Free 8X10 Canvas Photo

Do you have a special photo that would look great printed on canvas? Here is your chance to do it for free + shipping.

http://www.canvaspeople.com/freegift

My shipping cost was $14.99 for the free 8 X 10 size. I know of one person who only paid $11.99 for shipping so it must be calculated based on location. $14.99 for Michigan and $11.99 for Idaho, so I am assuming this is west coast based.

This would make a great gift especially if framed in a nice frame. Don't buy the frame from them. Use a 50% off 1 item coupon and get your frame from Michael's Craft Store. Coupons are usually in Sunday's newspaper. Since 8 X 10 is a common size you will be able to buy a pre made frame instead of a expensive custom frame.

Children, grandchildren, and pets are always excellent choices for canvas photos. But what about using software to combine a 'before and after' photo of your house? What better reminder of how far you've come (other than your credit card bills) on your restoration than a canvas printed 'before and after' photo framed and hung for all to see.

If you are really handy you could make your frame out of reclaimed wood from your home. Use old baseboard or trim to build your own frame.

What photo did I put on canvas? R in his race car of course!

Thursday is Freebie/Rebate Day

Today was literally a freebie/rebate bonanza at our house. I not only received coupons for free products but I also received $$$$$$$.Every month I participate in the Rite Aid rebate program. I then use that money to buy H & B items for the next month repeating the cycle. Last month's program had more than the usual number of items that I buy so my rebate check was for $50.98. Not too shabby.

Also from Rite Aid I received a $10.00 gift certificate because I purchased Zyrtec allergy tablets. So now I have $60.98 to spend at Rite Aid. I also have $6.00 coming soon from another rebate.

In addition to the cash I also received coupons for free products. From My Coke Rewards I received 8 coupons for a free 12 pack of any Coke product and because any drink needs a nosh to go along with it, I received from M & M a coupon for a free Mars brand product. Just what I need...a candy bar to go with my Diet Coke.

This evening my sister and I attended a cooking demonstration hosted by Taste of Home magazine. I plan to try several of the recipes as soon as the weather turns cooler and I have some extra time. When I do, I will post them on my cooking blog.If you have the chance to catch one of their shows/demonstrations please sign up. The tickets were 10 bucks and you received a goody bag filled with magazines, recipes, coupons, and trinkets. They also gave away at least 35 additional prizes from a coffee maker, slow cooker, cook books, food, floral arrangements, and saute pans. Did we win anything? Pfft.....of course not.I did though run into a former co worker that I had not seen in 10 years. We still exchange Christmas cards but that has been our only contact. It was nice seeing her again. I rarely run into anyone since I rarely venture to my old hometown or anywhere where former co workers live. As I told my sister tonight I am sure most people think I just fell off the radar. Unless you hang out in the lumber section at Home Depot, frequent garden shops and nurseries, stroll through antique or consignment shops looking for unique bric-a-brac, or roam the racing/car forums....I doubt you will run into me.

More Free Stuff and a Time Update

The mailman delivered free goodies today. Yippee!

Several days ago I received an email from My Coke Rewards saying that my free Black and Decker Cordless Rotary Tool was on back order. But.....to expedite my order they were upgrading me to a Cordless Dremel 4 point something volts. The free Dremel arrived today.

And these................2 free tickets to the Detroit Pistons vs Miami Heat. Those are not the first free tickets we have received this winter. We also have tickets to the New York Knicks and New Jersey Nets. Three weeks ago we saw Lord of the Dance for free. R says "don't tell people I went to see Lord of the Dance." While we were walking back to our car he said, "that was the longest 4 hours." I looked at my watch and replied, "we were only in there 1 hour and 50 minutes and they had a 20 minute intermission." He said....."it still seemed like 4 $%#!* hours. The first dance was cool and the second one was OK but really how many times do you need to see them do the same thing? And what was the deal with the little gold pixie chick?" I guess he didn't understand the symbolism. If it's not a race car he's bored. I'm surprised he agreed to go in the first place. Somehow I think around July when I start complaining about 400 dollar tire bills for the race car, I am going to hear this.....

"I didn't complain when you dragged me to Lord of the Flies."

