Saturday Night Surfing Dance Moms, Gnomes, and Mocktails

So it's a rocking Saturday night here.  The man is out of town. My fav 7 year old girl is at a sleepover--and she didn't call for me to come get her!  And the boys need to turn off the Netflix and go to bed.

What am I up to? Surfing the web and watching Dance Moms Miami.  Yes I know, it's embarrassing. Why am I watching it?  It's like potato chips. Wrong but you can't stop!

The one instructor with the tall hair is so 80s in his wardrobe, I might be watching it just to see his outfits.   Comically, when I searched "Dance Moms Miami" on Swagbucks I won the most swagbucks (25) I've ever won for a search. I LOL'd.  really.





I also checked in on Twitter and saw that a website Garden Gnome World retweeted a tweet I wrote about wanting a garden gnome and blaming it on a glass of Riesling.  Clearly I had to go over to their website, and once there I found the funniest gnomes.  Battle Gnomes. Maybe the children can pick me up a couple for Mother's Day? 

And no I've not had more Riesling.  I had a glass of Crystal Light Appletini(it's a mocktail) which is really good. I've never had an appletini-I was always preggo or nursing during the Martini Fad--so I don't know if their drink mix tastes anything like a real appletini.  We all like the Crystal Light over here.  The boys are big fans of drinks that are green.

Yes, of course it was on sale and I had a coupon, otherwise I wouldn't have given it a try! You can't find coupons on their website. They are part of the Kraft Brands, but it looks like they do release coupons if you friend them on facebook. Mine came from a tear off pad at the store.

Im going to lose my Tree Hugging Accomadation from Al Gore.

We are on the cusp of Earth Day, and I have been a total EFG (Environmentally Friendly Girl ) Fail. Yesterday I had a one-on-one focus group downtown. Did I do the responsible thing and take public transportation? 

No. I drove down and I loved it.   I know it's wrong, but I was getting reimbursed for the parking garage fee and there isn't much traffic at 10 in the morning.  Driving into Downtown Chicago is luxury and I enjoyed every minute of avoiding running over bikers, being tailgated by cabs, and all the  red light tickets. 

About focus groups and market research, I highly recommend finding market research companies online and entering into their database. If you use google, all your online info is being tracked by advertisers anyway, why not get paid from time to time for your opinions.

Yesterday was a really great survey opportunity, because I have my own business I qualified to interview with a company looking for consumer feedback on their small business accounting software.  One hour of my time (plus commuting on a sunny spring day) and I was paid $150 plus $25 for parking. Woot!

There are focus groups and market research studies for many many things.  If you breathe  and you buy stuff, sooner or later you'll qualify for a study and get paid to share your opinion.

And back to my latest Earth Day Fail.  Today I was about to get into the shower, so the water was on, and the phone rang. I answered the phone and then I checked my email.  An indeterminate amount of time later I realized I was wasting one of our most precious resources--fresh water.  *hangs head in chagrin*

I know, the environmental police are flagging this post right now for further investigation. I will try and do better, maybe get a grass dress?  I do recycle, compost and reuse boxes that must count in my favor right?

Who the Heck Am I?

Yesterday I was inspired by a contest that the Cocktail Deeva is running to put together a Media and Sponsorship Page. You can click on the tab above to read it. Let me know what you think! 

As a reader, would you like to see some giveaways?  I am working on participating in a Mother's Day giveaway.  For that I will be giving away the Chips and Cheese Please and a Sunny Strawberry Margarita Drink Bucket

So keep your eyes peeled and subscribe to my blog and plus one me on google plus and pin me on pinterest and all that good stuff so you can see how my efforts to building this blog go in 2012!

This has nothing to do with the above but I just have to share because I know you, wise reader, will appreciate this.  Upstairs waiting for me I have the first disc of Season 2 Downton Abbey ready to watch.  Fresh from my public library it is!

Wordless Wednesday My Fave Time of Day

Sunset. Love me some Sunset!

I bet you don't know what today is...

