As always, I would first like to thank CSN stores for letting me hold this giveaway on Ten Talents. It's nice to be able to give something back to my readers:) And a big thank you to those of you who took the time to check out the Eames Lounge Chair and enter the giveaway!
Out of 430 valid entries, the winner of the $45 CSN gift card code is #27, Letherton!
Congratulations :) I will be emailing you shortly!
While supplies last, you can head over to Aunt Jemima's FB page, like them, and watch a short video for a coupon good for free frozen pancakes. To watch the video, click on the red arrow on the small picture (under the "meet some of the folks" note).
Don't forget -- my $45 CSN gc giveaway ends tomorrow at NOON EST, so you've got less than 24 hours left to enter! Here's a **bonus entry** for my readers - tell me your favorite dessert on the giveaway post for one extra entry. This only counts if you've completed the mandatory entry, and you can take this bonus entry if you've already entered in the past or if you're just entering today!
A big thank you to Gale from ScribblePrints for letting me know that it might help for me to post about some blogs that are hosting their own This for That and LEL linkys! The problem is that the linky no longer works and I can't see any of the information, so....I only know of two: (1) Tori from Learning to be Thrifty is hosting a This for That type linky called the Helping Hand Linky. (2) Gale is hosting a linky for giveaways with less than 50 entries HERE. If you are also hosting a This for That or Low Entry Lowdown type post/linky, please leave a comment with a link to your site/post/linky so others can find it. I will direct ppl to this post in the future if they are looking for either type of linky.
If you have any $10 RRs left from past deals that are going to expire soon, here's a way to use it/them and get $10 in RR back with little out of pocket.
1- Right Guard Body Wash @ $3.99
1- Ocean Spray @ $2.99
1- Arnicare Gel @ $5.99
Total before coupons: $12.97
Total after coupons: $9.97. You will need to get over $10 to use the RR, but you should be able to find something cheap to bring your total over $10. You could buy the Valentine's Conversation Hearts for $.39 (with in-ad Q) or maybe even find something in your clearance section!
Just wanted to share that there is at least one new survey available for you to take to get Disney Movie Rewards points! These surveys are SUPER easy...I think I spent about five minutes total for 2 surveys, and I got 150 reward points for that.
To see if you have any surveys available, log into your Disney Movie Rewards account (or sign up for one if you don't have one). Then click on "My DMR" and then "Surveys". It will show you any surveys you have available and how many points each is worth. I have been saving up my points for a LONG TIME, and I'm excited to get something fun soon!
Dinner Time...that long-awaited and, during some phases of a baby's life, dreaded part of the day :) Dinner time was pretty easy for us before our little one came along. I'd make something that both my husband and I liked, we'd eat, clean up, and it was done. We had fun discussing the day's events and maybe making plans for the week. Etiquette wasn't really something we thought about. Fast forward three years -- dinner time with a one-year-old lady takes a little getting used to, and etiquette is on your mind a lot since the rules are usually being violated. Here are some tips we've learned along the way that you might find useful for your dinner time routine.
Tip 1: DON'T make dinner time TV time (or phone time). I have to admit that we rarely follow this one, but it's something we are working on. I look forward to days when my daughter can join in the conversation with us, and I think family dinner time will really be special for us. Right now she mostly just eats, throws her food around and smiles at us, but I don't want TV to get in the way of this quality time in the future!
Tip 2: DO teach your kids to use a spoon and fork at an early age! My daughter is currently going through a stage where she knows how to use her fork and spoon but is refusing. This has really taught me to value that she at least KNOWS how to use them! She is so much messier when she uses her hands only, which leads to bigger messes for me. It's important to teach her by example and repetition that using her fork and spoon is the right way to eat. I have hope that "this too shall pass" and that what we taught her early on will serve us well in the future when she starts using them again :)
Tip 3: DO eat together...and do whatever you have to do to make that possible! I used to try to make my daughter wait to eat with us, but that was a BIG MISTAKE! I learned that I needed to give her a snack to tide her over until we could all eat together. Now she's not starving by the time we eat, and we get to enjoy our meal together. This gives us time to show her the proper way to eat with her utensils, and it helps us keep an eye on that milk so it doesn't mysteriously end up in her food :) It also helps us teach her the value of spending that time together so that later in life she'll want to be there because she knows the importance of it.
Tip 4: DO make dinner time a fun time! Yes, you get tired of cleaning food off the floor, the high chair, the baby (and sometimes yourself), but try not to let the stress of dinner time make you dread it! Maybe you'll think this is horrible, but I stopped cleaning up ALL of the mess from each meal and started waiting until after dinner to do a more thorough cleaning. This way I'm not upset if some (or most) of her meal ends up on the floor, and we can all enjoy our dinner together. I still try to teach her the etiquette of cleaning up and not making a mess during our meals, but I found that enjoying the time was actually more important than those lessons...at least for now :)
These are just a few simple do and dont's for dinner time that work for our family. We still have SO much to learn when it comes to table etiquette with a baby, but we have had fun learning and we enjoy this time with our lady. I can only imagine that it will get better and better as she starts to interact more with us, though I know that time will bring new dinner time challenges too!
So, what about you? I'd love to know what you've learned that has helped make dinner time a success in your home...and I'd love to know what to expect as my daughter gets older. Funny stories are highly encouraged!!!
“I wrote this blog post while participating in the SocialMoms and Kraft Homestyle Macaroni and Cheese blogging program, for a gift card worth $50. For more information on how you can participate, click here.”
