Thursday's picture perfect deal...

The picture...

I took this picture at a great French Bakery near Minneapolis when I stopped there for breakfast with friends after a day at the Renaissance Festival.  We all ordered Eggs Benedict but we each got different coffees.  They all tasted fantastic, but this one was by far the prettiest of them all.

The deal...

As many of you may know I am a member of Bzz Agent so I get to try new things from time to time.  The current campaign is for Green Mountain Coffee, perfect for my K-Cup brewer.  They recently rolled out a new line called their Wellness Collection.  In my sample pack I was able to try the Focus Blend coffee with its 50mg of L-Theanine and the  Antioxidant Blend which has vitamins A and C.  Having gone through a summer filled with Dr.s due to breast cancer I am a HUGE fan of anything with Antioxidants and with the holidays here I find I get more scatterbrained so the Focus Blend has been nice to have on hand!  Both have fantastic flavor and are more than enough to get me up and ready for the day, and even better they are both made using fair trade beans!  So what's the deal?  This line is only available on line through Green Mountain Coffee, and if you would like to try it you can use coupon code GMCBEWELL to get $3.00 off your wellness collection order.  While you are there be sure to check out the other great wellness blends of tea and the brew over coffees.  Really, anything from Green Mountain is great.

Oh, and if you are interested in becoming a Bzz Agent just stop over and click on the How it Works button.

Have a fantastic Thursday.

C.Q.

Wednesday's learn and earn...

~WORD OF THE DAY~

 

Halloween ~ noun (Concise Encyclopedia)

Holiday observed on October 31, the eve of All Saints' Day. Its pagan origins can be traced to the Celtic festival of Samhain, celebrated in ancient England and Ireland to mark the beginning of the Celtic new year. The souls of the dead were supposed to revisit their homes on Samhain eve, and witches, goblins, black cats, and ghosts were said to roam abroad. The night was also thought to be the most favorable time for divinations concerning marriage, luck, health, and death. The pagan observances influenced the Christian festival of All Hallows' Eve, celebrated on the same date. The holiday was gradually secularized and was introduced into the U.S. by the late 19th century. Still associated with evil spirits and the supernatural, it is celebrated by children in costume who gather candy by ringing doorbells and calling out “trick or treat,” “trick” referring to the pranks and vandalism that are also part of the Halloween tradition.

Find more great words at Merriam-Webster online.


~THE REBATE~

Today's rebate is great if you are buying gifts for a few children or a lot this holiday season.  Get up to $38.00 back from Crayola on select items including Glow Book, Jewelry Boutique, Light Sketcher and My First Crayola Color Me A Song just to name a few.  Just print off the rebate form; I had to click on "save" to download it, then open it from my own computer.  Check off the boxes of the products purchased, then mail it together with the original UPCs from the package(s) and the original cash register or online receipt(s) dated between October 15, 2012 and December 31, 2012.  There is a limit of one rebate per item as well as per household.

Happy Halloween and hope you are all having a great week!

C.Q.

 

Wednesday's lean and earn...

~WORD OF THE DAY~

vanward \VAN-werd\ ~ adjective

DEFINITION: located in the vanguard : advanced

EXAMPLES: The company is looking to hire a marketing director who is savvy in social media and other vanward marketing tactics.

"The New Jersey Festival of Electronic Arts, held today from 1 to 8 p.m. … is described as 'an exploration of electronic, environmental and performance art … where AV geeks are vanward and hip.''' — From an events listing in The Star-Ledger (Newark, New Jersey), March 10, 2012

DID YOU KNOW? The troops at the head of an army are called the "vanguard," and that word can also mean "the forefront of an action or movement." It was "vanguard," rather than "vanward," that led the way on the route into English. "Vanguard" was first documented in English in the 15th century. By the early 17th century, it was sometimes shortened to "van"—a reference might be made to an army's "van and rear." Some 200 years later "vanward" brought up the rear, making its English debut when writers appended "-ward," an adjective suffix meaning "is situated in the direction of," to the shortened "van," thereby creating a word meaning "in the forefront."

Find more great words at Merriam-Webster online.

