Friday & Weekend Blog Hops

Here's a few blog hops I'm participating in today! Be sure to enter my giveaways! Tropical Traditions Barley giveaway ends 4/30!

Giveaway Links - 4/27

Please be sure to enter my two active giveaways! Then, share your giveaways and enter all the others linked below!

Rain Rain Go Away

Right now, I really need it to quit raining! It's rained heavily for several days. My back yard has been under water for a couple weeks now and it really needs mowed. I went into the crawl space under the house last night and ground water is starting to seep up through the ground and puddling down there. I also want to get more of my garden planted. The rain is good for the garden, but not if I can't get it planted!

On a bright note, the cherry tree is blossoming and the strawberry plants have blooms on them! The onions and garlic are looking pretty good too! The peas, lettuce, and parsnips haven't popped through yet. If it eventually dries up a little, I plan to get potatoes in. Then, once it has warmed up and we don't have to worry about frost, I'll plant my beans, pumpkins, cantaloupe, and cucumbers. I'll also go buy tomato and pepper plants. I've never had any luck starting seeds inside for some reason, so I get some plants from the garden center.

Are you experiencing too much rain where you are? Do you plant a garden?

What music are you listening to today?

My iPod is on shuffle. Any time you enter my office, you could hear just about any kind of music. I have Southern Gospel, Christian, Pop, Country, Rap, and many others. You might hear everything from The Cathedrals to DC Talk to Lady Gaga to Shania Twain if you stop in my office! My wife thinks it's crazy the way I shuffle such a broad range of genres all together.

Ask me anything

Cracker Barrel Cheese Winner

Happy Easter everyone! SAPsMaMa is going to be just a bit happier since she is the winner of my Cracker Barrel Cheese giveaway!




There were 240 entries into the giveaway. The above is entry 206 even though it says 6. The numbers start over after 200 entries.

I'll be emailing you soon. Please respond as soon as possible so that I can get your information turned in for the prize!

Surfin' Saturdays - 4/23

I just noticed the Surfin' Saturdays blog hop in my feed reader tonight and thought I'd join in and see who might visit. Please leave a comment if you are coming from one of the hosts of the Surfin' Saturdays blog hop! Be sure to follow with GFC if you are participating in this week's hop as well!

Gourmet Gift Baskets Care Package Review & Giveaway

Do you know a college student that could use a pick-me-up? Or, do you have a brother or sister that lives far from you and may need some encouragement? Maybe, you know a teen that will be away at summer camp soon. Gourmet Gift Baskets has care packages available for just about anyone you know! Check them out!

Gourmet Gift Baskets sent me their Junk Food Care Package to try! I'm excited to report that this care package is filled with many of my favorite junk food items! When I opened the box, I just kept pulling out more and more treats that I will enjoy for a few weeks to come! Check out the picture below of this care package!



You can visit the Junk Food Care Package page to get a full listing of the items included! I think that just about anyone can enjoy this box full of goodies! It has everything from candy bars to chips to Yoo-Hoo! Yes, Yoo-Hoo brings back many memories of visiting Grandma's house when I was younger...much younger!

Giveaway

Good News! This one is open to U.S. AND Canada!

Do you know someone that would enjoy this Junk Food Care Package? Gourmet Gift Baskets is offering one of my readers the chance to try the same care package I received ($35 value)!

***Please be sure to leave your email address so I can contact you! Leave a seperate comment for each entry!

Main Entry
Must be completed for extra entries to count.

• Like Gourmet Gift Baskets on Facebook (1 entry)

Extra Entries

• Leave a comment on Gourmet Backets' Facebook wall telling them which care package you would like to try! (1 entry)


• Follow Gourmet Gift Baskets on Twitter. (1 entry)


• Follow me on Facebook. (1 entry)


• Follow me (@matt0701) on Twitter. (1 entry)


• Tweet the giveaway (Leave the direct link to your tweet). (1 entry per day)


• Follow me with Google Friend Connect. (1 entry)


• Subscribe to my blog by email. (1 entry)


• Subscribe to my blog by RSS feeds. (1 entry)


• Add my button to your blog and leave me the link. (1 entry)


• Blog about this giveaway, linking back to this post and to Gourmet Gift Baskets. (5 entries. Please leave one comment per entry.)


