Deals & Steals

Nothing too exciting, just a few freebies/deals I've found on the Internet lately. Enjoy!

Memorial Day Coloring Pages:
http://patrioticcoloringpages.com/memorial-day/index.html

30% Off In-Store and Online Purchases at Gymboree (link from Money Saving Mom):
Gymboree Coupon

Save $1 on any AVEENO baby product:
http://bricks.coupons.com/Start.asp?bt=wg&tqnm=zelpetc13522444&o=62691&c=AB&p=coNg1GtE

BandAid Coupons and First Aid Kit Offer:
http://www.bandaid.com/safety/

Boogie Wipes Boogie Buddy Offer:
http://www.boogiewipes.com/index.php?id=125

If you join the Boogie Bunch, you'll get a $1 coupon via email:
http://www.boogiewipes.com/index.php?id=67

Johnson & Johnson Coupons:
http://johnsonsbaby.com/special-offers-expanded.jsp

Wishlist Wednesday - At Your Service

Every day I get up, shower, get dressed, get Ish ready for the day, pack a lunch, drop Ish off at daycare (aka, grandma's house), go to work, come home, eat dinner, play with Ish, bathe him, put him to bed, do a few chores around the house, watch a little TV/play on the Interwebz, go to bed - lather, rinse, repeat - 5 days a week. Somewhere in there Matt does something similar, except he has less Ish time during the week because he leaves early and comes home late from work. Our TO DO list seems never-ending.

So, this week, my wish is for a few new people to enter our life to make things a little easier on us and maybe leave us with a little extra time to spend together as a family.

First, a financial adviser would be wonderful. Someone to handle the little money we have and put us on an allowance - tell us what we can spend, what we should save and how we should invest. Or, at the very least, someone to balance our checkbook every month so that I don't have to do it! It would be nice to spend less time worrying about money.
Secondly, I would love to hire a lawn service. Nothing fancy, just someone to come cut the grass every week so that we don't lose Matt for 4 hours on a Saturday morning while he cuts, aerates and does whatever else it is he does to the lawn that takes that long. And even though he has a riding mower, I know he would rather hang out with Ish watching Saturday morning cartoons and eating Count Chocula than packing brown bags full of grass clippings (who wouldn't??!!)
Last but not least - maid service would be awesome. Someone to do the laundry, dust, vacuum and - if they're brave enough - clean the bathrooms. Bonus points if they can cook and are willing to potty train a stubborn toddler.
And did I mention I need all these people to work for free? :-p


I'd like to end today's post with a big thank you to Stacy at My Perspective for passing along the Sunshine Award to me! Her blog is a fun read - check it out!
The rules of this award are to pass it on to blogs I enjoy reading - but I can't choose just a few to list when I follow and enjoy so many! So check out my blog rolls to the left - click on any/every one - there's not a bad one in the lot! Enjoy!! And thanks again Stacy!!

Reading is Fundamental

Now pay attention Dada and I'll teach you all about shapes. No talking please.
No, no, no, pay attention, I'm on this page now! And I said no talking! Why are you talking?? And what are you pointing at? I'm on THIS page now!!
Oy, trying to get you to listen to me is exhausting! I give up.

The Happy 101 Award

Special thanks to Christine over at A Mama Stork Knows for passing on the Happy 101 Award to me.
Christine's blog is a great mix of family stories, reviews and giveaways (my favorite!!), be sure to check her out.

Part of my responsibility with this award is to list 10 things that make me happy and to, of course, pass this on to my fellow bloggers. So, without further ado, here's my "things that make me happy" list:

1. Ish - always #1 on my list!
2. Matt (most of the time). I kid, I kid ;-)
3. Sunny and warm weekends
4. Sleeping in (which means anytime past 7AM these days)
5. Having lunch with the ladies
6. A clean house
7. Towels that are "crunchy" from being line-dried
8. Everything at Starbucks
9. The BBC comedy line-up on Friday nights
10. The peace and quiet of the early morning - you know, before Ish wakes up

I'd like to pass this award along to a few of the many great bloggers I follow:

1. Kayla at The Randolph Family
2. "D" over at Dearinger Diary
3. Kerri from I'm Just Saying

I'm always updating my blog roll (now that I figured out the super-neato scrolling roll), so click around and check out all the great blogs I follow!

