It's my BLOG and I'll cry if I want to

Tomorrow at Baskin Robbins from 5-10PM

31 Cent Scoop Night!


Join us for 31 Cent Scoop Night at Baskin-Robbins®
and help us honor America’s firefighters.
Participating stores will reduce prices of small ice
cream scoops to 31 cents.* At some locations, you
may also have an opportunity to make a donation
to your local fire charities.

I have started getting stupid telemarketer calls again! I find these calls very annoying what about you? If they annoy you too check out National No Call Registry.

In October of 2003, the ferderal government made it possible for subscribers of both cell phones and land lines, to block unwanted calls from telemarketers. By registering your phone number, you are effectively removing your number from any database telemarketers my have. There are two of acomplish this....

For Cell Phone: Simply call (888)382-1222, complete the steps required, and you're all set. It takes no more than 2 minutes.
For Land lines: Simply go to www.donotcall.gov , follow the simple instruction, and in a matter of minutes, your phone number will be registerd.

After registering, it usually takes about 31 days until your number is no longer available to marketers. If you continue getting call after the 31 grace period, you can file a complaint against the marketer at www.donotcall.gov . Your registration lasts for five years at which point, if desired, you can re-register.

Most people can solve their needs by registering their number with the no call list. However, if their needs require further assistance, we also provide a Reverse Phone Lookups service.
Or ever have a number you don't recognize show up on your caller ID well try Reverse Phone Lookups. There have been many times I needed to check out a number I didn't know.

I love my Mr Clean Magic Eraser Mop but after using one or two times the sponge is dirty and pushes around dirty water. i need the power of the mr clean sponge for my old beat up floors to get clean. I would love a mop that cleans like the mr clean one yet I could wash after each use. I don't know maybe if I soaked the sponge in bleach water after I used it it would stay clean? (or fall apart maybe) I don't know. What mop do you use and what do you think of it?

Galco holsters gained worldwide notoriety when Don Johnson chose to wear the Jackass shoulder rig in the popular TV series "Miami Vice". Now known as the Miami Classic, this shoulder holster continues to be the most famous, recognizable, and imitated (but never duplicated) shoulder holster rig ever made.
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What can I say, it rained here all day. Made for a dull day but I spent the day working on my Planet Earth puzzle. Puzzles are my newest thing. I remember doing them as a kid with my mom. I try to get the kids to do them with me. They were helping me with the 3D holographic ones I got but it seems this newest one I am on my own. Oh well.
Tomorrow is hubby's birthday and we are gong to have a Cold Stone Creamery cake. I have never had their ice cream but I hear how wonderful it is. I got the cake cheap, I used 2 gift certificates I had, one of which I earned somewhere online and I also had a $3.00 off coupon. Made the cake only $3.01.
That's all for now...have a good one.

SocialSpark is a great new place to meet people and earn money in your spare time. You pick what you want to blog about and get paid for it! Of course there is a code of ethics that you must follow but what a simple and fun way to make some extra money!
I enjoy blogging and sure don't mine making money. And the first day I signed up I already made a new friend!

SocialSpark has a variety of topics to blog about and many different payouts for each. You can even sign up to have a sponsored advertisement on your page and get paid for it. Also other bloggers ask you to link them on your blog and they will do the same. What a cool and easy way to get your blog out there for more people to see!!

What are you waiting for? Click the link and check it out for yourself! SocialSpark
Let's recap the highlights
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And for those of you who enjoy PayPerPost you are going to love
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Yesterday my nephew turned one. It seems like only yesterday he was born. Time sure does fly. We had a great time at his party. Here are a few shots from the day

My nephew

Noah

My newest nephew

PRESENTS

CAKE

Eating Cake!

Sharing my cake with Uncle Andy

YUM

5 Minutes for Mom is hosting a photo contest. The theme is "motherhood", what it means to you. I am chosing this picture.

This was taken back on February 5th when my son underwent his 3rd open heart surgery. To me this is motherhood, being there for my son who was only 23 months old at the time and just holding his hand to comfort him and let him know mommy was there. At that point in his recovery it was the only way I could hold him. It gave us both great comfort.
Stop by 5 Minutes for Mom website and enter your own photo or just stop and check out all the other great photos entered!!

