Sunday's media madness...

Just before the new year I was reading one of the many blogs I follow and came across a wonderful book review by Caren Gittleman from Cat Chat with Caren and Cody (a blog I highly recommend checking out).  The book was one that I loved and wanted to share because it has great information on saving money while being a pet owner, but since I am no where near as good a writer as Caren, I am going to let her tell you in her own words; this is a repost of her original post, used with permission of course.  Thank you again Caren and Cody!

Friday, December 30, 2011

Book Review: Pampered Pets On A Budget: Written By: Jeffrey L. Barnes And Kristen M. Levine

I was excited when I was contacted a few weeks back asking if I would like to receive a copy of Pampered Pets On A Budget by Jeffrey L. Barnes And Kristen M. Levine to read and review.

My pets, like everyone else's are pampered and since I am virtually unemployed and my husband has recently retired, the idea that I could read about how to pamper my pet and receive ideas/suggestions about how to do so AND maintain a budget had my ears perked and my tail on alert!

These are tough times in which we live. Every day people are losing jobs and struggling to make ends meet, while the prices of groceries, medical care, etc. continue to rise. Sadly, when a family experiences a financial blow one of the first casualties is often the family pet.

As pet lovers we can never have too many tools in our tool belt to help us not only care for our pets but to maintain a budget while doing so and this book sets out to do what it promises, and that is to:

"help pet parents uncover new ways to save on the products and services you need to take great care of your pets, without compromising your pet's health and wellness care or severely damaging your pocketbook."

This book is short (74 pages) but don't let that fool you. It is 74 pages that are jam-packed with must-have information for today's pet owner.

Take a look at some of the chapters:

Chapter 3-The Internet is not Always Right: this chapter was written by Jeffrey Barnes and is one of my personal favorites. We have all fallen victim to running to the internet when our animal is ill. It can be anything from a Google search to posting a problem on Facebook and receiving 500 differing opinions. Many of those opinions include horror stories that when you are already stressed and worried, are the LAST things that you need to hear.

This chapter explains: How the internet is NOT a substitute for your veterinarian, your veterinarian knows YOU and your pet!

• It reinforces how when you are reading ANY information from the internet you need to look at the qualifications, licensing and formal education of the source providing that information!
• It mentions how drug and vaccine manufacturers stand behind their products ONLY when they have been purchased directly from your veterinarian.

Other great chapters in this 10 chapter book are:

Chapter 4-Trusted Online Pet Resources- in this chapter Kristen Levine points out that there is some online information that can be trusted but that it should NEVER take the place of human professionals when it comes to your beloved pet.

This chapter talks about: General pet information and adoption sites such as petfinder.com and catster.com It also mentions reputable Veterinary and Health Sites such as VeterinaryPartner.com

Chapter 5-The Value of Your Veterinarian: as explained by Jeffrey Barnes one of my favorite points made in this chapter is "your veterinarian is your pet's medical health care captain and is the only authority on medical issues."

Chapter 7-Pet Health Insurance is discussed by Kristen Levine and is relevant to me because I am still pondering the issue as to whether or not to purchase pet insurance for Cody and Dakota. Some points that Kristen mentions that are important to consider are:

Consider Premiums, Co-Pays and Deductibles
Pick Coverage, Not Cost

This book contains so much information and delivers it in an interesting, straight-forward, concise and reader-friendly style.

I loved that at the end of each chapter there is a page called Chapter Highlights which is a summation of information listed in an easy to refer to bulleted format.

Pampered Pets On A Budget will be your newest, invaluable resource to help you "properly position yourself to give your pet the best lifestyle possible."

