Very important rule

Just wanted to share an important rule. After applying flea medicine to your pet, do not pet your pet (lol) where the medicine was applied, or snuggle up... unless you're thinking about getting your lip pierced or something, in which case, it would probably make a nice anesthetic.

Monday night, we were settling in to watch a movie, and the monster, aka Zali was curled up beside of me being sweet. So I nuzzled up to her, not thinking that just a couple hours beforehand we had put her Advantage on.

At first, I just noticed the smell on my hands (it surprisingly smells good, kinda tropical) then I notice that my lips are going numb. At which point I calmly ask my roomie to pause the DVD, and jump up heading for the kitchen. I grab the first cup I find and start rinsing my mouth out with water, repeatedly. Then I decide that just rinsing over my lips probably isn't 100% effective, so I grab the first thing I see (Dawn Dishwashing liquid) and quickly squirt some into my hand, and begin scrubbing my lips. After a few more rinses, I determine that's probably all I can do. My roomie has at this point called in to see what I'm doing, so I make my way back to the living room, giving him the story.

Thankfully, my lips are still attached just fine!

Consumer Research at it's finest

Do you like getting freebies in the mail? I love it, especially when they are not your run of the mill freebies. I'm not going to take the time to bullet out the places you can go for free samples, there are plenty of other sites that do that. What I want to share today, is my review of some neat programs you can sign up for that may just leave you with a surprise in your mailbox.

First up:

BzzAgent

BzzAgent is a "word of mouth" advertising program. They work with a variety of companies that want to advertise by giving away a select number of their product. How it works is simple. You sign up via their website and complete a basic profile. You then will also randomly complete brief surveys, etc that help guage your particular interests. When a campaign opens that matches your demographics, you'll be alerted to sign up. You get a "bzzcampaign" package in the mail with all the necessary items. My roomie & I both participate in this. I can't even begin to remember everything they've sent us... Just last week, I got a Glade Sense 'n Spray. A couple months ago, I got one of the new Cover Girl Lip Inks. About a year ago, my roomie got sent a Logitech Universal Remote (It's an AWESOME remote, with touch screen, etc... that retails for $200). Sometimes I go months and don't get anything, but then again, it's not like I'm working for them either. In exchange, after you've tried the product, they want you to create buzz about it, positive or negative depending on how much you like it. They usually give you coupons you can share, etc. You then complete surveys, etc and let them know how you shared. Pretty simple.

Up Next:

Pssst from General Mills

Pssst is a program General Mills offers, that allows you to learn more about new products and promotions. Most of what I have received from them has been in the form of coupons emailed to me. However l also received a package from them yesterday. Inside was a full size box of a new flavor of Fiber One Granola Bars (a 5 ct box) AND coupons! I didn't even request it, they just sent it! Pretty cool...

Moving on to:
SheSpeaks

SheSpeaks is a website for women, about women, by women. It's a forum, that contains all sorts of topics for women. The website itself is pretty interesting. There are also a variety of market research opportunities they offer from time to time. I've received chocolate, vitamin C packets... and today I'm receiving a Haagen-Daaz Party Package... Yup... they are sending me a package of their 7 new pints of Haagen-Daaz, along with coupons, and goodies to do an ice cream tasting party.

So what are you waiting for? There are others out there, and over the next few weeks, I'll try to share more of the programs I participate in. But for now, I've got some ice cream to watch for!

Some deals around town

Here's a couple of my favorite deals I've spotted recently:

Meijer:
I'm a greeting card person, I love them. I stopped in Meijer this weekend, and as I walked through the card section, I noticed some coupon tearpads. Meijer has a coupon for $2 off when you buy 3 American Greetings cards. They also have an assortment of cards for just $.99 each. That means you get 3 cards for $1 - The coupon is good through April 12th


Kroger:
I just happen to LOVE the new Cherry Diet Dr Pepper. Kroger has a sale right now, you buy 2 - 12 packs of any Dr Pepper and you get one free. Which makes them $2.34 each... not a bad deal. However, if you've already been buying Dr Pepper (or if you want to repeat this transaction) many of the 12 packs are advertising a $1 coupon inside. If you use 3 of these (because you are purchasing 3 12 packs) you can get the 3 - 12 packs for just $4 or $1.33 each