The weather has been so nice here the last few days I have been neglecting dear blog. Well that and the fact that I worked all weekend had off Monday and work up until Friday morning. All I can say is TIRED! The kids are having a blast playing outside. I seem to go on even less sleep during the warmer weather. I just like being out with the little ones. Right now though I am highlighting my hair while they are out playing. Hopefully the hair turns out ok. If it does maybe I will post a pic. If not....well it will be off the buy some hairdye and do my whole head over the weekend. LOL!
I have a Target trip lined up for tomorrow. I stopped there Tuesday and got some good deals. I have a few more I want to get tomorrow. Hopefully tomorrow I will have a great post about it.
Oh yeah, remember how I complained about my WAlmart and the reusable bags this past Saturday? Well after my email to the company, the store called me. Seems they didn't have them in time for the giveaway and got them in time for Earth Day and did it then. The manager told me she wanted to be sure I received one so she put one (actually 2) aside for me. That was really nice of her and gave me a good impression of the customer service. My daughter was thrilled when she saw they left me 2 because she had wanted one Saturday when we were there. I really think I am going to try and stock up on these bags to use when I go out. I have so many plastic bags it isn't even funny. Even with using them for small trash bags I have too many.
Well time to rinse the hair......

I made a quick trip to the grocery store this morning. I have some leftover ham from our ham dinner last weekend and wanted to make some ham and bean soup (I actually am making both kinds) I needed the rest of the ingredients though so picked those up. The store was having a General Mills cereal promotion again. Buy 4 of them and you get $4.00 off your bill instantly. I bought all Cheeri's and used my $1.50 off a box coupon that I got in my Pampers packs. So I had a coupon for each box. My total for the 4 boxes after the deal and coupons was $3.78. So less than $1.00/box. My type of cereal price!! I also used a few other coupons and grabbed a few items. Last week when I was there if you bought 8 of certain items you got a $5.00 off next trip catalina. Well somehow I got 2 of them. So I used those too! All in all my bill came to $45.26 before savings and my OOP cost was only $17.73 Yay!!!
Now I am home and I have a pork tenerloin in the crock pot to make pulled pork BBQ sandwiches tomorrow. I have both ham soups on the stove simmering. Whew! Now it's time to relax a bit while I smell the food cooking!

The weather is gorgeous again today. Kids have been out playing all day (makes for a good nights sleep, lol) I caught my little man's cold and now feel totally miserable. I hate being sick in the warm weather. Not that I like being sick at all.
I did go to Walmart this morning for my free bag and my Walmart knew nothing about it. I was bummed. Anyone go and get their free bag this morning?

See a blog you really like? Why don't you vote for it at Bloggers Choice Awards. Vote for your favorite blogs! You can cast a vote because you think the blog is pretty or well-written, or simply because you like the person who created it. Just look for the "Vote" button to the right of each blog and click on it to cast your vote.
Votes will be displayed on the site in real-time, so you can see who's leading within each category at any moment! Winners in each respective category will be revealed in late 2008, and will be recognized at a one-of-a-kind awards ceremony (date and location to be determined at a later time). The results will be posted here at BloggersChoiceAwards.com.
Go check it out there are many categories to choose from and you can even nominate your own blog! Don't forget to comment on the other blogs nominated while you are there. You many find some really great new blogs you weren't aware of!

5 Minutes for Mom is having a toy giveaway! Each day is a new item for 2 weeks! Stop by and check out the great items being given away!

The rules are simple....

To enter the giveaways you just need to:

Add a comment on the giveaway you want to enter. PLEASE note: You need to enter each giveaway individually so we know who wants to be entered in what giveaway. So make sure you click over to each giveaway and leave your comment there.
Either link back to this post and include a “2 Weeks for Toys” Giveaway button in that post or on your sidebar (to get the code scroll to the bottom of this post,) or link to the individual giveaways you choose to enter. (If you post and include the button, either in your post or on your sidebar, and link back here, you are good for all the giveaways. No more linking required.)
As always, non bloggers are welcome to participate! We understand you can’t link - but please spread the word to your friends.
Some giveaways may be open to Canadian shipping addresses. Please check individual giveaways.

Speaking of toys look at what I brought home yesterday

Someone was throwing this little tykes sand and water table away. My kids were thrilled to have it!

