The Five Times I Met Myself by James L Rubart

A complimentary review copy was provided to me.

When I was presented with the opportunity to read The Five Times I Met Myself, I was definitely intrigued. At first, I thought it was non-fiction and would be about identifying your direction in light. As I read the description, I discovered that it was a work of fiction and was intrigued by the questions being posed. Wish you could go back and tell yourself what you should have done differently? What would you say if you met your 23-year-old self in a dream?

What made it more interesting to me is that a co-worker had just recenlty been talking about a book that she was reading about personal transformation. While it was not the same style of work, it seemed to be driving towards a common path.

As I read the book, I realized that the questions are not so straight forward and that what you might want to change in your life could result in a much further reaching impact than simply the path that you take. It made me take pause and think about who else and what else would have been impacted if I had made different life choices along the way. It gave me a great perspective on the idea that it was through a series of individual decisions that led me to exactly where I am, and where I feel like I belong. Any changes to those decisions could see me married to someone else, living somewhere else and not the mom to my kids. What a strange thought.

Brock learns a lot on his journey and I really enjoyed the journey, not just for what I learned alongside Brock, but for what it made me think about and consider in my own life.

About the book:
The Five Times I Met Myself

What if you met your twenty-three-year-old self in a dream? What would you say?

Brock Matthews' once promising life is unraveling. His coffee company. His marriage.

So when he discovers his vivid dreams---where he encounters his younger self---might let him change his past mistakes, he jumps at the chance. The results are astonishing, but also disturbing.

Because getting what Brock wants most in the world will force him to give up the one thing he doesn't know how to let go . . . and his greatest fear is that it's already too late.

Purchase a copy: http://bit.ly/1O1Wrle

About the author:

James L. Rubart is a professional marketer and speaker. He is the author of the best-selling novel Rooms as well as Book of Days, The Chair, Soul's Gate, Memory's Door, and Spirit Bridge. He lives with his wife and sons in the Pacific Northwest.

Connect with James: website, Twitter, Facebook

Learn more about the book and read more reviews on the blog tour landing page.


No compensation was received for this review. All opinions expressed are my own or that of my family. A complimentary review copy was provided to me.

LLOYD’S® Babyback Pork Ribs #hormel

*information for this post was in part supplied by Hormel Foods through their Hormel Extended Family Blogger program. No compensation was received for this post.

We are doing a little bit of update work in the kitchen. As a result, we don't have any space to prep, but do still have use of the stove and oven. We also are relying on just our utility sink in our laundry room for clean-up. This has resulted in us having to be a little more creative with meal planning, looking for ideas that don't require much in terms of preparation or clean-up.

One night for dinner last week, we went with ribs and baked potatoes. Since we had a package of LLOYD’S® Babyback Pork Ribs, the preparation was easy.

Simply wrap the ribs in foil and bake for about an hour.

Even though you have to cook the ribs for an hour, I would say that these ribs are quick prep and best of all, you get the taste of slow cooked ribs in just about an hour.

The ribs are so tender and bones come out easily and clean.

The ribs are seasoned and you can enjoy them as is, or add your favorite barbecue sauce.

The ribs were very tender and moist. The flavor was great even without sauce. Both of the kids really enjoyed them. With about 2 pounds in the package, we had enough for the family and a little bit for leftovers. The leftovers will be repurposed for pork quesadillas, another low prep, easy and tasty meal that we can enjoy while under construction.

Have you tried making ribs at home?

No compensation was received for this post. All opinions expressed are mine or those of my family. I am completing this post as a participant in the Hormel Foods Extended Family Blogger program. Hormel Foods provided some product samples for my family to try. I also receive thought starters, information and photos that can be used in a post.

BeepEgg - A Singing Breakfast Party #Tryazon #Brainstream #beepegg

No compensation was received for this post. Complimentary BeepEggs and Ines Rosales torta, as well as information for the post, were provided so that I could host a party, through Tryazon.

This weekend I had the chance to host a Tryazon A Singing Breakfast Party, featuring the BeepEgg from Brainstream and Ines Rosales torta. The BeepEgg helps you make the perfect soft boiled, medium boiled or hard boiled egg.

I decided the best way to start was to demonstrate the functionality of the BeepEgg. We put a few eggs and the BeepEgg into a pan with tap water and turned on the heat.

After a few minutes, the egg beeped, letting us know that it was working and that the water had reached 45C. Then, a few minutes later, a beep to let us know the water was boiling and the stove temp could be turned down to medium. The first song the BeepEgg Classic played was 'Oh Susanna', letting us know we had perfect soft-boiled eggs.

We removed one egg and allowed the others to continue to cook. We cracked it open and took off the cap, revealing a perfect soft-boiled egg:

My mom even commented that she was so glad to have a perfect soft-boiled egg, because they are so hard to make.

The next song that the BeepEgg Classic played was 'Take Me Out to the Ballgame', letting us know we had perfect medium-boiled eggs. We removed one egg and allowed the others to continue to cook. We cracked it open and took off the cap, revealing a perfect medium-boiled egg:

The next song that the BeepEgg Classic played was 'Hail Hail the Gangs All Here', letting us know we had perfect hard-boiled eggs.

We loved that the egg sang each song multiple times and that even if you weren't standing at the stove, you could still make the perfect egg. I loved that the outside of the yolk in the hard boiled eggs was still yellow, mine always seem to be on the edge of turning green.

Now that all of the remaining eggs were hard boiled, we set out to make a few dishes to share.  My son is a fan of deviled eggs and since I use the same 'recipe' to make deviled eggs as I do for egg salad, we took the easy route and made part into deviled eggs and chopped up the rest to be egg salad.

Here the dishes are with some 'fancy' plating.  


Deviled Eggs

Open Face Egg Salad Sandwich



We also tried Ines Rosales tortas.  I hadn't thought to buy some spreads for the tortes, which everyone agreed the Sesame Seed and Sea Salt variety needed.  The Seville Orange variety was a lightly sweet treat to cap the snack.

Everyone had a great time trying the products. Two lucky party guests also took home their very own beep egg - of course, one went to my mom so that she could make perfect soft boiled eggs at home.

History
Dr. Rupprecht Gabriel, a German engineer and entrepreneur, was always annoyed by his poorly boiled breakfast eggs. They were either too runny, too hard. In 2000, he decided to solve the problem and the BeepEgg was born - an egg shaped timer that could sing and float. Shortly thereafter Gabriel formed a creative team and Brainstream became an enterprise. Brainstream strives to impress their customers with their “fun and functional” products. Their line of products include BeepEgg, Cregg, SOI - the automatic handbag light, and more.

BeepEgg
The BeepEgg - looks like an egg, feels like an egg, boils like an egg, but unlike an egg it sings. BeepEgg is a precise egg-timer, which is boiled together with real eggs. The BeepEgg and real eggs have to enter water at the same time. Once yolk and egg-white have reached the desired degree of hardness, BeepEgg will play a tune.

Watch this video to see how it works:

For more information about Brainstream please visit:
http://www.brainstream.de/index.php/en/brainstream/detail/ueber_uns

Brainstream can be purchased at: http://kitchenkaboodle.com or Amazon. Ines Rosales is available at http://yummybazaar.com and at various store retailers.

No compensation was received for this post. Complimentary BeepEggs and Ines Rosales torta, as well as information for the post, were provided so that I could host a party, through Tryazon.