Black Friday AVON Sale

Filed Under Avon, Shopping | 1 Comment

BLACK FRIDAY
THE DAY AFTER THANKSGIVING
NOVEMBER 28, 2008

This is the BIGGEST Shopping day of the year! Avon customers should be given a special shopping experience too…

I am really excited! I am in a contest and in order to qualify, I must have $1,000 in retail sales on the day after Thanksgiving. Sounds like a lot, right? Well, that’s where you come in - FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 28th is my SPECIAL DAY FOR YOU.

To save up to 40% all you have to do is call me and leave a message with your name and the product numbers you would like to order from the Campaign 25 brochure during the specified times below. You must include the product numbers to qualify for the discount. (Please note that products with a symbol (*) prior to the name are excluded from this discount):

1:00 - 2:00 P.M. 40% discount
2:00 - 3:00 P.M. 30% discount
3:00 - 4:00 P.M. 25% discount
4:00 - 6:00 P.M. 20% discount
6:00 - 8:00 P.M. 15% discount

**Since you are shopping online, please view my brochure HERE — you can also see which products are eligible. Post a link to this contest and receive an extra 5% off your purchase.

You can email me your order: tara (at) twolinesonastick (dot) com (please include the time on your email so I can give you the correct discount) or call me if you know my number! I will ship for free once I receive your cleared payment. I accept checks, cash, credit card, or Paypal.

HAPPY SHOPPING!

Tara

Polkadot Patch

Filed Under Gifts, Shopping | 4 Comments

I found a website with the cutest baby gifts! I love finding gifts that someone isn’t going to get a duplicate of. Normally I buy a shower gift off the registry, but I like giving something more personal when I meet the baby for the first time, or for a birthday party, or baptism. Some of the things on this site are a little pricey but others are really reasonable. Like isn’t this the cutest little guy?

Freepeats in St. Louis

Filed Under Baby Gear, Shopping, St. Louis | 3 Comments

I just followed another blog post to find a great new baby stuff website called Freepeats. They are in St. Louis, Indianapolis, and Philadelphia. Lifetime membership is free through July 1st, then after that, a lifetime membership will cost $4.95

If you have ever looked at Freecycle, it reminds me of that, only instead of random things like auto parts, EVERYTHING on the site is baby/kid stuff. Everything is free. You post your offer, then change your post to show when it is taken. I registered and I have seen some decent offers on there, like a set of Avent bottles, a boppy, shoes, etc. It’s really not junk. I will have to look through my stuff and see what I can clear out of here. There is also a section for trading formula coupons and such.

First Stride Rite shoes

Filed Under Clothes, Complaining, Shopping, Thirteen Months | 11 Comments

I decided it was time to get B her first pair of “good” shoes. Her white sandals from Tarjay kept falling off and they were starting to rub a blister on the back of her foot So we headed off to L@urie’s Sh0es this morning. The lady working was a total beeotch. We got the shoes, and they are cute, but I am so not sure about the fit at all. She put Bailey in a size and a half bigger than what she had been wearing, and an extra wide. They are gappy around the ankle and one fell off when I took her out of her carseat. Also I think the reason she told me she needed an extra wide is because they were out of the regular wides. Grrr so once we got home I spent time on the phone with their main office telling my tale of woe and we are going back to their main location tomorrow so they can check the fit and personally apologize to me. It would be really nice if that apology included a coupon.

I won’t get into all the details but basically while we were there the woman did not look at Bailey or speak to her and was very rushed and kind of rough with her. At a kids specialty shoe store. Great, huh? Then about a minute after I told her that I wanted a shoe she could wear all summer, she said something like, “And some people are really weird and want their kid to wear the same shoes all summer!” Thanks for making me feel like an idiot. Bad first impression, and they didn’t sign me up for their customer club thing so that was also part of my reason for calling, to get added to that.

The exciting thing? My grandma came with us and surprised me by paying for the shoes! All $42 of them… for a pair of toddler sandals… but aren’t they cute?

Going Green- changes for a healthier lifestyle

Filed Under Food, Going Green, Shopping | 12 Comments

We are trying to eat healthier and live a more natural lifestyle. I read a blog post yesterday about this and it inspired me to write about what we’ve been doing.

