Operation Paperback

I first learned of Operation Paperback from ABW.  She mentioned it on her blog and I immediately went to the website to check it out.

Basically they are an organization that collects and sends books to not only deployed soldiers; but also to military and veteran hospitals and USO centers at the airports.  They have also recently started sending books to military families of deployed service members too.  You select the ages of the children and your own reading interests and they will send a variety of books out.  And on top of everything - it's all free.  They even cover the cost of shipping!

I love finding organizations that support our soldiers and their family members during deployments and hard times.

If you would like to sign up your soldier to receive shipments you can do that here.

And if you would like to sign up your family; you can do that here.

Happy reading!

And the Winner Is.......

Drum roll please:

The winner of the $10 Target gift card goes to :


#25, Emily Kate!

You have two days to claim your prize or I will select a new winner. I also left a comment on your blog to let you know you won!

Thanks to everyone who participated and I hope to see some of you around here again!

Bloggy Giveaway

Giveaway has been closed. Please check here for the winner!

It's that time again...For the Bloggy Giveaway Carnival!

I participated in the last one and it was a lot of fun and I got to "meet" a ton of new people. I deemed it a success and so I'm doing it again.

This time one lucky commenter will win a $10 Target Gift Card.

(Me giving away a Wal-Mart gift card the last time and then expressing how I disliked Wal-Mart didn't go over so well with some people. I think someone actually called me a snob too!)

Anyway, the rules are the same but I'll post them again for any newbies:

1. You must leave a comment here on this post.
2. You must also take a look around my site and leave a comment on another post as well. (And if you're already a regular commenter here than you of course only need to leave a comment here on this post.)
3. You must have a US or Canadian mailing address.
4. You do not need to be a blogger to win but you must supply a valid email address so I can contact you if you win.

Winner will be chosen Saturday, November 1st by random.org. Winner will be given 2 days to respond or a new winner will be selected.

[Added Note: And remember - the requirement to win is that you leave a comment here and on another post. I have several people who don't qualify right now because they haven't followed the directions!]

That's it! Let the fun begin. And don't forget to check out More giveaways at the Bloggy Giveaways Quarterly Carnival!

I'm Lost - But You Get Some Deals

Ok, I know I keep doing this. I start getting comments and then poof - I disappear! I don't know what my problem is!

Of course I started this post about 1 1/2 hours ago before I got distracted and you can clearly see that I didn't get very far! While I have plenty I could be writing about, I'm at a loss for words and being able to put them together all in one coherent post.

While I'm creating my good excuse for not blogging and trying to find my words in order to do so, you can do some shopping with these promo codes. (See I do think about you guys even when I'm not blogging....)

New York & Company
Use promo code 1116 for $25 off your $75 order

or

Use promo code 1106 for $50 off your $150 order

Expires 12/31/09

Fashion Bug
Use promo code 776226300 for $5 off your $30+ order

Expires 12/31/09

Avenue
Use promo code AV81131 for 25% off your order

Expires 12/31/09

Catherines
Use promo code 776714206 for $5 off your $30+ order.

Expires 12/31/09

Bare Feet Shoes
Use promo code BFS587433 for 10% off your order.

Expires 12/31/09

Overstock
Use promo code 129205 for 10% off your $100 + order.

Expires 12/31/09

Company Kids
Use promo code KIDSTUFF09 for 20% off one item.

Expires 12/31/09

And you read all of the above correctly. All of these codes are good until 2009!

Hopefully I'll be back tomorrow a little less distracted by this crazy life I live.

Get Ready

It's almost that time again - For the BloggyGiveaway!

I participated last time and met a lot of new people in the blogosphere, so I'm going to do it again this time. Of course this time I have no idea what I'm going to be giving away but I have until the 27th to figure it out. (Nothing like procrastination!)

If you have any suggestions or have something you would like to donate to the giveaway just let me know. I'm open to suggestions!

Saturday Deals

I have been horrible about posting any promo codes here lately. I just don't have time to sift through the 200+ emails I get these days. And when I do get around to it, half of them are expired!

So here are a few that I have:

Crazy 8 is an awesome kids clothing store. Right now they have a super baby sale and items start at $4.99. (Don't tell my kids but I've already started my Christmas shopping with this sale!) You can also use promo code FREE10 to receive $10 off your $30 order. And shipping there is always a flat $5.00! One more thing - if you sign up for their emails they'll send you another coupon for $10 off!

Right now at Lowe's you can use promo code 470041768705146 and receive 10% off your order!

