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:
Now, as many of you know, I was lucky enough to get picked as an Izea Insider. One of my perks is that I have access to passes to conferences. One conference that is coming up is the Affiliate Summit. It takes place in Las Vegas from January 11 – January 13th, 2009. I can’t go. We will be celebrating Madison’s 5th birthday, and I kind of need to be here for that. However, I want to pass this on to one of my lucky readers, because you are all so great!
This is one of the top conference to go to. The Affiliate Summit West Silver Pass gives you admission to the Affiliate Meet Market, Exhibit Hall, and the Affiliate Summit Social Network. The normal cost of the Silver Pass is $349 when ordered online or $449 when you get there. But yours will be free!
Here’s what you need to do:
Each one of these things will give you one entry:
1. Leave a comment on this post. I want to know why you want this awesome pass!
2. Twitter about this contest. Please leave me your username so I can verify.
3. Stumble this post. If you don’t know what Stumble Upon is, please read Lori’s post at Blogging Cents. She explains it extremely well.
4. Add this post to other social media sites like Digg, Kirtsy, Blogging Zoom, Reddit, Propeller, Etc.
For 5 additional entries,
1. Blog about this on your blog. Please give me the URL, so I can verify.
2. Add this to any forums you belong too. Please give me the URL, so I can verify.
3. Subscribe to this blog using either my email or RSS feed
4. Add my badge to your sidebar:
For 1o (yes, 10! additional entries):
Join my Spark E Facebook page! Just leave me a link here to your profile on Facebook, so I can verify.
This contest will end December 19 at 8:00 pm CST. Good luck, and if you want a few more chances to win, check out these fellow Izea Insiders for their contests too:
I have found my new favorite place to shop online. Why do you ask? I just found the best deal ever on a Leapster 2 by using Shop.com. Now, Leapster 2s on their own run around $79.99, so when I saw this one, I got super excited. See, this one with a game is $79.99! This gets even better too! If you look closely at the Leapster, it is Star Wars! Now, Madison is a Star Wars freak, so I can only imagine how excited she would be to see this under the Christmas tree from Santa! I am excited, and this isn’t even for me. Also, because it black, this can easily be passed down from Madison to Will. I don’t have to worry about hearing that it’s a girl color! (Yes, I am thinking that far ahead).
Now, Shop.com has over 2,000 stores, so you can definitely find something for everyone there. You can type just about anything in the search engine on there, and it’ll pull it up. You will see all the stores that carry that item plus how much each one wants for it. I also love that purchases can be made using one universal “shopping cart” to buy everything at one time or by clicking over to participating merchants’ sites. You can easily get all your Christmas shopping done at one site and know you are getting the best price! I love that this takes some of the time and stress off me. I love that I found her present, and I was just browsing through the toys! Shop.com also has expert advice, shopping tips, and articles. My only complaint is that you can’t search through the toys by age (which is important when you have an 18 month old, since he still sticks everything in his mouth).
If you want a one stop shop for your Christmas shopping this year, Shop.com should be it. See you there, because I am going to do some more shopping!
As I wrote in my other post, my cousin recently died. My cousin was beautician and had been doing my mother’s hair for the last 33 years. She really needed a perm, however, she was waiting for my cousin to get better. Obviously, that did not happen. My mom made an appointment at the same place that I had my hair done at for my wedding. We had great service at that time, and she remembered that it seem like an older person place. They put her with a wonderful woman named Michelle.
You know how you get to talking to the beautician doing your hair? Well, my mom and Michelle started talking. They talked about how they both grew up on farms — her in DePere, my mom in Suring (now Suring is an hour north of Green Bay and has about 500 people living there). When my mom said Suring, Michelle was like I know somebody from there. My mom was like “Oh really! Who?” Michelle said “Well her mom’s name started with a B. I think it was Beulah.” Well, Beulah was my aunt. She died several years ago of ovarian cancer. The person she knew was my cousin Carmen. Carmen died 12 years ago. She was 6 months pregnant and in the hospital for kidney infection. She had a brain anerism and died instantly. She was a first grade teacher at the time. Honestly, it was the sadest funeral I have ever went too. Not only was my family shook up, there were all these little kids there who understood to varying degrees what was going on. Well, Michelle’s daughter had Carmen as a teacher. The school put a memorial bench in Carmen’s honor. Michelle was the one who collected the money to get that done.
Now, Green Bay isn’t a small town, so for my mom to run into this lady is just well odd. I am glad she met her. It was like it was meant to be. When she was telling this story, I felt like I should be sitting in some home theater seating and eating popcorn, because this whole situation feels like it came out a movie.
Anybody who was born in the 90’s or who have had kids in the last ten years knows all about Blue’s Clues. When it first started, Steve was the one we got to watch on the show with Blue. However, halfway through its run, he decided to leave. Due to a fun conversation that took place on Twitter this morning, I was to find out what Steve has been up to. He left Blue’s Clues to start a music career, and it looks like he did just that. However, I am glad to see that he still does some kids music too (see second video).
Though I do still find it weird to look at him with facial hair and a bald head. What do you think?
We will be celebrating Madison’s 5th birthday, and I kind of need to be here for that. However, I want to pass this on to one of my lucky readers, because you are all so great!
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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
Tags: bench, Bill, bit, blog, bundle, camera, campaign, card, christmas, comment, contest, dad, decoration, Department, distance, family, floor, gift, Guitar, head, hero, house, Husband, idea, lawnmower, life, lot, luck, madison, mind, money, morning, music, picture, place, Plus, post, school, sears, Shop, shopping, snowblower, Someone, something, talk, top, trip, tweet, Twitter, Ty Pennington, weekend, yard, yesterday
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