More or Les(ley)

BJ's Wholesale Club - 1 Day Shopping Pass

2012-01-06T13:55:00.000-05:00

Are you a member of BJ's Wholesale Club? If you are, then you must know that they carry everything from groceries to books to furniture and even tires!! But if you aren't, keep reading because this offer is for you!

BJ's Wholesale Club is offering a 1 Day Shopping Pass, so that you can go in, check out their huge selection of products and take advantage of their prices!!!

Why BJ's?

BJ's VALUE

BJ's Members can save over $500 on groceries a year!*
BJ's is the only club to accept manufacturers' coupons! And a cool fact that not everyone is aware of is in some instances, you can use multiple coupons on a multi-packed product. Of course there's limitations, such as each individual package in the multi-pack must have it's own UPC code. But V8 for example, comes in a 2 bottle multi-pack - so you could use 2) $1.00/1 coupons for each 2 pack that you purchase. Things like multipacks of soap where each individually wrapped soap does not have a UPC code, you could only use 1 coupon on. It's a little tricky to get used to which products you can use multiple coupons for, but there's definitely times where it's worth the effort!!

BJ's BABY

BJ's carries top brand names like Pampers^®, Similac^®, PediaSure^®, Safety 1st^®,
InSTEP^®, Little Tikes^®, Eddie Bauer^®, Disney^®, Gerber^® and more!
BJ's even carries products you can't find anywhere else, like
Pampers^® Cruisers^® +Ultra Absorbency—extra-absorbent zones help give up
to 12 hours of protection against leaks!

BJ's BEAUTY

BJ's has a great selection from the leading brands of hair care, skin care, oral
care, deodorant and vitamins, even some cosmetics.

BJ's LOCATIONS

Shop any time, anywhere at BJs.com
BJ's Wholesale Club stores are only located in Connecticut, Delaware, Florida,
Georgia, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York,
North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia. Click here to find the location nearest you.

*Over $500 per-year savings are compared to supermarket prices in research conducted by Warehouse Club Focus, October 2010.
Savings are based on the per-unit price of a market basket of items. Savings may vary based upon market area and items purchased.

Save 10% at the ShopNHL.com Outlet (through 1/7/12)

2012-01-06T10:55:00.000-05:00

Since our house has a husband that still plays recreationally several nights a week, and 2 sons active in the house- league at our local rink, hockey is a hot topic around here, and you'll often find Shop.NHL.com's website on my computer screen!!!

Through tomorrow, 1/7/2012, Shop.NHL.com is offering 10% off everything in their Outlet!! And since everyone has their favorite team, they make it easy to find the things just for your team.

If you take a peak and nothing catches your eye today, be sure to check often, as they often have great promotions going on. You can even stay informed with the promotions by following them on Twitter at twitter.com/NHL_Shop or Search "NHL Shop" on Facebook.

Pixel of Ink - if you've got a Kindle, you're going to love this site!

2012-01-01T23:21:00.000-05:00

A few months ago, I entered a picture of my kiddos in an online photo contest sponsored by Mambo Sprouts, and I was absolutely ecstatic when they notified me to tell me I was one of their winners. The prize - a Kindle.

I think it was my best win ever!!! I've always loved to read, but had discovered that I had to actually make time to enjoy a good book. That is definitely not the case anymore. My Kindle fits perfectly in my purse and is a perfect tool for when I find I have a few minutes to kill. Whether I'm waiting for an appointment or sitting in my car in the school parking lot waiting for my kids to get out of school, or laying in bed when sleep is eluding me, you will not find my Kindle very far away from me. I've read more books in the past 6 months with my Kindle than I've read in the 3 years before that, and that is no exaggeration!!

Soon after receiving my prize in the mail, an online friend of mine suggested I check out Pixel of Ink, and I am so glad that I did. Every day they post alerts to Kindle books that are either free or that are a great bargain. I've got close to 400 books on my Kindle right now, and I am adding more almost every day. It's a great resource to find new authors and read books in a new genre than I'm used to reading.

This year for Christmas, we gave my mom a Kindle Touch. She's probably the biggest reason that I love reading as much as I do and it seemed only natural that I give her back something that I know will make her love reading even more than she already does. Naturally, when she opened up her present, the first words out of my mouth were that she needed to go to www.PixelofInk.com and start loading up her libary for little or no cost, and I would love to pass that advice on to you as well!!!

SuperPoints

2012-01-01T22:56:00.000-05:00

Have you joined the SuperPoints Network yet? I bet some of you are asking yourselves 'what is this SuperPoints Network that you are speaking of?' In a nutshell, it's a site where you can win and earn Superpoints™ that can be redeemed for great rewards, including my favorite - giftcards to Amazon.com. I've been a member for a little while now, and all of the points I've accumulated have come either from clicking on a daily email to claim the points that I've won, or by clicking on the SuperLucky button (up to 30 clicks per day to start). Some days I have more luck with the SuperLucky button than others... today was a slow day, only winning 6 points with my 30 clicks.

The Network aspect is because they encourage you to invite your friends so they can be part of your own network, and everytime they win superpoints, so do you!!

You do need to be invited by a member to join, but I have several invitations available and I'd love to have you on my 'team'. If you'd like me to send you an invitation, you can either email me at hcwsbp@gmail.com or leave a comment here - be sure to include your email address - and I'll send you an invite!!

10% off at Sports Authority (through 1/7/2011)

2012-01-01T22:39:00.000-05:00

Since I have 2 sons and a husband that all play ice hockey, sales from sporting stores always catch my eye. Starting today and going through 1/7/2011 SportsAuthority.com is offering 10% off.

As of this moment, we're stocked up on tape and their skates and the rest of their equipment all fit perfectly, so we don't need anything, but it's still fun to look.

One item that my boys (they're 7 and 9) would absolutely love is the Carrom Super Stick Hockey game. There's a similar bubble hockey game down at the rink, where we spend alot of time, and a lot of quarters over the season's time.. Hmmm, wonder if I can convince the boys to start saving their quarters so they could have one of these down in our basement so they could play, even in the off-season. Probably not, so it will just have to remain on their wish-list.

Sports Authority has a wide selection of products for all athletes and sports fans. So if you've got any sports products on your need-to-buy list, check them out and even if you're not in the market right now for anything, check them out... you might just see something that you never knew you needed!!!

CouponsToTroops - Send your expired and unwanted coupons to overseas military families!

2011-06-30T09:42:00.002-04:00

If you’ve been a reader of mine for awhile, you know that I’m involved with CouponsToTroops, where we work to spread awareness that US Military families who are stationed overseas can use manufacturer’s coupons up to 6 months past their expiration date. We also help put families and groups here in the states in touch with overseas families so that they can mail their coupons on over.

One of my favorite parts of my day is checking my email and seeing messages from people here in the states who are looking for an address of a military family to mail to, and messages from overseas families who are hoping we can help them find coupons in their mailbox.

Here’s just a few of things that the military families have said:

~I LOVE to use coupons to help stretch our budget. If you can help us out I would be so grateful.

~It is very hard to find any good coupons over here. Any help will be greatly appreciated. You will not just be helping me and my family but many other military families
~
Thank you for offering this program to us! It is much appreciated!

~I am not sure if you know how much of an impact your services have out here but I can tell you it helps our families tremendously!!

~thank you for helping out so many military members. It means so much to know that there are so many people that want to help members that are stationed overseas!

It amazes me how something so simple as taking a few minutes out of your busy schedule to cut coupons from your Sunday paper and mail off an envelope of coupons overseas can mean so much to someone half a world away. And to know that they are going to a US military family who sacrifices so much for us every single day…. who wouldn’t want to be a part of that?

A Google search will yield you pages upon pages of information on sending coupons overseas to our military families. Our program is one of the few that recommends mailing directly to a military family and I’d like to explain the reasons why we do that.

• Some groups have you ‘adopt’ a base and you send your coupons to a generic address on base – usually to their Family Support Group. We’ve heard so many horror stories from military wives that there are not enough volunteers on base to get the coupons distributed quickly and they end up with stacks and stacks of boxes in their back room that ultimately end up in the trash because by the time they do get distributed, the coupons are well past the 6 month expiration window of opportunity.

• Other groups have you send your coupons to a collection point here in the US and they’ll send them overseas for you. It costs the same exact postage to mail overseas as it does to mail to a collection point in the US. (who will then turn around and spend MORE postage money to get them to their final destination.)

When you mail directly to a family on our contact list

• you KNOW that your coupons are getting to someone who will use what they can and share the rest with others on base. (Some groups have you ‘adopt’ a base and you send your coupons to a generic address on base – usually to their Family Support Group. We’ve heard so many horror stories that there are not enough volunteers to get the coupons distributed quickly and they end up with stacks of boxes in their back room that ultimately end up in the trash because by the time they do get distributed, the coupons are well past the 6 month expiration window of opportunity.)

• the coupons will be delivered overseas quicker since they won’t be making an extra stop along the way.

Right now CouponsToTroops is in an interesting predicament. The families that we help out overseas have been talking up the program so much that right now we have a LOT of new families who have signed up to receive coupons. We do receive emails from people wishing to send coupons every day, but we can always use more, so I’m hoping for a little bit of help from all of you, so that we can help that many more military families.

Please help us spread the word about the CouponsToTroops program and the Facebook page (www.facebook.com/CouponsToTroops) and/or our email address (admin@couponstotroops.com) and help us find more people who are willing to mail coupons overseas. Post about us on your blog, on your Facebook page, tweet about us, tell your relatives, your neighbors, your co-workers, your church group, your couponing group, your Moms Group, etc. And don’t forget to tell them to tell us that you sent them!!!

If you do help us spread the word, please leave a comment below. Be sure to include links to where you’ve posted…. You just might find a shout out from CouponsToTroops on our Facebook or Twitter page!!

Facebook: www.facebook.com/CouponsToTroops
Twitter: http://twitter.com/CouponsToTroops
Email: admin@couponstotroops.com

Congratulations to Yogi Bear DVD winner

2011-03-25T12:50:00.000-04:00

Thank you to everyone who entered for a chance to win the Yogi Bear DVD.

congratulations to #185
Matty and said... 185

Tweeted giveaway: http://twitter.com/#!/MattyNSarabeth/status/50256634555023361

Keep an eye out for your email from me!!!

Looking for military families who are stationed overseas - can you help me so I can help them??

2011-03-16T19:46:00.000-04:00

Q: Expired coupons - Trash or Treasure?

A: For U.S. Military families who are stationed on overseas military bases, the answer is undoubtedly Treasure!!

Anyone that knows me will tell you that I'm a huge advocate for sending expired and unwanted manufacturer's coupons overseas to U.S. military families, where they can use those coupons for up to 6 months past their expiration date.

As the admin at the informational website, www.CouponsToTroops.com, I am always receiving emails from families and groups around the country asking for my help in putting them in contact with an overseas military family that they can send their coupons to, and I'm more than happy to help.

I do have quite a few military contacts on my contact list, so it hasn't been a problem for me to put people in touch with an overseas family until now. As of right now, I've got 12 military families who have either recently moved back to the States or will be moving back soon, so they no longer are in need of coupons. And because of these families moving back, I've also have the 50+ people back here who have been mailing to them, who are now going to be needing new names to mail their coupons to.

I am waiting to hear back from the others on my list to see how much more they can each handle receiving, but I know that it will be best to add some new names to my list, so I hopefully won't find myself in this predicament again in a few months.

So I'm asking for you help - if you have any family members or friends who are currently stationed on an overseas military base who would be interested in receiving coupons from families back here in the U.S. please have them contact me.

Just so you know how I do this, when I receive an email from someone looking for someone to mail their coupons to, I pick a name off my contact list and forward the email to the the military family and then they reply, providing their mailing information. For privacy and security reasons, I do no give out anyone''s address unless I have been given permission to do so on their behalf.

I cannot even begin to tell you how much I would appreciate your help with this!!!

Yogi Bear DVD GIveaway

2011-03-14T21:30:00.000-04:00

Mark your calenders for next Tuesday because 3/22 is when Warner Bros.’ newest classic family comedy Yogi Bear starring Dan Aykroyd (Ghostbusters, Spies Like Us) and music superstar Justin Timberlake will be hitting your local store shelves!

Yogi Bear features everyone’s favorite talking bear Yogi (Dan Aykroyd) and his adorable sidekick Boo Boo (Justin Timberlake) as they raise havoc with their hair-brained schemes in Jellystone Park much to the chagrin of Ranger Smith (Tom Cavanagh). When Jellystone is threatened by a logging company Yogi teams up with a documentary filmmaker (Anna Farris) and must prove that he is indeed “Smarter than the average bear!”

We never had a chance to get to the movie theater when Yogi Bear was playing, so I am excited that it's being released on DVD next week! In honor of it's release, I'm happy to share the movie trailer with you all as well as Boo-Boo's Adventure Tips so you can have fun with your kids and you can Help Save the Bears with information from The Sierra Club.

Now onto the giveaway - 1 lucky winner will win a DVD of the Warner Bros' movie Yogi Bear.

To enter, please leave a comment below telling me who you'll be watching the movie with.

For additional entries, you can do any of the following, but you must complete this initial entry first. Any entries that do not follow these guidelines will be deleted.

