Another Birthday Has Past

This past Monday I celebrated another birthday. Not just any birthday I turned 30! Okay so I am sure a lot of you are thinking so it's 30 another year, oh well. Well I am having a hard time turning 30. I can't even pin point why I am having a hard time with it. I just am.

I guess to make matters worse Monday morning when I woke up, I couldn't even swallow. I felt like I was hit by a mack truck and I didn't want to get out of bed. Happy 30th birthday to me.. Is this part of turning 30 feeling like you are falling apart? As I work in the health care field and felt like crap I booked off sick.

Yesterday I again didn't feel any better maybe even worse. My kids were in school, so I relaxed and wrapped a few presents. When my kids got home we took a quick walk up to the Shoppers Drug mart where A decided she needed to take a HUGE fit because I didn't want to carry her as my shoulder has been sore (again another part of getting old?), she began screaming and hitting me, which I asked her nicely not to and then she got mad at the milk we were buying - "I hate you milk!""Bad milk!" then on our very short walk home she screamed at me how much she hated me and I was a bad mommy. She hit me and tried to bite me. I have never seen this child be so cruel that it totally broke my heart. It was like watching a teen yelling at her parent. Is this how 30 is going to be?

All evening she apologized about being mean to mommy. Also last night was their Christmas concert at school. I hope to post a video of it. I just need to see how it turned out.

How did you feel turning 20, 30. 40 or 50? Was it just another day? Was it hard for you and what did you do to make yourself feel better? Usually my birthday is just another day but not this year.


~*Disclaimer: This post is written by Canadian Coupon Mom. This is not a sponsored post. All opinions are honest and my own.*~

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Wordless Wednesday December 21,2011

Merry Christmas! Marty was outside as we put the tree up. He came in and climbed right in and made himself comfortable.What a cat....

 

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Keeping It Organized in 2012

It's almost here...2012, with the end of the year coming have you picked up your new calendar or planner?

As a busy working mom of two, I know I would be totally lost without an planner in hand. I always had one even before I had kids to keep on top of things. I love my planner to be big enough to write in but still small enough to bring with me if I am heading to an appointment or something I know I will need it for.

This year I will be taking help from Mom's Family Desk Planner by Sandra Boynton. This fun planner has a bright yellow cover with bright awesome cartoons throughout it. It includes fun stickers for quick marking of appointments, dance recitals, school events, playdates, parties and more. Along with the fun character stickers (150 in total) from Sandra's well known children's book that my DD has decided she is claiming for her arts and crafts.

This is a 17 month calendar and starts in August 2011 and runs until December 2012. It is a week at a glance with a row for Mom and a row for Family. This makes it so much easier to find out what I need to do and plan it with the rest of my families plans. I also love at the end of the planner there is room for important phone numbers and also 52 pages of list - grocery and to do! They are also removable for easy to take with you in the grocery store.

You can find out where to purchase your own copy through Thomas Allen & Son Ltd. This planner retails for $16.99

I will be keep all important anniversaries and birthdays organized on my Mom's Birthday Calendar by Sandra Boynton also. This is a really nicely put together flip calendar a month at a glance type. It is reusable for years to come. This way you can put it up beside your calendar and never miss another important anniversary or birthday again! Just remember to write them all in this handy calendar.

You can also find this on Thomas Allen & Son Ltd. it retails for $11.99.


~*Disclaimer: This post was written by Canadian Coupon Mom on behalf of Thomas Allen & Son Ltd. I did receive the above mentioned products for review purpose. All opinions are honest and my own.*~

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Marvelous Menu Monday Dec 19-25,2011

Last week I strayed abit from the menu as I totally forgot we were doing dinner with the in laws this past Saturday. This week will also be pretty easy going for dinner as it is my busy week at work.

