Have a Cow!

Chad & Asher were gone for a few days last week, so Chancery & I were left home alone to fend for ourselves.  On Wednesday afternoon we set out to deliver Asher's newspapers, & as we were walking past the neighbour's garbage bins I noticed a large painting with a "FREE" sign on it.  The neighbour was standing on his driveway, so I asked if I could have it & he said yes!

I quickly brought my free painting home, not knowing where I'd put it, but I figured I could find a spot for such a beautiful piece of art.  I set it in the front room, & dashed off to help Chancery on the paper route.  

As I passed the neighbour the second time, he said, "Thank you!"

I replied "You're welcome!  Thank you, I love my new painting!"

He then responded, "You're Welcome."  I could tell  he wasn't eager for this particular exchange to continue, so I walked onward.

When we returned home I noticed that the colours really complemented the front room, so I added sticky hooks to my list, so I could hang the portrait in the place of honour above the fireplace.

Friday I had all the supplies I needed, so I called my friend & asked her to help me hang my painting.  We did some calculations to figure out the best placement for the 2 hooks in order to have the painting both centered & level.  I knew there was no way Chad would let me keep my new artwork of it was hung crooked or off center!

I decided to not say anything, & see how long it would take for Chad to notice.  Asher walked in the door & immediately said, "Funny, mom says we have too much stuff in this house, then we leave for a few days & she goes out & buys a new painting!"

But it was FREE, & it is BEAUTIFUL, & it's a COW!

Samples!

Friday I had a few errands to run, & it happened that I was at Costco over lunchtime.  I was pretty hungry, so I was looking forward to having some samples to tide me over until I got home!  I roamed the store filling my cart with the few items I needed, & about halfway through my trek, I got my first (& sadly, also my last) sample.

Needless to say, I was still hungry!

Hard Choices

My parents are up visiting for a few days, & today while we were out & about we stopped to have lunch at Tim Hortons.  Just after we had gotten our food as we were bowing our heads to pray, a man came up to us & said, "Please could you buy me some food? I have not eaten in 2 days."

At first we said no.  We didn't have any cash or change with us, then I thought about how we were bowing our heads to pray, thanking God for the food we have while this man is asking for a meal.  I got out my credit card & went after the man to tell him I'd buy him some lunch.  At that point he was at another table asking another woman for some food.  She was reaching into her purse as I came up to him & said, "I'll buy you something."

The man replied, "She's going to give me some money."

The lady said, "I only have about a dollar."

"That's ok," he said to both of us, "she's giving me some money, you don't need to buy me anything."

Funny how if he hadn't eaten in 2 days he was happy only getting $1 rather than having a meal bought for him!

Couponing the Easy Way

Couponing was all the rage in the States a few years ago, but it has never been as easy to save using coupons in Canada.  There are a few reasons for this...

1. There just aren't as many coupons available
2. Most stores don't allow you to use more than one coupon per item
3. Unlike the States, there are no "Double Coupon Days"

Recently, however there have been a few apps that have coupons you can use after you have shopped.  You simply buy whatever product they have listed, take a picture of your receipt, & choose which coupons you qualify for.  Once you   Since you are getting paid after the shopping trip, with multiple apps, it is possible to save more than what you spend on certain items if they have coupons on multiple apps!

Without further ado, here are the coupon apps I use, & how they work, listed in order of what I use most.  (In all cases, you must view the app before you shop so you know which products are listed.  Though sometime I have lucked out & unknowingly purchased an item I could get cashback for)

"PC Plus" - Superstores have a free loyalty card which you scan each time you shop.  Register your card online, & make sure you 'Load Your Offers' each week (agree to the weekly email to remind you to do this!).  The store has points offers every week, but your offers are specifically tailored to what you buy.  1000 points = $1.00.  When you have saved a minimum of 20,000 points you can redeem them towards your purchase.  Save them throughout the year & you can have free groceries at Christmastime!

