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Our Addiction to Coldstone Creamery and a GiveAway

May 3, 2012 / Common Cents Mom / 9 comments

I have something I need to admit, both my daughter and I love icecream! So the fact that there is a ColdStone Creamery right beside my daughter’s school has helped feed that addiction and guess what they have asked me to host a giveaway here on my blog for Mother’s day.

Last year we bought our very first Coldstone Creamery Cake it was a bunny, just like these.

There have been a few more occasions since where we have celebrated with a Coldstone Creamery Cake. Who doesn’t love a good cake? or cupcakes? and yes Coldstone has those too. Here are some of our favorites.

Doesn’t it look yummy?

Another favorite in this house is cupcakes. Here is another favorite, and it is so chocolatey!

Now about the giveaway, it is being hosted by 2 local franchise store: 644 Dixon road and 1094 Bloor St. west. We hang at the Bloor St location. If you win you must pick up your cake at one of these 2 locations.

Here are some facts about what Coldstone offers.

Below are some details and pricing:

ice cream cupcakes: package of 6 is $12.49

ice cream cookie sandwich: package of 4 is $11.49

ice cream pies (serves up to 10) $13.99

Cold Stone at home: 16oz $6.99 32oz $8.99

Birthday Cakes:

small 6″ round serves up to 8 $22.99

large 8″ round servesup to 12 $31.99

small 8″x12″ rectangle serves up to 25 $41.99

Large 12″x18″ rectangle serves up to 50 $51.99

Signature Cakes

small 6″ round serves up to 8 $24.99

large 8″ round serves up to 12 $33.99

small 8″x12″ rectangle serves up to 25 $43.99

Large 12″x18″ rectangle serves up to 50 $53.99

So the cakes are made at the store and can usually be made within 24-48 hrs. You can add customization which is free. Now to enter the contest I am again using Rafflecopter and will be letting the winner know on May10th so they can order a cake in time for Mother’s Day.

Category: Reviews and Giveaways /

Wordless Wednesday: Loving the Excite Tablet

March 14, 2012 / Common Cents Mom / No comments

The Toshiba Excite fresh out of the box.

So nice to play and try the new tablet.

My teen daughter loved it when I took it home.

Really I could not keep it out of her hands all night. She loved the game apps. Me I loved the speed of the processor, the weight of the tablet, and it is so slim, definitely a take anywhere tablet.

On the way into work today, the tablet kept me occupied as I had downloaded the Kobo app, so a good read was at my fingertips on a nice size screen. Good way to start the day. We are definitely enjoying playing with this new piece of technology.

Loving the Lorax

March 2, 2012 / Common Cents Mom / No comments

Today is Dr. Suess’s birthday..did you know that? What a great day to choose a launch another movie based on his wonderful words. Today The Lorax is out in theatre!

Last Sunday I got a sneak peak.

My daughter and I were invited to a sneak peek here in Toronto. We loved that Seveneth Generation partnered with the movie here to bring us this great flick. The creative team behind Despicable Me has turned Theador Giesel’s(Dr. Suess’s real name) 1971 cautionary eco-tale Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax into the best Seussian film to date.

We loved that the main character Ted is named after Suess himself. My daughter has been eco friendly since she was born I think, and she loved the message of The Lorax.

When the book was first written, it was ahead of its time, really people had just started to care about things like the enviroment, and there still wasn’t much support.

The film really does have a wonderful cast of characters. There is Ted voiced by Zac Efron, and his love Audrey, played by Taylor Swift. The hilarious Rob Riggle is stellar as the greedy businessman O’Hare. Ed Helms is theOnce-ler. And rounding the cast out is Ted’s kickass grandma, Betty White herself.

The storyline is simple: Ted will do anything to win over Audrey’s heart–and all she wants in the super plastic world destroyed by the Once-ler is to see a real live tree. Ted does everything he can to find her what she wants. In the mean time the backdrop is an important story of caring.

We loved the movie… and this quote really sums it up. And if you want to know if it is worth going too the answer is a resounding Yes, it is the best Suess movie yet.

Category: Reviews and Giveaways / Tags: Dr Suess, movie, The Lorax

It’s Your Money: A Talk and Giveaway with Gail VazOxlade

January 29, 2012 / Common Cents Mom / 20 comments

This week I got to have a phone call with one of my favorite money people, Gail Vazoxlade.