• Enter my Tropical Traditions Barley giveaway. (1 entry)

Contest ends May 7, 2011. I will choose a winner using random.org sometime on May 8, 2011 and contact the winner by email. You will have two days to respond by email with your contact information.

Disclaimer: Gourmet Gift Baskets procided me with the above product for my honest review. All opinions are my own!

Weekend Gathering Hops - 4/23

Welcome to all those participating in the Weekend Gathering Hops hosted by Beauty Brite, Fire Butterfly Jewels, A Mom's Menu Planning, Gifts by Tracia and Gifts by Tracia (wordpress)!

If you are new here, please leave me a comment! Also check out the giveaways I have going on right now!

Seneca Farms Oatmeal Review and Coupon

Seneca Farms recently sent me a sample of their NEW Oatmeal and Fruit! I'm a hit or miss kind of person when it comes to liking oatmeal. Sometimes, I'm really in the mood for a good bowl of oatmeal and sometimes I don't want anything to do with it. When I got the Seneca Farms Oatmeal and Fruit, my first thought was that it looked kind of disgusting in the container. This product comes in a container similar to the microwaveable lunch items I've used in the past. The oatmeal is already cooked inside and only needs microwaved 45 seconds.

I was pleasantly surprised! The first one I tried was the Seneca Farms Oatmeal and Fruit Apple Cinnamon. This actually reminded me of eating some type of apple pie or cobbler! It has big pieces of apple in it and is pretty sweet. My son tried it when my wife made one for her and ended up eating the whole bowl by himself! The Seneca Farms Oatmeal and Fruit Vanilla Peach is pretty tasty too! Seneca Farms Oatmeal & Fruit has no trans fats or cholesterol, and is a great source of Vitamin C.

A few facts about eating breakfast:

• 57% of single adults say the number one reason they skip breakfast is that they don’t have enough time to prepare it.


• 58% of U.S. Moms say they skip breakfast regularly. 46% of Moms who skip breakfast say they do so because they do not have enough time to prepare or eat it.


• While 71% of U.S. adults agree that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, 67% of those admit to skipping breakfast.


• *Results of 2011 Children's Nutrition Survey, conducted by Harris Interactive for Seneca Farms

You can find Seneca Farms Oatmeal and Fruit at Walmart and many other grocery stores. Check out Seneca Farms web site for a full listing of stores. Also, you can get a coupon on Seneca Farms Facebook page!

Disclaimer: I received a sample of Seneca Farms Oatmeal and Fruit in exchange for my honest review of the product.

Weekly Giveaway Links - 4/20

Please be sure to enter my Cracker Barrel and Tropical Traditions giveaways if you haven't already! Then, share your giveaways below so I can make sure I don't miss any...and so everyone else can find your great giveaways!

I'm especially interested in Low-Entry giveaways, so please note if it's a low entry (less than 150 entries) giveaway!

Weekend Gathering Hop

Welcome to our Weekend Gathering Hops! This hop is hosted by Beauty Brite, Fire Butterfly Jewels, and A Mom's Menu Planning to help socialize with fellow bloggers, gain traffic, new followers, make new friends, and more!

Happy Saturday! The weekend is here! Currently, I'm sitting here drinking tea from Teavana. I made my own blend of Raspberry Riot Lemon Mate, Samurai Chai Mate, and Rooibos Sweet Amore teas. I'm getting ready to go watch my 5 year old son play soccer in the rain. Nothing much to be excited about there, but at least it's the weekend and I can spend time with my family!

Be sure to enter my two active giveaways if you haven't already! Have a great weekend everyone!

hey, I love your blog. Did you do the graphic design yourself?

All of the graphic design on my blog was done by Thais at house09 (http://house09.com/#/blog-design/4542470056). She did a great job and has been great when I've had problems with the template or minor changes needed.

Ask me anything

Blog Design/Template

Someone asked me on Formspring if I had done the graphics on my blog. For some reason, my answer did not post properly, so here it is.

