Meet me on Monday...

Every Monday Java over at Never Growing Old hosts a Meet me on Monday blog hop that is always fun and helps to introduce new folks. Hop on over and check it out!!


Today's Questions:

1. Did you watch the Superbowl?
2. What is the last book that you read?
3. What is your favorite kind of cake?
4. Do you snore?
5. Do you play an instrument?

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1. Did you watch the Superbowl?

I sure did, what a great game!!  I have been a Packer fan since birth so I was very happy.

2. What is the last book that you read?

Housecat Confidential  by fellow blogger Fin and her human Momma.  Its a wonderful read and I highly recommend it.  Feel free to check out my blog post about the book, or check it out at Amazon, or just hop over and say hello to Fin at her place.

3. What is your favorite kind of cake?

Yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, Lemon Coconut cake

4. Do you snore?

Yes, and because I do I often sleep in the guest room so both hubby and I can get a good nights sleep.

5. Do you play an instrument?

I was forced to play the piano even though I hated it when I was younger so as a result I play nothing now.

Have a wonderful week everyone!

C.Q.

Sunday's media madness...

Well, today is game day and no matter which team you cheer on to victory, the true winners are the ads.  I watched a whole show dedicated to the Superbowl ads just last week and sat and laughed for the whole hour.  While you can't get a DVD copy of the Superbowl ads without donating a body part I did find a couple of DVDs that will make you smile and remember your childhood and not break the bank.

The first one has the simple title 1001 Classic Commercials.  The product description at Amazon says "Tons of fun for the whole family is in store with this comprehensive collection of the most unforgettable, exceptional, and memorable commercials to hit the small-screen! This is an entire history of American pop culture in its most eloquently simple and straight-forward form. Enjoy reminiscing about years gone by while watching all of your favorite commercials from the past!

Includes legendary favorites from some of the most well-know household brands like Speedy from Alka-Seltzer, The Jolly Green Giant, Barbie, Marlboro, Chevy and more!"

I was able to find it at Walmart for $3.58, and they will ship it to your local store with no shipping fees.

The next offering has two volumes.  Retro TV Commercials of The 50s and 60s volume one and two are both available at Amazon for $15.99 each.  The product description for Volume one direct from Amazon says "Color, black & white-Great commercials from televisionland of the 1950s and 1960s. Filled with nostalgia, you'll see over 2 hours of commercials for such products as Alpine Cigarettes, Micrin Mouthwash, Maypo Cereal, RCA Radios, Westinghouse Washing Machines, Chevy Cars, Lucky Strike Cigarettes, Old Virginia Jam, Hamm's Beer, Tide Detergent, Maxwell House Coffee, Skippy Peanut Butter, S.O.S. Pads, Pet Milk, Band-Aid Strips,Crest Toothpaste, County Fair Bread, Alka-Seltzer Tablets,Dristan Tablets, Goodyear Tires, Coke Soda, Bactine Skin Cream, and many more!"

The product description for Volume two says "Over 2 hours of wonderful commercials from the golden age of television. See commercials for Kodak, Beech-Nut Gum, Ivory Soap, 3 Musketeers, Chiquita Bananas, Post Bran Flakes, Auto-Lite Spark Plugs, Baggies, Cheer, Bobbi Curl, Winston, Bayer Aspirin, Quaker Oats, Aunt Jemima, Bulova Watch, Gillette Foamy, Chevrolet, Coke, Lux, Breeze Detergent, Libby's Peas, and many more! See Jimmy Durante, McLean Stevenson, and Fred Flintstone as spokesmen . Also included is a variety of political commercials from the presidential campaigns of Eisenhower, Nixon, Lyndon Johnson, and Kennedy!"

I think all these look fascinating and offer a little glimpse into our not do distant past, things we thought were OK, things we liked, how politics have changed etc.  Its always fun to look back and at times think "I can't believe I/we did that and with other things remember how much we loved something and would love to see it come back again. 

Do you have an all time favorite commercial?  I would love to know what it is and why it stuck with you for all these years.  My personal favorite is the old Coke Christmas ad with all the people singing "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing".

Have a great day and enjoy the game.

C.Q.

Meet February...

Hello to you all, I would like you to meet February. February is known for romance, chocolates, National Black History Month and the big game, but did you know February is also….

AMD/Low Vision Awareness Month: AMD stands for age-related macular degeneration; a disease that affects part of the back of the eye called the macula, and can cause the center part of your vision to become blurry or wavy.  Prevent Blindness America has a great short quiz to find out if you are at risk. Coastal Contacts is offering a coupon code for 15% off your entire order, just enter code RMNFEB15 at checkout, they also have free shipping on orders over $38.00.

