Coupon: FREE Ticket Upgrade to 3D showing of Monsters vs Aliens

Bank of America is providing free ticket upgrades to watch the 3D version of Monsters vs Aliens that is being released in theaters on March 27. To clarify, this is not a free ticket to the movie. You essentially get to watch the 3D version (around $12) for the price of a regular ticket (around $8). So if you were planning on seeing it anyway, like we are, you can upgrade to the 3D and save a few bucks -- or enough to splurge in the concession stand :)

I've seen a show in 3D before and it was amazing, I have a feeling Ethan will love this one!

Go to this link and follow the prompts. You'll be emailed a code(s) - you can get up to 4 - from BofA that you have to activate/redeem online for a ticket that you can print and take to the theater.

Each code is unique so hurry while it lasts!

Works For Me Wednesdays: Swapping Instead of Shopping

One girl’s old rags is another girl’s treasure!

I somehow ran into this idea surfing through the web and I thought it was brilliant….

It’s a phenomenon in the frugal world of bargain shopping — especially these days. And heck, you CAN’T get any better than FREE!!!! There’s a huge organization set up that does only swaps, but they haven’t posted any LA events… so we decided to try to pull one off on our own.


The idea is simple:
1) Everyone brings in clothes, shoes and accessories they just simply don’t love anymore and are taking up precious closet space
2) We come together, put them in piles, and look at what everyone else brought
3) What’s lefts gets taken to charity

My sister and I started posting on Craigslist and telling friends/co-workers about the idea. The response was pretty overwhelming. Those who couldn’t make it wrote emails begging us to organize another one (before the first one even started!) Next thing you know, there are 33 people who had RSVP’d yes, sending us scrambling to set up in the yard instead of the garage (turned into the dance room).

I’d say, there were about 20 people who ended up showing up. We provided some snacks/drinks and a dressing room (ie a designated bathroom) for those who wanted to try on clothes. There was music blasting, mirrors set up, and tables full of clothes, shoes, purses and other accessories.

Our rules were simple: bring what you can, take all you want BUT be considerate. In the end, everyone went home happy with their “new” and replenished wardrobe MINUS THE GUILT! And surprisingly, there is an unbelievably deep sense of satisfaction knowing that your clothing has found a new - and appreciative - owner. It was fun seeing other people pick up your clothes and saying “This is cute!” and responding with, “I know, that was mine! But it looks good on you!”

AND we had plenty left afterwards that we dropped off at a local women’s shelter.

Everybody wins!!!

Overall, it was a good time. People had already asked us when the “next one” is… some have requested we organize one for kids clothes – which I’m seriously considering. Maybe next month! :)

I'm going to be an Auntie!

Just found out my brother-in-law and sister-in-law are having a boy! Congratulations to Matt and Ria!

Works For Me Wednesdays: How To Get Free Hotel Rooms

So I decided I would (starting today) post every Wednesday… little tips that I have found to “work for me” [hence the name] in hopes whoever reads this can learn from it. Simple, right? It’s apparently a phenomenon in the blogging arena – check out the blog carnival here.

Though I’m not promising any life-changing revelations (for example, one week, I could talk about “How Not to Find Yourself Doing 8 Loads of Laundry on a Beautiful Saturday”), BUT… I do promise to (try to) post something every Wednesday. It’s my self-medicated approach to lagging.

Today’s WFMW is how to score a free hotel room – even if you don’t really need one.

I have to start my apologizing I didn’t get to share this sooner, because the program actually ends at the end of this month. Which means, you have 20 days to score a free one if you want. I discovered this deal last year and have since then been able to enjoy close to 50 hotel stays all across the US for FREE. I’m saddened by the news of the program’s conclusion – but you know what they say, all good things must come to an end.

Spoken by a true cynic.

Here’s the skinny:

Wyndham is a company that owns thousands of hotels and motels around the world. These hotels include the brands of Ramada, Howard Johnson, Baymont Inn & Suites, Super 8, Days Inn, Wingate by Wyndham, Knights Inn, AmeriHostInn, and Travelodge. Its Best Rate Guarantee (BRG for short) basically lets you stay for free for one night if you find a rate for their hotels that is lower than the price on Wyndham's site.

The basics rules are:
1) You must find a publicly available rate for a specific Wyndham hotel that is lower than Wyndham's posted rate for the same hotel.
2) The room type for the rate you find must match the room type on the Wyndham site.
3) You must book your reservation through Wyndham Rewards or one of Wyndham's hotel sites.
4) You must notify Wyndham of your claim within 24 hours of making the reservation and your reservation cannot be booked within 48 hours of arrival.
5) Only the first night is free for each eligible stay.

