InterwebUser, of LolDog fame

In other exciting news, one of my submissions to the loldog.com website (pictures of cute doggies with captions that brings happiness to the intertubes) was actually posted on the blog! With my name down at the bottom and everything! I'm famous! Well, at least my pseudonym, InterwebUser, is mildly famous-ish.

Here it is:

see more dog and puppy pictures
Ok, so the super cute dog may have had more to do with the selection than my caption. No, I don't actually know the dog. This picture had been submitted for captioning by someone else. But I captioned it! Woot!

In other news, I got two packs of diapers for Chelsea and Natalie for $5! Go go Gadget coupon!

Cheers!
Helen

Less Selfish / Inspirational Bonus Post

To keep myself humble, I give you this (a really awesome email from some missionaries our church supports):

Washing the dishes. Cutting the grass. Taking out the trash and recycles. Grocery shopping. Cooking. Washing the clothes, hanging them out to dry, then folding them. Vacuuming. Dusting. Ordinary stuff, right?

I've often thought of them as necessary evils, with emphasis on the evil part. But as I prepared some Bible studies on Genesis 1 this spring, I read some comments that made me think about being in the image of the Creator. God's work in creation follows a pattern: after he created the original earth it was dark, formless, and empty. but he began immediately to glorify it, shining the light of his presence in it (before there was a sun or any stars), shaping the land and the sea, and filling them with glorious creatures of unimaginable variety and beauty. He took chaos in his hands, reshaped it, renamed it (birds, air, fish, sea, cattle, land), and judged it all good. Very good.

Then he made man in his image, male and female, and placed them in his garden to work it. And working a garden is, like washing the dishes and folding the clothes, ordinary stuff.

But this ordinary stuff is really quite glorious, isn't it? We take chaos in our hands (a pile of dirty dishes or clothes, a shaggy, dandelion-covered lawn), reshape it into an ordered stack of clean dishes or a neatly trimmed lawn, and then call it "good." It's simple, yes - but you can see in this simple work, if you look closely, the dim but clear reflection of our Creator. No other creatures under heaven take this kind of care - because no other creatures under heaven were made to reflect the glory of the Creator as his images.

Well, thinking this way can change your perspective on your "ordinary" cleaning and maintenance. It may not make you into another Brother Lawrence, communing with God among your pots and pans - but it could transform your chores from something to get done as quickly as possible into times of quiet, regular celebration and thanksgiving, that you could bear the image of the One who made the world and everything in it.

Something Interesting Actually Happened!

My dear readers,

We have waited long for this day! I confess I thought it would never come, but today it happened. That's right, friends, today something worth blogging about has happened! I know! You should probably sit down.

Today, I found out that I am Employee of the Month! That's right, dear readers, your very own "Clin Micro, this is Helen" is employee of the month.

My work email server is down, but when it comes back up, I will add the little message about how awesome I am. To sum it up, I think it said I was nice. :D

I don't get a special parking space or anything (that I know about...), but they will make a giant poster of me to display at work. I think it would make an audacious start to an "I love me" wall.

So no, I'm not pregnant, but thanks for celebrating with me anyway!

Sincerely,
Helen Hurley
Employee of the Month

Spam Alert: Earn prizes for searching the internet! Yay!

Hello friends!

So, some of us spend lots of time on the internet. If you would like to earn points toward fabulous prizes for doing searches on the internet, please click here or the banner at the top of the blog. It's completely free, no purchase necessary. You are randomly allotted points for searches done through their website (use just like Google). You also get points for participating in polls and surveys, and they do have the "complete this offer and get points" opportunities, but you don't have to do any of those.

So yes, it's about as gimmicky as frequent flier miles (you can get a Southwest Airlines giftcard, ironically enough), but if you're going to be doing searches anyway, every little bit helps, right? Plus I get points for referring people, so be sure to come back here and click the LINK after you're done checking the site out so that I get credit.

P.S. I'm putting this on my blog because I don't want to spam people's email, but if you're interested, it'd be awesome to get some referrals to help buy plane tickets to Patricia's wedding in California in January and to see my friend Jackie in Virginia hopefully next summer. Even if you just sign up and play around with it for awhile, it helps me out. Thanks for your consideration. :D

Couponing Sucess!

Ok, so I haven't blogged about couponing for awhile (or anything else for that matter), so here it is!