Here is Madi in her new gymnastics outfit. We signed her up for summer classes and while at Target, she found this on the clearance rank. That's my little frugal shopper!!



Oh and then Mr Noah.....he decided that paper was too boring to write on while mommy mopped the kitchen floor. No wonder I dislike cleaning....I turn my back and stuff like this happens. LOL

Wow the last few days have been gorgeous outside here! I only hope this weather is here to stay. The kids are actually wearing shorts, I have all my windows open. I love this time of year. I am not a huge fan of air conditioning. I would much rather have my windows open and smelling the fresh air. Unfortunately with our allergies in the house and my son's heart condition it is better if we run the air. So let's hope this weather sticks around for a long while and the dog days of summer stay away for a bit yet.
Don't forget Walmart tomorrow is giving away a free reusable tote bag to customers. You can read about it here.
Luckily I have to take my daughter in to the doctors for a shot at 8am so I will head right over to my local Walmart which sits right in front of the doctor's office and get my free bag. How convenient is that!

Are you tired of your phone carriers long distance rates? Have no long distance calling on your phone?? Here is a solution for you phone cards. Phone Cards Avenue offers a great and affordable way to save money on long distance bills. All you do is simply make your call by calling the provided access number and entering your phone card PIN when asked. When prompted to enter destination number, simply put 011 + country code + phone number if you're calling international destination and simply put 1 + Area Code + Number if you're calling domestic within USA. Simple right? As soon as your online transaction is approved, you will receive an email with the Access numbers, PIN and Dialing Instructions. Simple! No waiting for your card in the mail. And right now this month you can get 3% back on every purchase made. The Cash Back reward program is totally FREE! Cash Back reward program offers you 3% cash back on your Present and Future purchases. More savings! They even have live support on their website if you should incur a problem or question you need answered.
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I filled out a comment form on SC JOhnson's website about the automatic shower cleaner. They apologized and are sending me a coupon for a free product to try again. I just hope that the new one I pick up works better than the one I have now! I love companies with good customer service! Do you have any good customer service stories to share?

I ran to our grocery store today and they were having a deal where if you bought 7 certain Kraft items you got 20 cents off gas. (this store also has gas rewards for their gas station) One of the items was BBQ sauce. They had them on sale 10 for $10.00. SO I got 14 bottles of sauce (we do use a lot of it) and got my 40 cents off/gallon. Plus topped off with all my other points I ended up with 60 cents off/gallon. I paid 2.73 for a gallon of gas. I saved a total of $78.63 with store deals and my coupons. Not a bad deal I don't think.
I then stopped over to hand down some baby items to my nephew. He will a month old this coming week. My how time flies.
Next trip is to buy some flowers. There is a flower stand right by my house where you can fill a box for $12. These flowers are from Easter but they have hyacinths, tulips and some others. I want to get some flowers for my garden. My spring flower collection is not too many so I want to catch this good deal. I know someone who ended up with 12 tulips and 15 hyacinth's from this deal. Sounds good to me! I will get some pictures later and post them today or tomorrow.

The kids enjoyed the circus last night. Here are a few of our favorite shots from the show

How I love freecycle. We now have 5 tickets to a circus that is in town tonight. These tickets roughly cost $30.00 and we were given them by a nice freecycler! The kids are going to love it. Madi and Noah have never been to a circus before so I am sure they will be in awe of it all. Of course I will take pics and share them later.
I have also gotten by boys bunk beds and Madi's toddler bed from freecycle too. I have also given away a bunch of various items myslef on there.
Have you freecycled today?
Have a great weekend!

Did your mom and dad bronze your baby shoes? Bronzing baby shoes is such a wonderful way to remember baby's first shoes or favorite pair of shoes. American Bronzing Company does bronzing of many shoe types.

Sneakers, patent leather shoes, sandles...you name it. They offer antique bronze finish or bright bronze finish even porcelain finish. And for a few dollars more you can get baby's name and birthdate put right on the shoes. You can also bronze other items like baby's pacifier. Turn any of baby's items into a keepsake! American Bronzing Company even offers gift certificates so you can give someone the gift of bronzing. I just may look into that for my sister for Mother's Day this year. Prices are very affordable and all purchases come with a satifaction guarantee. Plus right now just as a reader of my blog you can get $5.00 off! Just write “48FA03 - $5.00 OFF” above the date on the order form. It is as simple as that! And remember the 100% satisfaction guarantee! Also check out the free bronzing offer. If you get three other orders you can get yours free. So tell all your friends in your play group and you could get free bronzed baby shoes!
So stop by and check them out, you won't be disappointed!

