Free Bag of Salad

I love free stuff.  Go to Vocalpoint to get a coupon for a free bag of salad.  I've ordered mine.

Just follow this link vocalpoint.com/FreshSavings. 
Fresh Express^® has developed a breakthrough, eco-friendly produce wash called Fresh Rinse^™ that is 7x more effective in cleaning salads than traditional chlorine wash,¹ but is still gentle on lettuce.

If you're not a member of Vocalpoint, sign up right away.  Great free stuff.

Getting Paid for My Opinions

There are several marketing research firms in the area that will pay me for my opinions.  Tonight, Atlanta Out Loud is paying me $85 for 2 hours of my time to tell them what I think of a product/product idea/add...I'm not sure what it will be until I get there.  It will have to do with grocery shopping.

In the past, I've been paid to actually grocery shop.  I was met at my little Publix by 2 market researchers.  They watched me do my shopping.  Then we went over to the toilet paper aisle and they asked me questions about how I shop for TP.  I think I was paid $100.

One time I gave my opinion on crock-pots.  A group of us sat in a room and looked at and discussed and gave our opinions about different pictures of crock-pots.  I think I was paid $80 for that.

I've given my opinion about the pattern on paper towels! (15 minutes/$20)

I've done taste tests, too...granola bars, gravy (for biscuits), sandwiches....(no less than $75)

The surveys are usually fun and interesting.

Marketing Firms:
Atlanta Out Loud
Jackson & Associates
Delve
and many more

Just find the website and join.  You will get an occasional phone call to see if you qualify for a survey.

Blueberry Picking

Friday was Blueberry Picking Day.  I could only round up one child to go with me.  She brought a friend.  (Thanks, Collyn, for driving!)

We drove to Washington Farms just outside of Athens.  http://www.washingtonfarms.net/  Last year we went to Hard Labor Creek Blueberry Farm. http://sites.google.com/site/hlcblueberries/  I preferred the Hard Labor Creek farm.  It was really a family's back yard.  The blueberry bushes were huge.  The blueberries were huge.  They had several varieties of blueberries.  The Washington Farm blueberries are just fine and delicious, but they are smaller, only one variety, and the farm is not as charming.  Hard Labor is only blueberries.  Washington Farms has pumpkins and strawberries and corn maze and other seasonal activities.   I have not done those other activities.

Besides just eating the blueberries plain, we freeze them and make blueberry cobbler and blueberry muffins.  My girls prefer to eat them frozen.  The blueberry cobbler is a recipe my friend, Collyn, just gave me.  It is easy and super yummy, especially with vanilla icecream.

Blueberry Cobbler
1 2/3 cups sugar, divided
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened 
1 1/2 cups self-rising flour
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, divided
3/4 cup half and half
4 cups fresh blueberries
1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted

• Beat 1 cup sugar and softened butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy.  Add flour, 1/2 tsp. cinnamon, and half and half, beating at low speed until blended

• Stir together berries, melted butter, remaining 2/3 cup sugar and remaining 1 tsp cinnamon.  Spread half of blueberry mixture in bottom of lightly greased 9x13 baking dish.  Spoon flour mixture in mounds over top.  Spoon remaining blueberry mixture over mounds.

• Bake at 400 degrees for 35-40 minutes.  Serve warm with vanilla ice cream if desired.  

• 8-10 servings.

Cow Appreciation Day Chick-Fil-A

Yesterday was our third year to participate in Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-Fil-A.  A free meal if you  dress head to toe like the Chick-Fil-A cows.  The Chick-Fil-A website even offers a "costume" to print and wear!!  This year I was in black pants, white shirt with black paper spots.  I wore an "Eat More Chicken" sign, taped on a tail and put paper ears on my sunglasses.  This year I put a little black spot on my nose.  The girls do some variation of that.  One year the girls were "rapper" cows.  Very cute.  Thomas chooses not to participate.  (The picture above is from 2009.)

Thank you Chick-Fil-A for the free, yummy food.

I do believe the second Friday in July is the usual Cow Appreciation day.  So I'm already looking forward to 2012!

Fun in Charlotte

I love the Queen City.  (Charlotte, NC)  The kids love visiting GranMary.

