Luv Saving Money – Page 993

My hubby has an ebay shop!

My husband had been selling on ebay and decided to make an ebay shop. He made up a cool widget for his shop. He has some really good deals. (I’ve been helping him find some of them). So if you get a chance check it out. Right now he has a few Wii games and great clothes for a good price.

http://stores.ebay.com/DealerSyxx

‘);document.writeln(”);document.writeln(”);document.writeln’>http://asw.auctiva.com/StoreWindow_HScroller.swf”>’);document.writeln(”);document.writeln(”);

document.writeln(‘ ‘); document.writeln(”);document.writeln(”);document.writeln’>http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer”>’);document.writeln(”);document.writeln(”); document.writeln(”); } else {document.write(‘

Jsyxx’>http://store.auctiva.com/Jsyxx”>Jsyxx store

‘);}//–>

Jsyxx’>http://store.auctiva.com/Jsyxx”>Jsyxx Store

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Review: Double Tree Hotel Pittsburgh

For my family’s trip to the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh we decided to make it a weekend getaway. We started looking into family friendly hotels that were near the museum. I caught a tweet from @DoubletreePitt
I initially was looking for something within walking distance from the museum but the DoubleTree of Pittsburgh offered so many great amenities that it seemed like the obvious choice.

DoubleTree Pittsburgh is right in downtown. Located right by the Mellon arena and Console Energy Center (where the Pittsburgh Penguins play). There is a room to fit your family. We got a 2 bedroom suite. It was great for our family of 5. The hotel was not difficult to find. They have valet parking in their own parking garage. From the start the first DoubleTree employee I talked with was the valet. He was pleasant and professional. We went to the lobby to check in. We were checked in, in no time at all. The lobby was very open and comfortable. Any questions I had were answered. We were on our way to our room.

I loved our room. It was very comfortable for a family of 5. Although we were only staying for one night, I wish we would have stayed longer.

The main area was open and inviting.

There was a sofa, a desk (again I want a laptop so bad) and a TV in this area. Also a mini fridge and microwave which was great for the baby’s milk and juices. You can see they put a crib in our room as well on the left side of the picture.

The boys’ room had 2 beds and a TV as well. It had a nice sized walk in closet.

Our bedroom was very cozy. King size bed, tv, and a closet. I could not believe how comfy the beds were to sleep in.

There was also two bathrooms in our suite which was great for us. Out of the picture window in the main area you got a great view of the Mellon Arena.

You can’t see it in this pic but to the right of the Melon Arena is the Console Energy Center.

The DoubleTree Pittsburgh has an indoor pool and a fitness center for their guests. The boys and I went for a swim while the hubs took a nap. The pool went from 3 1/2 feet to 4 1/2 feet. There was an outside area with a few lounge chairs and tables and chairs to sit at. The fitness are was pretty nice. There even had exercise balls to work with. I have to admit, I didn’t take advantage of the fitness center. The kids wore me out at the museum and swimming.

The DoubleTree offers a complimentary shuttle service in the downtown area. With the pre-season Steelers game and a wedding going on at the hotel we had to wait about 15 min for a shuttle. The shuttle driver told us he could not take use to the museum that Saturday (Aug 14) because they were not going to the North Shore due to the Steelers game. We had to drive. I was a little nervous about that (since the shuttle drivers wouldn’t even go) BUT they valet gave us step by step pre-printed directions to the museum which were great. We ended up getting there with no trouble.

Later on we were looking for somewhere to eat. The DoubleTree Pittsburgh staff were very helpful in making suggestions, give us details, and even gave us a map of the downtown area. We waited for a shuttle for this too. There were people ahead of us that piled onto the next one that came about. We decided just to find some place in walking distance. One of the hotel staff made a few suggestions in the downtown area and showed us where it was on the map. I was already somewhat familiar with downtown since I had lived there a little while back. We decide to go to Market Square and eat at Primanit Bros.

I had a yummy steak salad with fries on top. The rest of the fam had huge sandwiches. My 6 year old couldn’t even make it through half of a half. Every thing was so good.

We went back to the hotel and rented a movie to watch. We all had a great night sleep. The Bigelow Grille is in the same buidling as the DoubleTree Pittsburgh. We ate there for breakfast. We all got the breakfast buffet. The buffet was fantastic: french toast, sausage, bacon, home fries, fresh fruit, yogurt, cereals, danishes, lots of choices. There was even a chef preparing omelettes with your choice of fillings.

My plan was to stay until about 11 (check out was 12 noon) and head home. Hubby wanted to leave earlier. I gave him a hard time about it. I hate to admit it, but I should have listened to the hubs. Check out itself was super fast. We got the wonderful DoubleTree cookies. Getting our car….that was another story. There was a long line to pick your car up from the valet. Even thought the line was long, the valets kept it moving quickly. We were able to get out and start heading home. My suggestion, if you stay, you may want to check out around 10 am. I think that was my issue. It seemed everyone was checking out at that time.

