Black Friday

It's almost 10 am and no I have NOT been out shopping for 5 hours. What I should have done was trekked to the gym and worked out for five hours. Maybe that would have put a dent in the calories I consumed yesterday. Instead, I chose to sleep in on my day off. A. DAY. OFF. All to myself. Whynot has to work today, could explain why GM is in so much financial trouble. But eh, chop chop dear, off to work you go. I have my warm fuzzy robe, nice hot coffee and a DVR full of programs to watch. Ugh and the dreaded laundry! So no Black Friday shopping for me.

Besides, I really feel that Christmas has become too commercialized. I'll give all of you a minute now to hit that big red X up top before I go all Ebenezer Scrooge on you. Have a great day, thanks for stopping by. Mwhhha, loveyou.

Anybody left? Because I have a Frugal Surprise for those that stayed behind. Anybody?

This year I am doing Christmas on the cheap, again. I don't have a very large gift list and those that get presents will get a small, inexpensive and yet thoughtful gift from me. Back in June or July I bought several gifts for my little friends on Disney.com, as well as t-shirts for myself, all for under $100. That takes care of NINE gifts and ME! I frequent garage sales all summer and before you go all ewwwww on me, the stuff I buy is often NWT (new with tags) and ALWAYS in excellent condition. Plus I can always manage to get a few gag gifts at garage sales, something to fit in with an inside joke or two, here on The Avenue. Whynot and I don't exchange extravagant gifts, we don't need anything and when we do, we just go buy it. I'm OK with that. (But honey if you're reading, a little sumtin sumtin sparkly is always appreciated.) So I'm all set with Christmas shopping.

I am always browsing the internet for great deals and today I stumbled upon Restaurant.com's Feed It Forward.

Feed It Forward™ provides you the opportunity to help give away up to $30 million in free restaurant gift certificates - over 30 days - and allow you to treat friends, family, and colleagues - anyone deserving - to savings on a great meal out. Best of all, it's FREE to Give and FREE to Receive.

Give a free $10 Restaurant.com Gift Certificate to 30 different people, every day until Christmas. Simply choose whom to give to and Restaurant.com will take care of the rest.

Since you can't give one to yourself, leave me your email in a comment and I'll hook TEN readers up with a free $10 gift certificate.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I was not paid for this post, I didn't even receive a free gift certificate. I did this out of the goodness in my heart, because yes, Virginia there is a Santa Claus.

Happy Thanksgiving!

***The Progresso Soup Giveaway winner is:

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

9

Timestamp: 2009-11-25 13:11:20 UTC

♥georgie♥ said...

I follow you here

November 17, 2009 2:28 PM

We're one day closer to the great pig out fest on The Avenue. Thanksgiving is Whynot's favorite holiday. On Sunday he and Baby made enough meataballs to end hunger in a third world country.

I can't believe Baby is already over TWO months old. He's wearing size 2 diapers and size 6 mth clothes. He weighed 14 lbs 8 oz and was 23 1/2 inches long at his 2 month check up. We call him our Little Moose and perhaps that is now a more fitting nickname than Baby. He is a very happy boy, eats well and sleeps, what more could Mema ask for. This is week three of Augie Dawgs return to work and Little Moose has me on somewhat of a schedule. He is full of smiles but when he starts to cry I need to kick it into high gear with that bottle preparation because the boy goes from 0 to 65 in a split second.

Yesterday, a huge pot of red sauce (or do you call it gravy) simmered on the stove. Today I'll be preparing lasagna, a sweet potato casserole (if I can find the recipe) and cheesecake. Augie Dawgs is in charge of the rest and we'll be eating at her house.

Now go ahead and help yourself to one of TOF's yummy turkey cookies and tell me what you're thankful for.

This year, as always, I am thankful for my grandsons, my children and my wonderful husband. For my warm home on The Avenue and good health to enjoy it all.

Wishing you and yours a Blessed Thanksgiving!

Zing Zang Zoom

Last weekend TOF, Augie Dawgs, Glitter Gurl and I ventured into the big city to see the circus.



It was TOF's first time and true to his name, he had TONS OF FUN. We arrived one hour early to see the All Access Preshow and had time to mingle with the clowns and performers before the big show.

GlitterGurl is afraid of clowns, but she put on a brave face for her TOF
who looked a little leery himself.