~THE REBATE~

With the heavy cooking season approaching I thought this was a really nice deal!  From now until November 3, 2012 you can get a really nice free free 5-Quart Glass Bowl OR Food Grinder Attachment when you purchase a new KitchenAid 5-Quart Tilt-Head Stand Mixer.  The attachment is usually either $49.99 for the grinder or $69.99 for the glass bowl.  This offer has a few store restriction: it is not valid at Bed Bath & Beyond, Macy’s, Whirlpool Corporation’s VIPlink program or employee purchase program or at online auction sites.  To get the free attachment you will need to fill in the rebate form and mail it in together with the UPC from the mixer box and a copy of your dated register receipt.  Allow up to 8 weeks for your item to arrive.

I hope you are all having a great week so far!

C.Q.

Wednesday's learn and earn...

Sorry I missed the last couple of days, I had one last procedure I had to go through for my breast cancer treatment.  Because the Dr.s found out I am Factor 5 positive (a fancy way to say I get blood clots pretty easy), I am unable to take the medication that would stop estrogen from being produced so in stead I had my ovaries removed and that should do the trick.  It kept me down for a couple of days, but I am doing much better now, so on with the show...

~WORD OF THE DAY~

recalcitrant \rih-KAL-suh-trunt\  ~ adjective

DEFINITION(s): 1: obstinately defiant of authority or restraint

2a : difficult to manage or operate b : not responsive to treatment c : resistant

EXAMPLES: Anna's doctor ordered a week of complete bed rest, but, ever recalcitrant when it comes to doctors' orders, she was up and baking a cake after two days.

"Finally, he laid down the parental law: You will go on a hike and, gosh darn it, you will enjoy yourself. So the recalcitrant 14-year-old shrugged into her sweat shirt, slipped into her flimsy … canvas sneakers (totally hiking-inappropriate) and slumped in the back seat for the drive southwest to Vacaville, Calif., and Lagoon Valley Regional Park." — From an article by Sam McManis in Tri-City Herald (Washington), June 30, 2011

DID YOU KNOW? Long before any human was dubbed "recalcitrant" in English (that first occurred, as best we know, in one of William Thackeray's works in 1843), there were stubborn mules (and horses) kicking back their heels. The ancient Romans noted as much (Pliny the Elder among them), and they had a word for it — "recalcitrare," which literally means "to kick back." (Its root "calc-," meaning "heel," is also the root of "calcaneus," the large bone of the heel in humans.) Certainly Roman citizens in Pliny's time were sometimes willful and hardheaded — as attested by various Latin words meaning "stubborn" — but it wasn’t until later that writers of Late Latin applied "recalcitrare" and its derivative adjective to humans who were stubborn as mules.

Find more great words at Merriam-Webster online.

  
~THE REBATE~

Langers has a lot of  nice promotions going.  The first ones you can get a free movie ticket to see Paranorman or Diary of a Wimpy Kid.  Both require 3 proofs of purchase using either the UPC from the bottles or an original sales receipt.  ***These are two separate offers be sure to check expiration dates as they vary from item to item.

The next promo from Langers is for DVDs that include Barney, Your a Good Man Charlie Brown, Pocoyo, Raggs, Yogi Bear and Megamind.  Current video games are Megamind, Curious George, Astro Boy and Jumpstart Spanish.  Each one has a different UPC requirement, just click on the image to find out more about the ones that interest you.

I hope you are all having a great week so far!

C.Q.

Wednesday's learn and earn...

~WORD OF THE DAY~

argot  \AHR-goh\  ~ noun

DEFINITION: an often more or less secret vocabulary and idiom peculiar to a particular group

EXAMPLES: The town's selectmen decided to hire a consultant to sort through the bureaucratic argot of the community development grant application.

"What makes the play work, though, is that the rich insider's argot spoken by Mr. Leight's characters is used not to show how much he knows, but to set the scene for a stinging tale of youthful hope and bitter disappointment, one whose implications are universal." — From a theater review by Terry Teachout in The Wall Street Journal, April 13, 2012

DID YOU KNOW? We borrowed "argot" from French in the mid-1800s, although our language already had several words covering its meaning. There was "jargon," which harks back to Anglo-French by way of Middle English (where it meant "twittering of birds"); it had been used for specialized (and often obscure or pretentious) vocabulary since the 1600s. There was also "lingo," which had been around for almost a hundred years, and which is connected to the Latin word “lingua" ("language"). English novelist and lawyer Henry Fielding used it of "court gibberish" -- what we tend to call "legalese." In fact, the suffixal ending "-ese" is a newer means of indicating arcane vocabulary. One of its very first applications at the turn of the 20th century was for "American 'golfese.'"

