dry, I mean we ended up with two mud balls in the space of about 30 seconds. Bad idea, Storm - verrry bad idea. (I felt bad!)

I asked DH to stop by the Central Market in Poulsbo because I kept hearing how wonderful this place was.

It's only wonderful if you like the way Whole Foods would look if it only stocked Safeway style goods. The only entertainment for me was an area where they had some bulk goods such as different flours and rices. (and honestly, Fred Meyer has a pretty comparable section) I came, I saw, I spent 70 cents. LOL! (on a cheese stick for the munchkin)

I took that as a sign, so we just stopped by Grocery Outlet where I always have fun looking for bargains. It hit me as I was looking through the cheese and dairy that the regular prices had jumped at least 20 cents on almost everything in just over a week. Folks, if you don't do food storage, now is the time to start. I've been watching things jump the last couple of weeks, and I'm feeling the need to stock up when good deals are there.

I still had a couple of free Redbox codes from a Pepsi deal earlier in the Summer, so I figured on the way home we could vegetate in front of the TV a little. We rented Furry Vengeance which I thought was HYSTERICAL! DH also rented Clash of the Titans - yawn! Not too impressed with it, I thought some of the CGI was pretty sad considering what can be done today. (Don't even get me started on how the Jin looked!)

Field trip and camping trip saved for next week I guess.

Testing The Electrolux Oxygen Ultra With PlasmaWave

Allergens? I've got your allergens right here. Seven of the furry variety. And dust galore, no matter how much I swiffer. And pollen. And who knows what else in the air coming from the shipyard. Oh, and you can't forget the lovely mold that comes with the territory of living in Washington state. Toss those in with my asthma from down under, and I can tell you, my life can be really miserable, healthwise, most days. In the last two years, I've had three rush visits to Urgent Care/ERs thanks to my asthma. My inhalers cost $117 a pop. Even using a double routine of a controller with the emergency inhaler doesn't do much. And allergy meds? They knock me out cold, even at half dose that says it's non drowsy. :( It's crazy! I'll try anything at this point, especially if it doesn't involve a medicine!

So when I was contacted on behalf of Electrolux to give their Electrolux Oxygen Ultra with PlasmaWave a trial run, I wondered if it might help cut my allergies and asthma down a little. I'll skip all the product details in this post and save it for my review at the end, but it's supposed to be great for cleaning up odors, assorted junk in the air, as well as bacteria - and the bonus, all the junk that ends up in the air thanks to pets.


When it arrived a few days ago, DH originally set it up in the living room, because it's good for 400 square feet, but after having a pow wow with my Dad on the phone and realizing it would be in the 80s this week, and we'd be in the AC'd bedroom much more, he moved it to the bedroom. (whew - how's that for a run on sentence? lol) After being about 24 hours on auto, I had opened the window to try to get some cooler air in after turning off the AC last night. I noticed by about an hour later it had started kicking it up a notch and closed the window. I went to make dinner, and about a half an hour later, it was on a full scale attack on the junk in the air. (lol)

Seriously, it makes me worried - and confirms - that the air out here definitely isn't the cleanest. :(

Now I'll be running this for 30 days, and trying to avoid any medication whenever possible (except the rescue inhalers, of course). I'll let you know at the end of the 30 days my full review. If you're interested in shorter updates as I go along, you may want to follow on Facebook, as I'll probably be putting them there.

I will say that over 36 hours in, I haven't had any major sneezing attacks - in fact, I don't think I've even sneezed. I'm taking that as a good start.

Winning Rocks, Doesn't It?

The winners of the Disney Create giveaway are:

Donna said...

I've always been a Donald Duck fan, Carley (my granddaughter) loves Mickey Mouse. Though, she will be 4 in March and has already told us that she wants a Sleeping Beauty cake.

amyd said...

subscribe

The winner of the Safeway Home Delivery gift card is:

Noelle said...

The option of ordering on line most staples sounds great and Safeway has great selections. I love their bagels and their floral department, my one indulgence!

The winner of the Scentsy giveaway is:

Stephanie said...

I would choose the Weave Green Plug-in Scentsy Warmer and the following scents:
1. Rustic Lodge Scentsy Bar
2. Black Raspberry Vanilla Scentsy Bar
3. Vanilla Cream Scentsy Bar

The winner of the Macaroni Grill Frozen Giveaway is:

karenmed409 said...

subscriber

The winner of the Add Up The Savings Giveaway is:

romig41281 said...

Yogurt, Pillsbury biscuits, huggies, cheerios!

Congratulations everyone! Emails are being sent, and I need to hear back from you in the next 48 hours!

Let's Do Some Random News & Info, Shall We?

Reason #5,329 why I need to menu plan: I have no clue what's for dinner. I can't even cop out and say cereal, because we're out of milk until tomorrow.

Anyways, here's some random news, sales, and contests that have landed in my email box over the last week or so, and rather than fill up your readers/inbox, I thought I'd condense them all into this one post. Maybe they'll save you some money, maybe you'll win something, or maybe I'm just helping you spend money you shouldn't be. I'm in the poorhouse from the shopping over the weekend, so I have to behave myself. ;) lol

6pm.com is having a swim & sandal blow out this Thursday, August 26 - sandals up to 85% off. I didn't see any sales this good at the giant mall, so if you're wanting to buy ahead for next Spring or you just live in a warmer area, you might want to check it out!

Dr. Natura is offering $10 off their Colonix Program using promo code 10B. Check with your doctor or health care provider before using anything like this, but I'm sure you know the drill. As bloated and cruddy as I feel lately, maybe I should give it a whirl... I suppose that could be an entertaining review. lol

If you need something to entertain your kids with online, you can play the Spot The Difference Game. Here's the Kids edition, and there's lots of other ones available, even for us to waste some time on. (They are timed too!)

