30
May 2011

Get smart with First Street from Smart & Final

By becky

My husband and I have been Smart & Final shoppers for years. When he worked on a fishing boat as a cook, he shopped there for galley supplies. Some of our favorite products are from Smart & Final’s own First Street brand. We buy them all the time.

Some of our recent favorites have been in the frozen food section. Well, it works great when we can remember to thaw something for supper, that is. For our son we keep tater tots on hand, and french fries for us. They both work great in my little convection toaster oven, crisping up nicely. No oil, no unhealthy fats to worry about! That’s a big one for me, as I have to watch my cholesterol. We also like the hash brown patties, as they’re great for a quick breakfast side.

Another thing I am loving recently is the package of frozen chicken thighs. I know, that sounds weird to some people. But thighs are probably THE best meat on the chicken. Forget the chicken breast. Go for the thigh! My favorite way to cook them is to just liberally sprinkle them with spices (my favorites are just salt, pepper, and granulated garlic and a special seasoned salt when I have it on hand) and put them under the broiler for around a 1/2 hour (depending on size) and turning them a few times. They get nice and crispy on the outside, but are so tender and juicy. I love LOVE chicken cooked this way. Our son FINALLY started eating chicken when we cooked it this way. Score!

I have to stop for a moment and mention that I really, really miss the frozen steaks that First Street used to carry. They were awesome. Almost all of the boats we knew used them, as they kept well, were tasty, and were individually wrapped. I’m still on a mission to get Smart & Final to bring them back.

Okay, now it’s your turn. How would you like to receive a sampling of First Street products AND a $50 gift card to Smart & Final? All you have to do is enter the contest on Facebook. You’ll love it. In our sample, we got pancakes and syrup, paper towels, pasta and sauce, popcorn, aluminum foil, food storage bags, chocolate chips (which I just eat instead of making cookies. oops.), mayo, ketchup, dressing, croutons, and whole lot more. It’s a lot of food. And every bit of it so far has been good.

firststreet-contest

This is a compensated post through a partnership with collective bias. But we’ve been Smart & Final shoppers—and First Street brand fans—for a long time. Opinions are my own, as always.

Category: giveaways and reviews  Tags: , , ,  One Comment
26
May 2011

Edge of the world

By becky

No, I haven’t fallen off of the face of the Earth. Been busy with travel for work. Be back soon. Just wanted to check in. How YOU doin’?

Category: babbling  Tags:  Comments off
05
May 2011

It’s quiet here

By becky

I don’t exactly know how to write anything trivial about my life when my friends are still missing and there’s no news that I know of regarding their whereabouts. What do you say after that? There’s no transition that works. But I’m still plugging away. I might find some funny kid stories to share soon. I know I could use a laugh.

Category: Uncategorized  Comments off
21
Apr 2011

Missing persons: Rusty and Becky Porter

By becky

I have been on radio silence recently, due to working a lot and generally being too busy to think. But the last several days my heart has been elsewhere—and if you’re friends with me on Facebook you’ve already seen me post about this.

My friend is missing.

Her name is Becky, and I’ve known her a good portion of my life. No, it’s not an allegory about how I’m missing myself, who I once was, or anything like that. I’m serious.

Her name is Becky Porter (although people in the area knew her previously as Becky Ellsworth and her maiden name was Becky Hufft) and she hasn’t been seen since Sunday evening, 4/17/2011. Her husband, Russell (Rusty) is missing as well.

Russell & Rebecca Porter have been missing since Sunday, April 17, 2011.This has been on my mind since Tuesday, when I first got word of their disappearance. Their car, phones, Becky’s purse are all reportedly at the house. No one has seen them, nor do they know where they went.

And we’re all heartsick.

This happens on TV. In the movies. To other people in faraway places. Not back home where the towns are small and everyone knows everyone else.

And as more time passes, the more I worry that things won’t turn out as we hope. Many of her friends and family are church-goers and they are posting on her wall about their prayers and faith that everything will turn out all right. While I struggle to remain positive and have faith that there will be a good outcome. But in the back of my mind, the reality of the statistics in cases like this flow through my brain. My cynicism shows and I wonder what they’ll say if there’s not an outcome they were praying for. How will their faith handle it? Maybe better than mine. Maybe their faith is already handling it better than mine. Maybe I just watch too many cop/csi/law/crime shows.

In the mean time, it is eerily similar to another case almost 20 years ago where three women in Springfield (Mo.) disappeared without a trace (I wrote about that once but lost the post in one of my content moves). I hope it’s not the same. And I wonder what in the world could have caused anyone to want to harm (or even just scare) such a nice, smalltown girl.

And if it can happen to her, how easily can it happen to any one of us?

Please, please pray for their safe return. In spite of my skepticism. In spite of my fears. Please pray. It’s all we have right now.

