Sunday, May 31, 2009

So Easy Babyfood Kit Giveaway

Shop Annies is giving away a So Easy Babyfood Kit, everything you need to quickly and easily make your own healthy and nutritious baby food. I'd really like to make my own baby food next time around, especially now that I'm figuring out this gardening thing, and this kit looks like the way to do it!!!

Sunday, May 24, 2009

The Weekend Wasn't So Bad After All....

So Brandon was away all weekend on his annual "man trip". I admit, I wasn't feeling really gracious about it...for one thing, why does he get to automatically go away for a long weekend every year? Besides the fact that he'd be going to movies I want to see, and I'd love to have him all to myself for a whole weekend. Why does a group of guys get that privelege while I sit at home caring for our girls. Thankfully, despite my lousy attitude, the weekend has been pretty great.

Thursday: Took the girls to the library (after seeing B off packed into a mid-sized car with three other guys, four computers, and assorted luggage and snacks), and to speech in the afternoon. Excited to find four books waiting for me at the library, and the girls enjoyed picking out new books and playing on the computer. Speech is going well enough that her teacher decided we can take a break for summer! It'll be great to have Adeline's Thursday afternoon nap uninterrupted for a while, but the girls will miss playing with the dollhouse there...Thursday night I finished stripping wallpaper from the entryway. Couldn't get the sprayer open, so I had to use the dinky little spray bottle to douse the walls. Carpal tunnel, please forgive me. At least the paper came off pretty easily.

Friday: Watched Grant, and the girls had a blast helping me take care of him. While he and Adeline were sleeping, I taped the plethora of woodwork. Took two rolls of tape. Finally weeded the vegetable garden. The green beans, squash, carrots, lettuce, and herbs are all up! For supper, we went to B's parents for his dad's birthday party. Ice cream cake! When we got back at 9, I put the girls to bed and went to work painting. Coincidentally, Lifetime was playing a movie based on a book I just read and loved, so I watched/listened to that while painting. It took longer than I expected because of the textured walls, but I love the color. Finally fell into bed, exhausted, around midnight.

Saturday: Opened my eyes at 6 a.m. to find myself in a stare-down with small curly-haired girl. Headed over to B's parents again to help them get ready for a garage sale. The girls had fun playing with their aunt's hairless dog and with the garage sale toys. Had leftovers for lunch, then headed home to put Adeline down for a nap. The girls weren't happy to go to sleep that night, I can tell they miss their dad....after finally getting them down, I did the final coat on the walls and put the room back together. Celebrated the accomplishment of my first ever solo room makeover with a hot shower, a Diet Coke, and a disappointingly uninteresting book.

Sunday: Decided it wasn't worth it to haul two small children half hour to church, so I attempted to sleep in. Attempt foiled by another six a.m. wake-up call from charming curly-haired girl, accompanied by charming eighties rocker-haired girl. By ten a.m we were all bouncing off the walls and each other, so called my parents for back-up and lunch. Went to McDonald's for nutricious lunch consisting of two Happy Meals and a Big Mac meal, then headed to a nearby town to buy plants. (Bonus stop at the local bait and tackle shop to find several of my dad's lures had sold!) Picked up the rest of the vegetables for the garden, and a trunk-load of flowers in yellows, apricots, and purples. While making dinner, threw together a quadruple batch of Calico Beans for freezer meals. Girls went down better, and I finally had some time to relax! Which is being spent chronicling my weekend solo flight.

Hmmm....someone crying...gotta run!

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Weekend Giveaways

The Giveaway is giving away a $50 gift certificate to Vincent shoes, a great source for unique European-style children's shoes. I would use my certificate on the sporty Lottas for Adeline.

Jolly Mom is giving away a Potty Tots potty-training kit. We are gearing up to work with Addie on the potty, so I'd love to try this system out.

Katydid and Kid is giving away the Kiss My Face complete kid's line. Amelia loves the detangler for her curly hair (and I do, too). It makes her hair smooth and shiny, and as a bonus makes her smell like oranges!

My Organized Chaos is giving away a $25 gift certificate to Lu Kels boutique. Spend it on yourself, or on a cute outfit for your kids!

The Funky Monkey is giving away a personalized necklace from the Pretty Peacock.

Mama's Money Savers is giving away a copy of Faryl Smith's cd and a Tot Clock to teach children when it's time to sleep and when it's ok to get up.

Not Entirely British is giving away 2 CD's from award-winning vocalist Jessie Clark Funk.

Rockin Mama is giving away a sunflower kit from Potting Shed Creations.

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Walmart Deals

Print coupons from coupons.com and Kraft, and get ready for some great deals this week!!!

