Last Day for Giveaway!

Don't forget that today's the last day to enter my giveaway!

Go here and leave a comment to be entered.  Good luck, everyone!

Did You Get What You Asked For? *Giveaway*

Well, if you didn't, here's your chance to win a $40 shopping spree at CSN stores.  Though I won't be getting any more modern dining room furniture until after ALL of the heathi are out of the house, CSN stores has some good stuff.  RockCrawlinChef moved some pretty cool furniture in when we got married, but I'm thinking that we might want stuff that we can entertain with.

I'm pretty sure that there's something that you want and had hoped you'd get it for Christmas, but it didn't show up under the tree.  'Cause, dang, I know that Santa did not drop off the consecutively numbered, semi-matching AR-15s under the tree that RCC and I were hoping for.

So...'fess up...what is it you wanted and didn't get this year?  And don't give me all that "I have my health/my happiness/a loving family and what more could you ask for" crap.  A book?  Jewelry?  A trip? The winning lottery numbers?

Leave me a comment with what you wanted by midnight CST on Wednesday, January 12th.  I'll plug your names in a random generator thingy and announce my winner on Friday, January 14th.  Entries limited to three (because I have some long-winded, smart-alec family and friends).

Review Time!

While I was in Las Vegas last week, half of my CSN order came in.  There's nothing like coming home to presents!

On Sunday, I tried out the 3-piece pizza stone.  It came with the stone, a cooling rack and pizza cutter.  Do yourself a favor.  Throw out the pizza cutter.  Or do one better and save the money by just buying the stone, not the 3-piece set.  I'm pretty sure that the pizza cutter might cut play-doh.  Mine went directly into the trash.  And I didn't even cry about it.

I love the pizza stone.  I love having a clean oven.  The two go hand-in-hand.  Two thumbs up for the pizza stone (and two thumbs down for the cutter).  Call it a draw.

Today, I got to try out the slow cooker.  I've been nervous about it ever since Terry commented that she's heard that some slow cookers heat too fast and burn the food.  I shouldn't have worried.  My slow cooker has three settings: warm, low, and high.  That's all I need.  I don't need the fancy thermostat do-hickies.  Since I was running late this morning, I had RCC throw in the food this morning.  When I got home, dinner was done and fabulous.  Two thumbs up for the slow cooker.

I thought I'd share my favorite slow cooker recipe and why I love it.  I'm not sure if I've put this up here before, but I'm gonna do it again because I love it so much.

Shredded Chicken

• Four frozen chicken breasts
• 2 cans Cream of Chicken soup
• 1 jar 505 Green Chili

Throw in slow cooker on low all day.  Shred with two forks when done.

Why do I love it so much?  You mean besides being the easiest recipe on the planet?

It is super versatile. 

The first night, I serve it over rice or egg noodles.  The next night, I can take part of it, mix with sour cream and canned Stokes Green Chili, roll it up in tortillas, throw some cheese over the top and call them chicken burritos.  Or, add some frozen veggies, dump in a casserole dish and top with Bisquick for chicken pot pie. 

A friend of mine eats hers over mashed potatoes, which I've yet to try, but she assures me it's divine.

I love versatile left-overs - it takes the thinking out of meal planning.

Holy Cow!

The CSN Stores promotional team has graced me with $100 to review their stores/products.  I've done reviews for them in the past and loved it.  If you've never visited their website, you should do so.  They've got so much stuff to choose from, I had a hard time deciding what to spend my money on.  One "big" thing or a few "small" things?  I opted for a few small things.

After much discussion with RockCrawlinChef, we decided to choose:

• The Hamilton Beach "Stay or Go" slow cooker.  We passed on our old faithful crock-pot to Digger last week and were in need of a new one.  What I think I'm going to like about this one is that it seals, so it won't spill all over Ripley when we take food places.
• Fox Run Craftsman's 3-piece Pizza Stone set.  Monster unfortunately broke our last pizza stone.  I loved using the pizza stone because it kept the kids from putting their frozen pizzas straight on the rack (okay, I'm guilty of that, too).  While I don't mind the straight on the rack thing, I did just clean the oven and it was disgusting.  Anything to prevent me having to do that again!
• Soda Stream carbonating bottles.  We love our Soda Stream and I was thrilled to see that CSN stores carried it and all of the accessories.  The one drawback to the Soda Stream is that it only comes with two bottles, so if you want a variety of sodas in the fridge, you're kinda screwed.  For $14.99, they are less expensive than buying from a brick-and-mortar store.
• Soda Stream grape soda.  Well, why not?  It's a flavor we haven't tried yet.  The drawback is that I couldn't order just one bottle, it came in a set of five.  We'll be drinking grape soda for the next year.

