Quote of the Week

This comes a little late this week.

A hug is a great gift - one size fits all, and it's easy to exchange.  

- Author Unknown

This is a gift we all benefit from, both giving and receiving.  

A New Addition

Saturday was an exciting day for us.  This type of event doesn't happen every day or even every decade for that matter.  My DH is now the proud owner of a 2002 Honda Accord.  It's got it all, comfy leather seats, power this and that and...drumroll please...a sunroof!  That is a first for either of us.  This ends his two-year search for just the right car.  He went through several phases like I'd like a Corolla, no maybe a Civic.  We looked at car after car in under the broiling summer sun until he concluded that he'd just keep his car for now.  OK.  It was always brimming just under the surface though, the notion that the time was winding down to replace it.  Next there was the "I can just get another Saturn" phase. There were a few out there, but that model/body style is getting hard to come by, and that passed into "I'll just put new tires on it and keep driving."

When my car died back in November, I launched a search of my own.  That renewed his interest as well.  My search took us through the dead of winter and we endured bitter winds as we looked at car after car, and test drove them through snow and slush.  In the process so began his Accord phase, and we drove 4 before finding the right one.  We almost ended up with a silver one (no leather), but our offer was declined.  Fine.  Things usually work out the way they are supposed to if you don't force the issue.

On Thursday we found another gold one on-line.  We looked at it Friday evening, and went back the next morning for a test drive.  Once the decision was made that this was the car, and we had our "number" in mind, Tim, our long-suffering salesman came out to give us their "number". Can you guess?  They weren't exactly in the same neighborhood.  Again I said, "I'm sorry, I was hoping you'd be getting a new car today".  Tim said he would take our offer to the manager to see what he'd say.  Tim had been gone for a while, so thinking we were just out of luck again, we were about to leave.  But wait... here comes Tim, and he's walking with purpose.  Apparently the fact that we were there with our checkbook ready to buy and drive carried some weight, and our offer was accepted.

So here it is! 

I am happy and excited that he has a "new" car.  Now, it's my turn!

Restaurants.com - 80% off...Again!

Restaurants.com has a new promotion going on now through April 6.  All gift certificates are 80% off.  Just use the promo code CHOW when you check out, and your discount will be applied.  You can get $25 gift certificates for just $2. 

What a great way to eat out and save!

Spring has Sprung!

Here is some of Nature's bounty.

 

The out-of-control Forsythia beside the driveway.

A Tulip Tree blossom at Sci-Works.

A budding Snowball.

Hot Cross Buns - an Easter Tradition

With Easter coming up this weekend, I thought it would be a good time to learn a little about this tasty holiday treat.  They can be found in stores everywhere around Easter, they are sweet, spiced buns with currants or raisins and sometimes other candied fruits.  They are leavened with yeast and have a cross made of icing on the top.

Traditionally, these are eaten on Good Friday with the cross symbolizing the crucifixion.  The first use of the term Hot Cross Buns was recorded in 1733.  However it is believed that the Saxons ate buns marked with a cross to honor the goddess Eostre.  This is probably the origin of the word Easter.

This tradition is believed to have begun when Queen Elizabeth I banned them from being consumed except at festivals such as Easter and Christmas.  In many cultures, breads play an important part in religious holidays.  It symbolizes different religious events depending on ingredients and shape.

There is a lot of folklore associated with Hot Cross Buns.

• Buns baked and served on Good Friday will not spoil or mold during the year.

• Sharing a bun with another ensures friendship during the coming year, especially if you say the following:  "Half for you half for me, between us two shall goodwill be"

• Some say that because of the cross, the bun should be kissed before being eaten.

• They protect against shipwreck on an ocean voyage.

• Hang one in the kitchen to protect against fire.

There is even a nursery rhyme named for the buns.  
Hot cross buns!
Hot cross buns!
One ha' penny, two ha' penny,
Hot cross buns!
If you have no daughters,
Give them to your sons
One ha' penny,
Two ha' penny,
Hot Cross Buns!

So try some Hot Cross Buns and share in a tradition that goes back centuries.

Technical Difficulties

There is a problem with pictures not showing up on some blogs.  Here is what Blogger Status says:

"Our image backend is experiencing problems which may affect the display and/or uploading of photos. We are working to resolve this and will update this post when we have more information."

Hopefully, all the pictures will be restored soon!

Quote of the Week

Recognition is the greatest motivation. 

-  Gerard C. Eakedale

I believe this is true.  The more people admire and appreciate us or the work we do, the more likely we are to continue, to push forward in our endeavors.

A New Look!

