Happy Thanksgiving! What Are You Thankful For?

 

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Thanksgiving is a time to be thankful for what you have in your life? I am thankful for so much in my life. We are very fortunate, we have a house over our heads, a very nice and friendly neighborhood. I have friends that are there for me at any hour day or night. So I’m very very thankful! Here are a few extra special mentions!

Time with My Family:

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My Extended Family:

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My Friends:

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My MOMS Club and Neighbors (I don’t have permission to post photos of them)

 

And Pie:

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What are you Thankful For?

Six Online Shopping Tips With Black Friday Around the Corner

I actually really enjoy shopping online because I hate crowds. I also hate how grumpy people are in stores from employees to costumers from now until after New Years. It’s a disaster out there people. So when 6pm.com contacted me with some online shopping tips I just had to share them. Yes I  have worked with them on this blog in the past and I love them. They are quite a fun company for a blogger to work with.

image6pm.com, the online retail site where brandaholics go for their daily fix of the brands they crave in men’s, women’s, and children’s apparel, footwear and accessories, offers SIX tips for successful online shopping:

Tip #1        

Make a List. You will save a lot of time and energy if you make a list of exactly whom you are buying for and what they like. Simply jot down the names and personalities of your potential gift recipients, and leave it next to your computer.

Tip #2

Do your homework. Visit your favorite sites and understand the various promotions they will be offering on specific days. If you are looking for a specific product, check to see if they sell it first rather than waiting for the day of the sale. Also, it’s wise to comparison shop prior to making purchases so you aren’t wondering if you got the best deal.

Tip #3        

Establish an Account! Make sure you have an account established and login before you start to add things to your cart! Believe it or not, some sites allow you to “shop” and add things to your cart, but when you go to check out, you realize you haven’t established an account with the site, and you’ll have to do so before you can make purchases.

Tip #4

Shop Early! Many promotions sell out in a matter of hours and some of the hottest selling items can disappear in minutes! Most online sales start at midnight – so if there is something you really want, set your alarm to ensure you’ll get it!

Tip #5

Shop Fast! Although shopping online is a more relaxing experience, products do sell out quickly. On many sites, putting an item in your cart doesn’t reserve it for you! If you put items in your cart, then save the order to finish later, when you go back to finalize, your cart may be empty. If someone else is shopping and put it in their cart and goes to purchase it, sites pull it from available inventory, and when you go back to purchase; it may be out of stock! As the saying goes “you snooze you lose!”

Tip #6

New Tabs make Browsing Easy! Many browsers now offer “Tabs.” To utilize tabs, find a category you are interested in, right-click that category, and select the option to open that link in a new tab. You will then have the ability to continue to browse the main results page, and when you’re ready to make your final selections, you can just click on all the open tabs and finalize your order.

ABOUT 6pm.com

6pm.com is the online site where brandaholics go to get their daily fix on the brands they crave in apparel, footwear and accessories for up to 75% off every single day! For more information visit www.6pm.com

She’s Got Air Wordless Wednesday

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Just so you know…I’m playing Kinect Sports doing the Long Jump!

The Great Stuffing Debate Giveaway

Today I was sitting around the table with my neighbors and this conversation actually came up. My neighbor was asking me if I had ever heard of The Great Stuffing Debate, and I smiled because I knew I needed to write this post.

the great stuffing debate

How do you cook your stuffing? Do you cook it inside the bird or outside of the bird? One of my neighbors actually cooks it in the turkey and then takes it out and cooks it even more outside of the turkey. They claim that you can’t get the right flavor without cooking it inside of the bird. Oh, and to top that off, what do you put in your stuffing? Mine changes from year to year!

EVERYONE AGREES that it’s not a proper holiday without stuffing.  But EVERYONE DISAGREES about what should be in that stuffing.  Bread crumbs or cornbread? Dried fruit?  Nuts?  Sausage?  One person’s “yum” is another’s “yuck!” And where there is conflict, there is wicked comedy just waiting to happen.

