SuperPoints Invite

I'm taking a little break this week but just received a 50 extra points SuperPoints invite and wanted to share it with you :)

http://superpoints.com/join/t7hbyk

The Pub Food Test

Take this quiz and let me know what you are! :)

You Are Cheerful Fun

You are a sympathetic and comforting person. You have a soothing influence. When it's time to let loose, you remain low key. You're not going to get worked up about anything. Your friends can count on you to make them feel better. You are understanding and reassuring. It hasn't been a good night unless you feel completely relaxed and rejuvenated.

The Pub Food Test

Catching Up!

Yay!  My friend Kitty is down from Washington this weekend and brought me Mockingjay to read.  I am already a few chapters in.  It's a bit slow right now but I am sure it will get much better soon!  I hope to be finished reading it by the time she goes back home on Sunday.

I am also reading a moving book about a young, religious Jewish woman with cerebral palsy.  I never read two books at once, but My Life on Wheels came highly recommended.  I think I am just taking a break from it to read Mockingjay, so I am not exactly reading two books at once LOL

Passover ends tomorrow evening.  I am so ready to eat bread!  We have a tradition of going out to dinner to end Passover so we have to decide where we want to go! :)

Lastly, I am asking for a bit of advice.  I went to a dinner tonight where a woman got on my nerves with all of her unintelligent questions, her hoarding of the food (it was served family style), and by the end just her presence.  What do you do when you are seated by someone like that and can't change seats?  I eventually got up and walked away for a bit for lack of a better idea.

Have a great weekend everyone!!!

For Love or Money

Doug Ireland (Michael J Fox) is a concierge at The Bradbury, an exclusive New York hotel.  He is really good at his job, taking special care of the hotel's customers.  He walks their dogs, sends their birds to voice lessons, etc.  His dream though, is to open his own hotel.  When he meets a rich man (Christian) who might help him to achieve that dream, he will do whatever it takes!  But what about Andy, the perfume saleswoman he likes?  Is she more important than Christian's money?

This movie was really cute.  Michael J Fox did an excellent job as Doug.  Anthony Higgins (Christian) played the role of the rich jerk perfectly.  But Gabrielle Anwar (Andy) was not a great lead actress.

I love watching films from the 90s.  They are so different from big-budget films today.  Have you seen this movie?  If so, what did you think of it?

Babysitting Expert

I am an expert at babysitting...sleeping children LOL

I babysat close to 10!!!!! sleeping children tonight.  The youngest boy (about 4 months old) had never had a babysitter before.  I actually consider it a big honor that his parents trusted me enough to be his first babysitter (even though he was sleeping).  I was also his older cousin's first babysitter (he was about 4 weeks at the time).  I love babysitting sleeping kids because I can just read a book or play on the computer.

I wish I knew what to do with them when they were awake LOL

How old were your kids the first time you left them with a babysitter?  (I have a cousin who is over 2 that has never had a babysitter!!!!!)  If you don't have kids, do you ever babysit?

Rain

It's raining...I'm cold and wet from taking the dog out.  I think I am not going to put up an interesting blog post tonight ;)

P.S. Happy Birthday to my sister!

Love the One You're With by Emily Giffin

After reading two books by Emily Giffin, my mom and I decided to buy her other two books that are out.  The first one I read is Love the One You're With.

Ellen Dempsey has the perfect marriage to her husband, Andy.  One day as she is walking down the street, she passes the one that got away, Leo.  All of a sudden all of these feelings come flooding back to her, and she can't get Leo out of her mind.  They start talking again...

I really wanted to know what was going to happen in this book.  I needed to know if Ellen was going to stay with Andy or go back to Leo.  I don't think this gives anything away, but I was really unhappy with how the book ended.  Emily Giffin writes some questions for a reading group guide at the end of every book, and one of the questions after this book is "Do you think Ellen made the right decision in the end?"  I think this shows that the author expected some people to not like the end!

When you read books, are you ever really unhappy with the ending???

2012 TBR Pile Reading Challenge - 19/50 

100+ Books In a Year - 27/100

Winner - Kick Butt Characters Giveaway Hop

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Passover Cleaning/Reorganizing

Since we have to change out all of our "regular" food for Passover food, it is quite a production.

We have two fridges and freezers that have to get combined down into one so that the other one can be the Passover fridge.  It's always a big decision which one will be which LOL

 

This is our fridge with all of the "regular" food crammed into it.

This is our fridge and freezer with all of our perishable goods.  It doesn't look like very much food LOL

This is our pantry shoved full of all the "regular" food that we can't eat for eight days.

This is all of our dry, non-perishable goods for the next eight days.

We always seem to have tons of leftovers even though it doesn't look like that much food.  I really hope we can eat most of this in the next eight days LOL

Do you ever clean out your kitchen?  Isn't it a pain?

Santa Barbara Axxess Blogging...Year 3 #9 - Three Pickles

I used my Axxess card 2 days in a row...woohoo!  My mom came home sick from work so we got sandwiches for lunch from Three Pickles.

