FREE Box of Chocolate Cheerios

I just came across this neat website. It's called Websaver.ca. Not only do they offer a coupon for a FREE Box of Chocolate Cheerios (YUM!) right now and lots of other coupons, but they also donate 0.5 cents to Breakfast for Learning from each coupon ordered from their site, that is actually redeemed. Watch out though, you can get the FREE Box of Chocolate Cheerios on one day only, June 21 2011 - so keep that coupon safe and don't forget about it!

You do have to register, but it's quick. Next time they have a great offer or you want to re-order coupons, you can just sign in. Enjoy!

FREE Cereal from Kellogg's (Canadian Freebie)

Does everyone know about Save.ca? If not, it's a great website where you can register (it's quick!) and order coupons. The coupons are sent to your house at no charge. It usually takes around 10 business days or so to receive them. You can also re-order any coupons of choice after a certain amount of days.

Right now, Kellogg's has partnered up with Save.ca and is offering a FREE Box of cereal. There are three different cereals and you have to choose ONE. Kellogg's has additional coupons available (select the ones you want) and they will be mailed straight to your address.

Get your COUPON for the FREE Box of Kellogg's on the left hand side, by clicking on the link.

LIKE Please Mum on Facebook and receive an additional 10% off (Web Exclusive)

Please Mum has a Web Exclusive right now where you can get an additional 10% off for liking them on Facebook. Promotion ends April 30 2011 and is not applicable on the purchase of gift cards.

Please Mum currently also has a Buy One, Get One 50% off promotion on their entire Fashion Collection. Furthermore there are additional markdowns on their spring & summer apparel. Happy Shopping!

Linking up with Give it to me Tara & Just Married with Coupons

Joe Fresh Canada - Buy One, Get One Free Girl Socks (Printable Coupon)

Buy one pack of Kid Girl Socks (roll top anklet or rib turn cuff) valued at $6 at Joe Fresh Canada and get the second pack for FREE. This offer is good until May 20th 2011. Printable Coupon available.

Conversations with a Now 3 Year Old

Unbelievable, but our little girl is 3 already!

Olivia was on the phone with Daddy the other day (it's a treat for her when she gets to talk to Daddy on his drive home) and I caught her saying, full of excitement:-

"Daddy, I'm putzing the windows!"

Now for our Swiss and maybe even German readers, this is funny or at least cute, but for our English-speaking folk: "putzen" means "to clean". Our smart, little girl used the german word "putzen" in her english sentence and put the proper Present Continuous English ending at the end of the word. :-) I truly wish I caught this one on tape.

Kijiji Fail

You know, I am all about kijiji (not like Sylvia is all about it, but I still like it).  It is a place where you can get some great deals, get rid of excess junk in the house and so on.  We score a bunch of great things on there.  What is great about this giant online classified ad system is that most time, prices are negotiable, and people typically expect the barter system.  

I was surfing Kijiji for books when I came across this ad for Harry Potter Books:

I am selling the complete Harry Potter Book Series for $100.00.

 

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

 

All books are hardcover and are in excellent condition. Buy the set and get three Harry Potter book marks!

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
 Guidelines

 

(1) Unless stated otherwise, all item prices are non-negotiable!

(2) If an item price is negotiable, please give a reasonable price. Lowballs will be ignored!

(3) All items are pick-up only! No deliveries will be made!

 

Steps for Inquiry & Pick-Up

 

(1) Please contact via e-mail

- Please leave your name (you do not need to include your phone number since I do not like to make calls)

- Please make sure that the e-mail you include is correct (otherwise I will not be able to reply)

- Please use proper English spelling, grammar, and punctuation (sorry, I do not speak French). If you type in chat speak or have too many errors in your e-mail, I will not respond (on account that I will not be able to understand you!)

- Please be polite!

(2) I'll respond within a few minutes/hours if e-mail is sent before 10:30pm (may take a bit longer to reply if I'm away from my computer)
(3) Please respond back within a few hours of my reply
(4) Please pick-up within 48 hours of set date/time (if you need to reschedule, let me know!)
(5) If item/s are not picked up within 48 hours (unless otherwise arranged), you may lose them, and they will be reposted back on Kijiji
  *Please check out my other ads for more fun items and deals!*

Now, doesn't this take all the fun out of it?  Sure, I typically laugh at people with bad spelling, but really, this is a little much, don't you think?  And really, guidelines? Really?  I can't believe it.  The complete douchery of this guy's ad makes me ponder the following:

(1) I don't want to respond to it, due to complete jerkiness.

