After Christmas Clearance

I love to shop the after Christmas clearance. The day after Christmas I went to Wal-Mart. I picked up some hairbrush/hairbow kits for the shoeboxes that I put together each year for Samaritan's Purse. I also bought some bath toy kits and other small things such as lipgloss. I like to use these throughout the year for my kid's birthdays, Easter presents, etc.

Today I was at Target and they already have their stuff marked 75% off. I was able to get a star for my tree for $5 rather than $20. I also purchased a jewelry box for $7.50. I wanted a jewelry box for Christmas, but couldn't justify paying $60-80 for one. This one wasn't that expensive and it's not exactly what I wanted, but the price was right. It will last me for many more years. When I get tired of it, I can always pass it down to my daughter or sell it at a yard sale for $5. :)

Rave: Chick-Fil-A

I was out shopping today and decided to stop at Chick-Fil-A. I rarely stop there because of the prices. I'm too much of a tightwad to spend $5 on fast food when I know I can get a sit down meal for the same.

Anyway, I decided to splurge on the Chick-Fil-A meal. I drove up to the drive thru and could not believe the line. It was wrapped completely around the store. My van was almost blocking the exit of the drive thru. As I pulled around, I saw a man standing on the sidewalk talking to customers in their cars. I could hardly believe what I was seeing.

Eventually, the man came to my van. He asked me if I knew what I wanted to order. I told him I did. He placed my order over his headset, told me my total, took my money, and in just a few moments another man came outside with my food and condiments. The man delivering the food was dressed nicely and did not appear to be in uniform. I'm guessing he was the owner.

I was in and out of Chick-Fil-A in a flash. When I drove up I was certain it was going to take 20 minutes to get my food. The people serving were very polite and when I left the man wished me a "Merry Christmas". It was a great experience.

Ceiling Fans

Ceiling fans are a money-saving addition to a room: using the fan during both winter and summer can lower your heating and cooling costs, and a ceiling fan that also has a light fixture means that you will more than likely not need to purchase additional light fixtures for that room.

We have had ceiling fans in nearly every room in both of the homes we have purchased. (We've only ever owned one home at a time.) In the first home we purchased, almost all of the fans needed to be replaced, and we found nice Hunter fans on clearance. They served us well, being both attractive and functional.

Our current home had no ceiling fan or light fixture in the living room, which we found rather odd. We ended up purchasing two nice standing floor lamps for $10 apiece, and they have solved our lighting problems. We still have not installed a ceiling fan, and we really need to do that. No-name or Casablanca fans, it really doesn't matter to me what brand we buy. I just want a decent and sturdy fan at a cheap price.

How often do you use your ceiling fans?

Attractions in Vienna and Germany

I've talked about Austrian attractions, including the famous Hofburg museum. There is so much to see and explore in this area of the world. It's nice to know that if I ever do get to travel to this region, there are plenty of Wien hotels from which to choose.

If you travel to Vienna, you might as well take the extra time to visit famous German cities, including Munich and Berlin. Berlin attractions include the Pergamon Museum, Brandenburge Gates, and more. Lodging is easily found at one of the many hotels in Berlin.

Travel in Munich should include stops at Marienplatz and the Olympic village. (How great would it feel to stand where your Olympic favorite/s stood?) End your day's journey with a good night's sleep at one of the hotels in Muenchen.

Other Germany attractions to view include the Bavarian Alps, Leipzig, and Lubeck. I love skiing and would be thrilled to get a chance to ski in the Alps. There are a wide variety of hotels in Deutschland (Germany), and I am sure that finding affordable lodging would not present any difficulty.

Have you ever been to Vienna or Germany? What was your favorite part of your trip?

Search Engine Optimization

So you've started a blog. Now all you have to do is sit back and wait for people to stop by, right? Wrong! This blogosphere in which you now "reside" is a vast domain, and many little blogs languish without ever being discovered. You have to help people find you.

There are several ways to do this, and I recommend using a combination of methods.

• Visit other blogs and leave relevant comments. (To have a friend you must first be a friend, right?) Whatever you do, please do not go around leaving irrelevant or, worse yet, spam comments. That is a good way to get people mad at you in a hurry. Do make sure you enter your blog's URL in the appropriate box so people can find you.
• Participate - in forums, memes, carnivals, and contests. These are great traffic builders.
• Optimize your blog for search engine visibility. Common Search Engine Optimization (SEO) practices include making keywords bold, writing succinct titles stating what the post content will discuss, adding meta tags and keywords to your template code, and submitting your blog to web directories.

