The Busy People's Fast and Frugal Cookbook By Dawn Hall

Thanks to Thomas Nelson I was able to review the new cookbook The Busy People's Fast and Frugal Cookbook By Dawn Hall. It says that it has “perfect recipes for any cook with little time and even less money.”

I selected this book because I want to learn how to cook better meals that don’t take hours to prepare and cook. I’m too busy for that! Since this cookbook has meals that are all cooked in 30 minutes or less I thought it would be a great tool to help simplify mealtimes.

As soon as the cookbook arrived, I browsed through it and was really quite surprised by how many great recipes were included.

Here are some of my favorites:

Breakfast:
Italian Breakfast Pizza, Banana Crème Crepes, Southwestern Egg Bake Casserole

Appetizers:
Cheesy Cranberry Spread

Salads:
Chicken and Mandarin Orange Chopped Salad

Soups:
Egg Drop Soup
Creamy Chicken and Noodle Soup

Main Dishes:
Little Italy Open-faced Sandwiches
Penne in Creamy Italian Sauce
Cheese is King Macaroni and Cheese – “guilt-free”
Oriental Chicken Pot Pie

Sides:
European Asparagus
Spiced Baked Oranges

Breads and Biscuits:
Garlic and Parmesean Rye Toast
Cheddar Chive Bagel Crisps

Desserts:
Pineapple Cherry Delight
Pumpkin Bread Pudding

Beverages:
Strawberry Smoothie

Those were just some of my favorites; there are many more great and healthy recipes in this cookbook. If you’re looking for a great cookbook that will help you cook healthy meals in under 30 minutes, this is the book to get!

Let The Sun Shine

Today it finally was slightly sunny. We had a huge amount of rain here this week in the Southeastern portion of USA.

Luckily I live where it is very unlikely to flood. We have a big lake behind our house, but with the dams we should be fine. Although, the first time I ever came here the bridge on our road did wash out…

In case you didn’t see this on the news, check out what Six Flags in Atlanta, GA looked like from the flooding issues caused by all this rain.

What’s He Really Thinking? By Paula Rinehart

Thanks to Thomas Nelson I was able to review the new book What’s He Really Thinking? By Paula Rinehart. It says that it is “a woman’s field guide to the male psyche” and focuses on how men think, why they do what they do and what they struggle with.

I selected this book because as a woman, I find it hard to understand what guys are truly thinking. Relating to the opposite sex is something people never seem to quite master anyways. However, I decided to give it a shot.

I was really excited when the book arrived. I started reading it that day and grew less and less excited each page. I really didn’t learn anything about relating to a man any better at all. There were some good tips and advice in the book. However, the majority of it was centered on pleasing a man and serving a man. Not really the type of book I’m interested in.

Flashback Friday – Garbage “I’m Only Happy When It Rains”

It has been really rainy where I live this week. As I write this post it is pouring down rain outside and thundering. I love it. I’ve always loved the rain and thunderstorms. I did grow up in Central Florida though, which is the lightning capital of the world.

So, I figured it would be time to post one of my favorite songs - “I’m Only Happy When It Rains” by Garbage. It came out in the 1990s when I was in Jr. High school. Ah, what a weird time in my life, yours too most likely so don’t judge. I listened to this song on repeat for hours. Yeah, I was weird. What is that? I still am. Ah, well. So what?

Here you go…





* Don’t forget you can take part in Flashback Fridays too. Grab the picture for it or not just link back to me please.

Think Your Bathroom Is Clean? Think Again!

Today while watching the new Dr. Oz show, my habit of putting the lid down on toilet seats was sealed.

I’ve been doing this for over a year now to keep my bathroom clean ever since I heard that the “aerosol effect” happens when flushing the toilet and it spreads nasty germs and bacteria all over the bathroom for up to eight feet in diameter. Gross! Personally, I don’t want “fecal matter bacteria” living on my toothbrush, hairbrush, in my shower, toothpaste, etc. Just thinking about that is enough to make me want to vomit.

I don’t consider myself a germ-o-phobe. My Dad says that I remind him of that guy Monk that had that TV show. I never watched it. Or Howie Mandel. I’m really not that bad though.

Dr. Oz had a few women bring in items from their bathroom to be tested in some laboratory for bacteria growing on them. The first lady’s shower cap had bacteria. The second lady’s toothbrush holder and toothbrush had 3 types of bacteria including E. Coli. Not good!

He also noted that prior alarms of this stated that this aerosol effect was lower in estimates than what it really was spreading. It can spread up to…. twenty feet!