For more information about this book please visit:
www.PamperedPetsOnABudget.com

Pampered Pets on a Budget is available from: www.lulu.com and www.amazon.com.
Paperback · ISBN: 978-1-105-20415-9 · $15.99
Kindle · ISBN: 978-1-105-20415-9 · $9.99

ABOUT THE AUTHORS:

Jeffrey L. Barnes: is a business advisor, consultant, and business intermediary, who strives to give veterinarians and business owners sound business advice in their day-to-day operations and represents them when they buy or sell their practice or business. His professional experiences with such respected companies as Aventis, John Deere, Merial, and the Sandler Sales Institute has afforded him the extensive sales, client service, and marketing knowledge that he now shares with countless veterinarians, practice managers, manufacturers, distributors, local, state, and national veterinary associations. Jeffrey lives in Tampa, FL with his wife and two dogs.

Kristen M. Levine's volunteer work led to a fifteen-year career as the Public Relations Director of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Tampa Bay, Florida, where she played a critical role in promoting pet adoption and pet lifestyle education. Kristen's knowledge of pet lifestyle concerns and family dynamics coupled with her understanding of public relations led her to found Fetching Communications, the nation’s first marketing and public relations firm wholly dedicated to serving the pet industry, in 2003. Having logged over 1,000 live national radio and television show appearances, Kristen is also a frequent contributor to pet and veterinary trade magazines nationwide. Kristen serves as Bissell Homecare’s official pet spokesperson, educating pet parents about pet clean up solutions, as well as on the Toyota Pet Expert Team (P.E.T.), where she shares her knowledge to help develop programs to teach pet parents the importance of properly protecting and securing pets in automobiles. Kristen lives in Florida with her husband, dog and a pair of miniature donkeys.

I received no compensation for this review. I received a copy of the book to read/review.

I hope you are having a great Sunday!

C.Q. ~ Thanks again to Caren Gittleman, you can find her blog here or follwer her and Cody on Facebook here.

Wednesday's learn and earn...

~WORD OF THE DAY~

duckboard   \DUK-bord\  ~  noun

DEFINITION: a boardwalk or slatted flooring laid on a wet, muddy, or cold surface -- usually used in plural

EXAMPLES: Someone had laid duckboards across the marshy area of the path so that it was passable.

"Much of the trail consists of duckboards to protect fragile eco-systems and hikers should be careful not to step off them." -- From an advertorial in The Australian Magazine, October 8, 2011

DID YOU KNOW? The word "duckboard" was created during the early 20th century to describe the boards or slats of wood laid down to provide safe footing for the soldiers of World War I across wet or muddy ground in trenches or camps. The original duckboards didn't always work as intended though. According to one soldier, duckboards came by their name because someone walking on wet duckboards was liable to slide off them much like water slides off a duck's back. Today's duckboards appear in all kinds of places -- from marshes to the floors of saunas. The word "duck" itself has been part of the English language since the days of Old English, when it had the form "dūce."
~THE REBATE~

Arm & Hammer has a new clumping cat litter called Ultra Last; all the granules are coated in Baking Soda so the box will stay fresher longer.  You can try a 20# box for free with the mail in rebate, just complete the rebate form and mail it in together with the original UPC from the 20# box and your original receipt dated between 12/15/11 and 3/30/12, the receipt needs to show the store information and the price of the litter circled.  All requests must be postmarked no later than 4/15/12.  We use Arm & Hammer litter ourselves so this is one I can't wait to try myself.

I hope everyone is having a great week.

C.Q.

2011 in Review...

Java over a Never Growing old is taking today off for New Years so I thought I would share some of my favorite posts with you from 2011.

In January I went with a friend of mine to Minneapolis so she could have some medical tests run and found some great information on hotel shopping that I passes along in Hotel Happiness, I also found a new blogger friend Meg Hart and her great book Housecat Confidential, a view of life from a cats perspective, that I posted in my Sunday's media madness.  If you get a chance you can check out Meg's new blog at Hart Stories, she is a terrific writer and I highly recommend her book and her blog.

In February I started getting a little antsy to play in my garden and a friend sent me some info on hay bale gardening that I passed along because it is easy and inexpensive and a great way to have a garden quick in an area that may not have an easy place to plant stuff.  You can check that out at Hey! Hay! Hay! Garden the easy way...

