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I almost forgot, we will have a live chat set up on 11alive.com. An expert from Consumer Credit Counseling Service will be online along with Tiffany Dockery who writes the livingasmom.com blog and Lissa Miller, who writes savingyourcents.blogs.com. Both of these ladies are briliant when it comes to household savings, shopping and budgeting!
I have not blogged much this week but have a GREAT excuse! Ive been hard at work on tonight’s 11pm show. We are devoted nearly the entire newscast (after ten minutes of news) to Saving You Money! We are producing segments on lowering your bills, great blogs, travel, credit cards, groceries, coupons, even where to get sports event tickets. See you at 11pm!! 
Dogswell Dog Food is offering a freebie to anyone who is unemployed or having trouble making ends meet. The company is giving away 10,000 bags of dog food from now until May 15th. Dogswell is calling the promotion a Bow Wow Bailout. To get the freebie you have to register at www.dogswell.com. `
Sunday April 26th is National Pretzel Day. Participating Pretzelmaker and Pretzeltime stores in metro Atlanta malls will be celebrating by handing out free pretzels. The stores are located at Phipps Plaza, Northlake and The Mall at Stonecrest.
KFC wants customers to know there is now KGC (Kentucky Grilled Chicken) Participating stores will hand out samples of the new Kentucky Grilled Chicken made from a new secret recipe on Monday, April 27th.
.
Carvel ice cream is celebrating its 75the anniversary Thursday with a free eight ounce Iceberg from 3-7 pm. The Iceberg is a
mixture of ice cream and either orange soda or root beer.
For the kids, Michael’s craft stores will have free Mother’s Day crafting classes May 2nd through 10th. Although the classes are free, some of them require a few dollars for supplies.
A Marietta dance studio is offering a free Belly Dancing class. Students must preregister at sanamstudios.com for the introductory class, which will take place from 7 to eight thirty p.m on May 6th at Peachtree Gymnastics and More. The address is 1255 Johnson Ferry Road #27m Marietta, GA. The studio says belly dancing is fun and great exercise for women of all ages and sizes.
On Friday and Saturday, April 24th and 25th, Lenox Square having a series of fashion shows and promotions. The Fashion Now event is sponsored by LG, Coca Cola and Caress skincare products. Sponsors and some mall stores will have sample product giveways and coupons.
Dogswell Dog Food is offering a freebie to anyone who is unemployed or having trouble making ends meet. The company is giving away 10,000 bags of dog food from now until May 15th. Dogswell is calling the promotion a Bow Wow Bailout.
To get the freebie you have to register at www.dogswell.com. `
Sunday April 26th is National Pretzel Day. Participating Pretzelmaker and Pretzeltime stores in metro Atlanta malls will be celebrating by handing out free pretzels. The stores are located at Phipps Plaza, Northlake and The Mall at Stonecrest.
KFC wants customers to know there is now KGC (Kentucky Grilled Chicken) Participating stores will hand out samples of the new Kentucky Grilled Chicken made from a new secret recipe on Monday, April 27th.
.
Carvel ice cream is celebrating its 75the anniversary Thursday with a free eight ounce Iceberg from 3-7 pm. The Iceberg is a
mixture of ice cream and either orange soda or root beer.
For the kids, Michael’s craft stores will have free Mother’s Day crafting classes May 2nd through 10th. Although the classes are free, some of them require a few dollars for supplies.
A Marietta dance studio is offering a free Belly Dancing class. Students must preregister at sanamstudios.com for the introductory class, which will take place from 7 to eight thirty p.m on May 6th at Peachtree Gymnastics and More. The address is 1255 Johnson Ferry Road #27m Marietta, GA. The studio says belly dancing is fun and great exercise for women of all ages and sizes.
On Friday and Saturday, April 24th and 25th, Lenox Square having a series of fashion shows and promotions. The Fashion Now event is sponsored by LG, Coca Cola and Caress skincare products. Sponsors and some mall stores will have sample product giveways and coupons.
If you are having trouble getting to the weight loss sample pack go to the above website and scroll down a couple of entries. (Lots of other good stuff too but too many pesky sample sized things that are not worth the time.)
Btw if you are also on the weight loss bandwagon ALLI is on sale at Walgreen’s this week. There is a 10.00 off coupon in the store sale flyer (when you walk in the store) and you can get another 10.00 off by registering on the ALLI website. Just make sure you buy more than 1 item at WG’s or the register will not accept two coupons.
I’ve heard mixed reviews about ALLI .. all I’m sayin’ is ..it ON SALE!