All in all we loved out stay at the DoubleTree Pittsburgh. It’s in a convenient location for just about anything you want to do downtown: Steelers or Penguins game, catching a concert at the Console Energy Center, business trip or a trip to the Children’s Museum.

To read more about The DoubleTree Pittsburgh you can use this link: DoubleTree Pittsburgh website

You can also follow DoubleTree Pittsburgh on twitter: @DoubletreePitt

Review summary: Every DoubleTree employee my family and I encountered was pleasant and professional. Our room was very clean, comfortable, and all in all beyond our expectations. The amenities offered at the DoubleTree were above your standard amenities in my opinion.

***I received a discounted rate and complimentary breakfast to help facilitate this review. I did NOT received any monetary compensation for this post. I was under no obligation to give a positive review. Any opinions expressed are my own***

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Review: The Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh

This was my family’s first visit to The Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh. Locate on the North shore not very far at all from downtown Pittsburgh. Located close to Heinz field, PNC Park, and the Aviary just to name a few landmarks.

We happened to be going to The Childrens’ Museum of Pittsburgh the same day as a Steelers pre-season game. I was a little nervous about that, but it ended up working out just fine. The Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh was not hard to find. Our hotel had pre-printed step by step directions.

The Childrens’ Museum was pretty busy on Saturday. The parking lot attendant was pleasant and helped us find a spot to park. Even though it was busy we were able to drop off our tickets and get our wrist bands very quickly. With so much to do we weren’t even sure where we wanted to start. The first thing we noticed was the tall kind of maze that went up three floors as we learned. Of course my 8 year old and 6 year old were all over that. It’s called “The Limb Bender” Here are some pics of the boys having a ball in “The Limb Bender”

In that area was also items from Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood. A fish tank, a tv camera, The castle, displays of the characters in the land of Make Believe and more. The boys kind of breezed through this part. I think it was more interesting to my husband and I since we grew up with Mr. Rogers Neighborhood.

We then moved onto a room called “The Attic” this was a fun room with a giant Kaliedescope, A doll house, pictures that make it look like their eyes are following you, and steps that went up to a room that was on an angle called “the gravity room” and you could take slide down. We all took the slide, well except my hubby he stayed at the bottom to take pics.

Then from there was a hallway. There was a few neat exhibits in this area. They had a button panel set up. There was a screen with picture of Pittsburgh skyline. You could choose 1 or 3 Pittsburgh pics and create a computer animated fireworks display to music. Once you finished your could watch your fireworks display you created. This was a lot of fun. From there we went to the “Garage and Workshop” They had a Smart Car the kids could explore. The most noticeable thing was the almost tree house-like tower that went up 2 floors. There were steps to go up and a slide to come down if you wished. And my OT side was happy because I also noticed an elevator for those not able to hoof it up there.

This is my eight year old and 6 year old at the top of the tower getting ready to come down the slide. There was also a neat system where someone could stand on the bottom and put a toy parachute on a paddle. The person on the top would….i believe…turn a crank and it would bring the parachute to the top and you could watch it drift to the bottom. After the kids came down the slide,

We just had to try the ball maze over our head. There was a cage on the floor where you could put a ball in the basket and use a pulley system to get it to the kind of wire maze above our heads.

The ball would follow this sort of wire maze around and end in a funnel over head that would drop the balls back down into the cage. This got a little hectic. For how busy it was there were kids that kept grabbing the balls from other kids and pulling the ropes 3 or 5 at a time. It was fun though to watch the balls go around. There was more to do int his area like the little workshop room with robot gadgets, the giant wooden robot kids could control with levers and inclines for car races.

We then went to the Curious George traveling exhibit. It was cute. There was a rocket ship that was a slide, Curious George’s apartment building with a pulley system, and a lot more.

One of the room’s I was most excited about seeing was “The Nursery” for my 1 year old. His favorite thing seemed to be what I called “The lite brite wall”. He was facinated by this. He played with this for a while. Even when we took him to other areas he always would come back to “The lite brite wall”

We let him try the texture trail. There were wooden train tables set up, a ball incline where he could roll wooden balls down the incline and it would hit certain things to make sounds. Another feature he seemed to like was what we called the “bubble seesaw” Two small children could sit and use the seesaw. As they moved it would create bubbles in the “bubble wall” I tried to capture this in a picture.

We then moved on to the older boys’ most anticipated room…”Waterplay“. I was impressed with this room. They had rain coats and shoes like crocs to put on so they didn’t hopefully get drenched. There was an area with slatted floors that had pipe coming up from the floor. The kids could connect pipes to this and make a pipe system for the water to flow through. I enjoyed this most with the older boys because they were working together.

