It never hurts to ask

I bought a new rug for the living room several weeks ago. I'll have pictures of it in the room shortly. I have it  rolled up and put it away as my dog was sick and I didn't want to take a chance on the new black and white rug getting gross stuff on it. Even though its polypropylene and should be easy to wash off, I was a little freaked out.

Anyway I received an email to review the rug and happily did so. I then clicked over to the website page to see what the review looked like on line. There I noticed that the rug was now 60% off (I purchased it when it was 30% off). I contacted the online customer service representative and asked about their price match guarantee and if that applies to their own site. After a few minutes of research the customer service representative refunded me $45 or the difference between 30% and 60% off! The rug now cost $89 with free shipping and no sales tax for a 8x10 rug! What a bargain!!

It's still on sale now if you want to get one for yourself at Rugs USA here.  I highly recommend it.

A new blog is born

Ahhh. A new blog. Again. This is the 4th or 5th blog I've started since January 2010. That isn't a long time in our years but its like 7 blogosphere years! I just haven't been able to find the right combination of idea/name/concept to keep me happy for more than a couple of months. Each one was a niche blog that was fun for awhile but my attention wandered and I became bored. They felt limiting in that I didn't think I could easily introduce a different topic into the conversation. So I stopped blogging for the last 5 months or so and I've missed it. And so Easily Distracted By Shiny Things (EDBST) has been born.

For years I've joked with friends that I'm easily distracted by shiny (or pretty, interesting, odd, new) things. I seem to have a bit of a knack for seeking them out and being fascinated by things others miss or just don't care about. Things like finding out what sound a zebra makes (kind of a chimpanzee chirping sound). I would have thought a horse or donkey sound, but no! Not that I'm going to blog about what sound different animals make all the time but it is something I would probably mention. Just because I think it's interesting. I plan to blog about my home and decorating because I love them. I also do crafts every now and then and try new recipes and talk about things like new music I found or what sound a zebra makes. Pretty much whatever catches my attention in the moment. Will you find it interesting? I don't know. I find myself kind of interesting (ha ha) so maybe you will too. If not it's all OK. I am primarily writing for myself and my entertainment. If you find it enjoyable BONUS! If not I'll still keep writing.

And lastly the final reason for a new blog. I excitedly told my family about my last 2 blogs. They signed up for updates. Then I started worrying about what they think. When I first started blogging I actually had one family member call me and tell me something didn't happen the way I wrote about it. I was embarrassed at the time but in hind sight I should have been kinda mad. I'm writing about what I see and think and feel. And if that isn't what you see and think and feel and it upsets you, you are kindly invited to read something other than my blog. I also don't want them thinking things like, "Why is she spending so much time rearranging her china cabinet. That's so stupid. She has XX to do which is so much more important." or "Why is she spending money on a new rug instead of saving for a rainy day.' And believe me my family would actually ask these questions. So to save myself the anxiety of waiting for that phone call I'm just not going to tell them about the blog. It'll be our little secret.

Welcome to the blogging world EDBST!

In the Kitchen - Sweet Potato Apple Salad

This healthy salad is from the South Beach Diet Cookbook, page 135. It's yummy! It definitely needs to be served cold and could stand for a little chiffonade of mint.

1.5 lb sweet potatoes, scrubbed
1 large apple, peeled, cored and cubed
1 large rib celery chopped
1 tablespoon orange juice
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar substitute
Pinch of salt

Place the sweet potatoes in a large saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil over medium heat and cook for 30 minutes, or until tender. Drain and cool. Peel and cut into cubes.

In a large bowl, combine the sweet potatoes, apple and celery

In a small bowl whisk together the orange juice, oil, vinegar, sugar substitute and salt.

Pour the mixture over the potato mixture and toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Makes 4 Servings
280 calories, 4 g fat, 3 g protein, 51 g carbohydrate, 7 g fiber, 0 cholesterol, 35 mg sodium.

 I thought the orange juice, oil and vinegar mixture was too oily so I increased the orange juice by 1 tablespoon and the vinegar by one teaspoon. I don't use artificial sweetener and used regular granulated sugar.

Jonathan Adler Toliet Paper Roll Cover

Have you seen these Jonathan Adler designed Cottonelle toilet paper holders?

I thought they were totally adorable so I ordered one of each from Cottonelle.  Go here to order. They are $3.99 each including shipping and handling, although there are specially marked packages of TP have have a coupon code and you only pay the $1.99 shipping and handling fee. They are made out of a heavy plastic and have a raised Cottonelle logo on the top (which isn't very noticeable since its the same color as the lid).