Today's trip to CVS (yes, on Sunday, because they run out of the stuff on sale by Tuesday at the latest):

1 Purex Complete 3-in-1, $5.99 (see ConsumerReports article here)
Use $3/1 coupon
Get 2 Extra Bucks (EB)
final cost: $0.99

1 gallon Oak Farms milk, $2.99
Get 1 EB
final cost: $1.99

2 Sobe LifeWaters, $1.59
Sale, Buy 1 Get 1 Free
Use Buy 1 Get 1 Free coupon (available here)
final cost: free (no, I don't actually like them, but they were free!)

3 Band-Aid packages, $1.99
Use $3/3 coupon
final cost $0.99 each

1 Crest Pro-Health Clinical Gum Protection toothpaste, $3.49
Use $0.75/1 coupon
Get 2.50 EB
final cost: $0.25

After I used 11 EB from previous visits, I paid $0.69 out of pocket and received 5.50 EB for next time. Yay! My receipt says my total savings were $30.43, which is a little disingenuous because I wouldn't shop at CVS normally, but it's still a fun number.

The last time they had this deal on milk (it seems to be every other week), I paid $0.99 out of pocket and got 2 EB back! That was also a good shopping trip.

In other news, Matt is getting ready for school to start again for his second of four years of college, and I just got a new director at work. I think she will work out fabulously from what I've experienced thus far. :D

Google: What's for dinner?

You know it's the end of the month when you google "sausage" and "cranberry" in a desperate search for dinner!

Sometimes, there are happy results. In addition to this tasty recipe, I even found ingredients for another recipe while I was digging around in the freezer. Here is the fortunate answer to my query (courtesy of Recipezaar.com):

Pork and Cranberry Sausage Rolls

"For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

I got a letter from the Social Security Administration the other day. They wanted to let me know what my benefits will be.

Did you know that more people under the age of 30 believe in UFOs than believe that they will ever draw benefits from Social Security?

A Celebration of Culinary Greatness Worthy of Grammatical Indiscretion!!1!

So, it was brought to my attention (by one of our three readers) that we should post something on our blog. After hours of scouring the internet, I have discovered THIS!! A super tasty chicken salad recipe, in honor of summer. Sentence fragment!

Best Chicken Salad Sandwich Recipe
By Angela Harris

My Quest for an Easy Recipe for Chicken Salad Sandwiches
Way, way back when I first got married and still tried to impress my husband (grin), I wanted to learn how to make chicken salad sandwiches. Not only that, but I demanded a chicken salad sandwich recipe that was easy, but also delicious.

I experimented with many chicken salad recipes over the years to get my easy chicken salad recipe just right. Finally, I hit on what I believe is the best chicken salad sandwich recipe ever. It is more than just a basic chicken salad recipe, but it has a bit of finesse. This delicious and easy chicken salad recipe will be right at home at a kids' lunch table or a bridal shower buffet. It can be simple or elegant.

I have served this chicken salad recipe many times over the years, and I have never failed to receive compliments and requests for my recipe for chicken salad. I had forgotten how much time and effort I had spent perfecting my recipe. Then, the internet came along and I realized that many cooks will use it for a cooking reference instead of traditional cookbooks. So, if you've been looking for a recipe for chicken salad, try this easy chicken salad sandwich recipe.

Chicken Salad Sandwiches

Easy Chicken Salad Sandwich Recipe
Chicken Salad Recipe Ingredients
3 cooked chicken breasts, chopped
1 or stalks celery, chopped- about 3/4 cup
2 green onions, chopped
1/2 cup seedless grapes, halved
3/4 cup dried cranberries
3/4 cup salad dressing, such as Miracle Whip brand
2 Tablespoons coleslaw dressing (Marzetti's is good)
1 teaspoon each- paprika and seasoning salt
Coarsely ground black pepper, to taste

Simply mix everything together well. Chill for at least one hour before serving. It tastes much better if allowed to chill overnight.

Serve on toasted bread, croissants, or lettuce leaves. This easy chicken salad recipe also tastes great in pita pockets or hollowed tomato cups. Also try different breads such as Ciabatta or raisin bread.

This chicken salad recipe serves about 6

In the interest of full disclosure, I did swap real mayonnaise for the Miracle Whip, left out the green onions and added chopped almonds. Individual results may vary.