Here’s the kicker: finding the cheaper rate can be as easy as searching on Kayak or HotelsCombined (where they search hundreds of hotels for you and the rate variations can be obvious as day), but that doesn’t always pan out. Another great resource is the Best Rate Guarantee Blog – they post these rate variations almost daily. And for the last stretch of the remainder of this month, they’ve been knocking them out left and right.

Sometimes the competitor rates are only 99 cents cheaper than Wyndham's rates, but the guarantee is still honored because their Terms and condition require at least .25 difference – therefore you still a free night. If you plan well in advance, you could get an entire vacation’s hotel stays for free. You could move around different Wyndham properties in the same city and get multiple nights for free. Or if you’re traveling with a partner, you could alternate days.

For our anniversary week last year, I got 7 days of free hotels in DC, Baltimore, Maryland, Ocean City, Maryland, Virginia Beach, Virginia and Richmond, Virginia. Total hotel bill for that week = $0.

Days Inn Inner Harbor – Baltimore, MD



Ramada on the Beach – Virginia Beach, VA



Days Inn Oceanfront – Ocean City, MD


Wyndham Virginia Crossings – Richmond, VA

Hopefully, I’ve armed you with enough to get as much as you can before the program rests in peace on April 1st. Fair warning though, there are some hotels that are not worth staying in EVEN IF THEY ARE FREE, so do you due diligence in reading reviews before you get to excited.

Happy hunting!

Vain Revelations, Monkeys, and Celebrities with No Make up

This got forwarded to me by a friend this morning, and it comes at an utmost perfect timing after having a disastrous 2 weeks of terrible hair and uneven mascara. I was ready to break the mirror this morning.

Try putting eye liner on with a cast, forget about it. A monkey has a better chance of doing it.

I wonder where I could get one….

And nevermind my hair. My hair hasn’t seen a good day since the day I broke my thumb. I’m lucky to have a husband who would help me wash it, but he’s not as willing to blow dry and style. Mike straightening my hair is like me trying to re-build an engine.

Doable, but not likely to happen.

So imagine the smirk on my face when I saw other ugly mugs besides my own. It’s nice to know I’m not alone with the “off days”.

Katherine Heigl

Beyonce

Eva Longoria

Penelope Cruz

Cameron Diaz

Hilary Duff

Britney Spears

Pamela Anderson

Anna Kournikova

Goldie Hawn

Debra Messing

Liar Liar, Pants on Fire

OK, so I read child psychologists believe that preschoolers at this age don’t mean to lie maliciously – that the somehow makes up a version in their head and they convince themselves that that’s what actually transpired, even if it’s the complete opposite of the truth. I beg to differ. When I tell Ethan he’s not allowed to have candy. And he goes in the room and finds a secret stash. My spidey senses convince me to follow him and I catch him in the act with chocolate in his hand (and obvious hints of cocoa on the side of his mouth).

Me: Ethan, what are you doing?

Ethan: Nothing. :hiding the candy behind his back:

Me: Are you sure? I think you’re eating candy when mommy said you can’t have any before dinner.

Ethan: No. I’m not eating candy mommy.

Me: Ethan…. You know you’re not supposed to be eating candy before dinner.

Ethan: Ok, mommy.

Me: Then why are you eating candy.

Ethan: Because I go potty. (We’ve been trying to bribe – I mean, encourage him to go to potty by giving an incentive of a piece of candy every time he goes.)

Me: But you didn’t go potty.

Ethan: Yes, I need to go potty. See mommy? :runs to the toilet and does his business:

Me: Good job Ethan!

Ethan: Can I have candy now, please?

Me: You already had it, before you actually went to the potty.

Ethan: Oh ok. Thanks, mommy!

Chatty Ethan

I’m not sure exactly when it happened, but it seems like it happened overnight. All of a sudden, Ethan’s improved diction and grasp of grammar is off the charts – gone are the days when we could tell him something and all we could expect was a yes or a no. Now, he knows how to reason… to formulate a question… even manipulate a story he believes to be less troublesome than the truth (ie, lie)!

I’ve noticed he’s using more adjectives to describe things (the fast car, the big playground), he’s using the proper pronouns (him, her, us) and surprisingly using correct verb tenses (adding “s” and “ing” when needed).

He recites his days of the week without a stumble. Last week, he completely surprised me when he started counting in Spanish! And on Friday, when we picked him up from school, he proudly recited his 5 senses. How cool is that?

He’s really lazy, for some reason, when it comes to colors though. Some days, he will impress you… correctly pointing out every single color in an M&M pouch. Other times, he’ll just shrug “I don’t know” and start spitting out color names to get you off his back.

I can’t take credit for all of it, I’m almost saddened to say. His teachers at the Montessori Academy are really great and angelically patient. I have no idea how they go through day in and day out with that many brains to feed and short attention spans to entertain. I can barely handle Ethan sometimes! Ok, he’s not really that bad, but he can be a ball of energy and he will tire you out.