Find more great words at Merriam-Webster online.

~THE REBATE~

If you need or recently purchased Crest Whitestrips they are offering a rebate of $15.00, but you need to hurry, this one expires on August 25, 2012.  To receive the rebate just mail in your original sales receipt for one Crest 3D White Intensive Professional Effects 7 count OR 2 Hour Express 4 count white strips dated between 7/1/12 and 8/25/12.  Circle the store name and product purchase price and mail together with the original UPC from the package and the completed rebate form.  Only one rebate per address.

Have a great Wednesday everyone!

C.Q.

Wednesday's Learn and Earn...

~WORD OF THE DAY~

maffick \MAF-ik\  ~  verb

DEFINITION: to celebrate with boisterous rejoicing and hilarious behavior

EXAMPLES :Fans mafficked for hours outside the stadium, celebrating the team's dramatic victory in the division championship.

"In half an hour, after the mildest of mafficking, the last visitors of the exhibition's last day had gone out of the gates and the staff began their final acts of closing up shop." — From an article in The Guardian (London), October 1, 2011

DID YOU KNOW? "Maffick" is an alteration of Mafeking Night, the British celebration of the lifting of the siege of a British military outpost during the South African War at the town of Mafikeng (also spelled Mafeking) on May 17, 1900. The South African War was fought between the British and the Afrikaners, who were Dutch and Huguenot settlers originally called Boers, over the right to govern frontier territories. Though the war did not end until 1902, the lifting of the siege of Mafikeng was a significant victory for the British because they held out against a larger Afrikaner force for 217 days until reinforcements could arrive. The rejoicing in British cities on news of the rescue produced "maffick," a word that was popular for a while, especially in journalistic writing, but is now relatively uncommon.

Find more great words at Merriam-Webster.

~THE REBATE~

Tyson always seems to have some great rebates and this one is no exception.  From now until September 30, 2012 when you purchase Tyson Chicken Tenders and at least $5.00 of gas Tyson will send you $5.00 back.  Just fill out the rebate form and mail it in with your original cash register receipts from the grocers deli for the Chicken Tenders and from the gas station for the gasoline purchase; the receipts need to be dated between 5/28/12 and 9/30/12 with the purchases circled.  There is only one rebate allowed per household and the requests need to be postmarked by the 9/30/12 date.

I hope you are all having a great Wednesday!

C.Q.

Make a Friend Monday...

Welcome to the Make a Friend Monday blog hop, I hope everyone had a great weekend! Monday is usually a day filled with things that are not much fun, so why not take a short break and get to know a new blogger?

The rules are simple, stop by the featured bloggers site and say hi, the check out as many of the other blogs as you like, let them know you found them here. Just grab the hop button for your blog or post from the bottom of this post or the sidebar. Link up and have fun meeting new folks.

MAKE A FRIEND MONDAY

Today's blogger is Melissa from The Mommyhood Chronicles.  I came across Melissa's blog a few months back when I was trying to find a fun hop for Saturday, I found her link on a hop library, stopped over and had a great chuckle; every Saturday she hosts a hop called Saturday's Top 5 Laughs where she shares five great stories from her week.  Usually they are something her kids did that is fun or silly, and believe me they do the most adorable things!!  During the week she does product reviews that are wonderful.  She is a great writer and her blog is one of my stops every day.  Hope you enjoy getting to know her as much as I have.

Tell us a little about yourself and your blog or blogs: I am a part time dentist as well as a blogger at www.the-mommyhood-chronicles.com. I started this blog strictly for family and decided to make it public August 1, 2011. My blog focuses on stories on my 2 kids- Hayley who is 3.5 and Zane who will be 1 on March 31. I also do a lot of product reviews/giveaways, as well as a Saturday blog hop for any funny/cute/top 5 laughs of the week. I am really enjoying blogging!