We both ordered Turkey Deli Stacks.  The axxess deal is buy one sandwich, get 1 cold sandwich free, so we saved $6.99!  A cool thing at Three Pickles is that they have baggies on the counter to fill with 2 kinds of pickles and/or jalapenos.  One bag per customer LOL

This is my mom's sandwich with mayo, mustard, pickles, lettuce, tomato, and provolone.

This is my sandwich with lettuce, mayo, and avocado.  I like things plain LOL

The food was really high quality!  We both really enjoyed our sandwiches.  The place was packed with customers, they had tons of employees, and I can almost guarantee we will be returning :)

What is your favorite kind of sandwich?

Look Again by Lisa Scottoline

I read Look Again by Lisa Scottoline in a day.  I couldn't put it down!  Wow!

Ellen Gleeson is a reporter for the newspaper in her hometown. One day, she gets a "Have You Seen this Child" postcard in the mail, and the boy looks like the twin of her adopted son.  Uh oh!  Since she is an investigator, she NEEDS to figure out why this boy and her son look so alike!  Does her son have an unknown twin?  Is the boy her son?  If this boy is her son, should she give him up or keep it to herself?  Wow, what dilemmas!

This book was really amazing.  You feel like you are right there with Ellen, feeling every emotion she feels.  I have never read anything by Lisa Scottoline before, but I will definitely look for more books by her if I ever get through my TBR pile!

2012 TBR Pile Reading Challenge - 19/50 

100+ Books In a Year - 26/100

Santa Barbara Axxess Blogging...Year 3 #8 - El Rincon Bohemio

Yay, up to 8 already!  My parents both mentioned wanting to go to El Rincon Bohemio within a few days of each other, so we decided to go there for dinner tonight.  It is located on Upper State Street, but way in the back of a parking lot.  Many people don't even know it exists!

They had a huge menu, starting with breakfast and going to dinner.  As usual, my mom and I ordered combos.  We all really enjoyed our food.

This is my cheese enchilada and chicken taco, with rice only.  I finished almost every bite!

This is my sister's chimichanga.  What a monster!  I don't even know if she finished half of it LOL

This is my mom's dinner, which was really similar to mine.  I think she got beef in her enchilada and beans on her plate.  She also finished everything!

My dad ordered chicken flautas.  He loved them, but wish they didn't have that red sauce all over them.

The Axxess deal is buy 1 entree, get 1 free.  All of our entrees cost 9.95, so that is what we saved on the bill. While I'm not a huge fan of Mexican food, I actually thought this place was pretty good.  I would probably recommend it if anyone ever asked :)

Do you like Mexican food?  What's your favorite Mexican food to eat?

Joining SuperPoints is Easier than Ever

SuperPoints has changed how they do signups now, and while you need a referral to join, now everyone just has one referral link instead of expiring ones like before!

So far, I have earned $45 in Amazon GCs.  This is almost too true.  I have mostly earned them from my 100 SuperLucky button clicks each day.  Now that I am in a routine, I earn about $10 a month from just a few minutes per day.

If you want to join me, just go to http://superpoints.com/refer/sbcashortie  Signing up is free and only takes a few minutes.  If you don't like Amazon, they have tons of other gift cards from places like Best Buy, Domino's and Starbucks.

Passover is Coming

If you're Jewish or have ever had a Jewish friend, you have probably heard of Passover (Pesach in Hebrew).  The short version of the story is that the Jews were slaves in Egypt, Moses finally convinced Pharoah to let the Jewish people go, now we remember every year.

Passover lasts for 8 very long days.  We start the first two nights with seders, where we retell the Passover story and enjoy a holiday meal.  For the whole 8 days, we refrain from eating any bread, pasta, rice, beans, corn, etc.  My family is really strict about it, so we change out everything in our house, and only eat foods labeled Kosher for Passover.  Without fail every year, we are all very hungry by the 3rd or 4th day.  Not having real bread just somehow leaves us hungrier than usual!

Passover this year starts Friday night.  We have a custom starting around 10am Friday, not to eat bread or chometz (any food that is prohibited during the 8 days).  I always have trouble coming up with what to eat! LOL  Normally I end up with a piece of meat and some potatoes...so I start off the holiday hungry!

Do you celebrate Passover or have you ever sympathized with a friend who did?

Orchard Valley Grooms by Debbie Macomber

Orchard Valley Grooms by Debbie Macomber contains two books in one, Valerie and Stephanie.  Valerie, Stephanie, and Norah are sisters.  When their dad suffers a heart attack, Valerie hurries home from Texas to be by her dad's side.  Stephanie gets stuck in Italy and her biggest problem becomes finding a way home.  These books are about their love lives after returning home to Orchard Valley.

What fantastic stories!  I always love books that contain recurring characters.  I spent both books wondering if the main girls would end up with their leading men.  You never know, not all books have happy endings!  I am definitely going to be on the lookout now for Orchard Valley Brides, about Norah and Norah's friend Sherry.

2012 TBR Pile Reading Challenge - 18/50 

100+ Books In a Year - 25/100

April Fools!

Happy April Fools Day everyone!  This day pretty much passes me by every year.  I have always read about cool pranks people play, but have never played one myself.

Have any of you ever played a good prank on this day?