Need a quick gift...and cheap? Get a Restaurant.com Gift Certificate!

Here it is a week before Christmas and I realized I still needed a couple of gifts for some friends. Here in sunny Florida it's not exactly sunny right now--it's cloudy, it's raining, and it's a little chilly. All this lovely weather means I don't want to drag my daughter all over town looking for a couple of last minute gifts.

Here is the solution to my problem:

Right now Restaurant.com is running a promotion good through December 25th where you can get a $25 Restaurant.com gift certificate for only $2! How awesome is that? You have the option of getting a gift certificate for a specific restaurant or one that they can use at any of the over 13,000 restaurants nationwide. Now at Restaurant.com you also have the option of getting a gift card instead of a gift certificate you print out yourself or email to your gift receiver. This would be good for those people that can just throw it in their wallet and not have to worry about a certificate fading or something being spilled on it.

To take advantage of this offer that is available through December 25th, click the pretty little button at the bottom of this post. Once you are at the checkout enter code SANTA to have your 80% taken off of the cost of your gift certificate or gift card. I decided to get two $25 gift cards and only paid $6!!


  For your friends and family that enjoy dining out--or even to get for yourself--this is a great deal that you can't pass up!

Roku Digital Video Player

I only recently got into Netflix a few months ago, but I must say I absolutely love it! I love watching movies and being entertained, but I don't always get a chance to go see the movies I really want to see when they are playing at the theaters.

Netflix is perfect for me--unlimited movies every month at a low price. Now if there is a movie I didn't get a chance to see in the theater I don't have to pay $3.99 per movie on pay per view or wait until it comes out on cable. I pay $13.99 per month to get 2 movies at a time and unlimited "instant watch" movies. Instant watch movies are ones that you can watch immediately if you have a Netflix approved device, such as on your computer, certain brands of HD TVs or Blu-Ray players, and even certain gaming devices.

Now this is all fine and dandy if you have one of these devices already, but what if you don't? Sure I was thinking about getting a gaming system, but it's not something I really feel like spending my money on right now--most of them are anywhere from $199 to $299, not to mention the controllers and games and cables...money, money, money!

 Now look at this...

A Roku Player is a digital video player that allows you to watch movies instantly from such companies as Netflix or Amazon. Roku players start as low as $79.99 allowing you to watch movies, listen to music, or even check out some of your favorite social networking sights right from your TV. Not sure if this is something you would actually use? Try it out FREE for 30 days along with free return shipping if you change your mind. Now say you have a couple of Netflix movies at your house already, or you are waiting for you new ones to arrive. What if at that time you really want to watch a specific movie that is available as an instant movie? I know my husband and I aren't going to want to crowd around my laptop trying to watch a movie, so a Roku player would be right up our alley. We could just hook it up to one of our TVs and watch the movie right away!

My birthday is next month and I think this might be a present I get for myself...

Product Review -- Kalencom 2-in-1 Potette Plus Travel Potty/Training Seat

Last year when I was out in the middle of nowhere and my daughter informed me that she needed to go potty, I decided that as soon as we got home I was going to order a travel potty system, provided I didn't have to clean up a mess first.

Luckily Lilly was able to hold it for 20 minutes until we got home. Later on I went on Amazon to look up different travel potty systems and read all the reviews before I made my decision. After reading up on everything, I decided upon the Kalencom 2-in-1-Potette Plus travel potty seat. You can order it in four different colors: red, pink, blue, or green. Of course I got the pink since it is Lilly's favorite color.

I have had this system for a year and it is awesome! Not only can it be used as a travel potty, but you can also take it with you into a bathroom and use it as a potty seat--very convenient when you are at a restaurant! All you have to do is fold the legs out and it sits on top of any toilet seat--no more buying liners to keep in your diaper bag when there isn't one provided. After you are done with it you can just fold it up and put it in your diaper bag, backpack, or whatever you use to carry around your child's stuff :-) When you are using it as a travel potty seat, you put these disposable liners on it and they hook onto the bottom of the legs so they don't slide off. They also have some padding attached to the inside so that your child doesn't get splashed while going potty. Once they are done you can tie it up and throw it away or put it in the drawstring bag that comes with the system so you can hold it until you get some place to dispose of it. The refills for this system are inexpensive as well, which is very nice, and can also be purchased on Amazon.

If you are looking for a travel potty system, this is the only one you'll need!

Movie Review -- The Princess and the Frog

Today after we picked up our daughter from preschool we decided we needed a little family fun time. We told her we had a surprise for her and asked her, "Wasn't there some special new movie that you wanted to see?" She very excitedly replied, "The frog prince!!" We confirmed to her that we were going to see the Princess and the Frog. For all her excitement I was also excited--excited that she would be able to see a brand new princess movie.