 

I like to make my dressing outside of the bird and I make a lot of it separately. It all starts with a package of corn bread mix and changes every year. I put different stuff in my dressing depending on what I have on hand and what sounds good to eat. Last year I put pecans in it and this year I will not. It’s crazy because I know two years ago I loved pecans in the dressing and then last year I thought it was AWFUL. So yeah, I see why there is a great stuffing debate, since I can’t even keep one recipe straight.

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My Stuffing Recipe

Package of corn bread

egg
milk

Package of stuffing mix
Swanson Chicken Broth
2 cups cooked Sausage
1 pkg fresh Mushrooms
3 Hard Boiled Eggs

Directions:

Make the corn bread, Boil The Eggs, Cook the sausage, or use already cooked sausage

Crumble up the corn bread

Pour out the dressing into a bowl, add 1 package of mushrooms, add 3 diced hard boiled eggs, add the crumbled corn bread, add the sausage and gently stir

Place it in a 9 by 12 pan

Pour 2 to 3 cups of Swanson Chicken Broth over the mixture, making sure everything is moist, and bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until golden brown.

I’ve never written the recipe down, and I wish I had my grandmother’s recipe. She makes the most awesome dressing including parts of the turkey, and celery and onions. I just LOVE it, but I make something closer to what I hope my husband will eat, even though he doesn’t like it very much.

What I really Question is, do you even have stuffing with your Turkey. My husband doesn’t like it because he doesn’t like what most people put in it.

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Find even more information at The Great Stuffing Debate!

  • The Debate Center – Weigh in on questions that gauge stuffing preferences and other related topics.
  • In the Kitchen – Use the stuffing spinner to find the perfect stuffing – from traditional to adventurous and everything in between – as well as other holiday recipes, cooking tips and techniques, substitution solutions, and leftovers ideas.
  • Stuffing Skirmish – This humorous video shows what happens when good people do bad stuffing. Watch the family dynamics unfold as two very different sides of the family – with equally different views on stuffing – come together for the holiday feast.
  • Fun Stuff – Get ready for the Turkey Dance! The Swanson CGI turkey does the tango, dances like Elvis and takes a trip to the 70s. Choose a favorite and share with friends and family via email, Facebook or Twitter.

 

Enter to Win:

150.00 Visa from Swanson in celebration of the Great Stuffing Debate

To Enter:

Leave a comment here telling me what you like in your stuffing.

Extra Entries:

Follow me on twitter  & Follow Swanson on Twitter & Tweet: The Great Stuffing Debate Answer: What do you put in your stuffing? for 150.00 #Giveaway http://bit.ly/gTfXRb PL RT

Subscribe to my blog and Follow me on Google Friend Connect
List this giveaway on any giveaway site, dig or stumble, use any of the social media sharing options listed below
Blog About this Giveaway (linking to the giveaway)
Add my blog button to your sidebar.

This giveaway ends December 13th. All rules can be found under giveaway rules.


M80 contacted me on behalf of Swanson Broth they provided me with a gift card to cover the costs of Thanksgiving and are providing the gift card for the winner.

Trim The Table, Trim The Budget with Walmart

walmart-2-300x225I love shopping at Walmart and the closest Walmart to us is rather small. We don’t even have a grocery department, well we have one cold aisle and some food supplies, I just wished it was bigger and provided more variety. Which brings me to a story. A few weeks ago, Miles and I were driving north to the Outlet Mall in Mukilteo and low and behold we found a Super Walmart on the way. I was so excited about finding a Super Walmart because I know from experience how much you can save using Walmart.

I feel like I grew up in a Walmart because we shopped at Walmart for everything, food, clothing, decorations. I mean to me Walmart is the one stop location for shopping. Walmart also almost always has the lowest prices and if they don’t have the lowest price they price match any competitors ad.

Walmart set me out to Trim the Table, Trim the Budget This Thanksgiving and I wanted to maximize my savings. So, I actually sat down and planned out my Thanksgiving visit to Walmart. I took all of my ads and clipped all of my coupons. I even had Zoe help me clip coupons. I did however, forget to take any ads with me. OOops.

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Tips to save money:

Plan Plan ahead!

