Nature Valley Trail Mix Bars

As I mentioned in my post yesterday, I went on vacation last week and my little one was sick. I can't tell you how glad I was to have a bunch of these Nature Valley Fruit & Nut bars with me to snack on. Many times when we are on vacation or out and about, it is hard to find time to grab something to eat. I have a bad habit of wanting to pull through a fast food place and grab something. So a few months ago, I saw these in the store and I bought a box. I love these granola bars. I have a sweet tooth and the bits of fruit and nuts hit the spot. They have almonds, peanuts, raisins and cranberries in them. Also, they fit in my purse without taking up a lot of space.

Before I went on vacation, I was contacted by the folks at MyBlogSpark and General Mills and I was asked if I'd like to do a review on these granola bars. I was so excited because I had already tried them and loved them, so to have a big old box of these come in the mail was great. Also, they were really cool and also sent me a gift card to Sam's Club. That really came in handy while picking up some things for our vacation.

So now is your chance to have the opportunity to get a big old box of these tasty snacks for yourself, as well as a gift card to Sam's.

You have 4 opportunities to enter. You must post separate responses to this thread for each entry to count. You must also include your email address so I have a way to contact you. This giveaway will end on Friday, July 2nd at 12:00 a.m. EST The winner will have 48 hours from when I contact them to get in touch with me, otherwise I will draw another name.

1.) Which healthy snack will you buy on your next shopping trip to Sam's?

2.) Follow @chiccraftychick on Twitter and Tweet the following: Growling tummy? Get ur granola on w/ a Nature Valley Granola Give Away @chiccraftychick blog & a $25 Sam's Gift Card. http://bit.ly/1Xck5k
Be sure to leave a comment with a link to your tweet. One tweet per day, per person.

3.) Follow the Chic Crafty Chick Blog. Check out the right hand side of my blog to follow. If you are already following, please leave a comment saying you are a follower.

4.) Add Chic Crafty Chick to your blogroll, or add my badge to your sidebar. Be sure to come back and leave the link to your site in a separate comment.

Thanks to the folks at MyBlogSpark & General Mills for sponsoring this tasty give away!

Here is the scoop...

Oh heavens what a week it was last week. I had so many plans. So many dreams. We left a week ago yesterday to go to the Outer Banks on vacation. I had every intention of blogging "live" from the beach. I had a fun giveaway. It was going to be the event of the blogging season. And then Sunday morning, as I was full of beach excitement, my youngest son woke up with a fever. A fever. How could he have a fever? The morning we were going to leave. Did he not hear momma talking about our fun trip to the beach?

So, I threw him in the car and headed to Patient First. I had a very bad experience at a different Patient First location years ago and swore they'd drag my cold, dead body inside before I'd ever set foot in another one. Well, beach panic set in and I went ahead against my better judgement and went. Because I knew we'd be going to a place that might not have a doctor close by.

We rolled into Patient First and the doctor said that he had an ear infection in the right and one starting on the left. He gave us a prescription and we went home. He said we could go on our trip, just alternate the Tylenol and Motrin to help with the fever and we would be good to go.

Little Logan was such a good patient in the car and even ate great when we stopped at a Target on the way down. I was tickled and thought we'd be in great shape by Tuesday at the latest. Oh how I was wrong.

We got settled and then all of a sudden it was bedtime. So I got the kids to bed. At about 3 a.m. Logan wakes me up and he is burning up. He has a temperature of 102 and it going up, so I throw him in the bath and give him medicine. We get him settled and try to get some such eye. Monday was a wash because we were tired from not sleeping. Go to bed that night and then I get at 4 a.m. with him and he is burning up. I give him Motrin and throw him in the bath. He was burning up 30 minutes after both of those so I take his temperature and it was 103.6. I cried. Neither of my boys have ever had a temperature that high. I was so afraid he would have a seizure since that can happen when temperatures get that high. Fortunately the Motrin and the bath helped.

