A Bloggy Giveaway!

Well, I'm finally joining in on the Bloggy carnival giveaway action. I've been reading many blogs and entering their giveaways and feeling it's only best that I offer one, too. It's always exciting to meet new bloggers!

Recently, I've accumulated lots of Bath & Body Works items (I wonder how that happened? Can you say "COUPON"?). I would love to share a few of these items with one person who enters this giveaway. My giveaway includes one Wallflower home frangrance starter kit (Sweet Pea scent), one emory board, and a trial size of the new scent Blushing Cherry Blossom - all NEW from Bath & Body Works.

All you have to do to enter to win is leave a comment on this post telling me where you would place this scented wallflower in your home.

Please make sure you leave your email address in your comment (unless I can link directly to your blog/email through your comment) so I can contact you to notify you if you win. The winner will be chosen by random on Friday, April 25th.

Free Birthday Treats

Anyone loves a free treat....especially on their birthday! Click here to see all the free things that you, a child, or a pet can receive on their birthday.

Dorks

Can you spot the dorks in this picture? I think it's rather funny that both of the dorks in this picture are named KIM. Is that her finger up my nose? Poor Amber....she has no face. I love my dorky friends. Thanks for letting me hang out with you all Saturday night while our kids ran around like rednecks outside the house in the dark. Well, your kids....mine were at the house in the bed asleep. I'm the least dork-ish (is that a word?).

Mr. Hairy Fish

A strange craft came home with Luke from school this past Thursday. I want to think that his class is experimenting with different textures as well as motor skills (the use of glue sticks, scissors, etc), yet, I was quite baffled when I took this craft out of his school bag. Mr. Hairy Fish doesn't look too happy to have such brown curly hair attached to his...scales (where are they?). I can't blame him. Being that he's only two years old, Luke didn't give much of an explanation. I don't think Mr. Hairy Fish will be making the scrapbook....better yet, why not? It makes for a great story and one that Luke may laugh about when I'm flipping through the album in twenty years (or so) with his fiance`.

New RedBox code

Today's free Redbox movie rental code is:

6XQ15B

Want MORE coupons?

Click here to access over $180 in printable coupons!

See you at the grocery store!

Free Starbucks sample

SO SORRY! THE SAMPLES ARE ALL GONE AS OF TODAY! JUST FOUND OUT.

Want more free Starbucks coffee? First, click here. Let the page fully load, click on "Explore Our Coffees", then click on "Enjoy Your Complimentary Sample" in the top right-hand corner. The sample request form will pop-up in a new window. You can choose from Cafe Verona, House Blend, Sumatra, or Breakfast Blend and should be enjoying your free coffee in 6 to 8 weeks. Thanks to MoneySavingMom for this link!

The Park

Sorry for the lame title to this post. I couldn't really think of anything else. Hmmmm....maybe, "The park with the three story high slide" or "The outrageously huge playground" or "Possibly the best park EVER!". Oh well.....

Again, we're in the Birmingham area for four days visiting friends and just taking a break from reality and responsibility. The weather has been amazing! You can't stay inside when it's a sunny and cool 75 degrees outside. So, we ventured to the park this morning to let the boys get some of their energy out. Since we live on eastern time, the boys have struggled with the one hour difference. Going to the park helped them get through their early hunger pangs until lunch was finally served. Enjoy the pictures!

The Patricks

We love us some friends!!!! When in the Birmingham area, we take every opportunity we can to get some "friend-time". I just love John Mark and Shea. We got together tonight for dinner at Chick-Fil-A and met their new little boy tonight for the first time. Precious!

Cereal on a string

Daddy has been gone all week to men's conference so I've had some great (and exhausting) time with my three little ones. After dinner last night, we sat down at the table and made these cute bird feeder strings (yep, I stole another craft idea from http://www.unplugyourkids.com/). We only used yarn, Apple Jacks and Cheerios but any circle cereal combination will work. Just tie several knots on top of each other at the bottom end to keep the cereal from sliding off. When you get the length you want, tie it to a tree branch and watch the birds flock to the treat!

