I have to send the love over to FireMom at StopDropandBlog.com for this contest. It kept my kids busy when I needed them to be busy and we also are entered to win something and those who know me know that I love to win!  Check out this coloring contest for a Christmas DVD. This DVD would be great for the kiddos to watch while I wrap gifts….or take a bath!

While your cooking the turkey (or watching mom cook the turkey) the kids can be coloring up a storm and get in t the mood for the upcoming Holiday Season.

*This picture was colored by the famous Mita who made her first snowman just last year and cannot ever recall watching Frosty the Snow Man (did we really miss it last year?  Was I that busy?)

I was very excited to find out that I had been chosen to host a Shutterfly House party last Saturday.  For those of you that are not familiar with Shutterfly, they are a online site that you can store, edit, buy prints and make projects out of your digital pictures.  There are a lot of online sites that can do this, but I have always been partial to Shutterfly as there site was easy to use when I had slooooooow Internet speeds and other sites didn’t work.  Plus, Shutterfly loves to give out free stuff and seems to always have a sale or free shipping going on.  These things make me HAPPY!

At my party I had 14 sets of photo book coupons and coupons for 12 free Christmas cards to give out.  I felt like Santa Claus on Christmas Eve!  Photo books are some of my favorite things to make as I failed with the scrap-booking thing and love pictures of my children.

Add some wine, great tasting cookies and we had a nice time.  My wire-less Internet proved to not be able to handle ten different users at once unfortunately, but everyone got to see how to make a photo book extremely quick and easy for those of us creatively deficient or lacking time.  For the scrappers out there, Shutterfly has some great ways to create your masterpieces with many options, fonts, lay outs and themes.

Thank you Shutterfly for helping my friends and family have a great time.   I cannot wait to see every-ones finished books and cards.  If you want to have your own House Party, you can click here and see what opportunities await you.

Books I've made through Shutterfly.

FireMom and Outnumbered mom enjoying themselves.

(Disclosure:  Shutterfly gave me and 14 of my guests coupon codes for 8×8 hard cover photo books and 12 holiday cards, as well as a Shutterfly bag and pen. I also received a 7×8 soft cover book, and balloons to have at my party.  All of this was in exchange of sharing my Shutterfly products with friends and family. I was not asked to blog about it…but I had such a good time I wanted to!)

Photo Credits:  Mandy W. 2009

I’ve been rather flippant about the whole H1N1 thing by calling it “Piggy”.  I’ve paid for my sarcasm as when the Doctor diagnosed me with bronchitis yesterday.   He also wanted to screen me for the flu, “just in case”.  No big deal I thought and Hubby took me off to the outpatient lab across from the doctor’s office.

When he said “flu culture” this is what my head pictured:

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Not pleasant, but no big deal.  Just a swab in the nose and I’m done!

I was in for a surprise when the nurse gloved and masked up and came at me with this:

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To be honest, she did warn me at first that it would hurt, make me cry and choke and cough.  It was quick and she had good technique but it HURT!  Basically a a guide-wire was rammed down my nose into my throat!

The moral of my story is don’t mock the swine flu and PRAY that your kids don’t have to be tested for the flu because that would take a lot of screaming children when they see this thing coming at them!

My Loot....Do you like the retro carpet?

As I child I can remember the Avon Lady coming up the driveway.  She was a sweet lady, my best friend’s grandmother and she is still selling to this day.  As a kid  I loved the free samples especially and felt grown up playing with them.

Now I am proud to say that I am an Avon lady.  Who would have thought it? Not me. I hate selling things (Girl Scout cookies are the exception).  I have had so much fun lately getting my new Avon books, that I thought I would try it myself.  The products are great and the prices are in my comfort zone.

I am also aware that most of you know that I did not even wear make-up until  I was 25 or 26.  I know that gives me less than 10 years experience with the beauty care industry… but I learn fast and Avon is much more than just make-up.  Cute little hand lotions to give to your kids teachers, easy gift ideas that everyone loves and of course the exhilaration of opening up a new package of something without breaking the bank!

To save money, time and trees I’m hoping to do a lot of my business online, but nothing can replace the classic Avon books so I will be using those as well. I’m thinking of offering an incentive to return old books to me for recycling, so my eco-self feels better.  What do you think?

Here is my store link:   YourAvon.com/amcclelland

I will also have a link on my Facebook homepage and you can always call or email me direct!

I promise not to bug you  I just want you to know that I am here!  I also vow never to wear panty hose rolled up to my knees.  I’ m not dissing this look, however, I am aiming to be a sophisticated Avon lady.

