All About Kimberly

Sailing Along the Life of Single Parenthood

A Day In The Life

Of my laptop bag.  My laptop bag is actually pretty lucky compared to other laptop bags.  It doesn’t take a real beating most of the time.  Each morning I login and check my email and blog as the girls finish getting ready.  After that, my computer is placed in my laptop bag and then in the car where we travel a whole 8 miles to work.  Then I unload my things and take them to my classroom.  After that my laptop comes out and goes on my desk for the day. My laptop bag goes in the corner behind my desk to be ignored until it’s time to go home.  Then I pack up my laptop and papers to grade in my laptop bag and travel those eight miles back home.

The exceptions? Traveling. Whether we be traveling to a debate meet on Saturdays where it’s thrown in the school van with all the students’ bags or long distance family traveling where it’s crammed in a trunk in extreme hot and cold conditions and then taken on an airplane to be stored in a hotel room somewhere – or a series of hotels.  This is when my laptop bags takes a beating and most prove itself durable.

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A Few More Contests

Bare with me…my Internet has decided to be about as fast as dial up today!  *sigh* So I’m going to publish and then update this post for a while….but if you are looking for some great contests to enter, check out the following:

Win a $25 gift certificate to Sassy Cakes, one of the neatest children’s boutiques I’ve ever seen at An Island Life. Contest ends December 7th. Found something you just have to have? I noticed that Sassy Cakes has a Black Friday sale going on now!

Win a copy of Christmas Sucks by JoAnn Kimes from The Dirty Shirt. Now when I first saw the headline of thi contest, I went, “WHAT!?!”  I’m not entering that one, but after reading the post, I realized that it might not be a bad read.  According to the site, “Christmas Sucks is a humorous look at America’s commercialization of the Christmas holiday season and the terrible travel, inordinate amount of preparation, and family strife that accompany it. You can commiserate with the fact that everyone drives themselves into debt buying gifts, no oneenjoys seeing long lost relatives, and everybody is creeped out by the department store Santa.”

Win one of the most awesome key fob’s I’ve ever seen from An Island Review and Sweet Irie. These are so cute. You won’t believe how bad you want one (and great priced….I’m thinking….stocking stuffer….or maybe teacher gifts?).

 

Win a copy of the Build A Bear Game for the Wii from Kim @ What’s That Smell and The Game Factory. Contest ends December 7th.

Win a CartStopper from Nothing But Purple. These are really nifty (in fact I’ll be reviewing and hosting a giveaway for one soon).  I used mien during our Black Friday shopping and was suitably impressed. This contest ends today though so hurry over and get yourself entered.

The Not-So-Blog

Win two great prizes from the Not So Blog Blog at once. :)  How neat is that. Prizes are from Dainty Divas Boutique AND Ana Paula Oli. And they look really nice things to own (or give as Christmas gifts in the spirit of the holidays) 

….will try to do at least one more contest post today….stay tuned

Cyber Monday Sales Begin

As I’m surfing the web for good deals this morning and checking my email, I’ve seen that many Cyber Monday sales are beginning now.  I thought…after I looked at the first few, “Hey, I should sale these with my readers.”  If you are like me, I won’t be able to take advantage of any Cyber Monday sales tomorrow until later in the afternoon because I’ll be working, but today I’m able to make some purchases.  I’m almost done with my shopping, but there are still a few people left on my list.  (I hate shopping on a budget….LOL)  Here are some of the stores who are running sales today and/or tomorrow that you might want to check out.

Note: All bold words are clickable.

So far I’ve browsed the Circuit City ads. They had some great deals on MP3 players and cameras.  There were lots of others, but these were what I noticed the most of.  Also they have some of the higher priced video games with an offer for a $10 gift card back with purchase.

Sears starts their sales at 9pm tonight.  I’m anxious to see those as I always love Sears products.

A really fun gift is one share of stock from One Share.  They will frame the stock and make it really neat as a gift. I did this for several friends a couple years ago and I’m thinking that I’ll purchase a few each month this year as they run specials and then present them to everyone for Christmas next year. They have a huge selection so you can find something that would fit everyone’s personality. They also offer a great presentation for kids to explain what the gift is.  Right now you can save 33% from the transfer fees by going through the link above and using code fee33 and if you want to have them frame the stock, tomorrow (Monday) frames will be 50% off.

GameStop is a store I’m watching closely as there are still a couple games I’m wanting to add to our collection and I just found out two family members who will be receiving a Wii and I’d love to help them get started with their game collection.

eToys is offering free shipping on a ton of their toys. If you are looking for a specific hard to find toy for a little one in your life, eToys may be a great place to start.

