Stained Salt

I had a Cinco de Mayo gathering of the tacos on, well... you guessed it - the fifth of May. My friends and I wanted margaritas (to go with our copious amount of tacos) and I decided to have some fun with it. Why not dye the rimming salt the colors of the Mexican flag?

I am a brilliant idea maker.

It's incredibly easy:

Adventures in Iced Coffee

This is what working from home looks like. not. 

Truth: the only beverage that I love more than coffee is iced coffee. This year, it just so happens that the warmer weather has coincided with me working from home for the entire month of April. So far it's been no picnic (technology and I are barely on speaking terms right now) but one of the bright spots in my days of being glued to my computer desk (an old sewing machine table, not ideal but a girl manages) has been sipping on glorious home brewed iced coffee.

Now, I have tried various ways to make good iced coffee at home (including sticking the entire hot coffee carafe in the fridge like a lazy bum. not very tasty) but only recently am I finally happy with a method. Has anyone seen The Pioneer Woman on Food Network? Don't worry, no cool points lost if you haven't, I just watch my 'fair share' of TV if you will. I'm not sold on the show since I have very little in common with the blogger/domestic diva/dude ranch dwelling Ree Drummond and to be honest, her rich "down home" recipes border on diabetes-inducing Paula Deen territory. Plus, I'm so much more of an Anthony Bourdain/Travel Channel girl anyway.  However, I am loving me some of Ree's Perfect Iced Coffee. It's genius!

It's a beautiful thing.

Salted Caramels. NOM.

Come here, little girl... eat some canndyy.

I certainly will, especially when it's salted caramels!

I've been wanting to make candy for a while now, but finally had en excuse: celebrating going to the Edwardian Ball in LA with friends to see Creature Feature. WHAT A GOOD NIGHT TO STUFF OUR FACES.

Here's the recipe:

In one pot warm up 5 tablespoons butter, 1 cup heavy cream, 1/4 teaspoon vanilla, and 1/4 teaspoon salt until butter has melted, as seen in photo on left. Turn off heat.

Welcome to the Ebates Hotel

FREE MONEY.

It does exist. Kind of.

So, a few months back I stumbled across a website (Ebates) that claimed to give you money for shopping online. I was sceptical, but I liked the idea of getting a percentage back on my purchases, so I signed up. I didn't tell any friends about it until I actually received a check so that I knew it was legit.

Once I got the money... oh lordy, I was excited. I told all my friends and got a few of them to sign up too. Not only will they get paid to shop, but I get referral money added to my account and can even got bonuses if I sign up enough people.

Exciting, no?

So here's how it works:

Get Nailed: The Half Moon Mani

What you will need:Clear base coat
Light colored polish
Dark polish polish
5-10 reinforcement stickers
Clear top coat

How to do it:
1. Start with clean nails and apply a bas coat.

2. Apply 1-2 coats of the light base polish (depending on the coverage of the polish). Let the polish dry for 20-30 minutes.If you do not let your nails dry, you may peel off the nail polish when removing the reinforcement stickers.

3. Once nails are completely dry, place a reinforcement sticker on each nail with the outer edge of the sticker mimicking the shape of the moon of your nail.

Depression is Delicious

I made a tomato soup cake.

I know what you're thinking and you better put that face away.

Ok, here's the story: I found a recipe for this bizarre cake a few months back and needed an excuse to make it. I originally thought it was from the 1930s, a time period where money and having food on the table was a worry for the average American family. I thought that perhaps the recipe was birthed out of desperation - a need to create food out of what was available, but in my research I discovered that a recipe for this cake originally came out in the 1920s. Kind of weakened my story... but still serves as a life lesson.

Get Nailed at Home!

I really do love getting my nails all did up at the fancy nail salons. There is nothing quite like walking into the salon, having the door make that loud "ding" noise in your ear and everyone turn to stare at you while the Mama San yells from across the room"Wha you want? You want flower? Five dolla extra ok?" I want to shout, No, it's not OK and turn on my non-pumiced heel and walk out but I need my nails to look nice so I begrudgingly sit down and they get to work. By the time I get out of there, I have spent anywhere from $30-$50. There has to be another alternative; a way to stay cute AND cheap!

WWMBD?

Let's move on, shall we?

Today we will talk about entry types: Single, daily, unlimited, and the mysterious"other."

Single entry is nice because it obviously doesn't take much effort. Wham, bam, thank you ma'am. Pro: easy. Con: no competitive edge. Since there's only one entry everyone has about the same chance of winning.

Daily entries can be a little more time consuming, but if you stay on top of it (that's what she said?) and enter everyday you can increase your chances. The way I handle daily entries is by keeping them in my favorites in a file labeled specifically for daily entry sweepstakes. I name it by the prize or company and follow it by the date the contest ends. If it's a prize I really, really want to win I'll even save it on my home computer or in my email as well so I can enter on the weekends (crazy? maybe) (but I like winning. how dare you read me that way) (soon you will be obsessed too).

Sweet, Sweet, Sweeping

I feel you are ready for more information, my little sweepers in training.

First, open up a new email account (or use an old email account you have laying around). You will receive a large amount of email everyday and I personally didn't want all of that mixed in with my regular email. I find it makes it easier to separate the junk mail and I know to carefully comb through all email on my "sweeping" account... you never know when you'll get notification of a win or something you have to respond to. I try to go through occasionally and unsubscribe from as many as I can, but I'm not good at keeping up with that. At this point I get about 150 emails a day on my sweeping account. BOOORING.

Ok, not really. Sadly, going home from work to check my email is a highlight of my day. It's so exciting to find a win waiting for me! Going through the emails carefully also helps me keep up with deals and new contests/sweeps.

Some people also get a different phone number... like one of those internet phone message thingies. I didn't bother. Possibly because I'm too lazy, but honestly in the past year of sweeping and using my personal cell number I've only had a few telemarketer calls. How wude. I was hoping to one day get a sexy time message from a stranger.

Got those down? Ok time for a test. I will start you off with one of the websites I feel was easiest to read and navigate when I was first starting out, and is a website that I still check whenever I can. Free Stuff Times breaks down the contests into entry types, gives basic info on each, and expiration date. The link above goes straight to single entry sweeps so you can enter as many as you want, but not worry about the commitment. Gurl, just send him packing when you get bored.



Photo: painting by Pearl Frush, "Pin-up Sweeping"

Divine Cheapliness

     Cheapliness is next to godliness. Oh, wait, that’s not how it goes?

     I was born cheap. It’s in my blood. Even when I have extra money, it can be hard to let it go. I don’t know exactly why that is… perhaps fear of the unknown. I may need the money at some future date for some scary disaster or shoe emergency.

     The past couple of years I have worked on turning this stingy attitude and desires into a blossoming hobby.  Blossoming. I said it. I thought to myself, “I deserve fun, new, and exciting things. I deserve to go places and be amazing, dammit!” These tiny grubby hands of mine get in the way, but what if I can find ways to have these things I desire without feeling guilty about spending so much of my hard(ly) earned money?

     And then I found sweepstakes.