So my husband and I were walking through target the other day and we realized that Crispy M&Ms have disappeared. I don’t remember hearing they were going to discontinue them but all of a sudden they are no more. My husband being the M&M fanatic that he is was very disappointed. I was too as I always liked them. I wonder what made them discontinue them.

So I have a new ‘Diet’ Plan. Basically what I’m doing is watching very stringently what I’m eating 5 days a weeks eating mostly fruits and vegetables with about one serving of meat daily. Then on the weekends or 2 days out of the week I can have within reason whatever I want just focusing on portion control. I figure that way I can still tame my cravings without going overboard. This is of course all to my husbands dismay as he doesn’t want to watch what he eats and he doesn’t have to as he’s really skinny. I’m also focusing on not eating after 7 p.m. at night and at that time if I get cravings I focus on keeping my hands busy such as reading a magazine and knitting. That then takes my mind away from thinking about anything. The other thing I’m doing is taking fish oil which is supposed to boost my metabolism. I take that before I work out and then work out for around 40 minutes. Any other suggestions?

Well when “The OC” first started I got utterly hooked to the show. It had all the good makings of a night time soap opera and still utterly addicting with the right amount of humor, romance and drama. I’ve continued to be addicted to it but I have to say lately I feel we are just getting the same stories over and over and over. Ryan and Marissa get together, Ryan and Marissa break up and so on and so forth. I’m getting bored! What ever happened to the half sister of Kirsten? Or what happened to Teresa’s Baby? Was it Ryan’s? Or bring back Anna she was a sweet girl. I got “The OC” season one for Christmas and let me tell you I can see why I got addicted when I watched that season again but now it just seems to be the same stuff over and over again and its getting old. Maybe thats good because how would the show’s writer maintain it next year with everyone going off to college? Hmmm I think its done for after this year but I hope not and I hope it improves!

So American Idol started up again and even though I told myself this time I wouldn’t get drawn into the hype again, it drew me right back in. Last night we watched the top 12 women sing and I have picked 5 favorites already and I hear the men are even better. There is one girl though that thinks its all about her as she put it, its called American IDOL not IDOLS. I think she should be eliminated. If we haven’t learned anything in the past it truly is IDOLS as not just Carrie Underwood got a record released, but Bo Bice, George Huff, etc. Bo Bice’s CD is doing better in allot of ways then even Carrie Underwood’s so I have to say this is about idols and not idol and if you think otherwise maybe you need to get your head examined!:)

So I had always heard about places where you go and you put together your meals and take them home and make them but I had never gone to one.  The other night I went to a place called Let’s Dish (www.letsdish.com).  It was a great experience.  You go to their website pick 8 or 12 meals and set up a time to go there.  I picked 8 meals for 135.00 and picked the location in Eden Prairie.  They tell you to plan for 2 hours and bring a cooler or tote to carry your food.  It took us almost the full two hours so really plan for that.  We got there and it was somewhat busy but not bad.  They had two cooking sessions on each table and you find one of the meals you picked out and follow the directions on the recipe.  Everything has the right measuring tools in the ingredients so its hard to mess up.  Plus say you like something a little more spicy then they recommend then you can do that, you can add more or less of whatever ingredients except meat.  So that was good as I wasn’t a huge red pepper fan.  Once you complete a meal you put a label on the bag or pan that tells you what it is and how to cook it when you get home.  Everything here is meant to be prepared and taken home and frozen so that you can thaw it and make it whenever you chose.  We made one of the meals I brought home and it was great, I’m looking forward to trying more.  The best thing is their menu changes month to month so you can go back each month and have meals for a month.  The one thing I will warn you though you need to have freezer space as 8 meals takes up quite a bit of space.  Overall I would give the place two thumbs up.  If Eden Prairie isn’t close by you there are places similar to these popping up all over the place!  Try it out for yourself I bet you won’t regret it!

For my birthday I received an electric fireplace.  It is the coolest thing.  We saw one at my soon to be in-laws house which was just fake logs that glowed and made crackling noises but we wanted something a bit more for our house.  I’ve always wanted an actual fireplace in my house but yet the risks and the cost I didn’t want so here’s a great compromise.  This fireplace is antique looking and has logs inside and flames that go up (or look like they do) then there is an option to make it kick out heat if you want.  So far this is great because it adds just a bit more heat to take the edge off the cold days when you really don’t want to spend the money and turn up the heat.  Plus unlike real fire places this doesn’t get too warm and can be set on carpet rather than having an area strictly cemented for a real fireplace.  The best part is they aren’t that expensive.  I highly recommends them they add heat, atmosphere and are just cool!

What to do on New Years Eve?  I just can’t seem to figure out what to do in the twin cities on new years eve that won’t cost a bundle of money.  I think about staying in and making food but I can’t seem to find any good recipes.  Ideas?

So about a week ago I bought 4 brand new tires from Tires Plus.  I came out of the transaction several dollars lighter but was figuring that I would have great tires for the snow and just in general.  I kept that idea until this past Saturday where I barely hit the edge of a pot hole going around a curve and instantaneously my front right tire was completely flat.  Not fun when I realized my dollars just went down the drain.  So my husband and I got to learn how to change a tire (not a hard task by any means) and then we drove home and called Tires Plus hoping there would be some recourse so that I didn’t have to pay completely for a new tire.  I called them and the first thing they state was that if I would have bought roadside hazard insurance it would have been completely covered.  I felt my heart sink because I was never offered that.  They said to bring the car in though and they would work something out.  So I brought it in and told them I was never offered the roadside hazard insurance.  The manager took blame for that and said that because I wanted such particular tire he never thought to offer me it.  He stated though he would work me a deal and also get the roadside hazard insurance added to my tires.  He never said what kind of deal though so I was a little nervous.  So when I went back on Monday to pick up my tire I was very very surprised and happy to see that he didn’t charge me anything for the tire or to put it on the only thing I got charged for was the roadside hazard insurance.  Let me tell you thats GREAT Customer Service…. I would recommend them any day.

I have always heard bad things about David’s Bridal but so far I had not had that bad experience.  I wasn’t overally impressed when I had gone shopping for my wedding dress a year ago but nothing to vent about but that changed a week ago.  My sister was shopping for her wedding dress.  She had forgotten to make an appointment with David’s Bridal but decided to stop and see if she could look anyways because she had seen a dress in their magazine that she absolutely loved.  Boy was that a mistake.  We walked in and were rejected immediately but ok they told us to come back at 4 after my sister informed them she was from out of town.  So we came back at 4 and they still made it known that this was a complete inconvenience. They told her to go and pull out the dresses she was interested in and they would bring them back.  She got someone to work with who my sister pointed out the dress she absolutely was dying to try on.  The lady dismissed this and went and grabbed a different dress for which my sister had no interest in.  The lady informed my sister she was just trying to get her size right.  They she said she was going to grab some more.  My mom and I then saw her putting away the dresses my sister had pulled to try on.  We went back and were then waiting to see what she would bring my sister.  We waited like 15 minutes before another sales person came and informed us that the other lady was on a phone and would be back shortly.  So in the meantime we tried on Bridesmaids dresses.  My sister found one she loved for us but we were not sure if it came in our color so we went to the front desk and asked.  There the lady that was supposed to be helping my sister was standing around talking about how she was the manager of the store and venting about the phone call she had received.  We went back to my sister (this was now 30 minutes after we had arrived and she had tried on one dress that she didn’t like) and we left.  We were completely frustrated that no one after telling us specifically to come back at 4 would help us.  Talk about terrible customer service especially since that was from the manager.