The biggest change in our lives is probably the way we are eating. I have been more concerned with chemicals, pesticides, and hormones in our food. I used to think this was just silly, but the more I read, the more I care. A lot of things are too expensive to do organic, but we are really trying to do hormone free milk, beef, and chicken. Also something i just discovered- Sam’s has hormone free milk and it’s only $2.85 a gallon for whole milk! The hormone free whole milk at Trader Joe’s is $3.69 a gallon. I know it’s not as “good” as true organic but it’s what our budget can allow and it’s better than all the growth hormones. Schnucks has a brand called Full Circle and if the prices are comparable with “regular” food we have been choosing the Full Circle products instead.

I read an article about how to choose what items to do organic if you couldn’t afford to go all organic. Basically the gist of the article was that anything with growth hormones (meats and dairy) were the most important. Fruits with thick peels such as bananas and pineapples were the least likely to be contaminated. Here is a chart you can refer to if you care.

Natural cleaning products- Full Circle line from Schnucks or Method at Target. I have been cleaning more with baking soda and vinegar, thanks to my friend who told me how to do it! I really had no idea that you could use things like that to get your house clean! I would rather have Bailey sit in a tub that had been scoured with baking soda that a tub that had been filled with bleach and other chemicals. We use Full Circle Glass Cleaner with Vinegar (under $3), Full Circle dish soap ($1.99), and Full Circle laundry detergent ($3.99 for 30 loads I think). The only reason I am listing all the prices is that I thought “natural” automatically meant more expensive, but it doesn’t. You just have to be smart and shop around.
Another thing we are working on at our house is conservation. Well, this is really more me than Jonathon. I have always been on his case about leaving lights on and stuff like that. Another thing he will do is turn the shower on and then go do something else for a while and then come back and get in the shower. I have started turning the water off when he does this. This might sound cheesy, but I guess now that I have a kid I want the earth to still be liveable during her whole lifetime. I have also been trying to reuse more and not waste as many things or throw them away. I try to get almost all my books either used or at the library. (Well, I’ve always done that, but its less books that are printed!)

Our grocery store also started selling reusable shopping bags a while back, and we now have three of them. They are usually only $1.25 but they were on sale for $1 each a few weeks ago. They are so much nicer than plastic bags and they hold about three times as much. They have a square/flat bottom so they don’t tip over, and there is a handle that you can carry over your shoulder. Even if I wasn’t trying to be environmentally friendly, I would use these bags! Plus, did you know that one plastic bag takes like 500 years to decompose? Wow.

Anyway, I just wanted to share what we have been doing around here. What have you done or thought about doing? Any tips you want to share with me?

One of those days

Filed Under Being a Mom, Difficult Stuff, Eleven Months, Shopping | 4 Comments

You know, the ones where your child refuses to sleep? Yep, that was our day today. This morning was fine. Bailey slept in a little later than usual, and then we went to the mall to pick up her amazingly cute 11 month/Easter/spring pictures.

We met my friend Sarah there and ate lunch. If you have ever eaten at the mall food court with me, you know what I ate. Subway- I alternate between a veggie on wheat and a Subway club on white. Either one gets toasted. Bailey and her friend Andrew (who is about 14 months old) shared raisins and picked at a few other things. I am pretty sure Bailey could exist on raisins alone if we allowed her too. Although, I am wondering- if she doesn’t chew them and they come out whole, does she get any nutrition at all from them?

Anyway, after lunch we took them to play at the play area. This one weird little girl who was two or three kept following Bailey around and touching her/pushing her/grabbing her face. The girl was with either her grandma or nanny or something, and this woman watched her but never said anything. So I was trying to be polite and say stuff like, “Be nice to the baby…” but finally we were around the corner from the caregiver-lady and the little girl started being grabby. I looked at her and made a stern face and said, “You leave her alone!” I just hate when people don’t watch or stay involved with their kids when there are other little ones around. It shouldn’t be my place to deal with someone else’s kid when they are right there, and it’s awkward to try to figure out what to do.

I returned something at Gymboree and looked quickly at the Children’s Place sale racks, but nothing interesting. I am having a hard time finding stuff for myself lately so I didn’t really even look. A lot of the styles now look like maternity clothing, and like my friend Nicole just wrote about, I am afraid people will think I’m knocked up again

Once we got home, Bailey did her new trick of pooping in bed. I am pretty sure she has it figured out that I will come get her and change her diaper. Then just about the time she was falling asleep, stupid Laclede Gas started drilling down the street from us For like an hour. Once they were done Bailey was still so ticked off that she cried for like an hour and nothing would console her until we just drove around aimlessly in the car.