Thanks again Christine!! :-)

Revolution Foods/EcoMom Review & Giveaway CLOSED

Ish is a picky eater. True story. There was a time when he would eat anything and everything you put in front of him. Now, not so much. This has been leading us down the path of "who cares what he eats, as long as he eats" - not a healthy path to be on. So when Jody Sherman, the CEO of EcoMom, was looking for mom's to review a line of organic food from Revolution Foods, I jumped at the chance!

I was excited when the samples arrived. Everything looked so yummy - and, being the marketing major I was, I was impressed with the packaging too.
Saturday morning I decided to give Ish the Honey Graham and Strawberry Yogurt Grammy Sammy for breakfast - sort of a toddler-sized cereal bar. He liked it! I was pleasantly surprised. So I took a chance on the Tropical Mashup (and I say took a chance because I was afraid he would just squeeze the package and forget about eating - he's easily distracted). But Ish surprised us again, carefully squeezing little "bites" of Mashup into his mouth. Matt and I had to taste for ourselves - we both thought the taste and texture was great, we are excited to try the other flavors too (you know, with Ish of course!).
Sunday morning I opened a Mashup, squeezed it into a bowl and Ish ate it with a spoon - proving to me that it wasn't just the fun packaging that intrigued him to eat it. Another bonus to the Sammys and Mashups: very portable. I threw them into my diaper bag as snacks for the road.
So, to sum it up, I'm sold! As is Ish. I'm happy to have found healthy, tasty food for him.

Now, for the giveaway! I'm excited to host this giveaway - I hope the lucky winner enjoys it as much as we do. Up for grabs is a $20 Plum/Revolution Foods Sampler. All you have to do to enter is leave me a comment - tell me you want to win! Be sure to leave me an email address (if you don't have one in your blog/profile) so I can contact you should you win.

Want bonus entries? Do any/all of the following and leave me a comment for each one you do:

• Follow EcoMom on Twitter here
• "Like" EcoMom on facebook here

That's it! If you don't win, or simply want to get a head start on the goodness, EcoMom has graciously offered a 15% discount for your first order. Visit: Eco-friendly Baby Products - EcoMom (they have a TON of healthy options, from baby food, to toddler treats) and use the code SBBL317 at checkout (this offer is good through 5/31/2010). There's also a new program called EcoPass that's being offered which will give you a 15% discount on all your orders when you purchase an annual membership.

I'll pick a winner on Friday, May 14th. Good luck!

Disclaimer: While I was given products to review by EcoMom, the opinions in this post are 100% mine (and Ish's!). We were not compensated in any way for our review.

Mother's Day

This morning we attempted to get a cute shot of me and Ish together. This is the best we got.
All the others kinda look like this.
We headed out early to Johnny's Reef on City Island for some yummy seafood - and when I say early, we left the house at 10AM! Johnny's is a little hole-in-the-wall at the very end of the island - with the BEST food ever! It gets packed on Mother's Day. Don't bother trying to go after 11AM.
Johnny's has great food and a great view. One thing Johnny's does not have - highchairs. Ish is still too little to sit on his own. But we let him sit and wait for grandma and grandpa like a big boy would.
This was lunch (because calories don't count on Mother's Day):
Luckily chicken fingers are on the menu - I know Matt looks a tad silly in this picture, but Ish looks cute.
After lunch we headed outside to feed the birds some french fries.
Here are the birds:
That's where the pictures for today end - Ish freaked out and wanted nothing else to do with Johnny's/food/pictures/outside.

All in all, a good day! Now, if we could just get Ish to take a nap...that would be a true gift!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO ALL OF YOU WHO MOTHER!!

Score! For me and Ish!

We went to a tag sale at the local church here in town this morning and I saw and fell in love with this:
It's a Little Tikes Octopus Merry Go Round. Ish immediately sat down and started spinning on it. The guy selling it said he spent a lot of time spinning with his 5 kids on this. He was asking $3 - sold American! As I always do when I get back from tag sales, I Googled to find out the item's true worth. Apparently, this is a "retired" item and it's in high demand. It's going for $75 and up on Craig's List and Ebay. I PAID $3!!

I don't know who's more excited - Ish to play on it or me for having scored the deal!!