Don't Bother Playing It Again, Sam.

Suck: When someone says they would die for you. (but repeatedly causes you pain)

Rock: When someone lives for you.

Twitter

Suck: When people use it as a place to sling the mud. Please, get a room.

Rock: When people use it as a place to share neat ideas.

Where The Wild Things Are

Suck: On a dark and stormy night.

Rock: Snuggled up at night for story time.

Quote Of The Week

My dear son, Zachary said this to me a couple of days ago:

"Yes, I'm going to be a doctor and all you're going to have is your little blog. And I'm not going to give you any drugs."

Punk. I swear, I have not asked him for drugs. I don't even think I was about to ask him for drugs. And I might feel inclined to add I don't ask people for drugs on any type of a regular basis. Not even my doctor. Honestly, the kid is a wise-guy. I have no idea where it gets it.

Would it be wrong to have a contest to see who gets to torment him for me, should I ever decide to give myself a well deserved vacation from him? I will fire up the Contest Machine right now!

Your Dog and Your Husband Will Both Thank You

Suck: Impulse Shopping.

Rock: Impulse Napping.

The Shoes Need To Come Off, Lady

Suck: At the airport.

Rock: At the beach.

What's That You're Eating, Kid?

Suck: Realizing chicken do not have fingers.

Rock: Knowing what a wishbone is.

Holding The Door For Strangers

Suck: When they just push through.

Rock: Because you wanted to.

Life Is Not Fair

Suck: Not getting everything you want.

Rock: Not getting everything you deserve.

Just Make Me Soft & Smooth, Please.

Here are, in no particular order, some great cosmetics I use all the time:

Mary Kay Satin Hands - Nothing I've ever seen compares to this quick but lovely system.
Mary Kay Satin Lips - I can take or leave the balm, but the mask is a must-have.
Lancome La Base Pro - Makes my face feel the softest ever. This is wonderful beyond words.
High Résolution Eye Collaser-5X - Makes my eyes stop the puffy and takes away wrinkles.
High Résolution Collaser-5X - Vacuums out my wrinkles. Hooray!
Absolue Ultimate Night Bx - BIG difference overnight. Seriously!
High Résolution Refill-3X - Great moisturizer. Feels good, not greasy.
High Résolution Night Refill-3X -Another night miracle maker.
Tweezerman Lash Comb - You must have this. No other lash comb compares. At all.
Softlips - I've tried all kinds of lip stuff and I like this the very best. Tubes are everywhere!

Don't Stop Believin'

Suck: When a car needs a brake job.

Rock: Our trusted mechanics, who take care of us so well. And in about two hours from the time they discovered the car was left there overnight!

Naps Make Everything Better

Suck: Hectic days.

Rock: Taking naps when you get home.

Take Two

Suck: Buy One Get One half off. Yes, it sounds better than "25% off, but only if you buy two." But seriously, who are they kidding?

Rock: Buy One Get One Free!

You'll Flip For This Giveaway! Affordable Luxury

Would you like to get to the grocery store with your list intact? Typical notepads get worn and dirty around the edges. Besides, who wants to carry spiral wire in her purse anyway? Not me. Carry Flip Notes instead. They are just as lightweight as any other little notebook. Your paper is not only protected top and bottom, but on all four sides with their unique design. The pen holds the whole thing together. What a clever way to make sure your pen is always with your notebook. Flip Notes gives you a way to express yourself with about fifty stylish varieties.

I first found Flip Notes at Miss Molly's Tea Room in Medina, Ohio during the Christmas shopping season of 2006. I bought one (along with a package of paper refills) for my friend right then because I thought they were so neat.

I'm sure right about now you are thinking you want Flip Notes yourself. Well of course you do. I know that! So does Flip Note Fan. Which is why Flip Note Fan sent me three of these. One for me, two for you. I took the pink one pictured up top. It's my favorite of all the Flip Note designs. Although, if you are looking for gift ideas feel free to buy me the pink ribbon one or the XOXO design in red. Don't stop there, one to match each purse would be nifty!

Oh, right... this was supposed to be about you now. Here are the two Flip Notes I have to give away:

Emerald Wild Green

I am going to give you a bunch of ways to enter this giveaway.