It was just a frustrating day, and then once I got home from working childcare at church tonight, Jonathon got on my case about a million different things. I was practically begging him to help with Bailey because I was so tired of dealing with her (13 hours straight with not even a break for nap) and I thought it would have killed him to help with her bath. I know he was at work all day, but then he had almost three hours to himself after work before we got home. And sometimes momma needs a break too.

Why Target Makes Me Mad

Filed Under Complaining, Shopping | 5 Comments

So they have good deals. And they’re not as junky as Dirty Mart. But their return policy? Sucks, sucks, sucks. Anyone who has ever tried to return anything there knows this. They allow two returns per year without a receipt. Yep, PER YEAR. Not two batches of items to return, two items. Unless they are marked “purchased” on your baby registry. We learned this trick. If you need to return things, go to the store and register for them first. Go home and mark them purchased (online) and then you are free to go return them. In fact, if I am stuck with something strange in the future that I have to return, I just might create a new wedding or baby registry.

Why is this coming up now, you ask? Because today when I was at Target, an especially chatty saleswoman told me their policy was about to change. I said something like, “So it’s going to get less crazy?” She said, “No, I think they are going to stop allowing ANY returns without receipts. There’s just too much fraud.” Die, Target. You greedy fools.

Tomorrow is my day off!

Filed Under Being a Mom, Nine Months, Shopping | 5 Comments

This morning I called Jonathon and said, “I just wanted to let you know, I am taking tomorrow off. I will be leaving soon after I wake up, and I’ll be home by five.”

LOL this followed on the tail of an argument we had at about 4 a.m. and me saying that I JUST NEED A BREAK! He said he would be willing to give me a break but I never let him know when. Sure I get breaks here and there to meet a friend for dinner or to do things that need to be done like grocery shopping or Avon or (total necessity here) blogging. But I just want a day for me. Maybe that’s selfish and maybe not. I think it makes me a better mother, when I have time for myself and can relax. I come back so anxious to cuddle with Bailey and do everything with her.

So far my plans tomorrow include going to the gym, returning some stuff at Kohl’s, and getting a new book at the library and sitting and Bread Company and reading. At some point my friend Faith is meeting up with me there for coffee.

And of course I can’t sign off without sharing some new pics of my Bug in her Pooh dress.




Jonathon should be excited about watching her. I love it, I feel like anyone should be honored to watch MY kid He’d probably do almost anything to put off doing his performance management stuff for work.

I am almost done….

Filed Under Shopping | 1 Comment

with my Christmas shopping! I am sooo close to being able to officially say I am done. I have two friends and a brother in law left to buy for. That’s it. Just had to share!

My mom and I went to the mall this morning. Picked up B’s Christmas pictures, and also a few gifty things. It was crowded, and I promised myself I am not going to the mall again between now and Christmas, no matter what.

Christmas Shopping

Filed Under Gifts, Holidays, Shopping | Leave a Comment

I have been doing a lot of Christmas shopping already- most of it online because it’s so much easier than toting Bailey around everywhere. I have never been much of an online holiday shopper- I always thought it was impersonal- but I have found some really cool stuff.

So far we got Jonathon’s parents some car-related things that they have wanted (on eBay) and I got my mom something for her china set. We have finished shopping for my grandparents entirely. I would never have really thought to buy people gold lockets for gifts, but I found a website with some really cool ones so I ordered one for my grandma.

It came in the mail and it looks really nice. It’s white gold and you send in a digital picture to be printed in the locket. They sized it for me (remember when we were little and you had to cut down a picture and try to tape it inside your locket necklace?) and then I had something nice about great grandma engraved on the back. It’s going to be Bailey’s gift to her

Also we decided in my family that instead of spending like $100 on each person we are going to just get like one nicer gift for each person, from each person/family. It is really getting out of control, now that Jonathon and my grandparents celebrate Christmas with us, and I’m sure now that Bailey is here it will be even crazier. Plus, we have to buy for his parents, brother, our friends, etc.

My goal for this year is to be done with Christmas shopping by the end of November, and to have everything wrapped by Jonathon’s birthday, which is in early December.

Eff You, Motherhood Maternity

Filed Under Baby Gear, Shopping | 1 Comment

Oh, and by the way, I returned the recalled, lead-infested bib pictured in yesterday’s post. All the plasticky/vinyl bibs at Babies R Us have been recalled if they were that Koala Baby brand. Not sure how far back the recall goes, but when I went in today, they didn’t have any on their shelves at all. I got my whopping $3.99 back and spent it on a diaper bag.

