Barking Mad

Because in MY World, Caffeine is a MUST...The Keurig Giveaway

12:00AM 8/2/09
COMMENTS & ENTRIES FOR THIS CONTEST ARE NOW CLOSED
PLEASE CHECK BACK IN THE MORNING FOR A POST
ANNOUNCING THE WINNER!
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Here at the Barking Mad Asylum, we have sadly learned our lesson about using everyday coffee pots.  They don't work for this family.  Not unless that is, we've been invaded by hordes of visiting relatives who demand coffee at the butt-crack of dawn, thereby necessitating a full pot of coffee be brewed by no later than 5:35AM!

However, our relatives are smart (or we like to say they are anyhow) and only visit, on average, once a year.   What's the point of owning a big ass coffee pot when it's only going to get used once a year?  I've gotta be honest, the other times when I've brewed a pot of coffee for just the hubby and I (We haven't started insisting that the little Imp drink coffee yet.  We simply don't work her that hard to insist she be able to stay up 18 out of 24 hours in order to get her chores done...yet. I jest, I jest! Don't call CPS on me!), we each have a cup and I forget about it and a month later when we're all sitting around the breakfast table wondering just what the hell that horrid smell is? Eventually I discover that the coffee pot has been left sitting there for ages with a nearly full pot, and grounds that are now colonizing and threatening to overtake my kitchen.  I would sigh as I held my nose, gagged, and then cleaned out the entire coffee maker.  Wouldn't it be nice if I could just make a single cup of coffee at a time?

For the past several months, our lovely stainless steel coffee pot (the one I insisted we had to have, no less!), has served little more purpose than to accessorize with the other stainless steel appliances.  Back in October of last year I was at my doctor's office when I noticed this thing that had replaced the coffee pot used to provide complimentary sustenance to those in the waiting room.  I was immediately drawn to it it's sleek design, pretty blue lights and stainless steel exterior.  I noticed the little cups beside it that reminded me of the ramekins of salad dressing one gets with a to-go salad at our local deli, except in these tiny sealed cups there existed several different varieties of coffees and hot cocos.  These were the K-cups.  The cute little K-cups made it possible to brew a single, gorgeous, hot, cup of coffee at a time.  Ahhhhh.  I was in love.

Thus I was introduced to the Keurig.  It was love at first sight and I knew I must have one in my kitchen. 

More than 6 months later, I finally have my own.  The hubby got tired of me moaning and groaning about wanting to have one and drooling over the one in the doctor's office; the one I fondle visit weekly and act as if it's my not-so-secret lover !  I received it for my "unbirthday" in May.  The ironic thing about it?  It's still in the damn box.   We were still in the midst of our kitchen remodel when dearest bought it for me and there was no damn way I was going to let anything happen to my Keurig.  This weekend I'm going to remedy that.

Here I sit, months later, after discovering the awesomeness of the single-cup brewing system, bound and determined to turn everyone I know into a Keurigite.  What better way to do it than by giving one of them away? 

Want one?  You know you do.  Well then how convenient is it that I am going to give a Keurig Platinum Brewing System away?!?!  But that's not all.  You also get a three-month supply of K-cups and a $50 VISA gift card.

I bet you're sitting there wondering what you have to do to enter for a chance to win one.  I'm going to tell you. 

First, here is the fine print, because I believe in getting the ugly details out of the way ASAP!

THE FINE PRINT - Valid only to U.S. residents (sorry my luvlies elsewhere, I couldn't manage to snag one that might have worked with other electrical set ups in other countries).   Void where prohibited...which really is just my fancy way of saying that if I've had sex with you,  you gave birth to me, if I gave birth to you,  if you are a sibling (rivalrous or not), or in any, way, shape, or form related to me, nanny nanny boo boo, you can't enter the contest. This contest has in no way been sponsored by any vendor, nor have any products been given to me in exchange for monies or reviews.

Contest Rules

• Keurig giveaway begins TODAY and ends at 11:59PM Saturday August 1, 2009.  Yeah, you have a while on this one.

