RedBox Bait and Switch

This week, I made a quick trip to the RedBox kiosk to find a DVD for the girls and ended up with the strangest, so-bad-it's-just-bad movies, Doggie B.

I'll be honest, I didn't read the RedBox ad description closely.  I saw the dogs dressed as DJ's and assumed it was another talking dogs movie, with the dogs playing rappers. The storyline I made up in my head was much better than the reality.

There were more odd elements than I can name, but I'll try to share a few. There was a veterinarian assistant with a bad Jamaican accent that drove a car covered with markers, cheese curl sculptures, wigs that looked like the rejects from Capitol City scenes on Hunger Games, doggie steroids that can turn humans into dogs, a former member of the Go-Go's, and it goes on and on...

In case you want to check it out yourself, here a link to the trailer: 

http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/independent/doggieb/

Pringles Free Song Download

You can get two song downloads from Pringles through November 30th (or while supplies last).

There is additional small print:
- you have to mail in a paper form
- you have to also send in your original receipt
- the songs are from the "sponsor designated provider"
- it could take 90 days to receive your codes

Chick-Fil-A's Overabundant Salad

After avoiding the new salads at Chick-Fil-A since they replaced my favorite Southwest salad, I tried the Market Grill Salad today. 

In addition to the customary lettuce and chicken, the salad also had blue cheese crumbles, apples, blueberries, and strawberries.  Not stoppng there, CFA also added toppers of roasted nuts and granola mix. It was almost like I was heading to summer camp and my mom had packed a little bit of everything since she didn't want me to be hungry and didn't know what I wanted.

It was an odd eating experience. I couldn't bring myself to use the recommended zesty apple cider dressing nor could I mix all that stuff together.  I basically took the approach of a 2-year old kid and ate everything separately. Apples, strawberries, blueberries, then the chicken, cheese, and lettuce, followed by the packages of nuts and granola as a weird dessert.

When I did slip up and mix the multitude of ingredients together, they really didn't complement or blend well with each other.  Maybe it was because I didn't go with the recommended dressing, but I don't think I'll be trying this one again.

Free Orange Juice and Photobook

We just went on a trip to Florida and stopped at the Florida Welcome Center on the way down. In addition to the free tiny cups of orange (and grapefruit) juice, we picked up one of these cards for a free Shutterfly 8x8 photobook. This is a perfect marketing tactic and a good excuse to preserve some of those vacation pictures in a bound book.

Just an FYI, our card expires at the end of July and I'm assuming there is a limited number of these. 

Souvenirs

I had to travel this week for work and picked up a couple of things for the kids at the airport gift shop. Instead of buying a keychain from a locale they didn't visit (and, for that matter, I didn't visit either), I grabbed these tiny chocolate bars at the checkout.

The potato chip chocolate bars were a hit, the bacon not so much.  Since the bacon didn't get eaten completely, I was able to administer my own taste test.  I'd have to agree that it wasn't something I would buy again - it did have a smoky, salty flavor reminiscent of bacon, but it had a weird not too savory aftertaste.

The kids seemed pleased, though, and I was happy to come up with a somewhat novel surprise for them from my trip.

Parental Equation of the Day

Scaredy-cat dog + middle of the night thunder storms = exhausted dad

Days like today make me want to invest in one of those thunder shirts for my overly sensitive dog.

Breaking the Fast

Breakfast find of the week:  Limited Edition Red Velvet Pop-Tarts.

A little too sweet for me, but my oldest is a huge fan already.  I'm not sure she'll be able to make it through the whole box, though.