Yes, you heard me. We are going to DisneyWorld!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Okay, now that you are done screaming with me, let me tell you all about it. Due to some Christmas money, gift certificates, and money we didn’t spend on Christmas, we were able to pull this off. Disney is offering a buy 4 night get 3 free deal. This also includes your park tickets. Also, if you go before March 29th, you get a $200 gift card to Disney when you get there. I was able to find airfare from Southwest for $78 each way for each of us. To save a little money, we are making Will a lap baby (wish me luck on that one).
I was to Disney when I was 15, but haven’t been back since. This will be the first trip for Bill, Madison, and Will. Madison is pretty excited. Since I have a few weeks before we get to go, I’ll be talking a lot of Disney.
However, Bill has already told me I am not allowed to pay for internet access while I am there, so you all will at least get a little break from the Disney madness.
Tell me about your trips to Disney. Anything we definitely need to do? Any advice you want to give me?
TThis post is sponsored, but the ideas, thoughts and ramblings are my own.
Since having kids, I turned into a big softie. Yes, I’ll actually admit it. I cry at things I never would have before, and I think about things that never would have crossed my mind before having kids. I’ll be honest here — I get all teary eyed at Sears new commercials. Their new campaign is about how one gift can change someone’s life. Since I absolutely love Ty Pennington, I thought I’d show you what he had to say:
Okay, now that I’ve got myself composed again, I need to tell you what wishes Sears answered for my family. I was provided a $100 gift card from Sears that we were able to use this weekend.
Bill and I bundled the kids off early yesterday morning and headed off to Sears. I luck out since Sears is actually walking distance from my house, and we actually shop their quite a bit — off the top of my head, we got a bench, our snowblower, and our lawnmower from there. However, on this trip, we had no idea what we were going to get. My Christmas shopping is pretty much done, so we were going to try to find something for the kids.
The first place we checked out was the outdoor decorations. Madison is always wanting more for our yard, and this isn’t something we spend a lot of money on. Shortly after this picture was taken, Will decided to lay on the floor and talk to one of the deer that they had for a decoration. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get the camera out fast enough to get that embarrassing photo of him. Nothing really caught our eye in this department, so we headed over to toys. Of course, there were a lot of toys to pick from, but really, my kids don’t need another $100 worth of toys right before Christmas. Since the favorite part of any store for my husband is electronics, we headed to that department.
Once we were in electronics, my husband immediately walked towards the TVs even though we really don’t need one. Plus, $100 doesn’t really buy a TV (or at least not the ones he was looking at). Madison was being her normal hyper self running around looking at things until she saw the guitar hero bundle. Yes, that is my whole family playing Guitar Hero in Sears. Madison asked us if we could buy her the drums.
Now, the school district I live in has cut the art and music programs from the curriculum and will not be adding them back. I have written many posts on this blog about how awful I think this situation is and how I feel that music definitely is a class that should not be cut. My daughter loves to play instruments and sing. I can’t imagine depriving her of it. With the $100 Sears gift card, we will be able to fulfill her wish and give her the additional music support she will not be getting from our school. Who knows — Madison may end up to be talented singer, dancer, in a band, etc. However, I’d love to give her the stepping stones she needs to reach her full potential. (Plus, well, Guitar Hero is fun for mom and dad too. Dad was all over getting it when I told him there was 3 Tool songs and Freak On A Leash by Korn. I also need to add that the gift card paid for a portion of the cost of this bundle. I paid the rest.)
Since we got such an awesome family gift from Sears, I’d like to extend this awesome opportunity to one of my readers. Yes, I’d like to give you a $100 gift card to Sears to use however you like.
You can enter via blog comment, tweet or blog post:
Blog Comment:
I just need you to tell me what you think you’d want to spend your $100 on. Head on over to Sears and let me know the item number of what you like.
Twitter:
I’ve made it super easy for you to Twitter about this contest. Just tweet out this message:
RT @blm03 please grant my wish to win a $100 #Sears gift card – tweet to make your own wish: http://urlbrief.com/8e0599
Blog Post:
You can also enter by writing a post about the contest and linking back to this post. Make sure you leave a comment with the URL to your post, so I can count it as an entry.
Each tweet, comment or post counts as one registration. You can register up to three times by tweeting, leaving a comment, and doing a post on your blog. The winner will be chosen at random by IZEA based on all entries. This contest goes until December 23 at midnight EST. Good Luck!
Check out the other Izea Insiders for more chances to win:
I’ve never been a big fan of my mailbox. However, it served its purpose till last night. We woke up this morning to our mailbox laying on the ground. Since a lot of my product reviews are sent by the mail, this is a very bad, bad thing. Second problem, it snowed here last night, so the ground is frozen. We think it was hit by the snow plow in the middle of the night (it was still there at 11 pm). The beam that actually holds the mailbox is split. We had to do a horrible fix job in about 20 degree weather today. Bill took some industrial clamps and zip ties and that is the only thing that is holding the beam together. The beam also leans forward pretty bad, so we had to take stakes and pound them into the ground around the base. This looks like the worst white trash mailbox I’ve ever seen, and there is no way to fix this until the ground thaws out. I am hoping to get some pictures of my sorry looking mailbox tomorrow. If anyone has any ideas of how to get new a mailbox into the frozen ground, I am all ears.