If you already know this...we'll you've got me.  It's

Tampax Tuesday! 

Yes that is right, Tuesday is dedicated to feminine protection.  You may be asking, When did this start?  Looks like it's going on all April long! I got the scoop from one of the blogs I subscribe to called Freebies for Mom .  Now it is called freebies 4 Mom, but don't let that stop you--she has freebies of all sorts no mom card required to redeem. 

Now back to Tampax Tuesday.  You can click the link here and read about how you can get a Tampax Sample Pack free. Free is good!

And speaking of money related items, I completed my first month as a contractor for a home-based calling center and made $600 working about 10-15 hours per week.  That would be about $150 per week. Not bad working in my basement!


Have you read The Hunger Games?  I have read it and the second book Cathing Fire.  By the end of The Hunger Games I had decided my favorite character is Haymitch Abernathy.  What can I say, Im a fan of flawed anti-heros. Fingers are crossed that the movie is as fun as the book was to read!

Long Time No Post

Well I've not had much Internet time over the last two weeks because we are down at our new place in North Carolina and while we called to get Internet hooked up it hasn't been hooked up as of yet. 

Me and the kids are driving back to Chicagoland tomorrow, so at least Tom will get the benefit of Internet and a home phone. 

Arriving back in the Land of Lincoln will be a bit of a shock as we have just gotten used to warm sunny days in the 70s and cooler evenings.  Now we will have to get reacquainted with rainy gloom and temps in the low 50s.  Booo. 

This pic is Patrick modeling his new robe on the deck which needs painting.  This pic was take right after we arrived as you can see the trees are pretty bare.  Today I can report that on many of the trees unfurling of leaves has taken place.  Total Nature Splendor in every direction.

My friend K would be so happy if she was here, as my SIL found 2 baby snakes--which may or may not have been copperheads--We needed a herpetologist.

Now I am dreading the drive home for a few reasons, would you like to hear them?
1. It's a long drive all to be driven by me having consumed massive doses of caffeine.

2. The afore mentioned crummy weather.

3. The kids just got accustom to the move and the area, so there will be another adjustment period as we come back to finish the school year and another one when we come back down in June.

4. I have to pack up the house.

5. The Man is going to move all the stuff in our NC house around and I won't like the way he will organized stuff.

On the bright side we had an offer on our old house! Woot!

Some deals That I like

I have gotten this deal before, spend $10 and get $20 to spend at overstock.com .  It's up again at Living Social and when I got it last I bought 4 super awesome pillows so now I can sleep without tossing and turning because my neck hurt.  Set of 4 pillow from overstocks was like $37 after my discounts.

Also today is Friday which means people who search the web with swagbucks are earning lots of extra swag on Friday.  They call it MSBD.  If you aren't signed up with Swagbucks here is a code to get you an extra 70 swagbucks for joining!  So you always get 30 when you join and if you sign up now and enter  MARCHSWAG and it must be entered during registration! The code expires 11:59pm PT on April 2nd.  You can click the pic here to sign up. 

Why bother to use swagbucks?

1. Makes searching a bit more fun.
2. Free stuff.  You can get trinkety stuff for as little as 30 swagbucks--so could be fun for the kids. OR you could save all your bucks to get gift cards!  Nothing better than a nice amazon.com gift card for example. Gift cards start at the 500 level. I've been a member for about a month and we have over 1200 bucks. And that is without much effort frankly!

But wait...there is more. If you join Swagbucks and then go to One King Lane you should see a 10% off discount code pop up on the right hand side of your screen.  You can couple that with my $15 off your order referral code and get some great deals (think even better than TJ Maxx or Marshalls!) on all sorts of great home stuff. I like to look at the awesome furniture.

On Google Offers there is a $20 for $40 at One King Lane available for 2 more days.  I bought one and redeemed it last night.

This is one of the items I got a set of 4 rooster salad plates.  It has an en francois motif. Cost before discounts on the plates $19.