March brought two awards that I received, one for the Cherry on Top award and one for the Incredibly Sweet blog award, both required me to share some information about me which was fun, with the Cherry on Top one I also shared a favorite picture of my grandmother.

In April I shared a great recipe for my favorite Easter treat, Hot Cross Buns together with a little history on them.  I also started doing posts called Saturday Sojourn that were a lot of fun for me and included tips on saving while traveling.  One of my favorites was the one I did for Saint Paul, MN since we were heading there ourselves for a short vacation. 

May brought the release of a book from a series that I love by Jess Loury so I was able to do a little review of the book Octoberfest to share with my readers, May also marks Memorial Day and I was able to thank our armed services folks and post two great old pictures of my grandfather and my dad looking very dapper in their uniforms from WWII.

In June I had two great guest bloggers while I was on vacation for my 25th anniversary, the first was Alexis from from Simply Beautiful Veg.  and her great post on ways to organize, including a great pocketed organizer project you can make yourself.  My other guest poster was Nina from The Adventures ArtsyNina.  She did a wonderful post on making a Pallet Kitchen Cookbook Shelf, a very cool and extremely inexpensive project.

In July I stopped doing the Saturday Sojourn's and replaced them with Silly Saturday, my first one I loved because it emphasises simplicity.  I also love this time of year when all the fruits and veggies are getting ripe and took the opportunity to share a wonderful no bake blueberry cheesecake for everyone.

August was a great month for my Media Madness section for me, I found a couple of great apps, Uno and Conde Nast Traveller Magazine, that I love and use all the time.  The other was for the book The Help, which was wonderful and I would recommend to anyone looking for a good read.

September was a moth of highs and lows, the low being the sadness that came with the 9/11 memorial ceremonies I watched that day, the high was going on vacation to Chicago with two of my best girl friends and being able to share a bit of what we did and how we saved a ton of cash along the way.

The October posts were where two of my favorites are, one is one of my many favorite pictures, this one was of a small grey tree frog in our backyard that I used on the Thursday's picture perfect deal, the other was one of my favorite Silly Saturday's featuring a great photo shopped scene.

November was all about sharing my favorite things, including a list of movies, a great app called Flipboard and a recipe I always make for Rosy Fruit Salad, a wonderful frozen concoction that is from the 1950s.

December was all about relaxing and getting ready for the holidays and vacation, but in between that I was able to post one of my favorite ever pictures of my dog Tucker loving the first snowfall from last year.  Java also posted a wonderful Meet Me On Monday with 15 questions to tide us over until after New Year's, and being a good bit Irish, I couldn't end the year without and Irish Christmas Blessing to all my readers.

Thank you to all my readers for reading last year, I am looking forward to 2012!

C.Q.

Friday's Freebie...

 

Tis the season to go shopping, but don't forget Fido!  Check out  Nature’s Select Super Premium Pet Foods and get a free sample for a great stocking stuffer.  Just fill out the on-line request form, please note that they currently only distribute to these states close to their local distributors: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and the DC area.

I hope everyone is enjoying their week so far.

C.Q.

Thursday's picture perfect deal...

The picture(s)...

Since today's deal came from one of my favorite readers; the beautiful Fin over at Housecat Confidential I thought I would share a picture of one of my kitties.  OK its actually an action scene, the first one is Twinkie thinking she is hiding, the next is her saying NO pictures, the paparazzi tires her out so much.

The deal...

PetCo is offering the Clean+green line of cleaning products for only $5.59 for either the Carpet and Upholstery version or the Wood and Tile cleaner.  Both versions are great at cleaning and permanently removing stains and odors from bet accidents, but even better, they are environmentally friendly.  PetCo is also offering free shipping on orders over $49.00 and they are having their 40% off sale as well, so if you have other items to get for that pet lover on your holiday list, now is the time.  Enter promo code LUCKY10 in the discount box at checkout and receive an additional 10% off your order until December 31, 2011.

Thank you so much for letting us know about this great sale Fin!   Have a great Thursday everyone!