Of course as always, I have a TON of E.L.F codes for you:

• Use EGBOOSTAI until 9/15 to receive a free mineral booster with your $25 order
• Use EGLIPST until 9/15 to receive a free mineral lipstick with your $20 order
• Use EGGOBROJ until 10/1 to receive a free healthy glow bronzing powder with your $20 order
• Use EGRESCT until 9/30 and receive a free $25 Gift Card to Restaurant.com. (If you don't know about Restaurant.com you should really check it out!)
  

Over at Deep Discount all Warner Titles are buy 1 get 1 free. It should give you the discount automatically but if it doesn't use promo code B1G1WARNR0808. Good until 9/28. (And be on the look out - they should be doing their semi-annual coupon code here shortly - again think Christmas gifts)

Not only does Old Navy have a baby sale going on now, you can also use promo code L6J7MTFYQX31 and receive 40% off a single adult item. (Unfortunately, you can't use it in the clearance section though.) Good until 9/18.

American Eagle is offering 15% off of everything until 9/16 using promo code 94830857.

Hope you enjoy your Saturday doing some shopping. And if you'd like to buy me something - feel free :-)

Give Away

Jubilee over at Notes of Jubilee is hosting a great give away. She has three Chico Bags to give away. If you want to read her review of them, you can find it here.

So go on over and check her out. Make sure you enter to win too! (Or maybe you shouldn't because that lessens my chance..... oh alright you can enter too!)

P.S. You have until August 14th to enter too!

There's Deals to be Had Today....

So if you're going to be doing any bargin shopping online today here are a few deals for ya.

Me on the other hand - I'll be spending half of each of my kids college savings on taking them to Water Country USA today. But at least I'll have pictures to show them when they grow up. (See - see this. This is what we did with your college savings!)

Macy's not only has their clearance going on now of 30-50% off but you can also use promo code 99cents and get your shipping for only 99 cents. (DUH) And while that's not free - it's a hell of a deal with gas prices the way they are! (Expires 7/20/08)

Deep Discount has a promo going on now of buy 1, get 1 free on select DVD's. Of course there aren't any new movies in there but there are some great old ones. And if you have a kid or know a kid that's really into Thomas the Tank Engine - those are all included in this deal too! And as always - they have FREE shipping! (Expires 7/29/08)

I seem to have an abundance of E.L.F. (Eyes, Lip, Face) codes this week. So here they are:

• use EGPOLIAR to get a free nail polish when you buy 2.
• use EGHYDAR to get a free SPF 15 Tint with any $20 purchase.
• use EGBROAZ to get a free sun kissed bronzing powder.
• use ECBROBZ to get a free warm tan bronzing powder.
• use ECBROCZ to get a free luminance bronzing powder.

The last time I shopped there I was able to stack coupons so it wouldn't hurt to try. Although I doubt they'll let you do it on the bronzing powders. (All Expire 8/1/08)

And last but not least, at REI you can use promo code THNX2U8 for 25% off these select items. (Expire 7/24/08)

Have a happy weekend and look forward to some pics from Water Country!

Deals & Follow-Up Wednesday

Follow-Ups

Swim lessons are finally over and the kids did fairly well. Boy 1 has NO fear and so of course he did sligthly better than Girl did. On their certificate's they are rated on a 5 point scale, with each number having several bullet points of activities to complete. Boy 1 got all of them through 3, while Girl got all but one of them through 2. They were both supposed to go back into the next class but we got a call last night that classes were being pushed back a week which interferes with the day camps that I signed them up for. So we're not sure what we're going to do now.

Since swim lessons are over I was going to take the kids to the Virginia Zoo today but after the day they had yesterday I decided I'm not taking them anywhere out in public until they can show me they know how to behave at home. Hopefully we'll make it there tomorrow. The zoo seems to be pretty nice with quite a few animals. Hopefully I won't be disappointed this time too.

Please excuse me for this brief emergency: Boy 1's head is stuck under the bed!!

Deals

I'm sorry I've missed posting several deals over the past couple days that are now expired. So here are the few that I still have left:

Over at Old Navy you can take an extra 20% off of already reduced prices using coupon code EXTRA20. Hurry as this expires tomorrow July 10th.

Shop now through July 21st at New York & Company and use coupon code 9078 for $25 off your purchase of $75 or more or use coupon code 9067 for $50 off your purchase of $150 or more. (And they have some great clearance items right now too!)

Alright, well I have wasted enough of my precious work time this morning - so I'm off to work. (Well not really off but you know what I mean)

Happy Wednesday!

Joining the Band Wagon

So it seems as if many bloggers have been discussing their undergarments here in the past few weeks. Maybe you've seen some of them - maybe you haven't. If not you should really check some of them out as they are hilarious!! I think MadMad started it all off with this post and was than followed by SuburbanCorrespondent with this and than Tootsie Farklepants had this to add. (Come on you have to click on the links and read these - they really are funny - and I'm not.) Since I am no where near as funny as these women, I'm not even going to attempt to add one of my lame-o stories to theirs.

