Protect Your Family and Property

We live in a very quiet private subdivision and the houses are pretty far apart so we seldom talk to our neighbors. In fact, we actually seldom see our neighbors. When we do, they are usually passing by in their cars and we just wave or smile at each other. That's just about the interaction we have. So you will think that if any untoward things happen in any of the houses around we wouldn't know about it. That is why we are planning to have home security systems installed in our house to keep not only our family safe and secure, but our assets as well.

After searching online for what type of security systems to get, we're finally settling on ADT Home Security products. Sometime next year, we are getting away for a long vacation overseas, it would be great to have peace of mind knowing that our property is protected while we are away. The ADT Safewatch Video View home security surveillance will let us watch our home from almost anywhere in the world via any web-enabled PDA or cellphone. ADT home security products can also be a great deterrent to home invasion and help prevent break-ins. So we can certainly trust ADT, the most respected name in the security business to help us have peace of mind knowing that our family and properties are protected 24/7.

Top EC Droppers For November

Every month I always extend my great appreciation to all my blogger buddies who tirelessly come by to drop me their EC's and I give some link love to the ones who made it to the top list. Thank you all guys!

In the Presence of Vultures*
The Shutterbug*
Life's A Pizza Pie*
Memories Frozen in Time*
Mommy's Little Corner*
On a Lighter Note**
Moments of My Life**
TuitionPlace
Slow Streamyx
The Cool Mom Guide

* Also in my top 10 at Random Thoughts

**Also in my top 10 at My Barefoot Journey

Wise Spending

I would probably use our fake Christmas tree and fake wreaths this year rather than buy fresh ones. Every year we buy fresh Christmas tree and wreaths from Boy Scouts in town to help them with their fund raising campaign. This will save us between $40 and $50 at least. But I have to see if the fake tree is still ok in the attic. We stopped using it since I moved here in 2003. Hopefully it's still in good condition otherwise I might end up buying fresh one too. I can not overemphasize how tough time is and until when the bad economy will last, so I guess wise spending wouldn't hurt.

Fulfill Holiday Wishes For Military Families

How would you like to make a difference this Christmas season? Instead of being just so focused on making a long list of expensive material gifts for ourselves and family, we can also fulfill simple wishes for the family of men and women in uniform who were left behind by these heroes fighting overseas. Check out Sears.com and read through all touching stories and wishes for the 'real' heroes, the families of soldiers who will be celebrating the holidays without their loved ones as they are deployed somewhere defending our security. I was particularly struck by a story of wife and mother with five kids whose husband was away for more than a year. Imagine the sacrifice of having to be the mother and father at the same time raising their kids on her own. She's the real hero, the hero at home .

There is a very noble endeavor by Sears to help the real heroes at home, it is called Sears Heroes at Home Wish Registry where you can choose from a wish list and contribute the corresponding cost of the gift or just donate any amount you can afford. The contribution will not go to a specific family but Sears will distribute them equally to all registered families in the form of Sears gift cards. I'm sure material gifts will never replace the actual presence of the soldiers, but knowing that they are still able to send their families some gifts for the holidays will mean so much to them.

Make a difference and make donations to Heroes at Home Wish Registry by visiting Sears.com and make the wishes of the soldiers for their families come true this Christmas.

Potty Training Milestone

When my son turned 2 1/2 years old last week, I started sitting him in the potty for training. He thinks that it is just one of the games we play so he's always excited. He will willingly sit there with a book or a toy but nothing is happening. One time as soon as he got up from the potty a stream of pee just squirted out and wet my leg, ooops. Anyway, despite not being successful I still sit him in the potty as soon as he wakes up in the morning and from his afternoon nap and before he goes to bed. It's really a good time to train him at this point because he can control wetting already. During the day, I would sit him if it's been two hours already and his diaper is still dry. I bribe him with a sticker which is actually a boo-boo band-aid.

But today my son had a milestone, finally he was able to pee and we both got startled when the potty played a music. I got this new potty that plays music as a reward when the sensor comes in contact with something. My son exclaimed "I did it, I did it!". I praised him for a job well done and gave him a sticker as reward. Hopefully this will be the start of more successful trips to the potty.

The Mother of All Best Offers

Ok if you have not gotten over black friday deals yet here is another great offer that is not worth forgoing, the Charter's Ultimate Bundle. The Charter Ultimate Communication Service Bundle will only costs you $165.97 per month for 12 months and it includes a whole bunch of great features like HIGH SPEED INTERNET: 10 Mbps High Speed; HD TV: Digital Home, Charter HD, Sport View, Digital View, HBO/Cinemax, Starz/Encore, Showtime/The Movie Channel; and PHONE: Unlimited Calling. On top of that you will also get $250 gift card with purchase and a chance to win an Xbox 360 game console. If that is not an awesome deal, I don't know how else you can call it. After you purchase any of the Charter services or the bundle, the gift card will be sent to you and at the same you are automatically entered in their contest to win one out of 45 X-box 36o consoles that Charter is giving away.