If I had a nickel for every time he has said Lord of the Flies instead of Lord of the Dance.....I could buy him a set of tires and not have him say "you dragged me to Lord of the Flies."

Here is how you, too, can get free tickets......in Michigan the Meijer stores are giving away 2 free tickets to various Piston games and assorted events at the Palace of Auburn Hills. All you need to do is buy 2 of the weekly designated items plus $20.00 in groceries, fill out the supplied form, and mail receipt and a self addressed stamped envelope to the Free Ticket Zone at Meijer Program.

Today I purchased 2 of the required items. It was tough......Meijer Oreo like cookies. We are hoping for Harlem Globetrotter or Laker tickets.

Time update.......In my last post I lamented about how did people back in the day set their clocks? Today while watching one of my favorite programs, Cultivating Life, they talked about time. According to the expert, all clocks sold during colonial times came with a small window sill sundial. Every day around noon someone in the house checked their sundial and clock for accuracy. Which leads me to my next question. Why not just use the sundial and save the money you spent on the clock???

More Free Stuff and Win $$$ with Pepsi

The My Coke Rewards program is changing and will eliminate the higher points items and offer more items for 2000 points and below. I thought I had better use up some of my points before the change kicked in. So I cashed in and got a FREE FREE FREE Black and Decker 3 speed RTX Rotary Tool with storage case.....gotta have that storage case. I also cashed in and got a FREE FREE FREE Black and Decker lawn blower vacuum.
If you are thinking "I just cannot drink that many Diet Cokes" fear not. For less than 200 point (67 caps or 200 pts off cartons) you can get a free year subscription to one of your favorite magazines. Here are a few of the magazines offered......Bon Appetit, Esquire, Harper's Bazaar, Redbook, Good Housekeeping, Country Living, Better Homes and Gardens, House Beautiful, Ladies Home Journal, and Traditional Home. Conde Nast is also offering 20 of their magazines for your choosing.

Pepsi has started a new contest. Fantasy racing. Each week that NASCAR has a race you can try and pick the top 12 finishers in the correct order. If you are correct you win what the winner of the race wins. Not too shabby of a prize and you don't have to purchase a single bottle or can of Pepsi.

Here's some hints if you are going to try to pick the top 12 in the order in the Daytona 500 tomorrow.

The pole sitter does not necessarily win this race. It is a long race and even if you get a lap down you can easily make it up.

The Daytona 500 sometimes has winners that only win at Daytona. Michael Waltrip 2 times, Sterling Martin 2 times, Derrick Cope, and Ward Burton to name a few.

This race is also easy for a rookie to make a mistake. The last 1/4 of the race will always have the "Big One" which will take out 10-15 cars from the middle of the pack to the back. So know if you pick a driver that is starting from the rear....he has to be strong enough to be somewhere close to the front by the 3/4 mark.

Also team mates will likely draft together and a driver from a single car team will be lacking a dance partner.

Also drivers will be taking favors and giving favors much like Kurt Busch pushing Ryan Newman to the win last year. Busch decided rather than try and pass Newman coming out of the 4th corner and both of them losing the draft and getting passed, it was better to get stay in second place. He then earned a favor for future use and didn't jeopardize a for sure 2nd place finish.

This is the first race of the season and drivers are eager to start the season strong. The top 12 may not be the top 12 at the end of the year.

This race is NASCAR's biggest pay day thus the biggest pay day for you if you can pick the top 12 in the correct order. Hey....it's free and you have nothing to lose but a lot to gain and in this economic climate everyone could use some spare change.

I won't tell you my picks but I will give tell you the following drivers will be in the top 12.

Stewart
Martin
Vickers

Who will not be in the top 12

Michael Waltrip
Joey Lagano
David Reutimann

Good luck and make sure you enter before the race starts.

Bigger is Better

Bigger is better when it comes to TVs. Just ask my husband. We discussed purchasing a plasma TV for over the fireplace in the family room/library/study. He sometimes feels left out of a lot of the decorating/remodeling decisions, so I said, "why don't you research that and get some prices." Well he hopped right on that assignment and before I could say, "what did you decide would work best?" we had this..........Don't look at the mess, this room is used for storing lumber, cedar shingles, and apparently 2 Christmas wreaths that have yet to make there way to the basement.