Hi everyone,

I am working on a new look for Roses to Rainbows.  It's still in the semi-experimental stage so don't be surprised that it looks different, and then looks different again.  I'll get it ironed out eventually.

Here is my Rosie keeping me company while I blog.

Are the Grocery Stores Really Too Expensive?

It has been mentioned to me that some of the stores I shop at are too expensive.  I suppose this is true on a regular price comparison with say Wal-Mart or even Aldi.  I shop at these stores, too.  However, I go where I can get the most for the least, and many times that is a major grocery store.

For example, I posted a week or so ago about Harris Teeter coupons in the Friday newspaper.  There were $16 worth of coupons:  Four 50¢ coupons off "any" one item and four $1.00 coupons off "any" item of $2 or more, and also two for $5 off a $40 purchase.  

I used three of the $1 coupons on 3 packs of diet Coke, which brought the price down from 3/$10 to $3/$7, a much better deal.  I used the 50¢ ones on Campbell's tomato soup, making it 10¢ a can.  I used my last $1 coupon on a bottle of wine, and also used a $5/40 coupon.  All of this was on sale already.  Everything else I got was either on sale, I had a manufacturers coupon or it was a store brand.  

What was the bottom line?  I saved $27.34 and paid $34.08.  This is about 45%.

Last week's highlights focused on cleaning products:
Lysol Kitchen cleaner - Regularly $2.89 for 44¢ (BOGOF + $1 coupon)
Lysol Toilet cleaner - Regularly $2.69 for 34¢ (BOGOF + $1 coupon)
Brawny paper towels 8 rolls - Regularly $9.99 for $4.99  (sale $5.99 + $1 coupon)
12 oz. bottle of Joy dish washing detergent - Regularly $1.39 for 39¢ (sale 99¢ + 30¢ coupon)

I saved around 43% that day.  My goal is to save an average of 50% on groceries and household items. 

Harris Teeter always doubles coupons up to 99¢ every day (up to 20 coupons per day).  Go here for their next triple coupon event starting 3/24.

Check out my Top 5 list of things not to pay full price for, and see another example of savings here.

Restaurants.com Gift Certificates 80% Off

Restaurants.com has a new promotion going on now through March 31.  All gift certificates are 80% off.  Just use the promo code COOK when you check out, and your discount will be applied.  You can get $25 gift certificates for just $2. 

What a great way to eat out and save!

Renewed Inspiration

I was reading one of Sara's recent posts from a sharing connection, and  was inspired to share more of my own poetry.  Here is one I wrote on May 22, 1984. 

New Dawn
Sun painted sky
Of brilliant orange
Bids a fond farewell
To still another day
Yet we know always
There is a new dawn
Breaking on some
Distant shore

Quote of the Week

Saturday was the official start of Spring, and we are glad to see it arrive after the long, cold winter.  It seems fitting this week that we reflect on what Robert Frost has to say about it.

 
 

Oh, give us pleasure in the flowers today;
And give us not to think so far away
As the uncertain harvest; keep us here
All simply in the springing of the year.

- Robert Frost

March Madness - NCAA Team Napkins

Are you into Basketball?  Do you have a favorite NCAA team?  To round out your game-day parties, Sociale has folded napkins for your favorite teams.

Here are a few samples.

Call Donna (336-705-6888) or drop by the shop at 380 Knollwood Street in Winston-Salem.

Wine Lover's Club - March Meeting

The Wine Lover's Club held it's March meeting at Sociale on Tuesday the 16th.  It began on a somber note as we bid a fond but sad farewell to one of our members who passed away rather unexpectedly.  He loved French wine, so we toasted with a Bordeaux after a heartfelt tribute to him and what he meant to all of us.

As with all meetings, we handled the business end of things first, or in this case, second.  We decided on a design to represent our chapter of the American Wine Society going forward, and chose a new e-mail address that reflects our name change.  The minutes were read and the treasurer gave her report.

Now down to the real business of tasting wine!  Tonight's presentation was on Spain, and in particular, Tempranillo.  All wines tasted were 100% tempranillo, and in the $8 - $15 range:

Egruen Tempranillo Vino de la Tierra de Castilla -  2007 $7.99

Ercavio La Mancha Tinto Roble - 2007 $11.99

Venta Mazzaron - around $15

Volver Tempranillo La Mancha - around $13

Paso A Paso Tempranillo La Mancha- 2008 $9.99

I liked all but the first one.  The Egruen seemed a little harsh compared to the rest.  The Ercavio was much smoother and well balanced (my favorite).  The Venta Mazzaron was much more fruit forward with an almost sweet taste.  It was still a dry wine, but the fruit gave it sweetness.  The last two were smooth, easy drinking, but less fruity.  They all paired well with the food.  As you'll see below, we had a lot of different type of food to pair with.