What do you consider your greatest personal achievement? Graduating dental school and getting my DMD

Where is your favorite place to hang out on the Internet? on blogs, lol and facebook

If you could meet one person dead or alive, who would that be? probably my grandfather who I never got to meet. He passed away 1 week before I was born.

If you could have any job you wanted, what would it be? I have it!

Favorite movie or TV show? Lost and Primal Fear

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Silly Saturday...

This week I also received the Sunshine award from Just Another Tired Mommy, I must admit, I do love getting them but I am a little slow on getting them posted. Here are the rules for the award:

There are five rules that go along with accepting The Sunshine Award and they are:

1. Include the award's logo in a post or on your blog.
2. Answer ten questions about yourself.

3. Nominate ten to twelve other fabulous bloggers.

4. Link your nominees to the post and comment on their blogs, letting them know that they have been nominated. (I just passed on two other awards so I am going to let you decide if you would like this beautiful award for your site, all my readers add sunshine to my blog every day so you all are equally entitled to it.)

5. Share the love and link the person who nominated you.

Here are the 10 questions:

What is your favorite color? Green in almost any shade.

What is your favorite animal? I love all animals I even let bugs and spiders out of my home with safe passage. If I am pressed I would probably say bunnies or bats.

Favorite non-alcoholic drink: I love to make my own Italian sodas at home, just a shot of flavored syrup and charged water, sooooo much cheaper than pop and a million times tastier.

Favorite number: Not sure I have one, I tend to pick 4 when people ask me to think of a number.

Facebook or Twitter: I use Facebook a lot and love Farmville.

My passion: Narrowing this down is hard. I love to travel, scrapbook and spend time with my friends, one of best things ever is traveling with my friends and taking tons of pictures to scrap latter. When I travel I love seeing new things and finding new favorite places, just this Christmas hubby and I went to Colonial Williamsburg and I would love to go back again this Christmas.

Favorite pattern: I love the pattern on the leaves of ferns, its something I have taken countless pictures of over the years. I also love the pattern birds feathers make when they are laying flat. Nature is so cool!

Favorite day of the week: I don't have one, they are all nice to me.

Favorite flower: I have a couple, peonies and carnations. I love the scent of both of them.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

C.Q.

Make a Friend Monday...

Welcome to the Make a Friend Monday blog hop, I hope everyone had a great weekend! Monday is usually a day filled with things that are not much fun, so why not take a short break and get to know a new blogger?

The rules are simple, stop by the featured bloggers site and say hi, the check out as many of the other blogs as you like, let them know you found them here. Just grab the hop button for your blog or post from the bottom of this post or the sidebar. Link up and have fun meeting new folks.

MAKE A FRIEND MONDAY

Today's blogger is Meg S. Hart who's original blog I started reading about the same time I started blogging, at that time she was writing helping the REAL head of the house, a cat named Fin to write her blog; Housecat Confidential. I loved reading it every morning and as soon as I saw there was a book available at Amazon by the same name, written by the same dynamic duo, you can be sure I snapped that up! It was a wonderful read and is a view into a cats life from the view of the cat, so simple but so creative! Fin is now an old gal with some health issues now so Meg decided to "shake off the fur" as she puts it and go back to writing for herself (that's not to say that Fin doesn't help out on occasion). The title of the new blog is Hart Stories and I adore getting her blog in my email every morning because it usually makes me smile, and I am enjoying getting to know Meg the person, not just Meg the cat lady, I hope you enjoy meeting her as well.

Tell us a little about your blog: After three plus years as a cat blogger, I'm shaking off the fur and trying to find my own voice as a writer. Hope you'll join me. Life's like glitter, it's beautiful, it's messy and you never know where it's going to end up.

What do you consider your greatest personal achievement? I think it was getting my book Housecat Confidential published. Hopefully I will have lots more personal achievements.

Where is your favorite place to hang out on the Internet? I spend a lot of time on my Google Reader catching up on all my friends blogs. I also love Ebay. So amazing that any moment the very thing you never knew you needed is being abandoned by someone else. I also love Etsy. So amazing that at any moment some has made the very thing you never knew you needed.

If you could meet one person dead or alive, who would that be? I'd love to meet Oprah. In my mind I am the featured selection on her book club. Does she still have a book club? I may need to change up my big dream.