Deaf History Month:  Miracle-Ear has locations nation wide and a printable coupon for a free hearing test, however the actual hearing aids can be very costly.  Hearing aids are available at low or no cost to people that qualify though.  You will need a doctor's diagnosis is necessary to qualify for hearing aid assistance, plus they are great sources of information on the products and services available to you.  Another option is to contact the hearing aid manufacturers directly, like drug companies, many of them will help with the cost, especially for families of children.

Bake for Family Fun Month : How about every one's original favorite, Original Nestle Toll House Cookies?  These would be great for the game this weekend too. Here are some coupons to help you out:

$1.00 off any Arrowhead Flour
$0.50 off two .Arm & Hammer Baking Soda
$1.00 off on any 8 oz. or 16 oz. Organic Valley Butter
$0.50 off Imperial Sugar Extra Fine Granulated Pure Cane Sugar
$0.50 off Imperial Sugar Light Brown, Dark Brown, or Powdered Sugar
$0.75 off Organic Valley Eggs
Or you could save the mixing and get $0.75 off Nestle Toll House refrigerated cookie dough

National Hot Breakfast Month:  Save $1.00 at Target on Multi pack Quaker Instant Oatmeal, or you can get a buy two get one free coupon from Better Oats Oatmeal, just find them on Facebook and then go to the promotions tab and click the like button to get your coupon.  More into Cream of Wheat?  No problem, get $1.00 off Malt-O-Meal When You Buy 2 Malt-O-Meal® Cereals 12.5 oz or larger.

National Pie Month and Sweet Potato Month:  In honor of these I found a wonderful Sweet Potato Pie Recipe from Paul Dean for you.  Did you know that despite a physical similarity and a frequent confusion with their names, yams and sweet potatoes are not even distantly related. They are in two different botanical families. Yams are actually related to grasses and lilies!

National Bird Feeding Month: Petco is having their Bird Feeder sale with 15% or more off, plus they have free shipping on all orders over $60.00.  Wonder whats coming to your feeder?  WhatBird.com has an incredible app for $29.99.  Although that may seem a little high take into account that you can carry this with you easily and you can hear the actual bird's call, something no guide book can do for you.  Once you have identified your bird you can check it off either on the app or you can download and print a free state by state check list, especially nice of you are going bird watching on vacation.

National Care About Your Indoor Air Month: Receive $10.00 back by mail with the purchase of any Filtrete Room Air Purifier by 3M.  Just Mail in the rebate form along with the original UPC code from the package and the original cash register receipt dated between March 15, 2010 and March 31, 2011, submissions must be received by April 30, 2011, one per household.

Festival of Camellias Month: If you want to start getting info on your summer flower garden, check out this beautiful flowering shrub.  You can purchase a wide variety of Camellias for your garden from the Camellia Forest Nursery.  The  Burpee Seed Company has the Pink Champagne variety only but you can use coupon code take10 at check out for 10% off your total order.

Chocolate Lover's Month: Somehow this was not a surprise.  Godiva has some beautiful Valentines chocolates this month as well as a few great coupon codes.  Note all of these codes expire on February 8th so act quick.  Coupon code LOVE will get you $10.00 off your order of $60.00 or more, HUGS will get you free shipping on your order of $60.00 or more and HEARTS will get you upgraded guaranteed Valentine's Day delivery on your order of $75.00 or more.  Remember to check out Godiva's free Rewards Club as well, its a nice little program that gets you a free piece of chocolate each month as well as free shipping on all your on line orders and some other very nice perks.

I hope you have all enjoyed meeting February, I have enjoyed sharing the introduction.

Have a great weekend everyone!


C.Q.


 

Friday's freebie...

Into paper crafting, origami, card making or scrapbooking?  Here are two samples that can help you out.  First, get 50 sheets or origami paper from Everything in Paper Crafting.  Just fill in the form and they will send you 50 sheets total, in 3 different sizes.

The next one will help you mark your paper for sizing, lettering or just keeping a straight line, get a free liquid pencil from Sharpie.  For a FREE Sample of Sharpie Liquid Pencil just mail your name and mailing address to: sharpiepen@sanford.com. While supplies last, subject to a limited number of samples. All requests must be received by 6/30/2011.


I hope you are all having a wonderful Friday!

C.Q.

Thursdays picture perfect deal...

The picture...

This picture was taken last year on one of our may wilderness walks, this one was at Nine Mile Lake.  I am missing summer and birds singing and all the beautiful green.  Hopefully our groundhog was right yesterday and Spring will get here a few days early this year.

The deal...

Younker's is having their site wide warehouse sale as well as the in-store seasons end sale going on right now.  You can get great close out deals of between 30% and 60% off items for your home, including bedding. Coupon code HMEWREHSE11 will get you an additional 20% off your sale prices when you shop online, or you can print out a coupon to take into the store with you.   Need some new furniture?  Check out the on line stock then use coupon code FRNWREHSE11 at the check out for those and get $100 - $750 off your purchase, Younkers has a savings chart to check how much you will save on your purchase.  Lancome is giving out samples of their Renergie Lift Volumetry with any $50.00 on line purchase,  and Clinique cosmetics  is offering a cosmetics bag filled with goodies, free with a purchase of $21.50, shipping is free on cosmetics from Younker's as well.  The sale runs through February 11, 2011.

