A Little Menage a Trois with Belvedere!

Ok, so, no menage a trois but it's a catchy title! Don't you agree?

The other day my girlfriend and I were talking and she tells me that my favorite red table wine is on sale at Total Wine & More. So, naturally we planned our outing like two wine loving women would do. Little did I know, I would get an added bonus while there.

A few months back this same friend of mine and I went to a concert in Hollywood. Knowing that we would probably have a few cocktails we decided to get a hotel room for the night and just drive home in the morning. It's a good thing we did.

As you can probably guess, I was going to get us a good deal on a hotel room. I did a few searches and came across a website that had reduced prices on nice hotels and sure enough, I found the place! The Redbury at Hollywood and Vine. I highly suggest you visit their webpage and if you are ever looking for a place to stay, stay here! Anyway, when we walked in to the suite we were automatically upgraded to upon check in, we noticed the fully stocked bar.

Now, my friend and I like our wine but we love us a good bloody Mary! When we saw the mix and then the vodka, we made a couple of drinks. Then we looked a little closer at the bottle of vodka. It read "tomato infused." This heightened our taste bud's senses and sure enough...heaven. That's when my search began.

The brand was Crop Organic Vodka. I searched high and low and could only find it online for a price I really didn't want to pay. I even went to Total Wine and had the clerk look it up for me. Tears welled up in my eyes when he told me that the company had discontinued it. (not really, but I was bummed.)

I thought my search was over until I saw an ad in my Marie Claire magazine for Belvedere Tomato Infused Vodka. I was thrilled and even so much that I took a picture of the ad and text it to my friend. The following day I went to the store to see if they carried it. Sure enough, they do but for $36 a bottle. I cringed at the price when it was surrounded by other flavors at a much lower amount. I left. No Belvedere in my bag. Until last night.

Sure enough, while getting my bottle(s) of Menage a Trois red table wine for just $6.47 each...which I normally pay $7.49 at Costco and $8.99 at the grocery store, I walked over to the vodka aisle, which I must say, there are tons of flavors! The entire aisle was vodka. They even had chocolate espresso flavor. Ewwww!

And there it was. Belvedere Bloody Mary. Then my eyes wandered down to the price and my jaw dropped. $25!! I know, only $11 cheaper but how could I pass it up, right?

So, here I sit, after a busy day at work, drinking a very tasty bloody Mary which is just perfect on a 90 degree weather evening, and I paid what I wanted to pay! Why, you ask? Because that's how I roll!

Yeah, I Had to Use a Coupon

I know..I know..the title of my blog is No Coupons Necessary but this is just something I couldn't keep to myself. Maybe it's because I'm watching Extreme Couponing or maybe it's just because I like to share the good deals I come across. On a side note, those couponers are crazy! Who needs a thousand tubes of toothpaste, really?

For those of you who know me, you know that I love my toaster oven. If you read my friend's blog, Journey Through Food and Wine, you also know that I love to cook a mean ribeye steak in it. So, the other evening, as I'm broiling this lovely sized ribeye, I start to hear sparks and then look over to see my beloved toaster oven smoking! As I run over I'm envisioning me opening the door only to have the oxygen hit the heat and flames come roaring out at my face. Obviously, that didn't happen. I was able to salvage the steak but not the toaster oven. I then realized that this would be my last cooking adventure in this trusty little contraption however, this trusty little contraption can easily be replaced. 

Lucky for me, my Kohls catalog arrived in the mail! Ya know, the one where you have to peel off the sticker to reveal your savings? Much to my anticipation, I grabbed the catalog and slowly revealed my savings. Yahoo, 20%! I'll take it! Then, like an extreme couponer, I got excited remembering that I have $10 Kohls cash in my wallet. SWEET! Looks like a trip to Kohls is in order to replace my favorite kitchen appliance.

A couple days later, it was time for the Kohls adventure. But, check this out...I completely forgot about needing a toaster oven. So, as we perused the athletic section for some clothes for the Avon Breast Cancer Walk, the casual women's clothes section and the candle aisle my friend looks to me and says, "Let's go check out the cheese graters." Once in housewares, that's where it hit me! TOASTER OVEN!