If you could have any job you wanted, what would it be? I would love to be a screenwriter, a well paid one. I am writing one now, but since no one has bought it yet, I don't think it quite fits.

Favorite movie or TV show? Gosh I love both so much it's hard to narrow down. On TV I love Dexter, and almost any show on Bravo. I am also ashamed to admit I am loving the Bachelor. I know, they all end so badly that it's like watching a train wreck but I can't help myself. In movies I like anything James Cameron did.

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Friday's Freebie...

This Sunday, 3/3/12, you can get a free quart of Clark+Kensington paint at Ace Hardware, just print out the coupon and bring it in with you.  You will want to get there early, each store has about 40 quarts of paint to give out and when they're gone they're gone.  Depending on the shade of paint a quart will cover between 100 and 200 square feet, this would make it a great way to paint some trim in a room, do an accent wall or get busy with some fun wood craft projects.

Have a great day!

C.Q.

Tastefully Tuesday...

Happy Fat Tuesday!!  Did you know that this was the day medieval Christians used up their eggs, butter, and milk because they were forbidden during their Lenten abstinence.  Traditionally they used them all to make pancakes and pastries, thus was born the tradition of pancakes on Fat Tuesday.  In Britain "Pancake Day, or Shrove Tuesday to use its correct title, is the traditional feast day before the start of Lent on Ash Wednesday. Lent - the 40 days leading up to Easter - was traditionally a time of fasting and on Shrove Tuesday Christians went to confession and were "shriven" (absolved from their sins). Pancake Day became a great way to use the foods that were given up for Lent – milk, butter, and eggs. The humble pancake has featured in recipe books as far back as 1439." Quote from About.com 

With that in mind I though I would find a couple of great Pancake ideas for today.  The first one is from Paula Dean's show, the second is from the Food Networks Magazine.

Chocolate Chip Pancakes with Cinnamon Cream

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup milk

2 large eggs, separated

3 tablespoons butter, melted plus 4 tablespoons, divided

1/2 cup miniature semi-sweet chocolate morsels

Cinnamon Cream, recipe follows

Maple syrup, for serving

Cinnamon Cream:

1 cup heavy whipping cream

1/4 cup confectioners' sugar

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Preheat griddle to 350 degrees F.  In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.

In a small bowl, combine milk, egg yolks, and 3 tablespoons melted butter; add to flour mixture, whisking until smooth.

In a small bowl, beat egg whites at medium-high speed with an electric mixer until stiff. Gently fold into batter. Gently fold in chocolate morsels.

Melt 2 tablespoons butter on hot griddle. Ladle about 1/4-cup batter for each pancake onto hot griddle. Cook pancakes for 2 to 3 minutes, or until tops are covered with bubbles and edges look cooked. Turn and cook the other side. Repeat procedure with remaining 2 tablespoons butter and remaining batter.

For the Cinnamon Cream:

In a medium bowl, beat cream at medium-high speed with an electric mixer until thickened. Gradually beat in confectioners' sugar and cinnamon, beating until stuff peaks form. Cover and chill.

Serve pancakes with Cinnamon Cream and maple syrup.

Prep time 15 minutes, cook time 20 minutes, yields 10 servings.

Almost-Famous Cheesecake Pancakes

1 1/2 cups strawberries, hulled and sliced

2 tablespoons seedless strawberry jam

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/4 cups buttermilk

1 large egg

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

Pinch of salt

2 cups chopped frozen cheesecake

Cooking spray

Butter, confectioners' sugar or whipped cream, for topping (optional)

Mix the strawberries, jam and 2 tablespoons warm water in a bowl; set aside. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees F.

Pulse the flour, buttermilk, egg, vegetable oil, granulated sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a blender until smooth. Transfer to a bowl and stir in the cheesecake pieces, keeping them whole.

Coat a large nonstick skillet or griddle with cooking spray and heat over medium heat. Working in batches, pour about 1/4 cup batter into the skillet for each pancake. Cook until bubbly on top, about 4 minutes, then flip and cook until the other side is golden brown, about 2 more minutes. Transfer the finished pancakes to a baking sheet and keep warm in the oven. Serve the pancakes topped with the strawberry sauce; top with butter, confectioners' sugar or whipped cream, if desired.

Prep time 15 minutes, cook time 15 minutes, yields 8 cakes.