Everything is closeout so sales are final.  The products are grouped and sold for about a max of 7 days. All of it is great looking.  Some is designer highend tag sales and/or antiques and some is for the stylish budget concious.

So those are my favorite things and my fav deal for today! I hope you have a great Friday, it's nice and rainy here which means the grass is going to grow.  Not cool with Tom being out of town...

If you put it on your timeline, does it make it true?

Facebook pleaded with me to add my University/College to my timeline.  The reality of my attendance and subsequent Associates Degree is so boring, I decided to attend Oxford University and graduate with an English Lit degree.  My favorite class was the impact of Jane Austen's novels on modern Chick Lit.

Good times, good times. 

How about you?  Is your Facebook Timeline or profile completely accurate? 

More Recent Activity

• Victoria added University of Oxford to her education.

 

Wordless Wednesday Counting Down to Season 2

Today I got all set up with HBOGO so I can watch the season premier of Game of Thrones Season 2.
Can't wait. Might have to lock myself in a bathroom to get some peace and quiet to watch it..but will be worth it!

I don't know about you, but I love Professor Snape.

So how was your weekend?  I had a busy one! Saturday was a Relay For Life Tastefully Simple Fundraiser Party. Sunday Anna and I sold Girl Scout cookies at a local grocery store.  We sold 71 boxes, I am not sure if that is great or not, but I'm going to say we did a great job. Last night I was on the phones for my work at home call center job. I made that a link in case anyone is looking for a work from home job that is legit! 

Friday night Patrick and I watched Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows Part 2. Of couse we really enjoyed it, and it was so compelling Patrick didn't talk the whole time.  Ever full of questions is how one can describe Patrick at any time of day, but more so during a movie.

As all the kids at my house know, my favorite character in the land of Harry Potter is Severus Snape. 
I had to make a very concerted effort not to cry during Professor Snape's last scene and the flashback.  Good Stuff. Give me an anti-hero in my fiction any day of the week.

Overall it was a prety good week in reaching goals.  I am especially proud that I was able not to be annoyed at The Man for breathing.

This week what are you working on?  I am working on:

Family/Mothering Goals
1. Get kids to sleep on time for it is ISATS (state testing) time.
2. Ensure The Man and Bryce are up to speed on Cub Scout stuff they need to work on this month.
3. Review Bills

Personal Goals.
1. Run 8 miles 4x this week.
2. Read Clash of Kings --Only 18 days til Season 2 of Game of Thrones Premiers on HBO!
3. Track food and exercise on Sparkpeople.com

Home Management
1. Cancel thing The Man set up.
2. Take pics of bedroom furniture set to sell for $300. (King bed, nightstand and tall dresser w/mirror all mission style)
3. Make the Tastefully Simple Tonight Meals --using the freezer meals option. Then I won't have to have people ask me what is for dinner. Well, they will still ask but I"ll just point to the freezer and tell them to have a look.
Business Goals.
1. Team Email
2. Client Email
3. Check in with Upcoming parties

Goals from last week.
Family/Mothering Goals
1. Try not to be annoyed at The Man for breathing.
2. Sell Girl Scout Cookies with Anna on Sunday.
3. Work on better system for Bryce "Oh I forgot I have a project due tomorrow that I've know about for a month."

Personal Goals
1. Run 7miles 4x this week.2. watch all the David Tennant Dr. Who episodes on Netflix :-D
3. Look into going to the Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest. *Interesting note, Joyce Kilmer not a woman, actually a man.
Home Management
1. Take pics and post bedroom set furniture.
2. decide if tiling the top of a cocktail table is a good idea or not.
3. TCO Utilities.--don't 4get to sch. ATT4. Make the Tastefully Simple Tonight Meals --using the freezer meals option. Then I won't have to have people ask me what is for dinner. Well, they will still ask but I"ll just point to the freezer and tell them to have a look.

Business Goals:
1. Host coaching for my upcoming parties.
2. Send out Team Feb Incentive awards to winners.
3. Put together ppwk for March parties and print recipes for Stagg Craft Fair.