C.Q.

Wednesday's learn and earn...

~WORD OF THE DAY~

baksheesh  \BAK-sheesh\  ~ noun

DEFINITION: payment (as a tip or bribe) to expedite service

EXAMPLES: "I’m sure the fact that we got seated so quickly had nothing to do that with that little baksheesh you just slipped the host," said Erica to her dining companion.

"Perhaps if the National Association of Barking Treefrogs can send several thousand dollars of baksheesh to Cannon's Leadership Fund, the speaker will exercise some leadership in getting the frog thing passed." -- From an article by Daniel Ruth in the St. Petersburg Times (Florida), May 6, 2011

DID YOU KNOW?  "Baksheesh" came into the English language around 1686 and was most likely picked up by British subjects as they traveled abroad. In Asia, English speakers would have heard "baksheesh" used as a word meaning "gratuity, a present of money, tip" -- a meaning they directly adopted. Etymologically speaking, "baksheesh" is from Persian "bakhshīsh," which is also the source of the word "buckshee," meaning "something extra obtained free," "extra rations," or "windfall, gratuity." "Buckshee" is strictly a British English term and is not used in American English.

~THE REBATE~

This is a great rebate for anyone with pets!  Get a free quart of Woolite Carpet Stain & Odor Remover Pet Urine Eliminator after mail in rebate.  You have until December 15th for this offer and all you need to do is purchase the Woolite Carpet Stain & Odor Remover, mail in the original rebate form together with the cash register receipt dated between June 27th  and December 15th, 2011 with the product and the price circled.

Have a wonderful Wednesday everyone!

C.Q.

Wednesday's learn and earn...

~WORD OF THE DAY~

pomaceous \poh-MAY-shus\ ~ adjective

DEFINITION(s) 1: of or relating to apples  2: resembling a pome

EXAMPLES: The back porch held a sweet, pomaceous aroma, and immediately Glen knew that his mother had baked an apple pie for dessert.

"This Festival is devoted to the mysteries of Plant Reproduction, especially that of those wondrous trees, the Angiosperms, with special emphasis upon the Drupes and the Pomaceous Fruits." -- From Margaret Atwood's 2009 novel The Year of the Flood

DID YOU KNOW? "Pomaceous" was first planted in the English language by physician Edward Baynard when, in 1706, he advised, "Apples and pomaceous Juices, are the greatest Pectorals." ("Pectoral" is now a rarely used word for a food that helps digestion.) Since then, "pomaceous" has mainly been sown by botanists and poets. The word, which is ultimately derived from Late Latin "pomum" (meaning "apple"), was originally used of apples and things relating to apples, but later it was also applied to things that look like pears. (Pears, like apples, belong to the pome family.)

~THE REBATE~

If you have a cat this is a great rebate.  Purchase $25.00 of ExquisiCat brand cat litter products from PetSmart stores between June 20, 2011 and August 21, 2011 and you can receive a $25 PetSmart gift card. Even better, you can submit this rebate twice per household as long as you use separate envelopes.  You will need to mail in the rebate form together with  the original PetSmart cash register receipt with the litter purchase circled.  The offer is good through August 21st and only at PetSmart.

Hope you all are having a nice Wednesday so far.

C.Q.

Meet me on Monday...

I was honored to receive an award from Caren over at Cat Chat with Caren and Cody the other day!  I figured that since one of the requirements of the award was to tell 7 unknown facts about me that you may or may not know that would qualify as a "Meet Me on Monday" post.

Thank you again Caren and Cody!!  Here are the 7 facts:

1) I was quite shy as a child and forced myself into situations when I got older to over come it, including taking a public speaking class in high school.  Now a lot of my friends will agree that I never shut up.

2) I adore traveling, it is fun to go back to places I love and to learn about places I have never been.

3) I have a Welsh Corgi named Tucker and a striped cat who is officially named Mrs. Murphy.  They are named after the Corgi and the cat in a series of mystery books by Rita Mae Brown and her writing companion Sneekie Pie.