Thanks!

September is a great stock-up month.  I have this issue withclearances, I see something on clearance and I think I need it or I come up with an idea to use it for the next year.  This has saved me money over the years, but it can also be a bit of a clutter problem (ask Hubby).  This year my goal is to not clutter up, but buy responsibly.  So far, so good. I got Elle’s next years safetyswim vest for $13 with free shipping from Land’s End and Stainless Steel water bottles on sale with $2 shipping.  I am trying to cut out the cheap plastic… but steel is pricey!  I thought I would share a few of my go-to places for saving money and starting on Christmas and Birthday gifts for the next year.

Check out the Dollar General and you can get kites, bubbles and more for around $0.30.  K-Mart often has bathing suits for under $5 so I can stock up for next year.  Disney.com has really nice beach towels for super cheap.  Of course school supplies are just screaming to be picked up and stored away for the cold winter months.  Towards the end of September you may find great buys on backpacks, water bottles and more high-end school items.  These can make great Christmas or Birthday  gifts!  The big wheeled back packs aren’t often great for school but make good overnight suitcases.

Land’s End has a lot of free shipping offers right now and their swimsuits are on sale as well.  Soon they will have all those cool back packs and lunches boxes on clearance! I bought all of my girls backpacks from there in colors that will stay “cool” for a few years.  I have not bought Meg a backpack since the First Grade (she’s in 4th this year, Yikes!)  and it is still going strong.   Mita and Enu also have Land’s End back packs that are in their second year of use.  I learned early to not buy characters or really trendy backpacks and lunch boxes and it has saved me a lot of money.  This  year I will be eyeing deals for Elle’s Kindergarden back pack (sob sob).

I don’t do the while “school shopping” thing.  It is still warm when school starts and the kids grow overnight, as you well know!  Jeans, long sleeves T’s and shoes will hit great prices once the Holiday items come out (October!).  TheChildrensPlace.comhas a flat shipping rate of $5 and monster sales for shirts especially.  They have great quality clothes and are pretty affordable.  Beware of the bright T shirts with Hibicus flowers on them though, they bleed horribly which is unusual for them.  Hopefully it is an odd occurance!

To save money and to be green, I have re-usable sandwhich bags and buy snacks in bulk.  Those 100 calerie packs have some much packaging.  A re-usable 4 oz. Rubbermaid or Tupperware container hold is a great way to save on pakaging and is usually about 1 serving size or 100 calories.  I like to find my sandwhich bags on Etsy.com.  Don’t baulk at the prices…you will get your money back. I am using the same bags I bought last year and believe me they are used a lot!

Before buying anything on-line I do a google search for coupon codes.  This normally works pretty well and cuts down prices and often shipping costs.

This is what I do in September to save money.  Now give me your secrets!

Photo Credit

I want to shout out a BIG thank you to firemom for coming over and letting me and my kiddos try out her Guitar Hero DS games! While I have to turn the volume down on some of the songs, the kids loved playing!  My birthday wish (I’m 34 next week!) is for a Def Leppard Guitar Hero, then I would know all of the songs and be so very cool!

I am not a flashy person. Seriously, how many of you have ever seen me in sequins? I tend to wear a lot of brown shirts with blue jeans. Except for two years in high school when I wore all black clothes decorated with skulls, my clothes have not brought attention to me.

I recently bought a purse that screams, “Hey, Look at me!” Why did I do this? I liked it. It made me happy. I was looking forward to summer and wanted a summer color. It was 30% off. SOLD!

As I walked in the door Hubby took one look at me and said, “What’s up with the lily-pad purse?” I realized that it does look like a lot a lily pads sewn together. I like lily pads. I like frogs. I love this purse!

I have gotten more complements on this purse in the month I have had it than anything I have ever had in my life. My wedding dress was not as complimented on as much as my lily-pad purse! I even had one person tell me it was so ugly it was cute. I took it as a complement.

The down side to a gorgeous and wild purse is that everyone looks at you. I have actually left it in the car as to not attract attention to myself (a no makeup run to the store). At a conference last week I walked in a room with hundreds of women and got so many smiles and “nice bag” comments I blushed.

This green, lily-pad purse could very well be my fifteen minutes of fame. While Oprah won’t be calling, at least I’m not on the pages of the Inquirer!

Are you a flashy dressy? Any advice for this newbie?

P.S. Check out my friend’s review here and find out how to win a new refrigerator!

Photo Credit MandyW 2009