You can get FREE MP3 Downloads at Amazon here. There's songs from Ani Difranco, David Byrne, American Idol's Jason Castro, Ben Kweller, Ted Nugent, Snoop Dogg, Sepultura, Willie Nelson and many many more.

Wired.com also has free music downloads, new every Friday.

Money Saving Mom has another post on how to get subscriptions to Family Fun & Focus on the Family's magazines. I got mine!

We've been very fortunate to have both creative and thoughtful people around us. I thought I would share a few examples of what I mean and maybe inspire your creativity in the process.

One of the best, if not the best, gift I've ever received was a baby quilt from my sister. Not a huge deal on the surface, but what makes it so incredibly special is that the striped fabric used is from one of my dad's favorite shirts. Unfortunately, he had passed the year before my son was born. Of course, not everyone knew that when I started uncontrollably bawling at my baby shower...thanks sis. She, especially, has a knack for these types of gifts.


No offense to anyone else, but the best gift that my son received on his birthday was the Dr. Seuss drawings that my father-in-law did for him:


I took the liberty of framing them along with the truffula trees that we made as decorations. Along those same lines, my father-in-law also drew some circus animals (below) for the baby shower that I've now displayed in my son's room. I know these will mean so much to my son when he's older.


While I'm at it, I thought I'd also share some little touches in my son's room. I know everyone goes overboard with their first kid. They want everything to be perfect and skimp on nothing. I know that's how I felt. I came very close to spending hundreds on the crib set and all that. Luckily, however, I came to my senses...for the most part anyway. I decided that what would make my son's room truly special was if I were to do things myself, from the heart. So, instead of buying the letters that are $10 a piece at Pottery Barn Kids (left), I got some wood, and scrapbook paper and went to town (right).














Believe it or not, these colors actually all exist in the jungle theme we did. I also mimicked the idea on a small scale, with the knobs on the dresser. It was actually a creative solution to a problem we had with the screws on the knobs being too long. We just attached a little piece of wood behind them, again with the scrapbook paper and there you go.

I also attached some of those pull away hooks to the sides to hold robes and extra jackets. It comes in real handy.

I recently wrote a post On My Lists about my favorite sport, boxing. I know a lot of people have opinions about boxing being barbaric and violent. I used to be one of those people myself, but then I started actually watching it and not just assuming I knew what it was all about. It changed my mind...obviously.

Ah, but that's not why I'm writing. I actually wanted to share how matches are scored, because not everyone knows.

The Ten Point Must System
Each judge scores each round using the following criteria:

Clean Punching (25%)
Effective Aggression (25%)
Ring Generalship (25%)
Defense (25%)

Clean punches are above the waist, on the front or sides of the body or head, and with the knuckle of the glove. The judge must determine if one boxer is landing more clean punches than the other.

Effective Aggression means landing punches while moving forward. If a fighter is aggressive but not landing punches, that does not count as effective aggression.

Ring Generalship means who is controlling the action in the ring, using strategy and skills beyond straight punching power. Is one fighter using agility and feinting to throw his opponent off guard? Or setting up his opponent for effective combinations? When one fighter moves the other around the ring at will, that fighter is displaying ring generalship.

Defense refers to a fighter's success at avoiding blows. This can be accomplished by blocking, bobbing, weaving, good footwork, and/or good movement.

Additional Ten-Point Calculations:
Apart from the four judging criteria mentioned above, there are several ways a boxer can lose points.

The referee can deduct points from a boxer for a foul. In that case each judge must subtract the points from that boxer's score for that round. This means, for example, that if the leading fighter is penalized for a 1 point foul, the resulting score (which would have been 10-9) becomes 9-9. Only the referee determines point deductions for a foul.

If a boxer is knocked down, a point is deducted from the boxer's score. For example, if the leading fighter (who is rewarded with ten points)knocks down the other fighter, the resulting score would be 10-8 (i.e., the leading boxer was already ahead, and now, with the knock down, he is an additional point ahead).

A standing eight count is scored the same as a knockdown, deducting one point from the score of the fighter who took the standing eight count.

Thanks to Ring Of Dreams.

Go here to sign up for a free 2-year subscription to Parents magazine.



Get your free subscription to Martha Stewart Living Magazine here.



There's also a free subscription for Woman's Day magazine here.


Thank you to Money Saving Mom for the tips. She has another great post here about how to get a free "$100-value download" for her readers.

Finally, don't forget about Adperk as a great way to get free subscriptions. All you have to do is watch some ads first. Right now, the featured mag is Field & Stream. We mustn't forget about the men out there.

Here's this Monday's Redbox Code for a FREE movie rental:

S39XKT Expires tonight (Mon, Feb 23) at midnight CST.


Quizno's is giving away free small subs to the 1st million people who sign up here to receive Quiznos emails.



Sign up here for a free entree from Kashi.



There is supposed to be a Goldfish crackers deal at Target where you can get bags for $0.16 a piece. Check out Money Saving Moms post on it here.

Moms Need To Know has a post about how to get a free IHOP breakfast tomorrow between 7:00am and 10:00pm.

Add your own photos to a deck of playing cards at Artscow for $3.88, normally $10.99. Plus, get free shipping!

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Get jigsaw puzzles, like the ones shown above) using your own pictures at only $3.99/each with free shipping.

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I came across this site, PBTeen while I was looking up kids decor and man, it's awesome! Whether you have a teen or you're just young at heart, you should check it out.

For instance, they have these ipod plush dolls like the ones to the right. I actually have a monkey like this that I got at Pottery Barn in my baby's room and I love it! The speakers are surprisingly good.