You can imagine my surprise when I realized that we were now the proud owners of 55 inches of plasma HDTVness, oh and least I forget.....plus Bose surround sound. Gotta have a sound system......what better way to hear the Detroit Lions lose with....than surround sound.

So imagine my surprise again when yesterday morn (10am) there came a pounding on the front door that about knocked me out of bed (didn't get home from work until 5am). When I opened the door, I was met by a startled DHL driver....he acted like he had never seen a sleep deprived woman in pink flannel pajamas at 10 in the morning. What could be so important that he couldn't leave the package on the porch???? Well, it was my free LCD TV. In all it's 23 inch absolutely free glory. Twenty three inches???????? I thought it was suppose to be 19 inches. Instead of sending a 19 inch LCD Samsung TV...they sent a 23" LCD Samsung TV. I did a little price searching online. This particular TV's cost is somewhere between $529 to $699. Not too shabby for free.

So now...this fall when R is watching the Lions lose and apparently the Tigers this summer (grrrr) on his 55 inches of TV, I will be able to watch America's Test Kitchen in the kitchen on my 23 inches of free LCDness AND burn something on the stove all at the same time. All will be right with the world.

TVs....where would we be without them?????

The theme for today is raking

I've decided that when possible I will post on all my blogs (3) using a theme. Today's theme is raking.

Raking.....as in raking it in....and that is what I did today.

Today I turned in my Coke Points for a 19" LCD TV that I will use in the kitchen at The Gear. Free stuff must come in threes because I also cashed in my Speedy Rewards for another $25 gift card from Lowe's. And last but not least, I cashed in my Pepsi points for 5 free DVDS.

Not too shabby......

Friday Free Stuff

I was dashing out the door on my way to work when the mail truck pulled into the driveway. This usually signals...PACKAGES! So I delayed leaving for work because I wanted to see what goodies the mailman had for me. Guess what? It was free stuff!!!

A free wide screen DVD from Pepsi Stuff.com and a electronic version of Sudoku from My Coke Rewards. Probably didn't need either one, but I do like Johnny Depp...he makes such a sexy pirate and well I am a novice Sudoku player and they don't make an eraser big enough for me to complete the advance puzzles.

I added a new link under Fav Links called Cool Steals and Deals. Check it out.

On the home front...the snow is melting. I am hopeful that maybe next week I can look around outside and see how the exterior of 'The Gear' survived another winter. R has been busy picking up twigs and fallen limbs once they are exposed by the melting snow.

Window work has stopped again as I am working 12 hours all this week. But in the meantime I am revamping my blog. I've decided to start two additional blogs, a gardening blog and a cooking, kitchen, and recipe blog. The cooking blog will be the result of having to do something with the mass quanities of produce that will grow at Gear Acres. If this year's crop is like last year's, don't look for much cooking on the cooking blog. I felt that my house blog was straying from the restoration of Gear Acres and this should allow me to limit the house blog to just house related topics. The same goes for the garden and kitchen blog, though sometimes there will be cross posts. So many things to talk about and so little time to blog.

I'll let everyone know when I start posting on those blogs.

Oh and just an FYI...I have not been busy removing all the Goodyear tires from my vehicles. This week Tony starts in the top ten. Let's hope he finishes well and stays out of the Nascar trailer after the race. Go Smoke.

Thursday's Tip

Over the years I have signed up for numerous rewards programs, incentive programs, and cash savings programs....if they had a program...I signed up for it. The only problem was that when it came time to produce the card at the check out to receive my rewards, incentives, and cash....I couldn't find the card. Either the card was in my SUV or somewhere in my purse...so I always just passed on racking up rewards, incentives, and cash.

Not anymore.

First I gathered all the rewards, incentives, and cash cards I could find. I now know why I could never find them. They were tucked behind credit cards, lost in the bottom of my purse, and thrown into the junk drawer so they wouldn't get lost.

I then punched a hole in the corner of the card using a hole punch. I used a 3 hole punch, but used only one of the punches. Before placing your card in the punch, make sure you have oriented it correctly so that you do not punch through the bar code or scanning strip.

Once I completed punching holes in all the cards I placed them on a key ring. I chose the FREE key ring I received from my sorority, Delta Zeta, for making a contribution.