            You have a chance to earn ONE entry  each by doing the following:

• Leave me a comment on this post.

•  Tweet about this contest and include a link to this post as well as @Barking_Mad in the body of       your tweet.  Come back and leave me a comment on this post letting me know you did.

• Subscribe to Barking Mad! via the little buttons on the sidebar over there ----> Then leave me a       comment on this post letting me know that you subscribed.
• Follow me on Twitter.

            You have a chance to earn THREE extra entries by doing the following:

• Blog about this contest and then come back to this entry and leave me a comment with the URL     to that post.  In your blog post, you must link to this original post.

            You have a chance to earn FIVE extra entries by doing the following:

• Write a blog post about your favourite charity/humanitarian organization/non profit group and       why it's so near and dear to your heart. Once you've posted, come back here and link up in the Mr. Linky that will (I hope!) appear at the bottom of this post.  That Mr. Linky entry is the key to your FIVE contest entries.  No where in the body of your post do you have to mention this contest.

Combined, you could earn a possible TWELVE entries.

You don't have to do ALL of the above.  The more you do, the more chances you have to enter to win.

Lastly, for every comment left on this post, the Barking Mad family will donate a certain amount (per comment) to a charity, to be named later.   Of course, I'm going to be watching the comments like a hawk, so don't spam me! 

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to email me; iambarkingmad@gmail.com

Good luck!

A Rat, Some Cats, and a Keurig...Two of Which Need New Homes, Can You Guess Which Two?

Once upon a time in a little northeastern New England state there lived an obstreperous 19 year old named Megawatt.  She lived with her mother, step-father, a tiny innocent little sister and four cats.  They all lived quite happily until one day Megawatt did the unthinkable and brought home something with a tail.  Not just any tail mind you.  

Had it been a nice fluffy tail attached to a purrfect little kitty cat, her mother might not have had a heartastroke. 

Had it been a furry, huge tail attached to behemoth of a Newfie, her mother might not now be drooling all over herself and muttering, "Get it off me, please just get it off me!"

Had it been a smooth velvety tail attached to the latest Gund stuffed animal, her mother might not now need Xanax by the bucketfull and be humming the tune, "Ben."

Warning, this video borders on eRATica!  

Did you watch the video and get a tiny taste of what I'm talking about?  No?  Here then, let me help you out with a little visual aid!

I walked into the front room, plopped down on the sofa and before me, on my lovely coffee table, just to the left of my magazine from Cape Cod, is a tail...a tail belonging to an evil denizen of HELL!

 

What was that I heard from way back in the peanut gallery?  "Oh what a cute little mouse tail!"

Have you lost your bloody mind?  That's not a mouse tail!  That tail belongs to nothing that could even remotely be called "cute." 

That tail belongs to this...

 

Oh and for my luvlies out there that think I needed to turn the "red eye" detect on?  It was on.  The evil rat's eyes were actually that awful colour!  Do you need any other sign that this vermin belongs in hell?

It appears my oldest daughter has a death-wish of sorts.  You all remember her lovely little gift to me last summer don't you?  Here, scroll to the bottom of this post for a refresher.

Here we have the nasty little gutter dweller crawling on Megawatt, whilst I sat on the sofa with my knees curled under me, drooling on my camera...

 

That filthy, dirty creature looks like it's trying to find something to nurse on! EVIL!

With a smile on her face and a sinister wink of her eye, Megawatt told me that she'd even gotten a "toy" for her "Dumbo Rat" whom she had named, "Nifty."  Personally, I didn't find anything "nifty" about the rat, or the toy.  But alas m'dears, Geronimo and Godiva did!

Geronimo and Godiva think that Nifty is...well, pretty damned nifty!

 

 

Griffy decides to see what all the commotion is about...

 

Despite my better judgment, I had been standing there snapping away with the camera, (somehow, with the camera between me and the rat, I felt safer!) when Megawatt did the unthinkable.  She introduced Nifty to the Little Imp.  Before I could launch myself forward and throw my camera at Megawatt and the rat, this happened...