Coupons:
$0.50 off Imperial Sugar^® Extra Fine Granulated Pure Cane Sugar Bags
$0.35 off Diamond Crystal Salt Sense
$0.55 off Horizon Organic Milk Plus
$0.75 off Davidson's Safest Choice All Natural Eggs
$0.50 off Land O Lakes Spreadable Butter
$0.50 off two Nestle Toll House Morsels
$1.00 off Spice Islands Spices or Extracts
$0.55 off any Welch's Jam, Jelly or Spread
$0.50 off  LouAna® Vegetable Oil
$1.00 off 2  Arm & Hammer Baking Soda Products

Today's no cook options are from Restaurant.com, for today only when you check out use coupon code BEADS to get a $25.00 certificate as low as $3.00!!  I love this one because you are less limited on your choice of where to go eat.

Have a great Fat Tuesday everyone.

C.Q.

Make a Friend Monday

I apologise for the lateness of getting the blog hop up, Blogger didn't play nice and post when it should have then both my computers ~ yes plural ~ BOTH decided to give me problems.

Today I wanted to introduce you to a blogger from the Mesothelioma  Cancer Alliance. She emailed me awhile back and asked if she could put a button up on my site, at first I was skeptical, but when I went to read her story I was blown away! She is an amazing woman with tremendous strength and I was immediately taken with her. It is with pleasure I would like to introduce you to Heather Von St. James.

Welcome to the Make a Friend Monday blog hop, I hope everyone had a great weekend! Monday is usually a day filled with things that are not much fun, so why not take a short break and get to know a new blogger. Please stop by the featured bloggers site and say hi, the check out as many of the other blogs as you like, let them know you found them here. Just grab the hop button for your blog from the bottom of this post or the sidebar. Link up and have fun meeting new folks.

Tell us a little about yourself and your blog or blogs:

I am a 6 year survivor of malignant pleural mesothelioma... a cancer that is almost always caused by asbestos exposure. I started blogging for mesothelioma.com to share my story, to give hope to others who are facing a mesothelioma or ANY cancer diagnosis.. It is my hope that through reading my story, that more awareness to the disease is brought about as well.

What do you consider your greatest personal achievement?  Beating cancer.. 6 years!!!!

Where is your favorite place to hang out on the internet?  Facebook... I spend far too much time on it.

If you could meet one person dead or alive, who would that be? Ellen Degeneres.. she is the embodiment of all I strive to be.. positive, happy, loving. genuine.. and loves helping people.

If you could have any job you wanted, what would it be?  A Travel and Spa writer... travel around to different spas and destination spas and write articles about them.. Heaven!!!!

Favorite movie or TV show?  My all time favorite movie is Auntie Mame.. the one with Rosilind Russel... an oldie but goodie... I don't watch much TV, but when I do, it is usually kids shows.. I have a 6 year old daughter.
 
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To join the hop just follow Living on Less in the #2 spot and visit this weeks featured blogger in the #1 position. Be sure to let them know you are stopping by on the hop and leave a nice comment for them if you like the blog be sure to follow them by what ever means works best for you, GFC, Facebook, Twitter, or G+. Remember, we all love to read our comments so please leave a thoughtful comment, not the "following, please follow back" post. Have a great week everyone!
 
C.Q.





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Tastefully Tueday...

Nothing says Valentines Day quite like chocolates so why not save some cash and make them yourself this year?  I found this great recipe at All Recipes and its super easy to make these little gems.

Luscious Chocolate Truffles

3 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

1 tablespoon vanilla extract **

In large saucepan, melt chocolate chips with sweetened condensed milk. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Transfer the mixture into a medium bowl. Cover and chill 2 to 3 hours or until firm.      

Shape mixture into 1 inch balls; roll in desired covering and/or decorate them. Refrigerate in a tightly covered dish.

**For more variety divide the chocolate mix into four even parts and add 1 Tbsp of different flavoring (in place of the Vanilla) to each batch.  Chill each batch separately, they will cool faster that way too.

Makes about 70 candies, prep time is only 10 minutes, but the total time needed is about 3 hours.