Then I placed the key ring with attached cards in the pocket of my purse. Now when the cashier asks me if I have a rewards, incentive, or cash card, I can say "Yes I do and here it is".

You might be asking, "Who offers these rewards, incentives, and cash cards?" I have cards from.....Ace Hardware,Borders Books, DSW, Bordine Nursery, Kroger, Blockbuster, CVS, NGC Cinema, and Speedway gas station. I purchased an item at Best Buy during the holidays and they asked if I wanted to join their program to earn points for rewards. I said "no" because I thought I was making a one time purchase. I then promptly over the course of the next three weeks spent $500.00.

"So what do you earn with these cards?" Well over the course of the last year or two, I have received 2 $40 gift cards to Applebees and 4 $25 gift cards to Circuit City from Speedway gas station, numerous $5-10 dollars coupons from Ace Hardware, half off coupons from DSW, $10 off coupon and free plants from Bordines, cash back rewards from CVS, and free movies at NCG and Blockbusters. I have also received $200 in gift cards to Home Depot from my American Express card. Tomorrow I plan on cashing in my points at Speedway gas station to receive 4 $25 gift cards from Lowe's.

A co worker talked me into saving My Coke Rewards. So far I have received a free flash drive in the shape of a Coke bottle, a cool ink pen, a silver 25 year anniversery Diet Coke bottle, and a Toshiba DVD player.

Tomorrow I will tell you about my latest free gift from My Coke Rewards.

Time invested today.....1 hour. Total time invested 34 hours 30 minutes.

Free stuff.....gotta love it

In a previous post I mentioned that my camera quit working and that I needed to purchase another, hopefully smaller camera.......well, I did and it was free. Which has lead me in hot pursuit of more FREE stuff.

First I'll start with the camera. Friends and family know that I drive 70 miles to work and 70 miles home at least 6 days a week. This consumes ALOT of gasoline. I happen to know exactly how much fuel because last year I participated in a fuel additive study for our local TV station. In a nutshell I did pre additive fuel economy testing and testing with additive during my daily drive. So I know I get 21.7 mpg. As you can see I use a lot of gas. Don't worry I'm getting to the free camera part. I fill my vehicle up at Speedway gas stations and use my Speedy Rewards card. I recently redeemed my points for 8 $25.00 gift cards for Circuit City. I then purchased a 7.2 mega pixel Panasonic camera with a 6X zoom. It didn't cost me a single penny.

So...hmmmmm....what else can I get free?? Kinda like FREE stuff. Oh wait....a guy I work with has talked me into saving Coke bottle caps. Originally I was saving up points to enter their contest to win an autographed Tony Stewart helmet. But instead I just accumulated 1200 pts. and now I am getting more free stuff. FREE stuff like......A Diet Coke 25th anniversary commemorative silver bottle, a free 20 oz Coke product, a free Coca Cola memory stick, and free Coca Cola retractable ear buds (ear plugs). All FREE FREE FREE.....see more possible free stuff at My Coke Rewards

But the FREE stuff didn't stop there. I work for a very large corporation that gives their employees a 25 year gift. The employee can pick from a selection that ranges from jewelry to junk. I realized that although I had 31 yrs, I had never availed myself to this free stuff. So I did and I am now the proud owner of a brand spanking new 10 inch, 15 amp table saw from Skil. It should come in handy when my Dad and I make the remaining shutters.

But WAIT.........there's more. I was cleaning out my purse and found a mailing from a local nursery in the area. Since I am a VIG member (very important gardener...what a hoot) I get a monthly mailing telling me I need this and that for my yard and flowers. I quickly opened it just to see what I was SUPPOSED to be buying when I noticed a coupon that said FREE. Yes....FREE 5" potted miniature rose. Hmmmmm...I like roses and well it's FREE. So I went to the nursery and they were all out of roses but don't worry....I got a FREE hydrangea instead.

So now I'm afraid I will have to enter rehab for my FREE STUFF addiction. Hey maybe I'll meet a celebrity or two........oh Lindsey...Brittany......maybe I can help them find some FREE underwear!!!!!

Oh and lest I forget....a gratuitous ...."Go Smoke"......Tony started 41st but lagged back on the start so he could start 43rd (last) and he finished in 3rd...way to go Smoke.