Spreadshirt - a site where you can create and buy personalized shirts, clothing, and other goodies - now has a Fashion Inspiration page, sharing trends, that will help fashionistas get some inspiration. Of course, I'm totally happy the way some of the trends are going this fall - gypsy skirts and the Victorian look, with a bit of biker thrown in! I'm back in style again! lol

If you like King's Hawaiian bread (yummy!) they have a new printable coupon out where you save $1.00 on a package of their rolls. (It's a Red Plum coupon)

Now through December 31st, Great Clips is giving away a $100 gift certificate monthly in their contest! If you don't win, you can enter each month. Check out the site for complete rules.

Woman's Day is giving away a nice Softsoap Body Wash gift package to 20 winners! You can enter daily, and the contest runs through October 17th. (and it looks like they have some other good contests running right now - might as well try your luck!)

Cold season is around the corner, and Breathe Right has a free sample available right now - they are great to use at night when you can't sleep due to being all stuffy. You'll also receive a $1 off your purchase coupon.

Hotel Review: Residence Inn Seattle Bellevue/Downtown (Pic Heavy)

Our stay at the Residence Inn by Marriott here in Seattle Bellevue/Downtown was absolutely wonderful! The hotel itself is less than two years old, and it's beautifully done. The kitchen in the room we stayed in was done in red (in fact, we have matching kitchen towels! LOL) and it actually made me want to move in! Everything was available in the kitchen for us to make snacks - complete settings for four, plus cookware - even measuring cups, so I could have baked from scratch if I wanted to! The staff was so nice, even when we were having problems with the cable in the middle of the night, someone came on up to help us get it fixed.

The King sizes beds were comfy, and there were lots of pillows. (I think I showed some pictures in my other post when we checked in)

The hot breakfast had everything from biscuits and gravy, to scrambled eggs, to sausage. There was plenty of toppings for your eggs too - everything from hot sauce, to salsa and sour cream, to ketchup. Not your idea of breakfast? They had pastries, muffins, toast, croissants, or if cereal is more your idea, there was several different kinds of cereal to choose from. How about a waffle with lots of fruit toppings? Or make your own yogurt and fruit parfait with granola topping. Two thumbs up for their breakfast!




This was the most un-hotel experience I think I've ever had - and I've stayed at a lot of hotels over the years. I felt like we were in our own apartment. I heard no noise - never once was I woken up, and being a Mom I'm a pretty light sleeper.

Check out their common area:



There was a little Market where you could purchase snacks if you wanted to:


They even have a Microsoft lounge, where you can watch a movie on their 52" screen, check your emails and print anything you need, and DH's favorite part, play video games on their Xbox 360's. Everything was set up so you could be completely comfortable. Dh played some games, and I checked my emails. The building is completely wireless, so if you have a laptop like me or your iPhone, you can work anywhere in the building.






They had a 24 hour fitness room with treadmills and some weight equipment, and each treadmill was equipped with it's on TV screen so you can zone out while working out. Plus, they even had a bowl with apples and water in case you needed a pick me up mid workout.



The pool wasn't the biggest I've seen, but Friday night we were blessed to have it all to ourselves for a couple of hours. We were splashing around like water buffalos - LOL! Saturday we had to share it though, sniff sniff.



We shopped and vegetated to our heart's content! In fact, we had such a wonderful time, we hope to go back for our anniversary next March!

CD Review: David Garrett, Rock Symphonies

I was recently sent a copy of David Garrett's new CD, Rock Symphonies, to review.


I will be honest, when I first saw the cover, I thought hmm... someone is trying to capitilize on the whole vampire craze. Seriously... look at the cover and tell me he doesn't belong in one of those novels or movies.

Meh. Alright, so I do kind of appreciate the cover in all it's goth-y glory. ;) Actually, I'm probably a step ahead of most of the folks they asked to review this CD in that I already knew who David Garrett is - the Reader's Digest Condensed Version is he picked up the violin at the age of 4. Originally born in Germany (his mother is an America), he ended up studying at the Juilliard School. (and if you don't know this famed school, please don't tell me) Since then he has recorded several CDs, as well as a PBS special.

Rock Symphonies is a compilation of a David's take on popular rock songs such as Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit", Metallica's "Master of Puppets" and Guns N Roses "November Rain" mixed in with classics such as Beethoven's 5th.

Now I will admit, I'm not a fan of most of the bands he choose to interpet on this CD - but he does make songs I loathe sound so much better. ;) "Toccata" makes me giddy with glee, and his "Vivaldi vs Vertigo (U2) is incredible. I hate to call this a "crossover" CD (because crossover is becoming such a cliche), but I suppose for most people it is. To me, it's nothing David hasn't done before (he's done similiar CDs with "covers") - but I wish different songs had been chosen to be worked with on here. How about a little Sisters of Mercy?

Here's the official track listing:

1. Smells Like Teen Spirit
2. November Rain
3. The 5th
4. Walk This Way
5. Toccata
6. Vivaldi Vs. Vertigo
7. Master Of Puppets
8. 80's Anthem
9. Live And Let Die
10. Asturias
11. Kashmir


David Garrett Rock Symphonies is available now wherever you purchase your CDs and available on download at sites like iTunes. (Amazon has it for just $9.00 as of this posting!)

I received a copy of this CD in order to share my opinions of it.

Random Thoughts Tuesday - More Grenades, Please

Ugh. I am still so sleepy! I could nap all day. Who knew shopping was so tiring?

We did some car browsing while we were at it over the weekend. The Honda Element is definitely out - it's too small. Actually, that's a big problem with a lot of cars - they are all so small, we'd need a can opener to get everything out! (Go ahead, snicker.) We'd like a car that sits two carseats so we wouldn't have to go back to the drawing board if lightning strikes. Then add in the stroller, two dogs, and the groceries? Not a lot to choose from.

I am trying to convince DH he can get rid of all of his cassettes and the CD cases. You'd think I had told him we needed to put our daughter up for adoption. We don't even HAVE a cassette player! And the CDs? Who needs the cases? Alright, special editions from overseas he can keep. But the other couple hundred? Why do we need them? (Next on my list is the rest of the VHS's... and then maybe the DVD cases... lol I'm brutal!)