Cut Coupons at every source

Get a coupon holder, organize it and keep it in your car

Use children’s artwork as decorations

Use children’s artwork as holiday cards

Cook meals instead of eating out – you can save a fortune by cooking home cooked meals instead of going out and then you know the food is healthy too!

As I stated above, it was really nice to find everything I needed in one place. I found a turkey, dressing, salad, corn bread, peanut butter, jelly, and lots of other stuff and came in under my budget.

Remember Walmart for all of your Black Friday Savings too! By planning your adventures, you’ll save time and money and saving time is saving money, so if you think about it your saving a lot of money. Check out these online savings at Walmart on Thanksgiving day and instore deals at Walmart on Black Friday.

Day 1:  Thanksgiving Day – Online-Only Specials

Customers can shop nearly 150 online-only specials at Walmart.com.  Examples include:

· RCA 37′ LCD HDTV – $399
· Acer Purple Netbook Bundle (includes case and flash drive) – $248
· Kodak M530 Camera Bundle (includes case and 4GB memory card) – $79

Day 2:  Friday After Thanksgiving – In-Store All Night "Open House" and 5am Electronics Event

In-Store "Open House" kicks-off at midnight with delectable treats, demos and fun while customers shop for toys, apparel and more.  Walmart invites customers to come in and stay for the season’s hottest consumer electronics savings which begin at 5am. Examples include:

Midnight Savings

· Over 90 DVD titles including Lord of the Rings and Ice Age – $1.96
· Over 60 Blu-ray titles including The Dark Knight and Superbad – $5
· Mainstays 30-Piece Kitchenware Set  -  $24.87
· Wrangler Jeans for Men – $9
· Nintendo Wii console (available in red, black and white) with a $50 Walmart Gift Card – $199
· Over 140 games for Wii, Xbox360, PS2 and DS – starting at $7 and games for PS3 starting at $10

5am Electronics Savings

· 15.6" HP Laptop – $298
· Emerson 32" LCD HDTV – $198
· Sansui 19" LCD HDTV – $98
· Nintendo DS Lite (in multiple colors) – $89
· Tom Tom GPS XL 335 SE 4.3" GPS – $79
· Magnavox Wi-Fi Blu-Ray Player with $10 free VUDU movie credits – $69

FUN FACTS

On Friday, Nov. 26, Walmart will sell:

· Enough HDTVs to cover 105 football fields.
· Enough computers to stack 239 times taller than the world’s tallest building (Burj Khalifa in Dubhai, UAE, at 2,717 ft.)
· Enough cameras to stack taller than 320 Empire State Buildings

Day 3:  Saturday – In-Store for More

Electronics savings continue for customers still looking for the remaining items on their Christmas lists. Examples include:

· Sony 46" Bravia LCD HDTV – $698
· Sony Blu-ray Player – $94
· Sony Wi-Fi Blu-ray Player – $158

 

Walmart Provided me with a gift card to share my savings tips and Trim the Table, Trim the Budget Experience. I have loved Walmart for years and my opinions are my own.

Lysol’s New Online Parenting Resource Mission For Health Giveaway

Lysol has created a new parenting tool Mission For Health, it’s an online parenting community. By joining, you can share your stories, ideas, and tips for cleaning and disinfecting your home. You will also have access to special offers. So sign up, introduce yourself, start saving and start sharing, you know how far I’ll go to get a coupon. Winking smile

Mission for healthSeriously though, I encourage you to visit and “join the mission.” The community is rich with tips and stories, advice from Lysol health experts, and everything you need to know to help manage a busy life and healthy family. From back to school to being a new mom to battling colds and the flu, it’s all there. For those questions readers only trust a doctor to answer, they can help there too. Dr. Laura Jana is their family doctor on hand, a mother of two and an active member of the community.

Dr. Laura Jana regularly holds Live Video Q&A chats as well as polls, videos and exclusive sweepstakes/contests on Lysol’s facebook page. You can also find a link to her videos on the Lysol’s Community page.

lysolEnter to Win:

2 25.00 American Express Gift Cards = 50.00!!!

To Enter:

Visit The Lysol Parenting Community and tell me what your impressions of the community are.

