Spending my Prizes

Last year at this time I was telling you about the lovely basket of gifts I won from the merchants of Almonte. The contest was to promote the town, and it worked as I had not been there for many years and was surprised at the amazing changes in the place. It's not just a pretty village anymore. It's well worth the visit now, to shop and eat and spend the day.  We've been back several times since then and I've told lots of people about it.

So, while I had won some amazing prizes by this time last year, worth hundreds of dollars, this year I'm winning on a much smaller scale.  Yesterday I got to go and collect a couple of my freebies.  First, I had a certificate that I got from Kelloggs that I could spend on a $10 toy. I didn't figure I'd get much for that but when I walked into Toys R Us, one of the first things I saw was a game that the grandsons had been asking for just a couple of weeks ago. How could I pass that up? It's not the big board version but a compact one that folds into its own case and is easy to store. Just the thing for Nana's house! And hey, it was $9.99 so I got to spend the whole coupon, which is great as they don't give you change. I expect I'm going to have a break from our ongoing Mille Bornes challenge while I figure out who done it while playing Clue.

After that, I went for lunch and used a gift certificate I won from New York Fries for a free regular poutine. I asked if I could upgrade that to one with the works and was told that the regular, in this case, referred to the size, and I could have anything I wanted on it.

So while I had a calorie-laden lunch for free, my hubby ate more sensibly but it cost him over $10 for his salad.

I still have a $10 Walmart gift card to spend too, but I haven't decided what I want to shop for yet. I won it on Facebook from a page that promotes freebies called Mae-Mae's Freebies. A lot of the offers there are just for people in the United States, but I won it so soon after I joined the page I didn't realize that yet. Occasionally there is something for Canada or other places too though, and the odds are good for the contests as competition isn't all that big yet. But it is growing.

Anyway, I am still having some luck, though nothing like last year. That's fair. It's not good to be greedy. After so many years of never winning anything at all, I'm still quite amazed when I win something and actually thrilled with even these little prizes.

People are still asking me how I win. The only advice I can give is, you can't win if you don't enter.

That goes for life in general. You can't succeed at anything unless you are willing to go do it.

Eggs-Traordinary!

I had to buy some more eggs. I still have several left from my last dozen, but I wanted to make a quiche and I just couldn't get myself to beat any from the last bunch.  You see, the previous purchase held a surprise. 

One morning I was all set to make breakfast of a scrambled egg rolled up in a soft tortilla. When I broke the egg into the bowl I was going to microwave it in, I discovered that it had two yolks.  I have not seen a double yolker in many years and there was no way I was going to scramble that baby up.  I got out my frying pan and had a fried egg on toast instead. 

As the week wore on I discovered that all the eggs in that carton seem to have double yolks.  A little discussion on Facebook let me know that several other people were experiencing the same thing.  As it turns out, they all bought their eggs from Walmart.  Amazingly, for the first time ever, I had also purchased eggs from Walmart, and those were the double yolkers.

Such a treat!

It does get confusing when you are cooking though.  I was about to make waffles the other day, and my recipe called for 2 egg yolks. I'm pretty sure that the two yolks from one of these eggs would not big enough to fulfil the requirement. But if I used the yolks from two eggs, there would have been 4 and that may have been too much yolk.  Three might have worked, but I'm finding these yolks rather fragile, so decided to just make pancakes instead.  No separated yolks required for that.

Then I wanted to make a quiche, but that required three eggs and I didn't want to waste my beautiful double yolked eggs by scrambling them all up. I gave up and bought a second carton, but I got them at my usual store, instead of Walmart, and they are, as expected, normal, one yolked eggs. 

One has to wonder what's going on here, as a double yolk happens when the egg gets backed up in the chicken's oviduct system, causing two yolks to be encased in the same shell.  It can also happen when ovulation occurs too rapidly. Either way a double yolk is supposedly a rare occurrence, and is believed to happen in only one out of 1,000 eggs.  So how is it that Walmart is selling whole cartons full of them to so many people all of a sudden?  Are their suppliers doing something to the chickens to cause them to lay eggs too often?

Apparently very young hens can produce double yolked eggs too, because their hormone system is not fully developed.  Since flocks of hens would all be roughly the same age, that might account for why so many of these young chickens are laying double yolked eggs all at the same time.

I have read that some hens are even bred to produce eggs with a double yolk, but I'm sure that the producers and the stores would both advertise they are double yolkers and expect to be paid more for these special eggs.  All it says on my carton of large eggs is "Great Value".  Well, I sure can't dispute that!  One double yolked egg would be a treat. A carton full is a bonanza.









 

Geocaching from Cornwall to Kemptville

I mentioned that we went geocaching last weekend, along with visiting some Doors Open sites the Cornwall area. I had hoped to get back to you about all that earlier this week, but I've been a bit under the weather. Hopefully you will forgive me if I post a lot of pictures.