I placed my order today and everything I ordered, in addition to free shipping, is guaranteed to be here before Christmas Eve.

It's CSN Review Time!

Quick note: if you receive an email from "me" with just a funny looking link, don't click on it!  Some stupid spammer hijacked my account.  I will *always* identify a link if I send it to you.

What will it be this time?  A briefcase? Probably not; that would require me to transfer all of my crap from my computer bag.  Cookware?  Possibly, but not because *I* would use it, but maybe RockCrawlinChef will!

Rachel did a review on a Rachael Ray Casserole Dish a while back and I've kind of been coveting that little dish (not in green, though, red's my color), so I may try it out.  The problem is, I could (and have) wasted an entire day playing around on CSN Store's website - there is so much to choose from!

Stay tuned...a review is on its way!

We Have A Winner!

The winner of the $50 CSN Stores gift certificate is . . .

Drum roll, please . . .

"Why yes that's a mini Schnauzer in the travel tote under the seat in front of me! Why yes, I paid a solid $100 each way to bring her along. Well, no, I don't think the screaming baby up three rows cost a single cent to fly with her Momma. She doesn't get shoved under the seat, either."

A real conversation between a fellow passenger & myself after a IAH to PIT flight a few years ago. My Schnauzer, Allie, flew very quietly under the seat in front of me in her little pet-tote. The infant, however, who flew for free, screamed bloody murder the entire trip.

Jennifer!

Jennifer, I'll be forwarding your email address to the promoter at CSN, so expect to hear from them within the week.  Enjoy whatever it is you find (be sure to let us know what you blow your gift certificate on)!

Rach and Mr. Daddy, while you both cracked me right the eff up with the MILE HIGH club comment, it came in after the deadline for comments.  So, for second place, Rachel, I'll make sure that Mom puts her Cherry Cheese Filled Pastry (or whatever the heck she calls it) on the menu for either Saturday or Sunday.  Hope that's an okay consolation prize.

But the MILE HIGH comment got me thinking...now, stop groaning and shaking your heads, I do think on occasion...

While the MILE HIGH CLUB is usually used in reference to flying, doesn't that also mean that most of the people in Denver and the surrounding mountains are also members of the MHC?  After all, we live a mile above sea level.

Time to Vote

It's time to choose the winner of the $50 CSN gift certificate!  The winner will be determined by vote, so hop on over to check out the comments on this post and leave your vote in the comments here.  We'll close voting on Wednesday, August 11th at midnight.

Vote as often as you'd like (and, no, you cannot vote for yourself).

Order from CSN Stores

Before I get to the CSN Store order - I want to wish Not A GunDiva a happy birthday.  She and I may be polar opposites in some ways, but I think I'll finally quit asking Mom to take her back to the hospital.  Happy birthday - hope you have a great day.  Love you.

I finally decided what I was going to order from CSN Stores to review.  When we brought Dashurie home, Ash had talked about wanting a carrier for her so that Dash can go where Ash goes.  We couldn't find a carrier we liked, so whenever Dash wanted to go somewhere, we had to borrow Scamp's cat carrier.  Well, wouldn't you know that when I looked in the pet section of CSN, I found a carrier that I think will be perfect for Dashurie.

Isn't it cute?  My only issue is that this is the only view offered; I would have liked to see what the inside looks like and see about the venting - I can't have my grand-hedgehog suffocating now, can I?

It's scheduled to ship to me sometime next week (holiday weekends always mess up shipping) and I expect that it will be here the following week.  I'll be sure to post pics of Dash in her new carrier and Scamp will be relieved to have his back.

I've Hit The Big Time!

I thought I'd hit the big time when I gained more followers than family members.

Then, I thought I'd hit the big time when I was asked to review a book.

But now, I've really, really hit the big time.  I was asked by CSN Stores to do a give-away.  I declined the give-away, simply because I don't want to promote a company I can't vouch for.  I asked, instead, to do a review of their products with the potential for a give-away in the future (just looking out for y'all).

I hate, hate shopping, so I admit I dragged my feet a litle bit going over to their website.  However, once I got there, I loved it.  They've pretty much got something for everyone (except horses - sorry, I tried).  I spent an hour browsing their site.  Ask my family, they'll tell you what a feat that is.  They've got a lot: furniture, home decor (including track lighting, which I'm so going to put in my dream house; I've always loved the versatility of it and the ability to spotlight certain areas of the room), housewares, home improvement, pets, outdoor, etc., etc.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna hop on over there again and see how many other ways I can blow my paycheck.  Once I've found something out of the kagillion items they have to offer, I'll put my review up here.