Extra Entries:

Like Lysol on Facebook

Tweet: Lysol’s Mission For Health #Giveaway @MomStart #Win 50.00 American Express Gift Card http://bit.ly/dVKXRv

Subscribe to my blog and Follow me on twitter
Follow me on Google Friend Connect
List this giveaway on any giveaway site, dig or stumble
Blog About this Giveaway (linking to the giveaway)
Add my blog button to your sidebar.

This giveaway ends December 13th. All rules can be found under giveaway rules.

Kid Tested Mother Approved Prize Pack Giveaway

You know before I had kids, I never every tried Kix before. Then after having kids, I think my husband brought home a box of Kix once. I thought to myself, they can’t eat that, they have to eat cheerios. Well, I took one really good look at the nutritional content and said, yep, I approve, they can eat it. I even tried it, I was surprised that I actually liked it too.

Today´s busy schedules and hectic morning routines can leave you looking for simple, nutritious solutions to help your little ones grow into "big kids."

kix_logoWhen it comes to starting off your day right, a new survey from Kix found that 84 percent of parents turn to cereal with milk for a quick and healthy breakfast. With the same great taste kids have loved for more than 70 years, Kix makes it easy to serve your family a simple and healthy breakfast! Whether you choose to serve Original Kix or Honey Kix, you can be sure that your kids are getting a wholesome food with nutrients they need to grow.
The "Kid-Tested Mother-Approved®"cereal is made with whole grain corn and is an excellent source of iron. It also is a good source of calcium, fiber, and Vitamins C and D. Original Kix has no artificial colors, flavors or preservatives.
To find out more, visit the recently launched Kix website, www.KixCereal.com, featuring background on the history of Kix, nutritional content, and special offers.

Enter to Win:

kix image finalKix "Kid-Tested, Mother-Approved" prize pack including a 24-piece counting-themed floor puzzle, fun learn-to-count flashcards, a sippy cup, a portable snack container and a box each of Original Kix and Honey Kix cereals

To Enter:

Leave A comment on this post telling me How you make your busy morning routine special for your family?

Extra Entries:

Tweet: Kid Tested Mother Approved Prize Pack #MyBlogSpark #giveaway http://bit.ly/ePK1uV

List this giveaway on any giveaway site, dig or stumble
Blog About this Giveaway (linking to the giveaway)
Add my blog button to your sidebar.

This giveaway ends December 13th, I received a product as compensation from MyBlogSpark on behalf of Kix! All rules can be found under giveaway rules.

Hamburger Helper Show Your Helping Hand Feeding America Giveaway

Did you know how easy it is to support your local food bank. By using coupons and sales, you can get food, supplies, and all kinds of things for free, or next to nothing and then take it to your local food shelter. When I was really big into contacting companies for coupons I found out that many companies, send food to Feeding America, and then Feeding America disperses the food to food banks across the country. I found that to be very interesting. So when MyBlogSpark contacted me about Hamburger Helper’s Show Your Helping Hand campaign to support Feeding America, I realized I wanted to help in any way that I could and by posting this post PrintHamburger Helper will make a $10 donation to the Show Your Helping Hand campaign on Mom Start’s behalf.

According to Feeding America, approximately 5.7 million different people receive emergency food assistance from the organization in any given week.

To raise awareness about the national issue of hunger, Hamburger Helper® is partnering with GRAMMY® Award-winning singer, songwriter and actor Tim McGraw to help Feeding America deliver millions of meals to local food banks through the Show Your Helping HandTM campaign. McGraw will lend his voice to the campaign through a Public Service Announcement which will be distributed nationwide.

Support the campaign by submitting codes from specially marked boxes of Hamburger Helper at www.showyourhelpinghand.com or by logging on to make a donation. Hamburger Helper has already donated more than half a million dollars and will contribute up to an additional $100,000 to Feeding America through this program. Don´t think one code will make a difference? The 17 cents Hamburger Helper donates per code is enough for Feeding America to deliver one meal to a local food bank. And your friends and family can also syhh gift packhave a chance to win an autographed copy of Tim McGraw´s "Southern Voice" CD by visiting www.showyourhelpinghand.com.