Across from the Cornwall Jail was another Doors Open site at the Cornwall Community Museum.  It had a strange mix of stuff among it's collection.  Some of it was really old, while other things were very familiar to me. For instance, while there was some furniture that was likely from the early 1800's,  the bedroom set was the exact one that my parents had, all the time I was growing up, so it was more like something from the 1940's.  I really could have used the apple peeler that's attached to the front of the table in this picture this past month or so.  My apple tree has had me very busy.

We started our geocaching in the park there, where we found a real assortment of birds gathering by the shore.

Being in a park, they must be pretty used to people, as you could get pretty close.







 They were probably all waiting for someone to throw them some food. 

Up the trail a bit, after we had turned away from the St Lawrence, we discovered a nice clear little stream..

We followed that upstream and found it quickly turned into a series of pretty little waterfalls.

And it wasn't long before we discovered the source of this nice clear water. It was all coming out of a culvert.  I'm not sure how far the water flows underground from here, or where it actually comes from as we couldn't go much further in that direction.

We discovered that there was construction under the Cornwall bridge, and that's where the GPS wanted to take us.  We decided we had found enough treasures at this site anyway, and moved on.




Our next stop on the Doors Open tour was the St Lawrence Power Development Visitor Centre. 
While interesting, it doesn't actually let you anywhere near the big power dam.  So after exploring their displays, and looking at the dam through binoculars, we went downstream just a bit to the site of the old canal....the one that was in use before they flooded the seaway to make the current shipping route.

If you click on this picture to enlarge it, you will see that the old canal gate has long since rotted out.  The water is all at one level through this canal now anyway, since the flooding of the seaway that put villages underwater,  got rid of the rapids in this area.

The old dam at the canal is still there to walk across though.

And the old gears that used to control the water flow are really quiet interesting to view.  There is a series of them, all across the structure.  I love that they have been painted turquoise.




We did locate the cache at this location, by the way, and went upstream a bit from there to look for another one. However there was a fisherman right where we needed to go to hunt that down, so we'll look for it some other time.  I'd happily explore this area further some other nice day that we happen to be in the vicinity.

On the way home we picked up a few more. There was one at a site in Winchester Springs, where there used to be a hotel and spa, because of the healthy natural spring waters.  That's all gone now, which is a bit of a shame, since reportedly Sir John A. MacDonald even gave a speech from the balcony there at one point. The area where the cache is hidden is a bit of a mess, so I don't have a picture for you from there. There is a lovely mural and plaque there though, to fill you in on the history.

We stopped and found another cache  in Winchester, at a hidden graveyard.  My hubby, who works in that town, and actually lived there for several years in his youth, didn't even know this place existed.  The graveyard is tucked into a field behind a local business.  There is no outward signs to tell of it's existence. While some of the stones are standing in the field as one would expect, there is also this row of stones tucked under some woodland growth. They seem too close together and were probably moved there.  One wonders if someone planned to use the field for another purpose, and if the bodies are still where they were originally planted.

We took a back road to Hallville, to avoid the ongoing construction on County Road 43.  We decided we might as well try for the Hallville Hollow one again, though we had no luck last time we went looking for that.  Just about when we were going to give up again, it suddenly made it's presence known.  This cache manages to evade many seekers, but really, it's just where it should be, and it is not even a tricky hide.  I guess it just blends into it's surroundings rather well.  It wasn't me that found it.

Our last cache of the day was a quick little park and grab along the highway on the way home.  That would be a great way to end the day if we had not stopped and looked for one near Walmart.  Basically there were too many people around, and I suspect this one is in some kind of sneaky container.  We'll have to check that out some other time....though I doubt there will ever be a chance when there is nobody around.

Advertising Teasers

Sometimes you are offered a product or service at a price you can't resist.  Then you might even go out of your way to get it.  That's happened to me twice last week.  I went out of my way, but I didn't get it.

The first time it was because of an ad in the Walmart flyer. They were offering fresh cooked rotisserie chickens for only $8.47.  It would normally cost me more than that for a small chicken even in an uncooked state, so I thought that would be a great buy and planned to get one for supper. We discovered, when we went to the Walmart in the town the flyer came from, that they don't have a hot food section in that store.  Admittedly, I don't shop Walmart often, so I didn't realize that until we arrived. It turns out the flyer did say "at participating locations" but I told the clerk it wasn't fair of them to tease me like that.
The second incident involved a coupon that was only good for one day.  I put off my shopping trip until that day just so I could use the coupon.  General Mills was introducing a new product, Honey Nut Cheerios Healthy Oat Crunch. The coupon was for a free 430g box. There was an alternate from the Fibre 1 line, but it contained almonds, and I have an allergy to them.  I shop at a major line of grocer stores, and they did not carry the new product. I was very disappointed because, as you all know, I love free stuff.

This week, I had another one of these free product coupons that was also good for just one day.  Once again it was meant to introduce a new line of products. Like last week,  I put off my shopping trip until the appropriate day.  This time the coupon offered four choices instead of just two.  The store did not carry either of my first two choices, Nature Valley Protein (I was hoping there was one without almonds), or Fibre 1 with 7g of Protein, but I was at least able to bring something home this time.  I got a free box of Golden Graham Treats.  Not quite what I had in mind, but I'm sure my grandsons will enjoy them.... if they last that long.

