Inside the adorable 1920s part of the kitchen, the only way to go is to have little caddys and wire shelves and spice racks with the little rubber feet on them. That is so shabby chic/art deco/midcentury-like with just the right hint of Rubbermaid, but what is not accounted for is the gap in the side of the cupboard. Bombs away.

Oh, and forget a wall spice rack, which would be Concussion 101. My kitchen is devoid of wall space with the dormer ceiling. Then there are the drawers – not deep enough to label all the spices on top, but I can lean them. There is a chrome spice rack I saw recently, which I loved. But yikes a 5 lb shipping weight. That sounds more like a car part to me.

I’ll let you know what I decide. For now, its the survival of the fittest – the spices that are in heavy rotation such that they are stationed next to the stove win. Anything that is in the back of the dark cupboard and are starting to clump are voted off the island. Maybe after all of this, I won’t need a spice rack, but just a small little drink coaster to display “THE ONE.”

This little number, at left, has the Chinese characters for happiness on the side. That’s a very long string of characters to only mean “Happiness, ” sister. I’m a little suspicious. It’s kind of like a friend who was a foreign exchange student had their sister visit. She asked her sister a question and the sister went on for four minutes and my friend translated, “She said she’s happy.” What??

The glasses may be fine and good bebopping around town, but what if you read the reviews of a new, sit-down, classy restaurant that offered the best Chines cuisine? What if you sat yourself down with your glasses, made it a point to brush your hair away from the arms so the owner of the restaurant could see how coordinated you are to your dining experience, and found out that they way you had smudged something on them, the character has been altered to be perceived as a naughty word? Would everyone laugh or kick you out?

I digress. Cheap eyeglasses can help your coordinate your astigmatism for any occasion, but be really careful out there.

My brother kept telling me, “you’ve got to get Satellite TV For Your Business” but I was really resistant. I need to spend a lot of money on other things having to do with the business and I didn’t really see what good having some extra TV channels would do in my office. But after a while I finally gave in and as it turns out per usual, my brother was right…

Patient put really responded to having the news on or the cooking channel or whatever it is in the waiting room while they are waiting for me. I feel like when there’s an interesting TV show on they don’t get so upset with me when I’m running behind in their appointment is pushed back.

I love being in business for myself but it’s tough having to answer to other people when you’re not running on your schedule or something happens that’s totally out of your control. I guess it’s all part of the trade-off you get when you work for yourself.

Apparently, for a $175.00 set up fee, you too can trick your friends that you indeed own a chocolate factory, or bestow elegant, tasteful chocolate business gifts to your clients. Somehow if your other fantasy of being as successful as Bill Gates comes true, the question of whether you have a food handling license would probably come up if you decided to go your own way, actually make truffles for 5,000 people and stuffed them into foldable boxes from Joann’s Fabric.

The $175.00 includes the set up of your logo to print on golden-sheened boxes. After that, its all up to you, you just purchase as many different boxes from the tiny to the huge. Of course, you wouldn’t pay $175.00 if you only wanted one box. You would need to order 150 boxes right away, or at least in a 12 month period. If you do not take delivery in that window, a $2.00 storage fee per box will be accrued and the rest will be delivered directly to my house. Not really. But I can keep dreaming, can I?

Do you think custom chocolate products will impress your friends and clients? Or would you do it for your own vanity?

Make your guests think you just walked over to one of those expensive chain coffee shops and brought them all yogurt parfaits.

1) Firstly, scour the world for Kashi coupons. There sometimes are coupon codes from Kashi, including occasional deals on Amazon, but you can also try to combine electronic coupons, your store sale, and manufacturers coupons. What you’ll want to buy is the Honey Almond Flax cereal. Then scare up one tiny container of in-season fruit. You’ll only need a slice or two for each parfait.

2) Get out your good crystal. If you don’t have any, before the party, visit the thrift store and consignment shops for mismatched water goblets and fancy wine flutes. Sometimes you can find whole sets, but sometimes you can cheaply buy mismatched singles.

3) Fill the goblets with a few spoonfuls of Kashi Honey Almond Flax cereal, then add a few dollops of plain yogurt. After that, add a few slices of strawberries or even a drop of chocolate syrpup, then more yogurt and Kashi. Ultimately, the top layer should be raspberries or some other more expensive fruit.

4) Inspect for chips. If one is chipped but won’t cut a lip, all the better. You now can knowingly gaze over to the guest with the chip and announce that they have either won the prize or feign embarrassment while you scoop the goblet up and tell the story of rich but crazy Aunt Felicity who brought the goblet over on the Mayflower. Actually, use “Uncle Oceanus.” Apparently, someone named Oceanus was either born on the ship or born slightly later in the “new world” and folks could actually look up and verify that he was a real person.

One last thing, you’ll want to purchase one actual yogurt parfait from the pricey coffee shop. This way, you can have a receipt lying around somewhere, so everyone will know that you at least spent $3-7 a piece for them, and they’ll do the math.

As far as clean up? Just set them on the back porch. When no one sees goblets in the sink or on the counter, they’ll assume you have a staff.

See’s has a Valentine’s Day fundraiser programs that schools, teams and nonprofits can take advantage of. It involves selling select items from See’s regular stable of offerings with a V-Day slant. Chocolate fundraisers can sometimes be a lesson in personal tooth decay or a crapshoot. It is well worth it to groups with a set in audience of candy lovers, but not worth it if the profit margin is low. Chocolate candy bars sometimes have the highest profit margin if you are earning half of the sale price, but let’s face it: You have to sell a zillion to make those fifty cents add up. When you sell larger ticket items, you may sell fewer, but you may profit more on items people might decide to buy at the pharmacy or grocery store if it wasn’t for your team.