4) My family tree includes a famous outlaw family on my dads side (the James' and the Youngers), a Canadian boxing champion (my dad's dad) a professional football player (my dad) one of the first State Troopers for Minnesota (my mom's dad) and a beauty queen (my mom). 

5) When I was younger I went to Arizona with my folks and found a rock I cleaned up while we were there,  by the time I got home I had a weird burning rash between my fingers.  The Dr. realized the rock I had was radioactive and I had gotten burns from it, he made me give up the waaaaaay cool rock.  Now days I try to keep X-rays to a minimum. ;-)

6) I tend to be a person who is "in for a penny in for a pound", when a friend finally got me to "try" scrapbooking I bought everything I may ever need and filled an entire closet in less than a week, with blogging I went from writing once or twice a week to every day in a mater of a couple weeks.  I tend to jump into the deep end when I do stuff, thankfully it usually works out fine.

7) I have very eclectic taste, so much so that my husband had to have a separate iPod, he couldn't stand listening to something from a classical piece to rap or hip hop, then to country, then Irish folk, then something by Ozzie or Marilyn Manson, it drives him nuts.  (My reading is the same way, mystery, biography, history, vampire fiction, travel, romance on occasion, suspense and some horror)

Now, I am supposed to give this award to 15 bloggers who I think are "Irresistibly Sweet":

10 Steps to Finding Your Happy Place (and Staying There)
Cat's Thoughts
Colie's Kitchen
Doodle Dollies
High Heeled Life
Inside of a Dog
Luxury Living Frugal Style
Marsha's Spot
Mika's Pantry
Mystery Lovers Kitchen
Never Growing Old
One Mixed Bag
Sew How's This
Simply Beautiful Veg.
Sky! My Camera

I wanted to also give the award to Tourist Cup but he already received it. But I wanted to include his blog because the pictures are so beautiful.

Have a great week everyone!

C.Q.

Thursday's picture perfect deal...

The picture...

Recently my husband and I went up the North Shore of Minnesota to the Gunflint Trail area.  Along the way we stopped into the Judge C R Magney State Park and hiked a little.  My husband has better legs then me so he walked the 300+ stairs to go see the Devils Kettle and got this great picture.  The Devil's Kettle..."The section on the right, lands at the base of the falls and continues downstream. The section on the left vanishes into a pothole known as the Devil's Kettle and no one knows where it goes. It is believed that the water makes its way out to Lake Superior by means of underground passages, but the exact details are unknown. They (the DNR and research scientists) have thrown dyes and logs and other things into the pothole, but apparently nothing ever comes out."


The deal...

PetCareRX is having their Summer Pet Appreciation Week with free shipping on orders over $35.00 and $10.00 off any order over $75.00 with coupon code LOVEPETS. While you are there be sure to check out the deal of the day for extra savings.  Be sure to sign up for their PetCareRX points program which allows you to earn points for each purchase, you can redeem them for cash off your purchase, each 100 points is $5.00 off.

I hope you all are having a great week!  Today is the last day to get in on the swap we have going on, it is a lot of fun and I would love to have more folks involved.

C.Q.

Friday's freebie...

We love to travel with our Corgi, so when I saw this freebie I was thrilled.  I have taken advantage of this one for our family so that we can travel a little safer and with a little more peace of mind this summer.  Bark Buckle UP is offering a free safety kit that will help first responders find or treat your four legged friend if you are in an accident.  Just keep in in your glove box and they will have all the information they need for your best friend, Veterinarian information, the name of someone who can come pick up your pet, shot and health information plus great tips on traveling safely with your pet.  Just fill in the registration information and they will send you the glove box card and window decal.  Before you start make sure you have your pet friends phone number, the Veterinarian's information and a picture of your pet to upload (if you don't have a picture you can add that later), also if your pet is on medications there is a spot for that so make sure you fill in that information.  They only allow one free kit per household so if you have more than one pet you can order additionals for only $1.00 each.  There is a $1.50 charge for the shipping which you can pay via PayPal.