The first two tips are easy to implement. The third one is a bit harder. There is quite a bit to learn about SEO, and some people prefer to accept the services of experts in the field. SEO companies increase your search engine visibility when you take advantage of their submission services or other SEO services. Many companies offer their own blog or podcast, where you can glean SEO ideas.

No matter which of my tips you choose to implement, making changes to your blogging practice will certainly only help your blog. What are your favorite traffic boosting tips?

Spot Shot Carpet Stain Remover

photo courtesy of Spot Shot's website

You do know that I only recommend products I use and like, right? Trust me, I have used Spot Shot Carpet Stain Remover quite often! I found it through a recommendation in How the Queen Cleans Everything by Linda Cobb (The Queen of Clean). The cleaner is available at Wal-Mart and costs less than $4.

So why do I love this cleaner? Yesterday was a prime example. My two year old daughter, Baby Bear, got into the chest freezer I had forgotten to lock. Unbeknownst to me, she got out a quart bag of frozen blueberries and took them into our living room, where she proceeded to dump them onto our beige carpet. When I found the mess, I carefully picked up all the blueberries, but since they had already thawed, multitudes of round purple dots adorned our floor.

I was really freaking out at this point because even though I love Spot Shot, I didn't think that it would work well on blueberry stains, and I didn't have any Clorox(r) Oxi Magic, nor could I pour boiling water on the stains - two methods recommended for removing berry stains. I decided to at least try Spot Shot.

As soon as I sprayed the stains, they turned blue instead of reddish purple. Before I could even blot the stains, they had faded so that I had to feel for wet spots in order to blot my carpet. Whew! Crisis averted!

So... I highly recommend Spot Shot. Using this as my carpet spotter of choice saved my day yesterday!

Author Jan Karon

I love to read. My favorite books include (but are not limited to) classics by authors as Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, and J. R. R. Tolkien. I also enjoy well-written Christian fiction, but that isn't always easy to find.

I was very happy when I received a special assignment to review Booksfree.com on my personal blog, The Porch Light. The assignment came with the added bonus of trying out their service. I had heard good reviews of Jan Karon's Mitford series and decided to order them.

Her books were as good as I had heard. The characters are engaging, the writing has substance (not fluff), and the story itself is entertaining. In fact, I found myself laughing out loud many times. I did not find any curse words or inappropriate intimacy in either of the two books I read.

The only problem is that now that I have read the first two books in the series, I am eager to read the other seven, but I have yet to make it to the library to check them out. Actually, I'm not even sure where the library is, and we have lived here nearly two years. How sad is that?!

If you have not yet read Jan Karon's books, I highly recommend them.

Taco Bell Mexican Pizza Copycat Recipe

You know I love Mexican pizza; I've blogged about it a couple of times. Mr. Incredible loves Taco Bell's mexican pizza. While following a Google search that led to this site, I found the recipe for that pizza. Thank you, CopyKat Recipes!

Outback Steakhouse

Well, I didn't realize it had been month since I last posted here. During that time, Mr. Incredible and I celebrated our eighth anniversary, I began homeschooling our girls, and I celebrated my 30th birthday. It has certainly been a busy month!

We always eat out to celebrate our anniversary. This year, we decided we would finally try Outback Steakhouse. Mr. Incredible had been wanting to try that restaurant for years. We ordered the blooming onion appetizer and two entrees. While we were waiting for our appetizer, the wait staff brought us a wooden cutting block with a small loaf of brown bread, a scoop of butter in a cup, and a knife. The bread was pretty good.

The Blooming Onion ($6.50) was a bit dark, probably from the grease that it was fried in being in need of a change, but the taste was good - the slightly spicy breading paired well with a spicy dipping sauce.

Our entrees (Alice Springs Chicken and Cyclone Pasta) were rather boring - nothing really special. We didn't feel that the food we received was worth the ridiculous price we paid for it. At $12 and $13 apiece, our entrees were nearly the cheapest ones on the menu! We did end up taking a little bit home, but we still felt the food was overpriced.

Another minus: there was an open bar in the center of the restaurant. That made us distinctly uncomfortable.

Summary:

• Atmosphere: 6/10
• Taste: 8/10
• Portion size: 8/10
• Price: 6/10

We both agreed we would not eat at Outback Steakhouse again.

Designing Problems!