Additional ways to enter to win:

~ Follow Yogi on Facebook (2 entries)
~ Subscribe via email to my blog (2 entries)
~ Follow me on Google Friend Connect (2 entries)
~ Grab my button and let me know where I can find it
~ Follow Me on Twitter (2 entries)log about this giveaway (2 entries)
~ Tweet about this giveaway (can be done once daily) please leave link for each tweet
~ Post this giveaway on any sweepstakes site, Mr Linky, or other networking website-please leave the link where I can find it

Leave a separate comment for EACH entry method please.

This giveaway will end at 11:59 PM (Eastern time) on 3/22/11 and is open to residents of the US only. I will randomly select the winner shortly after and notify the winner by email. The winner will have 48 hours to contact me with their mailing address. If a winner does not contact me within 48 hours of notification I will choose an alternate winner.

disclaimer: This is a sponsored giveaway - the DVD prize has been provided to me free of charge with the sole purpose of being awarded to one lucky winner. The prize will be shipped directly to the winner from the sponsor.

The Race Is On

2011-03-12T20:31:00.000-05:00

Today was the day that all of the boys in my sons' Cub Scout pack have been anxiously waiting for - Pinewood Derby race day!!! Both boys even happily gave up their last day of house league hockey for the chance to race their creations!

Grandpa came up with his saw and cut the blocks of wood for the boys, but each boy sanded the truck and painted and put on the decals, before getting help with putting the wheels on from Grandpa before Andy took did the final touches with the weights.

This year Steven went with a flame theme for his reddish orange truck and he made it a mission to use every decal on the page. Trevor went with a Patriotic theme for his blue truck.

I'm not sure how other pinewood derbies are run, but ours is a 6-lane track that hooks into a computer and the software keeps track of the speed of each car, down to the one-thousandths of a second. Each car makes 6 runs down the track - the software determines which lane each car is in and which cars they are against in each run. At the end of the 6th run, each car will have raced once on each track and gone head to head with every other car in the race - then the computer tabulates the time for each and every car, and the fastest car wins. They also have a projector hooked up to the computer so that all the spectators can see the results of each run and try to gauge how well their car is doing overall.

There are 1st, 2nd and 3rd place trophies for the four levels of Scout packs (Tigers, Wolves, Bears and Webelos). Once again this year, there are 4 Bears in Steven's pack which means 1 boy is going to be leaving without a trophy in his hand. Trevor's Tiger pack has 8 Scouts this year, so while he has more competition, it is a little easier for a boy to take if he has other Scouts to commiserate with over not receiving a trophy. As we've done in the past for Steven (this was Trevor's first year racing) we have been talking for weeks that it's not all about the trophies, that it's about the fun of customizing a car and getting the chance to race it and about the possibility that they each come could home empty-handed, while watching 3 boys celebrating with their trophies. We've also been stressing to them that if by chance they did win a trophy that they needed to be a considerate winner and not boasting and bragging.

Knowing Trevor as well as I do, I knew that if he came home without a trophy and big brother did win one, that we'd have a very dissapointed little boy on our hands today, no matter how many times we tried to warn him about that possibility. Earlier this morning, I told Andy that I was hoping for either 2 trophies or 0 trophies!

Both cars ran wonderfully today!! Trevor's car came in first in 5 out of the first 5 rounds, so I was very confident that he was going to be a happy little boy at the end. Steven's car did well and by comparing his results to the others in his group, I had a strong feeling that he too was going to be holding a trophy at the end. The 6th round came up and finally both boys' cars were racing at the same time. Steven's car actually came in a couple hundreds of a second faster than Trevor's. They tallied up all of the times and it was time to announce the winners.

Trevor took 1st place for the Tigers den and Steven took 2nd for the Bears. Perhaps even more impressive is the fact that out of the 36 cars racing today Trevor's was the fastest overall and Steven's was the 6th fastest overall. As you can imagine, both boys have been smiling all day today!!! Trevor even gets to race his truck again - as a 1st place finisher, he advances to the District derby in a few weeks.

Tubing at Berkshire East

2011-02-23T17:17:00.001-05:00

Let me start off by saying that despite being born and having lived my entire life in New England, I am not a huge fan of winter activities. I much prefer to stay inside where it's warm. Sure, as the mom of 2 hockey playing boys and wife to a hockey playing man, I spend a lot of time at the ice rink, but it's an inside rink so while it's still cold there, even when the heat is going full blast, it's not usually cold to the point of being unbearable.

This week it's school vacation and I've been trying to come up with some fun things to do with the kids.     Today's fun thing was a group activity with Trevor's Tiger Cub Scout den, and I was not nearly as excited about it as the kids were.

The plan?   Tubing at Berkshire East in Charlemont, MA, which is only about 45 minutes from here.   We were to all meet there around 10 am and tube for 2 hours.

So it was 10 minutes before I want to leave and the kids were dilly dallying, complaining because they were going to have to ride so long in the car wearing their snow pants. Finally we got in the car and were on our way. The boys were super exited and talking a mile a minute to each other in the backseat and there I was, driving us all there but still not enthused about our little winter adventure.

We got to the lodge and saw some of the other families, we paid for our tickets and headed outside.   We grabbed our tubes and headed for the tubing area. I was thinking 'here we go, how much longer til we can leave?' lol As I stood standing at the top looking down, the thought changed to 'why did I agree to this?'

They have 3 different lanes and a guy helping out at the top of each lane. Not knowing any better, I picked the middle. The guy was great, he asked how fast I wanted to go and if I wanted to go straight or spin my way down the hill.   I choose Medium fast and straight.   He gave me a push and I was off.

It was awesome!!!   Well, ok, the first time down the hill wasn't exactly awesome. I wasn't quite sure what to expect, and sitting in the tube waiting for the push, it seriously looked like I was going to go right off the side of a cliff and I think I may have screamed a little as I left the safety of the top of the hill, but then it was awesome.    Although I'll also say that as you're barreling down the hill in the tube with absolutely no way of stopping or controlling which side of the lane you're careening down, you feel like a human bowling ball and from about halfway done, you're hoping like crazy that the person that went down ahead of you hurries up and gets himself and his tube the heck outta your way before they turn into a human bowling pin.

They have a conveyor belt that will bring you and the tube back up the hill for your next trip, so you get a little break to catch your breath in between adrenaline rushes!

For my second trip down the hill, I tried out the lane on the left side, and that pusher guy was great. After a few times down, he even remembered that I wanted to go straight and medium fast without even having to ask me, and I also got braver and went to straight and fast until finally I was at straight and a little faster!

Our two hours there flew by and before I knew it, they were announcing that time was up.       We are definitely going to have to go back again and who knows I just may end up going down the lane on the right, which has a bigger dropoff than the middle one, so maybe not!!!

So if you're looking for a fun winter adventure on weekends or during this week's school vacation in Western Massachusetts, check out the tubing at Berkshire East.   For adults, it's $20 for 2 hours and for kids up to 12, it's $15.00 for 2 hours.     And also check out this youtube video that shows how much fun it is!

disclaimer: *I was not financially compensated for this post. Any opinions expressed are completely my own and it's unlikely that everyone will share my opinion!

Congratulations to Hefty Basics winners

2011-02-23T15:58:00.000-05:00

Thank you to everyone who entered for a chance to win a coupon for a FREE package of Hefty Basics paper plates.

Congratulations to #30
hity88 said... 30 I Subscribe via email to your blog # 2 and

to #49

Sarah said... 49 I'd like to try them because they are eco-friendly.

I'll be emailing you shortly for your mailing information!!

Don't forget to celebrate tomorrow (2/19)

2011-02-18T22:18:00.004-05:00

As I'm sitting here fighting a chocolate craving, I realized that tomorrow is National Chocolate Mint Day. Usually when I crave chocolate, my chocolate of choice is just a plain ole Hershey milk chocolate bar, but now that I've got Chocolate and mint on my mind, I find myself wishing for a box of Junior Mints to magically appear in front of me.

It's been quite awhile since I've made them, but I think I'll pick up a box of Junior Mints in the morning and bake a batch of Junior Mint brownies to celebrate.

If you have a favorite chocolaty minty recipe, please share!!!

Hefty Basics Review and Giveaway

2011-02-16T12:27:00.004-05:00

Confession time - I hate washing dishes. I can't remember a time in my life that I didn't hate washing dishes. So a few weeks ago, when I was given the opportunity to try out the new line of paper plates by Hefty^® called Hefty^® Basics^™, I quickly said yes please!!

If you haven't seen them in your stores yet, there are a biodegradable (and microwavable) option to your standard everyday plates.

From their website:

Hefty^® Basics^™ disposable paper plates deliver the strength and value you expect from the Hefty^® brand and much more. Free of inks, dyes or coatings, Hefty^® Basics^™ paper plates are biodegradable in home composting making them a perfect choice for environmentally-conscious consumers. Hefty^® Basics^™ plates are designed to deliver the strength needed to support most any meal. Great for serving family meals or entertaining a gathering of friends or family, these microwavable plates are competitively priced to deliver superior value without busting your budget.

Hefty^® Basics^™ paper plates deliver the performance, strength and value you want and you can feel good using them. The plates are available in 45-count 8 5/8-inch lunch plate packages and 24-count 10 1/4-inch dinner plate packages.

After using the plates, I can tell you that I love them. I love how strong they are - they don't curl up as you're carrying a plate full of food to the table; I love that they are thick enough that juices don't soak through the plate; I love that they are microwavable; and I also love that it is biodegradable and that it's not going to be in our landfills from now until the end of time and beyond.

As if that's not enough reason to want to try them out, Hefty^® Basics^™ is partnering with the Arbor Day Foundation to replant our nation's forests. For every ten new 'likes' to their Facebook page, they will plant one new tree www.Facebook.com/Hefty.BasicsTableware

Now onto the giveaway, 2 winners will each win one coupon for a FREE package of any size Hefty Basics Paper Plates (maximum value $2.99)

To enter, please visit Hefty Basics and leave a comment below telling me why you would like to try their line of paper plates.

For additional entries, you can do any of the following, but you must complete this initial entry first. Any entries that do not follow these guidelines will be deleted.

Additional ways to enter to win:

~Follow Hefty Basics on Facebook (2 entries)
~ Subscribe via email to my blog (2 entries)
~ Follow me on Google Friend Connect (2 entries)
~ Grab my button and let me know where I can find it
~ Follow Me on Twitter (2 entries)log about this giveaway (2 entries)
~ Tweet about this giveaway (can be done once daily) please leave link for each tweet
~ Post this giveaway on any sweepstakes site, Mr Linky, or other networking website-please leave the link where I can find it

Leave a separate comment for EACH entry method please.

This giveaway will end at 11:59 PM (Eastern time) on 2/22/11 and is open to residents of the US only. I will randomly select winners shortly after and notify those people by email. Winners have 48 hours to contact me with their mailing address. If a winner does not contact me within 48 hours of notification I will choose an alternate winner.

disclaimer: The product mentioned above has been provided to me free of charge from the company in exchange for being featured and reviewed on More or Les(ley). The two coupon prizes have also been provided free of charge from the company. Any opinions expressed are completely my own!

Printable coupon - $1 off Robitussin

2010-12-22T23:05:00.002-05:00

Click here to sign up and print out your $1 off Robitussin product.

Pre-order Lee DeWyze's debut album - release date is November 16th

2010-10-15T11:06:00.000-04:00

I am so excited that we are just over 1 month away from the release date of last season's American Idol winner, Lee DeWyze's debut album, Live It Up.

I was a fan of Lee's from his AI audition and watched every week just so I could see his performance!!! I already have his album pre-ordered on Amazon.com so I can just sit back and wait for it to come in!!!

But if you're impatient like me, you can go to his official webpage and listen to his debut single "Sweet Serendipity".

10 Free iTunes downloads courtesy of People.com

2010-10-12T11:47:00.002-04:00

People.com has put up the October list of free MP3 downloads from itunes.

The list of songs is as follows:

Jerrod Niemann - One More Drinkin' Song

The Charlie Daniels Band - A Few More Rednecks

Joey + Rory - This Song's For You

Josh Kelley - Georgia Clay

Katie Arminger - Movin On

Dale Watson - Carryin' On This Way

Ty Herndon - Journey On

Chelsea Field - Things I Should've Said

Justin Townes Earle - Ain't Waitin'

Lucas Hoge - Shake the Trailer

Enjoy!!

Tuesday Freebies from Free Flys

2010-10-05T11:44:00.002-04:00

Check out these freebie offers from Free Flys:

Get a free bottle of Advil®

Free foundation from Estee Lauder®

Free sample of Earths Best® Organic Infant Formula

Get a free sample of Curel® Sensitive Skin Remedy

Free sample of Ester C® Gummies

"Do What You Love" Sweepstakes!! Enter today

2010-10-04T20:00:00.002-04:00

Sponsored By

Cheerios® is giving you the chance to win a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, your ultimate family vacation. As part of a paid promotion for their “Do What You Love” Sweepstakes, Cheerios® is sponsoring my post today about what my ultimate family vacation would be. Read mine, Enter the Sweepstakes for a chance to actually win your own fantasy family trip or one of a bunch of other great prizes.

Andy and I talked about what our ultimate family vacation would be. Neither he nor I have ever been to Walt Disney World so of course that was what we mentioned first. The boys would probably have a great time, and they’re at ages where I think they’d remember the trip but we wanted to toss out a few more ideas before we settled on one super great one. We talked about going back to Hawaii, where we spent two weeks for our honeymoon. We talked about going to Japan, back to where Andy was stationed for a year during his time in the Marines.