First, in order to enter you must go to Wellspring's site and come back and tell me which Flip Notes variety is your favorite. This is the mandatory first entry. If you fail to do this none of your other entries will count. Besides, they have a lot of nice things over there. Take a look and think about Mother's Day, birthdays, and even Christmas. This would be a great item to keep on hand for those "Oh no!" gift giving times. When you need a nice little gift at the last moment, grab one of your Flip Notes. At a price of only $9.99, it is definitely an affordable luxury.

Okay, on to the additional entries. Since I know you love these, I'll offer a bunch. Be sure to leave a comment for each additional entry.

For one additional entry, tell me which of the giveaway colors you prefer. Grand prize winner will get their choice of color if they have done this.
For one additional entry, vote in my poll.
For one additional entry, subscribe to my blog in a reader.
For one additional entry, follow my blog on Blogger.
For one additional entry, follow Flip Note Fan on Twitter.
For one additional entry, fave me on Technorati and share the link in your comment.
For one additional entry, email friends about this giveaway and cc me. tammigirl at gmail *dot* com.
For one additional entry, leave a Tweet at Twitter. Please give your twitter name and link to your tweet in your comment. You may do this each day if you wish. Please leave a new comment here each time for your extra entry.

For two additional entries add the url to this contest to your Facebook page. Leave the link to your profile in your comment. (Leave two comments to get your two entries)

For five additional entries blog about this contest with a link back to this giveaway. Leave the url to your post in your comment. (Leave five comments to get your five entries)

If you can think of something else to do for extra entries, go ahead and give it a try. I will not bite. I promise.

U.S. entries only, please. This contest will be open through Monday, March 16th. I will draw on Tuesday. If you get your entry in before I do the draw, you are in.

Good Luck!

People Make Me Sick!

Suck: My throat hurts. I feel weak. I'm hungry but I do not feel like eating.

Rock: I managed to get my books from the library. I have something to do while I lay around doing nothing.

She Forgot All About The Library?

I have to admit I had sort of forgotten about the library myself. Until they built a new one right here by the local high school. God Bless America, I love that place.

What would we do without the library? Do you use yours? We use ours regularly. We always have several books checked out. My favorite thing about the library website is putting books on hold. If our local library does not have them, we can still put them on hold. We get an email telling us when we have books ready for pickup. They put them in a special section where we gather them ourselves. Our library, while it has a good sized staff, is also totally self serve. (If you want it to be)

My husband likes to use the website to read books online. I want to hold a book in my hand. I want to hear and feel the crinkly library book cover and smell the pages. These things are an important part of the reading process to me. And before you all leave 11, 238 comments asking: No, I do not lick my library books.

Today we went and picked up this bunch of books we had waiting on us. What a luxury. Don't get me wrong, I love to sit all day at Barnes & Noble. I also love being able to bring everything home without adding more burden to our already overstressed bookshelves. With the big cd and dvd collections available, we could almost give up Blockbuster and Netflix. Almost. We watch about a thousand hours of Netflix downloads a month, though. So we are keeping Netflix.

Our library has a reading room with a nice big fireplace and comfortable overstuffed chairs. They also have a machine with coffee and tea and cocoa. I love our little library and hope you have one you can enjoy as well.

Let's Go To The Movies

Suck: Revolutionary Road. And it's sad, really. I had expected something great.

Rock: Australia. Another great work for Nicole Kidman. I went from not liking her, to tolerating her, to looking forward to what she will do next.

Savory Goodness From Leftover Roast

Do you often have leftover roast? Me either. So when it's on sale I have a roast-a-thon. I make four or five roasts and freeze them. When I get in a groove I just keep going. I am the poster child for inertia. (Especially the 'object at rest' part, I have that part down pat)

Here's how I make my roasts:

Get a 3.5 - 4 lb. English Chuck Roast (Or whatever size and type you want)
Get out the crock pot
Get out a big saute pan

Turn the burner on medium-high. Get the pan nice and hot and add the roast.
Get some Kitchen Bouquet. I put it on with a brush.
Let the first side get half way seared then flip.
Brush the side which is now up with Kitchen Bouquet.
Let the bottom really sear (this is what gives it yummy color and flavor)
*If you don't know what seared means think 'tiny bit burnt'.
Flip over and let the other side fully sear.
Now do the edges. Don't be lazy. You'll thank me later.