I found out that there was a pediatrician's office about an hour from where we were staying and first thing the next morning we got an appointment. I tell him what has been going on and he looks at my son's ears. He says he doesn't have an ear infection. I was so annoyed. He isn't able to tell me what is going on, but mentions roseola and hand and mouth or whatever they call that disease. I always mess up the name of that one. Well, by the next day we could see dots on Logan so we are pretty sure he had roseola. He didn't break out with a ton of spots, but my older son didn't either when he got it. Fortunately for us by Thursday the fever was gone.

I was so blessed to be on vacation with my in laws and I have two sisters in law and a future brother in law who also went. They were all wonderful to deal with a sick, screaming kid. They pitched in and helped out so much. The trip would have been a total wash if it weren't for them. So I didn't get any rest on vacation, but I did get to do some fun things that I will share with you this week.

Today I'm headed to the grocery store because we have a crisis on our hands. We are out of Frosted Cheerios. I think the Secret Service might even be aware of this since my son was not happy about our lack of O's this morning. LOL

Oh, and that fun giveaway I mentioned I wanted to do will start tomorrow. So be sure to come on back and check it out.

I hope you are having a great summer and fabulous day in your neck of the woods!

Winner of the $30 Kroger Gift Card

According to the Random Number Generator, the following is the winner of the $30 Kroger Gift Card Give Away....

Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers:

11
Timestamp: 2010-06-25 23:22:18 UTC



Mari said...
We eat Cheerios as a part of a heart healthy diet.

runningmatey at hotmail dot com

June 8, 2010 8:43 PM

Congratulations Mari! I've sent you an email requesting your contact information. If I don't hear from the winner by Monday, June 28th another winner will be chosen.

I will have another give away coming up next week. My son is doing better. We found out he has roseola. It has been a crazy few days. Will be back to blogging next week.

M.I.A.

Hi everyone. I've got a really sick little guy, thus the reason I haven't been posting. I hope to announce soon the winners of the Kroger gift cards giveaway. It has been a rough few days. 103 temps, multiple doctors, etc. I hope to be back with more info. soon.

Hope you are having a good & healthy week in your neck of the woods.

Who doesn't love free stuff?

I don't know about you, but I love getting free stuff. And one of my favorite things to do is use Swagbucks. If you've never heard of it here is how it works. You go to the Swagbucks website and sign up for an account. Then you just use their website to do searches on the web. Stuff you'd normally be searching for such as: a recipe, airline tickets, dancing chicken videos, you name it. As you are searching sometimes you will get lucky and it will pop up that you've won Swagbucks. What you can then do is save them up to redeem great prizes. They have so many different things to choose from. I personally save up my Swagbucks to redeem Amazon gift cards. You can save them up to buy something big. I've been saving for a while because I can't decide what I want. I need new pots and pans, but the Dansko clogs are awfully tempting. And so are all the children's books I'd love to get the boys. Too many decisions. :)

I usually take time to search when I first get up in the morning and I'm eating breakfast and then again in the evening. You don't have to spend hours doing it, although I'm sure some folks do. Oh yeah and there is this guy named "The Swag Guy" who is pretty cool who is the guru for the community. He chats with folks on the Swagbucks Facebook page and on Twitter too. He runs Swagbucks Trivia on Twitter which is another way to win Swagbucks and he also gives out special codes that you can put in on the box on the front of the website which if you enter within a specific time frame, you can win Swagbucks. They also run Daily Polls which if you vote in will yield you one Swagbuck. I make sure I do that one every day.

I've found Swagbucks to be a fun way to get some free stuff. In the past I've gotten free books for my boys via the Amazon gift cards, two Vera Bradley bags and other stuff I can't even remember. Oh, and another way that you can earn Swagbucks is through referrals. So if this sounds like something you'd like, please click on the Swagbucks image at either the beginning or the end of this post because it would really help me out if you would. I'd love to be able to get some more Swagbucks going.

If you decide to join Swagbucks, let me know. Oh, and be sure to follow me on Twitter. If I find out that there is a swag code out I try to forward that info. on to my tweets. I can let you know where to look for the information, but you aren't supposed to actually share the code. Be sure to read the FAQ so you know what you can do and what they don't allow on Swagbucks. It is pretty easy.

Hope you are having a great day in your neck of the woods.

Count Down

We are counting down the days until school gets out and we head to the beach for summer vacation. There is so much to do. So, I'm running around like a chicken with my head cut off this week.