We walked to the toaster ovens and there it was. A Black & Decker Convection Countertop Oven. The large capacity fits a 12" pizza or 6 slices of bread. The convection cooking circulates air for fast, even results and it has a 60 minute timer. Here's the savings part. This usually sells for $79.99. It was on sale for $59.99. 

My new toaster oven! Well, the box it came in.

I grabbed that box and went straight to the register. After I handed her my 20% off coupon and my Kohls cash I ended up having a bill of just $42.89 with tax. Ahhh, the satisfaction was so gratifying and then, it got better! The clerk handed me a $10 gift card coupon to use on my next purchase. REALLY? You mean I'll have to come back to buy more things? Ok, twist my arm! Sometimes I think Kohls pays their customers to shop there. LOVE that store!

There is one thing I need to mention. If you, too, would like to get the coupons in the mail and extras such as Kohls cash and surprise coupon gift cards, you do have to have a Kohls account. I must say, by NOT having a Kohls credit card, you're missing out if you shop there frequently. The rewards by having one has far exceeded any other credit card I've ever had. Just pay your bill on time so you're not having to pay any extra because then there would be no purpose to using those coupons.

Who'd a Thunk It?

I must say, that A-HA moment when I realize exactly what I plan to share with my blog fans (yes, all 9 of you), is so rewarding!! And who would have thunk it? (Wow, no underline under the word thunk telling me that I have a misspelled word...okay, I'll roll with it.) My moment came to me while cleaning tonight!

It was a long day at work, conducting selection interviews for the dispatcher position(s), and the last thing I want to do when I get home is housework but, I figure, someone's gotta do it and mama's got a new toy!! I can't just let it sit there in the box until the weekend! So, I change out of my uniform, feed the dogs, set the sprinkler on in the front yard and grab the scissors. As this giant box sits on the table with the AMAZON label quietly staring me in the face saying, "you got a deal on this lady...now get to work", I start cutting into the box. 

My Bissell Little Green Machine Portable Spot Cleaner has arrived! We had another spot cleaner, in fact, I can't even remember the name of it, that's how impressed we were with it. Anyway, the motor on it died and we just knew we were going to have to replace it. Now I can imagine you're thinking, who would possibly have enough spots on their floor where the motor would die on a carpet spot remover? Well, let me tell ya. We have four dogs. Yes, four.  And, while I love them with all my heart and I often come home with rawhides for them or dog biscuits, they, too, like to leave me gifts. Whether it's Charlie who brings in a random dead animal from outside or Beau who is telling me, "Hey, Mom, I ate too fast, I now feel like crap, so, here...have this back." 

While I know they are the most loving little creatures in the world, they are also dirty and well, I don't want to live with it. So, we went out on a limb and ordered the Little Green Machine through Amazon not knowing a whole lot about it.

I put hardly any effort into the assembly...even though I did freak out a bit when I read that I needed a phillips head screwdriver. I freaked for nothing as it was just attaching one little piece to the side of the machine. TA-DAAAA! Fully assembled. Ready for action.  As I started going after some stains on the carpet, yes, I found a red wine spill and a coffee spill and a few unidentifiable spills, I started realizing how AMAZING this product is! Stains lifted with little effort on my part. The brush is the perfect size to get into awkward corners and under furniture. Here's the best part!! It cost just $74 on Amazon. While I did do some price comparison, it didn't take me long to realize that Amazon was definitely going to save me some money. FREE shipping and I had it within 3 days of placing my order online. Amazon is my new best friend. Don't worry, Danah, just my website best friend...oh wait, besides facebook and eBay..okay, how about it's my new friend. :)

So, if you're in the market for a carpet spot cleaner. I highly recommend the Bissell Little Green Machine. Here are some features of the product:

• earth-friendly cleaning method
• can remove small and large stains
• with 1-step clean and extract feature 
•  made of post-consumer recycled plastic
• tanks and hose are PVC-free
• comes with a stain-brush attachment
• measures 8.2 x 17.2 x 12.5 inches

My second recommendation is to buy it on Amazon. The machine costs $99 at retail stores and if you buy it online from one of those retailers you'll, most likely, have to pay shipping, too. 

So, tonight I'll leave you with photos of my four-legged, furry, dirty, messy, gift-bearing pups! Happy cleaning my friends...happy cleaning!

Beau and Charlie

Sawyer Brown

Rancher