DO NOT drain the fat - now or ever. If you do I will hunt you down and taunt you for messing up something so potentially delicious

Put it in the crock pot with nothing. No water, no anything. You will not believe the flavor this will have done just this way.

When it's done store it in a good Tupperware container with all the juices. I freeze mine.

Now... back to the leftovers. Since we don't have those I go to the freezer and take out a frozen roast I already cooked as detailed above. Pop it in the microwave to thaw it out. It can get warm or even hot, but that is not necessary.

Take the roast, which is so tender it shreds as you lift it out, and put it in a saute pan. No oil, no butter, trust me on this one. Add some of those drippings you saved. Then add twice as much as you were going to originally. If you are using the whole roast use all the drippings. Do it!

Cook this over medium heat with your choice of any/all of the following:
*Fajita seasoning
*Cumin
*Garlic
Cilantro
Tomato
Onion

*With just these three I am always very happy. Go ahead and add whatever else you think will make you happy.

While your whipping all of this up on one side of the stove, use the other side to make your tortillas. Heat about a quarter inch of oil in a small saute pan over medium-medium high heat. Lay in one corn tortilla at a time. Mine usually stay in for about 15 seconds per side. But I like mine to be pliable. You do yours to suit yourself.

You really should fry your own corn tortillas because this is going to be just messy enough to run juice down to your elbow. It's definitely a two-napkin event.

Spoon Some roast (and a little of the sauce, because that's what we are calling it now) into a tortilla. Repeat. I like to dab a little sour cream and/or guacamole on my plate for dipping, but it will be out of this world, even without them.

This is so good I usually end up eating twice as much as I should. Okay, three times as much on a good day. Save the sauce because if you are out of roast and nobody is watching you can fry some tortillas and dip them in the sauce like I did yesterday. It's good down to the last drop.

My theme is not 'healthy' or 'fancy'. It's more like "Once you have this you will both love and hate me forever."

And... you're welcome!

Crazy Fried Tacos

I'll preface this entry by saying: I know this sounds weird and unhealthy. It may be both of those things. It's also delicious.

Brown 2 pounds of ground beef (You can cook some chopped onion in here if you want, or season with cumin)
Make a big old bowl of mashed potatoes
Mix together the mashed potatoes and ground beef.

Put 2-3 Tablespoons of the mixture in a flour or corn tortilla and fry in hot oil. I prefer to deep fry it, myself. I fry it until the corn tortilla has 'cooked' and become a little crispy.

When you remove the friend taco from the oil I recommend standing it on end in a heat-resistant strainer to let the excess oil run out. I choose to sprinkle them with salt now.

My current favorite way to fry is to put the mixture in a corn tortilla and wrap a flour tortilla around the corn tortilla before frying. I'll add pictures next time I make some.

(I think these are best sprinkled with salt and dipped in sour cream.)

I know they sound odd, but I've never had anyone eat them and not crave them again later.

I Have The World's Greatest Husband!

Anyone who knows me already knows how lucky in love I am. I have an award winning husband. He supports whatever crazy dream I have from moment to moment. He swims through the ocean of my moods and manages to stay calm all the time. He's passionate. He's not afraid to be who he is. He has patience for my many, many mistakes. He's intelligent. He's charming. He's sometimes funny. He's a great father. He's a good son. He is kind to people a lot of people would not be kind to, and that's very important to me. He lets me drive. He invites me everywhere, even though I'm not smart enough to say "Yes" nearly as often as I should. He reads to me. He listens when I read to him. He enjoys sunsets with me. He shares desserts with me. He can cook! He can eat! He loves the library and the book store as much as I do. He's not afraid to sing. He's a great kisser. He knows how to make a girl feel loved. I often get the feeling I'm the luckiest girl in the room and everyone knows it. I am still not sure how I got so lucky, but I'm not one to question good fortune. He's taught me when I'm offered something I want to say "Thank you" and grab it! Did I mention he's a good teacher?