Five Random thoughts...

1.) Tonight is Real Housewives of New Jersey. What insanity can happen on that show tonight? Seriously.

2.) What happened to the Hoff and why is he not on "America's Got Talent?" And a pet peeve of mine, why is the show called "America's Got Talent", yet two of the judges are British. I'm just sayin, something to think about.

3.) If you are looking for a new bathing suit, I got one at Kohl's last week. I had good luck last year at JcPenney too. So you might want to check them out.

4.) I got a copy of the $5 Dinners Cookbook in the mail and I'm sad I haven't even had a minute to look at it. I'm dying to crack it open. Have you seen it, do you have it, if so what have you made?

5.) In case you missed it, I've got a great blog giveaway that ends on Friday so be sure to check it out. http://chiccraftychick.blogspot.com/2010/06/it-pays-to-be-loser.html

Hope you are having a great day in your neck of the woods!

Bethenney's Getting Married

Tonight is the premier of Bethenney Frankel's new show, "Bethenney's Getting Married". She has been on the Real Housewives of New York City in case you don't follow the show. She is spunky and VERY blunt. There has been a lot of drama for her on RHWNYC, so I"ll be interested to see her new show. She is one of those folks that while blunt, still has a likeablility about them so I would expect her show to do well.

So, is anyone else a team Bethenney fan and going to watch the show tonight?

Anniversary

Today is my anniversary. I can't believe it was 9 years ago today I started this adventure with my best friend. I couldn't ask for a more loving and supportive spouse. I love you honey.

I hope you are having a great day in your neck of the woods. Celebrate my anniversary by signing up for the Pound for Pound Challenge and giveaway. Check out the details on this post. http://chiccraftychick.blogspot.com/2010/06/it-pays-to-be-loser.html

Happy Wednesday!

Easy Peasy Pasta Salad

Now that summer is here, I'm on the look out for new recipes to make. Pasta salad is one of those things that I like to make because it is cool and light on a hot day. Last week when I went to Wal Mart I was in the spice section and discovered this great seasoning for making pasta salad. I'm assuming it is new, or at least it is new to me.

The recipe for using this to make pasta salad was really simple. You use about 4 teaspoons of this along with a cup of Italian salad dressing. It says to also use vegetables in our salad.

As you can see from the pictures below, I bought some great sweet peppers. I had a chance to go to Whole Foods and get those great peppers. If you've never tried them before, I highly suggest you get them. I discovered those peppers last summer and they are really good.

If you are looking for a great new way to make pasta salad, I'd suggest getting a bottle of this McCormick Perfect Pinch Salad Supreme. After making one big bowl of it, I still have a ton in the bottle. A little bit goes a long way. Dh really liked this. It has a cheesy taste to it and it has sesame seeds in it. The flavor is great, not overpowering.

So that is all from here. Hope you are having a great day in your neck of the woods. Oh, and if you missed my post yesterday be sure to check it out. I'm giving away a $30 Kroger gift card. http://chiccraftychick.blogspot.com/2010/06/it-pays-to-be-loser.html

It pays to be a Loser

Feeding America. It is a great charity and one that I've seen more of recently. One of the chef's on Top Chef Master's has been competing for this charity, as well as Chef Curtis Stone who was a recent contestant on the Celebrity Apprentice. With the turn the economy has taken, the overwhelming need for assistance from local food banks has been even greater recently. I have personally witnessed this because my church has a small food bank in it and there are people constantly coming. The needs are so great. I've seen statistics that children are especially affected by hunger here in America. And with summer coming and kids being out of school and not able to get at least one good meal a day from going to school, food banks are going to be even more pressed.

Recently, I was contacted by the MyBlogSpark program and asked if I'd like to participate in a program being sponsored by the Kroger Co. Family of Stores, General Mills, and The Biggest Loser. They are supporting a wonderful effort called the Pound for Pound Challenge. If you go to this website http://www.pfpchallenge.com/Kroger, you can find information on this effort that can help you with living a healthy lifestyle and achieving your weight loss goals.