It was Tuesday and I had just visited Gail’s blog which is a norm for me and discovered she had just launched the Gail way which she said came because of a conversation with a girlfriend. Gail’s way came about because her friend tracked what she spent but didn’t understand what to do next. She wasn’t sure about the next step. The Gail way gives you the paperwork and steps to get you tracking and budgeting step by step.

As we talked more about It’s Your Money we talked about women and our mindsets and how we got this way. Gail said ” You as a woman are going to watch your life change and you need to adjust your plan when it does”. We are in constant flux as we live our lives and we need to be ready for it.

In Gail’s newest book she first examines our mindset and explores how we got thinking like we do . First she looks at your money personality..and has suggestions to help you with each.

In the middle of the book she goes over the financial foundation that each of us should have.

Then she closes the book with what I think is the best advice what to do in case of the just in case section. For me I know just in case well. I have lived just in case but wasn’t prepared, hopefully by reading the book you will be prepared just in case.

Now Gail was gracious enough to let me give away 2 books on my blog, and not just any old books but these two are signed by her. The inscription can be made out to you or who you choose, nice, eh.

So to win Gail’s newest book I am using Rafflecopter once again, and please leave a comment telling me one of the biggest money lessons you have learned.is

This contest runs till Feb. 12th
Read more

Category: Reviews and Giveaways, Uncategorized / Tags: book, Gail Vazoxlade, Its Your Money, money, review, women

Saveland Celebrates I Don’t Know How She Does It Release with Contest

January 2, 2012 / Common Cents Mom / No comments

Saveland.ca is celebrating the January 3rd release of I Don’t Know How She Does It with a giveaway. They are giving away a $500 Molly Maid card to help out that juggling mom.

I Don’t Know How She Does it stars Sarah Jessica Parker, Pierce Bronson, and Greg Kinnear. Kate (Sarah) and her husband Richard (Greg) juggle work, life and kids in this comedy. This movie with its adult humor is great for a girls night in as it looks and plays at all the juggling a working mom does. I really liked the cast of characters so was glad to preview an advance copy of the DVD.

Haven’t we all heard I don’t know how she does it? Moms juggle, it is simply what we do. We buy the pie, or stay up way too late baking cookies needed the next day, we know when and where every member of the family needs to be. Moms are amazing folk. Trust me we do not need to feel the guilt seen in this movie, it is ok to take the time to breathe and know it is all going to be ok.

Be sure to check it out as you can get it on DVD as of tomorrow.

and don’t forget to enter the Saveland contest.

Category: Reviews and Giveaways / Tags: I Dont Know How She Does It, Saveland

She’s Connected Adventure: Check Out the Toshiba Tablet

December 12, 2011 / Common Cents Mom / One comment

You all remember how this past fall I attended She’s Connected. Well more recently I was lucky enough to be selected to work with Toshiba and review their wonderful Thrive Tablet.

I decided to check out the tablet at Best Buy. I love the Dundas St location right downtown here in Toronto. Right next to the famous Yonge/Dundas Square. This is where I bought my desktop and laptop earlier this summer.

I went on Friday night along with my Toshiba Camileo to check out the tablet. Guess what? When I got there guess what is on sale? The tablet. Here is a link to Best Buy flyer for $319.99 you can get the 8 GB one. Now that is a great deal!

So what did I find out that I love about the tablet?

Love the colors. I am a girl so yeah I like color! an I get the blue please.
2 cameras!! For this girl who loves photography that works.
A replaceable battery. We all know batteries lose their usefulness over time so this is a wonderful feature
Lots of ways to connect: SD Slot, Full Size USB 2.0, Full Size HDMI are all there
a speedy processor-that is always a good thing.
a more than decent keyboard that was easy to use, important for the person who lives with their tablet more than their laptop or desktop.

There are lots of reason why I would want this under my tree, and with it on sale this week at Best Buy, what a great buy.

Now on the way home from this wonderful adventure I had the misfortune of losing my Toshiba Camileo that I had received for free from Toshiba and She’s Connected for participating or you would have seen more pictures and I had even shot a video.

You can check out Toshiba’s website. You can also find them on facebook and twitter.

After playing with the Thrive Tablet can’t wait to see the Excite coming out in February.