Yesterday I left the kids finger paint. We didn't have finger paints per say so we improvised with acrylic paints. Here is Noah enjoying his first taste of finger painting.




Even after a hard day of painting there is always time to stop and smell the flowers though.

Tomorrow is Kindergarten registration. We however will not be there. Somehow with 3 other kids in the school district I did not receive my registration packet. Therefore I do not have all the paperwork I need to get Madisyn registered tomorrow. Oh well, I will just do in in a few weeks. We were joking telling her she wasn't going to go to school because she didn't get an invitation (registration pack) she was none to happy to hear this. She was very happy to hear we were joking with her.
Not much else going on in the house today. Except for the mini hurricane and tornado that struck but then again those hit every day when you have 3 little ones running around all day.
Well off to go see what is left of my house.....

After my shower cleaner let down, I am now in love....Yesterday after debating for a few weeks now, I went out and bought the Mr Clean Magic Eraser mop.
Normally I use a magic eraser on my hands and knees and scrub my kitchen floor. My floor is VERY old and worn and gets dirty very easily. The only thing I had found that cleaned it up nicely was the magic eraser. However I do go through a whole eraser doing my floor. I was a bit worried the mop would only last through one mopping. But i bought one yesterday and tried it. It did just as great of a job as the magic erasers themselves and in so much less time than it takes on my hands and knees. NOt to mention my knees didn't hurt so bad or my arm from the scrubbing. And I still have life left in my mop head!!! Yay!! So anyone thinking about getting one I say go for it! I am very happy with mine. No more hands and knees every week for me!

Ok, so I broke down and bought the automatic shower cleaner. With my store having them on sale for $19.99 and a $10.00 off coupon I went for it. I talked with 3 people at work who all have them and love them. I read a few blogs where people loved them....well I am NOT in love. Maybe it is me, maybe it's my bathroom. I have mine in a full size bathtub/shower. The sprayer only sprays a quarter of the area. So what about the other 3/4 of my shower/tub??? Am I doing something wrong here?? I didn't think so, hang the thing on the shower and press the button....I would love to hear from anyone who has tried these and what you think of them. I think for one of those small shower stalls they make work good but not for someone putting one in a tub/shower combo.... comments???? (and please do not leave negative comments saying to just clean the normal way, i planned to but use this for in between to help make cleaning easier)

What a day. I came home this morning from an appointment to find a tractor trailer truck stuck on my street. For some reason this driver thought they could turn onto our street and well they can't and got themselves stuck. A few years ago a tour bus did something similar and got themselves stuck too. Will these people ever learn.
Later today I got a "Breaking News" email from my local paper. Here is the article. Apparetnly a man crashed his car on the highway and stripped off his clothes and jumped out of the car and ran down the road....traffic was a mess and at a standstill for hours.
My children have been stir crazy all day too. Maybe it was the rainy, dreary weather or maybe there is a full moon? I don't know but I hope tomorrow is more mellow. I could use a day that is calm and not so hectic!

I took Noah to the Picture People last weekend and here are a few of the shots they got of him.

A friend of mine shared this beautiful video of the son of the lady she works with. I wanted to share it with all of you. Please consider helping the cause.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

His first watermelon of the year. He insisted on eating like the big kids did.

Isn't he just so cute....

Getting a tattoo of course...

Like my new tattoo??

Do you have an upcoming event that you need a card for? CardsDirect is a great source for buying cards online. If you are a stay at home mom you will love the ease of buying cards in bulk, saving you time and money. And with little ones around that is a big plus!! It is a great way to have cards on hand for that forgotten about birthday that snuck up on you or that thank you note you want to send a thoughtful friend. With getting cards from CardsDirect you will always have cards on hand for those last minute needs. You can use the verse they have on the cards or personlize them yourself. You can even make personalized photo cards or purchase photo holder cards.
My favorite card on their site is this one





I love the bold colors of the swirls. You can check out other birthday cards by clicking on the link. What is your favorite??
You can also send away for a free catalog to look at in your spare time after all the little ones have gone to bed!! How cool is that?
So stop by and check out CardsDirect and stock up now on all those cards you know you are going to need!