Every place sounded great, but as I was downstairs doing laundry last night and I tripped over a bag of hockey equipment, I suddenly knew what would be the Ultimate Family Vacation for our family.

Before I give you all the details, let me explain our backgrounds a little bit. Andy is originally from Canada. He learned to skate when he was about 4 and started playing hockey when he was 6. Even now that he’s 45, he still plays hockey as much as he can, although these days it’s either with a no-check men’s league or no-check pickup games. Last year we started the boys on their hockey playing adventure and this year both will be playing on the junior house league at the local rink. I have zero hockey experience, and in fact prior to meeting Andy in 1994, I had never in my life even watched a hockey game. When I began dating a hockey loving man from Canada, that quickly changed. Thank goodness for the NHL channel and the Versus channel for being part of our package on DirecTV. Because of them, we enjoy watching a lot of hockey games throughout the season.

Wouldn’t it be cool if we were able to go on an Ultimate Family Vacation, by visiting the 30 cities around the US and Canada that have NHL franchises and stopping at each team’s venue to watch a game? Also included would be to have the opportunity to meet all the players of each team and have our pictures taken with them, get autographs and get some ice time with the teams during a practice. Hopefully at some point during our travels, we’d be able to be in the same room as the Stanley Cup trophy – I know I’d never get the grin off Andy’s face if he ever had the chance to be that close to the Stanley Cup. And of course, we’d either start off or end the trip with a stop at the NHL Hall of Fame in Toronto.

I can only think of 2 potential issues with this vacation. The boys would miss an awful lot of school, so we’d have to have provisions for them to do their schoolwork from the road. There are 4 of us in this house, all with different opinions of who his/her favorite NHL team is. So how would we decide where to start off our road trip? Would we make our first stop in Boston for Steven or in Pittsburgh for Trevor? Or maybe Detroit for me or Montreal for Andy?

Regardless of which city we hit first, I know that this dream vacation would be one of the best family vacations that we’ve ever been on and it would be a trip my kids would NEVER forget!!!

So what is your family’s idea of an ultimate family vacation?

Don't forget to enter the “Do What You Love” Sweepstakes, for a chance to win your own ultimate family vacation. I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective, which endorses Blog With Integrity, as I do.

Meet Me on Monday - September 27th

2010-09-27T09:51:00.002-04:00

It's Monday so here I am, joining in again on Never Growing Old's weekly "Meet Me on Monday". She asks 5 questions designed to let blog readers know a little more about the blogger. You too can join in on the fun - just answer the questions on your own blog and then add your bloglink to the list on her site.

Questions:

1. How many TV’s do you have in your home?
2. What is on your bedside table (nightstand)?
3. How many pair of shoes do you own?
4. Can you change a flat tire?
5. Do you prefer sweet treats or salty treats?

My Answers:

1. We only have 1 TV. Eventually we will get one to put downstairs in our Rec Room but for now we just have the one in the living room. My sons also think that they should TV's in their bedrooms too, but they already spend too much time watching TV, so I don't them having their own anytime soon!

2. My bedside table has a lamp and a telephone. I know.... B...O...R...I...N...G

3. I have 14 pairs of shoes. 3 pairs of sneakers, 2 pairs of winter boots, 2 pairs of casual sandels, 1 pair of gray suede boots, and the rest are dressier shoes (that I don't wear often).

4. I've never HAD to change my own tire, but as the daughter of a mechanic I have the knowledge to do so. But by that same token, I know HOW to do an oil change on my car, but I've never had to do that myself either.

5. I love both sweet and salty treats, so it really depends on my mood. If I'm stressed about something, I'm much more likely to be munching on something chocolatety, but if I'm relaxed or happy or just feeling hungry, I'm more apt to grab popcorn or potato chips or cheese and crackers.

Candy cane tree ornament/package adornment giveaway (ends 10/2)

2010-09-26T10:29:00.003-04:00

Here's a quick and easy giveaway for you!!!! The prize is 2) handmade (by me) candy cane ornaments that you could hang up on your tree or use as an adornment to a gift, or whatever else you'd like to use them for!!!

To enter, just leave a comment describing your favorite tree ornament. This entry is mandatory and must be done before any additional entries can be done.

For additional entries:

~Follow me via Google Friend Connect (for 3 entries, leave a comment for each)
~Follow Me on Twitter (for 2 entries, leave a comment for each)
~Subscribe to More or Lesley via email (for 2 entries, leave a comment for each)
~Grab my button (and let me know where I can find it) (for 4 entries, leave a comment for each)
~Blog about this giveaway (and let me know where I can find it)
~Tweet about this giveaway (can be done once per day) please leave link for each tweet (You can use the retweet button or make up your own)
~Post this giveaway on any sweepstakes site, Mr Linky, or other networking website-please leave the link where I can find it

This giveaway will end at 11:59 PM (Eastern time) on 10/2/10 and is open only to US residents, age 18+. I will randomly select a winner on Sunday 10/3/10 and notify the winner by email. Winner has 48 hours to reply to my email. If the winner does not contact me within 48 hours of notification I will choose an alternate winner.

Good Luck!!!

SpellingCity.com - an online resource to help your child study spelling

2010-09-24T11:35:00.008-04:00

Steven (my 8 year old) and I have discovered that 3rd grade spelling words are much more difficult than 2nd grade spelling words. He's a good speller and last year he did not have to spend too much time at home studying the words and still do well on his test, but after seeing the results of his first two spelling tests this school year, I knew not studying hard was a thing of the past for him.

So I did what any computer-savvy mom might do. I googled for online spelling games and I found a super site!!!!

SpellingCity.com is a site where as a registered parent, I can join and type in his weekly spelling words. He then can work with the list in 3 different modes to do his studying.

In the Teach Me mode, he sees each word, one at a time, and the computer says the word and then progressively shows the word as it spells it out letter by letter and finally uses the word in a sentence.
In the Play Games mode, there are 12 different games that he can choose from to help him practice spelling each word. His favorite game by far is Hang Mouse (think HangMan) but he has played most of the other games as well.
In the Test Me mode, he hears each word and then has to type out the correct spelling. When he's finished, he clicks on the Check Me button to see how well he's done or which words he needs more practice with.

When the parent types in the words for the week, there is the option to make the list publicly viewable, so that other parents can work with the same list with their children. I've shared the site with several of the parents of the other kids in his classroom so their children can benefit as well.

SpellingCity has 2 membership levels. We are using the FREE membership level but there's also the option to Upgrade to the Premium membership, where 2 more games are offered as well as the ability to track your child's progress, automatic test grading and student grade book and telephone support. The cost for the Premium membership for a family (with up to 5 students) is $24.99 a year. The cost for the Premium membership for a classroom (with up to 30 students) is $49.99 a year. It's quite a difference in savings for a family vs a classroom so it may be something that you'd like to speak to your child's teacher about and see if it's a resource she'd like to have the parents all donate a couple of dollars towards.

Today is spelling test day! I'm fairly confident that he's going to have a better test score this week than last week, but I'll let you know as soon as he brings it home!!!

Friendly Friday Follow - 9/24/2010

2010-09-24T10:55:00.003-04:00

Welcome to Friendly Friday!

Thanks for joining the Friendly Friday celebration hosted by Xenia at Thanks, Mail Carrier, Christi at Frugal Novice and Charla at Healthy Home Blog! They host this bloghop every Friday to make more friends in blogville, get more blog followers and follow other great blogs out there.

To join in the Friendly Friday celebration, include your family-friendly link in our list, follow the hostesses in the first 3 spots and then start blog hopping! Visit other blogs on the list and comment to give them some blog love. Then take a minute to follow them through Google Friend Connect - this is a good way to keep up with other blogs, but also lets us show support to each other! Please DO NOT list your giveaways here, links must be to either your homepage or your Friday posting with your blog title. All others will be deleted.

If you're finding More or Les(ley) for the first time, welcome. Please take a look around and hopefully you'll see something that you like!!!! Just leave me a comment somewhere so I'll know you stopped in!!!

FREE admission on Museum Day, Saturday September 25

2010-09-23T10:01:00.004-04:00

Making your plans for the weekend and drawing a blank for Saturday? Maybe this will help. Saturday, September 25th, Smithsonian Media is hosting its annual Museum Day, where participating museums across the country open their doors for free to anyone presenting a Museum Day Ticket.

To see what museums are participating and to get your ticket, click here

The Museum Day Ticket provides free admission to one person, plus a guest.

• One ticket per household
• A ticket will gain entry in only one museum and only participating museums
• Only an official Museum Day ticket is eligible for free entry

I just printed my ticket to the Springfield Museums. Which museum will you choose?

Win It Wednesday -9/22 giveaway linkup

2010-09-22T13:29:00.001-04:00

It's Win It Wednesday and time for another Giveaway linkup! Please post your giveaway or look over the list to see if there's any you'd like to win. If you add a link, please be sure to directly link to your giveaway and not the main page of your blog. Please include the name of your blog, your prize and the last day to enter!

Thank you and Good luck to everyone!!

Win It Wednesday 9/22 - what have you won this week?

2010-09-22T12:42:00.005-04:00

This week my winning streak has returned. 3 new wins to report.

First up is a win from New Age Mama's blog and Kaskey Kids sports figures. I chose the Hockey Guys set. New Age Mama has a long list of current giveaways - there's bound to be something that you'd love, so definitely check it out!!

I also won another prize from Mom of Two Boys - a 11x14 Transportation print from Fancy Prints. One of our friends has a new baby boy and I think this would look so adorable in his bedroom! On Fridays Mom of Two Boy posts her Favorite Finds Friday and she has some very cute finds!!!! But if you can't wait until Friday, she's got a preview up right now!!!

Last but not least is my second prize from Sweeps4Bloggers, Word Pirates game from HaywireGroup. Sweeps4Bloggers has a lot of great giveaways and even though most of them have hundreds of entries, don't let that discourage you!!!

What have you won this week?

Freebie alerts from FreeFly's

2010-09-21T12:36:00.004-04:00

I wanted to share 4 Freebie alerts with you, courtesy of FreeFly's!!

Get a free sample of Thomas Coffee®

Free sample of Cover Girl and Olay® Simply Ageless

Free sample of Wisk® Liquid Laundry Detergent

Free sample of Brilliant® pH Tampons

Quite a combination of freebies, isn't it? It's for the type of day where you're PMS'ing and need a little boost of caffeine to get you going and you want to take the extra few minutes to look pretty because you just spilled a couple of drops of coffee on your new sweater!!! But even if you're not having that type of day and just want some freebies, the links can hook you up!!!

Uno Attack

2010-09-21T09:59:00.003-04:00

Last Friday was my older son's 8th birthday and one of the presents we gave him was the Mattel game Uno Attack!

We already have the original Uno card game and we play it often, so when I saw this game in Target, I knew it would be a hit. Uno Attack! is similar to the original card game but there are a few variations. The biggest variation is the Uno launcher that shoots cards out to the players at random. You deal out 7 cards to each player, flip over one card to start the discard pile and then load the rest of the cards into the launcher. The first player checks to see if they have a card that will play on the discard pile and if they do not, they press the button on the launcher. The launcher may not shoot anything out, or it could send one or several cards out, which the player adds to their hand and play goes to the next player.

The deck of cards has the Reverse card, the Skip card and the regular Wild card like the original, but it also has a few new cards.

Hit 2 card: When the Hit 2 card is played, the next player must hit the launcher button twice, and the player has to add any cards to his/her hand, before play moves on to the next player.
Trade Hands card: When the Trade Hands card is played, the player discarding the card must trade his/her entire hand with any other player of his choice.
Discard All card: The Discard All card comes in each color and is the card to play if/when you want to discard all of the cards in your hand of that particular color.
Wild All Hit card: This is a cool card. When a player discards a Wild All card, play moves around the table with each player hitting the launcher button once and adding any cards that are shot out. Once all of the other players have hit the launch button, play comes back to the person who discarded the card, and play continues on.
Wild Hit-Fire card: This one is the coolest card of all, especially when the next player is running low on the number of cards in his/her hand. When the Wild Hit Fire card is discarded, the next player MUST press the launcher button until the Launcher shoots out cards. It could be 1 press of the button or it could be several presses. When the cards shoot out, that player adds them to his/her hand and play goes to the next player.

One other variation is that if you get down to one card in your hand and another player calls you on it, you have to hit the launcher button twice!!!

Somewhere between the toy aisle and the checkout, I completely forgot that the box said '3 C Batteries' required for the shooter and came home without the batteries, and didn't remember that it needed them, until the moment that he was unwrapping his presents. Luckily, I did have exactly 3 C batteries in the drawer so a crisis was averted!!

The game is aimed at players age 7 and up, but my 6 year old enjoyed playing too. The only problem that I discovered was that the boys kept forgetting that the object of the game is to get RID of all your cards, as on each of their turns they wanted to have to hit the launcher button until it shot cards out at them. But hopefully after they've played it a few more times, that part won't be their favorite part. If not though, I came up with a new game for them to play. I loaded up ALL of the cards into the launcher and they took turns hitting the button once. Whatever cards shot out at them went into their pile and once the launcher was empty, they counted up the cards and the winner was the boy with the most cards in his pile.

Uno Attack can be purchased online at Amazon.com, or look for it in Walmart, Target or ToysRUs, or go to LetsplayUno.com to see their other products.

disclaimer: *I was not financially compensated for this post. Any opinions expressed are completely my own and it's unlikely that everyone will share my opinion!

