We had such a fun little family day yesterday! Paul and I took all four of the little ones, along with his dad and stepmother, and we went to the Spring Home and Patio Show.

The kids were SO GOOD while we spent HOURS walking around and checking everything out. I've never seen so much ridiculously expensive stuff I'll never own! And it's always funny to me how many booths you see with genuinely ridiculous stuff that seems completely out of place at a home and garden type show. I guess it's all subjective, though - if you want it, and it's there, then COOL, right?

Here are a few things that were not at all ridiculous, and were actually SO nifty, I felt like I had no choice at all but to give them some free advertisement here!

The first is J. Dogg Phair and his amazing sauces!



The guy you see on the label is the guy who dished up samples for us. I didn't try all of them, but Paul did, and he made lots of approving sounds as he slurped each one off the tiny plastic spoon. I did try the works-for-everything marinade, Anything Goes! It was SO good. I can't even describe the unusual flavor it has, but I haven't tasted anything like it before. We bought the marinade! I bought chicken breasts today, so we can try it out on the grill tonight! You need to check this guy out - his stuff is the bomb!

Okay, the second thing is called The Grip Hook.



This guy, who by the way? Is pretty cute - was standing at his booth, bending steel rods into these funny little handled hooks, which he designed to carry grocery bags and milk jugs easily. He told us his little story, about being in a gigantic family, and how his dad became disabled after an accident and was having a hard time getting his groceries into the house. And, voila! The good son comes to the rescue, and whips up this crazy little hook thingy. And then people told him to patent it, so, voila again! He's in business.

I stupidly didn't buy one of these while we were at the show. I think we got distracted by a hot tub with a plasma screen TV in it or something. But, I did snag the guy's card, and I'm going to give him a call and order one of these. It was made for me, people! Do you know what a PITA it is getting four children and a bazillion bags of groceries into the house? I want one. Rich Passarelli, you'll be hearing from me soon!

Okay, and the last thing is this really cool thing called The Vertical Garden.



I just can't get over how ingenious so many of these products are! This thing is sold in a set of three little tiered containers. The bottom one has a drip pan that snaps onto it, and then the top two just offset on top of each bottom layer with little tabs. You can plant an entire herb garden in one of these, or a bunch of strawberries, or...I guess anything you really wanted to plant, right? It also comes with this cute little chain that you stick down through the middle, with a little thingy at the bottom to hold it on, and you can hang the whole thing up like a hanging basket. And you just water the top tier and the water runs through it and waters everything else. I MUST HAVE ONE. I really, really, really want to plant one all full of yummy herbs. YET AGAIN, I didn't buy one at the show, because Paul was talking to a guy about a hot tub (Why? Like we'll ever be able to afford a hot tub? And where would we put one?) over on the other side of the floor and he had my purse stuffed in the bottom of the stroller. But, yeah. I got this lady's card, too. So I'm going to order one of these spiffy little pots, and I totally think you should, too.

So there you have it. Unbiased reviews of some Denver folks and the stuff they're hawking. Check it out.

Labels: j.dogg phair, jdoggphair.com, the grip hook, the vertical garden, thegriphook.com, theverticalgarden.com