"Coupgon" - This is an app that lets you save at the checkout.  You choose which coupons you are using today, then scan the QR Code at the checkout.  So far only certain stores are participating, but Atlantic Superstore (where I get most of my groceries) is one of them, check to see if one of your local stores participates.

"Checkout 51" - After you shop, take a photo of your receipt, & select the coupons which you qualify for.  After you have saved $20, you can cash out at anytime.  They will send you a check for your balance.

"Zweet" - After you shop, take a photo of your receipt, & select the coupons which you qualify for.  After you have saved $20, you can cash out at anytime.  You also collect points, & they have offers available you can use your points for like gift cards to Starbucks, Amazon, Tim Horton's, etc  They will send you a check for your balance.  What I like about Zweet, is they often have offers for "Any Milk", or "Eggs", so it's not a specific brand, but something I buy every week anyway.

"Snap by Groupon" - After you shop, take a photo of your receipt, & select the coupons which you qualify for.  After you have saved $20, you can cash out at anytime.  They will send you a check for your balance.

"Save.ca" -  After you shop, take a photo of your receipt, & select the coupons which you qualify for.  After you have saved $5, you can cash out at anytime.  They will send you a check for your balance.

"CartSmart" - I don't know how much you need to have saved before you can cash out, but you can get paid through PayPal, or a check.

**************************************************************************

"EBates.ca" - For online shopping, you can find coupon codes on the EBates site, as well as earning cashback on all purchases that you make with the stores on the site.  All you need to do is go to ebates.ca then look for the online retailer you want to buy from (ex. Old Navy).  Any valid coupon codes will be listed.  Then click the link to go to that site & you will be redirected to Old Navy.  Once you check out on Old Navy's site, eBates will let you know how much you have earned.  Once you have earned $5.01, every 3 months they send you either a check, or pay you via PayPal!

Good luck, & happy savings!

Travel Trials

I took a quick trip to Michigan last week for a planning meeting.  When I travel to the States, bad things usually happen with my flights (like this, & that, & don’t forget this!) & this trip was not exempt.

I had heard that the US had eased their regulations on flying with small pocket knives, so I opted to bring my ever present  small Swiss Army Knife.  In Charlottetown, I put the knife in the x-ray bucket & it was returned to me, no problem.

I had a nice itinerary, a 6 am start, followed by a 9:30 flight landing at 11.  My meeting started at 5, so that gave me plenty of time to do a little Stateside shopping first.  When I was given my boarding passes, I noticed that my second flight was a 17:55 departure.  I brought it to the gate agent’s attention, she said the 9:30 flight had been taken off the schedule & that was the only one from Toronto to Grand Rapids.  I’d have to check in Toronto for an earlier flight through another hub.

Toronto’s security took my knife away.  I asked about the new regulations, but they said that only applied to flights within the US, not international flights.  When I told them that it hadn’t been a problem in Charlottetown, they couldn’t verify other airports’ policies, but for Toronto, knives are not ok…  Good to know.

In Toronto I was given a flight to Chicago, & was told there were 2 flights to Grand Rapids.  One at 11:30, & one at 14:00.  The 11:30 flight was full, but they told me to try for standby.  I would land around 10:45, so it would be cutting it close.  We started the flight by sitting on the runway for 30 minutes for our turn to take-off.

During this flight I was told that since I was flying so many miles in one day I qualified for a free snack item!  I had never had that before, so I was quite pleased to get my free bag of trail mix.  I ended up not eating it since I was full, but PChad & the kids seem to really enjoy it!

Of course when I landed in Chicago, it was in a different terminal & I had to wait for a shuttle to take me b/w terminals.  Once I arrived in the right terminal, & found the gate for the 11:30 flight, the plane was just backing away from the gate.  I just missed it by minutes!

I walked around choosing the best lunch option…  An Auntie Anne’s pretzel & Dr Pepper.  It helped soothe my wounded spirit.