Have a great Friday everyone!

C.Q.

Wednesday's learn and earn...

~WORD OF THE DAY~

vespertine  \VESS-per-tyne\ ~ adjective

DEFINITION(s):

1: of, relating to, or occurring in the evening

2: active, flowering, or flourishing in the evening

EXAMPLES: A vespertine fog crept over the farm, concealing the outbuildings and the orchard and stranding the house in an inky ocean of darkness as the evening turned to night.

"In research involving American black bears Ursus americanus, Bridges et al. … recorded activity patterns at bait sites in Virginia and found bear activity was generally vespertine but exhibited seasonal differences with bears becoming more nocturnal in the fall…." -- From a chapter by A.S. Bridges and A.J. Noss in Camera Traps in Animal Ecology (2011)

DID YOU KNOW? Imagine this vespertine scenario: Hesperus, the Evening Star, shines in a clear sky; little brown bats flutter near the treetops; somewhere in the distance a church bell calls worshipers to the evening service. Can you find three words (other than "vespertine") associated with the Latin root "vesper," which means "evening," hidden in that scene? The evening star was once known as "Vesper" ("Hesperus" is from the Greek for "evening"); "vespertilian" means "batlike" (the Latin word for bat is "vespertilio"); and we still call an evening worship service "vespers."


 ~THE REBATE~

I was just noticing that when hubby took our dog with him the other day that the dog's ID tag was getting hard to read so this was perfect timing!!  Arm and Hammer is offering a free 7/8 inch diameter stainless steel  pet ID tag when you purchase any two Arm and Hammer® Clumping Cat Litters between 1/1/11 and 12/31/11.  Just send in the completed order form together with your original cash register recipe(s) with the cat litter and the prices circled.  While it is helpful to have a printer for this offer since you will need to fill in your pets information, if you don't have one you can print the required information onto a 3" by 5" card and mail along with your proof-of-purchase.  All requests must be postmarked by 1/15/12, please allow 6 to 8 weeks for your tag to arrive.

Hope you are all having a great week so far!

C.Q.

Saturday Sojourn...

Vergennes, Vermont

Planning a trip for the whole family?  Consider this quaint little spot, actually the smallest city in America.  Established in 1788, Vergennes is Vermont's oldest city.   The city is located on Route 22A in Addison County, right on the shores of Lake Champlain, and is named after Comte de Vergennes who negotiated the Treaty of Paris.  Because of its proximity to Lake Champlain, Vergennes became the site of a U.S. Navy shipyard during the War of 1812.  Today you can visit the sites of shipwrecks in Lake Champlain and view replicas of the 1862 Canal Schooner Lois McClure and the 1776 Gunboat Philadelphia II at the Maritime Museum.

Memorial day offers Vermont's largest parade through the city or French Heritage days, two days in early July when you can enjoy a traditional French Canadian supper and an evening of Quebecois music, including song and dance with instruction on the first day and the next day enjoy free, "educational fun-filled family day with Franco-American music, French Canadian fiddling,  learn French response songs, step-dancing, clogging, reenactors, French food, antique vehicles and engines, traditional craft demonstrations, fencing demonstrations, exhibits, hands-on fun such as churning ice cream, pumping water, old time games, horse and carriage rides, French Canadian Genealogical Society will help you trace your roots, children’s educational activities, farmer’s market, Bastille Day Waiter’s Race, narrated English and French historical walking tours, boat cruises on Otter Creek."  For more information on this years events check the Vergennes annual events calendar.

There are also wonderful parks available for boating and hiking. The first is Settlers Park you can park and load a boat into the water. From this point, you can paddle your way along the Otter Creek for beautiful views and foliage along the banks.  The other park is Falls Park, which is located on Six and one half acres of land and has system of walking paths, picnic areas as well as great spots for fishing from the banks and a boat launch for Otter Creek.

