Tonight's Food Masterpiece

Simple, Homey and Humble. That's how I make my meals a masterpiece.  Tonight's dinner for my family was Old Fashioned Beef Stew served over whole wheat noodles, Corn Muffins and Chocolate Crackle Cookies for dessert.

This is my entry for the Zanussi Cookers make every meal a masterpiece competition

FREE baby wipes here!

Seventh Generation is giving sample packs of baby wipes to the first 300 people who use the link on my blog!

 You will actually receive two...YES two ...samples.  You can keep one and pass one on to a friend so they can experience how great Seventh Generation's Free and Clear Baby Wipes are, too!  The wipes clean baby's bottom with plant-derived ingredients; no alcohol, synthetic cleaners, dyes or fragrances.   They are whitened without chemicals containing chlorine and are soft  and  safe.

You’ll need to sign up for the Seventh Generation Rewards Program in order to redeem your samples, but that is quick and easy.    Use THIS LINK to claim your samples.

Why I love gift cards

Have you ever been sitting comtemplating what gift to give someone and thought of a gift card only to decide "No, gift cards are too impersonal.  The recipient might think I didin't want to shop for them".  I totally disagree.  Gift cards rock!  Rather than saying you didn't care they say "I care enough that I want you to get exactly what you want".  I love gift cards.  I love to receive them, I love to give them.

So why do I love to give gift cards?  It makes shopping easy.  You know how you have people you need to buy gifts for that you have no idea what to get?  It saves the guessing just to get a gift card.  It prevents duplicate gifts too.  It saves you time also.  Instead of spending a whole day searching for something to buy or trying to find a good deal on what you want...a gift card takes seconds to purchase!   What are some of the times when I think gift cards are fantastic?

Graduation gifts.  People at that age, graduation high school, are just hard to buy for!  Let them pick their own gifts.

Wedding gifts for second marriages.  You know the people who have a couple households that they are combining so they have pretty much everything you can think of that you normally give as a gift.  GIFT CARD!

Gifts for Bosses.  You don't really know them well.  You are obligated to buy a gift.

Gifts for children ages 7 and up.  Younger than that children like to get the gift immediately.  At around 7 years old they know the fun of having spending money and being able to go pick just what they have been wanting.

Gift cards also work well for people like mail carriers, hair dressers,teachers and  pediatricians...anyone else you would like to give a gift to that you don't have a large personal relationship with.

I love to get gift cards too.  I prefer them over cash.  Why?  Well if given cash I will most like end up having to spend it on something like milk and bread at the grocery store.  Maybe highway tolls or parking fees.  Maybe my husband will ask for $20 because he is going somewhere.  Maybe one of my children needs a quick item like construction paper at the store.  It could be a tip at a restaurant or a quick coffee at a drive thru.  But before I know it my cash is gone and I have not gotton anything significant to show for it.  It feels like you never got a gift at all.  A gift card, however, is something that I have to plan to spend.  To go out and purposely use. 

Here are some other times I have used gift cards that are a little unique.

When I was part of the PTA at school I would purchase gift cards for school auctions.  They also drew the biggest crowd of bids.  We also used them as teacher gifts during teacher appreciation weeks.

I sometimes purchase gift cards when traveling so I don't' have to carry cash.  Gift cards for things like gas  are great.  To me its easier to carry a few gift cards than a big roll of cash.

Sometimes there are promotions for purchasing gift cards.  Gas fuel perks (earning to get free gas purchases) or things like buy $100 in gift cards get $10 free for example.  I will purchase gift cards for places I know I shop at (like grocery stores) during those times to get the extra free savings.

Great for those times you forgot to get a gift! You can even purchase a couple to keep with you so if you arrive somewhere and realize you forgot someone you have an emergency back up ready and it looks like you were prepared.

Whether spending or giving, gift cards are great.  With the internet you can even purchase and send them to your recipient in one step without ever having to leave your house.


“I wrote this blog post while participating in the SocialMoms and Gift Cards Rock blogging program, for 6,000 My SocialMoms Rewards Points. For more information on how you can participate, click here.


 Tags: creative ways to give gift cards, gift cards, gift cards rock, giving gift cards