Up close and personal with the elly fonts.

Tee hee hee, elephant butts.

You can purchase your circus tickets through Ticketmaster and use the coupon code MOM in the MC promotion box to get 4 weekday tickets to the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus for only $44, or save $4 per ticket on weekend performances.

I love the elephants!

This precious face made even the souvenir speeding ticket worth every cent!

I purchased discounted tickets using an offer code I found on several blogs. I did not receive free tickets from Feld Entertainment, however I would be more than happy to review Disney on Ice when it comes to the Chicago area in February in exchange for free tickets. Just a thought.

The Power of Blogging

Telegraph, telephone, tell a blogger.

If you want to get news out fast, blog about it. Very little spreads as quickly as a great deal on a blog post. Like. wild. fire. Especially during the holiday season there are many a good deal to be found on the internet. I rely on my bloggy favs to bring me news of the best sales.

For example, yesterday there was a code available for a free calendar and/or ornament. I was on that offer like flies on like white on rice. But, apparently these codes were part of an offline promotion that was intended only for customers who purchased a Santa photo package at the mall. The mistake had the website crashing for a better part of the day and could have been avoided HAD SOMEONE DONE THEIR JOB!

Example #2 and this had/has my blood boiling! Oh I'm still livid, not so much about not getting the deal, but about the rudeness of a certain ASS Manager. Target price matches this year. Did you know that? Me either until last week. They used to price match, not exactly sure how long ago, but not as long ago as when Augie Dawgs worked there in high school. And they certainly didn't price match LAST Christmas season when I wanted a FLIP camera and had umpteen dollars in Target gift cards. But I digress, now Target price matches. Selectively!

Last Friday and Saturday Toys R Us had a sale on the Leap Frog Alphabet Pal, $10.49. Good price on a $20 something toy. Well Target had a $10 off coupon for the same toy bringing the price down to $0.49 and according to their website as late as 9 pm Friday, they priced matched. With no exclusion for TIMED SALES ie. DOORBUSTERS! And dammit I wish I had printed that policy so I could have it to make my blood boil more!

Glitter Gurl, thinking this would make a fabulous gift for one of her favorite God Sons, marched into Target, ad and coupon in hand and met the wrath of Nathan. Nathan, with no supporting documentation, other than "the word" of his manager Brett, was not going to price match. Glitter Gurl stood firm, explained that the exclusion of doorbusters was NOT on the website, nor on the sign in front of her at the service desk and he wouldn't budge! So smart girl that she is, called me at home, where I read word for word to Nathan the company policy on price matching. Nathan, who refused to give me his name told me he would not be "bullied" into honoring the offer. WTF Nathan, I wasn't bullying you at all! I was calm and stated the facts and you NEVER once said, I'M SORRY MA'AM THERE WAS SOME MISCOMMUNICATION and unfortunately we cannot honor that offer. NEVER ONCE!! PLUS he hung up on me! But I called him right back and that's when I got his name. Nathan who refused to give me his last name because he didn't know me, nor would he give me his manager Brett's last name. And THAT rudeness more than not getting the offer gave me a real bad taste for Target on Brook Forest Avenue.

I really wish companies would learn that if I can find these deals online everyone can! Shouldn't someone in marketing be trolling the internet to advise all the rude Nathans of Target that Megryansmom is out there looking for the great deals!

I'm heading over to Walmart, if I hit it right the weirdlies won't be there and if I can just overlook the dirt and messiness of the store THEY PRICE MATCH without making up the rules as they go!

p.s. The winner of the Spoonfuls of Stories giveaway is #28.

Elizabeth said...

I did a RT of your Tweet about the contest.
November 17, 2009 11:28 AM

Elizabeth, CONGRATS! Email me with your mailing info so I can have MyBlogSpark send your prize.

Thanks to all who played along!

p.p.s. Enter the Progresso soup giveaway here.

Progresso Soup Giveaway

Good grief it's flippin cold here on The Avenue!

Wanna share some nice hot soup wiff me? I just happen to have a lovely can of Progresso New HIGH FIBER Chicken Tuscany.

I think you'll be excited to hear that there are FOUR new, great tasting Progresso soups that have 28% of the recommended Daily Value of fiber per serving (7 grams) and have no added MSG or artificial flavors. The new varieties include Chicken Tuscany, Creamy Tomato Basil, Hearty Vegetable and Noodles and Homestyle Minestrone.