His lead teacher also raved about how much of a fast learner he is, and that he picks up things even when they think he’s paying attention. That is their main struggle with him, she said. He just won’t sit still! We promised to work more with him at home – quiet time, circle time, reading time – anything that would get his accustomed to staying still. But what else can you do? He’s not destructive, nor disruptive…. He just can’t stay in one spot for prolonged periods of time! I blame that on Mike :)

No Cameras? What?!?

It’s amazing how I’ve realized during the past week how much I take my right hand for granted.

• I can’t blow dry my hair.
• I can’t type 80 wpm anymore.
• I can’t stir anything in the pot without threatening to burn the kitchen down.
• I can’t play catch with my son.
• I can’t put deodorant on my left armpit.
• I can’t put my hair in a pony tail.
• I can’t talk on the phone illegally while driving.
• I can’t unsnap my own bra!

And unfortunately, I can’t even hold my own camera. :(

I’ll try my best to keep posting photos, I have Mike’s little Cybershot in tow (since mine broke! grr) so I won’t be completely “picture-less”.

How Californians Do Snow

We finally hit the slopes to go snowboarding this season. We figured we'd go before all the snow melted since it's been warmer than it usually has been in February. It seemed almost silly wearing jackets on a ski slope. It was so hot, people were actually snowboarding in tank tops!

We rented some skiis for Ethan, but he didn't like it much. He didn't like the way his boots made him walk "funny". And he wanted poles like everyone else around him but apparently, they don't make them that small. He spent the rest of the time eating the snow and digging with his skiis.

Jack in the Box: Free Small Fry and Free Small Fountain Drink on Tues, 3/10

Valid all day on Tuesday, March 10. One coupon PER guest, per visit.

Sure doesn't restrict how many times you can visit. :)

Click on photo above to print your coupon.

Don't Let Go

Took this on the way home from a long trip to the Science Museum. I think he held on to that ball for almost an hour before it finally rolled off.

Post-Op

Surgery went well, I suppose. I was surprised it needed to go that far. When I fell on Saturday, I knew it hurt like hell, but I had hoped it was just a sprain. Learned pretty quickly at urgent care that night that I would have to deal with at least a cast. By Tuesday, the ortho specialist tells me they have to put pins and wires in my hand.

Pins!

I was glad they set up an appointment for my surgery fairly quickly. Yesterday, I went in, got prepped, was completely out through the procedure, recovered long enough to drink through a straw, went home and slept for most of the night and the better part of this morning.

I was told they didn't have to open me up. They somehow stuck the pins and wires and manipulated my bones through the skin. I have a temporary splint still, until my follow up next week where I'm guessing they'll be putting it in a cast.

For now, Vicodin's become my best friend. It usually makes me woozy, but I'll take woozy over excruciating pain any day. I took today off just to take it easy... and I'll likely spend the weekend laying around too.....

Ihave to say, Mike has been an angel throughout this whole ordeal. It's an odd change of roles where I'm the broken one and he's the one cooking dinner and timing my pain meds. I don't know what I would do without him!

I really did a number this time

Apparently, you just can't snap this one together.

I Guess Mommies Get Boo Boos Too

My mugshot at urgent care

My first actual BROKEN bone in my entire existence (not counting the hairline fracture at the tip of my finger I sustained as a souveneir from boot camp). This time, the culprit is that dang extreme sport they call snowboarding. Go figure.

I'll post my gruesome xrays tonight.

So I have to go in for surgery tomorrow – pre-op instructions say the procedure should take about 45 minutes but I’ll probably be out a little longer than that. They have to put rods to keep my bone in place and then perhaps cast it for the next 2 months.

I’ll be taking Friday off to recover, although I imagine I’ll probably just sleep it off tomorrow and be fine the next day. Then again, I thought initially it was just a sprain… and now it’s turned into a whole saga. A saga that Mike is very much familiar with… but not me!

I guess mommies break too sometimes……

More updates later.


P.S. It’s hard to freaking type with one hand.

Gap, Gap Outlet, Banana Republic, Banana Republic Factory Stores and Old Navy: Friends and Family 30% off - March 12-15, 2009 ONLY

Get 30% off during our Friends & Family event. We're calling it Give & Get because for every purchase you make, we give 5% of the amount you spend to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society; and in thanks, you get a 30% discount on your total purchase.

When: 4 days only, March 12-15th

Where: Gap, Gap Outlet, Banana Republic, Banana Republic Factory Stores and Old Navy

How: Present this page at the register. Use it as many times as you'd like.



Link to coupon

The Love for Ketchup

I don't know why he loves ketchup so much. He eats about everything. He hasn’t been that finicky type of kid, thank goodness, but of course there's moments when he doesn't feel eating at long. That is, unless there's ketchup on it! He won't take no for ketchup! If he doesn’t want to eat, all we have to do is bribe him with ketchup.