If you aren’t lucky enough to have vision insurance or have vision insurance that will only pay up to a certain amount for your contact lenses, you should definitely check out LensShopper. Now, my vision insurance will pay up to $250 a year for contact lenses. That sounds like a lot, but if you wear contacts, you know it isn’t. That only pays for a couple of months of contacts, and then I pay out of pocket for the rest. My last order of contacts I stilled owed money on after they took the insurance off. That is where LensShopper comes into play. Their lenses are a ton cheaper than what I normally pay for my contacts! They even have even better deals if you order in bulk! I love that it tells me how long the delivery time is and whether or not the contacts are even in stock. Nothing is more annoying than ordering contacts, and then after you place your order, you find out their are backordered. I love that they even make it easy to find the best deals on their site by listing the best deals for each kind of contacts. If you just want to search out your contacts, you can choose to search by manufacturer, lens type, and even popular lenses.
Now, I personsally use the Focus Night & Day contacts. I found on their site that I can get a box for $40.95 (if I order bulk) and get free shipping! I love free shipping! That is a darn good deal for my contacts! I would save almost $40 off my normal order of 6 boxes! I can’t complain about savings like that! If you need contacts, you need to definitely check out LensShopper for all your contact needs!
It is amazing that we are given this little gift of life without a handbook. We try our best to keep them safe. However, there are some things as parents we should know. I was lucky enough to be invited onto a phone call with the National Center of Missing and Exploited Children and learned a lot of information about keeping my kids safe. My goal is let you know what I have learned, so your children don’t become a statistic.
Did you know that most abduction attempts occur after school? It is usually between the hours of 2 pm – 7 pm. Almost half of nonfamily abduction attempts happen when a child is walking to or from school (or some related school activity).
Did you know that the majority of children affected by abduction attempts are girls between 10 – 14?
Did you know that only 58% of parents have talked to their children about this?
This is scary information. I remember when I was a kid, and I could go play outside myself. Now, I would never let my kids outside by themselves! I am so glad to see that Duracell and The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) have teamed together to give us parents a handbook to start a conversation with our children. Best of all, this is free of charge! The Child Safety Handbook can be downloaded right from the linked site.
Now, we were able to ask questions and mine revolved around what to tell my 4 year old daughter. I don’t want to scare her, but I also don’t want to not have this conversation with her. The advice I was given for her age is that we really need to get away from “stranger danger”. The problem with stranger danger is that it portrays strangers as these scary bad people, and that is not what strangers look like. We need to talk about the situations that have been tried and are effective — like the puppy trick. We need to teach our children that it is okay to say no to stranger and that if an adult needs help, they will ask another adult, not a child. Our response cannot be fear based, and we must also reassure our children.
I highly recommend downloading that handbook. You will find a ton of helpful information no matter how old your child is. The Power of Parents Child Safety Handbook provides safety tips from the experts at NCMEC for four age groups: infant to toddler, ages 4-6, ages 7-11, and ages 12-17. The handbook outlines age-appropriate tips and scenarios that parents need to be aware of, as well as some outside influences that may be impacting their child’s actions. If reading this handbook could potentially save your child, it is well worth taking the time to download and read it.
Granting Wishes at Sears
Tuesday, December 16th, 2008TThis post is sponsored, but the ideas, thoughts and ramblings are my own.
Since having kids, I turned into a big softie. Yes, I’ll actually admit it. I cry at things I never would have before, and I think about things that never would have crossed my mind before having kids. I’ll be honest here — I get all teary eyed at Sears new commercials. Their new campaign is about how one gift can change someone’s life. Since I absolutely love Ty Pennington, I thought I’d show you what he had to say:
Bill and I bundled the kids off early yesterday morning and headed off to Sears. I luck out since Sears is actually walking distance from my house, and we actually shop their quite a bit — off the top of my head, we got a bench, our snowblower, and our lawnmower from there. However, on this trip, we had no idea what we were going to get. My Christmas shopping is pretty much done, so we were going to try to find something for the kids.
Now, the school district I live in has cut the art and music programs from the curriculum and will not be adding them back. I have written many posts on this blog about how awful I think this situation is and how I feel that music definitely is a class that should not be cut. My daughter loves to play instruments and sing. I can’t imagine depriving her of it. With the $100 Sears gift card, we will be able to fulfill her wish and give her the additional music support she will not be getting from our school. Who knows — Madison may end up to be talented singer, dancer, in a band, etc. However, I’d love to give her the stepping stones she needs to reach her full potential. (Plus, well, Guitar Hero is fun for mom and dad too. Dad was all over getting it when I told him there was 3 Tool songs and Freak On A Leash by Korn. I also need to add that the gift card paid for a portion of the cost of this bundle. I paid the rest.)
Since we got such an awesome family gift from Sears, I’d like to extend this awesome opportunity to one of my readers. Yes, I’d like to give you a $100 gift card to Sears to use however you like.
You can enter via blog comment, tweet or blog post:
Blog Comment:
I just need you to tell me what you think you’d want to spend your $100 on. Head on over to Sears and let me know the item number of what you like.
Twitter:
I’ve made it super easy for you to Twitter about this contest. Just tweet out this message:
RT @blm03 please grant my wish to win a $100 #Sears gift card – tweet to make your own wish: http://urlbrief.com/8e0599
Blog Post:
You can also enter by writing a post about the contest and linking back to this post. Make sure you leave a comment with the URL to your post, so I can count it as an entry.
Each tweet, comment or post counts as one registration. You can register up to three times by tweeting, leaving a comment, and doing a post on your blog. The winner will be chosen at random by IZEA based on all entries. This contest goes until December 23 at midnight EST. Good Luck!
Check out the other Izea Insiders for more chances to win:
BenSpark
Steven Sanders
Corrin Renee
Elizabeth
Laurie
Kat
Heather
Brett
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