If you have a meat eating family, you have until Wednesday night to stock up on two great deals at Publix (no coupons required)
London Broil is 2.99 lb. Freeze some for super frugal summertime grilling. (be sure to marinate..yum)
Whole Chicken .79 lb. Doesn’t get much lower than that!
These deals come around from time to time so don’t worry if you miss it, just an fyi.
(The chicken, especially is a frequent thing)
We are shooting an organic shopping story this Wednesday !
Spicy Tomato Meat Sauce over Rigatoni
1 Tbsp Olive oil
½ yellow onion, diced
2 – 3 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
1 Zucchini – chopped
2 Yellow Squash – chopped
salt and pepper to taste
1 – 28oz can whole tomatoes
½ cup black olives, halved
crushed red pepper to taste
Italian herb blend to taste, approx 1 Tbsp
1 lb ground beef
1. In a sauté pan, brown the ground beef over medium heat, our onto a paper towel covered plate to drain.
2. Heat a saucepan slightly over medium heat and add the olive oil. When hot, add the onion, zucchini, yellow squash and garlic. Season with Italian herb blend, salt and pepper and cook until tender.
3. Add the ground beef to the sauce pan.
4. Roughly chop the tomatoes and add them to the sauce pan. Bring to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes.
5. Add the olives and red pepper cook for another 5 minutes. Taste for flavor and season.
Pasta-
1. While the sauce is cooking, prepare the pasta according to the directions on the box.
2. Place pasta in a bowl and ladle over the top.
3. Serve immediately.
Tilapia in Parchment with a Citrus Reduction Sauce
1 Carrot sliced on the diagonal
½ Green Bell Pepper, julienned
½ Red Onion, sliced
2 Zucchini Squash, sliced
2 – 3 Yellow Squash, sliced
1 lb bag white rice
Tilapia, 4 filets, approx 1/2” thick slices
Parchment Paper
Salt and Pepper to taste
2 Tbsp unsalted butter
1. Preheat oven to 500*F.
2. Start with four rectangles of parchment paper, approx 18” long.
3. Lightly butter the parchment paper in the middle and along the top edge lengthwise (this will help with folding).
4. Place a bed of zucchini squash in a thin layer in middle of each paper on top of the butter. Place a tilapia filet on top of each layer of zucchini being careful not to overlap pieces. Sprinkle the fish with salt and pepper.
5. Scatter the remaining vegetables on top of each filet. Sprinkle a little more salt and pepper on the vegetables.
6. Wrap the parchment by pulling the bottom edge up to the top edge above the fish and veg. The butter should hold these two pieces together. Roll the top down about ½” then roll over again and a final time onto the top of the fish and veg. Be sure not to roll this too tightly. For each end, fold the corners over into triangles, one on top of the other then turn them under twice to lock the bag closed.
7. Place the parchment bags onto a jelly roll pan, not overlapping, and bake for 10 minutes or until the liquid in the bag is boiling.
8. Serve immediately with a side of rice.
Citrus Reduction Sauce
½ cup white wine
3 Tbsp yellow onion chopped
Juice of ½ orange
Juice of ½ lemon
Juice of ½ lime
¼ cup heavy cream
¼ – 1 lb butter
salt and honey to taste
1. In a saucepan, reduce the onions, white wine and citrus over med-high heat by 2/3rds.
2. Add cream and reduce again by 2/3rds.
3. Cut butter into 1” pieces. Turn heat on low and slowly whisk butter into reduction. When all is incorporated, finish with salt and honey to taste. Serve immediately.
Note: ¼ lb butter is ample for four parchment but the reduction can hold more butter if you like more sauce.
For the second week in a row, a Metro Atlanta Ice Cream shop is giving out free scoops. On Tuesday, April 21st, Ben and Jerry’s will thank its customers for 31 years of patronage with a free ice cream cone for anyone who walks in the door from noon to 8pm. The store is at 800 Highland Avenue in Virginia Highland.
After you eat it, slim down with a free Slim Down Sample packet from qualityhealth.com. The sample kit includes vitamins, green tea and low fat cereals.
Seeking a safe tan? You can get a free sample of Jergens glow from Wal-Mart at walmart.com
There are two Earth Day specials as well. On Sunday April 19th, Home Depot is giving away a million compact fluorescent light bulbs, which use 75 percent less energy than incandescent bulbs. CFLs normally cost around $5.00. Each customer will get one bulb while supplies last.
On Wednesday, which is Earth Day, Disney stores are offering a free gift to anyone who brings in three plastic bottles to recycle.
By the way, the Dogwood Festival is free although you can make a donation if you’d like. And if allergies are keeping you indoors, Bloomindale’s and Dillard’s are having HUGE clearance sales.