(2) What's with the underline+exclamation point of "non-negotiable"?  Could it not have quite politely stated that prices are firm?

(3) I can't check my mail in the day at work, so do I automatically get thrown out because I can't reply right away?

(4) Does this guy really have the audacity to ask me to check out his/her other ads?  Why?  So I can get told what a horrible person I am for not using spell check?

(5) This makes me want to respond with half ass grammar, ask the seller if he/she can meet me somewhere as I don't have a car (even though I do), throw a few German words in my response and see if he/she can speak that, since he can't speak French, take too long to reply back to him/her, offer the seller a low ball figure and then, just to top it off, not go and pick up the items.

I think it will be a freaking miracle if these books actually sell.

-d

...I wonder what the other ads are...

Care Bear Birthday Cake - Share Bear

I really wanted to make a Care Bear birthday cake for my daughters 3rd birthday, as I had bought a brand new Care Bears cake pan of Kijiji a year ago, right after my daugther's 2nd birthday! Of course I wanted to make Share Bear, as it is the purple Care Bear.

I was a bit worried that I wouldn't be able to pipe this Care Bear cake, as I never piped anything before, other than the Hello Kitty Cupcakes, in order to practice. I'm not very artistically inclined, so I figured doing anything with icing would be even harder than drawing with a pencil etc. However, thanks to my sister-in-laws amazing Frosting Recipe and my sister, who did not only assist me with making the icing the right colours and decorating the cake properly but also acted as the photographer, my first Care Bear cake turned out alright.

(c) Bkluge Photography. Thanks. :-)

I baked the Care Bear French Vanilla Cake two nights before and wrapped it tight, storing it in the fridge. It was still really fresh two days later. It was really important to intensly butter and flour the Care Bear cake pan, before filling it with the batter, as it's important that the cake does not stick to the pan, when removing it, so the outline is nice and visible.

Since I don't have a pretty cake platter, I created my own by using a piece of card board and wrapping it in aluminium foil.

(c) Bkluge Photography. Thanks. :-)

My sister and I started by mixing the proper colours for the icing. We used Wilton's Rainbow Food Colouring Gels, which my friend from Sweet and Lovely Crafts lent to me. It's great to use colouring gels, as the icing becomes a deeper colour. It took us a good hour to get the 10 different colours of icing the proper colours. Later on, we realized that there is actually a mistake in the amounts the instructions tells you to make - it reversed the amount of the icing that is used for the outline of the care bear with the amount of the filling of the care bear, so we had to think on our feet.

Once the white icing was on the Care Bear and the outlines were piped onto it, it was time for lots of stars. Some of the parts of the Care Bear, such as the Lollies, eyes, dots and hearts had to be smoothed over with the finger, for a "flat" look, which was easier than I thought it would be.

I think the shell bottom suprised me the most, as I really had no idea how to pipe it. I just tried my best and was so tired at 2:30 in the morning, after 5 hours of working on this birthday cake, that I was just happy to be done...well, almost done. I also piped "Happy 3rd Birthday, Olivia" beside Share Bear with a few stars beside it, as by that point, I had become quite the piper!

If anyone has this cake pan and needs the instructions, I can probably scan them for you. I have the instructions for Share Bear (purple), Good Luck Bear (green), Love-A-Lot Bear (pink) & Wish Bear (turquoise), just leave me a comment.

(c) Sweet and Lovely Crafts. Thanks. :-)

Linking up with: Skip to My Lou & What's Cooking Thursday & Paisley Passions & Heck Fridays & Sun Scholars & Local Fun for Kids & Kitchen Fun with My Three Sons

DOUBLE GREEN BACKS - Please Mum Earth Day

Please Mum is offering DOUBLE GREEN BACKS in celebration of Earth Day. For more information on Green Backs, please refer to a previous post on Green Backs. GREEN BACKS can be used towards any in-store purchase, including promotions and sales. The Earth Day promotion is from April 21st-April 23rd.