Clutter. I hate it.

If it's not a family heirloom, and it hasn't been used in a year, it goes.

Well, except for snow stuff, because we all know what happens the second you think you can get rid of snowboots and pants. lol I'd like to think the reason we didn't have snow last Winter is because I was completely ready for it, with everything from ice melt by the door, and the gloves and hats ready to go.

Have you seen The Walking Dead trailer yet?



I need cable again just for that. And then we've got the new Resident Evil movie coming out next month? Be still my zombie lovin' heart! We need more ammo and grenades, stat! ;)

What A Weekend!

I'll have some posts later night. Yesterday when we got in, I just crashed and slept until 8 this morning! I was super tired! I have some pictures to share with you, and I thought I'd give y'all an official review of the hotel too.

But first, I promised to go play at the park! :)

Checked In

We're checked into the Residence Inn by Marriott, and it's absolutely beautiful! Look at some of these photos of our room:



And they made me cry because when we came into the room, not only was there a gift basket for our daughter, but two little beds and a gift basket for the Corgis! *sob* I miss my crew - and I'm already trying to convince DH to go back for them. Well, at least the dogs, because my Mom has already informed me the munchkin doesn't even seem to notice I'm gone at all yet. Go figure, it bothers ME more than her. LOL


...and leave it to my DH to turn on the TV to Spongebob and it's the zombie episode. LOL!!!!

Off For A Little Fun In The Sun?

Yeah, right - I think we're about a week late for the sun part. lol The high all weekend is supposed to be in the upper 60's!

I originally had a few posts I was going to schedule, but since they are all on my laptop, I guess we'll just have to let it look a little dusty here! Of course the hotel does have Internet access, so I'll share some pictures of the room and what I think (Still sputtering over that $100 pet fee though, let me tell you!)

$50 says I call home every hour on the hour. ;) Here's a picture I found on their website of the hotel we are staying at:

Yeah So...

I'm waiting to be struck by lightning because I think I have the worst luck in the world.

The bright side? The fact that the computer was sitting on my lap, and not on the bed comforter because with the sparks and smoke, we could have caught the bed on fire.

The other bright side? At least this just happened during back to school season when laptops are on sale.

I had been asking DH if I could save Amazon gift certificates for a netbook, and then this happened. So we went to a couple of brick & mortar stores in search of a netbook this morning... and WalMart had an el cheapo laptop on sale - so DH said let's just get the laptop (for him) and then I can still save for my own netbook. (I want a pink one! lol)

I can order a new power cord for my laptop, but we were very confused at which one we need. It's a Toshiba, and I LOVE it - I am not letting it go so easily. (Honestly, I feel like I am cheating on my baby right now! LOL) It's just that there are 5 million different power cord options and I had no clue which one to order last night. I think I can get a Universal one and bypass that problem, but it's like $100 (gulp!). I think DH just figured a new laptop was the lesser of all the evils right now, and the smallest headache.

All I can say is blah. I'm tired of all the bad luck! :( Of course DH is happy, because he has visions of gaming all night long right now. lol I guess another bright side is once I get the new cord, no more sharing a laptop anymore!

Computer Problems

I fried another cord. lol Using PS3 for now, will figure something in the AM.

CURSED!!! LOLLComputers hate me I guess.

Blog Tour & Review: Banquet Fruit Pies

Mom Central recently invited me to be a part of the Banquet Fruit Pies blog tour.

I confess... I don't really like pie, so I never bake any. In fact... I don't think I've EVER made a fruit pie? DH, on the other hand, loves pie. Go figure! I suppose I could make the man a pie, but there would be too much leftover - and yes, I suppose I could make little pies and freeze the extra, but I'm only so good at the whole adorable Martha cuteness thing. LOL


Thanks to Banquet though, my DH can still get his pie fix, and I don't have to feel guilty that I'm not the one making them. They have just come out this Summer with these cute little single serve pies, in the frozen foods section. And just like other Banquet products, they won't break the bank, either. Depending on the store, you can find them for about 79 cents each. (up to $1, depending on the store of course)

The only place that sells them in our area was Target. It took me three different Targets to find one that had them in stock! Hopefully, in the coming months they will be carried in all the grocery stores that carry the Banquet brand. They are available in apple, peach, and cherry berry flavors. All we could find was the apple pie flavor - but hey, what's more American than apple pie? ;) Now these can be microwaved - but DH wants you to know to ignore that fact, and pop them in the oven. He took one to work (the only place he can use a microwave, bwhaha!) and he ended up with a soggy dough. (and he came home to me saying I TOLD YOU SO!) It's worth the extra time in the oven - just pop it in during dinner, and you'll have it just about ready for when you are done eating. He says the taste is comparable to other Banquet products - nothing beats homemade. (If that's a hint, he's out of luck for now. lol)

They are super easy to make a la mode too with a big scoop of ice cream!

Visit your local WalMart on August 26th through 28th for in-store demonstrations of these new Banquet Fruit Pies - you'll be able to try them out with Reddi-Whip topping! Make sure you check that your local store is participating by calling ahead, that way you don't waste the gas if they aren't. (I don't know about where y'all are, but yesterday in Bremerton it was $3.27 a gallon! I about fainted!)

“I wrote this review while participating in a blog campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Banquet and received free coupons to facilitate my candid review. Mom Central also sent me a gift card to thank me for taking the time to participate.”

Review & Giveaway: TerraCycle

I love finding new uses for everything. I'm a big fan of upcycled crafts and goods too - I really feel people waste too much, and there's no need for this waste.