 

My freshly bathed, sweet smelling, innocent little 3 year old bent down and KISSED THAT EVIL RAT!  Oh yes she did!  I immediately washed her face and scrubbed her lips all the while the Little Imp is asking me if she can sleep with Nifty.

Once I'd washed down two baby aspirin with a huge Coke, and given Megawatt a look that would have sent the saltiest of sailors running for their lives; the hubby and I put the Little Imp down for the night.  After she was tucked into her nice comfy bed with admonitions that there would be no pet rats for her, or anyone here at the asylum (Yes, I do know that rats and asylums tend to go hand in hand, but alas, that's only where Bela Lugosi and Bram Stoker are concerned!), I went into my bedroom and started plotting my oldest daughter's demise.

If you happen to see a milk carton with Megawatt's likeness on it, just keep on walkin' by! 

I'll be here at home, safe in the knowledge that four cats I know are enjoying a nice appetizer of rat tartare.

________________________

I thought about combining my kick-ass Keurig (the Platinum Brewing System with a 3-month supply of K-cups and a $50 VISA gift card) giveaway with a rat giveaway, but I love you, my darling readers, far too much to put you through that.  Be sure and come back tomorrow afternoon for details on how you can enter to win this awesome coffee maker.

Until then, I'm going to load up the shotgun (or perhaps I should load the Bazooka...I want to make sure I kill the rat should it get into our bedroom.), take another Xanax and try not to have nightmares of rats...

She's Giving Me a Run for My Money!

The Little Imp rolled out of bed Friday morning, walked into my bedroom, and amidst rubbing her eyes and admonishing me for my lack of housekeeping skills (looking at the piles of clothing all over her mumma and daddy's bedroom!) and told me she wanted to do something "especially fun today!" 

So I asked her what she had in mind and she told me that she wanted to "take some pitchers!"

Now, having just had a massive catastrophe along the lines of the sinking of the Titanic when it comes to one of my new lenses I just purchased, (I dropped it on the hard concrete...a brand new Sigma 25-85 lens...kerplop!  I cried!) I wasn't about to let her take the reigns of my new camera or even my older DSLR.  I told her she could use the point and shoot and have a go with it. It's a new Canon PnS... not bad for a  3 year old shutterbug to cut her teeth on!

The first thing she wanted to do was take a picture of herself.  Any good photographer has a cheesy self-portrait somewhere and the Little Imp might as well get hers out of the way.  With a little help from me, she managed to pop one off!

 

Look at that!  She even has the Rule of Thirds down, already!   

Next on the Little Imp's list of things she wanted to shoot was our little coco Goddness, Godiva.  I told her that she probably wouldn't be able to get the little diva to hold still, as I hadn't had any luck lately but to give it her best shot! 

Throughout most of the day and into the evening she could be seen creeping around the house, shooting whatever caught her eye.  Most of the time, the object of her attention was the cats.

I haven't done anything to these photos except try and sharpen them a tiny bit and attempt to correct the exposure issues...the rest is all purely the photographic genius that is the Little Imp!  Not bad for 3 years old! 

Out of all of the pics she took, this one is my favourite!  Here's my beautiful boy, Geronimo. I was afraid it wasn't going to come out because Imp was messing with the zoom, but lo and behold, it's a great shot!

 

She caught some cute moments between our tiny coco Goddess, Godiva, and Geronimo...

 

 

The Little Imp decided to show me up and actually got two very good shots of Godiva holding still. Incredible!

This next one I did actually crop...my fat foot was all too visible in the side of the shot.  Believe me, you'd thank me for getting rid of it!

Suffice it to say, I'm clearly proud of my budding shutterbug, if not a tad envious.   I guess this means I better step-up my game if I'm going to make something of my own burgeoning love of photography before the Little Imp surpasses me and publishes her own calender of cat photos by the time she's 5!