Okay, this is going to be a big-time rant! I am so aggravated and annoyed right now I could scream.

I am a self-employed blog designer who works mainly with images - creating headers and such. I love my job/work/whatever you want to call it. However, my ambition is to create websites and blogs, so I am always eager to take on a new challenge. So far, I have been able to conquer the new platforms I have faced: TypePad, HomeSchool Blogger, free WordPress (like rsdesigns.wordpress.com), hosted WordPress (like designsbyrs.com), and, of course, Blogger - I have worked with all of these platforms. Successfully, I might add. A couple of them took me several hours to figure out, but I did figure them out. Right now, I am working on not one but two(!) projects on new platforms: yahoo.com and GoDaddy.com, and I am about to tear my hair out!

Yahoo.com is giving me the most problems right now. It seems as though they do not want you to find the template HTML/PHP. They certainly don't make it easy! If I can just gain access to that, I think the hard part will be over.

GoDaddy.com is presenting a different problem: I'm having to install WordPress, and as it turns out, GoDaddy.com is rather notorious for being difficult when it comes to installing WordPress. Of course!

I am determined to figure these problems out, but I thought I'd rant for a second. Alright ... you may return to your normal lives. Thanks for listening to a frustrated artist. *grin*

Mexican Pizza

photo of Salad Shell package courtesy of Azteca

One of my first posts here at Rants, Raves, and Reviews was my review of Old El Paso's Soft Taco Bake Dinner. At the time, this was the only way I knew to make a Mexican pizza. I have since found a tastier method.

Ingredients

1 box of Azteca Salad Shells (4 shells)
1 lb. ground beef
1 packet taco seasoning
1 can refried beans
1 small can sliced olives
8 oz. sliced mushrooms
1 avacado, cubed
sliced jalapenos
2 c. shredded cheese
taco sauce
lettuce, shredded
tomato, diced
chives, sliced

Azteca Salad Shells (our Wal-Mart sells them in the refrigerated section with the cream cheese) feature a Mexican Pizza recipe printed inside the box. You can follow the directions given or try the variation we favor (directions as follows).

1. Cook 1 lb. of ground beef, drain, and season with a packet of taco seasoning. We prefer Pace's taco seasoning mix.
2. Heat a can of refried beans.
3. While completing steps 3 and 4, heat your oven to 350F and bake 4 shells (flat) on an ungreased baking sheet for 3-4 minutes. Remove from sheet and allow to cool.
4. Place two shells on the baking sheet and spread with beans, taco meat, a small can of sliced olives, sliced mushrooms, cubed avacado, cheese, and jalapenos as desired.
5. Place remaining shells on top and spread with remaining beans and meat mixture. Top with cheese.
6. Bake at 350F for 7-9 minutes.
7. Remove from oven and add taco sauce, lettuce, tomato, and chives as desired. Cut into quarters and serve.

Serves 4

Research for this post led me to Azteca's recipe archives. The Baked Ice Cream recipe really interests me. Take a look for yourself - these sound delicious!

Austrian Attractions

I would love to become a world traveler! Perhaps some day I will, but until then, I will have to content myself with researching the places I wish to visit.

One such country is Austria, home of world-famous musicians, including Johann Strauss II (whose composed so many waltzes that he became known as the "Waltz King"), Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and the Vienna Boys' Choir. Favored tourist locales include Vienna, Salzburg, and the Tirolean region. Hotels in Austria are available in close proximity to favorite attractions.

Vienna, Austria's capital, is an architecture-lover's delight with its fine, ornate buildings which include the Opera House and the palace, Hofburg, which formerly housed the Austrian imperial family, the Habsburgs. Fine music abounds, and activities are available at all hours, day or night. Hotels in Vienna are plentiful and are able to accommodate every budget.

Salzburg, the famed birthplace of Mozart, offers visitors such attractions as the Mozart Museum, Sound of Music Tours, the Salzburg Fortess (I am told this is a must-see which offers the added bonus of being an excellent place to take pictures of the city), Mirabell Palace and Gardens (in the Sound of Music, the Von Trapp children sang the Do-Re-Mi song in these gardens), and Hellbrun Castle, which features trick fountains guaranteed to delight those who love surprises. To ensure that you have enough time to adequately explore the area, check into one of the hotels in Salzburg for at least one night.

