Happy Birthday to YOU!

I love birthdays. I love free stuff. And I love you. So I am going to celebrate all my loves by sharing with you how you can get free stuff on your birthday!

Some of these places are only in the States but others are available throughout North America. Next year when I celebrate my birthday in Canada, I will have to find new Canadian deals or just take a trip to the States every year around the end of April!!

Cold Stone
free ice cream!!

Baskin Robbins (not sure about Canada)
free ice cream!!

Red Robin (good in Canada & U.S.)
free burger!! mmmm! (I am partaking of my birthday burger tonight. Can't wait!)

Dairy Queen (good in Canada and U.S.)
buy one blizzard, get one free!! (on your birthday and several times a year too!)

On the Border
free dessert or empanadas (when you sign up AND on your birthday!)

DSW
$10 off of a $24.95 purchase- thanks Amanda for the reminder- although I got a $10 coupon. maybe the older you get the more money you save :)

Borders
25% off an item

I will keep you posted on any more I receive in the next few days. And PLEASE let me know about any birthday deals you know about.

Happy Birthday! Have a burger and tons of ice cream. Then go buy yourself some shoes. My treat!

Mind Your Manners Monday

I found a chapter on Mormon wedding etiquette in "Manners Kids Should Know" book. This part was very interesting...
"At this formal ceremony (the temple marriage), the bride wears a white gown and veil even though she's been married (civily) before. Your child should dress up too."

About the reception:
"this may be a large affair, so your child should be prepared to exercise patience."

If only I knew this 63 wedding receptions ago! :)

Strawberries.

I went to the grocery store last week and they had strawberries on sale for $1.25. I really like strawberries. So I put a couple in my cart. There was a limit of 8. So as I thought about it, I decided why not just buy 8. So I did.

I washed and cut up 5 of them and froze them for future use. But the others I needed to use right away to make something delicious! My friend invited me over for dinner so I told her I would only come if I could bring dessert. So I made this:Double Chocolate Strawberry Shortcake
I forgot to sprinkle it with Icing (Powdered) sugar. But it was still tasty.

Then I decided to make a special treat for FHE and made this:
Strawberry Freeze
Unfortunately I didn't have time to let it set as long as it was supposed to so it was more like Strawberry Freeze Soup. But a tasty soup. And I forgot to put strawberries on top. Oops.

My roommate is visit taught by the 2 girls that I visit teach so we decided to have a little visiting teaching dinner with the four of us and my companion. This is what I made for dessert:
Strawberry Cheesecake Cups
These were probably my favorite. I learned from the last recipe and made them at school so they would have time to set. (there are benefits to having access to 6 kitchens & equipment).

Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures of any of them... so thanks to Kraft for making them look so pretty. And delicious. So go buy some strawberries. Mmmm. I actually went to the store again for something else and couldn't walk past the cheap strawberries without putting 3 more in my cart! I have a problem.

Do you remember when....

SO I was on my computer sending emails then decided to start getting ready for bed. As I was brushing my teeth I thought of a couple more things I needed to do or look up or whatever on my computer before hitting the sack. As soon as I got to my computer I forgot what it was I was thinking about. I have been on here for about 1o minutes and still have no idea what it was. Sheesh. If this is what I am like at 28, what kind of crazy old lady am I going to be when I am 29?

I am an Anti-Dentite

I had the unfortunate opportunity to go to the dentist today to get a small cavity filled. As they will doing their thing I hear my dentist say something about something falling out so they had to redo whatever thing they just did. She finished the cavity filling and was removing something... and it broke with part of it still in my tooth. So she dug. And poked. And jabbed. Luckily I was numb so I didn't feel all of this. She kept apologizing and saying this has never happened to her before. Unfortunately this has happened to me before. I was getting a root canal in Idaho and part of the drill broke off in my tooth. The dentist couldn't do anything about it (???) so he loosely filled it and I had to go to my dentist in Canada (weeks later) to have it removed. Luckily today my dentist kept working until the piece of whatever was found. This involved undoing everything she just did, getting the piece out and then redoing the filling for a THIRD time. My appointment was at 9:30. I left at 11:30. It is 3:30 and my mouth is still numb. My dentist made it very clear that I am going to be VERY sore for a couple days from all the poking and digging. Nice. While I was lying on the chair for 2 hours I was wondering what they were going to charge me for this day of dentistry. I have no idea if she gave me a deal or not but I only ended up paying $25 as the rest was covered by my insurance.
I am tempted to have all my teeth pulled and get dentures. :)