And also there’s a HUGE Consignment Sale in Conyers at the International Horse Park. Go to tykestotsteens.com
Have a great weekend!
I got stuff! Check out the swag the kids from AMCA in Alpharetta sent me: dog biscuits and tennis balls, and even better, enough to share with Mandy (my sister, who you may have heard of).
Me, with my stuff from the kids at AMCA in Alpharetta.
Now that the weather’s getting warmer, it’s more fun to do stuff outside, and last night I got to be on TV again and be outside at the same time, which was pretty awesome. Me, Dad, and Dennis were out in the little garden spot outside 11Alive. Dennis talked about dogs who bark too much.
He wasn’t talking about me. Really.
If you forgot to watch or DVR me on TV last night, you can watch it right here:
See you soon!
Hey All!
I did a recent story on local bloggers who are helping all of us save money, and I have a couple more to add to the list of ones that are worth reading.
Southerncouponbell.com is the brainchild of Traci Rogers of Cherokee County. Traci is a great couponer and bargain shopper and her blog is informative and also cute!
Traci is part of a class on Saving Money that will be held April 15th at Hamilton Mill United Methodist Church from 6:30 to 8:15 PM.
A 10.00 donation to the Church’s Moms of Preschoolers group is requested from those who attend. For more information check out traci’s blog.
You can also go the Church’s Website for info http://www.hmumc.org/events.aspx?id=39
Also Michelle Atwood, who gained fame on 11Alive last year when she bought a huge cart of groceries for A QUARTER is putting her talents to use in a brand new blog. This one focuses on Publix and how to maximize your savings there. http://www.iheartpublix.com/
Michelle NEVER misses a deal, and she does her deals with two small boys in tow!!
One other GREAT blog is not local but sure is helpful: http://neverpayretailagain.blogspot.com/
And btw, if you were wondering how long a sealed bag of Mini M and M’s will last inside a little plastic Easter egg, I am here to tell you At Least a Year if it stored in the Basement with Easter Decorations. As we were putting treats in eggs last night, D and I came across several eggs that were still full of last year’s loot. He was the guinea pig.. said they were fine.
Not recommending.. just sharing, for what it’s worth.
There was a small bit of collateral damage from our wall to wall Severe Weather Coverage: No Friday Freebies (at least not on TV)
Some of the elements did not get photographed, and the newscast had very little time (even for freebies??!!) because of weather coverage.
The GOOD NEWS is there is Free Stuff out there this week:
There is such a thing as a free lunch again this week!! Metromix.com has another Tuesday free lunch special.
The first 50 people in the door at KC Pitt Barbecue at 6317 Roswell road in Sandy Springs on April 14th get a free lunch as long as they mention Metromix. For more information call KC Pitt BBQ
At (404) 459-6497.
Cinnebon is offering a sweet deal as well. Participating Cinnebon stores in local malls are giving away free classic bites cinnamon rolls on Tax Day, April 15th.
Rite Aid pharmacies are offering a free one month supply of more than 300 commonly prescribed maintenance generic drugs when you sign up for the Rite Aid prescription savings card.
And Kroger has a freebie as well. If you register on Kroger.com you can design a recyclable shopping bag as part of a contest Kroger is holding. Enter your Kroger plus card number and your next purchase will include a free Kroger recyclable shopping bag.
Local farm markets are reopening now that spring is here. The Peachtree Road Farmer’s market features organic produce and locally made goods. On the second Saturday of each month there is also a free cooking demonstration from a local chef.
And one more tax day special. On April 15th, Maggie Moo’s Ice Cream in Dunwoody is offering an e-CONE-omic stimulus package: a free scoop of ice cream for everyone who comes in the door.
For updates on local freebies and ways to save money, follow Valuesval on Twitter.
You think pollen bothers your sinuses? Y’know what it did when I rolled around outside and it got all in my fur?
Let me give you a little hint:
A spray bottle? Really?
Yep. I needed a BATH. Big-time. As you can see, I wasn’t too thrilled. I guess the washing was okay, but is this the face of a happy dog at the drying station?
This is my nonplussed face.
Dad says that if I roll around outside in the pollen and the dirt, this is what I have to expect. I’m not sure if I like water yet — I was talking to Dad’s friend Josh from 11Alive, and Josh said his golden, when he was a kid, was afraid to go swimming. It’s an option.
That’s really the most exciting thing that’s happened to me lately. I know some of you have been asking where I’ve been; well, with everything going on at home and Dad taking a few days off work, I haven’t been able to get to the station. Don’t worry; I’m still here. Not sure if Dad will be able to bring me by next week, but we’ll see.
