Thankful Thirty #15 (A Giveaway)

I'm halfway through my Thankful Thirty and it has done so much to help me focus on the myriad of good things happening in my life.  Today I want to take a moment to thank you, my friends and family, who read my ramblings and every now and then chime in.  I love to hear from you, but even when I don't, it's encouraging just to know you're there.

I want to say thank you!  

Now, a gift from me to one of my loyal readers.  That's right, a giveaway only for you, the ones who continue to trudge along with me.  I will not be advertising this giveaway anywhere, so the entries will be low and your chances very high!  Here's a look at the gift I'm going to give and how you can enter to win:

Trappistine Creamy Caramels

Monastery Candy

I first discovered these melt-in-your-mouth little goodies in a Reader's Digest "Best of America" series.  I was fascinated that they are made by cloistered nuns at the Our Lady of the Mississippi Abbey, and I was immediately in love when I realized these ladies are whipping up their confections right in my home state!  

I'm pretty sure I've tried everything this candy operation offers and I guarantee you can't go wrong.  Each November their catalog is a welcome surprise in my mailbox and my mouth starts watering as I decide which sweet treat I'm going to reward myself with that holiday season.  This year, that's what I want to do for you!  Here's the information...

Giveaway

2 winners will receive their choice of (1)

~Hazelnut Meltaways (6.5oz box)

~Swiss Mints (6.5oz box)

~Chocolate Coated Caramels (9oz Gift Box)

How To Enter

Comment on any of my Thankful Thirty posts.

1 comment=1 entry

That's a potential 30 entries.

Giveaway Rules

~Giveaway open 12:01AM November 15, 2012-11:59PM November 30, 2012 

~Winners will have their choice of one item above

~Winners will be chosen by Random.org and have 48 hours to respond before new winners will be chosen.

Remember, if you're reading this post, then this giveaway is a special thanks to you! 

This is not a sponsored or compensated post. 

 Prize will be awarded out of my own pocket

as a special way to say thank you.

Resolve #1-Making a SMALL part of My World Better

I have always wanted to be one of those women that does all her shopping with re-usable bags.  Over time I've gathered a few boring store brand ones, but I NEVER remember to use them.  Even if they're in the empty seat beside me as I pull into the grocery store parking lot, I will grab my purse and not give a thought to grabbing them as well.

My community does not offer any kind of curbside recycling, so it's not a habit I've ever gotten in to.  In my house plastic bags go straight into the garbage.  I have absolutely no use for them (well, lining the bathroom trashcan, maybe).  I know stores have collection bins, but if I can't remember a bag I paid for when I go in the store, there's no way I'm going to remember a wad of dirty plastic ones.  If I'm quick enough at the checkout stand, I do usually get paper bags so I can cut them up and use for crafting with my kids.  I've been noticing, though, that several of my regular grocery haunts have quit using paper bags completely (Kroger, you are my biggest offender!).

And so, for an easy way to get 2012 off on the right foot, I'm converting to all re-usable shopping bags!  I should feel ashamed to tell you it's not actually for the recycling after all.  But I'm not ashamed.  I just want to shop with pretty bags that make me happy.  I went hunting last week and found a great selection-huge bags at TJ Maxx, tiny bags at Ross Dress for Less,  and bags to get the kids excited at Toys 'R Us.  I have a few that fold up very small to fit in my purse, and one Envirosak that I bought a long time ago on Totsy.

Have they made it out on a shopping trip with me?  Three trips to the store in the last week, and I forgot my bags the first two.  But I made up for it today!  I took them to Costco and didn't have to make 15 trips from the car to the house when I got home.  The bagboy for the rest of my grocery shopping thanked me for having such big bags.  And he even used one of the tiny ones for my white wine vinegar and cheese.  This is the beginning of a new way of life for me!

Do you shop with re-usable bags?  

I'd love to hear about your favorite one!

Uniquely December: National Chocolate Covered Anything Day

Last year for Christmas my sister Brooke brought homemade chocolate truffles to snack on.  I prefer to call them "Death by Christmas Treat."  This year she is upping the ante and has promised to bring the truffles but also 6 additional chocolate sweet treats.  She's going to kill me.