Kind Act of Randomness

After work I went to the grocery store to buy the milk I have been living without since Sunday (I had to make my oatmeal with water this morning... yick). As I was leaving an elderly lady looked at me and said "excuse me miss? Would you mind giving me a ride home?"
I am ashamed to say that I thought "what if she does something to me? Hurts me, takes my money, steals my car." I hate that I thought that. But sad that nowadays we need to be aware of things like that. I asked where she lived and it was not far from my apartment which was not far from the store. She told me of how she just got out of the hospital and had to come get medication and she didn't have a ride.
So I agreed. We chatted as I drove. I asked how she usually got around and she said "I get rides from kind strangers." Wow! I can't even imagine. She mentioned that she had 2 grown children and that they lived in the area. It made me sad that she was getting rides from strangers when her children should be taking her where she needs to go. How grateful I am for the Church. I know that if I needed a ride to or from the grocery store (or anything else) I could call several people for help and not have to rely on the kindness of strangers.
It was an interesting experience.

Cry me a river

On the Today Show last week they talked about the differences between movies that make men cry and those that make women cry. Very interesting. Women tend to cry in movies that deal with relationships and emotions whereas men tend to cry during movies with heroes & more "macho" situations like war & sports.

I tend to cry during all of the above. If there is love (cute love, not nasty, sickening love) or death - I cry. Here are some of movies that make me cry.

This is the last movie that made me cry. Only a little bit. It made me sad to think about my nieces or nephews being in a situation like that. Left with me to raise them. That would make anyone cry. ;)

You have no heart if this movie doesn't make you cry. I think I started in the middle and bawled to the very end. So sad. But so good.

HELLO! Who hasn't at one time been in love with their best friend but they are too dumb to notice you? Hello? I am not the only one am I??

And my favorite Gimore Girls reference to Some Kind of Wonderful:

Lorelai: All right, but no taking me to an art museum after hours and then to an empty Hollywood Bowl where you'll give me a pair of diamond earrings that you bought with your college money, when all the time you're really in love with your best friend, the drummer, who's posing as our driver for the evening.

Luke: (Pause) Okay, I'll think of something else.

Love and death. A horrible combination.

I don't remember a thing about this movie (other than it is about fire... and someone dies). But I do remember I cried. And cried. And cried a little more.

ha ha! Didn't make me cry. But it does make me want to make a pancake so big I need a shovel to flip it over.

What movies have made you cry? I won't make fun of you. Pretty sure I cried during it too!

Mind Your Manners Monday

When at a formal dinner...

*you should not switch place cards to sit beside someone you think would be more fun.

*If there aren't place cards, sit boy, girl, boy, girl.

*A woman sits to the right of a man, and a girl sits to the right of her date. (did they put that last part in just in case your date isn't a man?) Ha!

A weekend of feasting

It has been a great General Conference spiritually feasting weekend. There is so much I need to improve on and become. What was your favorite talk? I can't decide... I liked them all. But one that stands out is Elder Holland's.

"Were those early Christians... who only had access to the gospel of Mark... offended to receive the more detailed account set forth later by Matthew
and Luke. Surely they must have rejoiced that ever more convincing evidence
of the divinity of Christ kept coming."

I had the blessing of watching the Sunday afternoon session with my former roomie Anitra and her hubby Jud- then we feasted physically. I tried a new recipe for dessert. And I think it is a keeper. Super delicious and super easy. Apple dumplings- courtesy of the Pioneer Woman. Check out her blog for the recipe. So yummy.


And we played a rousing game of Skip-Bo. I LOVE that game. Anitra complained the entire time... and of course won. Sheesh. I think we need a re-match.

Back then my life was so great, I literally wanted a second one.

I found this picture of me when I was in high school.

My mom always made us pose for photos with our quilts and pillows.

Can you say hottie?

I don't get it.

A teacher at my school had her purse stolen from the teacher's lounge.

Yesterday she received the contents of her purse in the mail. Minus the purse, money & camera. Although they did mail the memory card from her camera.

WHAT?

I don't get it. How can you steal something but then feel guilty and give it back. But only some of it.

CRAZY!