Pictures for my sister

I hope my sister is happy now. She said she wanted to see pictures of my kids rather than read about all the deals I've been posting about. She's such a hoot. So, here are some recent pics I took of Abigail (just for you, Angela). She's cute even with a boo boo on her nose. The more professional shots were taken by my sweet friend, Holly. Just click on any picture in the pile and it will enlarge.

Baby slipper giveaway

I love to lurk ("stalk" is more like it) on many blogs but I absolutely love An Island Life. She is offering a cute baby slipper giveaway by BePe Baby. BePe Baby has generously donated a pair of slippers/booties of your choice to one lucky winner. To enter, just stop by BePe Baby before April 22nd and check out all the available prints. Then go back to An Island Life and mention which one you would like if you won. That’s it! A random winner will be selected and notified on April 23rd. The winner will then have 3 days to claim their prize.

Click here to read more about how you can win this giveaway.

Found a cute blog - "Kidmade"

I just happened up on a new blog that I think I'm going to love visiting often. It's called Kidmade and features the "things that kids make". Here's the information I found on their website.

Kidmade is all about kids and the things they make. The whole crafty blog world is such a great place to show off the sewing, knitting and other crafty projects we all do. Many of us share the projects we do with our kids on our own blogs. Kidmade is a place for kids to share their projects, whether it be art, music, poetry or just a really great block creation (there is no limit!). This is the place where kids get to tell us about their work in their own words.

Here's the vision, step by step:
Your kid makes something they are really proud of.
You say, "Hey would you like to share this with other kids?"
Your child responds "Oh, yes Mommy! That would be wonderful!" (or "Uh, okay.")

So.....
1. Take a picture [of their creation] & have your child write a nice little bit telling about what they have made. (It's okay for mom or dad to do the typing if they are not writing yet.)

2. Mom or Dad sends an email to kidmadeATyahooDOTcom and they will post it. Everyone you invite then visits the Kidmade blog where they can oooo and ahhhh about the project, leave great feedback in the comments, or just get a bit of inspiration.

Now for the fine print:
1. The artwork or invention/craft really needs to be kid made and kid inspired.
2. The post should be in their own words. We really don't care about grammar.
3. Not sure how many will be submitted so a reply will be sent to you when an entry is posted to the blog. Some sent projects might be saved to go along with a like theme. There might be cases when all poetry submissions are saved so they can be posted together in one day or in a week's dedication to the art. The same might go for photography, sewing, etc....
4. There is a 1 submission per month rule.
5. The blog probably won't be updated everyday.
6. More fine print to be added as this is all figured out. We're flying by the seat of our pants here!

By the way, they will also be having a Kidmade challenge on a regular basis! This month the challenge is a self-portrait.

Box Tops & Campbell's labels

Ever notice those box tops labels on various name-brand items in the grocery store (Ziploc, Cottonelle, General Mills, Betty Crocker, Viva, etc)? Did you know that each Box Top label is worth $.10? Many schools participate in the BOX TOP program where they collect as many Box Tops as they can throughout the year and then mail them in for a full redemption to benefit their school. My son's school participates in this program and, being that it's a very small school with only 80 students, a check was received last year for a little over $300! Just think what that money could be used for (music art, library, P.E., lunchroom, computer lab, etc.....). You can go here to find out more on this program.

Also, Campbell's has a similar program but, instead of receiving money back to your school, you can redeem the mailed labels for anything in their catalog that your school might need- from something small like a stapler to something larger like a new copy machine. The entire label on the can isn't needed (at one time, the company wanted the entire label or just the front of the label)....just make sure you clip the entire UPC code. Sometimes it's the typical white and black UPC code and other times it might be a higher value 5 points UPC, yellow in color. My son's school is accumulating their points so they can purchase something large and much needed. You can click here to find out more on this program.

If your child's school doesn't participate in any of these programs, you might want to consider clipping these items anyway and giving them away to a school (or student) who does. If you homeschool, this would be a great activity for your children to take part in as they clip and then give them away.

Freebie with purchase

I don't know if I'll get a chance to visit D.D. tomorrow to get this deal but I wanted to share it with all my coffee-lovin' friends (that would be you, Melissa, Sarah Z., and Mad).