You can also opt to get any of the Charter services separately and still enjoy free gift cards. If you buy one Charter service you will get $25 gift card; if you buy 2 Charter services you will get $75 gift card; if you buy 3 Charter services you will get $150 gift card and if you buy the bundle you will get $250 gift card. Don't pass up on this wonderful offers, visit http://connect.charter.com/landing/cpg/learnmore_PPC.asp?ID=197&OriginatingID=420136 and order online before December 5 and get the best price available on communication services.

Toy Hunt - Toys That Talk

This is Sponge Bob Square Pants. It talks when you press the nose and the hand and it makes funny noises when you tap the mouth. My son had this when he was 13 months old and he gets to play with it once in a while. It makes loud noises that it gets annoying after a while ;-) so I usually just limit the time for him to play with it.

Toy Hunt is played every Saturday and if you want to join the fun just visit JoyD of When Mom Talks.

Hand-Me-Downs

I'm grateful to have good friends with much older kids because my son gets to receive a lot of hand-me-downs from them like clothes and toys; even crib with baby bedding; high chair; car seats and strollers. Imagine not having to buy all these things anymore, what a huge savings. Over the weekend I got the chance to sort through my son's closet and cabinets and clear them with clothes that don't fit him anymore to give way to more hand-me-down clothes that are still too big to wear. There are too many clothes to giveaway, some of which have not been worn yet. I will pay forward this nice gesture of sharing baby stuffs by passing on these clothes to a girlfriend with much younger son.

We Survived the Week Without Eating Out

Weekends are family days and we love going out to eat in restaurants. We love to try new cuisine or go back to our favorite restos to eat the same old food that we love. So now you know why I sometimes complain about gaining weight, lol. But last week was different, we didn't go out at all to eat. Well we kind of made a decision to not eat out anymore to save money. Imagine spending at least $50 when we eat lunch at Friday's or Bristish Beer Company and about $30 when we eat dimsum at China Pearl. And those are not the only restos we frequent and we eat out at least twice a week. I would say we saved around $100 last week for not eating out, big savings! Whatever your circumstances in life, splurging money at this time will become the last thing on your mind because we are in a very scary place right now.

Beat the Holiday Rush at Sears Pre-Thanksgiving Sale

I don't like the hassles of going into a crowded mall when everybody else is doing exactly what I am doing, making last minute shopping. If you want to beat the holiday rush like I plan to do, now is the time to do your holiday shopping at Sears Pre-Thanksgiving Sale. Sears offers great savings on all appliances; Kenmore cookware, bakeware, kitchen appliances and grills; digital cameras and so much more. Whenever I go to any store, I can't help but detour to kitchenware and appliances section. No kidding, I feel like my feet have minds of their own making their way to that section. Now it gives me more reason to navigate my way to great sales on kitchen appliances.

Aside from kitchenwares, I also fascinate on digital cameras. I love taking pictures and chronicling them in scrapbook pages. I always have my digital camera with me anywhere I go so it is really overused. I feel like I can use a new digital camera with higher megapixel to take even more high quality pictures. Imagine the $50 savings I can get on Sony 7.2 megapixel digital camera? At this tough economic times, any amount I can save is a big deal.

The convenience of shopping at Sears.com is you can shop online at the comforts of your own home and opt to pick up the item at the store if it is eligible for pick-up. So you not only save more on shipping charges, you also won't die waiting in anticipation for your order to arrive in the mail. Shop conveniently and get great savings at Sears.com.

Toy Hunt - Multi Colored Toys

This is Fire Engine Mega Blocs, one of the Christmas presents that my son received last year. He enjoys connecting legos and building towers out of mega blocs. Here's my entry to Toy Hunt with this week's theme - multi-colored toy.

Please visit JoyD of When Mom Talks if you want to join the fun.

Freshpair Coupon Codes

Are there really 35 days left before Christmas? Wow, November is quickly sliding away. Have you started Christmas shopping yet? Well, I haven't started mine yet but at least I have started making a list and checking them twice. Because of financial constraints due to economic downturn, my shopping list will be different this year. I don't like to go overboard again just like last year and I need to find great discounts and deals to stretch my holiday shopping budget. I get a lot of catalogs at this time of the year and I wont let the promotional codes that come along with them go to waste if I can use them. You won't believe how much savings you can get out of these coupons. And since I do my holiday shopping mostly online, I also browse for great deals and discounts available in the net. Great deals for me is when you can not only get great items at discounted prices, they are also shipped for free. There are great deals and discounts on underwear and more from top brands like Calvin Klein, DKNY, Hanes and the likes when you use Freshpair coupon codes. These great money-saving deals you can only find at Savings.com.