( I can see the mountain of Dr Pepper I shall be constructing, lol)

Yummy*updated*

Crystal over at MSM is having a Baking Day. Sounded appealing, but I wasn't in the mood to spend all day in the kitchen with the oven going, but I thought it was a good idea to get a few things knocked out of the way for later. So I decided to join in. I've mixed up:

French Breakfast Puffs - Popping them in the freezer to enjoy throughout the week
Baked Pasta - Going in the freezer for later this week
Soup Beans - Possible dinner tonight for roomie
Frito Crockpot Candy - Intrigued me, so I decided to try them, they are yummy!

*Update, I also whipped up some yummy breadsticks, no photo, sorry :)

And I made some cornbread to go with the beans for my roomie :)

My new KitchenAid stand mixer really got a good workout today!

Life with the monster

Anyone who doesn't think that a pet isn't like a child should try living in my house for a week. While there are some obvious differences, trust me when I say that parenting a puppy can be even more difficult than parenting a child. So, several months ago, I shared with you about our new addition Zali. In the months since she has moved in she has brought many joys and many frustrations, such as "the candy corn incident" and of course she was officially dubbed "the monster" awhile back after devouring a few remote controls.

I am continuously amazed at how she learns new skills to both dazzle and try us. In fact as I am sitting here trying to type this post, I am being targeted with a ferocious onslaught of doggie love. Like any parent, I am the master at holding a wiggly child in one hand while cleaning up a mess with the other.

I think that Zali's goal is to teach us new lessons, I'm still trying to figure out what yesterday's lesson was exactly. Yesterday Zali became obsessed with soda cans. She managed to find one everytime I turned my back, and I would be alerted to her discovery by the cruching of the can. She even proceeded after having a can taken away from her, to hop onto the couch, near where a small table was. She sat behind the table, calm as could be, and punched with one paw (think kickboxing) and successfully knocked a empty can my roomie had finished earlier to the floor.

About 30 minutes later, I was sitting in the living room and I heard one of the cats make a strange noise, I peered around my laptop to discover that it was Smokie (Zali's favorite unwilling partner in crime) who was laying on his side, with the most peculiar look on his face. Why? Because Zali had plopped down and made herself comfy, using him as a bench.

I can't help but to wonder what comes next. And just when I think that the little monster is going to drive me mad, she comes up, cuddles beside of me and lays her head on my leg.

Perseverance and Lessons Learned

Lessons I learned this weekend:

1. Pizza Sauce is not a good tool for mopping the kitchen floor

2. Just a little butter will ensure a clean release of pizza dough from the pan

3. Egg whites are a great way to glue your waxed paper to your baking sheet


Saturday evening, I decide to make a homemade pizza for dinner. This can be a time consuming process, but the results are worth it. I started by making some dough. Next after getting the dough into a pan, I topped with my yummy homemade pizza sauce. What happened next, is still unclear, but somehow as I turned away to call to my roommate to come into the kitchen to help with toppings, I bumped the pan, and it fell from the counter. And of course... it flipped on the way down, landing sauce side down. You can imagine the fun of cleaning up this saucy, doughy mess, all while trying to keep the monster at bay!

Fast forward a bit, I recently bought a new Kitchen Aid stand mixer, and decide I wanted to give making meringues a shot. So of course it would only make since that the perfect time to start such a finicky recipe would be after having already had a dinner fiasco... Unfortunately, I pulled the meringues a little too soon from the bowl, and they hadn't quite reached the right stage.

Meringues take about 2 hours to bake, so an hour later when I peeked in the oven, and looked at the sad little meringue blobs... they had completely melted flat onto the pan. So I turned the oven off, and decided to wait until morning, to deal with the cleanup. I got up Sunday morning to find that the meringues, in their melting process, had completely glued themselves and the waxed paper to the baking sheet.

I did however succeed in making a pizza the second night. And yesterday, I made my second attempt at meringues, these turned out MUCH better.

Trying to decide what my next kitchen disaster will be :)