Monday December 19 - Black Bean, Sweet Potato soup & biscuits

Tuesday December 20 -Chicken Burgers with salad

Wednesday December 21 -  Pork chop and Rice Skillet

Thursday December 22 - Fish rice and veggies

Friday December 23 - Since I didn't do the Chili last week I will aim to do it this week

Saturday December 24 - Pizza (maybe homemade)

Sunday December 25 - Roasted Chicken, mashed potatoes, veggies and stuffing. Come link up your menu for the week!

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On A Mission for Toshiba & ShesConnected!

I was very excited to receive an email saying I had been chosen as Toshiba Brand Ambassador with ShesConnected and Toshiba Canada! What does this mean exactly? Well SheConnected and Toshiba have asked me to head out to a authorized retailer that sells Toshiba Thrive Tablets and/or Toshiba 3D HDTV's and find out more about one or both. Then I am to come tell all of my lovely readers about what I have learned.

Today we packed up an headed out of town to our closest Future Shop to see what we could find. We live 45 minutes away so we decided we would do some more Christmas shopping while there.

Our mission was very short lived as A was car sick just a few minutes from the store and didn't feel well when we were in the store. I did get a chance to talk to one of the sales ladies about the Toshiba Thrive Tablet and play around with it for a few minutes before A was fully finished in the store.

I have decided not to post all the specs for the Tablet just the ones that really stood out to me as being a great feature. You can find the full specs on the Toshiba Canada website. After playing around with this great tablet I am in love with it! 

I absolutely love how this tablet offers a full SD card slot and a full USB 2.0 and a mini USB port. This means tons of options for extra storage, watching movies, books and more. You can expand your memory up to 32MB.

It is run by an Android Honey Comb 3.1 and you can find tons of apps in the Android Market. I was told there are tons of free apps available. The tablet I was looking at also have the Amazon Kindle app which I love on my netbook. For me I am hooked as it would make it very easy to cook or bake with you favorite recipes right at your finger tips in the kitchen.

 

The Toshiba Tablet also offers the option for an extra battery for on the go. Now you wont have to worry about being on the go and running out of battery if you have a fully charged spare with you.

Another fun feature is the interchangeable multicolored backplates. I love the dark blue and raspberry pink. I do wish they offered bright orange. Maybe in the future Toshiba Canada?

Want to take pictures from the rear or front of your tablet? This one does both rear is 5MP and front is 3MP but no flash. If it is anything like my phone, I very rarely use my flash. 

So many great features I could go on and on. How about video calling on Wi-Fi? I think I like that feature.

The price is good especially when compared to other tablets on the market. The price ranges from $379.99 to $499.99 depending on the size of storage. I think I would be happy with the 32 GB as it is only $20 more than the 8GB tablet. Also when comparing the others with the Toshiba it is pretty superior.

My overall opinion? I wish we had more time to play with this baby but my baby wasn't feeling well at all. I love it and can't wait to be bringing one home for my family. Actually who am I kidding? I want to be bringing one home for Mommy!  I promise to share it from time to time.

This would make a wonderful gift for your favorite tech lover! You would definitely be the Holiday Hero this Christmas!

Follow Toshiba Canada on Facebook and Twitter. Please use hashtag #ToshibaTablet to join in on the great conversations on Twitter.


~*Disclaimer: I am participating in the Toshiba Brand Ambassador program by www.ShesConnected.com. I received a Toshiba Camileo in exchange for my participation in this campaign. The opinions on this blog are honest and my own.*~

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Lancome Luxe Box Update

As you know the Lancome Luxe Box blogger contest is over. I am very excited to let you know that Canadian Coupon Mom ended up in the top 15! Thank you all for voting!!

I will be recieving my Lancome Luxe Box very soon (as long as Canada Post co-operates). This also means I get one to giveaway to one of my beautiful Canadian Coupon Mom readers!!!!

Here's the deal..... I can wait until I receive my box and give you all the inside scoop on what is inside or I can get the giveaway going with it being a secret. I would love your input in a comment on here or on Facebook to what you would like me to do. 

Watch a sneak peak video from the contest below....