 Here are the wines being opened for tonight's tasting.

Lots of good munchies to go with our wine.

One of our newest members prepared a fruit and dessert platter.  Doesn't that look pretty?

Everyone pitches in to clean up.

Meetings are currently held at 7 p.m. on the 3rd Tuesday of each month at Sociale, on Knollwood Street in Winston-Salem.

Awesome Olives

I first had marinated olives at a party, and I thought they were so good, I just had to find a recipe.  After pouring over dozens of recipes on the internet, this is what I came up with.  They're always a hit.
 
Marinated Olives

1 sm. jar pimento-stuffed olives (5.75 oz.), drained

1 large clove garlic, minced

3 TB olive oil

1 TB red wine vinegar

1 tsp. (scant) dried oregano

1 tsp. (scant) dried thyme
1/3 cup diced feta (approximately)

Mix all ingredients together in a non-reactive bowl with tight fitting lid.  Refrigerate overnight or up to several days to allow flavors to blend, and watch 'em disappear.  

Note:  Bring to room temperature before serving.

St. Patrick's Day

Photo Credit: Puzzler 4879

St. Patrick's day is coming up this week, so let's talk a little about the "green" holiday, and why and how we celebrate.  St. Patrick's Day (March 17) is a Public holiday in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, and is widely celebrated in many other areas, but is not an official holiday.  St. Patrick's feast is on the liturgical calendar of the Catholic Church - it is a holy day of obligation for Roman Catholics, and  usually falls during Lent.  On the occasion that the 17th falls during the Holy Week, it is observed on another day.  The last time this happened was in 2008. 

Now for some history on St. Patrick, whose life we honor and celebrate on this day.  He was born in the 5th century in Roman Britain (the portion of Britain controlled by the Roman Empire).  His father was a deacon in the church as was his grandfather. St. Patrick was kidnapped at 16 and held in Ireland somewhere near the West Coast.  After a time he had a dream in which God told him to escape his captors and return to Britain.  There he joined the church and studied to become a priest.  In 432 he was called to return to Ireland as a bishop to save the Irish.  He died on March 18, 461 AD after 35 years of spreading God's word.  He is held in high esteem as the Champion of Irish Christianity.

Although blue was originally associated with St. Patrick, he used the 3-leafed plant known as a Shamrock  to explain the Holy Trinity to the pre-Christian Irish people.  The displaying and wearing of shamrock-inspired objects symbolized this, and green became the color associated with St. Patrick.  This is how the phrase "wearing of the green" came about.  As to the stories of St. Patrick driving the snakes out of Ireland, it is likely that is a metaphor for bringing Christianity to Ireland.

St. Patrick's Day, once only a religious holiday, became a public holiday in 1903.  Law required that all pubs be closed on March 17, (horrors!) and this was not repealed until the 1970s.  The first St. Patrick's Day parade in Ireland was held in Dublin in 1931.  Parades have been held in the U.S. since 1737, when the first one was held in Boston.  St. Patrick's Day remains a religious observation for the Church of Ireland and the Roman Catholic Church.  Traditionally, Irish families would attend church in the morning and celebrate in the afternoon.  The no-meat-during-lent restriction was waived, and people would dance, drink and feast on Irish bacon and cabbage, the traditional Irish fare.

For the rest of the world, Irish or not, it is a reason to celebrate with St. Paddy's Day parties.  Things tend to turn green everywhere.  Chicago has been dyeing its river since 1961.  Savannah dyes its city fountains green, and Indianapolis dyes its main canal green.  There are green beers, green-iced cakes and cookies, and you must always wear green or risk being pinched.  The pinching is actually an American tradition started in the early 1700s, and is not related to either St. Patrick or Ireland.  At the same time that St. Patrick's Day became widely celebrated, it was also thought that wearing green made one invisible to Leprechauns.  This was good because the Leprechauns would pinch everyone they could see.  Pinching, therefore, became a warning and reminder to watch out for Leprechauns.

So, how do you celebrate the "green" holiday?  

Quote of the Week

A blessing for you all in honor of St. Patrick's Day!

May your blessings outnumber
The shamrocks that grow,
And may trouble avoid you
Wherever you go.

