Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Monday, December 29, 2008
Am I Supposed to be Upset?
I'm not too sure if I should be upset right now, but regardless, I am. Times are hard for our family right now. Money is very tight and soon after Lil' Buddy was born, I got on WIC (women, infants & children) to help cover some costs since I knew I was formula feeding him and money is so very very tight. I've worked long and hard for many years and paid a lot of money into the state. My husband still works long and hard everyday and they take a nice chunk of his pay as well. I'm not in any way attempting to scam the system or anything. If ya look at it, break it down, our family's income definately meets the criteria for qualifying for WIC.
I went to Stop & Shop this evening to pick up some WIC items (formula, milk, eggs, cheese and juice). I always shop at Stop & Shop even for my regular groceries because they are clean, pretty well organize and of course, they double coupon. Tonight I was only picking up WIC items so I thought it would be pretty easy, in and out. I grabbed all the items I needed, went up to the register and separated out the items for which WIC checks they were included in and the woman ringing me up tells me that I can only get a "can" of juice because thats what it says on the WIC check. I attempted to explain to her that "Can" is an umbrella term for all the acceptable juices on the list. I handed her the little pamphlet that they give you at the WIC office to tell you what you can and cannot get and the juice that I get is definately on there. So the woman goes over to the few other people that are working, all of about 18-21 years of age between them all and they all start trying to tell me that "No, it says can, it has to be a can, like Juicy Juice or something." I have been buying the same juice, which is on the list, for the past 5 months. I try to now explain to them that it is included and their reply is- "Well whatever grocery store you usually go to is wrong." Ummm... yeah okay. "I usually shop HERE." I tell them. The one girl replies- "Well then our cashiers are dumb and obviously don't know what they are doing." I handed these "kids" the acceptable foods pamphlet so that they could see for themselves that the juice I was purchasing was on the list, but they didnt care. They cared about telling me, "No, it HAS to be a CAN." They way these employees talked to me made me feel so small. So pathetic and so unwelcome. The eye rolling, the belittling tone of voice, the huffs... it was humiliating.
Now I'm not one to be too proud to use my resources. I'm not embarassed to be using WIC. I am proud of myself for being able to admit that I need a hand. So then why am I so ridiculously upset? I left everything on the belt and left. I'm upset because no matter what, those kids working in that store still looked down at me. I'm upset because I feel like I let them win. I left all my items that I needed on the belt and said, "Fine, I'll just go somewhere else. This is really poor service." I walked out the door without the milk, eggs, without the cheese or formula. I'm upset because I inconvenienced myself, instead of just sucking it up and grabbing different juice, because I know that I didn't have to.
Is this the type of attitude that I'd like my daughter to see? Is this actually who I am? Granted Boug was not with me at the time, but would I ever want her to see me not hold my ground when I KNOW that I am the one who is right? Do I want her to know that I backed down and let someone put me down? Do I want her to know that its okay to take attitude from someone who has no right to dish it out to you??
Maybe I'm just reading too much into this, letting my emotions get the best of me. All I know is I'll be calling the manager in the morning and I'll be getting my WIC items at Hannaford from now on. They dont talk down to me there. They dont double coupon though either.
Friday, December 26, 2008
Zenses Review & Giveaway
**COMMENTS ARE CLOSED AND A WINNER WILL BE ANNOUNCED SHORTLY! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!**
So who got a Nintendo DS 
Game Factory Games has Zenses, which a great "me-time" game. Snag this up for yourself, sneak your kids DS and hide in closet with a bottle of wine...
Zenses has an Zenses: Ocean Edition
Zenses is different because there is no reason to press any keys except to turn your DS on! They are both played with the stylus only. There are 6 easy to pick up but oh-so-addictive puzzley brain games to enjoy.
The Zenses: Rainforest Edition
The Zenses: Ocean Edition
These are single player games, rated E for Everyone and run about $29.99 each. They are available at Amazon.com, Target, Wal-Mart and many other retailers.
