Posts Tagged ‘Plus’

Granting Wishes at Sears

Tuesday, December 16th, 2008

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:

BenSpark

Steven Sanders

Corrin Renee

Elizabeth

Laurie

Kat

Heather

Brett

Amazon Frustration Free Packaging

Monday, November 3rd, 2008

Amazon, if I could, I would seriously make out with you right now.  Yes, I said it.  Whoever came up with frustration free packaging is a genius.  They deserve the Nobel Peace Prize.  I also have to give a shout out to 37 Signals and Remarkable Parents for letting me know about this.

Now, you can see from this picture how the packaging is different.  The one of the right is what it looks like now.  The one on the left is the new packaging.  I find it weird that a lot of bloggers find this wrong.  However, as a mother of a 4 year old and a 1 year old I find this genius.  I remember when Madison turned one.  It took 6, yes I said 6, adults over an hour to open her toys.  Now, that is crazy.  I remember my fingers hurting from the twisty tie things and just the waste and the mess.  How would you like to get just a brown box, and all you have to do is open it?  Sounds much better, doesn’t it?  How many of you have had kids whining “do you have it out yet??!!??”?  I know I have that here.  They don’t have the attention span while you find a screwdriver and everything else you need to get some of these toys out of their packaging.  Heck, I remember cutting my arms on the clamshell packaging when you are trying not to saw the entire top of the packaging off.  Plus, this new packaging is so much better for the enviroment.  I would love to be able to recycle that box (where I live, the more the community recycles the less we pay for our garbage to get picked up).  Now, this packaging is done right at the factory too, and only effects Amazon.  You will still find normal packaging at your favorite brick and mortar store.

The main argument against this is that the kids can’t see what they are getting.  My response to that is what is worse — they have to actually open the box or have the toy stuck in packaging so the kids can see it but can’t play with it because it will take me 20 minutes to get it out?

I am interested — what are your thoughts on this?  If you can’t tell, I give Amazon two thumbs up on this move!

Early Halloween Parties

Thursday, October 30th, 2008

Yes, we have already started celebrating Halloween.  That happens when you have a little one in preschool.  Since I have to dress Madison up anyway, I threw Will’s costume on too.

This would win any 2 and under cutest costume contest, right? I love this costume. It does come with a cute little hat. However, no matter how hard I try, he won’t keep it on. Madison came home already with an entire bag of candy from preschool. She’s already figured out how to sneak some of it already too! They trick or treated in her preschool building. Plus, all of us parent brought candy too! I do feel the need to smack the parents that brought pure sugar candy. Trust me, Madison does not need sugar to bounce off walls. You can only imagine how she is with sugar.

Madison would win for cutest costume 3 and up, don’t you think?  I love this costume.  It sucks that I caught the window glare in her glasses, but she looks super cute in her Cinderella costume.  It is suppose to be in the high sixties tomorrow, so we shouldn’t have to wear our coats out trick or treating.  We then are meeting at my sister-in-laws and going trick or treating by her house.  We also have a Halloween party on Saturday.  We have quite a busy couple of days just to celebrate Halloween!

Though I’d have to say that the best photo I took so far, I took at her preschool today:

She looks so excited and happy!  What are you doing for Halloween?

Thank you Lori!

Monday, August 25th, 2008

For as crappy of a day I thought I was going to have with the CPU crap again, I just saw on Twitter a very surprising note.  I won a Zivo Boom Wireless Headset worth $140!  The funny thing is that I didn’t enter this for me — I entered it for my hubby since he puts me in heart failure when he attempts to talk on the phone and drive at the same time.  Plus, in Chicago, it is illegal to talk on your cell phone and drive!  This will come in very handy for him!  He’s golfing right now (I know, must be nice) and I know he’ll be super excited when he comes home tonight!

My Bathroom Today

Wednesday, July 30th, 2008

Today was not a good day at my house. My toilet overflowed. ALL DAY LONG. No, I didn’t know that there was a turn off switch behind the toilet till about ten minutes before Bill got home from work. Yes, this was in the bathroom that we did the bathroom remodel in. I seriously could have cried the whole time. I tried plunging for over 20 minutes to no avail. Also, for some stupid reason, our toilet kicks in all the time. I don’t know why it does it nor do I know how to make it stop. What I did not realize was that every time it kicks in that it runs water. Sooo, we were leaking water all over the bathroom before I even knew it. Yes, the water made its way downstairs too. I think I ended up wrapping the toilet in something like 20 towels throughout the afternoon. I even drained some of the water using a cup. It was crazy. Bill came home and plunged the stupid thing 4 times and fixed it. I could have screamed!

Now, we installed a new tub in this bathroom. However, we did that mainly, because Bill wanted to add a whirlpool tub. The tub that was in here before we think was the original one put in the house (which would have been in the 1920s). Before we tore it out, we looked at doing a bath tub refinishing project but really couldn’t find any companies who did it. I did like my old tub and a bath tub refinishing would have been nice. However, since we did go with the whirlpool tub, we have been told we greatly improved the value of the bathroom. Seriously, if you were looking at a house, would you want a tub that was flaking paint off or one that was brand new or one that looked nice? That is a no brainer for us, so we replaced the tub as part of the basement remodel.

Now, my mom has back issues and has a hard time getting in and out of tubs. I would love to be able to buy her one of these someday:

This is one of those walk in showers. I think she would absolutely love it. Plus, if you end up selling your home to a family with kids or a senior citizen couple, they would love it too!

What kind of tub do you have in your bathroom?