Money Laundering

Ok, I stole this idea from Megan over at, plumpudding. Click on the collage below for a larger view with details. The boys were itching for something to do inside this afternoon since it was suddenly too cold to play outside. Their cousin, Ella, has been playing with us two days of each week so she got in on the cleaning action, too. There are two FULL piggy banks in our house so I drug out the pennies for this project. The little ones soon lost interest after the bubbles began disappearing from their containers but Andrew stuck with the entire task, rinsing off his coins, scrubbing and drying them with a paper towel, and then laying them out in a "choo-choo line-up", as he called it. He is growing up. He is focused and finishes what he starts. I can't believe he's already four years old. *sniffle*sniffle*

Coupons & info

Want some coupons & event info?

REDBOX: One free rental night/movie. Promo Code - ALVIN12 (this is different than last week's, ALVIN14)

TARGET: click and then scroll down - careful of the expiration dates!

WALGREENS: (manufacturer coupons) check the boxes on the ones you want and then click to print.

STAPLES: FREE after easy rebate on Pentel retractable highlighters or permanent markers.

PETSMART: Birthday Party for your pet (this one is for you, Tera and Chrissy M.!)

Benefiber for free

Coupon to Victoria's Secret

Ok, I'm going to restrain myself on this one and just use it once! Click here for a coupon to Victoria's Secret for a coupon for a free full size Victoria's Secret Sweet Daydream Body Scrub with ANY purchase! Thanks to the The Centsible Sawyer for such a great find!

See you at the mall, Hilary & Leslie P.!

Pizza kit & freebie picture

Dinner tonight was so delicious that I think I'm going to have to make the Chef Boyardee Pizza Kit a weekly staple at our house. Mitch and I loved it and the kids did, too! Looks like every Friday OR Saturday night will be designated "pizza night". It's cheap, quick, and simple to make. However, the kit doesn't include enough pepperoni or cheese so I just grated up some mozzerella as well as grabbed some extra pepperoni from the fridge. Now, I just need to find some coupons for this item!


Here's a picture of the free items I got at Wal-Mart today. I love the Scotch Brite wand! Also, after eating that pizza tonight, I had to pop a Zantac to heed off the heartburn I knew would be coming. Lovely. If you want to get the Zantac for free, you will need to choose the smallest package of the Maximum Strength, containing 8 tablets. You can print the Scotch Brite coupon here and the Zantac coupon here (scroll to page 3).

What we did TODAY

Walgreens had a sale on their seed packets this week (normally the retail price is 5 packs for $1 but this week they were 10 for a $1). I've been meaning to teach the boys about planting and growing a few vegetables. Well, our Walgreens only had flower seeds available so we set out this afternoon to plant our own flower garden right outside our front door. Boys will be boys....they loved the digging part. Especially when little creepy crawly bugs started emerging from the soil. They began fighting over who got which roly poly, what snail shell was bigger, and who had the largest bug collection in their buckets. As we dug deeper, we found a frog skeleton...weird. It's now in a small ziploc bag, waiting to go to school with Andrew for Monday's SHOW and TELL. Anywho, I did most of the seeding myself but they happily helped to spread the dirt and lay the border of rocks. All plants need water to live, right? What better way than to water our new patch of dirt with nothing else but....water guns! They had so much fun.




Later, we took a light dinner to the local park and ate on our huge patchwork quilt (I'm so glad my mother-in-law didn't want it and decided to give it to me. It's so heavy and large. Great for spreading out food and extending our legs while eating). After finishing, Andrew decided it was time to put his new kite to the test. I love this picture of him looking up at the kite. There was a great breeze tonight! Notice the Bath & Body Works bag in the bottom picture. I have so many of these now due to all my recent coupon transactions! They are handy for outdoor adventures and ease the haul since I usually toss them once they become dirty or soggy from the load.

More free stuff at Walgreens

Walgreens - Tuesday, April 15 ONLY: 15 free photo prints with 7-day coupon (look in this week's Sunday circular paper or pick one up when you walk into the front of the store). Now this is something to smile about on tax day!

BTW, did anyone drop off a free roll of film last Wednesday at Walgreens? I did!