I'm sure many of you have seen the previews for the Princess and the Frog, but I still don't want to give anything away. From the previews you can see this is a story about a girl that grows up with the big dream of someday owning her own restaurant in New Orleans. One night she is at a party dressed up as a princess when she meets the frog. This frog isn't just any frog; he is Prince Naveen, a man turned into a frog by an evil voodoo doctor. Both the girl and the prince grew up hearing the story of the Frog Prince, and Naveen convinces the girl to kiss him so that he'll turn back into a prince and he can reward her. Only unlike the classic fairy tale, when she kisses him the reverse actually happens and she herself is also turned into a frog.

The fun begins...

The two frogs end up in the bayou where they run into the jazz-loving alligator Louis and a very Creole-sounding firefly named Ray. Naveen and Tiana become friends with these two characters on their way to see Mama Odie, a very old woman of the bayou that supposedly can help them to become human again, or so they hope. You'll just have to go see it because I'm not giving anything away!

This is a very good movie as Disney goes back to its roots (so to speak) of making animated movies with more music interwoven into the storyline. There are many interesting characters in this movie and several of them sing songs that help explain the story. And with the jazz-era songs, who wouldn't love it? It certainly had our three year-old up and dancing in front of her seat!

Disney's Give a Day Get a Day Program

The other night I was playing around on Facebook--killing people on Mafia Wars and seeing what my friends have been up to. One of my girlfriends out in California posted a link for a campaign Disney is running called the Give A Day Get A Day program. I enjoy Disney, more so now that I have a little girl, so I checked it out.

How awesome is this?! You donate one day of your time and in return you get a free ticket to a Walt Disney World or Disneyland theme park!! Not only do you get a free ticket, but you get that warm and fuzzy feeling inside knowing you did some much needed volunteer work. The program doesn't start until the first of the year, but you can go to the website now and sign for emails. Once January 1st hits you can search for something you want to volunteer your time to at one of their participating organizations.

If you like volunteering, check it out. If you like Disney, check it out. If you like the idea of a free ticket you definitely need to check it out! Who knows...volunteering this one day of your time might spur you to start volunteering more of your time to those who need the help!

Happy Holidays everyone!

Funny Job Interview Story

My daughter is getting older now and so I have decided to try and get back into the work force. I have updated my resume on Monster.com and other sites and started getting daily emails pertaining to available sales positions. There have been a few jobs that have peaked my interest, but nothing I have wanted to really fight hard for.

Last week I applied for a sales position for a dating service. Let me clarify, a dating service as in "we're in the business of finding you your soul mate" and not dating service as in call-girl service...LOL. I applied and got a response back pretty quickly for me to call and schedule an interview--the next day I set one up for this week. Yesterday I drove an hour to go to this interview. I was probably more curious about the position than anything since I didn't even have that excited, butterflies in the stomach, kind of feeling.

Was that missing feeling ever justified! I get in there and start talking to the manager, who was a very poor interview if I must say, and she tells me they are looking for someone to be a one-time closer. And by a one-time closer she meant someone that upon first meeting with a potential client gets them to commit to becoming their client and paying the $8,000 fee. That's right--$8000!!

It was so hard for me to not bust out laughing at the thought that this company gets people to pay them $8000 to find them a potential husband or wife. There is no way in hell I would pay that kind of money to find a husband nor do I know anyone who would. After dropping this awesome nugget of information into my lap she asks me if this is even the kind of sales position I am interested in, to which I respond no, "I'm not interested in high pressure sales." Which is exactly what that is. I turn down offers to be a car salesman all the time because I am not interested in high pressure sales. At least when you are looking for a vehicle you know about what you are going to pay!

This short interview ended with a "Thank you, but no thank you" and I left, smiling cordially and dying to get outside and laugh out loud and call my husband and my friends and tell them about what had happened. Almost the whole ride home I was talking to either my husband, my mom, and two of my girlfriends telling them about this company and the services they offer and what they charge for it.

I think a mail-order bride might be cheaper...and if it doesn't work out you might get your money back!

Woo hoo!

Okay, so a few weeks ago I wrote about how I went to get my daughter's picture taken with Santa while I was out shopping and in the process of trying on different dresses the pictures got lost. I was so bummed and so was my daughter--which was probably the worst part, that look of disappointment on her face.

So its been a couple of weeks and I just gave up since no one called to say they were found and I left my number both at the store I lost them in, plus at the little place in the mall where the pictures were taken. Well two days ago I get a phone call from the manager of the Santa photo place asking if I had gotten my pictures back and if not to give her a call if I need to have them retaken. I thought that was so incredible sweet of her to check on us to see if we had found them or if they had been returned. So today I decided "what the hey, I'll call the store to see if someone turned them in." And you know what, someone did!!

I was so excited that I called my mom right away to tell her the good news. Later on after my daughter I woke up from her nap and I told her and she was just as excited, but on a whole different level. I called the manager of the Santa photo place in the mall to let her know how much I appreciated the call and that yes, someone had found the pictures.

So today I went to the mall to pick up my pictures and they were there in perfect condition! Everything was in the envelope--the pictures, the photo key rings, the coupon book, even the gift card for shutterfly!! This was just the thing I needed...after all, who doesn't love some good news?