The Atlanta Home Show

Today we went to the Atlanta Home Show. Honestly I when I received the ValPack and saw the contest I KNEW if I entered I would win tickets to the show. I hadn't been to a home show for a few years so I was curious how this one would be. The last one I went to was in Rome and that one was very small. The one before that was in Richmond, Virginia. This one was about as big as the one in Richmond. There seemed to be a lot of exhibitors but nothing I could really use. We did find someone who sold books on growing veggies and fruits in Georgia. Darryl and his Dad said I should keep track of everything I do to the garden so we can see how successful it is.

After the show Darryl's Dad took us out for an amazing dinner at the Marrietta Dinner. I didn't know what to expect but I had their butternut squash ravioli with creamy pesto sauce and it was amazing. Darryl had this perrogi dish with chicken, spinich, peppers, and mushrooms in a creamy sauce and oh my it was sooooo good.

I worked on the garden a little more. That's because I stopped off at the local starbucks to ask for used coffee grounds. I used them in the remaining pots and lightly watered all the pots again. The lady behind the counter was nervous about giving me the grounds because she said someone told her that he wanted all the grounds no matter what for his garden. They gave it to me anyway.

Some more good news about the garden, we might be able to borrow a tiller. Is that great or what. That means I will be able to plant some corn and stuff. I'm so excited. We bought my favorite corn in the whole world, Silver Queen Corn and my mouth almost waters thinking about how great that is. Corn in the stores is always so small and never sweet. I miss that. Silver Queen corn is like candy. I can hardly wait until thes veggies start coming up.

Here are the blog contests I entered:

Prizes (5): Copy of The Engine 2 Diet: The Texas Firefighter's 28-Day Save-Your-Life Plan that Lowers Cholesterol and Burns Away the Pounds by Rip Esselstyn.

Prize: $35 Sweet Boutique gift certificate.

Prizes (2): Copy of Three Times the Love: Finding Answers and Hope for Our Triplets with Autism by Lynn and Randy Gaston.

Prize: Pet bed with two slipcovers and cushion saver in choice of size and pattern from petLINENS.

Prizes (2): Workout: Pumping House 2-CD set.

Prizes (3): Spa Break gift basket with Fiber One Chocolate Mocha Chewy Bars free product coupon, bath pillow, chocolate scented soap, lotion and bath salts and coffee scented candle.

Prize: Two JCPenney canvas tote bags.

Prize: Kimochi Plush Doll of your choice.

Victory Garden

–noun

a vegetable garden, esp. a home garden, cultivated to increase food production during a war or period of shortages.

When my father retired from the police department back in 1976 you would have thought he was living an episode of Green Acres. While Dad was not a lawyer trying to live the simple country life, he was raised in the city, was a cop until he retired, he imagined himself a gentleman farmer for oh about a year or so.

We planted a Victory Garden, bought chickens, two cows, and had two goats. I really didn't have much to do with the garden. Mom and Dad were kind of nastalgic about it because back in WWII people were encouraged to grow them. Our budget was so tight Dad thought if we could just raise some food it would help things out.

I didn't do the gardening but my brothers and sisters did. Once things began growing they hardly did any work to it really. Once things were ready for harvest I was baking and cooking like a real fool. Every day I would gather about a dozen eggs. There were nights I had zucchini and had to look for any and every recipe I could find for it. We had so many vegetables they were actually rotting in the field. I'd never learned to can anything but I was sad when after that we never had another victory garden.

I guess I would have felt differently if I had been out there working the garden. Ths year, after watching all these docmentaries about Monsanto and hybrid fruits and vegetables, Darryl and I are going to try our hands at gardening. That's right this year we are going to have a container garden. We feel it will be better for us because we won't be using harmful pesticides.

I won't get the same amount of publicity for having one as Michelle Obama. After all she's growing a Kitchen garden. (a garden where vegetables, herbs, and fruit are grown for one's own use.) We do plan to veg-up our summer though. We're doing it for our health but also to make a quasi-political statement. We are concened about HR875 Read the original bill here. The name of the bill "Food Safety" sounds good and might make you wonder why anything would be against it except the government can even come onto your property to find out how your garden grows. Thanks but no thanks.

Some people are contemplating growing their own veggies because they feel that we our financial institutions are collapsing and we should raise vegetables to sustain us. Darryl argues that we should grow a survivalist garden. A survivalist garden will have nut trees, fruit trees and berries and most types of vegetables. The vegetables in the survivalist garden will contain several that have a high protein count such as chickpeas, sunflowers for their seeds, and pumpkin. Pumpkin gives you a "twofer". You can use the shell for pumpkin pie puree, the filling for pumpkin pies, and also for their seeds.