Want both of these games? One winner will receive both the Zenses: Ocean Edition
How to enter--
Leave a comment letting me know how you relax or snag a little "me" time.
Extra entry? Blog about it and leave me the link!
3rd entry? Subscribe or Follow me!
This giveaway will end on Wednesday, December 31st at Midnight ET. This is how I'm ringing in the New Year to you! This giveaway is open to U.S. residents. Please remember, I need a way to contact you! Either leave your email address in the comment or make sure that it is available in your blogger profile!!
Thank you to Family Review Network and Game Factory Games for making this review and giveaway possible!
Pledge Giveaway Winner!!
Random.org drew number 6 as our Pledge winner!
Congrats to Sandy @ Mom Forever And Ever who said--
Rolltop desk looks sweet when using it
Sandy- You've been emailed!!
Weight Watchers Review
Now that the holidays are almost completed, New Years resolutions are being made and I'm more than positive that many people are once again saying- "I WILL lose weight this year!" I know that I'm one of those, I've got about an extra 50 pounds on me right now. 2 kids are not always forgiving on a body! The problem is I love food way too much and I'm way too broke to join a gym around here, they are so expensive, so every time that I attempt to lose weight, it just never happens. I'm always making up my own pretend diets, trying to hunker down on myself and not eat crap, be more active etc.... but FINALLY, a support system. Weight Watchers has launched a new Facebook group. On the facebook page, you can find new recipes along with the new Snack Widget! You can type in what you're in the mood for and it gives you a sensible version of what you're looking for. I typed in "Chocolate Cake" and it showed me to try the WW Caramel Cake or WW Chocolate Cake. Each of those options are only 1 WW point per serving! I put in "pudding" and it showed me that Weight Watchers offers a sugar-free chocolate pudding and a Boston cream pie yogurt!
Now here's my favorite part- Weight Watchers has new incrEdible rewards! I love love love love label clipping programs, points collecting programs and stuff like that. This is now RIGHT up my alley! Over the past year I've done VERY well with redeeming from points programs and now this is a new one that I'm definately interested in. For every Weight Watchers food product you buy, you earn credits for rewards. They have great choices, L'Occitane lotion, Garmin Nuvi, an Audiovox Portable DVD player and so many more! These arent any chintzy rewards! Its like a present for eating better!
Check out Weight Watchers incrEdible rewards, check out their facebook group and check out their main web site for so much more information!
Whats your New Years resolution? Whats your weight loss goal? Find something on the incrEdible rewards that you would love to eat to earn? Leave a comment and let me know!!
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Polliwalks Winner!
Polliwalks winner!!
Random.org drew #121 as our winner!
Klinder, you have been emailed!!
Monday, December 22, 2008
100th post meme???
Wasn't I supposed to post some sort of meme or something for my 100th post????
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Whatcha Having for Dinner Tonight??
Need an idea for a quick and easy recipe?
I know I should have taken a picture, but last night we had a wonderful Bruschetta Chicken Bake with some lemon-pepper seasoned squash.
I am not one to make recipes that are overly complicated or that contain more than 5-7 ingredients.
1-1.5 lb chicken, raw, cut into bite size pieces
1 can diced tomatoes, do not drain!
1 box stuffing mix
Italian seasoning
1 c. mozzarella cheese
1/2 c. water
Mix together the water, tomatoes and stuffing just until moist.
In an 8 x 8 baking dish, place the chicken on the bottom, sprinkle some italian seasoning on, then a layer of mozzarella cheese and finally top it off with the stuffing mixture. Bake in a pre-heated 400 degree oven for 30 minutes or until chicken has cooked through!
I found this recipe from the wonderful Kraft magazine but changed it ever so slightly for my own taste. I didn't have dried basil like it called for so I used italian seasoning. It called for the stuffing mix to be for chicken but the one that I had on hand was sage, and it was still great!
Let me know if you ever make this and how it turned out!! Enjoy!!
Today's Amazon.com Gold Box Deal!!