The perfect lunch for a chilly fall day.

The people at My Blog Spark are going to send one of my readers a sample of the Chicken Tuscany soup in a prize pack that includes two soup mugs and two spoons. Enjoy the soup yourself or gift the package to a college bound student, someone just starting out in their first apartment, or the school bus driver. It gets cold opening that door on every corner to let the kids in and out.



Want to enter to win? Leave me a comment telling me about your favorite comfort food for a cold winter day. Let me know if you're keeping the prize or gifting it, just because I'm nosey like that.

For additional entries:

Follow my blog or tell me you already do.
Follow me on Twitter or again, tell me you already do.
Tweet this contest. Tweet often! Please!

Contest runs until Tuesday November 24, please leave an email so I can contact you

I received no monetary compensation for this post. Progresso provided me with the free product, information, and reader prize pack through MyBlogSparkTM.

Spoonfuls of Stories

TOF and I love to read together. I have crates of kids' books, mostly purchased at garage sales, to stimulate his little mind. Picture books, board books, books for the holidays. You name it, we probably have the book here on The Avenue.

Reading is one of the most valuable things you can do for your child (or grandchild), it gives the experience of different types of language, rhythms and sounds. Pre-school children who are exposed to plenty of language (books and conversation) tend to do better in school.

Over the past eight years, Cheerios has given away more than 40 million children’s books by distributing them free inside cereal boxes and has donated $3.2 million to First Book, their non-profit partner, which provides books to children from low-income families. The program is part of Cheerios’ ongoing commitment to helping parents provide their children with a healthy, nutritional and educational foundation.



Beginning this month, Cheerios is again bringing books to the breakfast table, by providing six million children’s books free inside Cheerios boxes. The books are for children ages 3 to 8 years old, and include a brand new book in the popular “Trucktown” series, available only inside Cheerios boxes. And for the first time, all five books have been specially printed in both English and Spanish.

This year’s book offerings from Cheerios – all by Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing – are:

Junkyard Fort, written by Jon Scieszka, and illustrated by David Shannon, Loren Long and Dave Gordon: Join Gabriella, Jack, Melvin, Ted, Lucy and the other Trucktown characters as they make their own fort, using things found in the junkyard. Ages 4-8.

Tea for Ruby, written by The Duchess of York, Sarah Ferguson, and illustrated by Robin Preiss Glasser: Wherever Ruby goes, a bit of disaster seems to follow. But one sunny morning, things change when the postman brings Ruby an amazing invitation: would she like to have tea with the Queen? Ruby needs to polish her manners, and quickly. Ages 4-8.

Sleepyhead, written by Karma Wilson and illustrated by John Segal: In this rhythmic bedtime story, a cat is the parent and a teddy bear is the child who doesn't want to go to bed. All ready for bed with teeth brushed and story read, Sleepyhead teddy tries anything to prolong his bedtime; books and his quilt provide ample fodder for his imagination. Ages 3-7.

Ballyhoo Bay, written by Judy Sierra and illustrated by Derek Anderson: Mira Bella, an artist who teaches painting and sculpture, loves Ballyhoo Bay and what it offers: sun, sea, sand, and sky. But one gray day a billboard arrives, announcing an impending development that would take all the fun out of the place. Read along to see if Mira Bella and her art can save the day and Ballyhoo Bay! Ages 4–8.

What’s Under the Bed?, written and illustrated by Joe Fenton: Young Fred cannot stop worrying about the scary creature that might be hiding beneath his bed. Finally summoning the courage to peer under his bed, Fred, with his cumbersome glasses, sees that the only thing there is Ted, his friendly Teddy Bear! Ages 3–7.

Thanks to MyBlogSpark and Cheerios, one of my readers will receive a Spoonfuls of Stories gift pack, which includes a set each of the five Spoonfuls of Stories books, a box of Cheerios, and a $25 gift card to Barnes & Noble.

To enter please leave a comment telling me the title of one of your favorite kids' books, you must do this first. For extra entries: follow my blog, follow me on twitter, or tweet this contest. Leave a separate comment for each one.

I received the above mentioned prize package from Cheerios and MyBlogSpark for this blog post and no other monetary compensation.