Now I think having to have a roll of toilet paper out and in a covered box is kind of silly. I won't use them for that. However, these are really pretty little boxes. How perfect are they for office supplies or trinkets? I'm using one in my bathroom for my hair barrettes and bobby pins.

 Look how pretty they were when they arrived. The box has the colored designs on 3 sides. I cut them out because you never know when something like that will come in handy. You could frame the cardboard pieces and use them as art!

All in all a nice pop of color and fab design for a little price. I'm very happy.

In the Kitchen - Ginger Chicken Soup

I've been feeling under the weather for the last 10 days or so. I start to feel better then the coughing and overwhelming tiredness starts again. Darn you flu! I decided to make some soup because homemade soup always tastes great when you are sick. When I make chicken noodle soup I don't use a recipe and just wing it. But today I wanted to try a soup out of the January issue of Bon Appetit - Cleansing Ginger Chicken Soup on page 44. Check out my review below the recipe.

Funny thing, I had to go to 3 grocery stores to find ginger. The first two were out of stock. A change I made to the recipe is that I used only about 4 quarts of water instead of the 6 required because my pot isn't big enough for all the ingredients and 6 quarts of water. Add bigger pot to the shopping list!

Cleansing Ginger-Chicken Soup
8 servings.

1 onion sliced
2 celery stalks chopped
8 oz unpeeled scrubbed ginger cut into 1/2" slices
2 garlic cloves crushed
10 whole black peppercorns
1 3lb. whole organic chicken cut into 7 pieces (2 breasts, 2 legs with thighs, 2 wings, 1 back)
Kosher salt
Cilantro Leaves (optional)

Combine first 5 ingredients in heavy pot. Add chicken, placing breasts on top. Add 6 quarts of water, bring to a boil over medium heat. Cover with lid slightly ajar. Reduce heat to low, simmer until chicken breasts are just cooked 30 minutes. Transfer chicken breasts to plate let cool then cover and chill. Continue to simmer soup uncovered until broth is fully flavored about 2.5 hours longer.

Remove chicken from broth. Separate skin from bones. Coarsely shred meat. Place a fine mesh sieve over another large pot and strain broth discarding solids in strainer. You should have about 8 cups of broth. Season with salt. Rewarm soup. Dividing chicken among bowls. Pour hot broth over chicken dividing equally. Garnish soup with cilantro leaves if desired.

So I spent a good portion of a day on this soup. Granted most was just watching it simmer away on the stove. But still. It's not a 30 minute meal and eat. The house smelled marvelous while it cooked! Once it was done I let it cool and then put it into the refrigerator. The next day I skimmed off the chicken fat and had a bowl. How disappointing! I made a big pot of vaguely chicken flavored water.  I didn't taste the ginger at all. Even the chicken flavor was subtle. I guess I wasn't expecting such a light flavored broth although it's called a cleansing soup so maybe I should have. I had a bowl and got rid of the rest. If I had room in my freezer I would have frozen it to use as stock for the next time I make chicken soup. I'm looking for something more substantial when I eat. I did make a nice chicken salad out of the rest of the meat so all was not lost. I followed the recipe exactly except that I used less water - which should have resulted in a more flavorful soup. I would not recommend this recipe. FAIL!

Big Mama Thornton Hound Dog

I like blues/R&B but mostly the older stuff. I'm not sure how I've never heard of Big Mama Thornton before. I just ran across her and had to go to YouTube to listen to more of her stuff. She recorded Hound Dog in 1952 and it hit #1 on the charts. Elvis recorded it in 1956 and it went to #3 on the charts. Her version is great! I like it better than Elvis's. The video is fun, watching her rock out. Give it a listen and let me know what you think.

Z Gallerie - The Look For Less

I was browsing the new arrivals on Z Gallerie's website and saw a couple of familiar things. Check these out.

Z Gallerie Natural History Birds for  $59.95 framed is the exact same as Paper Source Cavallini Natural History Birds Wrapping Paper for $3.95. Add in a frame from Michaels using your 40% off coupon for around $9 and you save $47! $14 (plus shipping of course - although I'm within walking distance of the Paper Source Evanston IL store) is a great price for a framed 20"x28" print.

 Z Gallerie Butterflies $59.95. Paper Source Cavallini Butterflies Wrapping Paper $3.95

Z Gallerie Skeltal System $59.95  Paper Source Cavallini Skeleton Wrapping Paper $3.95