I hope your week is going well!

C.Q.

Wednesday's learn and earn...

~WORD OF THE DAY~

lobscouse \LAHB-skouss\ ~ noun

DEFINITION: a sailor's dish of stewed or baked meat with vegetables and hardtack

EXAMPLES: Tucked away in a box in the attic were old recipes from Grandpa's father, including one for lobscouse.

"Mam knows that I don’t like lobscouse. All those bits of grey meat and white bone and potato and carrot in watery stock with globules of grease floating on top. It reminds me of washing-up water and I can’t eat any of it." -- From Mari Strachan's 2009 novel, The Earth Hums in B Flat

FYI: This is a classic North Walian stew/broth that used to be made in every farmhouse. It's basically a mix of vegetables, marrow bones and meat (which used to be salt beef) but these days tends to be stewing beef.

Ingredients:

1.2kg stewing beef
2 marrow bones
6 potatoes, peeled and chopped into large pieces
1/2 swede, peeled and cut into pieces (a swede is a rutabaga)
1 onion, chopped
4 carrots, sliced into generous pieces
3 leeks, sliced
salt and black pepper, to taste

Method:

Add the meat and bones to a large pan of water and bring the mixture to a boil. Cook for 15 minutes then add the vegetables (except the potatoes) and boil for about 40 minutes, or until the meat is tender.

Add the potatoes and boil again for half an hour, until the potatoes are tender. Season to taste and continue cooking for 5 minutes more. The lobscouse can now be served but it's much better if you leave it over night, re-heat and serve the following day.

When ready to serve spoon the apricots onto a plate and place the chicken on top. Serve with plain rice.

This recipe and others can be found at Nemeton, Home of Ancient Recipes, the English version is at the bottom of the page.

~THE REBATE~

Today's rebate is for everyone that brings a lunch to work or school. Just collect 20 codes from participating LEAN CUISINE® entrées (excluding Lean Cuisine Market Creations) and enter the codes on the LEAN CUISINE® web site. When you get up to the 20 codes you can take your pick of one of four designs of lunch bags. The last date to enter codes or request a bag is March 31, 2011.

Have a great day everyone!

C.Q.

The Great Snuggle War of 2011

Mr. Bernie and I have been known to have odd conversations. Things that really don't mean much of anything. Last night was no exception. I thought I would share the start of The Great Snuggle War of 2011.

When Mr. Bernie and I first started to share a bed it was weird. He had been a bachelor for quite some time. As we got ready to go to sleep the first time, he informed me that he didn't like to snuggle. He wanted to sleep and not be "bothered." I was so paranoid about this that I didn't sleep for the first week. I was afraid that I might accidentally brush against him. I laid on my side of the bed, practically falling off the edge so as not to bother him. That was so relaxing. Not!

Fast forward several years. Now the Mr. will snuggle in his sleep and not even realize it. Which is not a bad thing at all. Yesterday, I made a comment about his good snuggle habits. Pointing out that he is such a good snuggler, that he snuggles without even realizing it. He denied it of course.

All this snuggle talk lead to a great debate last night. Mr. Bernie told me that he doesn't need to snuggle. He doesn't need to snuggle, but he knows that I need to snuggle. Therefore, its just something he does for me. A sacrifice of sorts. He could live without it. I countered that by reminding him that he snuggles in his sleep. "Do you wake yourself up thinking, that Bernie needs to snuggle?" He agreed that was what it was. Smirking and chuckling the entire time.

When we got into bed last night, I suggested a bet. I bet him a nickle that he can't go all night without snuggling with me. He bet me a nickle that I would "foot snuggle" with him Foot snuggle? Is that even a real term? I asked him what foot snuggling was. He put his feet against my feet and told me that was what I did to him at night. I assured him that there would be no foot snuggling on my part.

The lights were shut off and I was on the very edge of my bed. I almost had my feet hanging over the edge. I didn't want to loose the nickle and be a foot snuggler. No Siree, I was going to win this Snuggle War. Mr. Bernie was on the edge of his side of the bed. You could have parked a truck in the space between us. After a few more taunts by the Mr. I finally feel asleep.

I woke up this morning at the edge of my bed. I don't think I was a foot snuggler, but its hard to tell when one is sleeping. I guess I will find out this morning if I owe him a nickle. I sure hope not. As far as I know, he doesn't owe me a nickle. Yet, it could be a wash.

Yes, we do have too much time on our hands. Thank you for noticing.