- Irish Blessing

2nd Annual Farm Toy Show

Occasionally we treat ourselves to breakfast out on Saturday's, and this was one of those days.  It's usually the Bo, but today we went to a real sit-down restaurant instead and had pancakes.  Here's was we did afterward, which leads me to believe there was an ulterior motive involved in the restaurant selection.  It seems there was a farm tractor show being held nearby.  It was the 2nd Annual Farm Toy Show, and it was held at Windmill Acres Farm on Jasper Lane in Winston-Salem.  Trucks lined both sides of the road leading to the exhibition buildings.  The property is owned by Phil and Brenda Fishel, who collect antique tractors and farm toys.

In the field there were all kinds of tractors, new, old and older, and other kinds of farm equipment.  We had heavy rain last night, so we didn't walk through the field to look at them.

In the buildings there were displays of model tractors, tractor trailers and other memorabilia, much of which was for sale.

 

There was even a "Show Special".

They also had old lawn tractors, similar to one we use to this day.  

One tractor had a small tank labeled "gasoline for starting only". 
These actually run on kerosene.

 

And there were toy tractors?

And even an old wood stove.

It seems there was something for almost everyone.  Move over Fred Flintstone.  This is actually a pedal tractor.

And souvenir T-Shirts!

Five Things You Should Never Pay Full Price For

A penny saved is a penny earned.  

Never has that statement been more true.  With prices rising and sizes shrinking, we have to make the most of every dollar.  There are many products you buy regularly that you can get without paying full price.  Here are my top 5:

1. Paper/Plastic Products

2. Toiletries/Personal Care Items 

3. Sodas

4. Cleaning Products

5. Cereal

For this writing, we are not talking about generics or store brands, although these are often a better buy from a regular price standpoint. Today we are focusing on name brand products from the major area grocery stores.

Every week the competing grocery stores put out new sale ads, usually on Wednesdays. Nearly every Sunday there are one or more coupon inserts in the newspaper.  If you take a few minutes to look through the grocery sales, and match up coupons to the sale items you can often save 50% or more.

I have found the biggest money savers to be the buy one get one free sales.  In many stores you are not required to purchase two items, and each one will ring up individually.  At this point the item is already 50% off.  Add a coupon and your discount increases.  If your store will allow it, you can use two coupons on a BOGOF item.  If not, then just purchase them in two separate transactions to get the greatest savings.

Some stores go a step further and double or triple coupons up to a set amount.  They usually have a per-day limit of around 20 coupons.  Of the stores I write about, Harris Teeter and Lowes Foods double coupons every day, and Harris Teeter occasionally has triple coupon or super double coupon weeks.  Food Lion does not double coupons at any time.

Quite often items such as paper goods and cleaning products are BOGOF or maybe 2/$5.  For example, if the regular price for a bottle of kitchen cleaner is $3.29, a 2/$5 sale makes it $2.50 or 79¢ cheaper.  That same item on a BOGOF sale would be $1.64.  Use a $1 off coupon and you get it for just 64¢.  This is the effective way to use your coupons.  The $1 coupon used at the regular price would still make your item $2.29.  You see the difference.

This same concept applies to nearly everything, and coupons are readily available on most items.  One key to making the most of sales and coupons is your ability or willingness to switch brands depending on the deal available.  Brand loyalty goes right out the window here.

However, if you're like me and have favorite brands on certain products, cereal for example, then you clip the coupons and wait for the sale. Our faves are Frosted Mini Wheats (his) and Raisin Bran Extra (hers).  There are often coupons for these, sometimes as much as $1.50 off 2 boxes.  I've gotten Mini Wheats for as little as 50¢ a box.  In this instance, I combined a BOGOF sale with two coupons which were doubled.  I will tell you that great finds like that do not come along every week.  This is where your ability to stock up will take you further down the road of savings. 

If you drink soda, you know that coupons for them are rare.  The price of all brand-name soft drinks has been steadily increasing.  They are now around $6 per 12-pack in the grocery stores.  Most stores have one brand on sale each week, but we are seeing the good sales less often.  Common sale prices range from 3/$9, which is about half price, to 3/$12.  A good price is 4/$10 or $2.50 each, and anything less than $2.50 is a real deal.  So don't be fooled by the BOGOF sales on sodas, pay attention to the regular shelf price, and you'll know when you're getting a good deal.

A little disclaimer:  I like to use the term BOGOF instead of BOGO.  To me this emphasizes that one item is free as opposed to sales such as "Buy one get one for half off" which are also referred to as BOGO.

New Restaurants.com 80% Off Promotion

Restaurants.com has a new promotion going on now through March 16.  All gift certificates are 80% off.  Just use the promo code BITE when you check out, and your discount will be applied.  You can get $25 gift certificates for just $2.  What a deal!

I have used these several times now, and they're a great way to save!

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