~*Disclaimer: This post was written by Canadian Coupon Mom. I was voted into the top 25 bloggers to win a Lancome Luxe Box and one for a giveaway. All opinions are honest and my own.*~

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Decorating Cupcakes

My daughter, A insisted that she invite her friend S over for a snack and play time after she got home from school this past Tuesday. What A wanted to do was decorate cupcakes with her friend.

While A and my son P were at school I baked up some quick and easy Betty Crocker cupcakes, cooled and iced them before they got off the bus.

Here are the kids making some very nicely decorated cupcakes for the holidays. S took a nice little tray home for her family to try out. They had a ton of fun and it kept them very happy for 30 minutes or so. More Christmas baking coming up over the weekend. I hope to keep myself very motivated on Friday after work. I just may need a morning nap to get through my day with more energy (I work overnights right now).

~Jennifer

~*Disclaimer: This post was written by Marvelous Mommy Meals. This is not a sponsored post. All opinions are honest and my own.*~

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Christmas Crafting with Kids Book Review

Crafting with the kids is one of my favorite things to do along with baking. My kids LOVE crafting and baking so we were very excited when our friends at Thomas Allen & Son Ltd gave us the chance to review Christmas Crafting with Kids by Catherine Woram.

This book includes 35 projects for the holiday season for children of all ages. It is divided into a few different chapters - Decorations, Gifts, Cards & Wrapping. It also includes templates you will need to do some of the crafts.

My children loved going through this book letting me know each craft they would like to try. I decided we would make the Orange Tree decorations. These were easy to make but do require adults to cut the oranges and bake them; also to use a sharp object to make a hole for the ribbon. The baking time is long so you will need to plan it for a day you have 4 hours to bake them.They smell really nice and are fun decorations.

The kids and I will be sitting down this weekend and making the Festive Bells which are make with egg cartons, paint, sparkles, bells and string. I really love that all the crafts require pretty easy to find and inexpensive products. We are also going to make the Chocolate brownies, Yum!

I have marked off a few that we may even do for other times of the year. I love the idea of the Button Photo Frame and will be doing this with the kids for grandparents day. I was thinking this will be a nice little gift with a photo of the grand kids. 

Where to buy: You can find where to pick up a copy of Christmas Crafting with Kids through Thomas Allen & Son Ltd website. This book retails for $23.95.


~*Disclaimer: This post was written by Canadian Coupon Mom on behalf of Thomas Allen & Son Ltd. We received a complimentary book for review purpose. All opinions are honest and my own.*~

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Finding Recipes

I get this question all the time, "Where can I find recipes that are quick, easy and are free?" I always answer "Go online". I love my recipe books and I will admit to having a huge collection, I can not give up my recipe books just something about having them all printed and so nice. If you don't want a huge book collection and are looking for free recipes there are tons online. I also get people telling me that they have tried some and they didn't turn out well. I usually suggest going to trusted sites that are put together by a company or a blogger who has tried the recipe and then posted it.

What do you do when you find great recipes? Do you just book mark them? No, I have taken a big three ring binder and turned it into a family recipe book. I then divided it into sections like breakfast, muffins, cookies/cakes, meat, soups etc. Over the last few years I have added to this book whenever we find another great recipe. This can be from one of my cookbooks or online. Which reminds me one day soon I should organize this binder again as it is over flowing and out of order. I am thinking of actually making two binders one for desserts and the other for meals. While I do this I can post about it also for everyone to see what it looks like, if you would like?

I have a bunch of sites I love to check when I an in need of a recipe. These include Kraft Canada, Allrecipes.com (this is a site where users post their recipes they love, I suggest you find users that have posted many and have reviews on them. Also I just found out that Shreddies has a partnership with them), Crock-Pot, Life Made Delicious and so many more.

This is a new site I just found while writing this post, if you use it let me know what you think - Recipe.com looks like all the recipes have been gathered from magazines, and online company sites.