Honorably, See’s has a profit calculator. You enter the number or participants, and the number each participant is projected to sell.

With my absolute slacker example with only 5 participants selling maybe one of each item, none of the high ticket items and maybe a few of the low ticket items, the group made $400+ profit. You can use the calculator to speculate as much as you like to see if it makes sense. For groups where there are 50 active participants, the fundraising ends up in the thousands. Of course, this does not take into account that some of the participants might actually be stockpiling the goods for their own future use.

This post brought to you by Walgreens. All opinions are 100% mine.

Heartburn…
Heartburn…
Indigestion…

A little mid-winter gluttony bloat is nothing compared to how folks who have acid reflux or extreme food allergies suffer. I make myself suffer half the time, in full disclosure. I just have to have that heavy cream. Stomach cramps are better than chemicals, right?

Until January 31, 2012, we can all suffer a lot less. Well…it doesn't mean our lactose intolerance will instantly be cured, but the Prescription Savings Club at Walgreens is offered at a special discount at Walgreens.

For $5 for just you, or for $10 for your whole tribe INCLUDING the little SnackHounds and kitties, discounts are assessed on prescriptions (Normally $15 and $35, respectively). You can also earn points when you buy any Walgreens or Nice! products or use their photofinishing service. My Snack Hound periodically takes a medication that humans also take, so he can be listed as a dependent on my plan. If only the government would consider Weenie Dogs as the same on my taxes, I'd be all set. I'll have to shout to Walgreens on Twitter to thank them for being pup friendly.

The program is especially nice for military families. The contract between Walgreens and Express Scripts is no longer. Express administers prescription programs for different employers, including the military. Folks may find some generics with the Savings Club could be less expensive than the copay or the patient portion of some brand name medications, incidentally. I know it did for me. For more up to date news on this, read up and "like" Walgreens on Facebook. There is news on additional deals, too.

Out of my way, extreme couponers!

“People will die if they don’t drink water for three days.”

“No, you are wrong. I’ve gone a week without water.”

“There is water in root beer.”

“Okay, but even if I didn’t, and I didn’t drink anything, I’d still be alive. My body would just suck the water out of the food. Maybe not so much in chips, but there’s a lot in spaghetti sauce. And I’d of course have a grape or two.”

“Okay. So we can’t go without LIQUIDS for three days.”

“Yup. Doctors are all so wrong. I just get it from food and air. I am like a cactus. They can go without water for three YEARS.”

Back to The Snack Hound test kitchen, I researched and found that the irreverent shopper was correct. It’s true. The cactus part, at least. Sounds good for all the black thumbs out there.

The resiliency has led to the craze if looking to desert plants instead of rain forest plants for extreme antioxidant content.  Whether it is the Prickly Pear or the Nopol cactus, where Nopalea juice comes from, there are no formulations all the time. Drinking the juice directly from the cactus comes with prickly results. You could give yourself a piercing , but like coconut juice directly from the fruit, you might need to be chained to the bathroom for awhile. Cactus juice naturally is a constipation fighter, but don’t worry, the blends that the juices are in won’t overload your system to cause any sort of emergency. Life is too cruel for a juice peddler to do that. The combo of antioxidants (Betalains), however, are proven to reduce inflammation/irritation in the body. Too bad it won’t help burning ears. I swear when someone is in the next county is referring to me, I call them and they say “I was just thinking about you.”

When you have a theme restaurant, where the theme is not merely “let’s nail as many reproduction metal signs on the walls and suspend as many sleds and bike parts over patron’s heads,” but razor sharp specific, you really have to “sell it.” Johnny Rockets just doesn’t work if your soda jerk is sporting a mullet. And Strawberry’s Magical Blueberry Bunny Cupcake Patch doesn’t work when Mrs. Santa is wearing a Lady Gaga shirt, nor does “Braveheart” become more endearing of a movie once you notice the wristwatches and boxer shorts.

Among the cheap eyeglasses you can buy to finish off your crew’s uniforms in a way that mob caps and fake mustache’s without robbing anyone but the most ardent fans their dignity are candy heart and Christmas cane embellished spectacles. If you have a bakery, a princess party tea room or breakfast with Santa that runs to sold out crowds for several weeks, you can find the appropriate eyegoggles. After all, they can more easily swap their regular eyeglasses out at break time. It’s easier than ratting down a purple beehive, no?

So, if you are really adamant that your elves aren’t wearing Ray Bans and your fairy princess is wearing proper pink with roses without tripping over the little angels, it seems that the Zenni site has every manner of spectacle starting at $8.99 and up for prescription.

Ever since my husband and I signed up for Directv through http://www.cannonsatellite.com/ we have gotten totally into Top Chef. The new season is in Texas, and since we live in San Antonio it’s really fun to watch. Most of the beginning of the season was filmed here, so it’s really cool to see a lot of familiar places on TV. I also love to cook, so it’s cool to watch all the chefs and learn a thing or two.

Since we’ve started watching I’ve been thinking abut taking some cooking classes so I can improve my skills. I guess I’m a good cook for an amateur, but I’d love to make beautiful meals for my family. I don’t think there is anything better than having people over and feeding them delicious and beautiful food. I’ve learned to make a few really amazing meals, but I’d love to take it to the next level and get really good knife skills. If I could only do things faster, it would be much easier. Sometimes I get tripped up in the simplest things like chopping vegetables.