This is why I was so excited to learn about TerraCycle. TerraCycle pays schools, families, and communities to collect non-recyclable waste, which is then upcycled or repurposed to make fun, eco-friendly products like bird feeders, tote bags and cosmetic cases! Things like juice boxes and soda bottles, and now they have two new programs that are more for Moms with little ones - these programs are free fundraisers that pay 2 cents for every used piece of diaper packaging or used baby food pouches! If everyone in your Mom's group was to save these items - which very, very few areas normally recycle, think about how much trash we could save out of the landfills, and you can even make a little money towards projects. It's super easy to sign up for, and when you think about it, saving this packaging for a once a month drop off with your group doesn't take up that much room in our homes. And when Terracycle has collected enough of these materials, they will be upcycling them into unique bibs and diaper bags - how cool is that?

TerraCycle sent me over a couple of bottles of their Dig Stop, and Trash Can Protector. The cool thing? Both of these products are in a recycled soda bottles!


While these two stinkers Corgis don't really dig much (Oh, where was this a few years back when we had a Corgi who loved to dig to China!), the Trash Can Protector was a welcome addition to our arsenal. I've mentioned the rat, thanks to my neighbor *coughs* but it seems we've got some other bandit issues as well in the neighborhood. I'm finding my planters knocked off the deck almost daily. The joys of outer suburbia living? You can definitely smell the citronella in the products - so I'm guessing you can kill two birds with one stone. If you also have a mosquito and bug problem around your trash can, the Trash Can Protector could help with that too! I'll be continuing to use the Trash Can Protector in order to not have to pick garbage from all over the driveway, (Ugh!) and I'm using it on the planters to see if it helps. This morning was the first I didn't end up with any knocked off, so I'm thinking it's helping with that too.

The Dig Stop uses all natural scents to discourage your dog from digging in your yard - it's an easy way to stop them, especially if they have a certain spot they are always digging. You just spray it on the area - it's easy peasy! Your grass will probably thank you for it, too. lol I remember when I rented and the yard looked like land mines went off for awhile until he finally outgrew the digging phase for the most part. I miss my Corgi boy. :( (It's funny, I love them all of course, but each has their own personality that just makes them so unique, no matter how many you have!) If you're on the hunt for the Dig Stop, you can purchase it online through their website of course, or you can find it at your local Petco.

You can find TerraCycle over on Facebook, where you can follow and find out updates. Terracycle is also over on Twitter too!

By the way, this Saturday, August 21st, TerraCycle will be featured on National Geographic! They will air three all-new episodes of Garbage Moguls,
an inside look at the zany way TerraCycle develops products made completely
out of trash. Visit the Facebook page for more information, and I hope you'll tune in and check it out!

Win it! The fabulous folks over at TerraCycle are going to give one lucky reader of mine their own Pet orientated prize package, just like mine. To enter, visit their website and tell us which product they carry you would be most interested in. (They have some neat things, all made out of recycled goods!)

As always, you can receive extra entries for:

-Subscribing to my feed or following my blog (1 entry, your choice of ways to follow)
-Blogging about this giveaway with a link back
-Tweeting about this giveaway (leave the link in your comment below or @psychotichouse)
Enter to win Terracycle Pet Products http://goo.gl/fb/eqCk4 ends 9/4 @psychotichouse #giveaway

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

I received the products mentioned above to try out and write about. One reader will win the prize package stated above, as fulfilled by the giveaway sponsor.

Wordless Wednesday - First Tomato Of The Season

(took long enough! lol)

Random Thoughts Tuesday - Shot Down In A Blaze Of Glory

So I loose my cell phone in the house on a regular basis. Here's the sad part: most of the time I am carrying it on me! Because I kept losing it, I thought it would be easier to just carry it around in my bra (go ahead, make fun of me like DH). Well, that doesn't work because I forget it's in there anyways. lol

Two days ago, I bought some bagels and buns for meals yesterday... by the time dinner rolled around, they were all green. :( Boooo! So we ate our burgers Atkins style or whatever it is without the buns. lol

I fell asleep last night right after munchkin bedtime... on the couch. I'm starting to think the couch is more comfortable than the bed. So I think I was asleep for like a half an hour when DH came looking for me - he thought I was making dessert or something. (He wishes, not in this heat!) He can't wake me up nicely, noooo - the man has to scare me to death. Then he does it to me AGAIN this morning when he was leaving for work at 4 AM. I think my demise is going to come in the form of a heart attack!

I'd rather go down in a blaze of glory fighting off zombies. haha!

Hey, at least I admit I'm a dork.

If you want people watching entertainment, hang out at an AM/PM gas station for 5 minutes. That place is even better (or worse lol) than WalMart for the kooky people!

Remember the dead rat by the mailbox a few months back? I saw the neighbor throwing food trash into his yard yesterday. NOT HAPPY! I told DH we can handle a year in a RV/Trailer on our own land while figuring something out housewise, just please get the land! GET ME OUT OF HERE!!!!

Somehow this weekend, I am going to sit my tush in front of the TV for two hours straight and watch the Food Network. or HGTV. I am going to drink my Diet Dr. Pepper, gorge on some Ben & Jerry's, and enjoy the (hopefully) quietness of it all. (and try not to think about how old I am getting. LOL!) There will be two glorious hours of ME time!

...ahhh, a girl can dream, right? Alright, I'll settle for 20 minutes. ;)

Lil' Ol' Me

Back in June, I participated in a blog tour hosted by Mom Central for Residence Inn. I told y'all about a trip where I had stayed at a Residence Inn years ago and joked that it would have been nice if that stay had been free.

Well, when I wrote that post, I was entered to win a weekend stay at a local Residence Inn. Yeah, yeah, yeah - I write these posts to share with y'all, not because I actually expect anything.

Wonders of all wonders, I was one of three winners chosen! Yes, seriously, I WON!!!! So this weekend we'll be staying at a local Residence Inn - perfect timing since it will be my birthday! Wahooo! Now you know why my menu plan says dining out all those days. ;)

I had to call the Calvary in - my mommy - to come stay with us, due to the incredibly high pet fee. So I'm thinking... since it's close by... and Grammy is already here... one of those nights should be munchkin free. ;) Is that bad of me? It's been so long since DH and I have had a night to ourselves - and definitely, a bed to ourselves! lol

I plan to do some fun shopping - even if it's just window, though Momma could use a few things - visit a few places we haven't seen yet, and hopefully just relax a little - hello, cable! lol I've already told DH to tell work that he won't be picking up the phone (and we'll be turning his cell phone off just in case too.)