Its a good one today!!! Make sure you check it out, today, Sunday 12/21, cause that's the only time its going to be available at this price!!
Philips 9.4-Inch Digital Photo Frame (Metal & Wood)
Remember, today is your last full day to order for 2-day shipping!!
Pick up those last minute gifts!!
We're counting down the days til' Christmas in our house. I waited til' Boug fell asleep and started wrapping presents and I probably would be still going if I hadn't run out of tape. (Duh... should have picked that up)
Here's a few more great deals at Amazon.com
The Wild Planet Hyper Jump
The The Moment Of Truth
The Disney Fairies are HUGE right now and you can pick up the Disney Clickables Fairy Game by Techno Source
The fabulous Dr. Seuss game, Oh The Places You'll Go! Board Game
The Playskool Dream Town Sweet Lily Vanity
is now only $15.97, and its usually $42.99! The pink and purple vanity is the perfect spot for your princess to play dress up. Its designed to nest inside of the Playskool Dream Town Sweet Lily Castle
For a smaller tot, the Playskool Busy Lil Garden Butterfly
Also, there is the 30 piece Playskool Clipo Mini Bucket
Quick reminder, I'm just passing these deals on to you as I see them. I am not in charge of any actual pricing and Amazon changes its prices as it sees fit. Please dont blame me if something changes before you get to it at the price I quoted. These sales come quick and sometimes go quick. I've seen them even go LOWER than the prices that I had originally posted!!
Let me know if and what you've picked up from any of my "great deal" posts!! I'd love to know!!
Friday, December 19, 2008
Its winter in NY...
***Comments closed. Giveaway over, a winner will be announced shortly!***
Its winter in New York, so that means my skin is going to start getting drier and drier by the day. Now I really really dont pity myself or anything, I'll just slap on some lotion and I have fairly resilient skin and it bounces back. But my husband, my poor, crap-skinned husband, winter just kills his skin more than anything. He's a butcher (if you need any meat advice, hit me up) and works in a 35 degree room many long hours a day and then leaves that room to NY winter weather, below freezing temperatures and whipping winds. And on top of that, he has a dermatitis allergy which kills his skin too. Its pathetic. So of course, I'm always interested in lotions etc, to help take care of his skin, and I cannot wait to try out the Vaseline Intensive Rescue Clinical Therapy lotion. There's a whole story of "Prescribing the Nation" on the site and there are a bunch of YouTube videos as well. This one particularly hit home for me, I feel so bad because he's got his crappy skin rubbing on the Lil' Buddy with every diaper change, hug, feeding and playtime.
I really really really am excited to slather him with this in a totally unromantic, non-sexual way!! LOL!!
Oh, and there's totally a sweepstakes for an 8-day Alaskan adventure for four!! 5 people win $100 SpaFinder gift cards weekly and the first 45,000 to enter will receive 2 free samples of the Vaseline Clinical Therapy lotion. I'm not sure I wanted to tell you about that, I wanted to keep my odds of winning good!! Ahh, go on, get over there, check out the stories, check out the videos, register for some sweeps and send an e-card!!
Thanks to Family Review Network for making this review possible!
Music Lovers!!
Check it out, because I'm not too sure how long this will be around for!!
Amazon.com has FREE MP3 DOWNLOADS!
Only a few days left!!
We only really have a few days left for holiday shopping online to arrive in time for Christmas. At Amazon.com
Some of you may have read my post about the Hasbro Playskool Dream Town Rose Petal Cottage
Have an animal lover in your life? Free Gift with Purchase magazines
These are too cute!! P'Kolino Silly Soft Seating
What about for the little bit older girlie girl?? With the purchase of a Barbie Girl MP3 Player
Hannah Montana alert!! Save $40 on the Hannah Montana G2 Deluxe TV Game
Super hot deal right now on the EyeClops BioniCam
, its usually $79.99 but you can get it for only $19.99!! This is a hot seller this year and looks like so much fun! It has a full color screen, multiple lenses and a battery pack!!
