BzzAgent Private Selection Frozen Foods Campaign

Through my involvement with BzzAgent, I've been able to try out several products recently. Anyone can join BzzAgent and also have the opportunity to get products for free to try and "bzz" about. The expectation is that in exchange for your free swag, you'll tell your friends and family all about the product you're trying, whether it's in person, on the phone, in an email, on your blog, or via social media such as Facebook and Twitter. You can also write reviews on the BzzAgent website. The more active you are, the more you'll be rewarded with new campaigns.

One of the campaigns I'm working on right now for BzzAgent is for Private Selection Frozen Foods, which are sold at Kroger and other supermarkets in the Kroger Family of Stores. These are marketed as higher end foods made with premium ingredients. I was able to try one pizza, one appetizer, and one dessert of my choosing.

I had noticed some Private Selection foods in the frozen department of my local Kroger before I started this campaign, but the only thing I had tried was ice cream, which was divine. I knew they sold Private Selection pizzas, but I didn't realize there were also desserts and appetizers. All of the Private Selection frozen foods are packaged nicely and look really appetizing. The prices are on the steep side, to go along with the fancy packaging.

For my pizza selection, I chose the Margherita Napolitana. As you can see, it looks really good. And it didn't disappoint. The flavors are rich. The tomatoes were sweet and juicy, although I think there were far too many of them on our pizza. Those little white balls mozzarella pearls. This pizza cooked quickly and needs to be watched closely because the crust is thin and could easily become burnt. I suggest setting your timer for about five minutes less than the recommended baking time on the box. The crust is nice and crisp and the sauce wasn't overdone. I should mention that it's pretty garlicy. I didn't really mind it, but Chris thought it was too much. I also have to mention that all of the Private Selection pizzas available at my Kroger were loaded with garlic and/or onions. I'm not sure if they make any that aren't, but they should. Not everyone can tolerate that stuff, especially Chris. I can't stomach excess amounts either. The price of the pizza was a little high, but not too out of line with other good frozen pizzas. There's a good chance I would buy this pizza again if it was on sale and/or I had a coupon.

The appetizer I chose to try was the Southwest Style Chicken Trumpets. I forgot to take a picture and I couldn't find one, but these are little wraps rolled into the shape of trumpets and stuffed with chicken, cheese, and you guessed it, onions. I couldn't find a Private Selection appetizer that wasn't loaded with onions and garlic either. I'm really not a big fan of onions, but these looked good so I decided to give them a try. The crunchy outer shell was pretty tasteless, and the filling was rather bland as well. I didn't find the onions offensive. Chris agreed, and I don't think I would buy these again. I would consider trying a different Private Selection frozen appetizer if it was on sale and /or I had a coupon, as these were pretty expensive too.

For dessert, I chose the Private Selection Chocolate Lava Cakes. Again, I don't have a picture, but these are little round chocolate cakes with molten chocolate in the center. Each package contains four single serving cakes. When I got the cakes home and took one out to make for myself, I was disappointed to see only microwave directions. I was afraid of preparing it in the oven and ruining it, so I trudged down to the basement  to use the microwave. I very rarely use the microwave, so I wish there were directions on the box for oven preparation. I topped my lava cake with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, and it was a scrumptious combination. These little cakes are quite rich and dense though, so one box could easily serve eight. I couldn't finish mine and ended up sharing it with Lucy and Mathilda. This dessert was surprisingly good for a microwave cake. My kids all liked them too. I might buy them again if they were on sale and/or I had a coupon, or if one of my kids requested them for a special occasion.

Have you ever tried Private Selection frozen foods? Do you have any favorites?

Ditching School

Have you ever received one of those letter from your child's school, the ones that look something like this?

     Dear Mrs. George,

     Your child, ________________, has missed ___ days of school this year. If she misses one more day, we'll see you in court. BOOYA!