I'll let you know how that hot breakfast is. Holy smokes, I don't even remember the last time I had a hot breakfast cooked for me. lol We only ever go out for lunch, and very rarely dinner!

DVD Review: Nickelodeon Happy Halloween

My family and I recently received a copy of the latest Nickelodeon DVD release, Happy Halloween to review.


I know, another Halloween in August post. But hey, it's Halloween all year around in my family! ;) This new DVD, Happy Halloween features six of every one's favorite Nickelodeon characters in different episodes:

Dora the Explorer - "Boo!"
Go Diego, Go! - "Freddie the Fruit Bat Saves Halloween!"
Wonder Pets! - "Save the Bat" / "Save the Acting "
Yo Gabba Gabba - "Halloween"
Blue's Clues - "What is Blue Afraid of?"
Ni Hao, Kai-lan – "Ni Hao, Halloween"

As you can guess by the episode titles, they all stick to the theme rather well. None of the episodes seem overly scary for the preschool set - in "Boo!", Dora is out trick or treating with Boots (where's the adult?!), and is surprised by a little monster. It turns out the little monster needs Dora's help to get back home before the clock strikes midnight! And as much as we love our OWA! here, the Yo Gabba Gabba! episode is the best on this disc, with some great songs for kids to dance to, including “The Fall Song”, and the infectious “Too Much Candy”. (Oh, who am I kidding, all the Yo Gabba Gabba! songs are always infectious. LOL)

Nickelodeon's Happy Halloween hits the streets next Tuesday, August 24th 2010, so there's plenty of time to snag it and enjoy it before Halloween is here! It's full screen format, with a 149 minute running time, and no special features. It's rated G, and safe for all ages, and while not overly scary, the younger they are, you'll want to view it with them. The suggested retail price is $16.99, but Amazon has it for $12.99 as of this posting!

I received a copy of this DVD to review and share my thoughts on. No other compensation was given, and all opinions are my own.

Giveaway: Dinosaur Train - Get Ready For Kindergarten

I think one of the hardest moments a Mom can have is that day when your little one starts kindergarten, and they're off to school. Sniffle! (OK, after about 2 weeks I think everyone recovers and rejoices a little. LOL There are moments I rethink the whole homeschooling idea... lol)

But before that moment is there, we have the responsibility as parents to get our kids ready by learning to write, say their ABC's, and counting. Since their attention span isn't the longest at this age, using favorite characters and TV shows can help them learn. When I was a little girl, Sesame Street was one of the few learning choices on the air. Now, with cable, there are lots more options, including another Henson Company show, Dinosaur Train! The Dinosaur Train website has a bunch of activities for encouraging scientific thinking among the preschool set, as well as fun coloring pages and games.


If you're looking for a fun activity to do with your kids this week, try this one:

Help your child learn some basic insect anatomy by creating a model of a dragonfly, and learn that some animals seen in the world today also lived at the time of the dinosaurs. Basic supplies needed include construction paper, wooden Popsicle sticks, strong tape, pipe cleaners, colored markers, glue and glitter (and photographs of real dragonflies from books or the Internet). For instructions go to: Dinosaur Train: Dragonfly Acitivity

How about making a dinosaur panorama in an old shoe box?

There are lots more available on the website (and Internet in general), so have fun - it gives us as parents an excuse to play, and brush up on some of the topics we learned when we were younger. The Dinosaur Train website even has a little field guide containing information on 26 different species of dinosaurs, many of which you'll see on the show.

In conjunction with the Dinosaur Train series, the Henson Company is releasing a new line of toys, called Get ready for Kindergarten. There are some neat things coming out, including a Dino Train T-Rex backpack from ACCESSORIES 22 and a Dinosaur Train Take ‘N’ Play Anywhere™ Go Fishing™ Magnetic Activity from PATCH PRODUCTS:


That game looks fun, doesn't it? There's lots of other goodies available, so be sure to check them out at your local stores like Target, Amazon.com, and toy speciality stores.

Win it! Do you have Dinosaur Train fans in your house too? One lucky reader will win a Dinosaur Train backpack full of goodies from the new learning toy line! To enter, tell us your (grand)child's favorite dinosaur, and one way you've helped your child learn things for school.

As always, you can receive extra entries for:

-Subscribing to my feed or following my blog (1 entry, your choice of ways to follow)
-Blogging about this giveaway with a link back
-Tweeting about this giveaway (leave the link in your comment below or @psychotichouse)
Example: Enter to win Dinosaur Train Prize Pack http://goo.gl/fb/yBObx @psychotichouse ends 9/4

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

I didn't receive anything for this post, but one reader will win a prize thanks to the giveaway sponsor.

You Want To Know Who Won, Don't Ya?

The winner of the Animal Charms giveaway is:

Cricket said...

I would choose the round for our little Minou. She was with us for too short of a time, but she will live in our hearts forever...

The winners of the Dole Smoothie Party coupons giveaway are:

coriwestphal said...
I'm an email subscriber

momof2girls said...
Blueberries, O.J. & Yogurt

The winners of the Breyers Smooth & Dreamy Giveaway are:

shala_darkstone said...

Here's my tweet - http://twitter.com/shala_darkstone/status/20011966050

Deb K said...

Vanilla caramel chip is my favorite!

The winner of the Rubbermaid Reveal Mop Giveaway is:

Jen said...

I made my honest confession in my blog post. I'm not a mopper... But I just moved into a house with wood floors everywhere so I need to learn, and this mop looks like it would help me a lot!

I subscribed to your blog on google reader, I blogged about your awesome contest here:
Gazingsoul.blogspot.com
And I retweeted you at @Jen_justice

The winner of the Mommy Meditations CD Giveaway is:

mutchkin21 said...

