Angie – Page 994 – Luv Saving Money

The Wild Side review and giveaway: part of "A Bonanzle Bonanzle"–CLOSED

I’ve always admired photographers. I’ve found myself wondering how they get the picture at just the right moment. How long do photographers wait to get “the shot”? Particularly when dealing with mother nature.

The Wild Side Bonanzle Booth is full of pictures like this. Gorgeous photos of sunsets, deer, flowers and much more. The prices are extremely reasonable. (As I would have it on Free Stuff, Fun Sites, Contests, and More). Liz of The Wild Side offers two different ways to have your pictures delivered. You can order them and she will matte them with a professional look. Or mail them unmatted.

Here are the matted ones I received:

I know this is not a good picture on my part. I wanted you to see the matte mostly. They came shipped with a clear sleeve to protect the pictures. Personally, I think they look nice enough to hang like this. You can, of course put them in a frame of your choice.

I took the sleeves off and took a picture of each one in a better light so hopefully you can see more detail. It bothers me some that this blogger here is taking novice home picture of a truly beautiful photography. But this is the best I can do:

I chose deer pictures. My oldest son has a camouflage themed room. Originally supposed to be military camo but slowly he is drifting over to hunting. So this helped him with his choice of decor.

I was also sent a picture via email from The Wild side. I used it as a desktop background. My boys love it.

The photography in The Wild Side Bonanzle Booth is a great place to start to look for a great picture for that space in your home. Choose one for a desktop background like I did. Use them for projects or to add to a scrapbook theme.

GIVEAWAY

Liz of The Wild Side Bonanzle Booth is offering a choice of either 5 emailed photos or 2 matted/unmatted photos of the winners choice to THREE of my readers! This giveaway is open Internationally with the exceptions for Mexico, Cuba, and Iran.

Mandatory Entry: Visit The Wild Side and leave a comment stating which picture is your favorite and why. Don’t forget to leave an email address so I can contact you if you win.

Bonus Entries: Leave a comment for each entry. If it says +1 leave one comment for that entry. +2 leave two comments for that entry and so on.

1. Register with Bonanzle.com (+5) it’s FREE and leave your Bonanzle handle

2. Leave a comment in the chat box on The Wild Side telling Liz you’re visiting from Free Stuff, Fun Sites, Contests, and More (+3)

3. Follow FFCandM with google friend connect, Networked blogs, by email, and/or by RSS feed. Leave a comment letting me know you did so. Email MUST be confirmed to count. (+1 for each) All are in right hand column.

4. Enter any of my other giveaways and let me know in a comment which ones you entered. Leave a seperate comment for each one entered (+1) for each.

5. Tweet the following giveaway message on twitter: “I entered to win my choice of photos from The Wild side and @angiewith3 http://bit.ly/TWSbon 8/30 3 winners #giveaway” (+2)
**be sure to leave the link to your tweet in a comment. Click on the time stamp of your tweet then copy the URL of the page with your lone tweet on it. Paste into a comment***

6. Leave the following message on your facebook status: “I entered to win my choice of photos from The Wild Side and Free Stuff, Fun Sites, Contests, and More 3 winners! 8/30 www.luvsavingmoney.info”
**be sure to leave the link to your facebook status. follow instructions for tweet status link if you’re not sure how. It works the same way***

3 winners will be selected on Aug. 30, 2010 at 10 PM EST. Winners will have 48 hours to respond to winner notification email. If no response in that time frame, a new winner will be chosen. Winners will be chosen randomly via random.org.

**I received an emailed photo and 2 matted photos at no cost to me to enable me to complete a review. I received no monetary compensation for this post. Any opinions expressed are my own**

Free Stuff, Fun Sites, Contests, and More

Another Way to Save—Low Entry Giveaways

I know this method is not a guarantee. I wouldn’t COUNT on a low entry giveaway to get you something you really want but I’ve saved myself a lot of money like this. Ten Talents blog introduced me to the lovely world of low entry blog giveaways. Now I’m addicted.

Well it’s true that you’re probably not going to find…say…a Dyson Vacuum in low entry giveaway, BUT you can save yourself some money on groceries, health and beauty items, small toys that are great for reward systems for the kids (or the holidays will be here before you know it and will make great stocking stuffers or prizes at a kids birthday party).

I’d like to share with you what I’ve won on low entry giveaways in the LAST MONTH. The purpose of this is to prove a point.