Meet Me on Monday - September 20th edition

2010-09-20T19:02:00.005-04:00

Another week that I'm joining in again on Never Growing Old's weekly "Meet Me on Monday". She asks 5 questions designed to let blog readers know a little more about the blogger. You too can join in on the fun - just answer the questions on your own blog and then add your bloglink to the list on her site.

This week's questions are:

1. What is your favorite all time movie?
2. How often do you go over the speed limit?
3. What really gives you the creeps?
4. What is your favorite snack?
5. Would you rather be a dog named Killer or a cat named Fluffy?

and my answers:

My favorite all time movie.... Since I'm having a hard time coming up with one definite answer, I'm going to have to say I don't have ONE favorite movie. I have a pretty extensive list of movies that I will watch if I randomly find one while flipping through the channels. The list in part includes, in no particular order, Speed, Point Break, Top Gun, Better Off Dead, Sweet Home Alabama, and How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. The common theme in all of these are a cute guy and at least a little bit of a romance.

I can't be truthful and say that I never go above the speed limit, but I can honestly say that I do TRY not to speed and also thank goodness for my minivan and it's cruise control which keep me out of trouble on the highway!
More than anything small rodent creatures give me the creeps. Mice, rats, squirrels, chipmunks, moles, opposums - I hate them all! I would have posted a picture to go along with this answer, but even pictures of these critters give me the creeps!!!

My favorite snack is popcorn, buttered popcorn preferrably.

I would rather be a dog named Killer than a cat named Fluffy. I'm 5'2" and not an scary person at all, so I think it would be a nice change to have a name that could be intimidating if I needed it to be.

The winner of the 250 Die Cut Business Cards is.......

2010-09-19T19:43:00.003-04:00

Thank you to everyone who entered my giveaway for 250 Die Cut Business Cards from Uprinting.com. The winning entry belongs to:

Jesser said... 15 Tweeted

http://twitter.com/LLLBoutique/status/2453

Congratulations Jesser and thank you for the quick reply to my email.

Follow Me Friday - 9/17/2010

2010-09-17T09:07:00.003-04:00

What a week. Between soccer practice and Cub Scouts and my older son's 8th birthday today, this week has flown by and I can't believe it's Friday already!!! But Friday it is, which means it's Follow Me Friday!!!

If you're finding moreorlesley for the first time and decide to follow me on Google Friend Connect or become an email subscriber, please comment below with your blog link and I'll follow you back!!! Be sure to add your link at the bottom of the list below and you too will hopefully get some new readers!

While you're here, check out my giveaway that ends tomorrow night. The prize is 250 Die Cut business cards from Uprinting.com and it's got a low number of entries so your chances are pretty good! If you have a giveaway on your blog, you can also ad your linky to our Win It Wednesday Giveaway linkie.

Thanks for stopping by!

Join the Plum District for local savings!

2010-09-16T14:04:00.005-04:00

Have you heard about Plum District?

Plum District is a daily deal website that features deep discounts on services and products that moms and their families want and need most. There's currently 45 cities that you can choose from, or they have an Everywhere option that you can choose for deals that you can take advantage of no matter where you call home. I chose the Everywhere option since the closest city is 2 hours from me - one of the prices I pay for living in the middle of nowhere!!

When you sign up, you'll receive a daily email letting you know about the daily Plum deal. If it's something you're interested in, just click on the Buy button. You also can share the deals with your friends and you'll receive a $10 Plum Dollar referral bonus (to use toward your next Plum Deal purchase) for every friend that you refer that makes a purchase.

To give you an example of a deal, if you sign up for the Everywhere edition today, you'll be able to score a voucher for $40 worth of merchandise at Kolobags.com for only $20.00 Of course there's bound to be restrictions, but they are clearly stated on the Deals page, so there's no surprises after you've made the purchase. For instance, some of today's fine print lets you know that the voucher is transferable, only one voucher allowed per transaction, redeemable online ONLY, no cash back, and that the deal expires on 9/18/2010, so you do have to act quickly!!!

Past deals have included local and national discounts between 50% and 90% on everything from pedicures to Pilates classes, restaurant discounts, tennis lessons, vacation activities, parking passes, big name department store discounts, and much more.

Anyways, check it out and feel free to comment on any good deals that you find for your city!

Win It Wednesday -9/15 giveaway linkup

2010-09-15T09:52:00.000-04:00

Win It Wednesday - what have you won this week?

2010-09-15T09:45:00.002-04:00

Guess how many giveaways I won this week? Zero!!! I've only entered about a dozen in the past week and it stands to reason that you can't win if you don't enter. Maybe next week I'll have better luck..... if I find some time to do some entering, that its.

But hopefully some of you have had better luck than me, so let's have it. Tell us all what great things you've won this week..

The winner of the Micheals $10 Gift card is......

2010-09-12T08:26:00.004-04:00

Thank you to everyone who entered my giveaway for the $10 giftcard to Michaels! I'm happy to announce that the winner is

Laura C said... 67

Follow Michaels on twitter

Congratulations Laura!!! I'll be emailing you this morning!

While you are here, don't forget to enter to win my giveaway for 250 die cut business cards!!!

My new header!!!!

2010-09-10T22:20:00.003-04:00

Isn't it beautiful? My wins from last week have started to arrive.... My 9x9 pan arrived yesterday, and my Powermat and Dinosaur Train DVD both were delivered today, but as excited as I was to get those, they do not compare to how excited I was to see an email in my inbox this morning from Jessica at InspiringYou2save.com with the header she designed just for me.

Jessica was an absolute joy to work with. I gave her a description of what I was hoping for, and she ran with it and I LOVE what she came up with. In fact I loved it so much that I asked if she was up for hire so that she could work me up a corresponding grab me button, which if you look on the right sidebar, she came through for me with that as well.

In her giveaway, she had 2 other winners, and she's already got the one for Heather at Family Friendly Frugality designed. It's a completely different style and look than mine, but I know that Heather is as thrilled with hers as I am with mine and I can't wait to see what she comes up with for the other winner!

If you're looking for a custom made header for your website or blog, go on over to InspiringYou2Save and get in touch with Jessica and see what she can do for you!!!

It's Fair time!!!

2010-09-10T08:39:00.004-04:00

Ah, September. So many things happening around my house in September. Yesterday, Andy and I celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary as a happily married couple and also our 2nd anniversary of living in our new house!!! Next weekend my older son turns 8. School is back in full force (yay!), soccer practice has begun for both boys, Cub Scouts starts back up next week and Andy's men's league hockey starts back up. I'm tired just thinking of it all!!!!

This weekend is the weekend that our children barely get to see their dad. It's the Franklin County Fair and his Marine Corps League detachment has a food booth there. It's their BIGGEST fundraising endeavor for the year. If you're looking for my husband this weekend, don't look for him anywhere else but at the fair from Thursday the 9th until Sunday the 12th.

Their booth serves hot dogs, hamburgers, meatball grinders, cheeseburg grinders, sausage grinders, chili (mild and Not-so-Mild), corn chowder, ham and baked beans, coffee, water and soda. They also have a full breakfast menu for any early rising fair goers. Their corn chowder is absolutely the best - I had a bowl for breakfast yesterday morning when I was up there working... I preferred to call it 'taste-testing' though, and not breakfast!! They also get rave reviews for the chili. But I have to tell you, I'm too wimpy to try the Not-so-mild!!!

If you're in the area of Greenfield, MA, check out the fair's website to see all of the events going on and if you make it into the gates of the Fair, stop bythe Oak Ridge Detachment's food booth and tell them Lesley sent ya! Just walk past the tractor exhibits, and it's on the right, immediately after Ray's French Fries stand (which incidently, in my opinion has THE best fries at the fair).

disclaimer: Although my husband and I are affiliated with the Oak Ridge Detachment, I received no financial compensation for this post from, or from the Franklin County Agricultural Society. Any opinions expressed are completely my own and it's likely that not everyone would agree with me.

Win It Wednesday - Giveaway - 250 die cut Business cards (ends 9/18)

2010-09-08T09:56:00.009-04:00

From marketing materials to personal cards, business cards have evolved over the years from the plain and boring (do you remember those plain white card with only a few lines of black print) to the modern and stylish, with rounded corners, square cards and slim cards. Uprinting.com can help you customize a business card to suit your needs and style.

Check out their webpage for some other examples.

One lucky More or Lesley reader will receive 250) Die Cut Business cards, customized from the following specification choices:
Sizes available: 2 x 3.5”, 2 x 2” (square card) or 1.75 x 3.5” (slim card)
Die cutting options available: Rounded Corners, Leaf, Rounded One-Corner, Half-Circle Side, Circle
Paper Type: 14pt Cardstock Gloss, Matte, or High Gloss; 13pt Cardstock Uncoated
Color: 4Color Front, Blank Back; 4Color Front, Black Back; 4Color Both Sides

This giveaway will end at 11:59 PM (Eastern time) on 9/18/10 and is open only to US residents, age 18+. I will randomly select a winner on Sunday 9/19/10 and notify the winner by email. Winner has 48 hours to reply to my email. If the winner does not contact me within 48 hours of notification I will choose an alternate winner.

To enter, you must follow More Or Lesley via Google Friend Connect AND leave a comment about what you will use your cards for. This entry is mandatory and must be done before any additional entries can be done.

For additional entries:

~Follow Uprinting on Twitter
~Follow Uprinting on Facebook
~Follow Me on Twitter
~Subscribe to More or Lesley via email
~Grab my button (and let me know where I can find it)
~Blog about this giveaway (and let me know where I can find it)
~Tweet about this giveaway (can be done 2 times per day, with at least 2 hours between tweets) please leave link for each tweet (You can use this or make up your own Enter to win 250) die cut business cards from Uprinting.com. Ends 9/18 @moreorlesley http://tinyurl.com/2aeh3bl)
~Post this giveaway on any sweepstakes site, Mr Linky, or other networking website-please leave the link where I can find it
~Vote for my entry in Hasbro's Monopoly Makes It Real here (can be done once daily)

Good luck!!!

disclaimer: I received no compensation for this post, however I will receive 250 die cut business cards from UPrinting.com as a token of their appreciation for hosting this giveaway. Any opinions expressed within this post are completely my own!

Win It Wednesday - what have you won this week?

2010-09-08T07:09:00.006-04:00

Wednesday already, so let's talk about our lucky wins for the week.

I've got 4 to report!!!

I won the Name Bubbles school label pack giveaway hosted by 24/7 Moms. 24/7 Moms is a great blog -not only do they post a daily Table Talk designed to give your family something to talk about at the dinner table, they have a lot of great giveaways, and a live chat every Tuesday night but I haven't had the chance to take part in yet.

Next up is a custom made website/blog header design from Inspiring You To Save!!! She created the header on her blog so I know she'll create something great for me. I can't wait to see what Jessica is going to come up with for More Or Lesley!!

The prize that will be going into to the Christmas present stash for my younger son is the Dinosaur Train backpack filled with Dinosaur Train games and books from Flying Giggles and Lollipops. My little guy is going to have a blast with the 2 books, the dinosaur figurines and the 2 games that come in the Dinosaur Train backpack!!

and last but not least is a customized Silhouette print from
Ever After Design Studio, hosted by Mother of 2 Boys. Lindsay from Ever After Designs has been a joy to work with. I'm very excited that she's got a hockey player silhouette in the works but I decided to go with the Family Silhouette for my prize! I've already approved the proof and can't wait for this to come in so I can find the perfect frame and hang it up in our home!

More importantly, what have YOU won this week?

Freebie - 2011 Women's Health calendar

2010-09-07T13:18:00.003-04:00

women’s health.gov has the order form up for the free 2011 Women's Health Calendar. It is a great way to keep track of doctor appointments and everything else that us busy women have going on! Limit one calendar per person and the calendar will ship out starting in December.

Did you know?

The National Women's Health Information Center (NWHIC) is the most reliable and current information resource on women’s health today, offering FREE women’s health information on more than 800 topics through their call center and web site, including:

original health information on special topics like pregnancy, breastfeeding, body image, HIV/AIDS, girls health, heart health, menopause and hormone therapy, mental health, quitting smoking, and violence against women
original health information and resources for special populations: minority women, women with disabilities, girls, men, and Spanish speakers
thousands of health publications
statistics on women’s health
daily news on women’s health
a calendar of women’s health events

and MORE!

Good Deal Alert - Free* diamond** earrings (pay just $3.77 shipping) while supplies last

2010-09-07T11:11:00.004-04:00

Ok, first let me clarify that * participation and payment of $3.77 for shipping is required. and ** earrings do not contain real diamonds but a diamond substitute such as cubic zirconia or similar.

What is up with this promotion, you ask? www.diamondearrings.org is promoting their new website and asking us, the consumers, to help spread the word and rewarding us with a free* pair of simulated diamond earrings. All you have to do to participate is to help spread the word about diamondearrings.com. You can post on your blog, on Twitter, on Facebook, anywhere on the internet.

I received my pair in the mail on Friday and put them on immediately. When I went to pick up my sons at school, the first thing my younger son said to me was 'Mommy, why are you wearing shiny earrings?'

The promotion is for a limited time and will end without notice, so go spread the word and claim your pair of earrings!!!

disclaimer: The product mentioned above has been provided to me free of charge from the company in exchange for being featured on More or Les(ley). Any opinions expressed are completely my own!

Meet Me On Monday - September 6th

2010-09-07T07:11:00.005-04:00

A day late, but I'm joining in again on Never Growing Old's weekly "Meet Me on Monday" where she asks 5 questions designed to let blog readers know a little more about the blogger. You too can join in on the fun - just answer the questions on your own blog and then add your bloglink to the list on her site.