However, after reading all of these I thought it was funny that I got an ad from Macy's about lingerie! And now I'm so going to go out and buy some new bras!!

Anyway, here is the deal.

Right now at Macy's if you follow this link for bras or this link for panties (ewww...did I really just type that word!! - that word is on my list of words to never say - I guess it won't kill me to type it though....) you can get either buy 2, get 1 free for bras or buy 3, get 1 free for the other (I refuse to type it more than once though!!)

Also if you use promo code lingerie at check out with a purchase of $60 or more you get FREE shipping. So you really only need to buy 2 bras anyway to get the free shipping and the free bra!

There are a few stipulations to the deal though -
1.) You must buy 2 (or 3) of the same brand but not necessarily the same item to get the third (fourth) of the same brand free!
2.) You can only use one promo code at a time - I had another I was going to give but there's no point if you can't use it!
3.) The free shipping offer ends July 1st.

And another great thing about Macy's - you can make returns from online purchases to the closest store! I'm not really one for buying bras without getting a chance to try them on but if you buy three different bras and decide you only like 1 of them you can return/exchange the other two at an actual location and not have to worry about mailing them back and waiting to get new items back. (And this means you get to try them on in the privacy of your own home!)

Happy Bra Shopping to you all!!

Get Your Deals Here Today!!

I realized that I didn't post any deals last week. I had several of them sitting in my inbox but just never got around to putting them up here. So here they are:

E.L.F

I have recently discovered E.L.F (Eyes, Lips, Face) brand of make-up. While I have several friends who use this - I never had. Anyway, I checked it out and they have some really great stuff. Most of their stuff is only $1.00 and if your into the mineral make-ups they have those for $3 to $5 each or you can get their starter kit for $20. This in itself is an awesome deal! Over at BareMinerals they want $60 for their starter kit and at Sheer Cover they want $30 for a 30 day intro kit.

If you place a $20 order before July 1 you can use coupon code EGHYDAR to get a free SPF 15 Shielding Hydro Tint.

Also, E.L.F has their own blog and if you are one of the first 100 to leave a comment you get a $5 off coupon!

And the codes over at WantNot from earlier this month (free shipping on $20 and 50% off up to $7.50) are still good too.

AMAZON

Over at Amazon their having a BIG DVD sale. If you've been looking for a movie check this out and maybe you can get it for up to 60% off!

DEEP DISCOUNT

If you can't find what you want at Amazon or you missed this when it was posted over at WantNot check out Deep Discount as they have extended thier 20% off sale through June 29th. And they are offering FREE shipping too! Use promo code SUMERSALE.

QUICKBOOKS

Also as a little plug for myself....you can visit my business site and use the link at the bottom of the page to get anywhere from a 10-20% discount on any Quickbooks software or products.

EBAY

And last but not least - if you are looking to make a big purchase over at Ebay you can use coupon code CJUNE0810P through June 30th to receive 10% off your order of $100 or more.

I hope that's enough for you - now that's it's taken me 1 1/2 hours to get this posted! I've been interupted to make breakfast, get the kids dressed, put Girls hair in a ponytail, clean up shredded napkins from one end of the house to the other, break-up a fight over the TV, break-up a fight over the bedroom and oh yea break-up a fight over who's using the bathroom first!!! Ahh...the joys of being a SAHM!

Not so Follow-Up Wednesday

I have nothing to follow up with for my normal follow up Wednesday. I do instead have several unrelated things to share that otherwise wouldn't make up a full post. So here goes it:

Best of Buds
Apparently while I wasn't watching Boy 2 and Klondike (that's our dog) have made a pact. A pact that allows Boy 2 to climb on, lay on, cuddle with and otherwise use as a jungle gym, Klondike in return for Boy 2 throwing his "left-overs" on the floor as payment. For the past two weeks this has been going on and I finally caught it on photo.

I'm not hiding Boy 2 because he isn't cute - he really is adorable! I just prefer not to have his face plastered on the internet!

Sweltering Heat
So as many people are - we too are in the middle of a heat wave. With temperatures nearing 100 if not actually reaching it! As I walk into Girl's room tonight to kiss her goodnight she has pants picked out to wear to school the next day. The conversation goes like this:

Me: Why do you have pants out?
Girl: Because that's what I'm wearing to school tomorrow.
Me: Why would you do that? Do you know how hot it's going to be?
Me: Just like today!!! You can't wear pants.
Girl: But I want to.
Me: Why?
Girl: Because I don't have anything else to wear.
Me: You have a drawer full of shorts - what do you mean you have nothing to wear?
Girl: They don't fit.
Me: What do you meant hey don't fit?
Girl: They don't fit - they're too tight.
Me: Why are you just now telling me this? You've seen me buying new summer clothes for your brothers. Why didn't you tell me you needed new stuff too?
Girl: I don't know.
Me: Well you're not wearing pants to school.
Girl: What am I suppose to wear than?
Me: I don't know -find something else - a dress, a skirt, even capri's are better.
Girl: Fine! I'll wear my capri's.