If I had my camera, I would show you how cool the bag is. In fact, I have been stalking it at Motherhood. I went in one day and decided I wanted it, but I didn’t have my gift card with me so I decided to go back and get it the next day. It had JUST been sold, so they put me in the computer and said they would call me when it came in. Five days later, I hadn’t been called, but I was at the mall so I went in Motherhood. No diaper bag. I asked when they thought they would get it in, and this ditsy blond girl was like, “Oh, I totally just sold that bag this morning!”

Um, clearly they need to order more than ONE of this bag since people obviously want to buy it. And they need to USE their freaking computer system and call people who are waiting (im)patiently for something to come in.

By the way, it was $5 cheaper at BRU. I didn’t even think to look there, because I just thought it was a Motherhood thing. Screw Motherhood- for a variety of reasons.

Are You Kidding?

Filed Under Crafts, Shopping | Leave a Comment

I didn’t even think of this. I could have made invitations or announcements for Bailey’s dedication service. I never miss an opportunity to make cards. I use any excuse possible- but I didn’t think of that at all. I could have done something like this:

I have spent way too much time shopping online lately. Well, basically just window shopping. I have found the most random things- but also some great deals, like some cute jeans for Bailey that I am bidding on (eBay) and a pair of Robeez that were discontinued. I have become kind of an Etsy junkie lately too. I need to find a better hobby.

You Say It’s Your Birthday

Filed Under Birthdays, Food, Shopping | 3 Comments

Today was my birthday. I am 27. We had a very fun day- Jonathon took the day off work to hang out with me and Bailey. We went to IHOP for breakfast and he gave me my gift- details later- then we went to the mall to pick up a diaper bag I wanted but it had been sold… so I’m on “the list” for it now

Tonight we had dinner with some friends at a Mexican restaurant and then we went to Ted Drewes so I could get The Great Pumpkin again. IT’s soooo good- if you like pumpkin pie and ice cream, you have to try it! It’s seasonal so I have to get my fill now! And my parents watched Bailey, so it was a nice, relaxing night!

Tomorrow we are having a garage sale at my friend Jen’s house. I hope we get rid of a lot of junk! Jonathon wants to use some of the money we make to invest in outdoor lighting. I just want to clear out some stuff from our house and I don’t care what happens after that

Bye Bye Bedding

Filed Under Nursery, Shopping | 6 Comments

So sad… last night after dinner (on our date night- and what do we do- look at stuff for Bailey) we went to Babies R Us to exchange her crib mobile because it’s been acting funny…. and so we go back to the kids bedding section and they are clearancing out her room decorating stuff!

Two reasons this upsets me:

1. I could have gotten her stuff for half the price or less if she was born three months later.

2. What if I need to replace her rug or something at some point? Do I just stock up on everything? Oh yeah and the rug is the ONLY thing that hasn’t been marked down and of course that’s the one thing that I would really like to have a spare of

But on a happy note, we used some of our store credit to buy a noise machine for her room- we don’t want her to get used to sleeping with it all the time but we thought it would be good for like when we have people over and she has to go to bed, or on trash day when it’s really noisy all morning, or whatever. I wrote about it some more in a comment if you want more info.

Hotmail Problems and Bored at Home

Filed Under PPP, Random, Shopping | 2 Comments

I can get into my account but can’t open any new emails or compose an email… anyone else have Hotmail and have these issues right now?

Oh and by the way, Bailey is still snotty and coughing but acting happy. I feel fine but have no voice. So we are going to spend today at home resting and trying to REALLY get better. Ug. I hate being stuck at home and I have to miss my fun lunch plans with Jen. *Boo*

I have the best of intentions to clean my house today. At least part of the house. Something I haven’t done enough of lately. But now that Bailey is back asleep my guess is that I will waste a lot of time shopping/browsing online and sleeping. I keep finding new websites for free stuff or coupons or free samples to be mailed to our house. Yes, we are even trying Glucerna cereal for free this week. But one of my favorite coupon sites for online shopping is Coupon Chief because I can find codes to save money while shopping online. Not that I spend tons and tons of money or anything like that. I am totally a bargain shopper, and I mostly look for stuff like Target or Kohl’s coupons.

Also I am telling myself that I am going to update Bailey’s baby book today. I have done a good job (I think) of at least getting some hospital pics in and having it updated all the way through like the first month of her life… except I need to add some more family pictures and pictures of our house… and later I need to go up to the library and pick up a book Jonathon needs for a book discussion.

Clearly, my day is going to be terribly exciting.