Darryl suggested that I keep track of what we spent on the garden and how much time we spent. Today we bought a bunch of vadalia onion starters. That cost us about $3.99. We also bought potato starters and silver queen corn seed. Altogether that cost us about $8. We also bought seed packets of broccoli, tomatoes, squash, lettuce, and peas. That cost us about $5. The dirt for the containers cost us $3 a bag and we used two bags. Most of the containers that we used we'd had form a few years ago. We did use three new ones that we had bought not too long ago for $5 a piece. Of course these things are reusable to next year we will be able to factor these costs out.

Darryl also feels we should factor in the cost of our time so I will say that we spent an hour planting everything that we planted today. We still have lots to plant but can't do that yet because it's not time to put those things in the ground yet.

Today was the last day over at the house in Acworth. Not that we spent time there this week We didn't. We drove by the house to make sure we got everything that we came with and then we drove away. I walked to the bottom of the street like I used to. I stared out at our beautiful view. I said goodby to my house and tried not to cry.


Here are the blog contets I entered:

Rain-X Latitude Wiper Blades, Rain-X Weatherbeater 2-in-1 Glass Cleaner & Rain Repellant, and Rain-X X-treme Clean

Prizes (5): Copy of Mrs. Meyer's Clean Home: No-Nonsense Advice that Will Inspire You to Clean like the Dickens by Thelma Meyer (ARV $19.99).

Prize: Max Fleischer's Gulliver's Travels DVD.

Prize: World Championship Games video game for Nintendo DS.

Prizes (3): Garbage - The Revolution Starts At Home DVD.

Prizes (3): Spa Break gift basket with Fiber One Chocolate Mocha Chewy Bars, bath pillow, chocolate scented soap, lotion and bath salts and coffee scented candle.

Prizes (5): Finish Quantum Powerball dishwasher detergent tablets.

Prizes (3): Hannah Montana: Keeping it Real (Vol. 5) DVD.

Prize: Friends Forever doll (ARV $59).

Prize: Zenses Ocean video game for Nintendo DS.

Prize: Magellan Maestro 4350 GPS (ARV $399).

Prize: Choice of eyeglasses from EyeBuyDirect.com [excluding designer frames and sunglasses] (ARV up to $100).

Senior Skip Day/Senior Prank

Today was Senior Skip Day. Now technically there is no such thing as Senior Skip Day. I quote the whole school policy on the subject, tell the kids the documentation they must present in order to have today off from school and yet I know they kids decided to skip. It's just another sign that the school year is almost over.

The day had just started and Dr. Evans was pretty upset. Turns out that some seniors decided to write all over a bunch of lockers. Harmless fun you might say but those lockers need to be painted and with the budget shrinking by the day we really didn't need this extra expense.

The Blog Contests I entered:

Prizes (2): Two Stonyfield Farm Organic Yogurt free product coupons and two Healthy Ones Sliced Deli Meat free product coupons.

Prizes (2): TurboTax Deluxe online (ARV $65).

Prize: Personalized romance novel from Yournovel.com (ARV $49.95).

Prizes (3): Freshwater pearl bracelet with heart charm from Charity Charms.

Prize: Bunnytown: Hello Bunnies! DVD.

Prize: Advance readers copy of Everyone Is Beautiful: A Novel by Katherine Center.

Prize: $10 Wendy's gift certificate.

Prize: Kite Runner Blu-ray.

Prizes (3): The Haunting of Molly Hartley DVD.

The Walmart HOAX

At the beginning of the day one of my students asked me if I heard what was going to happen at Walmart tonight. I bit. "What's going to happen at the Walmart tonight?" "Mrs. Copeland, you need to stay away from Walmart tonight because there is some gang that's going to kill three women tonight.

I asked for more information. Just what does that mean exactly. Then it seemed to have caught on fire. Different girls in the class had heard that they shouldn't go to Walmart this weekend because there was some kind of gang initiation going on and it required killing three women.

"Gee do you think it everyone knows about it they would be really stupid to do such as thing? Which Walmart anyway, there's two in Rome." I had my doubts. Usually I begin to play Cathy PI but this just sounded so very far fetched.

As the day progressed students became more convinced this was not only true but something worth their while to watch and take pictures of so they could put it on their myspace. Some of the boys said they were going to go so they could hurt these people. Depending on the person who told the story the gang members were Black or sometimes Mexican.

Around noon the mystery finally solved itself. It turns out this was a hoax. Isn't this amazing. It's interesting to see how quickly this one piece of information spread across the US. Advertisers would pay BIG money to figure out how to make their message go viral so fast.

Here's the story:

Delaware State Police are investigating a hoax text message about violent gang attacks at Wal-Mart stores in Delaware and Maryland.

Investigators said they have been inundated with telephone calls regarding a text message that has been circulating throughout Central and Southern Delaware and portions of Maryland.

The text message reportedly read: "i don't noe how tru dis is but here it is. Dont go 2 any walmarts 2nite ther will be a gang initiation n dey have 2 kill 3 women at each store. Tell ur love 1s.

The message warns of an alleged gang initiation in which women will be killed at Wal-Mart. The message also warns women not to go to Wal-Mart. The text messages did not threaten any specific Wal-Mart stores.