I arrived in Grand Rapids around 5 & met another member of the team at the airport who had been on the same flight.  At least I wasn’t the only one arriving late!  We made it to the hotel only about 25 minutes late, & it wasn’t a problem, but I sure missed all the shopping time I had planned on!  After the meeting wrapped up that night I did have a chance to nip out to the grocery store next door & grab a few essentials like Pay Days & Milky Way Midnights!


Day 2 was full meeting day…  and I got the stomach flu.  It was joyous.  One of the perks of the trip was a Chinese meal at one of the best restaurants in Grand Rapids, but instead of going, I went to bed as soon as the meeting was over & slept 14 hours straight.  I awoke in the morning feeling a bit better & wondering what my travelling day home would end up entailing.

In Grand Rapids I was treated to a full body scan & they found the penny I had neglected to remove from my pocket.  The flight was on time with no problems to Cleveland.

I got a message from PChad’s cousin, who was also at the meeting, that her flight from Grand Rapids had been cancelled & she had 3 hours to kill.  I guess I must have passed on my bad luck to her!

Cleveland to Montreal, no problems!  But surely I’d be held up in the long lines at customs & miss my next flight…  Boy, was I surprised to find that our flight was the only flight in customs, & my little detour to the washroom meant that everyone ahead of me had already cleared out & I had a choice of which lane I could go through!

The Montreal to Charlottetown flight was super exciting, as we got to fly on a propeller plane, which is something I do not enjoy in the least.  It’s bumpy & noisy, but it was on time.  I also sat next to a fairly famous DJ, & despite having a conversation with her, in which she told me her name was DJ Kiss, & that she was coming to Charlottetown to spin at one of our top clubs, I had no idea just how famous she was until I saw in the newspaper that she’s quite the celebrity!  Well, I hope she enjoyed the anonymity I afforded her as I treated her as just another gal!

What A Find!

I found an ad on Kijiji (Canadian Craig’s List) for a few vintage Fisher Price school buses, the Village, & the Bouncing Buggy.  It was only $10, & though I had a Village already, the one I have was pretty beat up & missing a piece of roof.

 

When I contacted the seller, she said she had a few more Fisher Price things that she hadn’t listed, but I could come & see what she had.  When I got to her place, she had a table with a few of the toddler toys, like the TV, the Clock Radio, & the Camera, as well as some pull toys, & poppers.

I don’t really collect any of the other Fisher Price things other than the old Little People.  That’s what I really like, & the playsets take up quite a bit of room as it is.  The kids are starting to really enjoy playing with the Little People, but are too old for any of the toddler toys.

 

I saw on the table the Sesame Street Club House.  I had played with this when I was younger, & really enjoyed it.  I’ve been looking for it for awhile, but it’s pretty hard to find, & the few times I’ve seen it for sale, it’s been quite expensive.  The lady asked if I was looking for anything in particular, & I named a few of the sets I don’t have, but I also asked if she had any accessories.  She brought out a box with a few people, & a few cars.  She told me she had a bit more in another room, & when she came back she was holding the CAMPER!!!!

 

She said, “I’ll let you have this, if you promise to love it.  It’s one of my favourites, & I don’t want to let just anyone have it.”

 

The camper is another hard to find set, & I had it when I was growing up as well.  So, I told her that I’d been looking for that as well, & she was quite pleased that her treasures were getting a good home where they would be appreciated & played with.

 

So, for my second $10, I got all this…

 

 

The Clubhouse (the tire swing on the front is broken, just like the one at my parents’ house) 

 

And the Camper, complete with truck, boat & ladder!

 

After we made the deal, she gave me a few more pieces for free.  We ended up with the Pull-a-Long Lacing Shoe, & the Tumble Tower which had been the lady’s when she was little.

Chancery & I were both quite happy with our findings this morning!

Latte Winner 2011!

After another year of latte drinking, the numbers are in!  This past year I drank even less than in 2010, clocking a mere 138, making Kami the winner with her guess of 165!