While I do think coupons are a great way to get people to try a new product, perhaps manufacturers who wish to get us hooked on their new merchandise should wait a little longer to offer these incentives to us. That might give us a better chance of actually finding the products in the stores.  I'm more likely to buy something I'm not sure about if I can get it at a bargain price the first time.  An offer of a free product will attract me every time, and several of the things I now buy on a regular basis, were originally introduced to me in sample form. It is certainly in both the manufacturer's and the consumer's best interest if the new product is available at the time that it is being offered.

I thought maybe I just lived too far out in the boonies, and that the products were likely more easily found in the big city stores.  I did see several other people complaining that they couldn't find the products in their stores though, when I looked online at their Facebook page. One person, who I know lives in a city, went to more than one supermarket before he found one of these products though.

 I have now also found an offer there that might work for me yet. In the meantime, I picked up a box of regular Honey Nut Cheerios, and it has a PIN code in it that will allow me to get one of these free products yet.  Maybe in a couple of weeks, they will arrive at my stores and I'll finally get to taste something new.  Wish me luck.

 

My House Isn't Actually Shrinking

Earlier this year we were in a furniture store looking for a dresser for my oldest son. When he left home, he took an old one that had been in my own grandmother's house from as far back as I can remember.  I expected he would replace it eventually, but he never did.  When I mentioned that I'd be willing to get him a new one at Christmas he seemed happy to let me.  The thing is, it has to fit into the same space as the one he has.  That's where the problem lies. 

Today's furniture is bigger than the older stuff. 

I guess I first discovered that when I went from a double bed to a queen sized one.  I knew the queen size was wider, but I had no idea it was also longer.  Suddenly the rest of my bedroom furniture no longer fit into the room properly.  When we were looking for the new dresser for my son, I mentioned all this to the salesman. He said they don't even sell two night tables as part of a set anymore.  Apparently others have also found they just can't fit them into the room.

This past week we bought and replaced our old living room furniture.  We got a loveseat, a couch and a chair.  The salesman tried to sell us tables also, but I told him I would have to wait and see how things fit into the room.  I could tell, without doubt, that this set was bigger than what it was replacing, even though it was basically the same style.  I knew that any table wider than the one we already had, would never fit into the room.  And I was right. Even that table has now been moved to the basement, and we will be using my hope chest for a coffee table for the time being.  It's narrower than the table we had.  I have seen no tables anywhere in the stores that would be narrow or small enough to fit in my living room, even with the old furniture.  Apparently they are making everything bigger these days.

I think the couch and loveseat look great, but the chair is absolutely huge. What ever were they thinking?  It's like 3/4 the size of the loveseat, and dominates the room.   From what I hear, that's not uncommon these days.  I may be looking for a smaller chair as time goes by. If I find one, I'll just sell this one off.  Why not just return it you ask? Well, not only did I get lucky and hit a 50% off sale, but the deal we got by buying all three pieces basically makes the chair free, so returning it would not be the best move in this case.  I can live with it.  Ha.  I've actually been living in it, ever since it arrived yesterday!

This house is definitely starting to feel smaller, but then, it is only 900 square feet to begin with.  Some of the houses I see being built today darn near have garages that big. It's not us, it's the furniture companies. They are building things to fit in these big modern houses.
........................

Spring is here.  I have proof.  When I finally got outside after the furniture was delivered, I found my first crocuses of the year blooming close to the doorway. 

When I went for the mail, I found sample teas from the Alokozay company. Apparently they distribute though some Walmart stores. 

Luring the Public

This week Walmart is advertising a Black & Decker Bread Maker for $38.  This model is regularly $79.96 and I suggested my hubby go get this thing and put it away for me for Christmas. It's not something I would buy for myself, but I did think it would make a great gift....for both of us actually. 

Well, we were out shopping yesterday and there was a Walmart nearby, so we went over there to look for this gadget. We found the housewares area and walked up and down those isles numerous times. There wasn't much sign of any organization there, and the darn thing could have been anywhere within a couple of isles. We could not find it, but my hubby eventually located a store employee.  This was amazing to me as I couldn't see any sign of one. In fact, the man he found didn't look like a store employee to me, and I later asked how he knew he was one.  It seems he had some sort of key or something hanging around his neck, and was spotted gathering up empty shopping carts.  Hmmmmmm.......

Anyway, this fellow consulted the flyer, and then looked around too.  He ended up saying there was a big truck unloading at the back door, and perhaps this item was still on the truck.  He also said he couldn't be sure of that until after the truck was unloaded. But he did assure me that they would have some.

That shopping trip, by the way was 12 miles to the west of me.  Today, we went 12 miles to the east, where there happens to be another Walmart.  We went in to see if we could find the bread maker there.  Well, the isles were definitely better organized, but once again we discovered we could not locate the item in question.  A store employee was more easily located here also, but she just said they didn't have any. 

So, why is Walmart advertising a product they are obviously not carrying?  I think it's just a trick to get me through the door.  I don't usually shop at Walmart, and I've once again been reminded why.