Coupons:

$0.50 off one bag of NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Morsels

$0.50 off any Simply Organic Extract or Flavor

Today's no cook options are from a couple of places.  First, Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream is offering a free scoop if Stephen Colbert's AmeriCone Ice Cream today only between 5:00 and 8:00 at participating locations.  The other coupon is from Boston Market; they are offering a free dessert when you buy an individual meal with a drink.  This offer is good for today only and you need to print the coupon to bring in with you and give to your server when you order.

A big thank you to everyone for stopping by yesterday for my first ever blog hop, I hope you will all come back next week and meet another great blogger.  Have a great Valentines day.

C.Q.

Make a Friend Monday...

Welcome to the Make a Friend Monday blog hop, I hope everyone had a great weekend! Monday is usually a day filled with things that are not much fun, so why not take a short break and get to know a new blogger. Please stop by the featured bloggers site and say hi, the check out as many of the other blogs as you like, let them know you found them here. Just grab the hop button for your blog from the bottom of this post or the sidebar. Link up and have fun meeting new folks.

Make a Friend Monday


Today I would like to introduce you to Kate and Bernie from the new We're Not Mommy Bloggers community. Its a brand-new community designed to fill a niche specifically for bloggers who, for whatever reason, don't have kids; whether by choice or circumstance.


Tell us a little about yourself and your blog or blogs:

Katie: My name's Katie, and by day, I'm a lowly college admissions counselor. Right now, my job keeps food on the table, but what I'm really passionate about is writing. I'm currently pursuing my dream to be a writer and have actually had a few freelance gigs. I live in Georgia with my husband and our three cats. I blog at Chicken Noodle Gravy and, more recently, at We're Not Mommy Blogs. We're Not Mommy Blogs is a community blog for the bloggers out there without kids. Bernie of One Mixed Bag and I felt there was a void that needed filling in bloggy land, so we created this community for "the rest of us." We host a weekly hop and have a Not Mommy Blog directory so that people can add their blogs and connect.

Bernie: My name is Bernadette. Everyone who knows me and loves me calls me Bernie, except my husband. .I grew up in Duluth, Minnesota and currently live in Billings, Montana with my husband Mr. Bernie, our three cats and dog. I do interviews on our local Pact T.V. station for the Museum of Women's History. I get to interview women about their lives, since I'm nosy, this is a fun thing for me to do! I have a very small Etsy shop, Budugalee where I sell vintage looking cards I make.

This weekend my friend, Katie, and I started a brand new blog called We're Not Mommy Blogs Neither of us have kids and realized that most blogging communities were geared towards Moms who blog. There are some amazing and funny Mom's who blog. However, we thought it would be fun to have a community for bloggers who don't have kids. With hops, contests, posts all kid free. Be sure to check us out!!

I have have one blog of my own; One Mixed Bag. A humor blog babbling about whatever crosses my mind that day. It could be about my husband running around in a helmet and a cape or how I can't bake angel food anything to save my soul! On Wordless Wednesday's I post funny vintage ads with snarky comments.

What do you consider your greatest personal achievement?

Katie: This is a tough one, but I guess I consider my greatest personal achievement as being published. It's a writer's dream to see her name in print, and when that day finally arrived, I felt like I was on my way. I still have a long way to go, but baby steps can make a journey.

Bernie: Wow! That is a hard question. I can't narrow it down to one. In high school I won a fully paid scholarship to be an exchange student in Hiroshima Japan for a summer. I used to have a column in my hometown paper. My biggest achievement to date is being published in Minnesota Moments magazine. I have dreams of being published nationally one day, maybe even a book. I'm quite lazy so sitting down to write chapters for a book hasn't really happened yet. Dare to dream the impossible dream......

Where is your favorite place to hang out on the Internet?

Katie: My favorite place to hangout on the Internet would have to be the new We're Not Mommy Blogs community and my writing community The Lightning and the Lightning Bug. I've met some really great people through blogging and both of these communities allow me to connect with them even more.

Bernie: The same place as millions of other people, Facebook. I need to keep up with the drama in everyone's life. Who did what to who and so on. Its a mini soap opera. I also like to cruise some digital scrapbook sites for fun vintage images. My friend's blogs to keep up with them. I may not be good at commenting, but I do check in on them.

If you could meet one person dead or alive, who would that be?