I'm foregoing the cocoa-based delectable in my homemade goodies this year.  Instead I'm filling my cute Christmas tins with Sugared Cranberries and Candied Nuts.  What yummies are coming out of your kitchen this holiday season? 

Uniquely December: Ice Cream Day

If you were reading awhile back, you know that I love Ben & Jerry's Chunky Monkey and that I also struggle supporting that particular ice cream establishment due to our differing political views.  When I mentioned it just a few months ago I hadn't found the impetus to make a definite turn away from my favorite frozen delicacy.  Today, however, I've taking my stand.

With Ben and Jerry's today throwing their corporate support behind the Occupy Movement, I will no longer support them even to indulge my strongest cravings.  Not because there isn't good to be done buried somewhere deep in the mess that is the Occupy Movement.  And not because I disagree with their long-standing efforts to support employees and consumers over corporate interests.  The reason I can no longer sneak my Chunky Monkey has much more to do with their decision to fuel a completely ineffective and direction-less movement.

Over the past few months I've found myself in several different states and seeing fairly up close the Occupy Movements in several those areas.  I've listened intently to what the Occupiers in my own neck of the woods are saying, and there's not much coherence there.  I know they must believe strongly in what they're fighting for-why else would they have stretched their protests into the bitter cold of winter?  But no one else is believing them because their is no concise point for us to be believing.

Let me share my view of the Occupy movement based on what has happened here in Salt Lake City...

Pioneer Park for years was a haven for homeless people and drug dealers.  It was a BIG problem; a historic and significant area of the city and nobody was able to enjoy it.  Finally the city stepped in to clean up the park and the problem.  Over the past few years they have made tremendous strides in cracking down on crime and finding shelter options for those in need.  Families are coming back to the park.  The farmer's market sets up there once again and a new summer concert series packs a crowd every week.

So what is the logical next step for a park with such a troubled past?  I promise you it's not a group of unorganized squatters pitching tents and piling up trash in the walkways.  It's not a group of people who apparently also have no homes because they never go there and also maybe can't read because they are completely oblivious to the printed park curfew signs.  The city bent over backwards, set aside their own city tenets, to enable a peaceable protest.  The SLC Occupiers recognized that. Then a man in a tent died. The city had to put their foot down. And the occupiers lawyered up to sue on the grounds that the city violated their own laws by letting the protesters stay.

What are the SLC Occupiers fighting for?  I have no idea.  On Black Friday they were calling for a boycott of shopping at Wal-Mart because Wal-Mart undercuts prices and products that are American-made.  Today, they're "riding our bikes very slowly" in front of trucks leaving the Wal-Mart distribution centers to show solidarity for the Wal-Mart workers who "deserve a living wage" and should unionize.  Are you kidding me?  Riding your bikes very slowly in front of a moving 18-wheeler?  Great cause.  Great movement.

If I think about it, I suppose the Occupiers are out there fighting for me.  Right?  Middle-class family struggling to keep health insurance, a bit afraid of the rate at which the price of food is rising, and wondering what comes next.  But you know what?  My husband and I won't be joining you.  No.  We're working.  We're supporting our family.  We're making ends meet the best way we can and looking for opportunities to intelligently make our situation better.  Know what else?  We're bathing!  (Well, okay, except for the no shampoo thing...)

What does all this have to do with ice cream?  Absolutely nothing.  Except that Ben & Jerry's has made it their new mission to stick their noses into the mess.  If, in the long run, their clout and own corporate dollars are successful in finally bringing a point to the Occupy movement, hurray for them.  Let them be a catalyst for something good (it'd definitely be better than touring with a burning effigy of the President).  For now, though, I am one of little faith.  I'll continue to grant them their creative tastiness, but will no longer be indulging...in their ice cream or in their involvement with the Occupy movement.

Uniquely December: National Fritter Day

"Tomorrow is National Fritter Day."
"What are fritters?"
"You know, like zucchini fritters and potato pancakes.  Basically anything grated and fried."
"Oh.  Aren't there apple fritters?"
"AAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!  Apple fritters!!!!"