Count me on on entering this giveaway! I think this is perfect for all mom's and mom's to be. I was told by my counselor to try new calming things to ease stress. This would be a start.

And the winner of the iTouch from Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover's Soul:

Cassie and her doggy!




Congratulations to all! Emails are being sent out - remember you have 48 hours to get back to me with your information!

Menu Planning Monday - The Too Blah To Think Edition

Well, I'm only menu planning for half the week - I'll be posting about what's going on the other half later on! It's hard to think what to plan with this heat going on though for the next few days - it's so hot, I don't want to cook! We snacked on crackers, cheese, and fruit yesterday for dinner. On the bright side though, DH is working the early crack of dawn shifts for a few days, so I'm making him grill! ;)

Monday: hamburgers, chips

Tuesday: pasta salad, grilled chicken

Wednesday: (leftovers using grilled chicken from day before) Grilled chicken Floretine

Thursday: Spicy Mediterranean Wraps

Friday: dinner out

Saturday: dinner out

Sunday: dinner out

Check out Organizing Junkie for other great Menu Plans!

It's TOOO Hot!

Actually, I think it's cooler outside than it is in our home. Sigh!

I think the heat baked my brains and turned it into zombie food, because I can't think! I had two posts I wanted to write today and I forget most of what I was going to write!

Review: Hartz Clean 'N Crunch Dog Treats

I don't think many people realize how important it is to keep their dog's teeth healthy and clean - many think it only happens to older dogs. I know first hand the dangers of what happens, because of Captain's problems at the age of 5. It turns out in our case some of it's genetic - the Grumpy Princess has the exact same problem starting, and we'll be scheduling surgery to have some teeth removed here soon. :(

The problem with that tartar build up is that it can open the door to bacteria infections throughout your dog's body. That's why it's so important to combat it, and not only brush your dog's teeth on a regular basis, but try to feed food that helps as well. There are a lot of different dog treats on the shelves right now marketed as teeth cleaning products, so you can try to find something that help you take care of your dog's teeth (and solve the bad breath problems! lol)

Granted, I don't usually purchase a lot of dog related food products, because my two, as you may know, are on a home cooked diet. We do purchase dog treats though, because these two enjoy them - I just have to be careful which ones I choose, since Captain is missing half his teeth.


Hartz sent over a box of Crunch 'N Clean Savory Flavors Dog Biscuits for my two to review. What we tried is a variety box with Braised Beef, Rotisserie Chicken, and Smokehouse Bacon flavors, and the treats are a smaller size for all size dogs. (a bone shape about the size of my thumb) They contain "Denta Shield" to block tartar on your dog's teeth. Obviously, it would take months and months of my two eating these to see a difference in their teeth if there would be, so I'll leave it up to you, if you decide to purchase Crunch 'N Clean, and see if there's a difference in your dog's teeth. Something tells me that might be in the eye of the beholder, anyways. ;)

The Crunch 'N Clean arrived just in time for the Corgis's afternoon snack, so they were more than happy to help. LOL Captain took his treat and went running to his bed in our bedroom, the Grumpy Princess at my feet and kind of looked at it for a few minutes. When I went to the bedroom to check on Captain, he hadn't eaten it yet. Hmmm... but since his sister was hot on my heels, he decided to eat it before she could vacuum it for him. (In all fairness, he usually waits with hard treats to eat them, due to the hardness and his lack of teeth.) I offered up seconds, and both ate them right away, so it could have been just the new taste.

The Crunch 'N Clean treats have these little breath freshening crystals in them that I could clearly see - they are green, so it's fairly obvious. ;) They are rather hard to break into pieces, so the dog definitely is working to eat them, most dogs shouldn't end up inhaling them in three seconds - well, I think anyways. lol I'll be honest, they aren't the most appetizing looking treat that I've seen though.

(LOL as I am typing this, I just had a corgi climb on my lap and burp after thirds, so I guess he enjoyed reviewing them. LOL)

The suggested retail price of Hartz Crunch 'N Clean dog treats are $3.49, and there's a printable coupon available on the website for $1 off, so if it interests you, you should be able to find some deals on them.

Right now if you visit the Hartz website, you can enter to win $50 worth of Hartz branded prizes! All you need is a picture of your doggy enjoying their Summer vacation, even if it's just in the pool at home.

I received a box of these dog treats in order to review.

Dear Universal Studios,

What the? You see, get my family all excited because you're releasing the anniversary edition of The Land Before Time. We remember when it first came out, and we can't wait to share the joy of Little Foot, Sara, and the gang with our daughter.

Please tell me what the point is of releasing the anniversary edition, on REGULAR DVD, which has been out for years. Yooo hooo, there's a player in town called BLU-RAY and it's been around long enough that I think you can easily indulge those of us who want to enjoy the classics on our high def equipment.

Boooo! We want The Land Before Time on Blu-Ray!

XOXO,
Storm

Excuse me while I go drag my disappointed heart to the corner and sulk...

Bring Your Romance To Life Contest

Do you have a romantic story about how your husband and you met? Did he propose to you in the perfect setting? Maybe you had a fairytale wedding?

If so, I'm totally jealous, LOL! My DH just skipped through the whole proposal thing on Halloween and TOLD ME we were getting married. And the dream wedding? We only ended up saying our vows in front of a judge. (Our actual wedding date was set for October, we were married in March for paperwork reasons since DH was going to stay in Washington and set things up) So can you say BORING?

DH had promised me that we could renew our vows with a "real" wedding on our fifth anniversary, but that's like 6 months away now, and we haven't done diddly squat. Maybe our tenth? lol

A few months ago, I did a review on the newest Dream Day Wedding title, Dream Day Wedding: Bella Italia. I LOVED the game, and I'm anxiously awaiting the next in the series! The next game (insert drum roll here lol) will be based on a real life couple! Yes, seriously! I-Play (the makers of the Dream Day Wedding series) is holding the Bring Your Romance To Life Contest, where they want to know in 500 words or less how you fell in love, where you met and what brought you together.


