Bob Evans Review & Giveaway

Living in Minnesota I don’t always get to visit yummy restaurants such as Bob Evans. The only time we get to go is when we drive out of state and visit my mom in Virginia.

I was sent a great kit from Bob Evans to learn more about their Fit from the Farm meals. I’ll fess up, my favorite item at Bob Evans is their Smiley Face Potatoes from the kids menu. Guilty pleasure.

I suggested to my folks while we were visiting them if we could go out to dinner at Bob Evans. They were more than happy to go because they like Bob Evans. We got there around 7:30pm with 7 of us in tow.

The waitress seemed a bit frazzled. Maybe it was because we’d just gotten done with the holiday weekend, I don’t know. I ordered the Grilled Chicken Breast from the Fit from the Farm ^® menu. The rest of the family decided to go with their usual choices.Oh my goodness, this was a de-lish meal! I ate every single morsel. The chicken had a wonderful seasoning on it so I didn’t feel like I was missing anything without a gravy or sauce to go with it. I had a huge serving of broccoli that I scarfed and I ate the entire potato, skin and all. My plate was clean when I finished. I would absolutely order that meal again.Doodle unfortunately didn’t get exactly what he ordered. He got the pancakes with chocolate chips but they just piled the chips on top and then flipped them to burn them to the pancake. Kind of a bummer so I sent them back.

My brother M asked for an omelet (can’t remember which one) but it didn’t come at all like it was described. He was embarrassed by the attention being focused on him so he just kept asking us to leave it alone.Dessert came and M wanted to get something so my boys chimed in. Unfortunately, the waitress came back with desserts only for my boys and not my brother.

On to our drive home. I decided that instead of actually eating at the restaurant, we’d use their Carry Out option. So, I used my Droid2 to look up a location about an hour ahead of our drive. I called when we were about 10 minutes from the restaurant.

I have to tell you, Tommy was such a kind and helpful guy. I had no idea where I was going and he got us to his restaurant without issue.

This time I decided to order the Chicken, Spinach and Tomato Pasta. I love all three of those items and combined together sounded delicious!All of our food came up at different times so by the time I left some of the food was cold. My pasta came without the chicken. They said they had given me catsup and syrup (for my kids) but that wasn’t in the bags. Thankfully I know better than to drive away without checking so I had to run back inside a couple of times to get the needed items.

That being said, the service at this restaurant was phenomenal and the food, at least mine, was scrumptious and again I ate every single bite.

No photo because we were on the road and I didn’t know where my camera was. Sorry.

Here’s your opportunity to win a FREE Fit From the Farm Meal Of Your Choice.

Required: Visit Bob Evans and tell me which Fit From the Farm menu item sounds yummy. (you can also look under the Lunch & Dinner links on the left side for more options)

Giveaway open to US Residents 18 yrs or older. Please leave your email in the required entry or have it available in your profile. No email/contact = No entry. Giveaway ends 1/21/11 at 11:59 PST. Winner has 48 hours to respond.

Extra Entries:

I’d like to thank Blog Friendly PR for connecting me with Bob Evans. I was provided 3 free meals, one of which I am passing on to you. It expires on 2/28/11 so be sure to use it ASAP! The opinion expressed is mine and never influenced by the company.

Two Blogs Or One? That Is The Question

Ok, so since March of last year I’ve had two blogs. This one and Woven by Words.

Why have I had two blogs? Because I figured people would prefer to not read my personal stuff, mostly at the time my Christian book reviews, along with my product reviews. I had the bright idea to create a second site specifically for giveaways.

Now I’m struggling wondering if I made the right choice. I have to keep up both sites, which might not seem to be that big of a deal to the average Jane, but for me it’s just not that easy. I’m distracted by both sites and feel like I get nothing accomplished.

Ugh, if I combine both sites anyone who wants to read just my reviews and giveaways will have to deal with my personal stuff and Christian diatribe (which I don’t know the last time I went on and on about my faith).

Then, the biggest issue (which has multiple parts) is doing away with my Marvelous Mom Reviews site. Sigh…This is such a quandary. Has anyone combined or separated their blogs and have an opinion for me?

I could really use some advice.

Who knows, maybe a year from now I’ll still have two blogs and wondering what I should do. You need to know I’m wishy washy and have a hard time making decisions. Welcome to my life!

*posted originally on Woven by Words with a few edits to fit MMR

Handmade With Love Winter Giveaway Upcoming Blog Hop

Alrighty people! Remember at the beginning of December that fabulous Holiday blog hop I was part of with Simply Stacie and her posse? Well, they’re at it again. This time they’re doing a blog hop featuring products that have been handmade.

I’ve decided to join in, but I don’t really know anyone who does homemade anything, especially online.

That’s where I need your help! Do you make homemade products? Do you know someone who is looking for some expos

 ure for their items? Know anyone on Etsy I could contact?

If you would like to be featured or know someone who would, make sure you leave a comment letting me know how to contact you.

The blog hop will be February 2nd and ends February 6th. So make sure you keep an eye out for the post! I hope to have some great products to giveaway!

Hip Hip Hurray Giveaway Linky

Here are a couple of my current giveaways:

Purex Free Softener 3 Winners 1/17

$50 Tiny Prints Gift Certificate 1/6
To add your giveaway linky you must link to your giveaway not to your homepage! It will be deleted if it doesn’t. Spam will go as well. If you believe I’ve deleted your linky by accident, please let me know.