This last visit "home" I decided to take the kids to Carowinds.  I grew up going to Carowinds as a kid.  Mom would drop us off for the day.  We'd call her when we were ready to come home.  Carowinds has changed a bit.  It has a lot more roller coasters than it did when I was a kid.

http://www.carowinds.com/

I'm always looking for a deal on things, so before going to Carowinds I checked on-line.  I was able to find a discounted admission that included a meal for $43.99 per person.  The meal was all-you-can-eat BBQ that included bbq pork, fried chicken, baked beans, chips, potato salad, cole slaw, cookies and fountain drinks.  (Regular admission at the gate is $52.99 or so.  A discounted online ticket is $41.99.)  Since we stayed for about 12 hours at the park, I feel like we really got our money's worth.  The park was not at all crowded the day after the 4th of July holiday...no lines or barely a wait for everything!  And the BBQ linner (lunch/dinner) was quite yummy and filling.

Although I was able to get a discount for Carowinds, it was still quite expensive for the 4 of us.  So I tried to find some other fun in Charlotte that wouldn't cost so much.  I was able to find a free family movie at a local theater.  We were able to see Gulliver's Travels with Jack Black for free.  Then, we signed up for Kids Bowl Free at a local AMF bowling alley. They emailed us our free coupons within 24 hours. We only had to rent one pair of bowling shoes, so 6 games (2 per child) of bowling cost less than $5. 

Of course, we played card games (Spite and Malice, President), Scrabble, Trivial Pursuit and Phase 10.  GranMary is the best for game playing.

We did make it down to the pool for a bit of swimming.  GranMary and I got in a game of Scrabble while the kids swam.

Fourth of July Menu

Here's our menu from our cookout...

Grilled Chicken
BBQ Ribs
London Broil
Grapes
Watermellon
Canteloupe
Green Beans
Hash-Brown Potato Casserole
Buttered Bread w/herbs
Sweet Tea
White Sangria
Drumsticks (icecream)

Hash-Brown Potato Casserole
1 large bag (2lbs.) Ore-Ida frozen hash-brown potatoes
2 cans cream of potato soup
8 oz. graded Cheddar cheese
1 8-oz. carton sour cream
1/2 tsp. garlic salt
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

Mix potatoes, soup, sour cream, Cheddar cheese and garlic salt together in a large mixing bowl.  Pour into a buttered 2 1/2 qt. casserole.  Dot with butter.  Sprinkle top with Parmesan cheese.  Bake uncovered 1 hour at 350 degrees.  

This casserole can be frozen before baking.  To serve, place frozen casserole in cold oven, set temperature to 350 degrees and cook covered 1 hour and uncovered an additional 30 minutes.  
Serves 8
 

Independance Day

We don't have any particular Fourth of July traditions, but we do seem to make it for a fireworks display where ever we may be.

Last year we headed over to the square in Decatur for fireworks.  Some of our "Summer Friends," folks we seem to only see in the summer down at the pool, staked out a good spot close to the fireworks action beside a low rise office building near the square.  Orange cones were put out in an office parking lot to claim our bit of real estate.  There was even a little outside dining area that we commandeered.  Adults sat around and talked.  Kids played ball in the parking lot.  Snacks and drinks were out for all to share.  We set up our chairs in the parking lot for best fireworks viewing when the appropriate time came.  Very enjoyable. 

Other pleasurable Independence Day celebrations... For a couple of years in a row, we managed an invitation to a friends beach front home near Tom's mom in Jacksonville.  Great house.  Great location.  Great fireworks.  One year we headed to Sawgrass to my sister's in-laws.  Great fireworks on the golf course that year.  We were at Hilton Head one fourth...my sister-in-law, Lisa, is the best at celebrating this holiday.  Everyone is in red, white and blue...flag decore...etc.  Did we make it to fireworks then?  Can't remember.

We bought bunting for the house a few years ago, so we hang it on the front porch now and around Memorial Day.  Very festive.  Tom likes to fly the American Flag year round.  I bought a fun Happy 4th of July banner a couple of years ago that I put up on the fireplace.  We're proud Americans.