The Tirolean region features not only the breathtakingly beautiful mountain scenery found in the Alps but also offers such gourmet fare as Tirolean chocolate and Alpine cheese. Skiing is a popular winter activity, and the Alps offer unparalleled runs.

Altogether, I believe that Austria offers you the opportunity to create unforgettable memories by exploring both its ancient history and its vibrant present.

Giveaway!

Stop by my personal blog, The Porch Light, to see what I am giving away as part of the Dog Days of Summer Bloggy Giveaway hosted by Shannon of Rocks in My Dryer. Make sure you stop by her place - the contest just began at 8:00 a.m. CST, and there are already over 100 participants!

Let the Love Begin

Donations for little Parker are being accepted now through Friday. He is not doing so well right now, and I hope a lot of money is raised with this fund raiser. After you donate, make sure to leave a comment so that you can be entered in the contest for 17 great prizes.

Do Some Good and Earn a Chance to Win a Prize

Parker of Praying for Parker not only struggles with Down Syndrome but also deals with several medical problems. Their insurance company is not helpful at all and refuses to cover medical items that Parker must have in order to keep on living.

Melody of Slurping Life will be holding a fund raising drive to help Parker's family with his expenses. The dates of the love offering will be July 23 through July 27. She is offering prizes, donated by herself and others, as incentive for monetary donations to Parker's fund. Melody's prize contribution, courtesy of Hewlett-Packard, is a digital camera/printer/accessories package retailing for approximately $430. To be entered in the drawing, all you have to do is donate a minimum of $2, though it would be great if you could more. All donations will be paid directly into an account accessible by Parker's parents.

I have contributed the following prize to the pot: a custom website design update from RS Designs, valued at $55 - $120 (depending on options chosen) The winner may choose 3 of the following options:

1. Web site color change (change the colors of your existing template, including images)
2. New background image
3. Custom sidebar image
4. Custom header
5. Custom advertising banner.

I know there will be other great prizes, so don't forget to stop by between July 23 and July 27 to make a donation and be entered for your chance to win. If you would help spread the word by writing your own post about the contest before or during that time, it would certainly be a help to Parker and his family.

I Like Mike

I am going to get into a very touchy topic here: politics. I do not claim affiliation with any party and have no intentions of ever doing so. Independent I am, and independent I plan to remain. I will vote for the politician who best matches my convictions, not caring with which party he affiliates himself. (I must say that I do not believe there will ever be a Democrat who will gain my vote!)

Having said that, I must tell you that the current field of Presidential candidates has looked very discouraging. The Democrats don't even come close to meeting my standards: a candidate who has a realistic plan for reducing excessive government spending, is pro-life, is committed to protecting heterosexual marriage, has creative solutions for the economic difficulties that plague our nation ... am I really asking that much?

The "top tier" of Republican hopefuls is equally depressing:

• Mitt Romney is a Mormon who sees no problem with allowing for abortion in certain situations. Chuck Todd of MSNBC had this to say about Romney:

"In fact, some Democrats worry privately more about Romney than McCain, because they fear he is a Republican Bill Clinton -- that he's impossible to pigeon-hole ideologically."

• Rudy Giuliani supports abortion "rights" - a fact which immediately negates any chance he would get my vote. Added 7/18/2007 - According to MSNBC, Mr. Giuliani also supports gun-control (a stance that I find patently ludicrous - let's disarm all of our law-abiding citizens so that law-breakers have free reign to do as they please!) and, even more importantly, gay rights. Quoting from the article:

"On gay rights, Giuliani backs benefits for same-sex couples and says "gays should be protected." In 1997, he signed a bill creating domestic-partnership benefits in New York City. "We should be tolerant, fair, open and we should understand the rights that all people have in our society," he said recently.

While campaigning, Giuliani has been careful to declare his opposition to gay marriage, saying: "Marriage should be between a man and a woman. It should remain that way."

However, he says, at this point, he doesn't see the need for a federal constitutional amendment defining marriage that way..."

• John McCain lost my respect and my vote when he became so vitriolic in the past election campaign. I am pleased that he desires to effect the overturn of Roe v. Wade as well as protect the sanctity of marriage. If it came down to voting for the "lesser of two evils," I suppose I could bring myself to vote for McCain.