I could never take credit for this great blog layout! I had Thais at house09 do this layout for me about 2 years ago (time?). I've enjoyed working with her! I've had a couple times that things broke in the layout and she was very quick to resolve the problem. I'd highly recommend her if you are looking for a blog re-design!

Besides Formspring, what websites do you check the most often?

I'm on Facebook all the time! After that, it's Hotmail, Gmail, and Google Reader.

Ask me anything

O'Reilly Auto Parts 4-Wheel Jamboree Nationals - Lima, Ohio

The company that I worked with for the Monster Truck Nationals in Columbus, Ohio is also putting on the O'Reilly Auto Parts Spring 4-Wheel Jamboree Nationals in Lima, Ohio! I wanted to share some information about this event! I've wanted to attend this for years and have never had the opportunity to attend.



26th Annual O'Reilly Auto Parts Spring 4-Wheel Jamboree Nationals®

The Allen County Fairgrounds will crawl with more than 2,000 4-wheel drive vehicles from the U.S. and Canada for a powerhouse off-road weekend.

• General Tire Monster Truck Thunder Drags® & axle wrenching Freestyle Competition


• SARGEANT SMASH Monster Truck rides


• Mickey Thompson Tires Tough Trucks® Challenge


• Mickey Thompson Tires Burnout Competition!


• NMRO® Championship Mud Drag Racing


• Pro-judged Show-N-Shine competition with over 100 awards


• CASH PRIZE Miss 4-Wheel Jamboree Nationals contest


• Shopping at the Performance Marketplace for the latest in aftermarket products


• Family Fun Zone


• Got Torque? The Magnaflow DYNO measures a truck’s torque & horsepower


• MUD BOGS

Just like the Monster Truck Nationals in Columbus, the Lima event brings in many monster trucks for your enjoyment:

• E3 Spark Plugs Bigfoot


• Lucas Oil Stabilizer


• Ironman


• Avenger


• The General


• Pureflow Diesel RX Airdog


• Crushstation


• Raminator


• Rammunition


• Heavy Hitter
• 
  
• Star Marshal (NEW TRUCK)


• Chalkboard Chuck (NEW TRUCK)

This is a three day event!

Friday, May 20, 2011 10:00am-6:00pm
Saturday, May 21, 2011 9:00am-7:30pm
Sunday, May 22, 2011 9:00am-3:30pm

Location:

Allen County Fairgrounds—Lima, OH
2750 Harding Highway, Lima, OH 45804

Ticket Information:

Advance discount tickets are available at O’Reilly Auto Parts, Chief’s and Ray’s
Supermarkets, participating McDonald’s and www.4WheelJamboree.com 30 days prior to
the event.

Advance Purchased Tickets:

Adult $16
Child $10 (ages 3-12)



Own your own 4-Wheel Drive Vehicle?

All makes and models of 4-Wheel drive trucks, Jeeps and sport utility vehicles are invited to attend. Registration includes weekend admission for the vehicle, driver, one passenger and any children 15 and under riding in your vehicle. Pre-registration is $65 per vehicle plus $3.50 handling fee, thru Friday, May 13th Register at the fairgrounds for $85 beginning on Thursday, May 19 at noon.

Much more information can be found at FamilyEvents.com! You can also purchase tickets there!

**Photos provided by FamilyEvents.com.

Wednesday Giveaway Links - 4/13

Please be sure to enter my current giveaways and then share yours below!

Whole Grain Hulled Barley Review/Giveaway

Tropical Traditions sent me a 5 pound bag of their Organic Whole Grain Hulled Barley to try out for a review and giveaway! I've never cooked with barley, but I knew what I wanted to try with it. I wanted a good Beef, Barley, and vegetable soup. It turned out amazing! Barley is a great way to add extra fiber to my family's diets!



So, I went to the store last night and bought all the ingredients for the soup.

• 1 pound Stew Beef


• 2 small cans of mixed vegetables (No Salt Added)


• 1 large can of tomato juice


• 1 small can of Diced Tomatoes with Basil, Oregano, Garlic

I put 1 cup of barley in a bowl with 2 cups of water and let it soak for about 20 hours. While I was at work, my wife browned the stew beef. Then she added all the ingredients to the crock pot to cook on high for about 3 hours.



