Carrie Gottschalk Gray

My go-to price for these 12 can fridge pack cases are 4 for $10. Which does happen. Not very often anymore, but it does. Sometimes at CVS, sometimes at Target, rarely at Safeway anymore. But recently, at my favorite place, Grocery Outlet, I found 8 packs of little 12 ounce plastic bottles of Diet Coke for $1.99!!! So I bought 3 which was like a case of 24 on one of those cardboard box things. Which is $6 for 24, and not the $5 for 24 I usually like to pay, but good enough. And they're cute little bottles!

I had so much on my cart, I should have had one of those pallet things. Two 13 pound pork shoulders and a slab of spareribs for my husband's GuyFest this weekend that involves barbecuing, beer and watching college football. But I also needed a lot of other stuff. And then I forgot to get more Johnsonville Beer 'n Brats.

You know how when you're looking to buy something for someone else and you end up buying something for yourself? I'm doubting that happens to most people where beer steins are concerned. But it happens to me.

If you love salmon like I do and haven't tried grilling it on a cedar plank, I highly recommend you try it. You can buy them at Williams-Sonoma, Target and sometimes at Costco. You soak the plank before using it. And then grill your salmon on the plank over the barbecue. Your fish will come out extra tender and with a smoky taste. Unbelievable!
http://www.williams-sonoma.com/search/results.html?words=cedar+planks
http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/182-2577213-8458545?asin=B000IL828I&AFID=[DESTINATION]_df&LNM=%7CB000IL828I&CPNG=patio%20garden&ref=tgt_adv_[XSVALUE]

So, I was trying to message a friend last night while I was out, I accidentally typed his name in the wrong window and it ended up posting to my wall. And all of my friends' homepages. And everyone, including him, was wondering why the heck I typed his name on my wall. And I couldn't delete it from my phone. No matter how hard I tried. So now I've spent all evening and morning explaining it to everyone. Why I didn't just delete it from home, once I got there, I'll never know. I should probably delete it now, though I just posted yet another explanation....

Bought this to see if the upload of my book looked right. You have no idea how hard it is to format a book for kindle. Make sure your little paragraph symbol-looking button is highlighted on your tool bar in Word to "Show All" so you are not adding too many tabs, spaces etc. A great resource is Smashwords Style Guide by Mark Coker which is free (using Smashwords you can publish to iBook for the Ipad): http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/52

If your kid loves Bakugan and has a Nintendo DS, this will provide hours of fun. Unless, of course, you'd rather they not play video games for hours. And I always try to buy my DS and Wii games off of ebay because of the exceptional difference in price than Target, Costco or elsewhere. One of the best games I've bought for my son.

Three tops, a dress, a pair of shoes and two pairs of shorts. All for $76.11. And I used my TJX Companies Card (of which Marshalls is a part) and got $10 off. If you shop here or TJMaxx or HomeGoods or AJWright a decent amount, I highly recommend getting the card. You'll be surprised how many checks back you receive in the mail! http://www.tjxrewards.com/index.asp

Another Ex Officio shirt for my husband. If you don't know about Ex Officio and you're a guy and you don't like being hot (as in temperature) - check them out. The shirts are usually vented in the back like a "camp" shirt. And they also make pants, shorts, underwear, etc. Great for travel, camping, hiking, outdoors, etc. And much cheaper when you can find it on ebay! http://www.exofficio.com/

AHA! See! Here's yet ANOTHER Baseball app my son downloaded. But... apparently.... this one was free. Which i guess is what the "Lite" stands for. And the whole reason he wanted to get the "leaded" version.

This salsa is fine if you want a more pico de gallo type. As I've said before, I really like Casa Sanchez for salsa, as well. But I recently was reminded on a trip to Costco that they now carry CHEVY'S SALSA!!!! And if there's one good thing about Chevy's besides their margaritas (and not necessarily their food per se), it's their SALSA!!! (Little tip: you used to be able to go into a Chevy's and pick up a "Pound & a Pint" - pound of chips and pint of salsa for parties - cuz their chips are pretty darn great, too!
http://casasanchez.com/
http://www.chevys.com/

Bought these at Safeway for $3.49, only to go to Grocery Outlet and find the exact same size bag for $1.99!!! Which taught me a lesson: go to Grocery Outlet FIRST.
http://www.groceryoutlet.com/

Just because friends of ours think we're horrible parents because we haven't taken our children camping (because we have a family cabin we use) we broke out the outdoor firepit in the driveway, (not like we don't have an entire backyard to use), put on some tunes and got out the s'mores fixin's. Finally my poor children can experience the best part of camping this summer while still be able to sleep in the comfort of their own bed.

My son wanted this app, made me plug in my password for iTunes to get it at $2.99. The boy loves baseball, has played Little League for three years now, so I figured I could do him the favor of a $3 app. But then I realized we have all of the other baseball apps. How many baseball apps does a boy need? Apparently, a lot.

We went here for my mom's birthday. We always love it, they have a great outdoor patio covered by a huge fig tree. We started out with a bottle of Gloria Ferrer Blanc de Noirs, and then were seated under the nifty little tents for dinner. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed their meals and cleaned their plates. A high-point, must-order is their Truffle Fries. My parents hadn't been since it opened but will now certainly be going back.

More of the beer steins I got for my dad's friend who gives them away at his church's Oktoberfest. But I think I'm going to keep these and give them to my dad as a gift since he is an actual German deer hunter himself. And likes beer steins. All in all I got FIFTEEN steins, with shipping for $125. That's about $8 per stein. And these are vintage, in mint condition and worth a whole lot more.

My husband's having a huge Labor Day Barbecue this weekend, but on Saturday. He was going to get an entire roasted pig, but I think now he's just going to smoke some pork for pulled pork sandwiches, do his rubbed ribs, and certainly have some of these brats (brahts). It's his birthday before his birthday and the opener of college football. That's his reason. That's how he rolls.

A long-time family friend runs his church's Oktoberfest and he gives away beer steins as door prizes. For years he's wanted me to look in garage sales for beer steins, but I don't see that many and when I do, they're not that cheap. So I started looking on ebay, and found a really nice guy selling his collection. I am a little worried that these are teeny tiny (he listed the sizes on other listings he had, but not on these), but I'm pretty sure they're standard. Anyway, great deal, at less than $5 a stein. I hope my dad's friend will be happy!

You know how sometimes you can't get price tag stickers off of stuff? This takes it off for you and leaves a delightful orange scent behind. Every household should have this. Available at your local hardware store and once in awhile I've seen it in Target.

For my chili, in a big pot I brown ground beef, Italian sausage, and pulled pork when we have it. Leftover carne asada, chicken and carnitas from the Mexican market also works wonders. Then I put in the cuisinart about 5 cans of stewed tomatoes (have to do this in two or three batches so it doesn't overflow) and add to pot. Then I add kidney beans, cannellini beans (white kidney beans), pinto beans, black beans, corn and hominy. Then swirl in red wine. Simmer for a few hours and you're in heaven.