With all these strike-outs, will I have to resort to voting for the least "evil" candidate? Actually, I am really hoping that I won't. I recently became aware of Mike Huckabee, considered the cream of the second tier crop. A former Southern Baptist minister, Gov. (AR) Huckabee is staunchly pro-life, pro-marriage, pro-Israel, and pro-family. Here is what The Hotline, "the National Journal's daily briefing on politics", has to say about Huckabee:

"...Huckabee is not an ideologue. He's a social conservative with a stellar voting record who worries about seeming mean or punitive. He's a political conservative who is a functional pragmatist when it comes to economic issues. Dare we say: he's a 'compassionate conservative?' "

Is Mike Huckabee the perfect Presidential candidate? That is a question that each must answer for himself. The more I see and read about him, the more I personally like him. You will have to take your own look at Gov. Huckabee's stance on the issues and decide how you feel about him.

The Opinionated Parent

If you like freebies, this blog is for you!

Combining product reviews with freebies, The Opinionated Parent is the place to go for fun and information. Looking for asthma-friendly plush toys? They've got that covered. Tired of the battle to keep your child in bed at night? Read up on the Goodnight Stoplight. Are your hands dried out, chapped, and cracking from working with paper or repeated washings? The Opinionated Parent can tell you about a protective lotion that is like having gloves in a bottle.

For me, the best part about this blog is that they give away whatever product they review. You could win something every day (if you were extremely lucky, that is).

Hat tip: Tanyetta of Days to Come

Got Dust?

source for both images

I despise dusting! I think it is because it seems like such a futile task - when I dust, my duster does nothing but spread the dust around, and seconds after I have dusted, the surfaces have another coat of dust on them. Aggravating!

Enter the surprise package I received via FedEx on Saturday morning. Wondering what on earth it could be, I opened it to find a cute cardboard house containing a free Swiffer duster, 5 refill dusting cloths, a blurb about the "5 Signs of Clean," and several other little freebies for good measure. I don't know how Swiffer picked me for this, but I'm glad they did!

Let me tell you, the Swiffer duster is the best thing - ever! Based on all the marvelous, deliriously happy reviews I read, I bought FLYlady's duster a couple of years ago. Let me say that I absolutely adore the FLYlady and highly recommend her services, but the duster just didn't do it for me. (Sorry, dear FLYlady!) The Swiffer duster, however, did!

Skeptic that I am, I started out with the easy stuff: our bookcase. When I saw that no dust flew into the air and the shelves remained dust-free after half a minute elapsed, I decided to try something a little more challenging - the TV. What do you know? Even the tiny crevices were free of dust! Would this clean our fake plants that were absolutely gray with dust? It did, with no problem.

Whoo-hoo! I'm sold! If you haven't yet tried a Swiffer Duster, give it a shot. It just might make that horrid dusting chore more bearable.

Peanut Butter Everywhere!

clip art courtesy of fotosearch.com

This morning, Pookie Bear, my oldest daughter, decided to try to make peanut butter milk. She thought that she could mix peanut butter and milk like she does chocolate syrup and milk. Abandoning her futile attempts, she left the cup of milk and the open peanut butter jar on the table for Baby Bear, my youngest daughter, to find.

Find them she did! she knocked over the cup of milk and dug her bare hands into the peanut butter jar. I only found out when she came looking for me to ask me to clean her hands. What a mess! The peanut butter was not only on her hands but also on her legs and stomach and on the table and chair where she had been standing.

You know how oily and sticky peanut butter is. I'm happy to report that I found a cleaner that cut right through it: dish soap foam. I have a Pampered Chef suds pump that I fill with a mixture of dish soap and water and keep on the ledge of my kitchen sink. After attempting to remove the peanut butter with paper towels and regular soap, I decided to try to dish soap foam. Magic! It removed the peanut butter with no scrubbing or rubbing.

So if you find yourself in my situation, remember to try dish soap or even just its suds.

Lindt Excellence White Coconut

photo courtesy of Global Chocolates.com

I like to do little things for Mr. Incredible just because I love him. I love milk chocolate; Mr. Incredible likes white chocolate. I think, "Yuck!" At least I did until he let me try a little bit of the bar I bought for him.

When I went shopping at Wal-Mart earlier this week, I saw a bar of white chocolate (Lindt Excellence White Coconut) and decided to buy it for him. It really was a big bar, but it cost about $2 - see, I told you I do little things for Mr. Incredible! It was only when I gave him the bar that I realized that the name, White Coconut, meant more than just that the bar was made from coconut, as I had initially thought. Instead, the coconut was mixed with the white chocolate.

