Free Knives!

The Provident Woman is having a giveaway of RADA knives. I love knives. Especially when they’re good ones!

We’ve had major issues with knives – the first set we got rusted within a year (they were middle of the line, so we didn’t expect it).

Hubby returned them and replaced them with the set one level better.

They haven’t rusted yet because they’ve been packed away for 6 months, but I’m thinking it’s coming soon.

Therefore, I hope I win!

Here’s a picture of the beautiful knives:

from The Provident Woman

And the link to the giveaway.

—

[Read more at My Life In Four Bags]

ESPN Zone = Tradition

My friend Morgan and I have been going on friend-dates to ESPN Zone since we were tiny little freshman in college (I wish I had a picture to show, but it’s packed away in a box somewhere!). We go and order the same thing every time: she gets the artichoke dip and I get the sliders. Then we split everything. We used to get the cookie sundae as well, but I’ll discuss that in a minute.

We took my husband there before “we” started dating him. That’s how big of a deal it is for us. Many milestones in our lives have been celebrated there.

Back to the cookie sundae.

Nothing quite like it: hot, melty, chewy chocolate chip cookie topped with hot fudge, ice cream, caramel, and whipped cream. Oh yes, it’s even better than it sounds.

Well, since we’re both on grad student budgets, frequent trips to ESPN Zone aren’t realistic. So, we figured out how to do it at home:

Some premade cookie dough, ice cream, and Hershey chocolate sauce bring back all our warm and gooey memories of ESPN Zone.

See…tired grad students  can find tasty euphoria, even on a budget! Neither of us have the fancy pan ESPN Zone uses when they serve it, but we’re desperate, so we’ll use anything we can stick in the oven!

ESPN Zone should totally market this. They’d make a fortune. If it had existed, I would have registered for an ESPN Zone cookie sundae set when I got married. No jokes.

So at this point, you should run out to the grocery store and buy the ingredients listed above, but if you’ve never had one, you should get to ESPN Zone ASAP to start with the real deal.

Ah, I’m drooling

—

[Read more at My Life In Four Bags]

Apple Store Kids

If you haven’t developed an obsession with this kid yet, you should:

[Read more at My Life In Four Bags]

Giveaway results!

I started a giveaway over a week ago that didn’t work!

A few people did activities on the SocialVibe section on the right hand bar of the blog, but no one commented on the post to say they completed the task – therefore, I can’t send anyone their prize :(

For those of you who read on Facebook: you have to go to the blog to participate.

For everyone: there’s no need to subscribe to SocialVibe or give any personal information, you just have to click a few buttons or watch a short video to raise money for Charity:Water, the charity I support. And if you don’t like one of the activities that come up, you can simply skip it.

I’m really disappointed this didn’t work. I want to give people opportunities to be involved in something bigger. Right now for you that might want to help Haiti and that’s fantastic.

If you’ve successfully done a giveaway on your site, how did it work for you? I realize I was lazy when I wrote the original post and picked an ugly picture online instead of finding the cornbags I have and taking a picture of them. Other than that, I thought I made everything pretty easy – what went wrong?

I’m really interested in feedback on this one. Help!

—

[Read more at My Life In Four Bags]

Over The Top Award!

I recently received an Over The Top Award from Cheese Grits for my science teaching blog Just Call Me Ms Frizzle!. I was honored to be recognized by her for my determination to better at teaching science.

The idea of the award is to pass it along to three bloggers you admire and whose work is truly over the top! For me, there were only three contenders, so it made the picking easy!

And the winners are…Scott, Rachel Anne, and Joe!

—

Since I was given this award as Ms Frizzle, I’d better start with Scott at Physics & Physical Science Demos, Labs, & Projects for High School Teachers, who is definitely over the top! He’s a Physics and Physical Science teacher in Philly who writes on a variety of topics related to teaching, science, and teaching science! I love that he doesn’t take anything too seriously, but also has extremely valuable resources. I’ve gleaned so much from Scott’s writing and am always excited to see what he has to write next! I tried to find a single post to link to, but everything’s so good that you’re just going to have to do the exploring yourself!

Next is Home Sanctuary; one of those fantastic home and crafty blogs that I love to read. What makes Rachel Anne over the top is her Small Things post. Nearly every day she posts a “small thing” to do:  sort through a pile, pick up shoes, clean up crumbs, etc. You get points for completing the task – such a fun way to keep up on all those little tasks! The other thing that’s so neat is her creation of Company Girls – a way small blogging community. A really neat way to be in touch with other bloggers. Way to go Rachel Anne!