For this promotion, this is what your items are worth:

*Tops=2 Green Backs

*Hoodies, Jackets, Bottoms, Jumpers & Sun Dresses=4 Green Backs

*Spring Outerwear & Fancy Party Dresses=10 Green Backs

P.S.: You can also redeem your KidKa$h now and save $25 on every $50 you spend from April 17th - May 8th 2011.

Linking up with Luxury Living Frugal Style & The Adventures of Curly Tot

P&G Brandsampler + P&G Brandsampler for Men

Just want to let everyone know about this awesome samples! They are by far my favourites. I use them as travel toiletries and once they are done, they make awesome, real looking products in my daughter's even more real looking Melissa & Doug shopping cart (I'll go on about that another day).

You just have to sign up (which won't take longer than 2 minutes, I promise). Make sure you also subscribe to the P&G Brandsampler Newsletter when asked because they don't send it out a lot and when they do, you will be the first to know about their new samples and therefore won't miss out! Go to P&G Brandsampler to order your samples now. You will receive your little box of samples in 4-6 weeks time.

For the first time, I realized that you can also order P&G Brandsampler for Men, which you can use the same login information for as you use to order the P&G Brandsampler. Enjoy!

Linking up with Just Married with Coupons & Feeding Four

Awesome Frosting Recipe

This different coloured icing is from my Care Bear Cake, which turned out great.

My sister-in-law gave me this frosting recipe, when I asked her if she thinks I'd be able to pipe a Care Bear cake for my daughter's 3rd Birthday Party. I told her that I have no prior piping knowledge and that this kind of thing really isn't my forte. Having piped many cakes, she told me that it really all comes down to the frosting recipe and that this one has never failed her, yet.

Makes 3 cups of Frosting

*1/2 cup of solid vegetable shortening (it's easy to use Crisco - 1 stick)
*1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
*1 teaspoon of vanilla
*4 cups sifted icing sugar
*2 tbsp milk

Beat butter and shortening together with a mixer. Ad the vanilla and mix it in. Gradually add the sugar, one cup at a time. Beat well on medium speed after each addition. When all of the sugar has been mixed in, it will look kind of dry - that's a good thing. Mix in the milk and beat on medium speed until light and fluffy.

This Frosting can be made ahead of time and put in the fridge - just put a damp piece of paper towel/tea towel over the bowl to prevent the frosting from getting crusty.

Linking up with Making Friends Monday & Skip to My Lou

French Vanilla Hello Kitty Cupcakes

Please be aware that this was pretty much my very first attempt in piping anything onto any sort of baked goods. :-)

Wanting to make a birthday cake for my daughter's 3rd Birthday Party, I came across this French Vanilla Cake Recipe on Misshomemade.com. I wanted to try it out before making the birthday cake, so I used it to make some French Vanilla Hello Kitty cupcakes for her actual birthday. The batter was enough for 18 cupcakes and if there was anything I would change, I might use a little less Vanilla. Other than that, I really liked the taste of the cupcakes, especially the "crusty" tops.

My sister-in-law gave me an awesome Frosting Recipe she swears by and considering this was the first and only frosting recipe I've ever tried to pipe anything, it turned out pretty well.

Decorating the lovely cupcakes with Hello Kitty was a different story - and quite frankly, quite the adventure. I'd like to mention at this point, that I am not very artistically inclined, so considering, a couple of the cupcakes actually did resemble Hello Kitty, while most of them resembled "Hello Piggy". However, the main thing is that my little girl recognized Hello Kitty right away - or so said Daddy. My other excuse for the un-professional looking Hello Kitty cupcakes, other than me not being very artsy, is that I truly did not have any of the proper tools (decorating tips), nor did I have enough piping bags or the correct food colouring. At one point I actually resorted to tooth picks to draw the whiskers and such.

It was harder than I anticipated to find a simple Hello Kitty Design that I could pipe onto the cupcakes, but after some googling I found i heart baking, which is a great blog with professional looking pictures and neat & yummie looking recipes.

Linking up with Funky Polkadot Giraffe & Local Fun for Kids & Skip to My Lou & Sun Scholars