1. 3 coupons for FREE Wanchai Ferry Frozen Entrees
2. 1 coupon for a FREE ANY Gorton’s Seafood Item (and you know some of that stuff is expensive like coconut shrimp, Tilapia, etc)
3. 2 coupons for FREE 6 packs of Aquafina flavor splash + 6 lip glosses
4. 1 Bottle of Fiber Gummies
5. $50 Card Direct gift code (for personalized greeting cards great for thank you’s, advertise my blog whatever)
6. 2 Teething Bling necklaces (I really wanted to try these and saved myself some money)
7. 2 boxes of Mom’s Best Cereal
8. An eatsmart kitchen scale (I needed a kitchen scale and again saved myself some money)
9. $25 gc to Walmart (who couldn’t use that??)
10. A Nature Sounds CD (it was an item of my choice from Twin Sister Productions that’s what I chose)
11. Affordable Scarves gc ( I was able to buy myself to lovely scarves for the upcoming winter with this one)
12. A coupon for FREE Breyers Ice Cream (um yum!)

That’s just the ones I can remember. I really don’t spend all day on the computer ( I work every morning and have 3 boys so that couldn’t happen even if I wanted it to) Now I honestly don’t know what all that adds up to since I don’t know the retail value of some of the actual products i won but I think it would be safe to say at least $100 in savings.

I just entered a giveaway today to win 2 coke tshirts and 25 mycokereward points. And 5 OTHER winners will also get 25 mycokereward points. There was only 5 entries including mine. Ends tomorrow. http://www.themamazone.com/2010/08/coca-cola-national-parks-and-fun-in-sun.html

There’s the link, go for it.

So how do you go about finding a Low Entry blog giveaway? It’s really not that hard. Here is a list of ways to find them.

1. (My favorite) Ten Talents blog. She does a Low entry lowdown EVERY DAY! I recommend following that blog.

2. On twitter there’s a little search bar on the right side. Type in “low entries” and hit the search. You will find tweets with bloggers asking for entries (I’m usually there). That’s how I found out about the coke one. You can also try variations of the search and you sometimes get more. Try searching: Very low entries, Super low entries, low entry, no entries, etc.

3. Thrifty Things Low Entry giveaway linky. For giveaways with 75 entries or less. http://thethriftythings.blogspot.com/2010/08/low-entry-link-up.html

4. You can also do searches for low entry blog giveaways on google/blingo/yahoo/etc but this is more unreliable because you’ll usually get a bunch of unrelated stuff too.

5. Low Entry Giveaways on Mom bloggers giveaways are supposed to be with under 100 entries but some people sneak in a regular one too so you’ll have to check.

6. Low entry giveaways ending soon on Tight Wad in Utah

When you enter low entry giveaways it not only gives you the best chances of winning something but it also helps out the blogger. Bloggers want your entries in their giveaways.

So go ahead, start entering and start saving some money.

Free Stuff, Fun Sites, Contests, and More

Away for the weekend for Reviews—My first onsite reviews

My family and I are taking a weekend getaway. If anyone read my post about the Pittsburgh Children’s Museum, then you already know about it. If you haven’t read it, please check it out: Pittsburgh Children’s Museum upcoming review

We’re very excited about it. Even though we only live about an hour and 45 minutes away, we’ve never been to the Pittsburgh Children’s Museum. To top it off we’re also going to be reviewing the Doubltree Hotel of Pittsburgh which is right in downtown. The kids are very excited about that. The idea of staying in a hotel sound like so much fun to them. I lived in downtown Pittsburgh for a short while. I used to think how nice the DoubleTree would be to stay at. They are part of the Hilton family of hotels.

The Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh has so many fun things to do. I’m most excited about “The Nursery” room for my 1 year old son. With cause and effect activities, art bridge and texture paths and lots more.
The older boys are looking forward to…well…everything. The Garage and Workshop, Waterplay, and all those. Plus, the traveling Curious George exhibit is there this month!

The Doubletree of Pittsburgh is where we will be staying the weekend. I have been extended nothing but great customer service and a welcoming attitude so far and we haven’t even arrived yet. The DoubleTree of Pittsburgh offers amenities like a complimentary shuttle that will take us to the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh from the DoubleTree. They’re putting a crib in our hotel room which is great. We don’t have to drag the pack and play along. They have a fitness room and indoor pool. The kids and even my hubby are excited about the pool. They even offer notary services, copying services, and foreign currency exchange for your business trips. You can follow The Double Tree of Pittsburgh on twitter: @DoubletreePgh
If you decide to follow them, let them know that @angiewith3 sent you 🙂

When I live in downtown Pittsburgh one of my favorite things was looking out the big window of my 15th floor apart at all the beautiful lights of the city. Fireworks weren’t rare either. Whether they were for a Pirates game, the Regatta, New year’s, or whatever it seemed like there were fireworks several times a month for something. The gorgeous overlook of Mount Washington. Going down to point park to see the tree rivers and the Gateway Clippers going by. You can see Heinz field from Point Park. Yea you know, where the Steelers play. GO STEELERS!

