Saving Money 102

I tripped upon a great website for discounted vitamins. The prices here are great and the shipping is really reasonable. This site is A2Z Discount Vitamins. It is a no frills site to be sure, but they have a good variety, in my opinion.

I have ordered some items and I will update you when they come in as to quality, etc.

So check them out and save some dough.

Jill's Dragon Con Do's and Don't's

For those who do not know what Dragon Con is..go here Dragon Con Web Site. I am an eternal member and this will be my 15 year, I think. So pulling from that experience I would like to share some do's and don't's for newbies and veterans alike.

Do take a bath every day. Even if you have to wash in the sink in the restroom by the Centennial Ballroom in the Hyatt. For pity's sake take a bath.

Don't be mad at me for wanting to take your picture if you are in a costume, look ridiculous, are doing something stupid or if you have any kind of homemade robot. People watching and photo snapping are a blast at Dragon Con, especially after midnight.

Do leave the hotel cleaning staff (your room maid) a tip. Especially if you have more than 4 people in your room. You are eating, sleeping, drinking, and conducting random science experiments in your room. Be glad the staff goes in the room at all, much less cleans it.

Don't try and squeeze two more people in a packed elevator. I am fat, you might be fat and those things have weight limits. If one person on the elevator is wearing wings, forget it.

Do be considerate of people with wheel chairs and crutches. I did two Dragon Con's on crutches so feel their pain. However a baby stroller sans baby, rolling suitcases or Non-Doctor Who themed robots do not gain you any sympathy with me.

No I DON'T care about your cell phone conversation. Stop screaming into the bloody thing. GO outside if you can't hear or can't get a signal.

Do keep your adult themed activities confined to your hotel room. Walking in on your naked bodies laced together in a track room damages my calm. OH and I will take your picture and post it on the internet and send it to the local news station.

Don't make the media guests suffer needlessly with your fan girl/boy squeeing for more than 2 minutes. Be polite and thank them for attending the convention. Look behind you, those people standing on the tape in the line, they want an autograph too. Yeah...we do. Go away now.

Do remember to actually eat some food, sometime during the day, before you spend all night partying with the Klingon's or Browncoats or Capt. Jack Sparrow. Because the next day when you are hung over, I might just have to mock you.

Do get some kind of sleep. However sleeping in the hotel lobby, food court or hallway will get your picture posted on the internet.

The convention is so close now, we can already smell the con-body. I look forward seeing you there!

Homemade Pizza w/ GF Crust

Dave and I like making homemade pizza when Peachtree Natural Foods brought in a line of Gluten Free (GF) products that included pizza dough, I saw my chance to try a product and do a photo blog.

My ingredients are: One pizza crust dough from Gillian's Foods, Thin sliced pepperoni, tomato sauce, dried onions, basil, oregano, granulated garlic, Parmesan cheese and Italian cheese blend, One large round pizza stone.





Thaw the pizza dough and knead on a flour covered surface until the dough gets firm. The dough was very sticky but handled well. Roll out dough into a circle to fit your pan. I used a baking stone. Add your sauce and seasonings and some Parmesan Cheese.





Of course add the pepperoni. This brings up a discussion as to whether the pepperoni should be under the cheese or on top of the cheese. Well, My Momma made pizza with the pepperoni under the cheese. You tell her she is wrong.





Then add the cheese. I used two cups of reduced fat Italian cheese blend. I buy it when it is on sale and store it in my freezer.







Put your pizza is a 375 degree F oven. Since we baked ours on a stone, we baked it for 20 minutes. The directions on the dough said 15 minutes on a metal pan.





Enjoy Your Pizza!


Review: The pizza was yummy. The crust was actually a lot better than I had hoped. Many GF foods have what I call the "texture" issue. This however did not. I feel as if we had baked the pizza on a metal pan, the crust would have been more crispy. I am glad to report the crust was not soggy. Dave gave it a B- which is high praise for anything GF in our house. Over all very good, considering we usually make our own pizza dough.

Saving Money 101

Much like everyone these days, I enjoy saving money. However, I prefer to save money by making things myself. I have recently discovered how much cheaper it is to make your own seasoning mixes. For some dumb reason, I would buy a pre packaged seasoning mix but have all the individual ingredients to make that mix in my own cabinet. How weird.

It started by trying to make my own salt free Adobo seasoning. Basically a "house" seasoning mix or maybe with a Mexican flair.

I found a list on the internet and saved it off to my book marks. I turn here first when I want to recreate a seasoning mix. I highly recommend it.

Budget101.com

I wish I knew who to credit for the site! I use it a lot.

Harry Potter Card

With the late edition to the DC YAL track of James and Oliver Phelps, I made a Harry Potter themed card for the craft hour. Paper is by Moxie. Wizards from the Scrapbook Shoppe. Sand Glimmer Mist, Black stickles, Stamps from Close to my Heart

Dragon Con YAL 2010 Crafts

Please join the Young Adult Lit Track for our Craft Time. Here are your samples for the Con. I have planned a great Twi-Card Make and Take. There will be tons of supplies for you to make a card to show where you stand! Team Edward or Team Jacob.

Make your own Twi-Necklace! Simple like Bella or Fancy like Alice.

Dave's Temp Tattoo Shoppe will re-open this Convention.