WOW...2 GREAT THINGS TO BLOG ABOUT IN 1 DAY

I recently joined the Coupon Mom's website after learning about her on Oprah*. It is a great website and is free. (I need to unsubscribe to thegrocerygame.com because it costs me!) She has lots of great tips on saving money but my most favorite recent discovery via the coupon mom is a way to get discounted gift cards. There you can search your zip code or city or wherever you want to find a restaurant and you will get a list of participating restaurants. Then, you choose which gift cards and how many of them that you want to purchase. Usually a $25 gift card will cost you $10. That's great. Plus, there are also promo codes that you can enter which get you an even greater discount. The deal varies every time but the current deal gets you $25 gift cards for $2 each! Now, here is some info about these- 1 - each restaurant has their own set of stipulations (must spend x amount of dollars, can only use on certain days, etc) 2 - you can only use 1 gift card per table so if you and a couple went together only 1 of you could use the gift card...unless you put the bill together and split the savings...which is still a great deal 3 - there are limited restaurants that participate and they typically aren't chain restaurants; mostly locally owned places (for me this is a pro too because i love to try new places and different places) 4 - the restaurants may not participate continuously so if you want a gift card for a certain restaurant you might want to buy it when you can (for example, there was a place in Concord that I wanted to get a certificate for and try out and then the next time I looked that restaurant wasn't available any longer) 5 - the cards seem to be "restocked" at the beginning of the month, so as the month goes on some of the stores' cards become out of stock, so you might want to stock up on your favorite restaurant at the beginning of the month.

So, I learned about this in a timely manner because I am using these as Christmas gifts to my coworkers. It might seem cheap when you know how it works...BUT it's the thought that counts! Christy, Kim, and Karen - this is why I have gift certificates for the restaurants that I want to go to with each of you!

Let me know what you think of the website -

A compromise for our marriage??

For weeks I've been trying to think of something to type here. I just haven't thought of much good material lately. Just now - it hit me.

For several years now in the winter time I have thought to myself: there ought to be sheets made for beds that incorporate 2 different kinds of fabrics so that both individuals in the bed can have the type that they want. Example - for the last week I have been freezing at night and have had trouble going to sleep because I couldn't get warm. What I really have wanted to do is to put the flannel sheets on the bed. I am trying to be respectful of my husband however, and refrain from the flannel sheets. You see he is hot-natured and really does not want or need the flannel sheets. SO, my thought is why can't one half be flannel and the other half normal??? Today I finally did a little research....no, I didn't go to the library or anything like that...I googled some various word combinations until I found SEVERAL companies that sell these sheets!!!

I am so excited. I don't even own a set and am already excited! Split the Sheets is an internet company and it started just because a husband decided to make some of these for his wife. They are kind of pricy though...the best price I've found for a set of these in king-size in my quick research is $69.95 at Hammacher Schlemmer. The bad news - they are SOLD OUT!!!

What do you think about these? DO you think that this is something that would be good for your household? I so want these...but I am not paying over $100 for one set of sheets. (If I was going to do that I would buy really high thread count sheets!) I don't like to pay full price for anything so I definitely need to keep an eye out at Hammacher Schlemmer for their stock to be replenished!!

Beach trip...

I didn't get many pictures on my camera on our Halloween beach trip due to one of my many technical camera issues. Here are the few that I got when Nolan, Elijah, and Morgan were playing on the playground. I had such hopes for getting a lot of photos so I could make a little album of the trip....maybe next time!

Elijah's haircut

This was from back in September when Brent was cutting Elijah's hair. He's such a ham!!

Guess who?

I hate this picture isn't more clear, but to the ones that get it, they will still think that it is funny.

Reading...

I have a small dilemma -

I have several books started -

Children the Challenge which I've discussed previously...I"m on chapter 9 of 36 chapters
Chances Are (a novel)
Experiencing God (a daily study guide...for the Bible study I'm participating in)
Billy (a newly released book that is a biography of Billy Graham's life)

It's kind of complicated to be reading so many books at one time...and makes them all go by so much slower.

Well...it could be a much worse dilemma...

Camera

I have gotten so slack with my camera. There have been lots of photo opportunities that I have missed. I have had some technical dilemmas with my camera so I guess I've just given up on it. I like my camera but I always seem to have camera issues. Yesterday my friend Jodi was nice enough to let me take pictures at Elijah's party with her camera since I forgot mine. Hopefully she will email them to me very soon.

The other sad thing is that Brent lost everything on his computer and I lost a lot of pictures. The good part is that at least the best ones were posted on the blog so I have those.

I missed some great photo opportunities over Halloween...I need to try to get some from some other people.

Happy Birthday Elijah!!!

My little boy is 3. I can't believe it. It seems like he was born yesterday. His birthday is now bittersweet because it is so close to Michael's death...that's interesting to me since he is so much like Michael in looks and personality. I should put up a picture of Elijah and Michael at the same age so you can get the idea...I will have to work on that.

We had a wonderful birthday party for Elijah yesterday. Lots of friends and family showed up and we had a good time. The kids got to go on a "mini-hayride" and got to ride dad and Karen's (aka Chevy, Nolan, Elijah, and Maddy's) pony Dixie.

Elijah got lots of great "boy" gifts...construction vehicles, tractors, a garbage truck (his personal favorite) and others. He actually would have been just as happy with a couple of the gifts unlike his brother who says "Aren't there any more presents?" Another favorite gift of both Nolan and Elijah was Incredible Hulk "boxing" hands (I really don't know what they are called!) I'm sure that the boys won't beat each other up with these....

Thanks to everyone who came to the party, gave Elijah a gift, or just thought of him on his special day.

Slacker

I am a slacker in the area of blogging lately. It's not that I haven't had anything to discuss. It's just that I've been busy. Now I am sitting here trying to think about something to blog about and I can't think of anything. Hmmm...

Thomas Nelson book reviewer

I found out the other day while looking at someone else's blog via the Bloggy Carnival that Thomas Nelson book publishing company is looking for 10,000 bloggers to become reviewers of their books. You will receive one free book (of your choice) to read. Then you write a 120 word review and post it on your blog and also a retail site (like amazon.com or something like that). You get to keep the book.

I thought that it sounded like something that I would enjoy doing. I signed up to do it and today I am trying to determine which book I should read and review first.

If this sounds like something you would be interested in, go here to find out more info.