Update: Rusty’s and Becky’s bodies were found in a very remote part of Taney County toward the end of July. I am so sad to hear this news, but at least their families can finally stop worrying. We hope the authorities find out who did this and why.

Category: Uncategorized  Tags: , ,  4 Comments
30
Mar 2011

Discover the Secret Science of Dirt at KinderCare

By becky

Some of you may remember that we have an older daughter who is currently in college. When she was younger and my husband needed childcare, he turned to our local KinderCare. It was close, convenient and had a good reputation locally. And it was affordable.

Things haven’t changed all that much—it’s still close to us and we’ve been considering putting our 3-year-old son in a couple of days a week. I think he needs the socialization. And mommy just may, might, maybe need a tiny bit of a break. Maybe. But you know me, I can’t make up my mind. Yet.

Coming up, though, is the perfect opportunity for us to try things and see how they go. That’s because KinderCare is presenting a week-long Spring Break camp called the Secret Science of Dirt. During Spring Break, kids will have the chance to dig into the science behind “growing green” and get excited about the natural world.

Preschoolers (including my son) will experience hands-on science lessons, veggie cooking, and craft-making. I bet my son will love the science lessons, especially if he gets to dig in dirt. I imagine him coming home a little disheveled but with a big grin on his face. He’ll manage to find the dirt, wherever it is. Trust me.

Older kids will plant and tend vegetables, make compost, create garden-related crafts, and (after clean up!) prepare tasty veggie treats. I can only hope that seeing all of the kids eating and preparing veggies will inspire my son to try them.

I’m looking forward to this camp for my son. I think he’ll learn a lot, meet some new friends and get a chance to play with someone other than (boring) mommy.

Spring Break already over in your area? Take a look at their awesome Summer Camps as well.

————————————–

Want to discover some fun things to do at home? Check out this take-home adventure from KinderCare:

Science Adventures(tm): Take the Adventure Home
Fun, hands-on science activities to engage your child in discovery learning

By Science Adventures’ Andy, the Science Wiz

Indoor Lawn

As spring buds to life around us, it is the perfect time to engage a young explorer in nature. Children will discover what seeds need to sprout when they nurture a dormant grass seed into mini-pet lawns.

What you will need:

1 brand new clean kitchen sponge
1 Plate
1 Gallon resealable baggie
1 Straw
Grass Seed (Any Variety)

What to do:

growing grass on a sponge

Learn how to grow grass on a sponge - fun with science!

Soak the sponge in cold water for a few minutes. Gently squeeze out the excess water, and place the sponge on a plate. Have your child sprinkle the sponge liberally with grass seed. Next, slide the plate into the baggie. Seal the baggie around the straw and have your child gently inflate the bag by blowing into the straw. Pull the straw out and seal the baggie. Success! You built a mini-inflatable green house.

Place the baggie on a sunny window sill.  Have your child check the baggie each day and report any changes they see. Make sure they add more water If the sponge dries out.

After the first day you should notice that water clings to the top of the baggie in droplets. This is because the sun has heated the water in the sponge causing it to evaporate, rise, and condense into drops. This is a great way of showing how clouds form and sometimes make rain.

After two days, the seeds should start to germinate, pushing out roots. The roots look white and fuzzy. The white strands are the roots seeking a home in some damp soil.

After 4 days, you will notice that the seeds have sprouted tiny green shoots. This is the grass. Each seed will produce one blade of grass.

After 7 days, you should have grown a small pet lawn.

What is happening:

Discuss what plants need to grow with your child. Plants need water, air, soil, sunlight, and space to grow. Our mini-green houses provided plenty of sunlight, water, air, and allowed the seeds to flourish using the nutrients that were packed in the seed. However, the sponge cannot provide nutrients long term. To continue the experiment, the grass can be peeled off the sponge and planted in a small pot.

————————————–

Disclosure: We will be comped the Spring Break camp at our local KinderCare learning center. Opinions here are my own and I am already a fan of the centers, hence it’s a good fit for us.

Category: giveaways and reviews, parenting  Tags: , , ,  2 Comments
13
Mar 2011

I am a hypocrite

By becky

My first son was born at a baby-friendly hospital. That sounds strange, doesn’t it. Aren’t all hospitals baby-friendly? Not really, by definition. It means that they support breast feeding and don’t offer formula or any type of formula-related freebies. They have formula on hand for when it’s needed, but they don’t accept it as a marketing tool. It is only offered when absolutely necessary. You won’t find any formula advertising there at all.

My second son was born at a different hospital. While the hospital supports breastfeeding and doesn’t give out formula-branded diaper bags, I did see some lids – for my pumped breast milk, no less – that were branded. And the OB and pediatrician practices were decidedly formula-friendly. This upset me greatly when I was pregnant. Even though my first son could have died waiting for my milk to come in & had supplemental formula until it did.