Dr. Oz suggested that this can be prevented by simply putting the lid down before you flush. Whew, I’ve been doing that! I also clean the toilet lid and where I touch it more often and of course wash my hands after each trip to the bathroom.

What do you think of this? Did you know? Do you put the lid down too?

In Memory of Patrick Swayze

Yesterday Patrick Swayze died of cancer. So, today besides doing some chores around the house I am also watching Dirty Dancing in memory of him.

Dirty Dancing was one of my favorite movies growing up. I didn’t really know/understand much of it at first most likely, I just liked the dancing part. It is however, still one of my favorite movies.

I couldn’t embed this video, but this is one of my favorite parts of Dirty Dancing… here ya go!

True Blood: Season 2 – Episode 11 “Frenzy”

This episode of True Blood resumes with Bill at the vampire Queen of Louisiana’s den. The girl’s bleeding leg was from a donor (as seen in the previous episode) and she wasn’t dead. The Queen likes women, not men.

Bill is there to seek information on how to kill a maenad (Mary Ann). She gives the theory that everything imagined itself into existence (aka maenads too) and therefore she is immortal because she thinks she is.

From reading the books, I thought the Queen would be younger (but hey Pam was supposed to be only 19 and she is so not). However, I really like the actress they picked to play the vampire Queen. I wonder how much we will see of her next season.



Hoyt gets Jessica off his mom. Jessica couldn’t take her anymore the last episode and began feeding off her. Hoyt leaves with his mom. I hope they can work this out! I liked them together.

Tara is going crazy to try to leave to save Eggs. Lafayette, Tara’s mom and Sookie are all at Lafayette’s still trying to hold her back and well fend off the townspeople who have gone all crazy.



Tara somehow convinces her mom to let her go and her mom takes Lafayette’s gun. Lafayette hallucinates seeing Tara’s mom with the gun as Eric. Crazy. Quite funny though seeing Eric in a woman’s flowery top though. Tara leaves and heads off to go save Eggs.

Jason and Andy are ready for the “war” and are ready to destroy the town and people in order to save it. Sam however just wants to stop Mary Ann.

Sam finds Arlene’s kids in the woods and they haven’t eaten for days and are worried about what is going on. He feeds them and takes them to Fangtasia with him to ask Eric for help. I wonder what happened to all of the other kids in the town though. Eric does agree to help though.



Shortly after Tara makes it to Sookie’s house for Eggs, Mary Ann finds her. Mary Ann says that Tara was actually the one who summoned her that night in the woods last season where the fake voodoo lady had the ritual in the woods with her. Uh oh! Mary Ann punches her and Tara is possessed yet again.

Lafayette and Sookie go to Sookie’s house and try to rescue Tara but they get separated and caught. Sookie enters her house which is like a little workshop of horrors with the drunk lady cutting her finger off, a guy in the sink that looks like he is playing with his intestines, and then some guy pulls her down to the floor. Luckily she grabs a pan and hits him in the head with it to get away.

Bill finds out how to kill Mary Ann. While he is there though, he sees also Hayden – Sookie’s cousin who has turned into a vampire (but she doesn’t know that yet). She is also the Queen’s lover.

When Bill is leaving, he sees Eric there who is also going to the Queen for help with the Mary Ann situation. Who will end up saving the day?

At the end of the episode, Sookie finds Tara and Eggs in Sookie’s room, or her grandmother’s room and they are destroying everything and there is a weird nest with a huge egg in the middle of the bed. WTF?!? Then Lafayette taps her shoulder (he is possessed) and says he was looking for her.



What is going on? I can’t wait to see the season finale on tonight!

Bonnie Hunt Show: CSI Atlanta

Since I'm not feeling very well this week and haven't posted much, I decided that this would be a good pick-me-up to share with all of you. It is from the Bonnie Hunt Show that was on today featuring Bonnie and Niecy Nash as Kim and Ne Ne. Too funny!

Delight Your Day Giveaway – Winner!

I used the randomizer.org tool to figure out who the winner for my “Delight Your Day" Giveaway" was and it came up with commenter number 7. Who is that? Nickie! Congratulations!

I’ll e-mail you to let you know right now.

Check back soon, I have more giveaways coming up in the near future.

Flashback Friday – Nintendo (the originals)

Time for another fun Flashback Friday without the effects of taking acid…wait stare at that picture long enough and you may have one of your own. Just kidding of course (or am I)?


This week’s flashback is featuring the original Nintendo Entertainment Systems! What I mean by that is the first NES and the Super Nintendo (SNES).