Mike, of course, insists that Ethan got that disgusting habit from me. He’s a little weirded out that I put ketchup on almost everything – eggs, pizza, any kind of protein – so we always have several bottles in the pantry because I flip out when we run out. It’s tomatoes, people! I don’t think there’s anything weird about it!

Except I don’t put it on Jello…. Now, THAT’s a little weird…..

The other day, he was snooping around in my car and saw my secret ketchup stack and got so excited. I’ve had to start doing that since I get so livid when I go through the drive thu (and even after asking for it numerous times), they still forget to give me some. Thanks to my superfluous planning skills, I am never disappointed any longer so long as I keep up with my emergency stash.

Facade

For the past couple of days, Ethan and I have seemingly been having the same conversation.

Ethan: It hurts, mommy.

Me: What hurts baby?

Ethan: :coughing: My throat :his hands on his chest:

Me: You mean your chest? Does your chest hurt when you cough?

Ethan: Nooooooo. :annoyed that I didn’t get it the first time: My throat hurts. And it goes down, down, down and down. :motions from his head to his shoulders to his tummy to his knees and all the way down to his toes:

Me: Your toes hurt too?

Ethan: Yes, it hurts too.

Me: I’m sorry.

Ethan: I’m sick. Make it feel better.

Me: What do you want me to do sweetheart?

Ethan: Take me to the doctor.

Me: First, you have to rest, and eat and drink your medicine. That will make you feel better.

Ethan: Are you a doctor, mommy?

Me: Yes, I’m Dr. Mommy.


That nasty cold is back, and the nasty cough that comes along with it. It started a few days ago, and we’ve just been giving him some over the counter suppressants and his breathing treatments. The last time around, the pediatrician didn’t give him medicine until he had been sick for at least 2 weeks. He suggests we let these viruses take its course, before rushing to give him antibiotics. But when my kid is wheezing in the middle of the night and coughing up his lung, what else am I supposed to do???? The other night, we saw him for the first time puking in the toilet. Of course, he was more fascinated with the chunks coming out of his mouth and flushing the toilet a hundred times than the fact he just pushed out stomach acid through his esophagus.

Then again… aside from the coughing, snots, loss of appetite and heightened irritability… you wouldn’t guess that this boy is sick. If anything, he is MORE hyper! Either that or he’s learned very quickly that he gets to get away with a little more stuff when he is “sick”.

This is why I shouldn't own a gun

Army Buddies

8 years.

I signed 8 years of my life to the Army.

For 8 years, I trained, I traveled, I sacrificed, I obeyed and disobeyed orders, I led. I met the biggest assholes in the history of mankind, the noblest of leaders, and best of friends (one I ended up marrying!).

It's amazing. It's one of the things I miss the most. Forming bonds with people who you probably otherwise wouldn't consider to say hello to - let alone trust your life with.

Last night, Mike and I met up with an old friend, Pete. We all survived (and enjoyed) Bosnia together - years and years ago. I don't know why, but we all somehow, someway, stay in touch even after we got back from the deployment. We're all in different places in our lives now - and I suspect Pete is going to be a lifer (probably retire in the Army) - we have lived in the opposite sides of the country - but sitting around happy hour last night just re-affirmed that these are the kinds of friendships that sustain any time or distance.

Tight is the new fad

It sucks not having vacation time.

I used up all of mine during the holidays and I now barely just have a day and a half of paid time off. What’s even more annoying is that my current job recently changed their time off policies (before I came on board) and now there is only one pot of accrued time for both vacation or sick.

Needless to say, I missed out on a good trip last week – Mike and Ethan went to Paso Robles and Solvang on later in the week to watch the the Tour of California in all its glory. They got to see the cyclists cross the finish line on Stage 5 on Thursday and then watched the time trials on Friday.

Looked like they had a BLAST!

Levi Leipheimer won the Tour of California (for his third straight year). He is in the same team (Team Astana) as Lance Armstrong, who finished in 7th overall -- not bad for his first ride back from retirement. Go USA!

Get a Free Quiznos Sub

Sorry I didn't get to post over the weekend. I have TONS and TONS of photos I want to scrap and post, but just didn't quite get to it. I'll try to get some up this afternoon...

Meanwhile, here's another freebie I ran across! Yummmm....

Quizno's is giving away one million free subs by just registering with your name and email address here. You will get an email with a link to print the coupon for ONE FREE SMALL SIGNATURE SUB or SMALL EVERY DAY VALUE SUB.

It has a unique coupon code so I'm guessing you can only use it once, but you can use separate email addresses. Coupon also says Photo ID required for redemption.

You may also want to call the store ahead of time to make sure they are participating and will accept the coupon. Store Locator

Enjoy!