They had water way areas that the kids could put together sail boats with foam pieces and sale them on the water way. They had a larger area then one that was more accessible for the toddlers. My one year old just enjoyed splashing the water.

They wanted to do the “Limb Bender” about 3 times. We ate at the cafe in the Children’s Museum for lunch. To my surprise it was really very reasonable. We just got a large cheese pizza for the fam, and drink for each of us, and we got the baby some mac n’ cheese and it only came to about $24 bucks so no more than a family trip to McD’s as far as the food goes.

Because we allowed the children to linger on exhibits though we ran out of time. We didn’t get to try “The Backyard” which is outdoors. There were swings and a fort for them to climb in. There is also “The Studio” where they could create pictures or “The Theatre”. Oh well, maybe next time.

If you’re heading to Pittsburgh I would put this on your list of family friendly places to visit. Reasonable ticket prices, friendly staff, reasonable prices at the cafe, and lots to keep your family entertained.

Check out the link to see more things to do at The Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh, Find directions, here about special exhibits and more: http://www.pittsburghkids.org/

***I received a family pass from The Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh to help facilitate a review. I did not receive any monetary compensation for this post. I was under no obligation to give a positive review. Any opinions expressed are my own***

CSN Stores giveaway–CLOSED

I’m glad I found CSN stores. I love to window shop and of course buy when there’s something I really want. My husband and I have been slowly making improvements to our house since we bought it. First it was the wiring, then waterproofed the basement, then insulation, then we gutted the attic. Why did we gut the attic? Our plan is to turn it into a Master Bedroom. I go up there now and it doesn’t look like much just some open walls with new insulation. I sometimes dream about what I’d like it to look like. What kind of windows will we put in, what colors do I want the walls, etc.

I was browsing through CSN Stores and decided to check out their bedroom furniture sets. What fun it is to think how things will fit into the room. What I’d love to have. What will fit into our budget. I tend to lean towards contemporary looks. And if it has more than one function (for instance a head board that also has storage shelves).

I kinda like these set:


Ashley Furniture Kendi Queen Panel Bedroom Set in Dark Brown

I like that it has the shelves on the head board and I kinda like the color. It’s contemporary looking to me. Or then there’s this one:

Atlantic Furniture Bordeaux Storage Platform Bedroom Set in Antique Walnut

I like the Atlantic Furniture Bedroom Set because again of the contemporary look but also the storage drawers under the bed. A gal can never have enough clothes storage, right? But while we’re talking about drawers underneath look at the storage space on this one:

Wildon Home Applewood Bookcase Storage 3 piece Bedroom set

Actually this one would probably be the most compact and comfortable for the room. But while I’m dreaming, If money was of no object and space was not an issue, I like this set:

AICO Monte Carlo Poster Canopy 5 piece set in Silver Snow

There’s just something about a large canopy bed with elegant posts that says “princess” to me. Or maybe Queen. Queen of the household?

GIVEAWAY

I love working with CSN Stores. This time they are offering one of my readers a $40 gift certificate! Open to US and CAN Canadian readers please be aware that there may be international shipping charges.

Mandatory Entry: Browse the Bedroom Furniture Sets at CSN Stores and tell me in a comment, which one you would like if money and space weren’t a factor.
***Must be completed before any bonus entries can count****

Bonus Entries: Leave a comment for each one completed. If it has a +1 after the entry leave 1 comment. +2 leave 2 comments for that same entry and so on.

1. Follow Free Stuff, Fun Sites, Contests, and More with google friend connect and/or Networked blogs
you can find the gadgets in the right hand column. (+1 for each one)

2. Follow me, @angiewith3, on twitter (+1)

3. Tweet this message:

” I entered to win a $40 @CSNStores gc from @angiewith3 http://bit.ly/csnbf 9/1 #giveaway “

(+1) can tweet once per day

4. Follow @CSNStores on twitter (+1)

5. Like CSNStores on facebook (+1)

6. Subscribe with RSS feed and/or Email. MUST be confirmed to count Gadgets in right hand column (+2 for each one)

7. Enter any of my other giveaways currently open. (+1 for each one entered)

8. Add my blog button to your page. Leave me a comment telling me you did and where I can find it. (+3)

9. Like FFCandM on facebook (+1)

1 winner will be chosen Sept 1, 2010 at 10 PM EST using random.org. Winner will have 48 hours to respond to winning email. If winner does not respond within 48 hours a new winner will be chosen.

***I did not receive any product or monetary compensation for this post. Giveaway is being sponsored by CSN Stores. Any opinions expressed are my own***

RANDOM.ORG DREW NUMBER 34. WINNER HAS BEEN SENT AN EMAIL AND HAS 48 HOURS TO REPLY.

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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**

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