Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope that everyone out there had a safe and enjoyable Thanksgiving! The day may be over, but remember to be thankful for your blessings every day! Have a safe day if you decide to venture out after the sales on Friday. I have already seen comments about riots at some stores. It is insane.

Holiday shopping made easier!

With Thanksgiving being tomorrow, a lot of minds already seem to be on the holiday shopping season. There is "Black Friday" and then "Cyber Monday". Frankly, I was never one to get all crazy about the sales. In my house, my kids know that I will get them something they want whenever they ask - if they deserve it and I can afford it - so the sales make little difference. I am not putting myself into a crowd of overzealous people for some video game, television, or tickle me Elmo.

Perhaps it is mostly that I am not a crowds person. I will admit, I do like scoping out deals at times, looking for those few coveted items I really want but can never afford (like a Kitchen Aid stand mixer.... sigh.) When I want to scout the deals, my focus is shopping online from the safety of my desk. Even then, it is really hard to find the deals. If I want to look for something I need, like a new DVD player, I have to go to each page to check them out. This means visiting several sites to see who has the better deal. It makes the whole shopping experience seem tedious to me yet again. Shopping should be fun, right?

Well, as I was browsing the web, I came across a solution. Canada Post offers a service via there web site where you can comparison shop for the same item from several different locations. It shows all the prices on one page, so all you do is put in a search term and it looks for you!  

Let me show you an example: I could search Apple products for that iPod that I have been wanting (yeah, I'm a little behind the times with my mini-disk walkman), and it will come up with prices for iPods from five or six different sellers - along with the shipping charges so I can figure out easily which one is the best deal.

I also noticed that several of the listings offer free shipping due to whatever deal they may have with Canada Post to ship and promote for them. This is good for the buyers though. That is less money out of my pocket, which is always good. So now, the only question is "Which one will I pick?" Well, always the frugal one, I plan to come back and check out the prices Monday to see who is the best deal then. ;)

Share with me your experiences with this site - I love to hear about awesome finds.

Cookies!!

I opened the door yesterday to watch for a school bus and found a box sitting outside. I didn't remember  ordering anything and was only expecting some books, or so I thought. I opened it up, and was pleasantly surprised to find cookies inside! (Now, in retrospect, I seem to recall something in my BzzAgent email about these cookies, but it was a while ago, so I had forgotten.)

The box contained Kroger's "The Truly Awesome Homestyle Chocolate Chip Cookies". I read the little booklet that was included in the box and learned that, aside from being available at Kroger stores, these cookies are also available at Fred Meyer and Ralphs stores under those brand names.


After looking over the included literature, I studied the box for a little. They are very well packaged, with easy to read text that discloses that they are made wit real butter and have no added preservatives or artificial flavors. And, as the package boasts, chocolate chips are the #1 ingredient.

For those with allergen concerns, they do also contain wheat, milk, soy, and eggs; and are processed in a facility that uses peanuts, coconut, pecans, cashews, and macadamia nuts. I have a peanut allergy, so I always know to check the ingredients. (I still ate them! I am not as worried about the "may contain" on certain items.)


Each box comes with eight cookies in it. They are decent sized cookies too. I took a picture next to a DVD to compare size.

The cookies are a little hard, rather than chewy - somewhat like Chips Ahoy. I prefer chewy cookies, but these were not so dry that they were bad. When dipped in milk they were perfect. They had a good sweet flavor, and lots of chocolate. My daughter tried one after dinner, and she liked them as well. Overall, this is a cookie that I would buy.

In the box along with the cookies, I was also sent a few $1 coupons (as seen in first photo). Would you like to try these cookies at a discounted price? Well then comment on this post! Everyone who comments will be thrown into a random drawing for a chance to get one of these coupons - which are usable at Kroger, Ralphs, or Fred Meyer! Comment by next Friday (the day after Thanksgiving) for your chance.

Guest Posts and Giveaways

As you may have noticed, the last post was not from me. I do at times, if I find myself really busy, invite others to guest post on my blog. Right now, I am in the middle of National Novel writing month, so not only am I reading to review, but trying to do a lot more writing.

I am also working to gather some good tips to write about and lining up some fun giveaways for the near future.  

If you are interested in guest posting and the topic is something that I am interested in - writing, cooking, crafting, costuming, or weddings, parties and other events - then let me know! I may have a spot for you!

Tomorrow is baking day here, so be on the lookout for a post tomorrow with a recipe for some awesome Banana Rum Bread!

Things don't always work out as planned

I think for me, this week has been the ultimate proof of that.

I had a really great blog idea for Monday, but my computer refused to start. I did not get it working until yesterday, and by then it was kind of pointless. My nice camera got up and walked away too, leaving me to deal with fuzzy cellphone pictures until I find where it went off to, so there weren't even comprehensible Halloween photos to share. I had also planned to open my first giveaway Monday, but I didn't get a chance to pick up the prizes, so it will have to wait for next week. Time for a new plan.

So yesterday, I was really in the mood to cook. I love cooking, I just don't love doing it in the tiny kitchen I am stuck with right now. So anyways, I start to whip up a really great smelling pot of homemade chicken and dumplings. That was a bit of a challenge. I can't say that I have never made chicken and dumplings before, but I can say that the last time was well over ten years ago and I was technically helping my mother make them. I vaguely remember how, and I am not one to go hunting a recipe every time I want to make something. It couldn't be that hard, right?

I got my chicken thighs, covered them with water and set them to boil with some seasoning. About 2 hours later, the house smelled really yummy. I pulled the chicken, peeled it off the bone, and threw it back in the pot. I chopped up some carrots and celery, added a few more spices, and set it to simmer. It was doing great.

Yummy simmering chicken and veggies in broth

But wait, the theme of today is how things don't work out as planned, wasn't it? Right as I get the pot simmering, the DH calls. He really wants lasagna for dinner, so "surprise!" we are having Italian. I couldn't be mad at him for it. He knows I don't really like to cook in that kitchen and wasn't expecting to hear that I had been working on dinner for over 2 hours already. I turned off the stove and threw the pot in an ice bath, grateful that I had not made the dumplings yet.

Today I pulled out the pot to finish it up. As a bonus, the cold made it easier to skim off any greasy fat that I missed last night. The hard part was done, so dinner should be ready in a flash... yeah.

I didn't exactly know how to make dumplings from scratch, and since I have a ton of banana bread to make tomorrow and Friday, I decided to save the flour and go the lazy route by using Bisquick. It even had "how to cook me" directions right on the side of the box. Note: Do NOT use the directions on the side of the box!

The dumpling is a lie.

I put the dumplings into the pot and watch them turn into cute little fluffy balls of goo, like a pan full of little sheep. After ten minutes, it said to cover the pot and let them cook ten minutes more. I stepped away for a moment, and by the time I got back, the chicken had burned to the bottom of the pot, aided by the starchy paste that had thickened the broth into gravy. Dumplings? Three or four survived, while the rest seem to have faded away into the milky white goop of doom.

It looks like it is going to jump out and attack someone, seriously

My nature was screaming at me that I did not want to serve this abomination to the family, but what other choice was there? On the plus side, the DH said it was good and the daughter thought it was "yummy". That is a win, right?