Melting Pot Anniversary Special!

On June 15th and 16th the Melting Pot is celebrating their anniversary! There will be $5 entrees, $5 salads, $5 cheese fondue, $5 chocolate fondue, and $5 wine/beer selection. You do not have to get all of the courses to get the special price! Make reservations ASAP to make sure you can get a great price on some amazing fondue!! :)

Friday = Mega Swagbucks Day!

Don't forget to search online tomorrow to earn Swagbucks! I just earned a free $10 gift card to Starbucks by doing searches... if you haven't signed up yet, here is the link:



Swagbucks is a search engine (like google, yahoo, dogpile) that gives you points for doing searches... with those points you can get gift cards to Amazon, Starbucks, Barnes and Noble, etc.

Once you get the hang of it, check out my Swagbucks tips on the right-hand column of the blog to increase your odds of getting points.

Comments!

I would love to hear more from the readers of my blog! I would like this blog to become more of an "information exchange" blog than it has been in the past.... so if you have something to add to my posts, PLEASE PLEASE feel free to comment :)

Vacations!

Summer is here! It is the time to go camping, hiking, and for outdoor activities! What do you and your families like to do for vacations? Also: how do you save money while planning vacations???

Restaurant.com

I LOVE restaurant.com . It is a website that allows you to purchase gift cards (that have purchase stipulations, so basically they are like coupons) for local restaurants at a discounted price. At the end of the month you can buy a $25 gift card for only $2 or $3.... you usually have to spend at least $35 at the restaurant in order to use the gift card, but if you are going out to eat anyways, why not get a discount?!

My husband and I use this website frequently for date nights....

Yay!

Happy Mother's Day to all of you mamas out there! Hope your husbands/children are treating you well today!

Outdoor Fun

Spring is finally here (thank goodness!) and soon it will be summer. What summer activities do you guys do with your little ones? Let's make a list so when we get bored we can try something new (or forgotten lol)!

*Go to the Boise Zoo
*PARKS!
*Run through the sprinklers
*Blow bubbles (outdoors so there are no sticky floors!)
*Color with sidewalk chalk
*Feed the ducks/geese at the greenbelt
*Go on a walk
*Sno-cones!
*Picnic

What suggestions do you have?

Carters (sort of) Recall

As I was pulling out my son's old clothes for our (soon to be) baby, I was reminded of the Carters 'Tagless Tag' issues. A style of tag they used from 2007- 2008 gave some children chemical burns and rashes, so they have been refunding the money of those purchases. I checked my baby clothes and had 28 of those outfits! So I called Carters and they are sending me a pre-paid box to ship them the clothes in, then as soon as they receive and process the clothes I will get a check for the suggested retail value at the time they were sold! I am very excited that my baby will get new clothes AND won't be exposed to the tags. Here is the link if you need more information or want to call and get the process started for clothes of your children:

http://www.carters.com/corporate/tagless_message.aspx

'Green' information/ entertainment

Here are a few great websites I have found and enjoy...
http://grist.org
www.groovygreen.com/groove
http://littlegreenblog.com/category/blog/

Does anyone have any 'green' tips they want to share?

Playgroup

For those of you who would like to do a playgroup, how about we do our first one on Tuesday, April 13? Is 2:00 pm okay with everyone? Any suggestions on where to meet? I think for at least the first meeting we should go somewhere... public.. :) just so we all meet and feel comfortable. Let me know what you think!

Mega Swagbucks

Tomorrow is mega Swagbucks day, so don't forget to do some searching! If you haven't already signed up, Swagbucks is a search engine (powered by google) that gives you points to search (and shop) online. With those points you earn gift cards (from Target, Starbucks, Southwest Air, etc). I just signed up two weeks ago and already have 50 points!
http://swagbucks.com/?cmd=sb-register&rb=405703

free Flying Pie pizza on 'your day'

Flying Pie lets you make a free pizza on 'your day'. You have to go in at certain times to do it, but free pizza is pretty cool! Go to their website:
http://www.flyingpie.com/yourday.html
to find out if 'your day' is anytime soon!