Even if you don't want to buy anything, the site can provide great inspiration for things you could do yourself. Here are some examples of what I mean:









These could be super easy to do and could probably be done with things you already have around the house. You just gotta keep your eyes open. I know I'm going to. That hat rack will be mine, oh yes, it will be. Of course, I'll put my own spin on it.

Just because Valentine's Day is close, doesn't mean it's too late to make something special for your loved ones. If you click "cut out + keep" (above) you'll be taken to the coolest site and tons of gift ideas. My favorites that I've seen are The Black Apple cards. You can get the images here. She also has some super cute holiday gift tags here.

I also like the idea of the heart crayons for the kids, just to let them know you care. This would be a good gift for a teacher too I would think.

Here's another teacher appreciation idea (below).
Or, you could always do robot pins for the teens in your life.

These are just a few of the great ideas there.

Skip to my lou has a great idea for scratch off tickets that could be real fun.

I haven't ranted in awhile now. I thought I might have to change my blog name. Turns out I just had to wait for American Idol to start again. Oh man, where do I start?

First off, I cannot stand the new judge, Kara DioGuardi. I hate how she talks about things like her word is golden. Even more than Simon, she acts like everything she says is fact. I don't understand what she's adding to the show, except some possible drama. Let me tell you, I am sick of the drama. I want to watch people sing. If I want drama, I'll watch soap operas.

I have looked up some of the songs Kara's written on her site and she has some decent stuff--she needs to stick to that.

Secondly, I'm sick of Simon. I used to trust his opinion, but after bikini girl, forget about it. His opinion, to me, is no longer relevant. He's been doing this show long enough that he should know that it isn't all about looks anymore. American Idol allows us to get to know the singer's stories and personalities; because of that, the Ruben Studdards and the Clay Aikens of the world have a chance. So, don't insult us by throwing someone like bikini girl at us.

Now, I'm not saying she was horrible, but don't send her through and then say "no" to Nick Mitchell/ Norman Gentle. I'm speaking about Simon, of course. Luckily, the others have sent him through, as they should, because he can sing. Normally, I wouldn't think I would love someone so overly dramatic, but after he insulted Simon, he won me over. If he continues the way he's begun, I intend on voting for him all the way. Though, I do really like Danny Gokey too.

Oh don't worry, bikini girl will land on her feet. Apparently, she's going to pose in Playboy. Her father must be so proud, but something tells me he may not have had a big role in her life. If he had, maybe she wouldn't think she has to exploit herself the way she has. Talent is enough, no matter what Simon thinks.

Finally, we come to Tatiana Del Toro from Puerto Rico. The fact that she says "Puerto Rico" with an accent but nothing else is like a pet peeve for me. Either you have an accent or you don't.

Oh if that were the only thing that got on my nerves with this girl, but it's not even close. I don't know if I've ever seen someone so fake in my life. Like I, honestly, question if she's all there because no one acts like that. The scary thing is she'll probably stick around because of all those people out there who vote for the worst. Now, I don't know that her voice is bad, no one's should be bad at this point. I just can't stand to watch her long enough to hear her voice. I have to fast forward.

I don't know how I'm even going to get through this season. Hope it gets better, is all I can say.

Scrapbooks etc. has some cute Valentine's day paper piecing craft projects for kids, like the examples below:














Not necessarily for Valentine's day, but I also thought these paper bag puppets were super cute:

Now through February 10th, Amazon is offering free game downloads on the following:

Jewel Quest II



The Scruffs



Build-a-lot






Click here for more details.

I had posted awhile back about my son's 1st birthday, but I never posted about how it went.

First of all, we decided on the Dr. Seuss theme. I found some stuff on-line about possible games and all that, but none of it really came into play for me. Here's what I did find just in case you're interested:

Dr Seuss & Cat in the Hat Party
Dr. Seuss' Birthday Crafts & Activities
Seussville printouts, etc.

Nothing too exciting to be honest. Within all my research, here is the invite I ended up making (left), very last minute. Though I did plan a long time before the party, the invites I had originally planned didn't work out as I'd liked, so I ended up rushing anyway.

Someone did say that some stores give out free first b-day cake for babies. I ended up letting my mother-in-law have free reign with the cakes. She did a Horton, a wompy cake for me, and a hat inspired 3 layer cake.


My husband and I made large truffula trees and decorated both the inside and outside of my sister's house with them. As you can see to the left, we also made a walkway of balloons which was definitely an experience.

We had originally planned on having all the guests sign the Dr. Seuss hat shown, but we really didn't get around to that. It's just like with anything else, so much planning goes into it; but then you just do what feels natural, and it ends up being fine no matter what. My baby had a great time and it was all that mattered.


Although, I didn't have a lot of luck looking on-line, I did find one site that I loved. Here are some of the tips I got there:

Give the guests 3x5 cards with questions like, "what advice would you give for the future?".

One person suggests setting out large fabric tunnels or washable crayons with paper rolls. Another person suggests a pull string version of a pinata.

I also found some great birthday hats at Martha Stewart's site that you can make yourself. Though I didn't do it this time, I can see myself doing this at some point in the future.

I've been using Swagbucks as a search engine for awhile now. When you do, you can win "swag bucks". These bucks can be used to buy prizes. They have xBox 360s, iPhones, gift cards, movies, shirts, and much more. Here's the complete list of prizes offered now.

All you have to do is search, like you would anyway, and the bucks will pop up. I like it because they're easily won. I win them everyday, and I'm not doing anything special to get them.

You can also get bucks by using their site to recycle your cell phones and to shop. Click below if you're curious. Hey, it can't hurt.

Now if you're like me, then you don't like giving your email address to anything and everything on the internet. That's why I have 2 accounts, 1 for me business and 1 for all the stuff I sign up for. As you can imagine, I don't check the 2nd as much and don't care that it gets bombarded with junk mail. Just a suggestion.