The contest starts August 16th and the winner, who will by chosen by I-play and announced in September, will have their story told in the next Dream Day game releasing online Spring/Summer 2011, receive credit as “Story/Narrative inspired by…” plus the entire series of Dream Day games including a Nintendo DS with Dream Day Wedding Destinations DS game.

Wouldn't that be just the coolest thing to share with your family? Neener, neener, I have an entire video game based on my marriage?

Unfortunately, we're boring so there's no point in our entering. :( The most romantic thing my husband did was while we were in downtown Seattle along the wharf a few days after we were married, we were visiting Pirate's Plunder. (It's a store full of pirate goodies!) They happen to have this large treasure chest filled with goodies you can plunder... and DH picked out some gaudy giant fake diamond ring and got down on one knee so he could sort of say he proposed, even if it was after the ceremony. LOL

So dish me your wedding and proposal stories, that way I can live vicariously through you! lol

Review: ZESPRI Kiwifruit

We eat a lot of fruit here - it's my favorite snack alongside my chocolate and cheese. ;) The fabulous folks over at ZESPRI Kiwifruit sent us over box of their yummy fruit to try!

It's actually the 100th anniversary of the first kiwifruit harvest. (Your trivia for the day!) It has been such a hot and dry Summer, that it has been such a great growing season! Here's some did you know's about kiwifruit:

One serving of Kiwifruit can provide the recommended daily allowance of Vitamin C, the potassium found in a banana AND the fiber equivalent of a bowl of bran cereal. (Those little fruit pack a powerful punch, don't they?)

Kiwifruit are a good source of anti-oxidants.

Kiwifruit contain almost 10% of the recommended daily value for folate, something all women of child bearing years should be getting.

Kiwifruit is also a good source of magnesium!

I've always enjoyed eating "kiwis", and I have to tell you that this batch of ZESPRI Kiwifruit were the sweetest I have ever tasted! Between my family, they were gone faster than the blink of an eye.


Right now if you visit The Great Kiwi Adventure, you can enter to win a beachfront vacation for your family of four to New Zealand! The contest ends October 31st, 2010, so you have plenty of time to enter! (You never know, and wouldn't that be an awesome trip to take?)

I received a box of fresh kiwifruit to taste and share my opinion of.

DVD Review: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles Forever

My family and I recently received a copy of the new animated DVD, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles Forever to review.


My DH went NUTS when this DVD arrived. Seriously - he actually contemplating calling in sick to work so he could watch it! LOL! He made me promise that we wouldn't watch it without him. He's a huge TMNT fan!

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles Forever is being released in honor of the 25th anniversary of TMNT. Yes, I said 25th anniversary - who else feels old? I remember seeing the first TMNT movie when it came out in the theaters! In this movie, our four favorite pizza loving turtles - Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, and Raphael - the fun loving 80's style turtles. While fighting Shredder, they end up crossing dimensions into - well, another dimension with turtles - 00's style. (This would be the style of turtles that kids know these days). TMNT meet TMNT? Together they must stop another Shredder's evil plan - meeting more TMNT in another dimension along the way! - to save their worlds.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles Forever will have you waxin' nostalgia for the days bygone. Forget buying this DVD for the kids (though they'll love it!) pick it up for your husband if they are in the same age range as mine. Even carton Casey and April make appearances! The one thing my DH did say though is that he was disappointed that the vintage 80's turtles were not all the original voices. (Honestly, I didn't think it mattered, but he seemed to?) Now this has previously airied on TV, so your kids may already be familiar with it, but this is the first time it's available on DVD. A little bit of the footage has apparently been cut out for it to be placed on this DVD (apparently about 9 minutes) but from our viewing, it probably only makes a difference for the die-hards - kids won't notice. It's still super funny!

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles Forever hits the streets on August 24th, 2010, so there's plenty of time to pre-order it, or add it to wishlists. It's full screen edition, and rated G with some cartoon violence. The running time is 73 minutes long, with no special features, and the suggested retail price is $16.99. (Although Amazon has it on pre-order for $12.40 as of this posting!)

I received a copy of this DVD to view in order to share my opinion of it.

Those Crazy Cat People...

OK, so maybe I am one of those crazy cat people, since I do dress my kitties up from time to time... lol Check out Dlisted, where he has a post showing lots more kitty costumes for your amusement (beware his post title though *coughs*)


I think my crew just ran away in fear. Here kitty kitty... ;)

To Those Who Enter My Giveaways...

I hereby solemnly swear that I will NEVER make you follow me anywhere to enter the giveaways I host here. I know how annoying it is, and I'd rather you follow my blog because you like my blog, than be forced to because you'd really like to win one of my prizes. Sure, I'll give you an extra entry into most giveaways - just because you put up with my whining and leave me comments on other posts sometimes. ;)

On the VERY RARE chance that a giveaway I host asks (OK, forces) you to follow on Facebook, Twitter, Tweet, etc in order to enter - that's the sponsor asking that it's done, not me. I don't like it anymore than a lot of you do - I think it's an unfair advantage since not everyone uses every social media out there. :(

And on this subject - I promise I will NEVER make you type out/cut and copy multiple extra entries for one entry - there will be NO get 10 entries if you follow me, 20 if you blog about it 500, if you promise me your firstborn - geez, even I'm tired of typing them out when I enter contests on other blogs, and I don't even enter that many! I can only imagine how many entries some of you are stuck typing out! It doesn't benefit anyone, except artificially inflate how many entries there really are. (boo!)

XOXO,
Storm :)

P.S. You can use the comments to rant about anything giveaway/contest related that you want to! Let 'er rip! LOL

Thrifty Thursday - Is It Really A Sale?

This week for my Thrifty Thursday post, I'm passing along a reminder: Just because a store says an item is on sale, doesn't mean it really is.