This week's questions are
1. Do you wear socks to bed?
2. Do you have any pets?
3. What topping(s) do you like on your pizza?
4. What time do you go to bed?
5. Would you rather get free chocolate for one year or free potatoes forever?
My Answers:

I do not wear socks to bed.

No pets here, much to the disappointment of my sons. A few months ago, they were playing outside and saw a toad near the front stairs. My 6 year old shouted excitedly 'now we have a pet!'

I like supreme pizzas, as long as I can pick off the pepperoni and that there's no anchovies on it!!
I usually go to bed between 11 and 11:30 pm. Or maybe I should say I am usually asleep between 11 and 11:30 pm. At least a couple of nights a week, I fall asleep on the couch and wake up around 12:30 and head off to bed.

This is an easy one - Free chocolate for a year, and my all time favorite chocolate is just a plain milk chocolate Hershey bar!!!

We have a winner!!!!

2010-09-05T07:51:00.004-04:00

Time to announce the winner of the $10 giftcard to Bath & Body Works..... but first I want to shout out a thanks to everyone who stopped by and entered!!!

Debbie C said... 54 I follow you on Google Friend Connect. (Debbie C)

Congratulations Debbie. I'll be sending you an email this morning.

Follow Me Friday - 9/3/2010

2010-09-03T14:23:00.002-04:00

It's Follow Me Friday!!!! If you're finding moreorlesley for the first time and decide to follow me on Google Friend Connect or become an email subscriber, please comment below with your blog link and I'll follow you back!!!

While you're here, check out this week's my 2 giveaways a $10 gift card to Bath & Body Works and a $10 gift card to Michaels. If you have a giveaway on your blog, you can also ad your linky to our Win It Wednesday Giveaway linkie.

Thanks for stopping by!

Michaels $10.00 Gift Card Giveaway

2010-09-02T10:20:00.005-04:00

A few weeks ago as I was reading my emails, I read one entitled: Back-to-school time is here -- The Knack August Newsletter from Michaels. I was excited because not only did I know that it would have the link to an exclusive Members-Only printable coupon, but also because I love to look at all the projects that they feature each month. You too can receive special offers, coupons and inspiration by email - just go to Michaels.com to sign up

The August newsletter did not disappoint! The first project featured was a Back to School Organizer. Inspiration kicked in and I decided that our house could definitely benefit with one of these:

Between Cub Scouts and sports and school events alone, it's hard to keep track of who has what when, but throw in the things that Andy and I have going on, and some weeks it's just impossible to keep track of it all. I decided that we needed something bigger.... something that would help all 4 of us keep track of what's happening in the week ahead.

Keeping the project from Michaels' site in mind but using a 24"x36" corkboard (that we already had), some paint and ribbon (and my Cricut to cut out the letters), here's my creation that I just finished this morning.

I just have to hang it up on the wall and find my pushpins. I guarantee it won't look this empty for long!!

In honor of Michaels' newsletter inspiring me to do something crafty and make something useful, I'm giving away a $10 gift card to Michaels to one lucky winner.

To enter, please comment below telling me what kinds of crafts you like to do (or if you're not crafty, what kinds of crafts you wish you COULD do). For additional entries, you can do any of the following, but you must complete this initial entry first. Any entries that do not follow these guidelines will be deleted.

Additional ways to enter to win:
~ Subscribe via email to my blog (2 entries)
~ Follow me on Google Friend Connect (2 entries)
~ Grab my button and let me know where I can find it
~ Follow Me on Twitter (2 entries)
~ Blog about this giveaway (2 entries)
~ Tweet about this giveaway (can be done once daily) please leave link for each tweet (You can use this or make up your own: RT Win a $10 Michaels gift card @moreorlesley http://tinyurl.com/2cc7po4 #giveaway )
~ Post this giveaway on any sweepstakes site, Mr Linky, or other networking website-please leave the link where I can find it
~ Leave a comment on any of the other posts on my blog and let me know which post
~Follow Michaels on Facebook
~Follow Michaels on Twitter
~Name your favorite product that Michaels sells (either online or in-store)

Leave a separate comment for EACH entry method please.

This giveaway will end at 11:59 PM (Eastern time) on 9/11/10 and is open to the US only. I will randomly select winner(s) shortly after and notify those people by email. Winner(s) have 48 hours to contact me with their mailing address. If a winner does not contact me within 48 hours of notification I will choose an alternate winner.

disclaimer: *I was not financially compensated for this post nor for the gift card I am offering as a prize. Any opinions expressed are completely my own!

Win It Wednesday - Giveaway linkup

2010-09-01T10:31:00.003-04:00

1. Chris
2. TwoClassyChics
3. Betmar Hat & Glove Set 9/13

4. Lia Sophia 9/11
5. Beret & Scarf Set 9/08
6. NJ Candle Basket 9/07

7. Fab Jewelry Box 9/5

Win It Wednesday - what have you won this week?

2010-09-01T07:06:00.003-04:00

It's Win It Wednesday so time to share what we've all won this week!

For me, I've got 3 to report!!!

I was the lucky winner of a Portable Powermat from 3 Kids and Us. This giveaway had 416 entries so honestly I didn't think I had a very good chance at winning - love those randomizers!!! 3 Kids and Us has a few other giveaways going on right now that I'd love to win, including a Scrubbing Bubbles automatic toilet cleaner!!

I also won a Paula Deen 9"x9" Stoneware Baker courtesy of Energizer Bunny's Mommy Reports' Cookware.com Rocks giveaway, this giveaway had over 500 entries so definitely another one that I almost decided not to enter! Energizer Bunny's Mommy Reports has got a lot of giveaways going on right now, 11 of which end Saturday 9/4, including the Dinosaur Train Backpack of Goodies that I really want to win for my sons!!!

And last but not least, I won 3 bags of Mary's Gone Crackers Sticks & Twigs Pretzel Sticks from Two Classy Chics. Two Classy Chics also has a lot of giveaways going on, including a Lia Sophia prize ending next weekend.

Definitely check out all 3 blogs and enter a giveaway or two while you're there!!!!

Now for the most important question of the day - What have you won this week?

Making Money Monday - Viewpoint Forum

2010-08-30T21:34:00.003-04:00

Viewpoint Forum is absolutely one of my favorite survey sites!

I've been a member at Viewpoint Forum since 2005. One of the things that I love best about them is that when I receive an email invitation from them to take a survey, I know that I am prequalified for the survey and that I will earn some points from them, unlike other surveys where you spend 10 minutes answering questions only to find out you've wasted your time because you do not qualify and they do not reward you anything at all. I do not receive a lot of emails from Viewpoint Forum, it averages out to only 1 or 2 each month, but I do each and every one that comes in.

Most complete surveys are worth 75 points and once you accumulate 375 points (which is worth $10) you can cash out and request a check to be mailed to you.

Tonight I just redeemed my 590 points and should be receiving a check in the amount of $15.73 within 2 weeks.

At one point Viewpoint Forum did have a referral program, where I could earn points for convincing someone to sign up under me, but at this time, their referral program has been suspended. But even though I'm not receiving any reward for you to sign up, I hope you'll check them out.

For more information, you can read their FAQ here

Meet Me on Monday - August 30th

2010-08-30T09:20:00.004-04:00

Never Growing Old hosts a weekly "Meet Me on Monday" where she asks 5 questions designed to let blog readers know a little more about the blogger. I love questions like this so I joined in this week. You too can join in on the fun - just answer the questions on your own blog and then add your bloglink to the list on her site.

Today's Questions:

1. What is your favorite kind of potato chip?
2. Do you make your bed everyday?
3. How often do you go to the hair salon?
4. What do you dip your French fries in?
5 Do you shop with coupons?

My Answers!

1. My favorite kind of potato chip is Cape Cod Original potato chips. I love Kettle Cooked chips, and one of the best parts is that no one else in my family is all that crazy about kettle cooked chips. Oh, they'll eat them but I don't usually have to worry that they will eat them all on me! :)

2. I have to admit that no I do not make my bed everyday, which of course means that I can't very well demand that my kids make theirs everyday.

3. I should go more often, but it's usually every 10 to 12 weeks or so. I let my bangs be the determining factor of when it's time to go...

4. Ketchup most of the time, but sometimes mayonnaise.

5. Coupons? Heck yeah!!! I've been a heavy duty couponer since my younger son was born and I stopped working. In fact if anyone is looking for a couponing website to come hang out in, check out HotCouponWorld - In my opinion it is the BEST couponing website out there!!! If you register to be a member, you can say that sbp sent you, and then let me know and I'll be happy to show you around!!!

Join the Dressbarn mobile Fashion Club

2010-08-28T20:49:00.003-04:00

Join the Dressbarn mobile fashion club to receive the latest deals and news right on your phone AND instantly receive a 20% off coupon.

All you have to do is text DRESSBARN to 87812 and you'll receive up to 8 texts per month. Standard carrier message rates and other messaging rates apply. Participating carries are AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile, Nextel, Virgin Mobile, Boost, CellularOne, nTelos, Cincinnati Bell Wireless, US Cellular and Alltel.

Dressbarn store locator

Sign up for their mailing list to receive more offers and deals in your inbox

Follow Dressbarn on Facebook or on Twitter

September Fun events at A.C.Moore

2010-08-28T20:20:00.003-04:00

A.C. Moore has a lot of kids events and demonstrations planned for September. Click here for the dates and times.

For Make and Takes, your child can dress up a wooden Thomas train on September 11th, or create a dream board on September 25th to celebrate Boys & Girls Clubs of America's Day.

Decorating Events include the lunchbox event on September 4th and the Cricut Pumpkin Cartridge event on September 26th.

Also in September will be a demo of Red Heart's NEW Curly-Q yarn on the 18th and an SEI Iron on Demo on the 29th.

To find a AC Moore near you, see their store locator here

New address for moreorlesley!!!

2010-08-28T09:02:00.003-04:00

More or Les(ley) now has a new address on the web......Yes, I bought my own domain www.moreorlesley.com

Moving day went pretty smoothly, except that my Google Friends Connect box is not working right on my blogspot.com page... Hopefully I can get it fixed quickly.

Follow Me Friday - 8/27/2010

2010-08-27T06:50:00.005-04:00

TGIF!!! We all know it means Thank Goodness it's Friday but it could also mean Time's Good In Friendship!! So in that spirit, it's Follow Me Friday!!!! If you're finding moreorlesley for the first time and decide to follow me on Google Friend Connect or become an email subscriber, please comment below with your blog link and I'll follow you back!!!

While you're here, check out this week's Thursday's Thrifty Tip and Win It Wednesday's giveaway of a $10 gift card to Bath & Body Works. If you have a giveaway on your blog, you can also ad your linky to our Win It Wednesday Giveaway linkie.

Thanks for stopping by!

Thrifty Tip Thursday - How to get coupons for the products you use regularly!

2010-08-26T20:37:00.002-04:00

Most people realize that they can find coupons in their weekly Sunday paper, but there are so many other sources for coupons. Last Thursday's Thrifty Tip talked about visiting the webpage of your favorite stores to see if they offered printable coupons but this week I'm going to give you a tip of how to get coupons for products that you regularly use... the products that you have sitting in your cupboard in your refrigerator right now.

First I need you to step away from your computer and go grab a product that is still in it's orginal packaging... any product that you love will work, and then come on back. Take your time, I'll wait!! :)

What product do you have? Now look on the label for the company's information. There should be a phone number listed somewhere and possibly a website. Now think about what you like about the product and then let the company know. Personally I prefer to contact companies via their website or via email, but by telephone works as well. Companies love to receive feedback from the people that buy their products and often they will send you coupons as an incentive for you to continue buying their products. Not all companies will send you coupons, but isn't taking the chance that they will worth the few minutes that it will take you to let them know that you appreciate their products?

On the other hand, if you are dissatisfied with a product for any reason, let the company know that as well. Of course companies prefer to hear positive feedback but they do appreciate hearing from a customer that is not happy with a product and often times they do send out coupons, again as an incentive for you to try their product again and hopefully have a better experience.

As an example of being dissatisfied, I recently called a frozen food company to let them know that I was not satisfied with a product that I'd purchased. It was a product that we buy often but this package had a strange aftertaste. I gave them the lot number off the package and the customer service rep asked me for my address so that she could mail me some coupons. A week or two later, I was happy to find an envelope addressed from them with a few coupons, including a FREE coupon for one of their products (maximum value up to $7.00).

The most important thing that I want to mention is be honest with your feedback. If you love a product, great, let them know. If you have a suggestion that might make the product, let them know. If you have a product that you are disappointed in, let them know.

Win It Wednesday Giveaway - $10 gift card to Bath & Body Works

2010-08-25T09:20:00.008-04:00

Bath and Body Works

I have a $10 gift card to Bath & Body Works that I would like to offer to one lucky winner.

To enter, please visit Bath & Body Works, and tell me a product you'd like to try or that you have already tried and loved. For additional entries, you can do any of the following, but you must complete this initial entry first. Any entries that do not follow these guidelines will be deleted.