Enter to Win:

A prize pack that includes a box of Hamburger Helper skillet meals, a Hamburger Helper foam "Helping Hand" and a copy of Tim McGraw´s "Southern Voice" CD

To Enter:

Leave A comment on this post telling me how you will encourage others to submit codes to Show your Helping Hand.

Extra Entries:

Tweet: Show Your Helping Hand & Win Tim McGraw´s "Southern Voice" CD Prize Pack #MyBlogSpark #giveaway http://bit.ly/hzBzed

List this giveaway on any giveaway site, dig or stumble
Blog About this Giveaway (linking to the giveaway)
Add my blog button to your sidebar.

This giveaway ends December 13th, I received a product as compensation from MyBlogSpark on behalf of Hamburger Helper! All rules can be found under giveaway rules.

Join Holiday TweetDrive 2010

Charity is a huge part of who I am and what this blog is used for. That’s right, most of what we receive for reviews and giveaways goes to charity. I make donations quarterly at least and usually more often than that. My garage just gets too full of all of the reviews we do. This year, I’ve made donations to Pave, Children’s Hospital in Seattle, The Maltby Food Bank, Operation Christmas Child and to Special Delivery. Donations are usually around 1100.00, that is the power of Social Media and my influence on-line and I couldn’t do that without all of my readers. So I thank you all for allowing me to make a difference in my community!!.

Holiday Tweet DriveI’ve been thinking of what to do this holiday season and then I found out about the Holiday TweetDrive from My Seattle Night Out on twitter. TweetDrive is a national organization hosting holiday parties for charities run by Katz PR. I’ve seen that a few of the locations are hosting auctions, giving out door prizes, handing out swag bags, but all are collecting items to give to children in need in their local communities. To attend a local event you need to bring new toy or article of clothing as an entrance fee. Then you can tweet it up. We need all the social media we can get to push this years event to a successful year. By following @Tweet Drive on twitter you can find a local event new you.

Treehouse_no-tag_vertical_web_readyI have decided to use my influence this Holiday Season to help gather items for swag bags and just tell everyone about the wonderful event in Seattle. MySeattleNightOut.com invites you to join them in an evening of Holiday Cheer! Music; swag bags; door prizes and a fun evening of socializing! And since I’ve been gathering just some of the items for the swag bags and door prizes I can assure you it will be lots of fun.

tree house wish listThe Seattle event will be on 12/09 from 5:30pm to 8:30pm at Club Sur in SODO–an all ages venue. Club Sur is a beautiful restaurant/club/bar with the ability to host live music comfortably for all ages with appetizers. I’m getting hungry just thinking about it. The charity that the Seattle Tweet Drive will be supporting is TreeHouse. Treehouse works with foster children in the Seattle Area. Since 1988, Treehouse has filled the gaps for kids in foster care, providing services that no other agency addresses: money for extra-curricular activities and summer camp, professional educational support services, resources to fully participate in the everyday activities of growing up, clothing and supplies to help them fit in at school.

We invite you to 

RSVP for the Seattle Tweet Drive,

Check Out TreeHouse’s wish list,

Bring a donation for TreeHouse to Club SODO,

and Tweet, Bring A Toy to @Seatweetdrive at Club Sur in SODO 12/09 5:30 RSVP here http://bit.ly/9UvxXO #tweetdrive PL RT. #Seattle

Sponsors I have gathered items so far:

Energizer Energi To Go Follow Energizer on Twitter @Energizer

DKNY – is sending 40 bottles of their new fragrance DKNY Be Delicious to be put in some of the swag bags

You can still donate to the Seattle Holiday Tweet Drive in exchange for advertising on Mom Start. Please Contact Me for more information. Put Seattle Tweet Drive in the subject line.

eBay Unwrap Attack and Samantha Bee Oh My

Hotel ValenciaLast week I was invited to San Jose to visit with eBay and find out all about the company and what their current plans are. For me the entire trip was an “Unwrap Attack” of firsts. The day I checked in, I met Kat from Sassy Irish Lassy and Blissfully Domestic. Her first words to me were “shut up” instead of, “Hi, my name is Kat, what’s yours.” I deserved it though, I ruined the surprise of what was in the bag that eBay left at the check in desk for us. Then I asked her if she wanted to go to lunch and we went to a Hispanic restaurant just down a block from the Hotel. There we both had Cheese mole (chocolate mole) enchiladas. After watching seasons of Top Chef, I’ve always wondered if Mole was coffee or chocolate or could be both. Well, now I know that it can at least be chocolate and it is TO DIE FOR!