Last, but certainly not the least is I Agree With Joe. I promise that the fact that Joe’s a cousin has absolutely no effect on his receiving the award – although I’ve got to admit I’m really glad we’re related! Joe’s always got something to say that makes me laugh for days. He works mostly with teens and young adults and relates to them really well, especially with his awesome music videos and photo shop adventures! I definitely agree with Joe!

—

Please take some time to visit these three over the top blogs, leave them some comments, and subscribe to their posts. I know they would appreciate it!

—

[Read more at My Life In Four Bags]

Be The Solution

Hubby reminded of this song this morning. It hit me in light of the crisis in Haiti and how the reality of the devastation down there is starting to slip from my mind. I’m starting to forget about the suffering. This song pulled me right back to reality.

Even though I know I can’t do much to help, I want to be a part of the solution however I can!

—

[Read more at My Life In Four Bags]

Field Trip to Martha Stewart!

A friend had an extra ticket to a taping of the Martha Stewart Show!

Ahhhhhhh!!!! I was so excited I had butterflies in my belly :)

We lined up outside the studio in Chelsea – the anticipation was incredible!!

So excited!!! We weren’t allowed to leave our seats to take pictures, so I curled up on the floor next to Kathleen. We were dressed in solid, bright colored tops and chic jeans according to the dress code instructions!

Craft room section of the set.

The “green house”.

The main section of the set. The kitchen was immaculate. It was incredible. It’s hard to tell from this picture, but the whole countertop was a gas cooking range covered with thick wood cutting boards so they could change the layout of the counter work station.

The prep kitchen is in the corner. It was huge and beautiful.

Everything on the set was pristine and immaculate. It was colorful and beautiful. Definitely a set for a show because I’d have to hire 5 interns to keep my house like that!

Way cool teleprompter right in front of us. You can see the screen with upside down and backwards words that reflect onto the camera lens.

Random little living room section with no purpose.

Here’s Martha with the guests (three women chefs) and the stage manager. At the end they answered audience questions – I got to ask one!

Question: “1) What is your favorite meal to cook and 2) your absolute favorite meal to eat?”

Answers:

• Missy Robbins (next to Martha) from A Veco, Italian restaurant in NYC: 1) pasta and 2) pizza.
• Maria Hines (in red) from Tilth, her Seattle based restaurant: 1) shellfish and 2) sushi.
• Mindy Segal (in purple) from Hot Chocolate, her Chicago based dessert restaurant and bar: 1) cookies and ice cream and 2) pork.
• Martha Stewart: 1) baking anything and 2) Japanese food – she saves up to go to her favorite restaurant once every 4 months – in Tokyo!

It was such a neat experience and there were some incredible recipes for spotted prawns, an olive oil/tomato sauce, and butterscotch and toffee monkey bread which can all be found on Martha Stewart’s website.

And here’s what the audience got as a gift:

We each got a little cast iron black cocotte – I wish I had more of them to make mini quiche, pot pies, and monkey breads for party guests!

All in all, it was a lovely way to end my very last winter break of grad school. It was a blast and I enjoyed making some new friends :)

—

[Read more at My Life In Four Bags]

Moved In – my project for the week!

I’m connecting to so many parties today:

• Friend Makin’ Mondays
• DIY Day
• Clover Lane (well, this one’s not a party, but she did a house tour recently that was gorgeous!)

In 24 hours I went from my life in boxes, to my life unpacked! We’re finally residents in family housing on campus. Here’s the finished product:

Entryway/hubby’s office/dining room:

Living Room:

The blue furniture, large bookshelf, and several lamps were part of the furnishing provided by the school. Actually, most everything was furnished by the school, we only brought what would fit in a van and my dad’s truck.

Bedroom:

Kitchen:

The curtains are in need of some serious ironing, but I love them! They were made by my grandma and have found a spot in every place I have lived. Pictured below is the small throw rug her sister made for us.

We’re working on finding a (free) kitchen cart and work surface on Craigslist since there are no countertops.

I found all these heart shaped cookie cutters and the white heart ornament (it says “love” on it) and thought they’d work perfectly to cheer up the kitchen!

Bathroom:

And as I shared a few weeks ago, I’ve been working on something colorful:

All I’ve got to do is finish quilting the top and sew the binding on. I was going to put it on our bed, but now I’m thinking it’s going on the coffee table to cover up stains!

—

[Read more at My Life In Four Bags]

Haitian Hospital

Found this slideshow about the hundreds of patients doctors are seeing at once in Haiti. It helps to put things in perspective.

Tonight’s Gonna Be A Good Night!

This is a song I’m loving right now and considering tonight is the first time since mid-August I’ve unpacked my suitcase, tonight’s gonna be a good night :)