Investigators have found no credible information deeming the message as a real threat and "open source information reveals this as an urban myth."

Wal-Mart spokeswoman Kelly Cheeseman released a statement that read in part:

"The safety and security of our customers and associates is our top priority. We are aware of the message being circulated and are working with local authorities to enhance our security efforts at our stores in the area. While we take these types of situations seriously, we regard this as being only a rumor, much like similar rumors that have circulated via e-mail in previous years."

The alarming text messages remain under investigation.

blog contest:

Prizes (5): Copy of The Engine 2 Diet: The Texas Firefighter's 28-Day Save-Your-Life Plan that Lowers Cholesterol and Burns Away the Pounds by Rip Esselstyn.

This week at Shoe Blitz we are giving away three pairs of Keds Green Label shoes. Check out the Green Label line at kedsgoesgreen.com.
To enter the giveaway, leave a comment here about what you are doing to be more eco-friendly. By leaving your green tip, you will be automatically entered into the giveaway

Prize: Pair of sterling silver Eternity Circle earrings from Kira Ferrer Jewelry Design (ARV $28).

Prize: Sister Schubert’s hand-painted gift basket.

Prize: Accutron by Bulova women's diamond watch with two bands from Diamondshark.com (ARV $450).

Prize: Philosophy Candy Hearts Lipgloss Duo and Philosophy Cinnamon Buns Shampoo, Shower Gel and Bubble Bath (ARV $36).

The Final Move Is Tommorrow

Darryl and his Dad have been working hard on the move all week. I go to work, come home, and more of it is done. I was going to go over to the other house today but I had car problems. The radiator light came on when I was almost home so I pulled over at the BoJangles and called Darryl to come help me.

I woke up at 5 a.m and felt as though I was pregnant. Just the thought of eating caused me to want to throw up. I felt dizzy and when my head hit the pillow I said, "I'll just close my eyes for a few seconds." Fortunately I was able to wake back up by 6:30. I'm feeling better today than I have in awhile. Even yesterday I felt sick with a bad headache but that extra bit of slip really seemed to improve things for me.

About a hundred people have entered the contest I'm sponsoring on ThriftyMaven. I can hardly believe it. I'm hoping this will be the first of many sponsored contests. I've been working hard on that site. As a matter of fact yesterday I posted an article about a program that provides cell phones for people in financial trouble and next week I will be publishing a post about a service for people who need an eye exam but have lost their insurance.

All this week I've been listening to the book 'Tis by Frank McCourt. I read his book Angela's Ashes a couple of years ago. This one is not as depressing. I know some people who talked about how they just couldn't imagine people living like he did when he was young. I guess because I grew up pretty poor it wasn't as difficult for me to imagine. 'Tis talks about his time in the Army, how he went to college and how he's teaching English at a Vocational High School. Sounds like things haven't changed as much as I thought. People wrote off vocational students even back then.

Blog Contests:

Win a Method Prize Pack: Lavender Dishwashing Soap, Sweet Water Hand Soap
Cucumber Wipes and Grapefruit Dishwasher Tablets

Prizes (10): Twilight DVD.

Prizes (4): Copy of Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Home (ARV $19.99).

Prize: Bratz Magic Hair Grow and Cut doll (ARV $27.99).

Bratz Kidz Snap-On Swimming Mermaid Giveaway

Contest Up And Running

I'm pretty excited because I have a contest up and running at www.ThriftyMaven.com. The best part is we are giving away THREE PRIZES.

Each Prize contains: Fiber One gift basket with nutrition journal, water bottle, pedometer with calorie counter and kitchen scale. So head on over and enter

Live From Mosul It's Michael

It was incredibly wonderful to hear from Michael today. He called today and it was thrilling to hear his voice. He said he's doing OK and I hope he really is. He told me that this is still considered front lines but he assured me over and over that he's pretty safe.

Today began a very important week for us at school. It's testing week. Our Juniors have been encouraged to try to pass all their tests with a score of 516. This score is actually above and beyond on almost all of our state tests but we've had lots of students who were able to do this in previous years. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this will be the case this year.

I feel so very much better today. I guess I just needed some sleep and some Nyquil. Darryl said that there is still no word from these people about my webpage additions. I'm hoping I hear soon or I will have to change the rules before I launch the contest. I really can hardly wait to announce the contest. I want it to be successful. I received my sample today.

Here are the blog contests I entered today:

Win an 8" HP Digital Picture Frame, day two's listing for Mommas March Mania at MommasReview.com.

Prize: Copy of The Human Body: 25 Fantastic Projects Illuminate How the Body Works by Kathleen M. Reilly.

Prize: Kung Fu Panda DVD (ARV $19.99).

Prizes (3): Banana Nut Cheerios free product coupon, banana tree with fruit basket, bread loaf pan and two cereal bowls.

gift basket includes a nutrition journal, water bottle, pedometer with calorie counter, and a kitchen scale.