My first bite convinced me that this was one white chocolate bar that I could love. The chocolate was not your ordinary white chocolate. It was sweet, but not too sweet, and creamy without melting in your hand. In a word: perfect! Mr. Incredible better watch out, or I just might steal his chocolate when he's not looking!

While I purchased this candy bar at Wal-Mart it is also available through fine chocolatiers as well as directly through Lindt's website. In fact, you can even choose from 31 different candy flavors to create your own 6-bar Custom Excellence Kit (cost - between $18 and $25 plus S/H). How could you lose?

My opinion:

• Taste: absolutely wonderful!
• Price: slightly expensive
• Rating: A+
  

A Favorite Blog

I love reading blogs and making friends with fellow bloggers. Karen, who blogs at Thrifty Mommy.com, has become one of my best friends, even though we have yet to meet in real life. She blogs with her friend Kelly, and they offer frugal finds and ideas for living the thrifty life. Frugal Friday is a favorite ongoing series, and you can always count on Thrifty Mommy telling you where to find great deals. If you enjoy living frugally or need to scale back on your expenses, you are bound to find some helpful ideas at Thrifty Mommy.

Modesty on the 'Net

Since my post about Christa Taylor.com, a retail website that offers modestly trendy clothing, I have come across more modesty-related news and websites. (Thanks to MInTheGap, whose search, accessed through my stat counter, led me down several other modesty trails.)

Please note: while it may be that not everything in each of the following linked sites falls within the bounds of modesty according to my definition or yours, small changes eventually led to great change.

Modesty on the WWC Campus offers links to modesty resources including modesty-driven retailers Down East Basics, Modbe Clothing, Shade Clothing, and the aforementioned Christa Taylor.

In modesty news, an 18 year old high school graduate won the Catholic Standard and Times' Modest Fashion Design Contest. Caroline Boyk is an upcoming artist who plans to study graphic illustration. She combined her artistic talent with her modest dress standards to create the winning design. It is heartening to see modesty encouraged an embraced.

According to US News.com, Britney Spears and other celebrities have negatively impacted fashion standards to the point that people are creating their own lines of modest apparel: think Shade Clothing and MikaRose. I applaud these entrepreneurs!

Modesty Zone is a website devoted to, you guessed it, modesty. Keep up with modesty-related news with their What We Are Reading page.

Do you have a modesty-related story or resource to share?

Zesty Mustard Chicken

I'm participating in the Carnival of the Recipes this week. My friend, Karen (of Thrifty Mommy fame), is hosting the "grilled food" edition. I've already posted the side dishes at my other blogs:
Grilled Seasoned Potatoes (at The Porch Light) and Child-Approved Corn Grilled in Its Shuck (at Little Fun; Little Learning). Now I am posting the entree for this grilled meal. (I think Mr. Incredible is grilling our supper tomorrow.)

Zesty Mustard Chicken

Serves 6

Ingredients

1/2 c. prepared mustard
1/2 c. honey
1 Tbsp. salt-free seasoning blend
1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 broiler/fryer chicken (3 lbs), cut in half

NOTE: You can use different cuts of chicken for this recipe: split breasts, quarters, drumsticks, etc.

In a bowl, combine the first four ingredients; mix well. Carefully loosen the skin of the chicken; spoon some of the mustard sauce under the skin.

Coat frill rack with nonstick cooking spray before starting the grill. Place chicken skin side up on frill rack. Grill, covered, over indirect medium heat for 20 minutes. Turn; grill 20-30 minutes longer, or until juices run clear, basting occasionally with remaining mustard sauce. Remove chicken skin; cut into serving size pieces.

This recipe is from Taste of Home's "Prize Winning Recipes "Clip and Keep" Recipe Card Collection."

If you have a favorite grilling recipe, why don't you participate in this week's Carnival of the Recipes? Submission is easy, and entry deadline is noon on Saturday. Happy grilling!

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Great Value Dishwashing Detergent

Thanks to my friend, Karen, I recently learned yet again that expensive does not necessarily equal best. Like Karen, I was never satisfied with my dishwasher's performance. In fact, I washed the majority of our dishes by hand. I felt like hand washing saved electricity and produced better results.

When I read Karen's post about Wal-Mart's Great Value Dishwashing Detergent (powder form), I decided to give it a shot. Yep, Karen and Consumer Reports were both correct. My dishes came out clean. Aparently, the magic is the enzymes in the powder. These enzymes eat through the food left on dishes. In fact, Consumer Reports advises against prerinsing your dishes that you are going to put through the dishwasher. That saves time, water, electricity, and labor! What's not to love?