It may seem odd, but I’m excited about the sale being offered by Omaha Steaks too.  They’ll have steaks for $2.49 a steak for the entire day Monday.  I’ll be sending these to a couple of the men on my list and maybe to our house too.

Sephora has some good sales going on (makeup makes great stocking stuffers) and free shipping for orders over $25…It’s so easy to spend $25 dollars (and I have a gift certificiate for $15 off of $30 so I’m heading over to do some spending now). For the free shipping go through the link above and use SHIP25 as a code.

Kmart had some pretty good online savings Thanksgiving day so I’m really anxious to see their CyberMonday sales.  I know they’ll have a Christmas tree at 25% off, 50% off sterling silver jewelry, 25% off maternity clothing, 40% off Levi Strauss, 20% off Hannah Montana guitars, and 40% off holiday dresses.  They’ll also offer free shipping on order over $29 on December 1st, 8th, and 15th.

Lakeside Collection is a store where I find unique gifts throughout the year. They’ve not released what they’ll have, but I am hearing that they’ll have a collection of items at 50% off for Monday only.  If you’ve never shopped through them, check them out.  You might be surprised at how many gifts you can find.

Another store that you may be interested in is Shutterfly.  Shutterfly is a photo developing and gifts webstore. One of the best deals they are having in honor of Black Friday/Cyber Monday sale is that if you buy one photo calendar, you can get additional ones at 50% off.  If you are looking for an original gift for grandparents, aunts, and/or uncles, a photo calendar with all the little ones’ pictures is a gift that will be treasured for more than the year that they use it. If you’ve never used Shutterfly, go through here to get 50 free prints and an 11×14 collage, 

Overstock is a vendor that I’m sometimes really excited with their prices and sometimes somewhat disappointed, but they are always worth checking out and I did receive an email from them that there will be some great Cyber Monday sales so if you have time, go check them out. The link above will get you 5% discount sidewide and free shipping (excludes books, movies, music and games).

Batteries.com is my favorite place to stock up on batteries and goodness knows we ALWAYS need a ton of batteries after Christmas.  They too are having a great sale this weekend.

Get 15% off your entire order at Dick’s Sporting Goods.

Disney Shopping has a great sale going on today that I’ve already taken advantage of. Today is the last day which means tomorrow we are very likely to see some really good ones.

Have you ever shopped at Drugstore.com? They are one of my favorite stores. One day I hope to do almost all of my shopping online thanks to stores like Drugstore.com where I can buy the necessitites of life.  They have some great sales going on this weekend.  I’ve picked up a few things including a board game that I didn’t find on sale anywhere else that was on Cameron’s list.

eCost is a new vendor for me.  This was my first purchase from them, but they have some really good prices and some REALLY good sales.

If you’ll be able to shop Monday, check out Macy’s.  They are advertising some great Cyber Monday sales.

I did some shopping in their store Friday, and I’ll be watching closely for their sales Monday. Who? Staples.  I have always loved just browsing the aisles at Staples. There was a time when we browsed so much that many of the salespeople knew my daughter by name.

 

**I’ll continue to update this page as I find more deals.

Sunday Smile #4

Sunday Smile is a meme to share something about your week that brought a smile to your face (and will bring one to your readers).  For me this is usually a forwarded message I got….the best one I received that week – the one that made me laugh out loud.  So check out my Sunday Smile today and then go back to your blog and post something to make your reader’s smile – a forwarded like message, a story about something that happened to you, or even a photo of a funny moment….Then come back and sign Mr. Linky below so that we cann all enjoy each other’s smiles as the week progresses and we get busy.

Getting the raise!

A maid asked her boss for a pay increase.

Her boss was annoyed at this and asked, ‘Now Maria, why do you want a pay increase?’

Maria: ‘Well, Señora, there are three reasons why I want an increase… The first is that I iron better than you.’

Wife: ‘Who said you iron better than me?’

Maria: ‘Your husband said so.’

Wife: ‘Oh.’

Maria: ‘The second reason is that I am a better cook than you.’

Wife: ‘Nonsense, who said you were a better cook than me?’

Maria: ‘Your husband did.’

Wife: ‘Oh.’

Maria: ‘My third reason is that I am a better lover than you.’

Wife (really furious now): ‘Did my husband say that as well?’

Maria: ‘No Señora, the gardener did.’

Wife: ‘So how much do you want?’

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Sign Mr. Linky below with a link to your Sunday Smile

Contest Round Up

At least one of my readers remembers when I posted a daily contest each day and misses it (thanks Hedy @ Penny for My Thoughts for making me know that someone was reading it).  I do want to get back in the habit of posting more contests more often though I’m not quite ready to commit to a daily post.  Tonight though I’m listing a series of blogging contests just for you.  I know you might not have much use personally for a lot of these prizes, but you could give them as gifts.  :)