Oh, and one more thing: check out this hilarious video I found on YouTube. This dog really loves baths, huh?
A recent 11Alive News report on email and work at home scams has generated a lot of email from viewers who want to share similar fraudulent emails they have received.
Many viewers report they have been contacted by a Secret Shopper company that asks them to shop for merchandise and rate customer service after receiving a cashier’s check in the mail.
They are then asked to wire the remainder back to the company. The original check turns out to be counterfeit.
Another email circulating is from an organization calling itself Google Money Tree. The email claims you can make 100 thousand dollars in just a few months after you order a kit that tells you how. Consumers are required to provide a credit card number to pay for shipping, but dozens have complained to authorities that their cards were charged more than $70.00.
Another recent email tugs at the heartstrings of pet lovers.
The sender claims to be an American missionary in Africa who needs someone to adopt his two teacup Yorkshire terriers.
It goes on to say he will split the cost of shipping with you as soon as he finds out how much it will be.
Posters on fraudwatchers.org say they were asked to wire the person money and never got the Yorkies.
Fraudwatchers.org has lists of scams and questionable emails. Consumer can also complain to the FBI and the Federal Trade Commission.
The sky high price of concert tickets has a lot of people grumbling, but two Atlanta men are actually DOING something about it.
Iain Bluett and Jamie Dwyer started Ticket Alternative 7 years ago and now employ around 20 people at their Midtown Loft Office.
Bluett told me he has always been a music buff who loved going to concerts but he found himself annoyed about the Convenience Charge that’s added to the price of a typical Ticketmaster Ticket. He said they can be as high as 40 percent!
Bluett and Dwyer approached some of Atlanta’s smaller concert venues, (2000 or fewer seats) and began promoting and issuing tickerts for them. They’ve now grown into a good sized company that operates in 48 starts and holds the contract for some big events like Taste of Atlanta. “Our surcharge, is at the most, 10 percent,” said Bluett.
As the company keeps growing, more concerts will cost less. (And of course New Job Creation is always a good thing as well..)
My series “Keeping the Faith” has popped up in our “most read”, “most commented”, and “most watched” categories on 11Alive.com. It’s the online “trifecta” for news at 11 Alive (at least among the web geeks… and me). Obviously, some of the comments will be negative. In response to Tuesday’s story, I received a viewer e-mail that read:
I was sickened by your “Faith-Based” story this morning concerning the way that muslims are directed by the koran to live within their means. Your reporter actually quoted chapter and verse from the koran. You have never done the same with Christianity and the Bible. You have turned away from the majority of believers that have supported your station in favor of highlighting a minority cult. Shame on you. I’ll find another station to watch.
I sent this viewer the following response:
This morning’s story focusing on an Islamic Mosque in Alpharetta is part of a series all this week called “Keeping the Faith”. We’re looking at how various religious organizations are responding to the economic slowdown, including specific religious teachings that influence the way they spend money.
Of the five part series, two of them are Christian churches (Baptist and Methodist), one is Muslim, one is Jewish, and the fifth is a wide-view that will include all of the above.
Monday’s story focused on a Baptist church in Atlanta. The pastor cited Jesus as his example. I did not cite a specific text in that because the pastor did not; he instead talked about Jesus’ overall example. In that story, I clearly referred to both God and Jesus, because that’s what drives Pastor Eddie Love to do what he does for his community.
Also, Thursday’s story will focus on a mission in one of Georgia’s hardest hit areas, Rome. It is supported by the United Methodist Church. The volunteers there DO quote a specific text in the Bible, and so that text will be included in my story.
I agree that the majority of our viewers are Christian. It’s one reason we’ve devoted more time to Christian organizations than any other in this week’s series. In your e-mail you wrote: “You have turned away from the majority of believers that have supported your station in favor of highlighting a minority cult.”
I don’t believe we’ve “turned away” from our Christian viewers since the positive feedback I’ve received this morning has come from Christian and non-Christian viewers alike.
Also, my research suggests characterizing Islam as “a minority” is incorrect. According to a 2005 Encyclopedia Britannica survey, 33% of the world’s population is Christian; 20% is Muslim (the second largest religion).
Robert, thank you for e-mailing us. Your e-mail implies a sense of passion for God that I admire and respect. In that same way, I respect the beliefs of our entire community, including those that hold views different from my own.
Instead of the shame you suggest I feel; I am proud. Proud of the amazing things our churches, synagogues, and mosques are doing to help people through this time (including those from other faiths). Proud I get to share their stories, and proud I work at a station that allows me to do it.