Need high quality cables? Cables such as fiber optic patch cables, etherenet cords, networking cables, usb cords or some other cord? Check out Diablo Cable. They carry a wide selection of cables including Cisco Cables for all different uses at low prices. And Diablo Cable offers same day shipping and lifetime warranty on certain items. Diablo Cable offers a secure checkout and accepts Visa, MC, Discover, American Express and now accept Paypal payments! So next time you need a cable remember to check out Diablo Cable you won't be disappointed!

I remember 5 years ago when I was pregnant with Madisyn I called hubby up on April Fools and told him my water broke and he was to meet me at the hospital. (i was due May 6th) I was actually at a restaurant having breakfast and his dad was at the same restaurant too and we teamed up on the prank together. The fact that his dad was there and went along with it made it more real sounding. That was the last prank I did. I am not a big one for April Fools pranks but here is one I would be willing to try on the kids....


You won't have to say "cheese" to make your kids smile once they sample this lunch look-alike.
INGREDIENTS:
Pound cake (we used Entenmann's brand)
1 cup buttercream or white frosting (canned is just fine)
Yellow and red food coloring


Cut the pound cake into bread-like slices and toast them in a toaster oven just until they turn golden brown. Once they've cooled for a few minutes, stack two slices for each sandwich and cut the stack in half diagonally (slicing the sandwich before you fill it makes for fewer crumbs).

Now tint the frosting by stirring in a few drops of yellow and red food coloring (more yellow than red) to get a shade of orange that resembles American cheese.

Carefully spread frosting between the slices of each half sandwich. If you mound the frosting on one slice, then top it with the other and gently press down, the frosting will ooze out a bit and look all the more like melted cheese. Makes one sandwich.

You can see this recipe and more like it at Family Fun here

What about you any pranks on your agenda today???

My CVS deals last night....
I had planned to go out and get the pampers that were on sale and combine them with coupons and cvs $5.00 off 15 coupons but I had trouble finding my son's size to do this. Here is a run down of what I did get though.

Transaction 1
softsoap (got the wrong one and not the one that gave me ECB's oh well) (had a 1.50 off coupon)
all laundry detergent (had a 1.00 off coupon)
2 olay body ribbons body wash (had a 1.00 off 2 coupon)
2 bath buddies (had a 1.00 off 2 coupon)
olay was buy 1 get one free
also used a $5.00 off $15 coupon
total spent $6.33 (saved $20.47)

Transaction 2
Speed stick and lady speed stick (had a 1.00 off coupon for each)
2 olay ribbons body wash (had a 1.00 off 2 coupon)
2 tubs Kandoo wipes (had a buy one get one free coupon and a 1.00 off 2 coupon)
again olay was buy 1 get one free and i used another $5.00 off 15 coupon
total spent $7.51 (saved $20.06)
earned $3.00 ECB's

Transaction 3
Pampers mega pack (these weren't the ones on sale they were out of our size but I had a ton of expiring pampers coupons)
used a pampers 1.50 coupon, another $5 off 15 coupon and my $3.00 ECB's
total spent $7.99 (saved $9.50)
got a cvs coupon for a free cvs baby powder

Next CVS and Transaction 4
2 bags of M&M's easter speckled eggs (easter was 75% off)
2 boxes of egg color for next year
misc easter candy for maddie
pack of pampers jumbo (sale ones they only had 1 bag in our size) (used a 1.00 off coupon)
and 2 axe deodorants on clearance for the boys
cvs baby powder (used my free coupon)
bag of oreo minis (had to keep the kids quiet)
also used a $5 off 15 coupon
total spent $12.63 (saved 25.83)

Next CVS and Transaction 5
papmers jumbo (used a 1.00 off coupon)
pampers mega (used a 1.00 off coupon)
used a $5 off 15 coupon
spent $19.48 (saved $9.50)

Transaction 6
2 packs of pampers jumbo (used 2 $1.00 off coupons)
used a $5 off 15 coupon
spent $10.98 (saved 12.00)
this was the deal I wanted to do all along and was only able to find enough diapers at this store to do it once. But I did still use a bunch of my pampers coupons up and did save some money.