Additional ways to enter to win:
~ Subscribe via email to my blog
~ Follow me on Google Friend Connect
~ Grab my button and let me know where to I can find it
~ Follow Me on Twitter
~ "Like" Bath & Body Works on Facebook
~ Blog about this giveaway
~ Tweet about this giveaway (can be done once daily) please leave link for each tweet You can use: $10 Bath & Body Works gift card giveaway ends 9/4 @moreorlesley http://tinyurl.com/2d46fux
~ Post this giveaway on any sweepstakes site, Mr Linky, or other networking website-leave the link where I can find it
~ Leave a comment on any of the other posts on my blog and let me know which post
~Sign up for Swag Bucks with me using my referral - LesleyP

Leave a separate comment for EACH entry method please.

This giveaway will end at 11:59 PM (Eastern time) on 9/4/10 and is open to the US only. I will randomly select winner(s) shortly after and notify those people by email. Winner(s) have 48 hours to contact me with their mailing address. If a winner does not contact me within 48 hours of notification I will choose an alternate winner.

Win It Wednesday - Giveaway linkup

2010-08-25T07:44:00.006-04:00

It's Wednesday so you know what that means!!! It's Win It Wednesday and time for the Giveaway linky! Please post your giveaway or look over the list to see if there's any you'd like to win. If you add a link, please be sure to directly link to your giveaway. Thank you and Good luck to everyone!!

Win It Wednesday - what have you won this week?

2010-08-25T07:04:00.006-04:00

It's been a 4 win week for me!!!

First up was a Big Skinny thin wallet for my husband, courtesy of Sweeps4Bloggers. He's been saying for awhile now that he needs a new wallet! Sweeps4Bloggers has a lot of great giveaways. They add new ones every day and have 4 ending tonight.

Next a SUBZERO Stainless Steel Water Bottle courtesy of Everyday Ramblings of My Life . Tara has 4 other current giveaways on her blog, including a Live Laugh Love Antique Silver Swarovski Crystal Bracelet giveaway which ends 8/29.

I also won a Jonas LA CD from Disney Records courtesy of One Scrappy Mom's giveaway. Definitely check out One Scrappy Mom for her current giveaways and see if there's anything you'd like to win. She's got 14 going right now!

and the most recent congratulatory message in my inbox came from Crazed Mind for winning the Dinosaur Train Under the Sea. This is the prize this week that my kids are most excited about. Lenore is up for Blogger at the Month at Giveaway Blogs, so go check out Crazed Mind and you'll see for yourself why she's in the running!

So what did you win this week?

Product Review: Trend: Zap! Learning Game

2010-08-24T13:59:00.004-04:00

Both of my boys love games. Board games, card games, dice games, they love them all. I like playing games with them too, and am so excited that we are moving to games beyond the preschool level.

One of our favorites is a card game called Zap! by Trend Enterprises. All you need to play is the 100 cards and a piece of paper and a pencil to keep score.

Most of the cards are numbered from 1 to 5. Also in the deck are 18 green Zap! cards as well as 2 blue Zap! Zap! cards.

To play, you shuffle up all the cards and place them in a pile facedown. The first player picks up the first card and says the number on it. He then decides if he is going to risk it and pick up a second card or if he is going to end his turn. If he ends his turn, the scorekeeper writes down his number and now it's the second players turn. If he decides to keep going, he picks up the next card and if it's a number he adds that to the number on the first card and then has to make the choice to keep going or stop. At any point that he keeps going and picks up a Zap card, his turn comes to an end, and he gets no points for that round. Then the second player is up and picks up one card at a time, deciding when he wishes to stop. If at any point the blue Zap Zap card is picked up, not only does that player not get points for that round, he loses ALL of the points he'd accumulated in his previous rounds.

My boys are only 6 and 7 and while they are good sports about losing the points in a single round if they find a Zap card, they're not such good sports about watching their score go down to Zero, so when we play we just pull out the blue Zap Zap cards and just play with the green Zap cards. As they get older and not take the games so seriously, I'll start including the Zap Zap cards back into the playing deck.

The best part of the game besides being fun, is that they don't realize that they are reinforcing their counting and addition skills, as well as helping them develop probability strategies and the effects of taking a risk. I mean really, if you're holding 8 cards worth 26 points in your hand, what are the chances that the next card you turn over is going to be another number and not a Zap card?

The game is rated for ages 7 and above, but all of the number cards have dots on them like are on dice, so even if their addition skills aren't up to par, as long as they can count the dots from card to card, they can still enjoy the game.

What games do you enjoy playing with your family?

Freebie - Red Robin Kids Cookbook 2010 (downloadable)

2010-08-24T11:09:00.004-04:00

Click here to download your free copy of the 2010 Red Robin Kids Cookbook.

The book has 50 gourmet burger recipes, submitted from kids all across the country. The book also has Back to School safety tips from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.

Some of the recipes sound absolutely delicious!!! I think my favorite one is the Oopa Up Your Mouth Burger (found on page 34) which was submitted by a 10 year old from Illinois.

Which one is your favorite?

Making Money Monday - Opinion Outpost

2010-08-23T08:04:00.003-04:00

One way that you can earn a little bit of extra pocket change while you're online is by doing surveys. I am a member at several different survey sites, but this week I'm going to tell you about Opinion Outpost.

What is Opinion Outpost you ask? Opinion Outpost is a research panel. It is a community of individuals who agree to share their views and opinions by answering survey questions from leading marketing research companies all over the world, as well as many Fortune 500 companies. It is a fun way to learn about and influence the products and services you use every day. As a “Thank You” for your participation Opinion Outpost offers Opinion Points, which can be redeemed for cash.

It is pretty easy to get started - just head over to Opinion Outpost and fill in your information. They'll send you a confirmation email and once you click on the link they provide, your membership will be active and you'll be ready to start.

They will email you invitations to participate in surveys or you can log onto their website and see if you have any available surveys.

You will always earn Opinion Points for each survey you complete. Opinion Points are redeemable for cash, gift cards, and gift codes. 10 Opinion Points = $1.00. In addition, some surveys may offer other payments, such as a sweepstakes or other prizes. Each survey invitation will have details about the Opinion Points possible as well as other reward details. Cashing out is very easy too - you just need to accumulate 50 Opinion Points and you can either have a $5.00 check mailed to you or you can turn your 50 Opinion Points into a $5 giftcard to Amazon.com.

So go check it out!!!!

As always comments are welcome!!! Are you already a member of Opinion Outpost? Or have I convinced you to go see what it's all about?

Saturday's Scrumptious Recipe request - Lobster recipes

2010-08-21T20:56:00.004-04:00

this weeks entry is brought to you courtesy of Demoula's Market Basket having lobsters on sale for $3.99/lb starting tomorrow through August 28th.

$3.99/lb is the best price I've seen around here for lobster in a long time, so you can bet I'll be picking some up.

Now for the recipe request...

We don't buy lobsters all that often, but when we do we just simply cook them and eat them, but I'd love to know your best lobster recipe for just in case I buy enough that we actually have leftovers. In particularly I'd love a tried and true recipe for lobster bisque.

Please share your best lobster recipe... if it's a recipe that you've found online, you can just post the link to it.

Freebie Friday - 9 free Country music downloads

2010-08-20T10:37:00.002-04:00

Since I got my iPod in May, I've been a music downloading fool, but my all time favorite downloads are the ones that are FREE!!!

If you like country music, then this freebie offer is for you. Just go to People.com and you can download any (or all) of the following hot new music from this month's playlist:

~How I Got To Be This Way by Justin Moore
~Hold That Thought by Chuck Wicks
~Different Shades of Blue by Bo Bice
~From a Table Away by Sunny Sweeney
~Lovin' Her Was Easier by Mark Chesnutt
~Freeland by Miss Willie Brown
~Ain't Much Left of Lovin' You by Randy Montana
~Cornfields by Blake Wise
~He Better Be Dead by Stealing Angels

(you need itunes on your computer to be able to download the songs!)

Friendly Friday - 8/20/2010

2010-08-20T08:31:00.005-04:00

This is my first time joining in on the Friendly Friday blog hop. Friendly Friday is hosted by three great ladies - Xenia at Thanks, Mail Carrier, Charla at Healthy Home Blog, and Christi at The Frugal Novice. To join in on the fun, add your link at the bottom of the list!

To join in the Friendly Friday celebration, include your link in our list, follow the hostesses in the first 3 spots and then start blog hopping! Visit other blogs on the list and comment to give them some blog love. Then take a minute to follow them through Google Friend Connect - this is a good way to keep up with other blogs, but also lets us show support to each other! Please DO NOT list your giveaways here, links must be to either your homepage or your Friday posting with your blog title. All others will be deleted.

If you are here visiting from Friendly Friday, thanks for stopping by! I hope you like it here and will come back again. I love new followers, so if you decided to follow through any network (GFC, Twitter, or by email) make sure you leave a comment and let me know so I can follow you back.

Thrifty Tip Thursday - Sign up to receive printable coupons from your favorite store

2010-08-19T13:48:00.004-04:00

Have you been to your favorite store's website lately? You may be (or maybe not) surprised to see that you can sign up to have their new sales ads emailed right to you and often times they also email exclusive coupons! While you're there, look around because they might even have a section where you can print coupons right from their webpage.

But back to exclusive offers, today I received an email from Price Chopper offering me the chance to print off 4 exclusive store coupons:

Price Chopper Salad Dressing, 16 oz 50¢ with coupon
Cobalt, Rain, Zing or React Gum, 15 stick pack for only 25¢ with coupon
Bay Scallops only $2.99 lb with coupon
Panko Breaded Chicken Cutlets only $1.99 lb with coupon

All of these coupons are good through Sunday 8/22.

and Price Chopper also offers a wide selection of manufacturer's coupons that you can print, just by clicking here: http://www2.pricechopper.com/coupons/ But here's the kicker, as long as they state manufacturer's coupons at the top of the coupons, you can use them at any store that accepts manufacturer's coupons you don't HAVE to use them at Price Chopper.

So how about a homework project? Fire up your printer and then go to the website of your favorite store's website and see what you can find for great coupons!

Win It Wednesday - What have you won this week?

2010-08-18T14:33:00.006-04:00

I'm starting to think the most magical phrase that can be found in my email inbox is 'Congratulations, you are the winner of.........'

So far this week I've received 3 of these messages, so bring on the maiil!!! I'm waiting on a lunchbox from Frecklebox.com, 2 Bubble Chocolate bars and a journal from Crab Apple Designs!!!!

Can't wait to see if my week brings any more cheerful congratulatory messages!

Talk It Up Tuesday - what's going on today?

2010-08-17T10:06:00.005-04:00

Anything new and exciting happening in your life?

First I'm bummed because my backspace button is broken. It was fine last night when I turned off my computer and no one touched it this morning until I turned it on, but my first backspace hit this morning made the button fall right off my keyboard. UGH!!! I'm really hoping that the fix is something that will be covered by its warranty.

But I'm happy that our nearby bowling alley FINALLY got their information up on KidsBowlFree.com It's not a big deal for us, since the kids had day camp for 6 weeks, we wouldn't have been able to go bowling before now anyways, but if they hadn't gone to camp, I would have wanted to have taken part in the program before now.

The way it works is, you go to KidsBowlFree.com and sign up with a participating bowling alley in your area. (Unfortunately there are some areas that don't have a participating alley.) Then sign up your kids and every Sunday they'll email you printable coupons, good for 2 free games per day per child. Standard shoe rental rates do apply. You can also purchase a Family Pass, which allows up to 4 adults to 2 free games a day when you bowl with your children for $24.95. Each location has a limited amount of family passes available, but if you're going to take your children bowling every day, you'd be spending a lot more than $24.95 over the course of the program.

I've got my coupons printed out and I'll be taking the kids bowling this afternoon!

What's going on with you today?

You should check out this website!

2010-08-17T07:02:00.007-04:00

When you were a kid and were in a store with your parents and saw a display of personalized products, like pencils or little license plates for your bicycle or whatever, were you always disappointed because your name was not one of the 'standard' ones? I was always disappointed as my name was NEVER there, as least not spelled in the way that my parents spelled my name for me. There was always Leslie but never Lesley. To be honest, at 40 years old I still today will spin the rack around and see if my name is there, spelled correctly and sometimes it is, but not often. This is also part of the reason that my both of my sons have names with a common spelling.

But if you need a product with a name that is difficult to find preprinted items for, have I got the website for you!!!

Frecklebox.com has a large selection of items that you can get custom printed for your child!!! They have lunchboxes, storybooks, coloring books, growth charts, clipboards, school folders, posters, placemats and several other items that your child would love to see their name on!!

In addition to checking out their blog, you can keep up with news on what Frecklebox has to offer by following them via their blog, or Twitter or Facebook. You can even stop by their webpage and sign up to join their mailing list.

My 2 sons are very excited that they'll both be carrying their own personalized Racecar lunchboxes to school. Now if only I could find a way to make them excited about going to bed at night, but that's another story!!

I hope you take a few minutes and check out all the products that Frecklebox has to offer and if you'd like comment and let me know your favorite item and design.

Dinosaur Train Under the Sea DVD giveaway

2010-08-13T16:46:00.007-04:00

If your kids are like mine, you probably recognize Shiny, Tiny, Buddy and Don from Dinosaur Train on PBS.

My kids have been fans of the show since the very first time they watched it and the DVR has recorded just about every episode since. So I was very excited for them to learn of the Dinosaur Train Under the Sea DVD which is being released in a few weeks, and even more excited to take a chance on winning it from 5 Vinez Monkeys and 1 on the Way's blog giveaway.

To enter click on the link above and leave a comment on your favorite Dinosaur Train. You can even earn extra entries by following, tweeting, being a fan or blogging on your own blog, etc.

