August is coming -- August is coming!!!

It's that time of year again.  The Freebie Lover's Dream.

Every weekday in August, from 12pm - 7pm, there is a giveaway each hour at Allure.com.  There are 25,403 prizes this year. 

http://www.allure.com/free-samples

Each giveaway is different, but typically the first 500 to enter will win an awesome beauty product. This takes some skill, and you have to be focused.  I have the attention of a 3 year old, so I usually only bag a few.   But here's how I do it:

•  If you are not registered at Allure.com - set up your Account/Login ahead of time.
• Set your preferred reminder for every weekday at noon.  I use my Google Calendar.  I set it to email me 20 mins ahead so I can log in, and get the form filled and ready to submit at exactly noon.  I work every day so I just have to hope that the phone doesn't ring or a customer doesn't come in at that time. 
• After that first giveaway is over, I check the giveaway calendar for the rest of the day. http://www.allure.com/free-samples/2011/free-stuff-calendar#slide=1
• There are 6-7 giveaways each day, on the hour.  If there are other giveaways I want to try for I'll set my Google Calendar to send me a reminder email for that hour.
• Lather, rinse, repeat

Makeup, Hair Products, Styling tools...  they throw in some designer fashion items to keep it interesting.

Set your reminders now and Good Luck!

Alex, you have been Chopped.

This was a ton of fun for all of us. 

I was very proud of their kitchen skills, and I saw them using techniques they learned from me.  They actually pay attention sometimes! 

I think I went a little too easy on them with the ingredients, but it was their first time. 

They both made a salad.  Alex made a fruit salad with greens, and Chloe went with a Blue Cheese dressing.  Dried, sweet cranberries gave them both great flavor. 

Alex made a standard Pig in a blanket, while Chloe added some pizza sauce and cheese to hers.  It was the lack of sauce, and dressing on the salad, that ultimately did Alex in, and sadly, he was Chopped.

Chopped For Kids!

I was watching one of my favorites ,Chopped, with my son and he was totally into it.  That made me think, we should have our own "Chopped" Competition.

 Sunday at 2pm - my son (9yo) and daughter (12yo) will duke it out and see who gets "Chopped"

Here are the Secret Ingredients:  (no, they don't read my blog)

• Cranberries
• Mini Hotdogs
• Crescent Rolls
• Spinach

This is their first time, so I'm going very easy on them..

Feel free to play along!  I will post our pics and winning dish!!

Helping out a friend :)

You may notice the Big Purple Box to the left of this post.  A fellow sweeper has an entry in the Prilosec OTC Sponsorship Contest.

Just click on "Vote for me" in the box and you can send a daily vote her way!  Or click the link here:  Prilosec OTC Sponsorship Vote

Thank you!

Undo Close Tab

I really love this feature of the Tab Mix Plus Addon for Firefox.

I use Shazam on Online-Sweepstakes.com and I have a lot of tabs open at any given time.  I move pretty fast.  Sometimes I click too quickly - close a tab and have no idea what I just closed.  I just chalked it up to my stupidity and missed that daily entry for the day.  But if you are using Tab Mix Plus, there is an easy way to figure out what Tab you just closed. 

Just right click anywhere -  A menu pops up -  and on the menu you will see "Undo Close Tab"


Presto!    That daily is back in play!

Another great feature is "Duplicate Tab"  Right click on any tab label and you can open a duplicate of that tab.  I've found this useful when entering blog entries, you can keep one tab positioned to enter the comments, and one tab positioned to read the gazillion ways to earn extra entries.

The Brady Bunch!

I realized at dinner tonight that my kids have no idea who "The Brady Bunch" is!  So, as we modern girls do,  I looked online and found a site that has all the episodes for your viewing pleasure:

http://tv.blinkx.com/show/the-brady-bunch/MkF-bx00-7wIyFSu

Hysterical!  That's what the world was like when I was 7 years old!

My favorite part from Episode #1:

Mike is nervous about getting married to "Mrs. Martin" (small bit of trivia there).  

Carol says " Why don't you take a tranquilizer, dear?"  
Mike says " I did"
Carol says "Why don't you take another?"


I think I like life in the 70's! 

Since Cascade won't warn you, I will!

I have been using Cascade Powder in my dishwashers for years and years.  I have never had a problem in all this time.  I noticed in the last ..  maybe 4 months??..  my dishes are now coming out with a white film. 

As a result, many of my glasses are now etched with this white chalky coating, and no amount of scrubbing will take it off.  There were some plastics that I have always put in the dishwasher, that are now completely ruined. 

It could have been the result of many things, I just thought the dishwasher was not working great and the dishes were not being rinsed properly. 

Then I stumbled upon this article on my local news website

Turns out the State of PA has banned the use of Phosphates and Cascade has changed their formula to comply with the new regulations.  I understand the need, but I would have liked a little warning on this Cascade!!

This has cost their customers money and it doesn't seem like they care very much.

The woman in this story was able to switch to a Gel formula and no longer has a problem.  My dishwasher instructions specifically warn against using Gel - ever!  I guess I'm out of luck.  I'll be trying different brands now, but for me, the damage is done.