Coke 12-packs 2.98 (down from 4.98)

Oscar Mayer deli meat 3.00
*use 1.00/2 coupon from coupons.com and 1.00 off Kraft cheese when you buy Oscar Mayer

Velveeta Shells and Cheese 1.50
use 1.00 coupon from coupons.com and Kraft

Triscuit, RitzBitz, and Wheat Thins on sale for 2.00
use 1.00 coupons from coupons.com and Kraft

Kraft dressings 1.58
use 1.00 coupon from coupons.com and Kraft

Kraft BBQ sauce .98
use 1.00 coupon from coupons.com and Kraft

Bagel-fulls on sale for 1.88
use 1.00 coupon from coupons.com and Kraft

Digiorno Flatbread pizza on sale for 4.75
use 1.00 coupon from coupons.com and Kraft

Daisy sour cream on sale for 1.50

1-pound Velveeta 3.46
use 1.00 coupon from coupons.com and Kraft

Shick razors 1.97
use 2.00 coupon from last week's paper

Kid's band-aids on sale for 1.98
use 1.00 coupon from last week's paper

Check the shoe section. They have Croc-style slippers and sandals for 1.00

WW: Yesterday's Trip


This is a $60 shopping trip! Now to be fair, I used 2 WIC vouchers, but I also saved $25 in coupons.

Friday, May 15, 2009

Frustrated!!!!

I am getting so frustrated with giveaways. As I've mentioned before, I seem to be pretty lucky, and win quite a bit. However, it seems a significant portion of my winnings never make it to me. I don't know if it's mail screw-ups, dead-beat company sponsors, or flaky bloggers running the giveaways, but I'm sick of it!!! And what I really hate is how communication suddenly stops as soon as I have a problem. Are my emails going out to some black hole somewhere, never to be seen again? Here's what I've never received, for whatever reason:

-a set of natural hand sanitizers
-sunglasses for Amelia
-set of Stila lipgloss
-$25 in jewelry of my choice (this one is killing me)
- beaded bracelet

This is all from between January and April. Am I wrong, or is this ridiculous?

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Giveaways

Feisty, Frugal, and Fabulous is giving away a Steamboy Floormop. It works on hard floors and carpets! My carpets could use a good cleaning!

My Organized chaos is giving away a $25 gift certificate to Dali Decals. Good luck choosing what you would get if you win!

I would love love love to win this camera from A Daily Dose of Toni. It's a really cool hard-disk camcorder that doesn't use tape. You can download right to your PC and burn a DVD. It would be so easy to share those special memories with friends and family.

Eighty MPH Mom is giving away a rug set from Flor. They have several patterns and styles of carpet squares that can be put together any way you choose.

Win a fun and versatile Skuut ride-along toy from Seeryus Mama. Supposedly, after learning to "ride" this bike, there's no need for training wheels to transition to a big-girl bike.

Visit MomStart for a chance to win Lightcrafts photo-editing software. MomStart is also giving away a pair of glasses from EyeBuy Direct. I really need some new glasses, and have run across this mail-order company before. They have great prices and an awesome selection of trendy frames.

MarieLynnBoutique is giving away a gorgeous Princess Dress.

LadyBug Soup is giving away the ENTIRE Pure and Potent face care line from Kiss My Face. I love their kid's detangler for Amelia's hair, and would love to try some of their facial products on myself.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

WW: Happy Anniversary Honey!

Last night B and I celebrated our 8th anniversary by putting the girls to bed early and making ourselves a Surf and Turf dinner. While B grilled steak outside, I snuck a mound of King Crab legs into the oven to surprise him with. Our favorite show to watch together is Deadliest Catch, and we always set aside Tuesday nights to watch it together. B loves King Crab, and always complains that the show makes him want some. So last night I had a blast watching B dig into his plateful of King Crab, while watching our favorite ships haul in their catches. Happy Anniversary to us!

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Huge List of Printable Coupons

I printed off a ton of high-value coupons yesterday for items that are pantry staples around my house. Check out the website and print your own to save big bucks on this month's grocery bill!

Tuesday Truth

It's 9:30 am and the girls and myself are still in our jammies! I've been really struggling lately with getting the day started. Yesterday I did great. I got up with B in the morning, had breakfast with Amelia, and had most of my daily chores done by noon, including a workout and a shower. It felt great, and I had so much energy the whole day. Then I sabotaged myself by staying up too late reading "Eclipse", and am really dragging this morning. Which of course leads to guilt for being lazy, which leads to more dragging. I'm trying really hard to get back to my New Year's plan of getting to bed on time, and starting my day on the right track. I've struggled with mornings my whole life, but especially now that I have kids and tend to stay up even later to get in some "me time". So that's my dirty little secret for the day...What's yours?