If it's a large item marked as a special sale in store, be sure to check the retail price at other stores before buying. With many folks having iPhones and other data plans, this is getting even easier! If worse comes to worse, use your cell phone to call someone at home and have them check the price on the internet.

When it comes to groceries and other personal care items, remember that all "sale" prices tend to cycle out. Some "sales" prices are better than others - and just because it's in the grocery store ad circular, does not mean it's really on sale. Honest! Many stores will have four or five things in a section that's on sale, and then fill it with other items in the same category that aren't on sale, but go along with the theme!

If you're having a hard time remembering prices, keep a small notebook in your purse and write down prices of the important stuff on each weekly trip alongside the date. It may take a few extra minutes, but the potential for saving lots of money is there. After a few months, you'll start to see several patterns - one: the regular price; two: the usual sale price; and three: the loss leader price. You may also notice that certain sales happen seasonally as well. For instance, I know that when 1 pound packages of butter are marked to 3/$5 that it's time for me to stock up. If I'm running very low, I may purchase one to last me, but I only stock up in my freezer when it's at least 3/$5. The same thing goes for Progresso soups - when they are on sale for $1, I take advantage of coupons, and that's my cue to buy several months worth. After awhile of using the price book, you'll start to see that you don't even need to use one! I know the "good" sale prices of most of the items we use, and buy then.

DVD Review: Madeline's Halloween & Other Spooky Tales

My family and I recently received a copy of the new DVD, Madeline's Halloween & Other Spooky Tales, to review.


Be still my heart, Halloween goodies are arriving! And even better, it's our second favorite little girl, Madeline! Madeline's Halloween & Other Spooky Tales contains five tales inspired by the book series: the title story "Madeline's Halloween", "Madeline and the Mean, Nasty, Horrible Hats", "Madeline and The Mummy", "Madeline And the Haunted Castle" (you probably guessed, this was our favorite one!), and "Madeline And the Spider Lady".

Let's get down to the nitty gritty: When you hear Halloween and kids movies, your first question is "Is this going to be too scary for my toddler/preschooler?" The answer to this one is no - while there are a few little moments of suspense, it's much the same as any episode in the Madeline series. In the title episode, "Madeline's Halloween", the girls go to New York to visit their pen pals, and learn about the Halloween celebrations (as well as some cultural differences). In "Madeline and the Spider Lady", Madeline and the girls accidentally end up on the air and cause pandemonium in NYC with their story of attacking purple ants with green polka dots. LOL

I dare you not to walk away from this DVD singing the "Trick or Treat" song yourself! All five of the episodes included are new to DVD, so they won't on your overlap Madeline collection.

Madeline's Halloween & Other Spooky Tales will be released on Tuesday, August 17th, 2010. It's full screen edition, with no bonus features, and the total running time is 110 minutes long. It's rated G and safe for all ages. The suggested retail price is $12.99, although Amazon has it a little cheaper as of this posting.

I received a copy of this DVD to view in order to write a review.

OH COME ON!

This is me right now:


I mentioned that Monday on the way back from the other side of the bridge, the car started acting funny. We were due for an oil change, so we headed over to Jiffy Lube for that - where they told us we needed multiple flushes with the radiator and anti-freezer, so that was to the tune of $250.

Then the brakes went kooky. We went to Midas for that yesterday afternoon - DH actually left work early to match their hours, since brakes aren't something to be messed around with when you have Precious Cargo. After three hours (!) of waiting and wasting time, we are then told that it's a lot worse - from what I understood, basically the whole brake area needed to be replaced, because pins were missing. (Seriously, they showed it to us - 3 out of 5 of the pins were long gone!) We had NO way to get home... so we had to sign a waiver that said we knew the car was undriveable to get home. That was fun, let me tell you.

I sulked all last night. I was ready to let it go - we're past the 10K mark in repairs on this piece of junk in the last 4 years. Enough is enough! I told DH to call his parents and ask their advice, because I think mine are sick of being the advice wagon. (LOL) My FIL pointed out that even if we did get a ride to go look at cars, we're not walking out in enough time for DH to get back to work for today's shift, and it's not worth losing his job over it.

So at 7 AM bright and early we were there (Midas had pity on us and squeezed us in even though they were already booked for the AM)... and we just walked back in the door 10 minutes ago, so you can tell how long it took to be done.

And of course, while we were paying they told us that there's something wrong with one of the tires (which I had a feeling), so we'll have to take it back to where we got the tires and see what they can do.

I HATE CARS!!!

Who Else Wants A New Dining Table Set?

Yay! I've been selected to be a CSN Stores Preferred Blogger! Get ready for more reviews and giveaways from their 200+ family of stores!

I have way too much fun shopping their sites. I can window shop for hours late at night! I've found most of their prices to be at least competitive, if not way better, on a lot of the items we are on the hunt for. I've also picked up several items recently (using my own money) that I'll have to share mini reviews on here too. I've even bought pet supplies on there.

As you may know, I'm very big on having mealtime together at the dinner table, electronic distraction free. Most of our furniture is secondhand, so our dining table situation leaves much to be desired. We need better chairs too - my rear end hurts after each meal, lol. Meet my currently drooled over & I want this dining table set:


OK, so the Lexington Black Ice 7 Piece Platinum Dining Table set costs almost $6,000 and it would be nuts with a little one. lol Doesn't stop me from dreaming! (Hey, it does ship free at least! LOL)

This one (Wildon Home Wildomar 5 Piece Dining Set in Black) is more in our price range at $282, plus it has free shipping... hmmm...


I'd probably cry at the first scratch even at that price. Seriously, I think the only brand new furniture we've ever had was some of the bookshelves? I'm seriously glad we didn't pay retail for the crib or changing table, considering those just gathered dust. lol I try to look at it on the positive side: by buying and collecting our furniture used, we are being green and helping the environment by keeping it out of the landfill!

So what do you want to see reviewed next from the many different stores of CSN Stores? Something for the kitchen? Gardening? Pets? If you want, you can visit CSN and suggest something.