     Sincerely,
     The Administration

For the three years Bethany and Connor went to their old school, I got these letters regularly. The purpose seems to be to put enough fear in parents that they send their kids to school at any cost. At the same time they make sure to let you know that your child had better be fever free for 24 hours before you even think about sending him back to school. So which is it, they want sick kids at school, or they don't? The funny thing is that I'm pretty sure one of the main reasons my kids were sick so often was because all of the other parents were also fearful of getting one of these letters, so the end result was a whole lot of sick kids in school on a daily basis.

The implication of the letter also seems to be: We know you're using said child in either A) An underground child labor ring, or B) As an underage top secret liason in your drug selling endeavors during school hours. Or else that you, as the parent, are too drunk, stoned or otherwise irresponsible every morning to care whether your child goes to school. Basically I felt like a really horrible mother and got a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach every time I opened one of those letters.


This is the third year at the new school, and I haven't received one of these letters yet. I'm not sure if that's because my kids haven't missed as much school or just because this school district has a different way of doing things. Like not threatening parents with truancy trials because their kids stay home when they're sick. 

But I'm so afraid to get a letter that my kids have to be pretty darn sick to miss school. Like puking, or with a raging fever. A cough and runny nose are not getting you a free pass, guys. In fact, my kids have had coughs on and off for weeks. Sore throats, tummy aches, headaches, you're going to school. Every day I'm stymied: is the teacher hating me because my kid is coughing in class? On the other hand, they might have coughs until May, and there's not a whole lot I can do about that. I'm telling my kids to drink more water, have a cough drop, and rest after school. Because what if I keep my kid home just because of the sniffles or whatever, and then a couple months down the road, she comes down with something more serious that really requires a few days off of school? It's a daily dilemma around here this time of year. 


It used to be that I believed it was my right and privilege as a parent to keep my kids home as I saw fit. Now I'm afraid to keep my kids home because I want to avoid court thankyouverymuch. I had to go to court one time. There was a warrant out for my arrest because of a snow emergency parking ticket. (You can stop laughing now.) I found out about the warrant when I went into the court building to pay the parking ticket, so no I was NOT arrested. The experience of being under a judge's scrutiny is not one I'd like to re-live anytime soon, or ever. I've heard horror stories of truancy officers following kids to school everyday, and parents losing their kids because of just one more tardy or absence. If I weren't afraid of those stupid letters and the threat of court along with them, my kids would definitely be ditching school a lot more often.

Joy

Several months ago, I wrote about an incredible book I read that really changed my way of thinking, The Joy of Appreciative Living by Jacqueline Kelm. I read this book in the summer of 2010. Its basic premise is 3 step:

1. Each day, write down three things you're grateful for. Really think about these things and feel the gratitude.
2. Answer this question every day (and write down the answer): What can I do today to increase my joy? The answer can be anything, it doesn't have to be anything major.
3. Once a week, spend about 20 minutes visualizing. Spend the time writing down a detailed description of your ideal, joy-filled life.

I was basically wowed by how much my attitude changed and how much more joyful my life was after doing these exercises for a month. I strongly recommend you check out this book and follow the exercises. If you sincerely put in the effort, I truly believe you will have similar results.

However...I started that whole process during the summer, which is my happy time to begin with. Even so, I must say that even after I quit doing the exercises and summer turned into fall, the positive results stuck around for quite sometime. But it's been awhile. And now it's getting close to another long, cold, dark and depressing winter. I'm thinking I need to re-read this book and start over. It's been rainy and cold in Michigan, and basically miserable. I'm hearing rumors of snow in the very near future. By 5:00 it's getting dark. I can barely stand it. Being joyful is not quite so easy for me these days, and I need to refresh. This is on my to-do list. Some other things I need to think about are exercising more, because I always feel better when I work out regularly, seeing my friends more often (something else that's fallen to the wayside lately), and getting more sleep.