Tie Dye Discs

I finally cleaned off my nightstand. Oh, what a task...I like a clean nightstand but it seems to be the "catch all" to my books, journals, magazines, and random papers (I thought of you, Crissy S.). I came across too many Family Fun magazines that I've been intending to go through, ripping out pages to keep, filing them away in a nice binder with plastic sleeves, and then neatly organizing them in various categories. Well, that never happened....at least not as quick and orderly as I dreamed it might go. So I skimmed through them very fast and tore out only a few pages. What was left of the magazines ended up in our "blue bin" (as Andrew likes to call it) to be sent to the recycling plant.

Among the papers I pulled out, I found a science craft published in the June 2004 FF edition titled TIE DYE DISCS. So very easy and interesting!

Materials needed:

basket style coffee filters

markers

pen/pencil

scissors

cup of water

Directions:

1. Cut the center circle from the coffee filter

2. Poke a hole in the center of the circle

3. Draw a design around the poked hole

4. Take a wedge of the leftover coffee filter to fold several times, making a wick

5. Stick the wick into the center hole

6. Stick the wick into a small cup of water, balancing the edges of the circle on the rim of the cup.

7. Watch the ink spread to the edges of the circle

8. Pull the circle and wick out of the cup, remove the wick and let the circle dry

NEW RedBox Code

Are you a frequent visitor to your local Redbox machine? I am!

New code:

DATENIGHT2

Bloggy Giveaway

I love finding a great giveaway. I subscribe to various blogs that offer some really cool stuff for FREE! Jill, over at her blog, Live, Laugh, Blog, is offering a free giveaway of either personalized notecards or a bow writing pad. To enter, read her instructions carefully. She'll be randomly choosing three winners on Tuesday, April 15 (that would be TAX day....ahhhhh!). Careful....you will get addicted to her site. I know I am!

BOGO Krispy Kreme

Print a coupon here for the BOGO (buy one/get one) one dozen Krispy Kreme doughnuts. This is a great offer for all those Sunday morning trips in the drive-thru to take doughnuts to church.

Bless her heart

Poor Abigail....

Monday afternoon she took a small spill on the concrete driveway.

She never complains about her toe getting cold when wearing these PJs.

I wanna be a cowboy

"I wanna be a cowboy and Mom can be my cowgirl..."

Walgreen's coupon

Good for this Friday only, April 11. It's $5 off $20 in-store purchase coupon. Click here to print the coupon.

Happy Birthday, cinnamon roll style.

We celebrated Andrew's birthday with a party almost two weeks ago (to avoid spring break) but this past Tuesday, April 8, was the actual day of his birth, four years ago. He asked for cinnamon rolls for breakfast so we popped them out of a can and stuck a candle in one. Like his bed head? We also promised him a trip to Walmart to purchase the newly released DVD of The Waterhorse. I took him to see it on the big screen back in February at our wonderful dollar theatre. He has been asking for his own copy to watch at home ever since we left the theatre that afternoon. It's a fantastic movie, clean and family friendly. Now he's looking forward to going back to school on Monday so he can take cupcakes and finally celebrate his birthday with his class. Becky, I feel like I need to go ahead and submit to doing what you do....an entire month dedicated to the birthday girl/boy since Andrew's celebration seems to be at least three weeks long!!

Free Cone Day @ Ben & Jerry's & Baskin Robbins

Get a free cone of ice cream at Ben & Jerry's on Tuesday, April 29th.

Get a free cone of ice cream at Baskin Robbins one day later on Wednesday, April 30th!

Free @ Macy's

Tee Hee....giggle, giggle.....hee hee....a pair of free panties at Macy's from May 31-June 6. Click here to print the coupon.

Free Scotch Brite

Scotch Brite wants you to try their disposable toilet bowl cleaner for FREE! Girls, we all know you have that filthy black water ring in your potty! Clean it up - NOW! Click here to print the coupon (not to exceed $4.99).

I'm on my way to get mine tonight and will return home quickly to get rid of the water ring in my own potty!

FREE RedBox, Starbucks, & Sonic

New RedBox Code:
ALVIN14

FREE STARBUCKS TODAY!
Visit any participating U.S. Starbucks store on Tuesday, April 8 at 9 a.m. Pacific Time (12 p.m. Eastern Time) and Starbucks will give all customers a complimentary short (8 oz.) cup of the new Pike Place Roast™ to enjoy as they participate in a simultaneous, nationwide, coast-to-coast, coffee tasting conducted by Starbucks coffee experts.