All that fresh air is going to make you tired and right now Sniqueaway has a great deal on stays at The Basin Harbor Club and Resort Vermont with rooms starting at $105 per night and large studio cottages starting at $165 per night.  The hotel is on of the Historic Hotels of America and part of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, so what does that mean? Historic Hotels of America is a program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation and has identified more than 234 hotels that have faithfully maintained their historic architecture and ambiance, so you get more of a feel for the history of an area.  Personally I really enjoy staying in hotels that are part of this program, it gives you a real sense of times gone by, but the properties are all well kept.  The Basin Harbor Club and Resort is also pet friendly!  Pet amenities include Vermont made biscuits, pick up mitts and a welcome letter from the BHC Mascots, Piccolo, Ava and Fannie. Piccollo and Ava host a dog walk weekly with their owner, Pennie Beach and dog walking/dog sitting services are available.  Other amenities include:

• Olympic-size swimming pool
• Serenity Spa at Basin Harbor
• 18-hole championship golf course
• 2 Har-Tru and 3 all-weather tennis courts
• The Treehouse Wellness Center
• Nature Center
• Basin Harbor airstrip
• Miles of hiking and biking trails
• Arts and crafts classes
• Cooking classes
• Complimentary paddleboat rentals
• Canoes, kayaks, outboards and powerboats
• Sailing and water-skiing lessons
• Croquet court
• Floating water trampoline
• Kids Camp and Baby Champs daycare (available after June 17)
• Complimentary Wi-Fi
• Concierge

The Lodge can take care of your dining needs as well, with anything from a picnic lunch to a fine dining dinner, but should you want to venture out you can find some great food around town.  The Antidote Bar and Restaurant offers a menu of pub fare, including burgers, the Three Squares Cafe offers just what they say, 3 squares of Breakfast, Lunch or Dinner with a great menu including things like Green Eggs and Ham for breakfast, a grilled Chicken Cob Salad for lunch or dinner, a kids menu is available as well. 

If you are looking to get a little shopping in check out Linda's Apparel and Gifts located right on Main Street, she has cloths for women and children as well as jewelry and goodies for your bath.  There are antique stores, Simply Nice Things on Button Bay Road and Holly Hocks on Main Street that sells Fresh flowers, Lotions, Gifts, Pottery, Cards, Plants and more.  For a unique shopping experience located nearby, be sure to stop in at Kennedy Brothers Market Place a craft and antique center for local artisans and antique dealers and is a destination attraction for travelers to Vermont looking for pure Maple Syrup, Maple Sugar and Cheddar Cheese and some great fresh fudge.  You can also find some fancy foods and fine Kennedy Wood ware. While your there you can grab a bite at the Scoop Shop and the Deli.

Today's pick was based on the Sniqueaway sale and looked like a place my husband and I would really enjoy, what would you like to see featured next week?  I would love to check out a place you love or want to know more about. 

Have a great weekend!
C.Q.

Thursdays picture perfect deal...

The picture...

This was taken after a light rain last spring, I wish our April showers would start so I can get the May flowers to come up!  We have a crocus starting to come up in the front but everything else is still sleeping.

The deal...

We are getting to flee and tick season where I live and its time to start my little guy on his Heartguard and Frontline.  After bringing him to the vet for his routeen Spring check up you can order all your supplies on line from Pet Care RX.  Right now they are offering a $10.00 off coupon code of VIP9678 if your order is 75.00 or more, which for me is not hard this time of year.  Plus all the flee and tick medication is currently on sale.  While you are there be sure to join their loyalty program and earn points on every purchase that you can use to lower the price on future purchases.  Rememeber, for the heartguard and flee and tick medications you will need a prescription from your vet, this is done the same way any human prescription is done.  Just take your pet to their appointment, then when you are done let your vet know you will be using Pet Care RX for your prescriptions.  Then when you go to the web site to order you will just need to fill in your vetrinarians information, they do the rest, contacting and verifing with your vet's office the correct dosages.

Hope you are all having a great week.

C.Q.