Working my first hotel job I was responsible for ordering the doughnuts for the continental breakfast.  The hot fresh doughnuts were delivered at 4AM and always disappeared quickly.  What was always the last to go?  The apple fritters. Apple fritters would normally never be my choice for eating, but watching them go into the trashcan morning after morning (and adding in the 3rd shift lack of reasoning) gave me a brilliant idea.  I figured no one was going to miss them and started pulling a warm and gooey glazed fritter out of the box immediately after the delivery man handed the boxes over to me.  One of those wired me for the rest of the morning.

In honor of National Fritter Day, I decided to try my hand at frying up my own batch of fruity fritters.  My husband and kids are loving me!  Here are the fruits of my labor...

The Pioneer Woman Apple Fritters

My kids' favorite

Paula Deen Apple Fritters

DIVINE as a dessert, or, in our case, a SINFUL midnight snack!
Uses a whole apple slice.  We added vanilla bean ice cream and caramel sauce.

I Smell Amazing! (Hair Challenge Update, Week 3)

Let's start by saying I'm on my sofa right now loving that my hair smells yummy!  Yes, let's definitely start with that because nothing else with this week's alternative shampoo experiments turned out nicely.

After writing last week, I emailed Kathy and my sister Brooke (who decided to do the challenge with us because she's lazy and doesn't want to shampoo, honest, those are her words) with a list of alternative shampoo options, told them to pick one, and report back.  Here is what we have to say:

Baking Soda

Mix 1 T baking soda with 2 c lukewarm water

There are a million ways to use baking soda outside of cooking.  It's a great cleaning agent and so why wouldn't it also make a great shampoo?  Kathy agreed to try so I shared with her that my research showed the baking soda would be extremely drying. Many of the recipes online suggest following up with a vinegar rinse for conditioning.

Apple Cider Vinegar

Mix 1 T vinegar with 1 c water

No one tried this.  See, I didn't know Brooke was going to do the baking soda so I didn't warn her about the drying.  When it completely dried out her hair she didn't mind, but when it "completely dried out my back and my legs and anywhere the water ran" Kathy chickened out and decided her hair was doing just fine with out shampooing.

Lemon and Cucumber Smoothie

Peel 1 lemon and 1 cucumber. Blend.

This is the option I decided to go with.  The lemon is supposed to be cleansing and the cucumber moisturizing.  My kids thought I'd gone off my rocker when I told them they couldn't eat the cucumber because I needed to wash my hair with it.  While fighting back a gag reflex with the first pouring on my head I thought I might agree with them.  

The blog I got this recipe from warned of a need to make sure you rinse really well to get all the little lemon pulp pieces out.  I'm here to tell you there is absolutely no way this is possible.  Originally I washed with just the smoothie.  My hair was extremely tanged, but I was determined to leave it. I got out of the shower, dried off and then gasped at my reflection in the mirror.  There were little white lemon flecks from root to tip!  Hoping conditioner would grab onto all that mess, I flipped my head over in the sink, conditioned and rinsed again.  No better.  My hair is full of citrus yuckiness...

Lemon Juice

Use the Juice of 1/2 Lemon, Squeezed

Seriously, my hair smells amazing!  And my scalp is tingling.  The good way tingling.  I can say with certainty that neither Kathy and Brooke nor myself are going to be come all-natural granola-type shampoo users.  But I definitely can see myself occasionally squeezing the juice of a lemon and/or a cucumber into a spray bottle and adding it to my washing routine.  As my husband pointed out, there must be a reason manufactured cucumber scent is so popular in commercial shampoos.  Trust me, the real stuff is so much better!  

So what am I telling you to do? 

 Experiment if you must.  

Use our experiences for jumping off and let me know how it goes.  

Have you tried these or other alternatives?  

I'd love to hear about them!

I have to add here that Brooke's solution for de-greasing her hair up 'til now has been rubbing in Dawn dish soap.  The sulfates in shampoos are also found there.  That should be enough reason to switch to a gentler shampoo...

In My Heart On Thursday

-BlimpCat Studio

This one for an old friend who truly appreciates food 

and also my BIL who tried to finish the Chubby Challenge

 even when it made the rest of us sick just looking at it :)