Katie: I would meet my Papa. Papa was my Daddy's grandfather, and over the years, I have heard so many wonderful things about him and the man he was. I would love to meet him just once to tell him how much I love him and how much he's influenced my life and my writing.

Bernie: Dorothy Parker. She was a famous writer and wit in the 1920's. One of her most famous quotes is, "Men don't make passes at girls who wear glasses." She was snarky, funny and mean. Everything I aspire to be, except the mean part. I would love to sit down with her for a drink and have her just babble at me.

If you could have any job you wanted, what would it be?

Katie: This probably won't come as any surprise, but I would want to be a writer. If I could turn my freelance gigs into a full-time job, I'd be in heaven.

Bernie: When I was younger I really wanted to be a History teacher. I love history! I love to write humor, but love to read history. The 40's fascinate me for so many reasons. Since I won't be going to get a degree in this lifetime, I would love to be a paid writer. Someone who could write amazing things and get paid big bucks for it. Heck at this point, pay me a dollar for my writing and I'm yours!

Favorite movie or TV show?

Katie: My favorite movie is It's a Wonderful Life. I'm a movie fiend, so this is sometimes hard to say, but classic movies are my favorite, and anything by Frank Capra is a winner in my book. It's a Wonderful Life reminds us all that there's more to life than money and sometimes your dreams are right in front of you just waiting for you to reach out and grab them.

Bernie: Practical Magic is my all time favorite movie. I try to watch it at least once a year. I loved MASH. When the show ended I sobbed like someone ran over my cat. I wrote MASH 4077 on a piece of paper and took it to bed with me. Yes, I was that kind of dork. Years later our local theatre put on the play, MASH, and I was in the cast. A huge thrill for me.
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To join the hop just follow Living on Less in the #2 spot and visit this weeks featured blogger in the #1 position. Be sure to let them know you are stopping by on the hop and leave a nice comment for them if you like the blog be sure to follow them by what ever means works best for you, GFC, Facebook, Twitter, or G+. Remember, we all love to read our comments so please leave a thoughtful comment, not the "following, please follow back" post. Have a great week everyone!

C.Q.



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Sunday's media madness...

I love to find fellow bloggers who do amazing things!  I was blog hopping a couple of days ago and found BLYRO Books.  The author wrote the children's book Over and Under for her own daughter when she found that reading to her "precious restless toddler" was a challenge with most children's books.  The words on the pages were too long or there were simply too many of them.  The book is beautiful, the background and pictures will encourage your youngster to read along, this will help develop reading skills that will help them through their entire life.  She even made sure the type font she used would no cause confusion in young readers, like the way a "g" in type is different from the way we print it.  I am a huge advocate of reading and was thrilled to find this book for children so young, it is aimed at the 0 - 5 age range.  I am not a parent myself so when my friends and family have children I have a hard time knowing what books are best for the younger age range, this fits the bill.  As an even better bonus BLYRO is donating copies of her books to low income families, funded by sales of the book and her beautiful bookmarks.  I think that is awesome and encourage anyone who is looking for a great gift for a youngster on your holiday list to check out this gorgeous book.

Have a relaxing Sunday everyone!

C.Q.

Meet me on Monday...

I am so thrilled to have the Meet Me On Monday hop back, yet on the other hand, that means its Monday.  Well at least with Java hosting the hop over at Never Growing Old there is one nice thing to look forward to every week.  I hope you are all having a great Monday to kick off your week.


Today's Questions:
1. The best part of waking up each day is __________?
2. How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are?
3. Red or Green Apples?
4. Do you forgive easily?
5. If you could live in any home on a television series, which would it be?

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1. The best part of waking up each day is __________?

Actually being able to wake up and get out of bed, so many people can't, I don't take that for granted.

2. How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are?

I think 28, that is old enough to know better but still young enough to do it again.
3. Red or Green Apples?

Either depending on my mood, but my favorite apples of all time are a red variety called Honey Crisp and a yellow (green) heirloom called Clear.

4. Do you forgive easily?

It depends on the transgression, but usually. That doesn't mean I forget easily though.

5. If you could live in any home on a television series, which would it be?

I would have to move in with the Huxtables from the Cosby show, that was a super loving and supportive family, even watching them gave you a warm fuzzy feeling.

Have a great day everyone!

C.Q.