I’m hoping we have enough time to make it to the Strip District which is not far from the DoubleTree of Pittsburgh or the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh. They have neat and unique shops and restaurants. (No night life for me, this is a family trip this time. Though, they do have some great bars and clubs in Pittsburgh as well). My family and I can’t decide where we want to eat while we’re there. I love The Melting Pot while the kids and hubby want to go to the Quaker Steak. I think the Hard Rock Cafe Pittsburgh would be fun too. We’ll see.

I won’t be in the blogosphere this weekend so I’ll get back to you all and catch up on email on Monday. Man, I really wish I had a laptop. I’d even settle for a netbook at this point.

Free Stuff, Fun Sites, Contests, and More

Indizona review and giveaway, part of "A Bonanzle Bonanzle event" CLOSED

Indizona sells an assortment of collectible items and new and used items. Everything from cookbooks, collectible matchbooks, sewing patterns, and more. Also included in her shop, Debbie (of Indizona) wrote her own cook booklet called “Mexican Gourmet Secrets Revealed” a how to booklet.

I received this cook booklet to review. This booklet is only 9 pages long but full of wonderful Mexican cooking tips. I don’t know about you but when I make tacos I’d buy the packages and used ground hamburger all the time. I didn’t really know how to do it any other way. This cook booklet has a great recipe for a Mexican Roast Beef using common ingredients. Very easy to read and follow along.

It’s fun to read how she came about writing this Mexican cook booklet as well: Click here to read about it

This booklet also tells you how to roll tacos using corn tortillas, flour tortillas, enchilada, and burritos so they don’t fall apart. There are illustrations to show some of the steps as well. She even goes into detail about the best type of meat to use and how many tacos each lb. will make.

It seems Debbie has thought of everything for the how-to she’s written.

Check out the other items from Indizona as well.

Review Summary: good prices, great customer service, reasonable prices, and fast shipping make the Indizona’s booth on Bonanzle worth checking out.

GIVEAWAY

Debbie has offered to give 2 of of my readers a copy of Mexican Gourmet Secrets Revealed for their very own.

Mandatory Entry: This must be done to qualify for giveaway before any bonus entries
Read about “Mexican Gourmet Secrets Revealed” and tell me why you’d like to win a copy.

Bonus Entries: Leave a separate comment for each one you do. If it has a +1 after the entry leave 1 comment +3 leave 3 comments for that entry and so on..

1. Visit Indizona’s Booth and leave a comment in Debbie’s chat telling her you’re stopping by from Free Stuff, Fun Sites, Contests, and More (+3)

2. Follow FFCandM by google friend connect, networked blogs, email subscription (must be confirmed), and/or RSS feed. All located in my right hand column (+1 for each one completed)

3. Register for free on Bonanzle.com and leave your bonanzle handle (+5)

4. Enter any of my current giveaway and leave a comment telling which one(s) you entered (+1) for each one entered

5. Tweet about this giveaway on twitter:
” I entered to win a copy of “Mexican Gourmet Secrets Revealed” from @angiewith3 http://bit.ly/indizona” ” (+1)
can be done twice a day must have at least 2 hrs between tweets. Leave the link to your tweet in a comment. (to get the link, once tweeted, click on the time stamp. This will take you to a page that just shows that tweet. Copy the URL and paste in a comment below”

6. Post this message on your facebook status: ” I entered to win a copy of Mexican Gourmet Secrets Revealed from Free Stuff, Fun Sites, Contests, and More www.luvsavingmoney.info”

7. Like Indizona on facebook (+1)

2 Winner will be selected on Aug 27, 2010 at 10pm EST. Winner will be randomly selected using random.org.

***I was given a copy of Mexican Gourmet Secrets Revealed at no cost in order to complete a proper review. I did not receive any monetary compensation for this post. All opinions expressed are my own. ***

Free Stuff, Fun Sites, Contests, and More

Unannounced Guest….I took pics

I was at my desk when my oldest son comes running in the house pointing to the door saying “Mom, mom, come and look at this hurry up!” The whole family went over to the front door and we saw this guest at our door.

I couldn’t believe how calmly he was sitting there. The 3 boys and I went out on to the porch. I was certain he would fly away as soon as the storm door opened but he just sat there. He began hopping around our front porch. It became clear to me that he must be injured. It was chirping as it hopped around the porch.

I guess he decided he had enough and started hopping down the stairs then.

We have pillars on our porch from the banister to the porch roof. The tops of the pillars stick out but there is a space between the flat top of the pillar edge and the roof. Birds often make their nests up there. This bird still had some baby bird fuzz but didn’t seem to be fresh out of the nest.

I instructed the boys not to touch him. My problems is I wanted to help him but I don’t know the first thing about helping an injured wild bird. He kept trying to fly and would only make it about a foot in the air and plopped back down.

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