I didn’t want to see formula sponsored pregnancy journals or freebie bags with formula in them. One bag I was given was supposed to have info in it for me about registering at the hospital and other info. What I didn’t realize until later was that it also had bottles of formula in there. At first I was a little pissed. Maybe even a tiny bit outraged.

And yet? We’ve used that formula. Um, oops?

My second son, at almost 4 months has already had more formula than my other son EVER had. It has always been a convenience thing. When we traveled during the holidays, we would give him some if we couldn’t stop for a feeding.

We have also used it for afternoons when I’m out of the house and won’t be back in time for a feeding. Sometimes I have pumped beforehand and other times I didn’t. The formula is there for when I didn’t/couldn’t.

I am still a huge proponent of breastfeeding. It is my preferred way. But I’d be lying if I said my son is exclusively breastfed. He isn’t. And I do, to be honest, carry around a little bit of guilt about that. Maybe I shouldn’t. Or should. Either way, it’s there. And it is what it is.

What’s your dirty little motherhood secret?

Category: children  12 Comments
04
Mar 2011

Behind the curve

By becky

We took our son for evaluation today. He’s 39 months old and still not talking. That’s a little hard for me to write. I try to act like it doesn’t bother me. But it does.

It does, because I worry. A lot. That I’m not doing enough. That working from home and having him here with me, instead of a day care or preschool, is hurting him. Holding him back.

I worry that I waited way too long to see about getting help. That he’s so far behind he’ll have trouble catching up. That it’ll follow him around, this inadequacy of his mother.

And he’s such a bright little boy, too. I don’t just say that because I’m his mother. He understands things that 5 and 6 year olds understand. I can see his frustration when he tries to communicate and we can’t understand him. And it breaks my heart. Daily.

On top of all that, while we were at the school, they had some sort of drill that involved a very long bell ringing. Like several minutes long. And then we had to go outside for a bit. It was close to naptime and the ringing had already agitated him. (Me, too.) And then the bell rang while we were outside. And it was. Really. Loud. And it freaked him out. Poor kid. Then it rang a second (well, third total) time and it scared him even more. Super loud noises have always bothered him. That was a sucky way to end his visit.

So now we’re under the gun to get him help. Quickly. To get an IEP in place and see if we can get him into preschool (which we can’t really afford) and get him caught up. Because regular interaction with his peers is what’s going to help him the most right now.

I just don’t know what to do. Except try to help my son. But I don’t know how. And it’s quietly killing me.

Category: children, parenting, spawn  22 Comments
26
Feb 2011

Finding my voice

By becky

It seems sometimes like I’ve lost my voice. Not my physical, yell at my children voice, but my writing voice. My personal writing voice. I think of little things here and there to blog about, but by the time I’m done with work, I really just want to get off of the computer and spend time with hubby and the boys. Or it’s something that seems stupid. Or silly. Or not worthy of my time — or yours.

I want to chronicle this time with my boys. I’m not even doing that. I have way too much to do and I haven’t been very good at managing my time on & off the computer.

On top of that, I wonder if anyone even cares any more. Do I? I’ve been writing online since 2002. I remember that date because I was writing about a fishing trip I took that summer. But I’ve since lost those archives. What’s my point? I don’t know. I’ve been writing a long time. Do I have anything worth saying anymore?

I’m not really sure. But I still need a place to write, to get things out of my brain. Does anyone else do that? Write because you need to clear your head? I’ll go crazy if I don’t.

So it may be disjointed. It may be boring. But I need to get it all out once in a while.

Category: babbling, containing 'the crazy'  Tags:  7 Comments
31
Jan 2011

Giveaway: Smart & Final’s Ambiance Coffee

By becky

Going without coffee during my pregnancy was tough. I’m a big coffee drinker. A couple of cups every day, at minimum. Sometimes more. Think of me as the average or slightly above-average coffee drinker.

Ambiance coffeesSo when Smart & Final asked if I’d like to try their new line of Ambiance coffees, I said yes. We’d been stuck in a coffee rut for quite a while, so a change was just what we needed. Just before Christmas we received a sweet basket with an assortment of coffee.

We started out with the French Vanilla. We almost always use french vanilla creamer, so we were pretty sure it would be right up our alley. It totally was. I enjoyed a couple of cups during my morning routine of shuffling over to my computer and starting work. We later tried the other blends, of which Gourmet Supreme is probably my favorite with the House Blend coming a close second. My husband took the French Roast to work, which they liked. I’m not a huge french roast fan, so I was more than happy to have him take it. But I smacked his hand when he tried to make off with the Kona Blend before I got to try it. What? I just wanted to try some! Then he’s welcome to take it to them and get their opinions.

I liked them all and would drink any of them again. Really. I shop at Smart & Final a lot, so I have no doubt I’ll be making a run up there the next time our coffee is getting low. And now the good news.