Just be sure to sign up by midnight (EST) August 29th for your chance to win!!!

Oh, and don't forget to set your DVR or VCR on Friday, August 20th for the one hour tv presentation of Dinosaur Train Under The Sea!

Blog giveaway for an Arm & Hammer Kids Spinbrush

2010-08-03T08:12:00.002-04:00

Do you have a little girl that you have to fight with to get her to brush her teeth? I found a blog giveaway at Table for Five reviews and giveaways where you can easily enter for your chance to win an Arm & Hammer Kids Spinbrush My Way But hurry because the contest ends today!

I entered to win one even though it's pretty design is definitely designed for little girls and all I have are 2 little boys. But as long as they're brushing their teeth and doing a good job at it, does it really matter what color the toothbrush is? Yeah, that's what I thought too!! :)

Shaw's printable coupons good for week of 7/9 - 7/15

2010-07-08T17:21:00.002-04:00

This morning I ventured off to Shaw's to do the "Buy $30 worth of participating P&G products and get a free $15 itunes giftcard" deal. I have to say that I have not been to Shaw's since Market Basket opened down the street and as I drove in the nearly empty parking lot, I began to think that I must not be the only one. It was 9:30 am and if there were more than 10 vehicles, I'd be surprised. Although it was nice to walk through the aisles and not have to play red light, green light with other shoppers in the aisles.

I bought Bounty paper towels and Cascade dishwashing detergent, enough to hit the $30 (pre-sale price) and was happy to see the catalina print out, valid for a free $15 itunes card. Now to figure out what I want to download for songs!!!

But back to the real reason I'm writing today! (I know...I've been slacking again)

Shaw's sent out emails today with these printable coupons

~ Save $1.00 off 1 lb or more Fresh Wild Boneless Swordish steaks (sale price in flyer $10.99 lb)

~ Save $1.00 off 1 lb or more Jumbo Cooked Cocktail Shrimp (sale price in flyer $8.99 lb)

~ $1.00 off DiLuigi marinated steak tips (sale price in flyer $5.99 lb)

~ $1.00 off 1 lb or more Shaw's corned beef sliced in the deli (sale price in flyer $6.99 lb

~ $1.00 off whole seedless watermelon (sale price in flyer $5.99 ea)

~ $1.00 off 1 lb or more Northeast cherries (sale price in flyer $3.49 lb)

~$1.00 off Take'n Bake Pizza

~$1.00 off 2 Shoppers Value pretzels or potato chips

~$1.00 off 2 Shaw's Drink mix

~$1.00 off 2 Stone Ridge Creamery novelties

I will work on getting this next weeks sales prices loaded into my sale price database, as soon as I get the kiddos into bed!!!

Win a copy of "Twenty To Make Bracelets" book

2010-04-14T10:57:00.002-04:00

Twenty To Make is a series from Search Press that includes 20 projects; this book has a focus of making twenty bracelets. The bracelets include all types of jewelry making materials from leather to glass beads. It’s a nice variety of simple classy designs with a wide variety of hues from silver to topaz to gold to blues. Projects include: Sea Bride, Love-me-knot, Attraction, Egypt, Byzantine Pride, Trueheart, Silver Zephyr, Rose Pearls, Delicate Blue, and Eye of Emerald.

And you can go to www.favecrafts.com and enter to win a copy of your own. Contests ends on April 27, 2010 and be sure to enter daily to increase your chances of winning.

What do you use a toothbrush for?

2010-04-11T19:31:00.002-04:00

If you're like most couponers, you have a seemingly-endless supply of toothbrushes that you've gotten for either free or very very cheap, and the answer to my riddle is hopefully an obvious one, but really what I'm asking is - did you know that your old toothbrush can still be useful in a crafty fashion?

First I'd personally suggest cleaning it by soaking it in some peroxide to kill all the germs but there's all sorts of crafty uses once you've done so.

Check out 10 Crafty Uses for an Old Toothbrush, courtesy of Favecrafts.com.

Of all the ones listed, the only one that I've ever done myself is using an old toothbrush to clean jewelry. I used to wear a sterling silver necklace and a matching ring and I used a toothbrush and toothpaste to clean it all the time.

So take a peek to see if there's any ideas that you've never thought of and leave me a comment, telling me what you've learned!!!

3 day Herrschners Sale now through Monday April 12th

2010-04-10T06:46:00.002-04:00

OK all you crafters, this deal's for you!

Take an extra 10% off your entire purchase when you use code SP41 or

spend $50 or more and save 15% off EVERYTHING when you use code SP42

http://www.herrschners.com/

Glitz Distressing Stamp Set Giveaway

2010-04-09T16:52:00.002-04:00

Favecrafts.com is giving away a Glitz Distressing Stamp set, perfect for adding that distressed look and feel to backgrounds, cards, collage, altered art, artist’s trading cards, scrapbooking, and so much more.

This set of clear stamps (acrylic block handle sold separately) with backgrounds of music sheet, words, static, and vintage wallpaper are a good additional to a stamper’s stash.

To enter for a chance to win, visit http://www.favecrafts.com/sweeps/Glitz-Distressing-Stamp-Set-Giveaway

Contest ends April 23, 2010. You can enter once daily, so return often to improve your chances of winning!

Oh, and if you blog or twitter about it, you can increase your chances of winning too!!

Football fans, want to 'Tackle the Taste'?

2010-01-17T18:18:00.002-05:00

ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL? It's that time of year again, Superbowl Sunday is coming!!!!

Are you planning on having a whole bunch of friends over to watch the game with you? Or are you just planning on a quiet evening of cheering on your team to victory? If either applies to you OR even if you're just planning on watching for the halftime show, I've found a giveaway that you are going to want to check out... but check it out by the end of today because they'll be picking a winner tomorrow!!

Head on over to Obsessed With Savings and leave her a comment for a chance to win an Old El Paso Tackle the Taste gift pack, consisting of 2 cans of Green Chiles, a football-shaped ceramic serving platter, 2 sets of football-themed plates, cocktail napkins, and a table runner.

You can even earn addiitonal entries in the giveaway, either by becoming a blog follower or by posting about the giveaway on your own blog.

Are you like me? Hate to cook, but LOVE to eat?

2010-01-15T14:15:00.003-05:00

I have a confession to make - I don't enjoy cooking. I do it out of complete necessity - after all I and my husband and our 2 boys do need to eat. But that doesn't mean I have to enjoy it. Now the eating part, oh yeah, that part is good!

With that being said, I can't even tell you what my favorite things to cook are - it's more like 'what things do you hate cooking least of all?' lol

And that's easy - the things that I hate cooking the least is a meal that I can take a bunch of ingredients and toss it into the crockpot and let it do it's thing until dinnertime!!!

I was so excited to come across a cool giveaway contest over at Seriouseats.com. They are giving away 5 copies of the cookbook Make it Fast, Cook It Slow by Stephanie O'Dea. All you have to do is go on over and post a reply, commenting on YOUR favorite kitchen appliance before noon EST on Monday, January 18th.

So hurry up and go on over and add your comment.

If you could have any superpower what would it be?

2010-01-15T12:02:00.002-05:00

So many to choose from - being invisible, ability to fly, xray vision, to actually post on my blog on a daily basis. lol

But if you could choose just one, what would it be?

I'm not sure what I'd pick. There's a lot of super powers that I'd love to have, and depending on what I'm doing at any particular moment, my pick changes.

Right this minute, I would pick to have the powers of a genie. I would LOVE being able to cross your arms and nod your head ala I Dream of Jeannie and have whatever you needed done, done just like that. That mountain of laundry would be done so much quicker with a nod than having to throw it in the washer, wait for that to get done, throw it in the dryer, wait for the buzzer and then fold AND put it away. Can you imagine?

There's a gazillion things that I'd love to get checked off the old to-do list today, and yeah I know there's always pride in a job well done but I'd prefer to have pride in a job done well AND done quickly and genie power, yeah that would do it!!!

Although regularly posting on my blog - that would be cool too. And I guess you wouldn't technically call that a super power, so maybe I CAN do that. Hmm, maybe you should come back and check on me and see how I'm doing.

Oh, and by the way, Happy 2010!!

:)

Shaws, Shaws and more Shaws

2009-11-12T13:21:00.004-05:00

What a week of Shaw's!!! Actually my week of Shaw's consisted of only 3 days, because even though the sale started on Friday, there was too much going on that I couldn't even dive in until Tuesday AM!!

The deal was buy $30 worth of participating products, and get $15 of catalina coupons good oyno (oyno = on your next order). And if you bought $60 worth, you'd get $30 worth of oyno catalinas. Sounds ok, right? Well, the two most important pieces of the greatness are that 1) The $30 (or $60) qualifying value is based on Regular shelf price NOT the current sale price!! and 2) You can keep rolling the catalinas, using them to buy more qualifying merchandise. Throw some coupons into the mix and you've got the makings of a perfect sale!!

Without all the nitty gritty details, here's what I ended up with.

10 Progresso Broth
7 Viva towels
12 Skippy PB
4 BC boxed potato
4 BC cake mix
7 BC Frosting
25 BC cookie mix
14 chex mix
1 Bisquik Shake N Pour
1 Qtips
3 Kleenex
1 Lipton tea bags
4 Shedd Spread
13 Lipton sides
6 Wishbone dressing
1 Gold Medal Flour
4 Lipton dry soup mix

1 gallon milk
2 cucumbers
1 pkg mushrooms
1 2lb salad mix
1 bag 5lb potatoes
1 Arm & Hammer baking soda
10 Maruchen Yaksioba
2 Mentos gum
1 20oz bottle of coke (got thirsty with the rolling!)
1 Heinz ketchup
3 Country Kitchen Texas Toast loaves (3.49 each reg. price! OUCH)

Shelf price Total is $324.30 and I spent only $39.56 out of my pocket AND I've still got $30 in coupons good on my next order. Not bad, although I know I could have done better!! And just think if I had the chance to go every day for 7 days AND had the killer coupons to go along with them!!!

Happy Halloween

2009-10-31T21:58:00.003-04:00

Lots of ideas from the boys about what they wanted to be for Halloween - FREE
Spray paint, chain and hook - $15.00
2 smiling little boys who are thrilled beyond words about the finished creation - PRICELESS

If you've been patiently waiting to find out what my boys decided on for their Halloween costumes this year, wait no more my friend.

After much deliberating, the final decision came through as a tow truck for Steven and a log truck for Trevor.

Both costumes took our favorite tools of the trade. Cardboard boxes, spray paint and duct tape with a few other notions.

The log truck was easier to create - We just took a photocopier paper box and cut out the stake body and painted in black. The logs were swimming pool noodles cut to length and then painted. (They do not paint well - they took several several coats!). Another strip of duct tape became the straps to hold the logs in place, and a pair of suspenders were strategically placed to hold the box on Trevor's back. The front of the truck was a shoe box, painted green - the engine compartment was where he put the candy while he was trick or treating. Yellow. white and black foam sheets were cut down for the tires and headlights and a small strip of cardboard was covered in aluminum foil for the front bumper. To top it all off, we found a Peterbilt hat for him to wear.

The truck truck used the same idea for the front of his truck - just painted blue. The back of the body was a box cut down at an angle. We used a large cardboard tube and a foam pool noodle for the pistons of the tow truck with a little bit of crumpled up newspaper to hold the noodle in place, and everything was painted silver. A small link chain was strung inside the noodle with a small 'S' hook attached to the bottom, and then we attached a few toy tools inside the truck. More foam for the tires and headlights. Then we strapped it all on with another pair of suspenders and the costume was done.

The only out-of-pocket costs were for the spray paint at Walmart and the small chain and hook at the local hardware store. The pool noodles were graciously given to us after I posted a Wanted Ad on our local freecycle group.

Have a Diet Coke and a Smile and double your points today

2009-10-28T11:54:00.003-04:00

Remember Coke's old slogan 'Have a Coke and a Smile? or am I showing my age here? lol

Today I'm changing that old slogan a little bit to 'Have a Diet Coke and a Smile!' or go all out and 'Have a 12 pack of Diet Coke and a Smile'. Then take that little code that you find, either on the cap of the bottle or on the 12 pk and don't delay - head on over to www.mycokerewards.com and enter that code. But make sure you go there today because for one day only they are doubling all Diet Coke codes. Cap codes are worth 6 points today and 12 pk codes are worth 20 today!!!

Halloween fun for the kids!

2009-10-27T10:46:00.006-04:00

If you're looking for some Halloween activities to do with your children, here's a few!!

COLORING PAGES:

Jack-O-Lantern Scarecrow coloring page (compliments of www.SmallMemories.com)

The Witch's Brew coloring page and Mad Scientist coloring page (courtesy of FamilyFun)

CRAFT IDEAS:

Halloween Creepy Crawly Spider Craft

Witches Hat Craft

Spider Candy Holder

Spooky Eyeball Bucket

Creepy Crawly Spider and other crafts

If you have any other cool coloring pages or crafts to share, please reply with comments and links!!

FREE TRIAL OFFER - NETFLIX

2009-10-15T19:17:00.002-04:00

Picture this:

It's Monday morning and you overslept because you were up late watching that movie that you rented that is due back today and now you're going to be late for work!! You grab your keys and your purse as you run out the door and hit the road. But you've got that nagging feeling that you're forgetting something. You get to work and suddenly you remember! That blasted DVD that you rented the other day is due today and you know darn well that the last thing you are going to want to do when this crazy day is over is have to go home, grab the DVD and head back to the video store.