 

I’m sure the low numbers are due to some medical conditions I’ve had the past year, & since there are lots of times I have really wanted to have a latte, but couldn’t, I’ve decided not to continue the contest this next year.

 

So, Congratulations, Kami!  Your gift will be mailed shortly (sometime in January!)

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner!!!

As long as I remember, I have always enjoyed completing surveys.  PChad & his family do NOT enjoy surveys.  So, any survey that needs to be taken falls to me, which I am ok with, but lately I have gotten a little “surveyed out”.  PChad has never understood the enjoyment I’d get from surveys, & often he’d tell me they aren’t worth the time it takes to complete them.  In some ways, I am beginning to agree with him.  These days, I will often only complete a survey if I have something specific I’d like to tell the company.  Something like, “I love your chicken burgers!” or “Your ranch tastes like thousand island.”  Sometimes there are incentives for completing surveys, such as free food, or chances to win stuff, or coupons.

A few weeks ago, PChad & I went on a date to the movies, & we bought some popcorn.  On the receipt, there was an opportunity to complete a survey for the chance to be entered in a monthly draw.  I decided to complete the survey since the popcorn wasn’t all that great that night.  A few days ago, I received an email from the movie theatres.  I figured it would be a form letter, “Thank you for letting us know about ……  We are sorry you had a bad experience……”

It was, in fact, a congratulatory letter stating that I was the winner for the drawing for the month of May, & I had won 2 free movie passes per month for the next year!  I sent back the necessary forms & received my 24 free passes in the mail today!

(I still haven’t decided if I’ll let PChad have any of them, after all the grief he’s given me about doing surveys!)

Alternate Payment

When we lived in Alberta, I worked at a Western Shop.  We sold everything from saddles & tack, to clothing & furniture.  A huge part of the business was conducted through mail-order, & I worked in that department.  My job involved taking orders over the phone, going through the store & collecting the various items, packing the orders & shipping them out.  I got really good at knowing what would fit in each box, & approximately how much each package would cost to ship with each various company.

 

We had 3 methods of delivery, Canada Post (which was generally slower & a bit pricey), Courier (super fast, but also pricey), or Greyhound (pretty cheap, depending where you lived, it could take as little as 1-2 days).  Most people who ordered chose to have their items shipped with Greyhound, which was fine with us.  They had a flat rate for small items, so it was easy to know what to charge the customer, & the people were really nice who ran the local depot.

 

After working at the store for a few months, my supervisor realized that in our contract with Greyhound, the local depot was supposed to come & pick up our parcels daily.  When we talked to the people there, they said that they didn’t actually have the people available to do that.  There was generally only one person in the depot at a time. 

 

After a lot of negotiation, it was decided that they could pick up our parcels at 1:00pm everyday, they’d just have to have an employee come over just at the shift change.  It was a nice change to not have to stop what we were doing twice a day to deliver our parcels to the depot, but there was a 10am bus that we were missing every morning due to their pick-up availability.  So, I kept bringing the parcels for the morning bus, & sometimes I’d bring another load for the 3:30pm bus.  Quite often we’d end up calling the depot to tell them we didn’t have anything to pick up at 1:00, since I had already brought everything for the morning bus.  But by 3:30 we’d have another load, so off I’d go.

 

As the summer wore on, the lure of the drinks cooler at the depot got more & more tempting.  I never carried cash at that time, since debit cards were accepted everywhere, it was never really a problem, but there was a sign on the register which read, “No credit/debit for transactions under $10.”  So, I resisted for awhile, but one hot day, I HAD to have a lemonade, so I took one out of the cooler, walked over to the register & asked, “I know the sign says it’s not allowed, but could you make an exception, just this once?”

 

The cashier (who also owned the depot) replied, “Well, it would actually cost me less to GIVE you the lemonade than it would to ring it through, so you can have it.”

 

A few days later, I remembered to bring cash, & after unloading my truck I grabbed a lemonade & went to the register.  The cashier told me, “Just take it, in fact you might as well just take one everyday since you’re making it easier on us by bringing everything here.”

