I Got Something to Say

The title of this post is a quote by the character Jerri Blank from Strangers With Candy. I feel like I should share with my readers some things. I wrote a post a while back called When Blogging Relationships Go Bad about my horrible experience with a company I worked with on my blog. You can read the post here if you are not familiar with what I am talking about. The long of the short of it is, I was working with a company that promised me a full sponsorship to BlogHer in exchange for advertising, posts and even a Twitter party that ended up being a nightmare. I turned and looked the other way while she bashed other bloggers and even a NASCAR star. I did think it was wrong but I didn’t stick up for my fellow bloggers. I feel bad because I should have been the voice for the masses;I thought that she was being mean and rude. I regret that.

After a while I tried to let it go and not let it bother me. I have received numerous requests and comments asking me to tell who it is. I have remained silent as a professional courtesy but in light of the increase of new bloggers, I have decided to break my vow of silence and share with you all so you don’t get taken as well. It was Bea’s Gift Baskets. There I said it. Like I said there are quite a few new bloggers out there and I want to warn them, I don’t want anyone to be treated like I was. It still hurts; even more so with everyone starting to talk about BlogHer and BlogHer related events like the parties. It also still hurts that I spent all that time working on the posts and twitter party that wasn’t review related. They got free advertising. I got nothing but disappointment. I am sure you are thinking well you got those gift baskets at least that is something right?

I went to the dollar store, it is kind of new and yes, it still had eau du Dollar store smell. I was browsing around by the food and I saw an item that was supposed to be “gourmet” in one of those gift baskets. I was like wow; those are the exact same chocolate covered pretzels that were in one of my gift baskets. I just thought well they could have sprung for the Flips if they wanted to be cheap. The Flips are like 3 dollars a bag versus the dollar store ones. It makes me wonder how many more dollar store items are in those overpriced gift baskets.

There is nothing wrong with the dollar store, I shop there. I love the dollar store, but if you are paying 90 dollars for something you should at least get 50 dollars worth of food, a 20 dollar basket then the company nets 20 bucks or something along those lines. Maybe 40 dollars worth of food but there shouldn’t be items that you can get at the dollar store. I just think that is unethical and deceitful. That of course is my opinion.

I just wanted to share this with my fellow bloggers and readers. Maybe even the weary traveler passing through my blog. I don’t want to see anyone taken by Bea’s Gift Baskets like I was. So, how can we prevent this from happening?

1. Make sure you get everything in writing. Granted I had everything in email and that would have been fine, but when you are dealing with something like this extra forms like contracts are a good way to go. I know she didn’t mention contracts once until after she pulled out and didn’t want to do what I consider the right thing.

2. Don’t turn the other way or put up with others that talk bad about other people. Chances are they are bad mouthing you to someone else. You should work with companies that conduct their selves in a professional manner.

3. If your gut tells you it is too good to be true, it just might be or if the person gives off a weird clingy vibe you should probably walk away. Always trust your gut and your heart.

4. If a person you are working with is lying to others, 99% of the time they are lying to you.

5. Talk to others about their experiences, I know that everyone can make up their own minds about things they want to do, but listen to what others have to say and keep it in mind for when you make your decision.

I hope you find these tips helpful and keep them in mind in the future. Thanks for reading!

Sheila's Beer Battered Onion Rings Recipe

I love onions; they are one of my favorite foods. So, naturally onion rings are on the top list of foods I really enjoy. Now onion rings can come in a couple different ways. There is breaded onion rings that have a thick coating where the onion always seems to fall out. I am not a huge fan of them honestly. I have to be in the mood for that kind, which isn’t often. Beer battered onion rings are the way to go for me. I love to make them at home. I actually bought a deep fryer just to make onion rings. It is the only thing I have ever made in my deep fryer. This is the recipe my mom used when I was younger. I have many memories of her making them and us eating them. I thought I would share with you guys the recipe. It is really easy but it is kind of time consuming but extremely worth it in my opinion.

Here is a list of what you will need:

Deep fryer

Can of shortening

Few big onions

12 ounce bottle of the beer of your choice, I buy whatever is on sale usually Coors Light

1 1/2 cups of flour

Salt

Step 1: in a large bowl combine beer and flour. Let it sit for 3 or 4 hours. Resist the urge to stir it after you have mixed it all together. The batter will turn frothy.

Step 2: Put your shortening in your deep fryer and let it heat to the proper temperature. Please consult your deep fryer manual.

Step 3: Cut onions in rings. I usually do thicker rings because when the onion cooks it gets thinner. Separate the rings.

Step 4: Coat rings in the beer batter thoroughly.

Step 5: carefully place the onions in the deep fryer. I usually use a fork. Watch out for splatter and steam.

Step 6: When the onion rings are starting to cook flip them over with a fork or tongs. I always wear an oven mitt to protect my hands. When they are golden brown they are done.

Step 7: Take out onion rings and place on a cookie sheet covered with newspaper and paper towel. Immediately salt both sides.

Repeat steps 4 through 7 until you have the desired amount of onion rings

You can reheat them in the oven for a few minutes at 350 degrees on a cookie sheet
with paper towel.

If you want to make more batter remember it is equal parts beer and flour.

Enjoy!

I hope you try out this onion ring recipe and let me know what you think.

Karma? Is that French?

Tonight while I was making dinner I was listening to The 700 Club and Pat Robertson was talking about Karma. I didn’t really hear everything he was saying because I was doing all kinds of things at the same time and I didn’t turn the TV up. I started thinking about karma. I personally don’t believe in karma as a Christian. I don’t believe that what I do now has anything to do with what I come back as because I don’t believe in reincarnation. People are always asking what you would want to be if you were reincarnated. Some people are like a tiger or a bear etc. Even if I had the possibility to be reincarnated I wouldn’t want to be. I would rather go to heaven than live on this earth all over again after I died. You could not pay me enough to give up my chance to go to Heaven someday when it is my time.

I am aware there is a difference between karma in a religious definition and what pop culture considers “karma”. I am not sure how old I was before I knew about “karma”. I can’t remember. I did know Karma was my local music store that always smelled like incense. In fact I have a Grateful Dead afghan that I had to have from there and it still smelled like incense for many years after I received it. People always say oh “karma” is going to get you or it’s “karma”. I don’t really believe in pop culture “karma” either. I think people believe in “karma” because it gives them some kind of comfort that the person is going to be punished for their wrong doings. It helps people cope and the person’s longing for everything to be made right and whole again. Things happen for a reason but I don’t see it as a way to seek revenge on someone.

I am a strong believer in the whole cliché saying “Everything happens for a reason” We might not know the reason, and we might never know, but there is an absolute reason for everything. I also believe that there are set consequences for choices we make. I don’t really believe it is the universe’s way to get back at someone. It just is what it is.