It Was A Nice Sunny Day.

We had our Backyard BBQ yesterday and it was a blast.  We invited a bunch of people from all the different groups we are apart of.  We had 18 people come to enjoy the party with us.  One night I couldn't sleep so I stayed up planning decorations and such.  Once we received the party pack, I was excited to try out the products.  Lance even asked if we could use some of it early.

The party went well.  I grilled and enjoyed watching everyone talk and get to know each other.  We had put up umbrellas so no one got too hot with it being a nice sunny day.  We had a rustic theme to our decorations so we had mason jars for the flowers, drinks and ice cream.  We also had burlap looking table cloths.  And a picnic table.

I marinaded chicken the night before in Grill Mates Spice Brandy & Herb Marinade.  I really liked the flavor it gave the chicken.  While grilling I brushed them with Grill Mates Brown Sugar Bourbon BBQ Sauce.  I really like sweet BBQ sauce and it was perfect.  I grill burgers and sprinkled them with Grill Mates Molasses Bacon Seasoning Blend and Grill Mates Steak Seasoning Blend.  I didn't tasted the Steak Seasoning Blend, but the Molasses Bacon Seasoning blend smelled wonderful and tasted even better.

I will definitely buy more Grill Mates products in the future. I especially liked the Spiced Brandy & Herb Marinade.

Excited & Tired

Tomorrow is our McCormick Grill Mates party. I'm excited and tired. I have most everything ready, just a few details like painting my toenails. It looks like we have a good group of people coming. I hope we all fit in my tiny yard.

Lance built me garden boxes and a strawberry box. They are nice added touches to our yard that is beginning to look good. Most of the weeds are gone and the dead spots are getting smaller.
Hopefully next week I can get some of the garden planted.

It All Looks Yummy

We received our party pack from Crowdtap & McCormick yesterday.  It all looks yummy.  I might have to rethink the burgers and dogs.  There is a marinade I might just have to try out.  Lance wanted to use the BBQ sauce last night on our burgers.  I am excited to have everyone over.  We've invited about 25 people and so far 10 people said they can come and 4 are maybe's.


In the party pack was a party guide.  It was telling how to get an excellent party report.  One of the things that you can do to help your report is to decorate.  I'm gonna have to come up with some ideas of how to decorate without spending much money.  I'm too frugal to spend much.  I did see some ideas on Pinterest using cowboy boots and flowers.  I would love for Lance to get an excellent report for this party (10,000 points) and I can dream about getting the top award (90,000 points).

Tomorrow is Lance's birthday and we aren't doing much because most everyone is out of town.  So I may throw in a birthday cake also.  Happy Birthday Lance!

Parties & Rewards.

Lance (my husband) recently joined Crowdtap.  He has done so well on it.  He has already earned two $10 Amazon gift cards, and last week he was chosen to host a McCormick Grill Mates party.  I am so excited!  I get to have another party.  I'm hoping it's as fantastic as I'm picturing in my head.  This is our first party from Crowdtap to host.

For this party, Crowdtap is sending us

• Party Booklet
• Grill Mates® Spiced Brandy & Herb Marinade
• Grill Mates® Slow and Low Memphis Pit BBQ Rub
• Grill Mates® Montreal Steak Seasoning Blend
• Grill Mates® Molasses Bacon Seasoning Blend
• Grill Mates® Brown Sugar Bourbon BBQ Sauce

Since I love to cook, I can wait to try out this stuff!  And Crowdtap rewards greatly for having the parties and reporting on it.  I'm excited to see how our party rates against other parties.  For an accepted report, Lance will get 4,000 points.  For an excellent report, he will get 10,000 points and for a Top Award, he will get 90,000 points!  90,000 points is 4 - $10 Amazon gift cards and halfway to another one.

I am just so excited!  We have been working on our yard for a few weeks.  And this gives us motivation to get the yard looking fabulous!  It's gonna be so nice to have friends and family over to just chill and enjoy time together.

You Get Points

Recently I've become obsessed with a website called Crowdtap.  I get "paid" to give my opinion on lots of different things.  I'm not sure how much influence my little voice has, but I've had fun sharing my thoughts.

The way Crowdtap works is they ask you questions and you get points for answering the questions.  They also give you websites to share with your friends.  Your friends rate the website and you get points.  They also have discussions and you get points for participating in them.  They recently have started giving us challenges. I haven't completed one yet, but have till Monday to finish one.  Basically, you get points and with the points you can redeem them for things such gift cards.  I usually redeem my points for Amazon gift cards.  I am hoping to earn enough to pay for all our gifts this year.

You also earn money for charities, but since they revamped the site I'm not sure how that works.  I need to read more on that.  I think Crowdtap has been my favorite way of earning extra money for our family.  If you'd like to join, the link is Crowdtap