I remember getting the original when I was in kindergarten. I think I got it for Christmas. It was either that or my birthday. Okay, maybe I don’t remember it that well after all. Anyways, I loved it. I played the Mario Bro games and went down sewers, beat the bosses and saved the princess. I shot ducks with a special orange gun. I thought it was the coolest thing ever. I remember my parents playing Duck Hunt too on it. They weren’t as into the Mario Brother games. Shooting things was much cooler. I’m sure we had other games too (like Tetris), but honestly I don’t remember.

Then came the Super Nintendo! I was uber excited to get this for Christmas. I remember it was Christmas I opened this beauty on. It was by far the present highlight of the year where parents say “Merry Christmas” and “Happy Birthday” and all those good holidays you get presents on because this cost more than a few shirts and a CD and they want you to feel bad it cost that much and therefore appreciate it more. It works. Good ruse I’ll have to remember for the future.

I loved the Super Mario games on here too and the ones with Yoshi – so cute! I also had a Mario Cart where I gained some serious road rage issues. My favorite though was Donkey Kong Country (all of them). I played these all the time. Great game!



Sadly, I don’t have a Wii or a Nintendo DS Lite. So for now, I’ll reminisce on my fond memories of Nintendo from childhood.


* Don’t forget you can take part in Flashback Fridays too. Grab the picture for it or not just link back to me please.

Twilight Panties and some New Books

Check out these hot new panties I got for free from Victoria’s Secret for my birthday.

I love that since I have the Angels card with them I get free panties sometimes and $10 gift for free the month of my birthday. Glad I used it this year since sometimes it expires before I get to go over there.

No, it isn’t Twilight licensed merchandise because it is from Victoria’s Secret. However, with the apples and Bite Me it reminds me of the Twilight Saga and Edward Cullen. Yum!

Unfortunately, that isn’t a picture of me wearing them. It is one of their models since you can buy them on their website for $7.50.

Since I still had $2.50 left to spend, I picked out some anti-bacterial hand gels by the counter. They were on sale for 3/$5. Not too bad. I picked out scents Love Spell, Berry Kiss and Amber Romance.



I love browsing through the books in book stores. So, while at the mall we walked through Books A Million. I found 3 books in the discount section which made me quite happy. I like discount books that are still brand new and in almost perfect shape!



Since I’m in such a picture posting mood, I also have the masks I picked out in New Orleans to share with you. I finally did find some in the French Market and these were the ones I picked out… I’ll probably wear one for Halloween. Any costume ideas to go with it?



This was just too cute/pathetic not to post too… It is my dog getting a bath today – she hates baths!

Yoplait Delights + “Delight Your Day" Giveaway

Thanks to MyBlogSpark I was able to review the new Yoplait Delights in Crème Caramel. I was really excited when I got this package in the mail because I love doing reviews and yogurt is one of my favorite snacks.

The Yoplait Delights in the Crème Caramel was creamy and delicious. It was so good I wanted to take small spoonfuls so it wouldn’t end so quickly. Plus, it is only 100 calories! Yum!


Yoplait Delights Info
Are you looking for a guilt-free snack that will help satisfy that afternoon sweet tooth? Want to enjoy in a delicious treat with only 100 calories? Then we have the perfect Spark for you - an opportunity to try the new Yoplait® Delights, a rich and creamy layered yogurt parfait with just 100 calories!

Did you know?
Nearly nine out of 10 women experience a mid-day craving and have the urge to snack

Eighty-three percent of women admit they sometimes feel guilty when cravings take over and they reach for sweets

With Yoplait Delights you can enjoy a delicious sweet treat and feel good about your choice. Available in four tempting flavor combinations Chocolate Raspberry, Triple Berry Creme, Lemon Torte and Creme Caramel - creamy Yoplait Delight is the perfect everyday treat.

Right now you can also download a $1.25 off coupon for Yoplait Delights Parfait at: http://bricks.coupons.com/bstart.asp?o=58135&ci=1&c=GM&p=V6gHk2E5



“Delight Your Day” Giveaway
I am able to give one winner in the USA (sorry international readers!) a “Delight Your Day” gift pack that includes a spa mask, wrap robe, slippers and a coupon for the Yoplait Delight of your choice.

If you would like to enter to win the gift pack, please leave comments accordingly… Leave a comment for each entry please so the randomizer works as it is supposed to.


1 Entry – Tell me what your favorite snacks are.
1 Entry – Follow my Blog.
3 Entries – Blog about my giveaway on your Blog.


Entries accepted until September 7, 2009. Good luck!