Free Headband Giveaway

I will be giving away this adorable tropical pink flower headband. I will pick the winner on August 4th.

Here's how to enter:

If you are not already following me add me to your blog roll.

Post a comment and let me kno that you are a follower.

I will assign each comment a number and pick the winner via a random number generator.

Good Luck!!!!

Pay it Forward Fridays

Last week I started Pay it Forward Fridays. To see the original post click here.

I am not sure what my random act of kindness will be today, but I will make sure to update as soon as it happens.

I would like to share with you a few people that have recently payed it forward and their generosity has warmed my heart. I am going to put together a donation to the NICU at Good Samaritan Hospital in honor of Tarynn's birthday. I would like to donate some preemie outfits, reading material, ect. Another thing I was really interested in donating was preemie hats. Preemies are unable to regulate their body temperature and as most heat escapes through the head having a little hat is important. Tarynn had the cutest little yellow crocheted beanie on when I got to see her for the first time. I asked the nurses where it came from and they informed me that people donated them. The benefit of this little hat was twofold. It kept her warm, but it was also comforting to me as a parent. Before she was able to wear clothes, it was the one personal item she had. The NICU is also filled with multiple "beds" and they move them around based on the nurse scheduling. Your baby is not always in the same place when you arrive from one day to the next. I could always find Tarynn by looking for her little yellow hat.





I am trying to learn to crochet, because this is something I would love to donate. I have been practicing, but I don't think I will be able to make hats by September. I knew there are so many talented artists on Etsy.com, so I decided to see if anyone was interested in donating. I put up and alchemy request and in a matter of minutes had many responses. My request got taken down in a few hours (can't ask for donations, OOPS!!), but in that few hours I received an overwhelming number of responses, and these adorable little hats starting rolling in.



These etsians have been so kind and generous and I am so thankful. I'm sure the recipients of these adorable little hats will be as well. I will make a post in the near future with pictures of that hats and information if you are interested in making a donation. I wasn't going to post about this for awhile, but I couldn't wait to share the kindness from these crafters.



Yarn Graphics

Signature Boutique

Leaping Lizzie

Conixon Creations

Crafting Addiction

The Fiddlin Trucker

Kenda Designs

Gems 2 Jewels

While you sleep I crochet

99 Lollipop

Sunshine Handmade Knits

Uniquely Yours Crafter

Schiers Knits

If an Hour

Judy and Cheryl's craft boutique



Check out there shop's and please leave a comment with a random act of kindness you did for someone today or if you were the recipient of a random act of kindness.

Income ideas for stay at home moms

I have heard a ton of mom's asking if anyone knows of a way to earn some pt income. Marco and I decided we were not willing to put Tarynn in full time daycare, but I still wanted to earn at least a little something.

These are a few of the ways I have found to earn some extra income while still having a very flexible schedule. Feel free to share any of your own knowledge on the subject.

Mystery shopping:

Be careful with this one. Most of the offers I get are not worth my time. Many pay $8 for something that will take two hours of your time. I also live in a small town and most offers are out of town, so if you are adding drive time into it, it's def not worth it. However once or twice a week I get an offer that is worth my while. A couple days ago I did a COACH shop that paid $24 and took me 10 minutes. I have done shops on gas stations that pay $15 plus free gas. Trader Joe's also has a shop program if you are under 26 that makes sure their employees are checking ID properly for alcohol sales.

Now you will not make enough to pay your rent doing this, but if it's stores where you already shop it's a great way to earn extra income and get free products. Movie theatres, zoos, bowling alleys, and amusement parks all do mystery shops. Awesome way to get free admission and earn some extra money.

Here are some websites to get you started:

www.dynamic-advantage.com/

www.kernscheduling.com/

Another option is babysitting. I myself am not able to do FT daycare. I go to school and my schedule is pretty sporadic. I do offer on call day care for friends and family when their regular day care is not available. I also watch a couple of kids two days a week in their home. A good way to find people that need PT daycare is care.com

There are many elderly people that need assistance. I used to help a woman that was 92 and lived on her own. I would go for two hours in the morning make her breakfast, make sure she took her medicine, and straighten up the house. The best way to get something like this is word of mouth, but care.com also has a section for the elderly.