Has that happened to you? If you say yes, then Netflix has got a great deal for you with their FREE 2 week trial offer.
Your free 2 week Netflix membership will begin when you click on "Start Membership" during the registration process. Simply cancel anytime during your 2 week free membership, and you will not be charged. To cancel, click on "Your Account" and follow the simple cancellation instructions. If you are enjoying Netflix, do nothing and your membership will automatically continue at the monthly subscription rate for the plan you selected. The FREE Trial offer is available to first time and certain former members of the Netflix service and cannot be combined with any other offer.

DVD's by mail!! How convenient is that? They have over 100,000 DVD titles to choose from but if that's not enough for you, you can also instantly watch movies (including some new releases) and TV episodes (including current season episodes) online on your PC or Mac! They have over 17,000 choices that you can watch instantly for NO additional monthly fee.

Go sign up for your free offer and then picture this:

It's Monday morning and you wake up, still laughing at the funny comedy that you watched last night before bed. You walk outside to get the newspaper and you take the movie out with you and drop it into your mailbox. What a great way to start the day, knowing that you won't have to make a trip to the video store after work. All you have to do is wait for your next DVD to arrive in the mail, watch it then mail it back. Watching the movies that you want, when you want - does it get any better than that? Ok, watching the movies that you want FOR FREE for 2 weeks - it definitely doesn't get better than that, so click here and get your free trial started.

And then come on back and let me know what movies you're watching so I can put them on my to-watch list!!!

Halloween is creeping up on us!!!

2009-10-03T21:18:00.005-04:00

Here at our house we just don't do store bought Halloween costumes. There's just something great about having a costume that no one else has, but I will admit that it gets a little stressful trying to make an idea into a great costume. It also gets to be a little stressful when it's October 3rd and the boys still haven't fully decided what they want to dress up as. At this point, it could be one of several things. A tanker truck, a box truck, a tractor trailer truck, a 4-wheeler, a dirt-bike, a shark, an octopus, or maybe even thunder & lightning. This morning we told the boys that they absolutely had to make a final decision by tomorrow, so we can start planning how to make it work.

Whatever it is that they decide on, you can bet it'll be interesting!

The pictures above are from the past 2 years. In 2008 Trevor was a wrecking ball and Steven was a crane and in 2007 Steven was a railroad crossing and Trevor was a train.

Stay tuned in a few more weeks when I unveil this year's costumes!!!

Does the idea of cleaning your fishtank make you want to bang your head on the wall?

2009-10-02T10:42:00.004-04:00

If the answer is 'yes', then this product may not be for you!!! lol And if you have a cat that can climb walls, this may not be for you either!!

An acrylic wall mounted fish bowl. Well, we don't have fish, but this is something I can honestly say I never knew existed. I saw it at www.Wrapables.com, which has all kinds of unique gifts. Check it out, maybe you'll find something else that you never knew existed that would be perfect for those people on your gift-giving list that have everything!

Good deal on Webkinz

2009-10-01T11:03:00.003-04:00

For anyone who's into Webkinz - check out fye's sale going on now through October 31st.

Save 25% off your Webkinz order when you use code: WEBKINZ25S9

They have so many adorable ones to choose from. I can't decide which I like best. The Siberian Husky one is cute, the Mocha Pup is adorable but the zebra and the walrus are cute too!!!

Which one do you like best?

Crazy little thing called life!!!

2009-10-01T09:43:00.002-04:00

I don't know how the time gets away from me so easily, but here it is again, forever since I blogged!!!

I keep thinking life is going to get less crazy. I know that's crazy talk, isn't it!! lol

In the past 6 weeks, we've gone through Trevor's tonsillectomy and recovery (he was such a trooper through all of it!), back to school for both boys, soccer for both boys started up, and Steven's back into Cub Scouts and all the other everyday things in life!!! Oh, and did I mention that we had Steven's 7th birthday party on Sunday. We had nine 7 year olds and three 5 year olds running around my house on a cool rainy afternoon. Yikes!!! lol It was tiring but everyone had a great time so it was worth it!!

Today is the start of a new month and no time like now to get back into the swing of things!!!

So October, look out, because here I come!!!

Can I ask for a favor? and a contest for you!

2009-08-30T15:27:00.004-04:00

As anyone that reads my blog most likely knows, I'm a huge fan of HotCouponWorld!!!! The owners Heidi and Julie also happen to be 2 of my best online friends and the favor that I'm asking for is really for them!!!

They have been nominated in the Shine a Light contest at ivillage and I'm hoping that they can take top place but in order to get there they need votes!!! All you have to do is click here to get to their profile, login with your ivillage account information (or register if you're not already a member) and click on the Endorse this story now. If you'd like to take it one step further, you can help get the word out, via your blog or your facebook, twitter, or any other networking website that you're a part of.

Their story is truly awesome!!! Hot Coupon World started out as a great couponing site, for couponers by couponers and in just 3 years, has grown into an amazing community of 160K+ members all with the common interest of getting the best deals for their bucks. As if that's not enough, Organic Grocery Deals is a community where anyone searching for deals and information on natural and organic products can find valuable information. And last but certainly not least, a few months ago when I approached Heidi and Julie with the idea of a website dedicated to information on sending coupons overseas to our military families, not only did they love the idea, but they gave me their full support and got the Coupons To Troops site up and running pretty quickly!

So if you too are a fan of Hot Coupon World, please please please show your support for them and give them a quick and easy vote.

If you've never visited Hot Coupon World, do yourself a favor first and go check it out - you'll be amazed at what you see and then if you could go give a quick vote, that would be great!!!

To help convince you to help out, I've got a $5 amazon code to give to a lucky winner. For a chance to win the code, just vote and leave a comment here that you've voted. For more chances to win, help me spread the word about the ShineALight contest and comment here with the link to wherever you've posted about it. You'll get one chance for each different link that you leave in your comments. There's no limit to how many entries a person can have!

Enter to win a year of free groceries

2009-08-24T08:31:00.003-04:00

The 'It Pays to Eat Pasta' sweepstakes runs from 8/15 til 10/30. Just sign up here for your chance to win:

There will be a total of 8 grand prize winners. Winners will receive $5,200 in groceries. Prize will be awarded in the form of a check made out to the winner.

And 42 first prize winners. Those winners will receive $200 in groceries (awarded in the form of a check!)

Good luck!

10% off coupon for BarnesandNoble.com

2009-08-11T10:42:00.002-04:00

Save 10% off one item with coupon code R7X9J4X now through 8/16/09 at BarnesandNoble.com

And for those of us who love getting something for FREE!! -They also have a selection of FREE ebooks that you can download, including James Patterson's Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment.

Freebie Alert - Subscription to Off Road Adventures magazine

2009-07-20T16:49:00.003-04:00

Sign up today for your free subscription to Off Road Adventures magazine.

They even have a digital edition available!!!

My two truck loving little boys are going to love this!!!

Freebie Alert - Download 9 Coldplay songs!

2009-07-20T16:36:00.004-04:00

Coldplay is currently giving away 9 songs including their famous Viva La Vida. Get yours here before it's too late!!

I'm downloading as I type this!! :)

It's a new month and you know what that means!!

2009-07-01T08:02:00.003-04:00

Time to clean out all the June 2009 coupons from your coupon organizers!!!

Sure it's easy to throw them in the trash, but it's almost as easy and much more fulfilling to put them in an envelope and send them to a military family stationed overseas, where they are accepted until they are up to 6 months expired!!

For more information, check out www.couponstotroops.com

Thanks to everyone who entered my blog contest!!

2009-07-01T07:47:00.002-04:00

Thank you everyone for participating in my blog contest, helping me to promote www.couponstotroops.com

My son picked a name out of a hat this morning and the winner of a $5 Amazon code is
the OCD Savings Club!!

I'm planning another contest for July, revolving around CouponToTroops - so look for details soon!!!

www.couponstotroops.com is launched and a small contest to celebrate!!

2009-05-31T20:13:00.007-04:00

As you may know, I'm a huge believer in life after expiration for coupons. As coordinator of the Oak Ridge Detachment's Marine Corps League's coupon project, you'll frequently find me boxing up thousands of dollars worth of expired (or soon to be expired) coupons to be sent to one of the eight U.S. overseas military bases that we send to.

People are always telling me how what we do with our coupon project is great, and that they have friends living in another state wondering if there's any group on their local level with a coupon project.

With that question in mind, www.couponstotroops.com was created and I'm proud to be a part of it.

Not only does the website give some great information on the why's and how's to sending coupons to our military families who are stationed overseas, but we're also putting together a directory which any group with a coupon project can submit their information to be included. The Add Resource feature is still under construction but should be working within a few days.

Now you're probably wondering what the small contest is all about.... In hopes of spreading the word about www.couponstotroops.com I've got a $5 amazon gift-code set aside for a lucky winner. All you need to do is post about www.couponstotroops.com on your blog or website and then come back here and leave a comment, including the link to your blog/website. On June 30th, I will pick one lucky winner!!

Thank you for helping me get the word out!!

Where does the time go?

2009-05-07T13:31:00.002-04:00

I seriously cannot believe that it's been so long since I posted. Especially since nothing overly significant has happened to keep me from here. lol

We've just been busy with teeball starting up, and Cub Scouts, and warm weather finally arriving and all the other mundane daily things that everyone has going on.

April 18th had Steven and his derby car heading to the track for the district finals. It was a fun day - 60 scouts from all over Western Massachusetts were there with their fast cars. They run all of the cars in 6 different heats so that they all have the chance to run each lane. Steven had good results in most of his heats, 1st once, 2nd twice, 3rd twice and 5th once, but they tally up all the times and he was just out of trophy range this time. Out of 17 Tigers, he came in 6th and out of 60 scouts total, he came in 29th place. But he was happy that it was over so that he could actually touch his car and not just look at it from afar.

Tee ball is back in swing. Practice one night a week and games on Saturday. Steven had the choice of playing teeball or going up to coach pitch this year, but I convinced him to play teeball one more year. I admit it was mostly selfishness on my part. Since Trevor is playing this year too, I was hoping that they could both be on the same team. Same team means same practice and same game time, and means us not having to spend multiple nights at practice and all day Saturday at the ball field.

Speaking of Trevor, he's had 2 milestones this past week. He's not registered for kindergarten in the fall AND as of Sunday, he can now ride his big boy bicycle without training wheels.

So that's it for now!!! I promise to not let it be so long before my next post!! :)

Create your Own Font for FREE

2009-03-25T16:59:00.004-04:00

Check it out - You all probably recognize the top two fonts above, but the bottom one is a brand new one called Lesley!! I created it today at http://www.yourfonts.com/

Yourfonts is a font generator where you can create your own font in minutes. All you have to do is download a pdf sheet, fill all all the blocks using your handwriting and then upload it back. Within just a few minutes (even on slow dialup, like I have) you'll have your very own font that you can download and install on your computer.

At this point, creating a font is free, but once 250,000 fonts have been created, they'll be instating a small fee per font. I'm not sure what the fee will be, but they are currently just under 134,000 fonts, so act quickly.

I love my font, but it's a little wonky - not all my lowercase letters connect to each other.. But then again, my real life handwriting is wonky too - not all of my letters connect to each other there either.

March is DUMMIES month!!!!

2009-03-25T09:22:00.003-04:00

Buy any "x" is For Dummies book or audio set (purchase price must be $6.00 or above) between March 1 and March 31,2009 and get a $5 rebate. AND they'll also send an exclusive rebate form for $5.00 when you buy any other For Dummies book purchased in June, July or August.

See here for more information. While you're there, enter for your chance to win $5,000 or one of the daily prizes, but hurry because this too ends on March 31st.

FREEBIE ALERT! free Music downloads

2009-03-17T10:26:00.004-04:00

There's a great freebie posted over at HotCouponWorld!!!

Emusic is offering 25 FREE songs in their free trial offer. You do need a credit card to sign up and even if you cancel, you still get the free songs!! Otherwise their subscriptions are $11.99 a month for 30 downloads - that comes out to $.40 per song!!

You'll have access to over 4.5 million songs from established and emerging artists in every genre from classic rock to new age, from electronic to soundtracks, world music to inspirational, and much, much more.

Click here
for more information!!

Very cool - I've been on a 80's hairband music kick lately AND my sister just gave me her ipod so this offer comes at the perfect time for me!!

And the winner is......

2009-03-14T11:50:00.004-04:00

Steven has a brand new first place trophy from his first pinewood derby today!!! His car was the fastest of the four boys in the Tiger den and it was the 9th fastest car overall out of 34 Scouts.

Next up is Districts on April 18th. As thrilled as he is with his trophy, he's seriously bummed that he can't play with his truck!!! lol

Read an E-Book Week (March 8th through 14th)

2009-03-09T19:14:00.003-04:00

March 8th through the 14th is read an e-book week. I found this list of lots of authors and publishers who are offering free e-books this week and some are even offering contests too.

Lillie Ammann is offering various ebooks by request on her blog, plus you can find a list of sites that offer free e-books all the time!!

For Sci-Fi fans, check out Cliff J Burns' website - he's offering 2 full-length novels and Rae Lori is offering a novella.

The list is just too huge to give you all the scoop on everyone, but definitely check it out!! There's quite a few sites that are offering different books in different gendres everyday, so even if there's nothing that interests you today, you may want to check their sites again tomorrow!!

Happy reading everyone!