…Or should I say CARBS!
(Some words just need to be in ALL CAPS and followed by an exclamation point!)

Not only is this week’s new thing something I love (BREAD), but it also involves two things I am very passionate about:  my city (Birmingham, AL) and real food (you know, ingredients that you can pronounce).

For years, I drove right past Big Sky Bread Company every day without stopping.  Sitting here, picking poppyseeds out of my teeth, I wonder why it took me standing in a Piggly Wiggly way across town to finally try it. 

After, literally, carrying two kids–one whiny, one rambunctious, both sleepy–through four prospective homes, they’d fallen asleep in their carseats.  We needed juice at home and I needed a treat.  HH stayed in the car with the sleeping kids, while I meandered through the aisles at the Pig and found myself staring at a bag of four large cookies.  I saw the price (over five dollars!!!) and almost walked away, but decided instead to read the ingredients:
                     Freshly Ground 100% Whole Wheat, Whole Oats,
                     Chocolate Chips, Pure Butter, Brown Sugar,
                     Water, Eggs, Molasses, Baking Powder, and Salt

Where were the “monoglutoids“?  (Ok that’s a made up word, but you get what I’m saying.) 

I had placed them in my basket, when a customer with questionable hair (sorry, it had to be said) walked up and grabbed a loaf of their Three Seed Bread.  She turned to me and said, “This is the best bread in the world.  I know it’s expensive, but it’s the only thing I buy now.”  There really isn’t a more ringing endorsement of a product than that of a random grocery store  patron (even one with questionable hair).  So, I placed a loaf of it my basket and headed to the checkout line (where I just about choked on my total bill). 

Once home, it took me about five seconds to decide that I would have toast for supper.  And after two bites, I was sold.  The Three Seed Bread made the best toast!  It was so good that it’s now gone.  I didn’t even get a chance to try a sandwich out of it.  Oh well, guess its off to the bakery to pick up some more.  Maybe this time I’ll try the Honey Whole Wheat bread  and pick up some granola for HH.

I know at least five of the eight folks who read my posts aren’t in Birmingham (or even Alabama), so I feel kind of rude touting all this goodness here in my neck of the woods.  But,if you clicked over to their site to drool over all the carbolicious goodness (really, “good”ness) and the REAL ingredients in each of their products, you probably noticed that you can order it and have it shipped straight to you , wherever you are.  Now I don’t feel so bad after all.

But, wait, do you hate to pay shipping for something that you’re not even sure you’ll like?  I do.  Actually, I hate to pay shipping for something that I know I’ll love.  So, I might be inclined to choose a random commenter for a nice little choose-your-own prize pack on me.

Here’s how you enter:
1.  LEAVE A COMMENT.  That’s all.  I like to keep things simple.  If you’re feeling froggy, though, you can jump over to their site and let me know in your comment what item you’d most like to try.

I don’t want to leave out my fellow “Fifty-Two”-ers.  So, if you link up with your Fifty-Two New post this week, you’ll be entered into a separate drawing for an item of your choice from Big Sky Bread Company.

I’ll draw winners one week from today, March 18th, and will contact them via email.

Now for the small print:   *sigh*  I have received no compensation for this post, nor have I been in contact with Big Sky Bread Company about this post.  I tried it.  I liked it.  I’m going to give some away at my own expense.
*sigh*

So what’s New with you this week? Link up!

I feel like this week’s a good one.  The whole point of the Fifty Two New project, for me, is to stray from my comfort zone a little.  Up until now, I’ve just tried new products.  This week, I went WAY on out there as far as comfort zone.

Da da da dum.

The Mixer.

The lovely ladies of Birmingham Mommy hosted their very first mixer this past Tuesday night at Jim N Nick’s BBQ, which happens to be Taco Tuesday (read: yum).  They invited all mommies (bloggers, tweeters, facebookers, etc.) to join them for appetizers, cupcakes, and door prizes.

Not surprisingly, I RSVP’d immediately, then spent the next two weeks coming up with reasons I shouldn’t go.  I came up with a lot of them, because, hey, I don’t do people well.  And I really, really don’t do NEW people well.  HH managed to tell me daily how proud he was of me for going, which meant he 100% expected me to back out.  So, I went.  I mean, I couldn’t let him win.

I left twenty minutes late, stopped by CVS, and checked all three email accounts twice each in the car before going in, thinking I might miss it (completely on accident, of course).  Eventually, I pried myself from the car, iPhone (read: distraction, friend) in hand, and stopped to throw up headed in. 

It was a slow start, but I found a place to park and ended up the majority of the night to Country Fried Mama, whose blog I’d been reading for a few weeks.  She was a riot and we had a lot in common, most importantly the ability to go into and social situation and park it (you thought I was going to say that are children are the same ages, didn’t you?  Well, there’s that too.)  I had a great night with her and a few other girls (who don’t have blogs or twitter pages for me to link to).  I also got to meet Christie, aka Birmingham Bargain Mom, who was so sweet despite the fact that I practically drooled all over her, telling her how much I loved her.  I also got to meet Trish and Angie (two of the three Birmingham Mommies). 

It was a fun night and I came out unscathed (for the most part).  I definitely need to practice my mixing skills some more! 

Of course, I did forget to give out these snazzy bits:

Not cool, since my hubby worked so hard on them. 

So what new did you do?

What?! Another beauty product?!

No, TWO!  Ha!

Clogged pores, forehead zits, and blackheads, meet your match.

Or at least I hope.

My two new new weapons:

 Moisturizing Deep Cleansing Foam and Organic Rosewater Toner.

Both are from the Boots line, which I’ve been drawn to for some time, having read so many good things about the brand.  Plus, the  packaging speaks to me. I think it looks very upscale (told you I was shallow), but at 6.99 (cleanser) and 7.99 (toner), it’s far from expensive.

I’m only a few days into using them, but so far so good.  My skin has been giving me fits lately, so I’ve been looking for  a line of products that I can stick with long-term.  I’m kind of picky because I want something gentle and fairly natural, but I am also price sensitive cheap.  I will say, though, if these don’t work for me, I’m going to have to cough up the dough and go for Arbonne (I love you, Stacey!) because I know its good.  My frugal self had to give this line a shot, first!

So what’s new with you?