That night we had dinner with a few people from eBay at a Sushi Bar. I’ve never had real sushi before so check that off as two firsts in less than 24 hours. We all socialized and ate until we couldn’t eat anymore. Overall, I would have to say that I am not a Sushi person after all.

The next day we were shipped off to eBay for a day full of meetings in a conference room. We received an awesome lesson on SEO from Dennis Goedegebuure, which deserves a post in itself. But for now I’ll give you three big tips..

1) Do not link to the words “Click Here”

2) Use tags and categories

3) Stumbleupon can be a very close and dear friend

After meeting with Dennis we met with Annie Lescroart head of eBay green. That too deserved it’s own post and I was so excited about it that I wrote about the eBay green box a few days ago. We then met with Andy Palmer and learned about eBay’s group gifts. eBay’s group gifts are one of the easiest ways to group give. To group gift with eBay you need an eBay account and a paypal account. You sign on to eBay and pick out something to give. Decide how much you want everyone to pay and invite others to share in the expense. You can invite people using e-mail, facebook, or twitter. Just remember if you use facebook and twitter it’s no longer a private matter. But if I was getting a gift for my grandmother who is not on-line at all then it would still be a secret. If you are not able to get enough people to go in on the gift all you have to do is cancel it and then all money is refunded to the people that did participate. Easy Peasy!

To further explain eBay’s Group Gifts, it is a new social shopping tool, eBay Group Gifts. eBay Group Gifts allows you to find gifts for family and friends through Facebook. All you have to do is invite them via Facebook or email to contribute to the cost of the gift via PayPal (credit/debit card included) and it’s ready to go. eBay will even suggest items for your friend that has everything based on their interests on their Facebook page.

It’s an entirely new way to shop. It is simple, intuitive and lets you use the power of your own network of friends and family to give bigger, better gifts. After all, Group Gifting is more than something savvy shoppers face at the holidays; it’s a way to get the right gift all year long.

The highlight of the event of course was meeting Samantha Bee and watching all of the “Unwrap Attack” Commercials.  I was laughing so hard I wanted to cry. Samantha Bee Causes an Upwrap Attack.

 

Of course then we had the opportunity to film a mini commercial for our own sites. I can’t wait to see how it turned out. I was wearing the same color that they were using as a back screen and had to change shirts. Between that and having to remember lines I was next to hyperventilating when it was my turn. So while I was trying to regain a regular breathing I realized I was not smiling the whole time we filmed my little spot with Samantha Bee. I’m hoping the whole thing turns out to look funny and not painful. LOL.

An Unwrap Attack is when you find the most perfect gift for someone in your life and you surprise them with it and Ebay is the location to find anything under the sun. The eBay Unwrap Attack Creator on Facebook allows you to see your loved ones have an Unwrap Attack before the holidays. Upload a photo, choose a gift from eBay, and watch how they react when receiving that just-right gift

eBay unwrap attack

It was great to see new and old Blogging friends pictured above: Kat, Sheila, Jenny, Amy, Naomi, me, Samantha Bee, Janice, GabbyEileen, Rachael,

The eBay Love to Give web destination is a hub that hosts all of Samantha Bee’s eBay webisodes and a gallery of consumer-created "unwrap attack" videos that will showcase some of the most hilarious and heartwarming gift giving and receiving moments captured on video – moments of pure emotion when people receive the “just-right” gift. There will be 6 webisodes total. To date, the following Samantha Bee videos are available for you to enjoy, laugh to and share.

In accordance to the FTC Guidelines and WOMMA Code of Ethics, I am disclosing that my time, travel and accommodations have been compensated by eBay for my participation in the Love to Give campaign. Although I have a material connection to eBay, any publicly stated opinions of eBay remain my own.