Dont want to spend a huge amount of money on a motion based video game system? Love to dance? Check out the U-Dance
, marked from $79.99 to $19.99!! This plugs directly into the television and attach the wireless foot tags to your feet!!
We love the Disney channel, but our po-dunk little town doesn't even offer it through the cable company... but you can grab the Scene It? Disney Channel
An instant classic, Clue
is now only $4.99 when its usually $15.99!
For the boy in your life, The Dangerous Book for Boys
And a gift that will last all year long?? I breifly touched on it before, but magazine subscriptions are great!! You can take $5 off magazine subscriptions
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Ice Storm
So as some of you may have realized, I was not around from Thursday pm until Tuesday afternoon. Here in my area of New York, we had a crazy ice storm Thursday night that knocked out our power. We wound up in a state of emergency with no unneccessary driving because of all the trees that were down and all the debris that was everywhere. Lucky for us, my parents own a generator and even though they lost power too, we plugged in their generator at their house and all stayed there for a few days. I forgot what it was like to live at home again....
The clean up on this one is going to take some time I'm sure and I think that there are still people without power. My thoughts are with them and I feel aweful for them having to make arrangements during this time.
We lost all of our food and we had to start restocking our fridge and freezer from scratch. I went to Stop and Shop yesterday to restock and even though I used as many coupons as I possibly could, it still cost $90, cutting into the money that was put aside for Christmas for the kids. I had put a whole bunch of food out on the porch, where it was cold, but 2 days after we lost power (and STILL didn't have it back) it warmed up to almost 60 degrees and the little bit that I thought I would be able to save was gone.
Ice on the grass--
Tree down and some debris at my parents--
When they started to clean up the debris--
This road had actually begun to thaw out at this point, when it was covered in ice though, the trees and bushes were so heavy they were narrowing the road so much that it was about 2/3 of a lane wide right in the middle. The overhang from the trees and bushes onto the left and right sides of the road was huge.
Ice on a bush--
Pledge Review & Giveaway!
***COMMENTS ARE CLOSED AND WINNER WILL BE ANNOUNCED SHORTLY!!***
I am not so good on housework. I mean REALLY not so good on housework.
I received a can of Pledge Natural Beauty to use and review and I am so happy. We have a TON of wood in our house and I'm not so good on keeping up with dusting. I'm better with keeping up on the vaccuming and stuff, thats why when I saw that it has an Anti-Dust Formula that keeps surfaces less dusty for longer I was so excited! I mean really, who WANTS to dust? Not me. Not now. Not never.
Pledge informed me that 90% of American homes maintain a household conducive to allergies due to the presence of pets and plants. Well count me in on that number, we have a cat.
Pledge helps reduce the allergens by trapping and removing dust mite allergens, pet dander and pollen found in household dust. With the kids in the house especially, its important to me to get rid of the allergens, since they dont have any allergies now, I dont want them developing any when I can just dust once a week and get rid of the potential harm!!
Check out Pledge.com for all sorts of facts, new products, allergen guide and a product sorter based on what type of furniture or surface you want to clean!
Ewh, and have you ever bought cheap-o furniture dust cleaner and sprayed it on and then went to wipe it off and the dust like rolls up? Or smears all over... ewh... I'll never use dollar store dust stuff again. Pledge doesn't do that, it cleans so easily and wipes off sooooo easily!
This is much better after dusting....
Ignore the dust on the red candle, I forgot about it. And all the candles are still out from Thursday... I haven't gotten around to putting them away yet!!
I have a can of Pledge Natural Beauty to giveaway to a reader!!
To enter, just leave a comment letting me know what your favorite Pledge product is, or what you use Pledge to clean the most!!
Extra entry?? Blog about this giveaway and post a comment giving me the link!
This giveaway will end on Friday, December 26th at noon eastern. Winner will be drawn with random.org and posted shortly thereafter. Winner will be emailed and must respond within 3 days or a new winner will be drawn.
This post was written for Family Review Network as part of a program for SC Johnson, who also supplied the product for review.
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