Giveaway

If that looks good, or if you would like to experiment with Organic Whole Grain Hulled Barley, Tropical Traditions is also offering one of my readers a 5 pound bag just like the one I received!

Please be sure to leave me an email address so I can contact you if you win!

Main Entry (Main Entry MUST be completed before extra entries!)

• Tell me how you currently use barley or how you'd like to try using the barley! (1 entry)

Extra Entries

• Sign up for the Tropical Traditions newsletter. (1 entry)


• Visit Tropical Traditions and tell me another product you'd like to try. (1 entry)


• Follow Tropical Traditions on Facebook. (1 entry)


• Follow Tropical Traditions on twitter. (1 entry)


• Follow me on Facebook (1 entry)


• Follow me (@matt0701) on twitter. (1 entry)


• Tweet the giveaway (Leave the direct link to your tweet). (1 entry per day)


• Follow me with Google Friend Connect. (1 entry)


• Subscribe to my blog by email. (1 entry)


• Subscribe to my blog by RSS feeds. (1 entry)


• Add my button to your blog and leave me the link. (1 entry)


• Blog about this giveaway, linking back to this post and to Tropical Traditions. (5 entries. Please leave one comment per entry.)


• Enter my Cracker Barrel Cheese giveaway. (1 entry)

Note: Giveaway open to U.S. residents only.

Contest ends April 30, 2011. I will choose a winner using random.org sometime on May 1, 2011 and contact the winner by email. You will have three days to respond by email with your contact information.

Dislaimer: Tropical Traditions provided me the product described here in exchange for this review. All opinions are my own.

Cracker Barrel Cheese Review & Giveaway

Cracker Barrel sent me a sample of their Extra Sharp Cheddar cheese and a cheese cutting kit (cutting board and 4 knives) to review on my blog. My family loves cheese and consider it a serious privilege to get to try this 2011 U.S. Championship Cheese!



Initially, when I saw that this was Extra Sharp Cheddar, I didn't think I would like it. I usually don't like any kind of sharp cheese. My wife, on the other hand, loves sharp cheeses. I opened the cheese and sliced me off a small piece and tried it on a pita chip. I'll admit I was pleasantly surprised at the taste of Cracker Barrel Extra Sharp Cheddar cheese. I could eat the whole 10 oz. brick of cheese in one sitting!

Award-winning Cracker Barrel Extra Sharp Cheddar and all Cracker Barrel cheeses are available in the Dairy Section of leading grocery retailers in the following delicious varieties:

• Cracker Barrel Aged Reserve Cheddar


• Cracker Barrel Extra Sharp Cheddar


• Cracker Barrel Medium Cheddar


• Cracker Barrel Vermont White Sharp Cheddar


• Cracker Barrel Sharp Cheddar


• Cracker Barrel Marbled Sharp Cheddar


• Cracker Barrel Monterey Jack


• Cracker Barrel Baby Swiss

Here's a tip from the Cracker Barrel Go-To Entertaining Guide that was sent to me! I really like this tip!

Pub Night: Not a wine drinker? Host a gathering for the big game and wash down a serving of Cracker Barrel Medium Cheddar Cheese "Fries" served with Dijon mustard and pretzel sticks with a stout or lager beer. The cheddar flavor and salty pretzels will satisfy even the pickiest taste buds.

You can find many more ways to use Cracker Barrel cheese on Kraft's web site.

Would you like an opportunity to try the cheese I got to try? Cracker Barrel is offering one of my readers the same mailer I received, which includes the cheese, cutting board, and knives!

Please be sure to leave me an email address so I can contact you if you win!

Main Entry (Main Entry MUST be completed before extra entries!)