FREE SONIC MOCHA LATTE - Wednesday, April 9, 5:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.

Spring time picture

Holly took a few spring pictures of Abigail last week. Here's my favorite so far. Holly is still proofing more pictures, which I'm sure I'll post later.

Free roll of film developed at Walgreens

If you still have a few rolls of 35 mm film sitting around (Melissa!), you can drop ONE roll off at Walgreens this Wednesday, April 9, and get it developed for free. You must have the store coupon to get this offer....you can find it in their weekly circular that came in Sunday's paper or pick up a free one inside the front door of the store when you walk in.

You do the math

Look closely at the picture below of various Bath & Body Works items. Estimate how much you think the average person would have spent if they paid full retail price for each item. The total would look a little something like this:


Each tube of lotion @ $10.50 each (x3) = $31.50
Men's body wash = $10.50
Wallflowers room plug @ $12.50 each (x5) = $62.50
Emory boards @ $1.50 each (x9) = $13.50
TOTAL = $118.00

How much did I pay?

ONLY $14.49!!!!!!! ($1.61 x 9 transactions)

Holla' if you hear me....come on now! Oh yeah, are you with me?! I feel good! No, great! I LOVE a bargain! The only thing I hated about this bargain was that I felt like I was cheating the company - BUT the associates at the store kept telling me to come back tomorrow with more. They said they'd do the same if they were allowed! I love good customer service. I'm going back tomorrow with more coupons to load up on more lotion, sprays, etc. The Wallflowers are currently on sale (until tomorow) for only $6.00, as well as the 2-pack of refills! Go get you some! I mean, don't we all see "Teacher Appreciation Week" on the horizon? What about end of the school year teacher gifts? What about that sweet friend who's having a bridal shower, baby shower - pamper her! Got a housewarming party to attend? Give them a Wallflower!

Can you believe this coupon doesn't expire until Saturday, April 12? Oh goodness! I'm going back and forth between the two stores here in town just so I don't appear too "cheap" to the employees. I mean, I've got enough lotion to get me well into 2010! Who knows, I might even be able to hand a few nurses some of this free stuff when I'm laying in the bed giving birth in a few years. Tee hee....

So, wanna know how you can get this AMAZING deal? Click Here to print the coupon for yourself. Scroll down through the coupon post and click on the link provided to print it out. I wanted to save paper so I copied and pasted the coupon into a Word document and placed four coupons on a page (they are 1/4 of a page size coupons).

Let me just make sure this is clear because it really does sound too good to be true. The coupon states that you only have to make one purchase of ANY item in the store and will then get a free item up to an $11 value. You see now why I have so many emory boards? Those were my initial purchase since they were the cheapest thing I could find in the store. Remember, one coupon required per transaction....so, if you want to get four tubes of lotion, you better walk in with four coupons. Hope that makes sense. Leave a comment or email me if you have a question.

Yes, it's true, my friends. You can really walk out with hundreds of dollars worth of product and only have shelled out pennies. I've got the receipts to prove it. Happy shopping!

The Attack

One of my college roommates, Libby, brought her entire family from Atlanta to Columbus today to celebrate a nephew's birthday who lives in my area. It caught us off guard when all six of our kiddos decided it was time to destroy their mothers. Libby and I were simply sitting on the couch having adult conversation (what's that?) when the attack began. Can you see the progression? Who do you think won? I, personally, think the fathers won. They were sitting by watching the event unfold, giggling like little girls.




Notice the look of satisfaction and total domination on Andrew's face in this picture.

REDBOX Free Code

Look what I got today!!!! I've been reading many blogs lately on "how to be frugal" (frugal is different than cheap) and found that there are always ways to get around paying full price for ANYTHING! Redbox offers a promo code every week or so that allows you one free movie rental. The only catch is that you have to return it the next night by 9 p.m., but that's not so bad. You can return the DVD to any Redbox location, too! There's a Redbox rental case in one of our Super Wal-Marts here (Whittelsey Blvd, for you Columbus readers) and I tried the promo code out today....it worked! So, after I put the kids to bed, I plan on cuddling with my hubby on the couch to watch my new movie.

This week's promo code is: NOFOOL