Old El Paso Soft Taco Bake (R) Dinner

My family loves Mexican or Tex-Mex food, and Mr. Incredible (my husband) loves Taco Bell's Mexican pizza. When he saw Old El Paso's Soft Taco Bake (R) Dinner, he was intrigued and asked me to buy a couple of boxes.

I made two boxes for our family of 5. Each box makes one 4-layer (flat) soft taco. First, you cook the meat, then you assemble the layers: tortilla then taco meat. Repeat the layers, ending with the ground beef on top. Top with the cheese sauce in the pouch, and bake for 15 minutes. We topped our soft tacos with lettuce, tomato, olives, and jalapenos.

My opinion:

• Taste - excellent
• Difficulty - very easy
• Cost - reasonable (Each box costs about $2 and is supposed to feed four. Hm.)
• Overall - very good; my only disappointment lies in the fact that I could have made this myself from scratch had I known what it was.

If you are hungry for Tex-Mex food, try Old El Paso's Soft Taco Bake (R) Dinner.

clip art courtesy of fotosearch.com

Modest yet trendy apparel - finally!

I was thrilled by an e-mail I received last week via my contact form at my personal blog, The Porch Light. In it, Mr. Taylor asked me to take a look at a new website offering modest, trendy, cute clothing. He stated that this business is owned and operated by a Christian family who is "committed to contributing at least 30% of [their] profits to extending the gospel and social justice around the world." Immediately intrigued by the premise of the business, for modest clothing is often not cute, I hurried off to take a look.

I was very pleased with what I found. Christa Taylor.com offers cutely modest clothing in Juniors and Misses sizes. Prices are comparable to that of clothing in department stores. For being a new site, I thought they had a good variety of clothing from which to choose. I assume that they will add more items as they continue to build their site. Their collections include skirts, dresses, tops, accessories, and swimwear. Some of my favorite pieces are their brown eyelet skirt ($30), long paneled denim skirt ($29), and the Kenziegirl dress ($49, available in white and lead).

Go ahead and take a look. I think you, too, will be pleased with their clothing. I know I'm bookmarking Christa Taylor.com and will visit often.

logo courtesy of Christa Taylor.com

Best Incense, Co.

When I think of incense, I think of strange smells, eastern mysticism, and religion, although I do know some people burn incense simply because they like the smell. When I came across Best Incense, Co., I was not really interested in their site because I assumed that they only dealt in incense.

Upon further investigation, however, I discovered that this company sells more than just incense. Their natural aromatherapy bath crystals from the Dead Sea offer such scents as Lavender, Mango-Kiwi, Eucalyptus, Tea Rose, and many more. Perfume oils are only $2.00 for a half dram vial (not sure how much that is, but it sounds like a good deal) and include scents for both men and women. If you do like incense, they offer a free sample pack; the only cost is the three stamps you must send with your request.

Great prizes

Everyone loves a contest with prizes. I'm here to tell you about a fabulous one.

One of my best "blog friends" is Linda. She is a Swede who lives in Brazil, which I think is rather cool. I first met her at Making a Happy Life, but she is a prolific blogger with several other blogs as well. Her newest blog is Mama's Coffee Corner, which she had me customize by creating and installing a custom header, footer image, and sidebar images.

Linda had the bright idea for us to hold a joint kickoff contest for Mama's Coffee Corner and RS Designs. The contest will be held for one week, beginning today. (May 17-24) Winners will be announced May 25.

Prizes:

• Linda is offering your choice of either a $20 gift certificate from Amazon.com or a Brazilian Goody Box to be sent to your door.
• I am offering a free custom header from RS Designs.

How to enter:

• Write a post about the contest and link to both Mama's Coffee Corner and RS Designs.
• Sign the Mr. Linky at the blog offering the prize you would like to win. If you would like a chance to win both prizes, sign up at both blogs.

That's all there is to it. I wish you all the best.

Why create this blog?

"Rants, Raves, and Rejects - what on earth is this blog?" you may wonder.

The answer is quite simple. Rants, Raves, and Rejects is my place to share my opinions and to vent. I do realize that, as someone once said, "Opinions are like armpits - everyone has one, and they all stink!" My opinions are exactly that: opinions. You are most welcome to disagree as long as you remain courteous while so doing. I welcome your input and hope to create a fun and exciting place to visit.