• Visit the Kraft Cracker Barrel Site and tell me which of the cheese varieties you'd most like to try! (1 entry)

Extra Entries

• Follow me on Facebook (1 entry)


• Follow me (@matt0701) on twitter. (1 entry)


• Tweet the giveaway (Leave the direct link to your tweet). (1 entry per day)


• Follow me with Google Friend Connect. (1 entry)


• Subscribe to my blog by email. (1 entry)


• Subscribe to my blog by RSS feeds. (1 entry)


• Add my button to your blog and leave me the link. (1 entry)


• Blog about this giveaway, linking back to this post and to Tropical Traditions. (5 entries. Please leave one comment per entry.)


• Enter my Tropical Traditions Barley giveaway. (1 entry)

Note: Giveaway open to U.S. residents only.

Contest ends April 23, 2011. I will choose a winner using random.org sometime on April 24, 2011 and contact the winner by email. You will have two days to respond by email with your contact information.

Disclaimer: This post was written for Family Review Network & Kraft who provided the complimentary product for review & giveaway in exchange for my honest opinions.

Review - Monster Truck Nationals

Last night was the Monster Truck Nationals event in Columbus, Ohio! My son has been looking forward to this since I told him we'd be going! We arrived at the event about an hour early and were able to walk right down on the arena floor and see the monster trucks up close! The trucks looked huge next to my 5 year old son!



One truck was called Chalk Board Chuck. The kids were able to write all over this truck with chalk before the event started! My son's favorite truck was Samson. He had to do his strong man imitation next to it before we headed back to our seats.



We loved the monster trucks in action! I loved the destruction and the roar of the engines! The stunts the drivers are able to do with these trucks is unbelievable. There were times that I thought they would flip the trucks all the way over, but they were able to control them. I only wish the arena had been larger so that the trucks had more room to demonstrate their abilities.



There was one thing about the event I wasn't impressed with. The clown that rode around in a miniature monster truck made some jokes that I didn't consider appropriate for children. My son is 5 years old and didn't pick up on the jokes, but if he were a few years older, I'm sure I would have been fielding questions I wasn't prepared to answer at a monster truck show.

Overall, we had a great time! I'm very grateful for the promotional tickets and would definitely attend again if I get the opportunity in the future. It was great to spend time with my family and to do something we all enjoyed!



One other perk was that we got to meet Tracy from Hall of Fame Moms! Tracy and her family had traveled quite a way to attend the event and it was great to meet them!

Disclaimer: I received promotional tickets to attend this event in exchange for a pre- and post- engagement post on my blog.

If you had to perform at the circus, what trick would you do?

I'd love to shoot out of the cannon!

Ask me anything

Jet Lag

Wow, the jet lag from my trip overseas is really bad. I'm still struggling to feel "caught up" on sleep. I just feel so tired! We had just about 30 hours of travel time, including layovers in the airports, one 11 hours and one 7 hours. The airport in Dakar, Senegal was infested with mosquitos, so I felt kind of like a pin cushion before we got out of there.

It's been great to be home with my wife and son! I even missed many of my co-workers and was kind of glad to come back to work. What did I miss most while I was gone? I missed my family, big juicy hamburgers, and beer. See, it was generally over 100 degrees farenheit in Mali. I love to have one beer in the evenings on hot days like that. I'm a huge beef fan and missed hamburgers. After almost 3 weeks traveling, I missed my family the most.

So, as I'm fitting back into my "normal" life, I've got a lot to catch up on! I have four reviews to write, and a couple of those include giveaways. I'll be writing reviews for Cracker Barrel Cheese (including a giveaway), Tropical Traditions Whole Grain Hulled Barley (including a giveaway), Seneca Farms Oatmeal & Fruit (coupon offered), and the Monster Truck Nationals in Columbus, Ohio.

Hopefully, my jet lag will wear off soon and I'll get to these reviews and other projects I have soon! A lady at work gave me onion starts for my garden, so I need to get those planted as soon as possible. I need to start planning my gardens too! Hope you are all doing well!

Wednesday Giveaway Links - 4/6

I've been out of the country for almost 3 weeks. I'm back after a great trip and a rough time getting home.

Please share the great giveaways going on right now so that I can start entering giveaways again!

What's your favorite kind of snack to eat?

One of my favorite snacks to eat is potato chips! Just about any flavor of potato chips! I also love candy, but potato chips are one thing I always go to.

Ask me anything