 

And that is how I got paid in lemonade, for delivering western tack to the bus depot.

Parenting Fail

Asher has a habit that if he is in bed, if he thinks we might have some visitors, he always has to get up & see who it is.  He knows he’s not allowed to get out of bed for any reason other than going to the washroom, so of course as soon as he hears the creak of the front door, he’s out of his room announcing, “I have to wee!”

 

The other night, PChad was gone & I wanted to make some cookies, but I DESPISE scooping the dough over & over in the cookie making process, so I invited a friend over to help me.  I thought I’d try telling Asher beforehand that Miss Natasha was going to come & help me make some cookies, figuring that if he knew who was coming & for what purpose, he might stay in bed.

 

I put him to bed, & made sure he’d gone to the washroom, but of course as soon as the front door creaked, he was out of bed proclaiming, “I just have to wee!”

 

I went upstairs & told him, “I know you don’t really need to wee, since you just did less than 10 minutes ago.  You need to get back in bed, & if you get out of bed again, you won’t get any cookies.”

 

Half an hour later, I heard him yelling from his bed, “I need to poo!”  So, I went up to talk to him again.  As soon as I opened his bedroom door, he said, “I really need to wee.”  (See how the story changed right there?)

 

So, I set out the rule, “You can get out of bed to go to the washroom, but then you don’t get a cookie, so you have to decide if you really do have to go or not.”

 

Of course, about an hour later there was more yelling from his room.  I went up to investigate.  “I have wee in my bed, Mummy, but I didn’t get out of bed, so can I still have a cookie tomorrow?”

Latte Contest Reminder

Don't forget to enter your guess of how many lattes you think I'll drink this year!  Leave a comment here  before January 31st to enter.  Closest guess wins a coffee themed gift!  I'm keeping a running tally in the sidebar on the right, so take a look at my progress thus far, calculate, & enter!

2010 Latte Winner Announced, & 2011 Contest!

After a year of latte enjoyment, the official count for 2010 is a mere 197!  I was shocked that it was so low, but I think my waistline thanks me for holding back a bit!  The winner was Mianna, with a guess of 243.  Most of the other guesses were around double what my actual consumption was.  So, I'll be sending a coffee themed prize to Mianna (just send me a private message with your mailing info) next week!

I'll be counting the number of lattes again this year (I've already had TWO!).  If you want to have a chance at winning the prize next year, just leave a comment on this post with your guess before the end of January!  You can watch the counter on the top right of my blog!

CSN Giveaway Winners!

Thanks to all who entered for the giveaway!  I used Random.org to choose the winners & the winner of the Leap Frog Fridge Phonics is Erica V!

The winner of the Melissa & Doug Lacing cards is KristiAnn Stecker!  Congrats to the winners!

Happy Friday!

CSN Giveaway!

Ok, folks, I have spend hours perusing the CSN stores & I just kept getting drawn back to the Toys & Games site.  The kind people there have agreed to a double giveaway!

One winner will receive the LeapFrog Fridge Phonics Fridge Talk Magnetic Wordplay Recorder which will provide hours of entertainment for your children/nephews/nieces/neighbours' kids, allowing you a few more valuable minutes to finish your coffee/cook dinner/check facebook!

The SECOND winner gets as a set of Melissa & Doug lacing cards!  These can be used on long car trips to keep little hands occupied, during church services to keep the kids quiet, or even at restaurants when waiting for your order (unless you just eat at McDonald's like we do).


All you have to do to be entered is leave a comment on THIS blog post before Friday April 2nd.  I will announce the winners next Friday!

Upcoming Giveaway!

The kind people at CSN, a collective of over 200 stores, have offered to sponsor a giveaway on my blog.  I’ve been perusing their sites to find some great prizes!  In the meantime, head over to their site & have a look around, they have everything from toddler beds to Frying pans to Dollhouses & furniture available there, at reasonable prices, and in one easily navigable place.

Watch this space for the upcoming giveaway!