news and notes

Are you a parent of a 2-6 year old child? If so, you’ll definitely want to check out the new widget I just installed. Savvy Source has partnered with Leapfrog to create this great diagnostic tool for parents to figure out where their children between these ages are developmentally. Based on results of this “quiz,” you will then receive recommendations on books and toys and free activities that are developmentally appropriate for your child. It will take you about 20 minutes to navigate through all the questions, but it’s very thorough and well worth the effort.

As a mom of five, I have witnessed up front and personal the wide variations in developmental milestones in my children, so I know that this will be useful for me to pinpoint exactly what will work best for them. And the fact that it’s sponsored by Leapfrog is what really spurred me into wanting to make this available to my readers. Leapfrog is a company that I know and trust, and my children have spent countless hours playing with their toys and watching their videos and have learned so much from them. I would recommend their products to any mom I meet without hesitation.

If you give the quiz a try, I’d love to know what you think about it!

Kristine at Confessions of a Coupon Junkie tagged me! Here are the rules when you get tagged:

1. Link back to the person who tagged you
2. Mention the rules on your blog
3. Tell about 6 unspectacular quirks of yours
4. Tag 6 following bloggers by linking them
5. Leave a comment on each of the tagged blogger’s blogs letting them know they’ve been tagged.

1. My food absolutely, positively cannot touch on my plate, and I have to eat everything one at a time. Multiple plates at buffets and holidays are a must so that everything has enough space.

2. I’ve been pregnant or breastfeeding for 7-plus years now. Our family is finally complete, so I’m looking forward to having my body be my own after all this time, of course when the baby is ready which is still another good 6 months from now at least.

3. I cut my fingernails at least once a week. I’m a transcriptionist, so I’m typing all day long, and it drives me up the wall if I can feel my fingernails hitting the keys.

4. This kind of relates to #3. I’ve been known to sit at my computer for a short while after finishing my transcription for the day with my headphones still on just so I can check my email and read my blog feeds in relative peace. Shh, don’t tell!

5. I was a huge New Kids on the Block fan in the day, and I’m actually going to their concert on October 3rd in Cleveland. Joe is still pretty darn cute! (Mom, dig out my box of tees and other New Kids gear!)

6. I was captain of the varsity cheerleading squad in high school, but when I went to college I opted to play rugby. That’s kind of a 180, isn’t it?

Okay, so . . .

Doodles Place
Keeping the Kingdom First
Coupon Cravings
Frugal Upstate
Shake the Salt
Beauty for Ashes

. . . you’ve been tagged!!!

Today marks one month of blogging here at Deal Seeking Mom, and I’m so excited about how quickly it’s growing! My subscriber count already cracked the 100 mark over a week ago, and I’ve already been receiving some attention from PR outlets as well. Plus, I’ve started covering the weekly Wal-Mart deals for BeCentsAble’s Grocery Gathering, which is a lot of fun.

I just wanted to take a minute to thank all of my loyal readers for your participation and help in spreading the word! More readers and participation means more attention from marketing representatives, which in turn equals more super opportunities for giveaways and promotions for everyone. If you’re not yet a subscriber, I hope you’ll consider subscribing so you don’t miss anything! I’ve got some great things going on behind the scenes that I cannot wait to share with everyone . . . but all in due time, of course.

In the coming months I hope to do monthly recaps (thanks for the idea, Alyssa!), breaking out traffic, referrers, and changes of note. I hope you’ll stick around for all of the excitement! Thank you again for your contributions.

P.S. Be sure to come back tomorrow to get in on a great giveaway!!!

We’ve been focusing on trying to reduce our carbon footprint lately. This is a topic that’s especially close to my heart with such a large family. Plus, it’s just a really fun project to tackle with the kids for the summer.

Small changes that we’ve made are remembering to turn out the lights when we leave a room, replacing all of our light bulbs with CFL bulbs, not leaving the water on while we brush our teeth, and we planted a small garden out back to grow some lettuce, tomatoes, and peppers. Next on our agenda is learning all about recycling, and I’m sure the kids will love learning to sort everything before pick up day. These small changes are valuable lessons for them to learn at a young age, and we’ll build upon them in the future.

A great tool that I ran across to assist us in our lessons is Ideal Bite. Monday through Friday I receive emails with great little tips for “incremental environmentalism,” small changes that I can put in place one at a time to have a big impact overall. If you’re interested in learning how small actions can effect big results, I’d definitely recommend checking it out!

Have you made any “green” changes in your lifestyle recently? If so, please share!

Remember the Allure CVS Gift with Purchase promo I told you about? I wasn’t too optimistic about receiving it because 1) it was limited to the first 1,000 submissions, and 2) I accidentally bought the wrong K-Y product.

I really lucked out – just look at the awesome haul the UPS man brought me today!!! I really had expected it to be comprised of mainly samples based on the description, but there are a TON of full size products.

Full size items:

TRESemmé Thermal Recovery Replenishing Shampoo
TRESemmé Thermal Recovery Replenishing Conditioner
TRESemmé Flawless Curls Shampoo
TRESemmé Flawless Curls Conditioner
Biore Pore Unclogging Scrub
Nair Shower Power Hair Remover
V05 Curvaceous Curls Mousse
Sally Hansen Lip Inflation Extreme Lip Gloss
24.7 Skincare Targeted Wrinkle Treatment
CVS Sport Spray Sunscreen
Revlon Lip Gloss
Goody Styling Therapy Brush
Cute Chartreuse and White Makeup Bag

Sample size items:

Ban Invisible Solid Antiperspirant
Nivea Body Pure Moisture Lotion
St. Ives Advanced Body Moisturizer
K-Y Intrigue
Biore Blemish Fighting Ice Cleanser
Nexxus Root Extend

Rumor has it that people are starting to receive the Glamour CVS Gift with Purchase promo bags from May, as well. I haven’t received mine yet, but I’m hopeful it will come as I mailed my receipt on May 7th, the day the promotion showed up on their website. They’re arriving FedEx, so be on the lookout!!!

Unfortunately, both of these promos are over now, but I’ll definitely post new ones as I come across them!