Head over HERE to get a coupon for a FREE can of Chef Boyardee. 1st 50,000 only!
Thanks, Hip2Save and Swaggrabber!........................................................................................................................
Since we were first married, my husband has long been on a hunt for the perfect "man chair". I have yet to see this man chair materialize from what he has in his mind to something tangible we can use in our living room, but I'm going to go ahead and say that CSN's Eames Lounge Chair is nothing if not a MAN chair. (A very rich man's chair, but a man chair nonetheless!) Boy, what a fantastic Valentine's gift that would be!
Speaking of Valentine's Day gifts, you could definitely find something nice at one of CSN's 200+ online stores. They offer free shipping on a lot of their items, and since CSN is giving one of my readers a $45 gift card good at any of their stores, I'd love to show you some items you could get for $45 or less shipped!
How about this pre-seasoned cast iron 10" round griddle with a ribbed grilling surface:
Only $13.85 plus shipping! That's a great price! I like the idea of grilling but not having to stand outside in the cold :)
Or maybe you're in the market for a high chair. We got ours (see below) from CSN stores, and we LOVE it. It's really sturdy, but it's lightweight so we can move it around as needed!
This one is only $34.99 plus shipping!
Here's one of my personal faves! We have one similar to this weather station, and we don't know what we did before we got one. Maybe it's our wildly fluctuating weather lately (-2 high one day and 50 a couple days later) that makes this necessary, but we LOVE our weather station!
Only $39.99 with FREE shipping!
Did I mention they have tools? My husband was SO excited to find out about this! You could get this 36 piece rotary tool set for only $24.99 plus shipping!
So...you can see that they have SO many different items in tons of categories! Now on to the giveaway so that you can enter to win a $45 gift card you can use to buy something from CSN!
MANDATORY ENTRY:
1. Check out the Eames Lounge Chair and tell me the first word (or phrase) that pops in your mind when you see it!
EXTRA ENTRIES (these entries are only valid if the mandatory entry has been completed):
2. Follow Ten Talents via GFC in the right sidebar (1 entry)
3. Like Ten Talents on Facebook (2 entries) {can also click "like" in the right sidebar}
3. Subscribe to Ten Talents via email in the right sidebar (3 entries).
That gives you four ways to enter and a total of 7 entries possible!
Contest open to residents of the USA and Canada, though international fees will apply for Canadian residents. This contest will run from February 7th to February 17th @ noon EST. Comments will be closed after this time, and one winner will be chosen from all the entries using random.org. I will contact the winner via email, and he or she will have 48 hours to respond and accept the prize or I will choose another winner.
Note: Winner will receive a $45 gift certificate, but this does not include shipping. Check out the tons of items that CSN stores offer free shipping on to make your gift certificate go further!
Disclosure: CSN Stores is offering this promotion, but the opinions in this post are solely my opinions. CSN Stores has not provided me with any product, but instead the chance for one of my readers to win (1) one $45 gift certificate. I was not compensated in any other way for this post.
The Deal Pulp Deal of the Day for today is a $10 credit to their site for only $1. I checked out their recent deals and most were under $10, so this seems like a fantastic deal! They recently had a $10 Target e-gift card for only $7, and they had some other good deals too!
Go HERE and check out the Deal of the Day if you're interested. They also offer a $5 credit for every person you refer who buys a deal too, so this is a good site to share about too!
If you're planning on getting the $20 Barnes and Noble Groupon for only $10, make sure to go through Swagbucks first to get 315 Swagbucks too!
You could get 80 points from MyPoints, but since you need roughly 140 points for $1 on MyPoints, the Swagbucks offer is a better deal.
You might be able to use THIS LINK to get the Swagbucks and the Groupon. I'm not totally sure because I clicked on a Swagbucks ad at the top of the page when I was searching and this where the link took me. It might work for you; it might not. You can also go to the Swagbucks home page and get there through one of the main ads!
.......................................................................................................................................................................................................................
PayBox is developing a new online payment service similar to PayPal, and they need Early Bird users to test it out and spread the word. You'll receive $25 just for signing up, and you can get $10 per person you refer. This money is only good within their system until they get enough users to branch out, but if you sign up now you get the free money, which makes it worth it to me :)
You can learn more by clicking on "What Is It" from the link below. You don't have to provide any personal financial information. You'll just get your FREE $25 and be asked to log in and participate as they get ready to launch. You will also be asked to share, and they will give you $10 for each person you refer using your referral link. If you'd like a free $25, I'd love it if you'd use my referral link below:
Hurry over to Tiny Prints and create a Valentine's card for FREE! The 1st 5,000 to enter the code FREELOVE after creating a card will get it shipped to their recipient totally free! I just did it, and they have some GREAT Valentine's cards, so hurry!
I am a 31-year-old wife and mommy to one little lady who we call the Shark for various reasons that I won't list here. We lived in China for the past two years, but we are back in Colorado Springs! We hope to be moving into our remodeled 1889 Victorian home by the Lady's first bday, which is only a month away!
I have been blogging since April or May 2010. I can't remember which one! I first started when I had little to do while we were in China, and now I just try to keep up since life has returned to the hectic American pace. When I'm not online, I love reading, hiking, camping, and just hanging out with my family and friends. When I am online, you can usually find me entering giveaways or taking part in a Twitter party because I think it's fun to win things...who doesn't, really? :)
Thanks for visiting Ten Talents, and please feel free to introduce yourself to me if you're new here! I love meeting new people :)