I will keep reviewing recipes and adding them here so Marvelous Mommy Meals is another great place to find yummy recipes. I also love reading other food blogs.

Enjoy your tasty finds! I would love you to come back and share what you have tried.

~Jennifer

~*Disclaimer: This post was written by Marvelous Mommy Meals. This is not a sponsored post. All opinions are honest and my own.*~

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Canadian Coupon Mom is on Facebook

I have been posting lots of coupons and freebies on Canadian Coupon Mom's Facebook page as it is easy and quick and I am not posting here a million times a day. I would love you to come "Like" Canadian Coupon Mom on Facebook to not miss out on some great coupons and freebies.

I can also be found on Twitter - @CouponMomCanada


 ~*Disclaimer: This post is written by Canadian Coupon Mom. This is not a sponsored post. All opinions are honest and my own.*~

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Empire Theatre Holiday Gift Idea

Yikes only 12 more shopping days left before Christmas! Are you ready? I always say this year will be different. I will be done shopping and wrapped the week before Christmas. So do you think I am ready? No, I still have 3 more people to buy for and stocking stuffers to get.

Why am I behind this year? Well it's just some people are hard to buy for. We are having a hard time figuring out what to get my father in law. He is the man that has everything. For his birthday this year we opted for a Home Depot gift card. This went over really well as he love Home Depot and can now take a trip to one of his favorite stores and choose what he wants and needs.

I have also thought maybe the best thing for my brother in law is a gift card. I used to think gift cards where not a good gift at all. I used to feel that a person really didn't take the time to be creative and come up with a great gift. Now that I am older I have a great appreciation to gift cards!

Speaking of gift cards, Empire Theatres is offering a great gift idea for that movie lover on your list! How about the couple with a new baby or young children that is on your list. What better gift than a date night idea, add in an I owe you a night of free babysitting while they use the gift card. I would also give the coupon booklet to the couple and it may just be an extra push to get out for more date nights.

Pick up the Holiday Duo - Buy 30, Get 30 from Empire Theatres. When you buy a $30 Gift card you will receive a bonus coupon booklet worth $30. If you buy $60 worth of gift cards you will get 2 coupon booklets. What a great deal!

The Coupon booklet includes:

• BOGO Admission (January 9 to January 31,2012)
• $2.00 off any Combo - excluding Kid's Pack (January 9 to January 31,2012)
• $9.99 (Admission, Regular Drink, Small Popcorn) (February 1st to February 29th,2012)
• Buy a Large Popcorn, get a Large Drink Free (March 1st to March 31st,2012)
• $6.99 General Admission (March 1st to March 31st,2012)
• Get $4.00 off a General Admission Ticket (April 1st to April 30th,2012)

The Holiday gift tin is available this year to wrap your gift cards in. It sells for $1.00 plus taxes with net proceeds going to the Kids Help Phone.

Can't get out to Empire Theatres to pick up the Holiday Duo for your gift, it is available online until December 18th,2012. I love to shop online instead of battling the crazy stores this time of year. If you do have time to make it to the theatre it is available until December 24th,2012 to be picked up!

Want to join in on the conversation on Twitter? Use hashtag #EmpireHolidays and Follow @EmpireTheatres.

 
~*Disclaimer: This post was written by Canadian Coupon Mom. I am participating in the Empire Theatre Gift Card Holiday Campaign by Mom Central Canada. I received compensation for my participation in this campaign. All opinions are honest and my own.*~

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Free Shipping to Select Online Retailers!

Anna from Bargain Moose has shared a great event that is on today to help finish up some Christmas shopping without leaving the comfort of your home.

Select online retail stores have agreed to give shoppers free shipping within Canada for one day only, today Monday December 12,2011. Best part? No minimum to qualify for Free shipping!

Take a look at the post on Bargain Moose to find out which stores are participating!

~*Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored post. This post was written by Canadian Coupon Mom. All opinions are honest and my own.*~

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