How would you like a gift basket of all six Ambiance coffees? And what if said gift basket also included a Smart & Final gift card for $150? I thought so.

So how do you enter? I thought you’d never ask.

1. For one entry, leave me a comment with your favorite coffee moment. Make sure you leave your email so I can contact the winner.

2. For one additional entry each day, tweet about the giveaway using the #MyAmbianceMoment hashtag: “Enter to win an Ambiance Coffee gift pack & $150 gift card from @smartfinal http://bit.ly/ete5xs #MyAmbianceMoment” and then come back here and leave a link to your tweet. One per day only, please.

Contest deadline is February 8th at midnight PST. Comments after that will not be counted in the giveaway. Winner must respond within 24 hours or a new winner will be chosen.

Disclosure: As mentioned, I received a basket of coffees to try, along with an offer to send the same + gift card to a reader.

Want some more chances to win? Check out Mel’s giveaway (ends on the 8th) and Jen’s giveaway (ends on the 7th). Oh, and here’s Lily’s giveaway, too (ends on the 9th).

Update:

WINNER WINNER CHICKEN DINNER!

random number 201102202004.jpg

And the winner was Deb from San Diego Momma! Thanks to everyone for your participation.

(Sorry for the delay in actually posting the results. I had let Deb know via Twitter, but I didn’t get a chance to note it here and then time got away from me and we’re already 2/3 of the way through February. Next thing I know, it’ll be July.)

Category: giveaways and reviews  Tags: ,  73 Comments
17
Jan 2011

Looking back on 2010

By becky

I did this last year and figure, what the heck, I’ll do it again since 2010 was quite an eventful year. Once again, seeing Linda’s reminded me that it’s time to bust this out. She said she made a few slight changes to hers, but I’m just copying mine directly from last year.

1. What did you do in 2010 that you’d never done before? I got to go to a Honda test drive event, that relationship led to getting to drive the Odyssey for a couple of months (which I’ll be writing more about in the coming weeks). I spoke with an agency and eventually got a new job through them. I’ll add more if anything else comes to mind.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year? Nope.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth? Um, me? And my friend, Sondra.

4. Did anyone close to you die? My aunt died on New Year’s Day of 2010.

5. What countries did you visit? Absolutely none, except in my mind.

6. What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009? A house. (That hasn’t changed.)

7. What dates from 2010 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? Definitely November 23rd, as that was the day our 2nd son was born. And November 22nd was the day my first son turned three.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? Making it through this pregnancy.

9. What was your biggest failure? Landing my son in NICU because I didn’t keep my blood sugars low enough without resorting to meds.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury? Does getting sliced open count?

11. What was the best thing you bought? Well, since nothing pops to mind right now, I guess nothing was that spectacular. Oh yeah! I bought a Kindle (instead of Nook, yes) and I really have enjoyed it so far.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration? Certainly not mine.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? I was too busy working, sleeping and gestating to notice.

14. Where did most of your money go? Paying off debt… and too slowly at that.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? Besides giving birth, getting to drive the 2011 Honda Odyssey for two months.

16. What song will always remind you of 2010? Nothing sticks out.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:

– happier or sadder? happier, mostly.

– thinner or fatter? slightly thinner.

– richer or poorer? maybe a tiny bit richer.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of? Taken time to go do fun things with my son during the day.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of? Working my tail off for little return.

20. How did you spend Christmas? We were with family, as always. Got to introduce the baby to some of the family, but didn’t get out much. A lot of people were sick this time around & we didn’t want to risk getting the baby sick.

21. Did you fall in love in 2010? Yes, with the new man in my life.

22. What was your favorite TV program? I think it’s still Castle.

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year? No, still hating on the same person for, oh, about 7 years now. She’ll never be a part of our lives again.

24. What was the best book you read? I didn’t get to read a whole lot. I guess it would have to be The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

25. What was your greatest musical discovery? Mumford and Sons (that’s the uncensored version, so be forewarned about the language).

26. What did you want and get by year’s end? A little boy.

27. What did you want and not get by year’s end? A natural delivery, rather than surgery.

28. What was your favorite film of this year? I didn’t get to see much of anything.

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? Nada. 37.

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? Being able to buy a house. (Do I sound like a broken record yet?)

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2010? Comfy & lazy.

32. What kept you sane? Hubby giving me time to get out of the house & do things by myself before the baby came.

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? Nathan Fillion from Castle. Love the show & his character.

34. What political issue stirred you the most? I can’t stand politics. Truly.

35. Who did you miss? My mom – I wish we lived closer. And my best friend who moved to Montana.

36. Who was the best new person you met? Duh.

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2010. Go ahead & put yourself out there… you never know what’ll happen.

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.

…I can’t think of anything right now. Didn’t listen to a whole lot of new music, either.

Category: babbling  Tags: ,  8 Comments
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