Speaking of care.com let me just go over all of the income opportunities you can find on the site. There are ads for child care, elderly care, tutoring, and pet care.

Tutoring is also a good way to earn some extra income and do something impactful at the same time. Check care.com, craigslist.org, call your local schools and give them your info, and check the bulletin boards at your local college.

Doing promotions is also a quick way to earn a few hundred dollars. Companies hire people to promote their products ranging from alcohol at a night club to working in a booth selling t-shirts at a festival. You can find these by googling promo companies or looking under gigs on craigslist.org. When you sign up for an "agency" keep in mind they will have a wide range of job postings. They will have gigs that require wearing a string bikini and gigs that require wearing khakis and a polo passing out samples. The pay for these usually ranges from $15-$30 an hour.
The availability of promotions will vary greatly on your location. In San Fransisco there are many convention promotions available-professional dress, providing information, $30 an hour. In other areas you will see more offers to be the "Coors Light girl", paying $17 an hour.

A girlfriend just told me about becoming a process server. She said it pays about a hundred dollars per papers you serve. I haven't looked into much, but I found this ehow to article.

http://www.ehow.com/how_2099796_become-process-server.html

Also use your talents. Resume services, website design, typing, business card design, housekeeping, home organization are all services people are in need of. Check craigslist.org under gigs and you will see people need all sorts of help. I recently saw an ad that a musician needed someone to manage their social networking sites--twitter, Facebook, and Myspace.

As I said, if you have any suggestions please feel free to share.

Thrifty Thursdays

Here are some of my thrifty finds for the week. I am missing a few pictures because they are on my other phone and I have no way to get them off.


I answered a craigslist ad for baby girl clothes. The poster just had a little boy and needed to clear out some space. When I arrived at her house I understood why. Between the 3 year old little girl and 4 month little boy there was toys and clothes taking up every square inch of her house. She brought the boxes and boxes of clothes and toys into the living room for me to look at. I was impressed, out of all the clothes I looked at only 2 or 3 were stained. I wanted to ask her for her laundry secrets.


I chose 36 items of clothing. She wanted me to buy the entire lot, but some of them were off season or just didn't look like they would fit. (Tarynn has very short legs) I got a ton of footed jammies--my absolute favorite. I hate buying them though. $8 a pair adds up and Tarynn usually goes through 2 pairs a night.


I also got an activity table and a ton of toys. I gave her $45.


Here is a pic of the table and one of my fave items of clothing, a crocheted little pancho.




My neighbours had a garage sale this weekend and I found a few good finds. I have been looking for shelves for Tarynns room. She has a few picture frames I would like to display and the dressers and bookshelf are out of room. I found two white shelves and this really cool veggie steamer thing for $5. I'm excited about the steamer too. It's made out of ceramic or something and you can put it on top of the pot and it will steam the vegetable and then it can go straight to the table as a serving dish. It will also be great from steaming veggies for Tearynn. Anything that cuts down on dishes is a winner in my book. They also threw in a pair of riding pants and 2 jerseys for Chop.





Target donates to our local Goodwill, so you can often find brand new items with damaged packaging. I actually got Tarynn's bedding there for $20. I rarely, however, go because it is sooo dirty. This week I wandered into Gilroy's Goodwill and it was so much better. I don't feel any guilt about buying from them because you don't pay sales tax at GW. I was way more clean and organized, and had a better selection. I found a little unicorn that lights up and sings for $2.99. Tarynn is still a little to small for it, but my friends 4 year old son has sure been enjoying it. I also bought a small blow up pool and a big pack of plastic balls and made Tarynn a ball pit. I wish I had a picture to show you. When I reconnect that phone I will have to post pics because it is too darn cute. I also got a few other toys. All in all my total was $23. Awesome.


Sorry for the bad pics. They are with my old camera phone. If the items look grungy, they are not. It's because of the camera.


So, with all these thrifty purchases I've been making my house has been taken over by primary colors. And you know what Tarynn wants to play with: the remote, my phone, and the computer!!!!!