The cool thing about the Pound for Pound Challenge is for every pound that you pledge to loose through June 30th, Pound for Pound will donate 14 cents to Feeding America. I've already gone on the website and made a pledge and I'm hopeful that you will too. Think about how doing this small thing that only takes a few minutes from the comfort of your home could affect such positive change in your community. What a powerful program this is going to be with the support of folks like you.

General Mills is one of the official suppliers of food to the Biggest Loser Ranch. Some of the foods that they supply that have helped the contestants in their weight loss journey include: Yoplait Greek Yogurt, Total, and Multigrain Cheerios. I personally have liked using the Yoplait Greek Yogurt in recipes. Most recently I made a recipe that called for one cup of buttermilk and I didn't have any, so I was able to use one cup of the Yoplait Greek Yogurt as a substitute. The recipe turned out great. Did you know you can substitute yogurt for buttermilk if you don't have buttermilk? And I can't say enough good things about Cheerios. They are a favorite with my family. I have been trying to make sure we give our boys an early start with good eating habits.

The folks at MyBlogSpark were kind enough to send me $30 in Kroger gift cards so my family could get some of these wonderful General Mills products. I was excited because I normally buy these products. And I'm happy that they've given me the chance to share this opportunity with you too. Below are ways you can enter the giveaway for the $30 Kroger gift card.

Methods of Entry:
You have 5 opportunities to enter. You must post separate responses to this thread for each entry to count. You must also include your email address so I have a way to contact you. This giveaway will end on Friday, June 18th at 12:00 a.m. EST The winner will have 48 hours from when I contact them to get in touch with me, otherwise I will draw another name.

1.) Go to the Pound for Pound website and make a pledge to loose weight before June 30th. Come back and tell me that you've made a pledge. I won't ask you to share how much weight you've pledged to lose, but if you'd like to share I'd love to help encourage you. And I promise I won't be a Jillian to you. :) http://www.pfpchallenge.com/Kroger

2.) What is your favorite General Mills product that helps you maintain a healthy life style?

3.) Follow @chiccraftychick on Twitter and Tweet the following: Come win a $30 Kroger gift card with the @chiccraftychick blog and the Pound for Pound challenge. http://bit.ly/XVmhS
You can tweet one entry per day. Be sure to leave a comment with a link to your tweet.

4.) Follow the Chic Crafty Chick Blog. Check out the right hand side of my blog to follow. If you are already following, please leave a comment saying you are a follower.

5.) Add Chic Crafty Chick to your blogroll, or add my badge to your sidebar. Be sure to come back and leave the link to your site in a separate comment.

I can't wait to read your comments and to here how you plan to participate in the Pound for Pound Challenge.

Solar light show

Solar lights in the garden? Do you have them? Do you love them? This year I decided I was going to get some to put in my back yard. I've liked the look of little lights, but I haven't been impressed with the solar lights I've seen in some folks yards in the past. To me they haven't put out enough light.

I decided to roll the dice and buy some at Wal Mart this year and I'm pleased to say I haven't been disappointed. The little ones were 3 a piece and I just bought a few. It makes me happy at night to look at in the backyard and see the little lights shining in the night. It reminds me of little fairies out in the dark. And now that the lightning bugs are out, it looks like a little lights show out there.

I wanted to share a few pix of some of my plants this year. This first picture is of a planet I've never had before. It said it was good for partial sun and that is what I get in the backyard. This plant has been beautiful since I potted it. I love the delicate looking bell petals and the different colors. The name of this plant is escaping me, but if you see it I highly recommend it.

This second picture is of a planter of rose moss. I love this stuff. It will self seed and will spread in a planter box. I have some in this single container and I did put some in one of my planter boxes. This will keep going right through the hard August heat and the beautiful colors don't disappoint.

This is just one of my petunias. I bought a bunch of red ones and have them on my back deck. A sweet little humming bird comes to visit us and he loves the nectar from the red ones. So I try to get some for him every year. I added white and purple this year. They keep on trucking too.

I don't have pictures, but we've got tomato plants out back, as well as a pepper plant. The tomato's are going crazy because we've had a lot of rain lately. I can't wait for fresh tomatoes.

So this is how my garden grows? Do you garden? If so, what have you got going?