I recently received a really cool product call the Philips Wake-up Light to try out and review. I'll be writing about that more in depth in the coming weeks, but basically it's a light that you can program to wake you up in the morning, as if you're waking up to sunlight. If you're interested in checking it out for yourself, head on over to Amazon and have a look. If you want to purchase Light Therapy Models HF3471 or HF3321, you can use coupon code C9H9NPER to get $10 off. Maybe this product will help me wake up happier and less groggy in the  morning. I'll be setting up and putting it to the test soon, and I'll do a full review after I've had a chance to try it.

What do you do to keep the winter nastiness from affecting your mood?

A New Year is Coming

Most everyone is busily planning their Christmas festivities by now. We've started shopping but still haven't ironed out our plans quite just yet. But beyond Christmas, we're starting to think about our New Year's Eve plans.

New Year's Eve is typically pretty dull. We rarely have a babysitter and I, personally, can hardly stay awake until midnight. I've never been the biggest fan of New year's Eve, maybe because I've never done anything particularly fun. This year Chris's brother, who lives out of state, will be having his holiday visit over New Year's, and we're definitely planning on spending the last night of the year celebrating with him. The kids will be included too, because that is just how it goes for us, so I'm not sure exactly what to do to make it a memorable and enjoyable night for them and for us.

Good food will be involved, that's for sure. Maybe we'll play some games together too. We will let the kids stay up until midnight, if they can make it, and we'll toast the New Year with some sparkling cider. Perhaps we'll buy some noisemakers and let the kids really go to town. Other than these meager plans, I'm not sure what we'll do. I'm pretty sure we'll be staying in. 

What do families do on New Year's Eve? If you have something fun planned, I'd love to hear all about it so I can steal your ideas!

Confession Time: I Suck at Nighttime Parenting

 
It might shame Dr. Sears to know that nighttime parenting is not my forte. I talk all the time about how much I love having my kids home with me, and I'm so sad when school starts back up after a break, but make no mistake about it: I also cherish bedtime. When those kids go to bed I can rest a little easier and do things that are more difficult to do when they're awake, such as write on my blog, watch movies or television shows that aren't appropriate for them, read, and talk to my husband for more than 3.2 seconds without getting interrupted from multiple directions at once.

I don't spend my days counting the hours until bedtime. Well, most days, anyhow. But when it's time for them to hit the sack, I'm ready for it. I don't like drawn out bedtime rituals. I'll happily read to them and kiss them good night, but then I start to get impatient when the requests for "fresh" water start coming, and the complaints of "I can't sleep", and the pleas of "can I sleep with you tonight?" Some of my children are worse than others when it comes to bedtime and sleeping through the night, I'll just leave it at that. 


Lots of nights are perfectly fine. Everyone hops in bed without grumbling. Nobody wakes up during the night. There are no tears. But then there's the nights when someone is sick. Or suffering from growing pains. Or thirsty. Or having bad dreams. Or has insomnia. And these are the nights when I feel like a really crappy mom because the truth is I don't want to deal with it. I'm on mommy duty hiatus until morning. I do realize that's not realistic, and that at times my kids will need me during the night. My frustration level depends on several factors, such as what I'm doing at the time, how tired I am, whether what I'm doing is actually pressing and needs to get done that night, and whether or not I'm sleeping. If I'm sleeping it might take me some time to respond because I will lay there and try to ignore my children, fervently hoping and praying that they'll go back to sleep so I can stay in my warm bed. Sometimes they come to me, putting their faces inches in front of mine and shaking me awake, in which case I will try to get by with mumbled, half awake responses with my eyes shut, hoping to get right back into that dream I was just forced out of.

I try to be patient and understanding. I myself suffered through very frequent nightmares as a child, so I remember what it's like to be in a dark room all by myself, shivering in fear. However, my free time and my sleep time are both in terribly short supply, so I tend to get a little prickly when they're infringed upon. I'll try to do better, Dr. Sears. Maybe I'll finally even read that book of yours.