Promoting Local Business

I feel that it is very important to promote small businesses in town. Small businesses create a healthy, unique community... I love to walk through downtown Boise and see shops and restaurants that are original and whose owners are personally involved in the day to day operation. If you own a small business or just have a favorite company, let us know what it is!

A great find!

I am posting this just in case it is useful to anyone... I have been searching and searching for an 'Otter Pop' type of popsicle that is made from juice. I finally found TWO brands at the Co-op today. One is made from 100% fruit, the other from juice concentrate. I am sooo excited- they will work wonders on my teething toddler's gums.

Playgroup

Is anyone interested in doing a playgroup activity once a week? Amber (in one of the comments below) had a suggestion that we might be able to start one. If you are interested, leave your name and e-mail as well as activities you might be interested in doing. Also let me know if there are any days/ times that would work or not work for you....

Updated Playdate Post

This is the place to comment if you want to find someone out there to meet with for playdates

Organic Clothes

While spending some quality time online ;) I found a website with some REALLY cute children's shirts. They are organic and a bit pricey but ... very cute. www.tinyrevolutionary.com I also hear Target is getting an organic clothing line in the end of May, but it will only carry it for about a month and a half. Hopefully the clothes will be priced in my budget....

Saving Money

Unfortunately this is a very hard time for many people. I am a stay at home mom, so I try to help save as much money as possible without having a job. I read lots of blogs that have tips on how to save money, printable coupons, and sometimes even tips on where to find free stuff! Here are a few for you to check out for yourself: www.couponcravings.com, www.coupons.com, www.babycheapskate.blogspot.com, and www.kimberlovesadeal.blogspot.com, Does anyone else follow any blogs they can share with us?

Also I have signed up for swagbucks. It is a search engine powered by google where you earn points for searches you do online... you also earn points when you shop online at places like Walmart and Target. And for those points you get to choose gift cards! From Southwest airlines, Starbucks, Target, etc.... I am working on saving enough points for a free vacation!
Here is the link:
http://swagbucks.com/?cmd=sb-register&rb=405703

..and.... I'm Back!

It's been awhile... my son has been keeping me very busy lately. He is getting very sick of being cooped up in the house. So lately we have been coloring, building blocks, and reading LOTS of books. Any other fun indoor ideas for little ones to do? Pretty soon it will be summer and we will be outside as much as we want!

A healthy new year

My resolution this year is to make my family's home and lives healthier. Last year we stopped cooking in plastic, went bpa free, stopped eating soy more than once or twice a month, and got rid of all cosmetics, shampoos, soaps, and lotion rated higher than a 5 on cosmeticdatabase.com. This year we will continue all of that as well as try to cut back on total plastic usage (shopping bags, Ziploc, TOYS, etc), make our own cleaners from safe ingredients, and eat foods that are less processed.



PLEASE check out www.cosmeticdatabase.com

Q: Why should I be worried about breast cancer?
A: The facts are a wake-up call. In 2007, an estimated 237,000 American women were diagnosed with breast cancer and 40,500 died of the disease. In the United States, a woman’s lifetime risk of breast cancer is greater than 1 in 8. Breast cancer accounts for 1 of every 4 cancer diagnoses in women. It is the leading cause of cancer death among women between their 30s and 50s in the United States.

Q: No one in my family has been diagnosed with breast cancer. Am I safe?
A: Unfortunately, no woman is completely safe from breast cancer. In fact, no more than 1 in 10 women who have breast cancer have a genetic history of the disease. Even when all traditional risk factors—including genetic predisposition, reproductive history, diet, exercise and alcohol—are combined, more than half of U.S. breast cancer cases remain unexplained. A growing body of scientific evidence suggests that synthetic chemicals and radiation in the environment are linked to breast cancer.

Q: What do chemicals have to do with breast cancer?
A: An estimated 80,000 synthetic chemicals have been registered for use in the United States in the last 40 years, but fewer than 10 percent of them have been fully tested for their effects on our health. Because many of these chemicals accumulate in body fat and remain in breast tissue for decades, every woman, man and child now carries synthetic chemicals in their bodies—including some that have been found to cause mammary tumors.