Exergen Temporal Scanner Contest

New episodes of Grey’s Anatomy* return this Thursday! That means more chances to win an Exergen TemporalScanner!

If you missed spotting the scanner in the last new episode of Grey’s Anatomy, don’t worry! BONUS – For every new episode which doesn’t show the professional model (shown below) of the Exergen TemporalScanner, 5 subsequent thermometer prizes will be added to the next new airing. Once a new episode featuring the TemporalScanner runs, prizes will be re-set to 5 once again. That means 10 people will win a home model if the thermometer is shown this Thursday.

If you can be one of the first ten people to “Spot the Scanner” in this week’s episode and email your name, address, time and the specific doctor who was using it, you could win! Don’t worry if the scanner doesn’t appear in every new episode, the contest runs throughout the rest of the season!

Email: SpotTheScanner@Exergen.com
For official contest rules please visit: http://exergen.com/spotthescanner/

*this contest is not affiliated with or sponsored by ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy
I did not recieve any compensation for this post.

I’m a Purex Insider & 3 Winners!

I was in Virginia, or heading in that direction when I found out I’d become one of the newest Purex Insiders! I was excited, but I was bummed because I knew my Starter Kit was going to show up to my house while I was gone.
So, the day after we got home it was time to get the suitcases full of laundry done. I did mine first because I had to work and the boys had clean clothing. I decided to use the new Purex Complete Crystals Softener.
I had this adorable little bottle that was also sent to the editors as O Magazine, Real Simple, Family Circle and other publications! AHHH And it was in my grubby little hands! I opened that bottle and it was a heavenly fragrance.
I was so excited to see how my laundry did with these new Crystals. I’ve only known softener that either goes in your dryer or you have to add at some point in the wash cycle (totally not for me!). With Purex Complete Crystals, you add them right away in the washer!When I was switching the my hand washables I smelled the clothing. That is, I smelled each piece of clothing as I put it in the dryer or laid it out to dry. I think someone would’ve thought I was nuts, but they smelled so good! Then after I took them out of the dryer they still smelled so fresh and my sweaters were SO soft. Not even kidding. And yes, I smelled each one as I took them out.
I am so excited to use these crystals with my towels because they won’t take away the absorbency that I so adore! Apparently traditional liquid fabric softener coats towels and prevents them from absorbing moisture from the body and dishes! Who knew?!
I can’t wait to go and get a full size bottle. I’m going to head to the store and smell each of the bottles to see if I want the same fragrance or a new one!
Ok, now for your chance to win…Required: Tell me how you soften your clothing currently
Giveaway open to US Residents 18 yrs or older. Please leave your email in the required entry or have it available in your profile. No email/contact = No entry. Giveaway ends 1/17/11 at 11:59 PST. Winner has 48 hours to respond.







I’d like to thank Purex for providing the product samples and giveaway coupons. The opinions expressed are my own and never influenced by the company.

Our Stay at Hampton Inn ~ Unsponsored

My trip out to VA was three days with 3 kids and 1 dog. I called Hilton to find out which of their properties in OH would take us with a dog.

Many of the places that accepted dogs wanted a $50 non-refundable deposit (OUCH!) or only took dogs under 25 pounds. I have a Border Collie mix and he’s more like 50 pounds, especially with the meds he’s on.

The gal from Hilton gave me the number of the Hampton Inn in Newcomerstown, OH. She said they accepted dogs but didn’t have any information about the rest. I gave them a call and reached Marilyn. She was so nice and helpful! She found a discount that fit my family and they took Rugby: no deposit and no size limit!I called while we were driving to make sure our room was still available and the gal I talked to wanted to make sure we were still stopping. Trust me, after the day we’d had we were stopping!

They were just off the freeway. When we arrived we were greeted well taken care of. Marilyn had set us up on the ground floor right next to the pool. She knew what questions to ask and how to help us feel at home. I was also happy to find out they provided breakfast the next morning.

We got to our room and I was so excited to see the comfy beds. I felt like I was getting into bed in a guest room at someone’s house, not at a hotel. The comforter…oh the comforter! You know how people are known for stealing robes from hotels? If it weren’t illegal I would’ve walked with that cozy comforter! LOL

My boys wanted to hit the pool immediately. So they changed and off we went. They had it to themselves. Buddy, 11, got into the pool and immediately said, “This is the best pool I’ve ever been in! You know how it takes me a long time to get into the pool? This is the best temperature ever!” How’s that for a review? Both my boys loved playing in the pool in the middle of winter!

Another perk about where our room was situated was the proximity to the outside. Rugby had a hard time going potty on our trip so Baby and I took him out numerous times. Finally at 4am he woke me up because he was ready to go. As we came around the back of the building there were 3 HUGE deer that took off! It was so cool.

Breakfast in the morning was spectacular! Oh my goodness, they’ve cornered the market with their topped bagels! It was a fully loaded breakfast with everything you can imagine.

There was a couple there I met who had been staying there for like 10 days because their house and burned down! It was their last day there and were going to temporary housing. They had gotten to know the people at the hotel and you could tell that they’d been well taken care of. They had their dog with them as well.

I want to thank the staff and anyone involved in our stay at the Hampton Inn in Newcomerstown, OH. It was probably the best hotel stay I’ve ever had!

This review is unsponsored. I paid for the room myself and was NOT compensated in any way.