Why on earth she would waited till the middle of a heat wave to tell me - I will never know. But I do know I have one more thing to add to my list!

DEALS (Ok really it's just one)
Aeropostale is having a 9.99 stock up sale! And if you use coupon code: 3DAYCLEAR you'll get an additional 20% off of their clearance items. This is only good until 6/13/08 though so if you want to use it - hurry up!!

Deals (I know real creative title!)

I've come across a couple of deals over the weekend. They are:

At Petite Sophisticate you can use these promo codes until 6/30/08:

776576407 gets you 20% off your order of $75 or more
776576308 gets you free shipping on your order of $50 or more.

And make sure that you check out their clearance section as well as that's the only place I shop there!

Another New York & Company code is good through 6/21/08:

2665 gets you free shipping on your $75 or more order.

Also NewEgg has some promo codes here and here. Some of them aren't great but if you're looking for one of these items it may be worth it. And they offer free 3 day shipping - and I have always gotten my order the very next day!!

That's all I got for today. Sorry about the short post but I'm exhausted and need to get some sleep! I'll tell you all about my wonderful day tomorrow.

Frugal. (Who Me???)

Frugal:

1. economical, avoiding waste, thrift

Ok, so maybe I have fallen into that category lately. But you know it's not a bad thing. When you have two households to support (including: mortgage, rent, 2 cable bills, 2 phone bills, 2 internet bills, 2 water bills, 2 grocery bills, etc) it really helps to be frugal. {In case you don't know - Shitface is currently away at school for 8 months and we're renting another house so we can go visit during the summer}

Anyway, I had my grocery trip planned for today, so last night I was literally up until midnight finding coupons online that I could print for my trip today. And just so everyone knows - I saved 7% today. I was hoping for more but they didn't have all the stuff I had coupons for so I had to substitute. I'm hoping for 10% next time - but I'll probably have to go without Boy 2 for that to be possible.

Some of my other frugal ways include:

1. Well we're military (duh) - so I shop at the commissary where prices are always lower. And they often have case lot sales if you have the place to store it. (Which unfortunately, I don't) If you're not military, perhaps you have a friend that is. I take friends with me all the time, just ask them - I'm sure they'll be willing to take you.

2. Get coupons online. There are tons of free coupons sites online. Just Google free coupons. Also if you know the brand you are looking for you can always check out their site too. Manufacturers often have coupons directly on their site that you can print.

3. Look at the weekly sales ads for the store that you're going to - I think they can all be found online too. Plan your shopping around what is on sale for the week.

4. Buy produce at your local farmers market. Not only are you supporting the local farmers and their stuff is always fresher - but it is generally substantially cheaper too!

5. Stock up on clearance items for future seasons. At the end of every season, I always get items for the kids for the following year. (And it's not like kids clothes that young go out of style.) I already have jeans and long-sleeve shirts for all the kids put up in their closet. Than when school shopping comes around - you don't have to pay the astronomical prices or deal with the crowds!

6. If you're not already familiar with Mir's site, WantNot - check it out. She always has tons of great deals on stuff. Some of it you may need now and other stuff you may want to stock up on if it's a great price. And believe me, she has a little bit of everything.

7. Look on Craig's List to see if you have a site in your area. There are a lot of things that are barely used or even new on this site. We practically furnished our entire "other" place by stuff we got on Craig's List. And I've been able to sell a lot of stuff too - which is nice because it gives me some extra spending money for stocking up on kids clothes.

8. Check out Free Cycle to see if there is a site in your area too. This site only has free things listed on it. They do require that you do an equal share of "giving" as you do "taking" but that only seems fair to me. Beware though that items seem to go fast (at least in my area anyway) and you really need to be on-top of it if you really want something.

9. Check out my site. If I come across something that by chance (which isn't often) isn't already on Mir's site - than I'll post it here for you. I actually have one today ...

If you like New York & Company - than this is the time to shop.

Use Promo code 6472 for purchases of $75 or more and take $30 off.
or
Use Promo code 6500 for purchases of $150 or more and take $60 off.

Offer good May 29th through June 1st. You can still use the same promo codes from June 2nd through June 16th but the discounts drop to $25 and $50.

Enjoy - Off to do my "Parenting Duties".