*I am participating in the Toshiba Brand Ambassador program by ShesConnected.com. I received a Toshiba Camileo in exchange for my participation in this campaign. The opinions on this blog are my own.

Category: Reviews and Giveaways / Tags: Best Buy, She's Connected, Toshiba, Toshiba Tablet

A Thank You Using Touchnote

November 7, 2011 / Common Cents Mom / No comments

I pray that my Muslim readers had a very joyus Eid Mubarak! My weekend has been more then crazy! Moving and a major Muslim holiday don’t mix really well. Thankfully I have some great friends who made moving and unpacking seem easy. I am ever so thankful for them and wanted to share an idea about a quick way you might want to say Thank you this Eid, or anytime you need to thanks.

A little while ago I wrote about Touchnote, an app( for Iphone,droid or desktop) that let’s you send postcards using your own photos Instead of buying a thank you card I used one of my favorite photos and uploaded it to Touchnote.

306105D0 C05A 315D 4F5E 3255DC2C5D3F 729x1024 A Thank You Using Touchnote

A Touchnote Thank You

I was able to thank both of my friends who were in valuable in the message box. I then went on to the next screen where I added an address and guess what they will have a thank you note from me in just a few days from now. How many times have we forgotten how important thank you’s are. I think getting a thank you postcard shows appreciation and thanks and is a simple easy way to convey what is in the heart.

Thinking of all the ways I can use The Touchnote app, and I can think of a few: a thank you card, an appointment reminder, an invite, or a just because card. What can you think of?

Since I have started playing with this app it has become more and more valuable.

You can find out about Touchnote here;

At their website
By becoming a Facebook Fan
Following them on Twitter
Subscribing to their YouTube channel

How would you use the app? Who would you send a postcard too?

Disclosure: I was selected for this campaign by American Muslim Mom Media Network, and received products free of charge. The thoughts and opinions of this campaign as always are my own.

Category: Reviews and Giveaways, Uncategorized / Tags: App, Eid, Eid2Eid, postcards, thank-you, Touchnote

Enter, Gift and Win with the Heart and Stroke Foundation

November 1, 2011 / Common Cents Mom / 36 comments

It is back!

The Heart and Stroke Foundation is back again this year with the Heart and Stroke Calendar, and your chance to win every day of the year.You can even win 2 calendars here on my blog, one to keep and one to give. There will be 5 winners right here.

The Heart and Stroke Foundation is very near and dear to me for a number of reasons. My father who died 10 years ago this week had issues with his heart for years, in fact he lived through 7 heart attacks! My uncle died of cardiac arrest very young at the age of 42. Then 3 weeks ago I started having chest pains, in fact while I was at Blissdom Canada, I was sitting next to my friend Theresa Albert as we got our nails done and was telling her about this reoccurring pain, that seemed to come every time I exerted myself even a little and sometimes I didn’t even have to exert myself much to get it going. Theresa was more than a little upset with me. She told me to get it checked immediately….like leave conference and high tail it to doctor. Well, I went right after conference. I was ever so thankful it wasn’t my heart this time, by I am over the age of 40, overweight, and have a strong family history of heart disease. So it could happen.

This organization does great work, that does a lot to help in the fight of this the number #1 killer of women.

The sale of calendars goes to a great cause, and when you buy you can win too, so that’s a bonus. How about buying and giving? They make a great frugal gift at $25.

There are THREE chances to win cash every day of the year. That is up from last year when there was only one. Every winning calendar number is automatically re-entered into the draw so you can win again and again. Plus, there are the Funtastic Friday’s $10,000 draw,the Month-end Madness $100,000 CASH PRIZE draw – and the special Monthly Holiday Jackpots, worth a cool $25,000!

You can help the Heart and Stroke Foundation to “Pay it Forward” by gifting a Heart&Stroke Calendar Lottery to someone who touches your life. It could be a neighbour, a teacher, a family member, anyone who you feel deserves to be recognized! What a frugal way to show support! By purchasing a calendar for $25 you’re supporting the Heart and Stroke Foundation life-saving research and giving the possibility of winning daily cash prizes every day of the year. It’s simple; we want to create a chain of giving and paying it forward: get a calendar, give a calendar.

Now the calendars themselves are works of art and contain the beautiful photography of some amazing amateur photographers from the Facebook group.

Now when join the movement, let people know if you’ve bought them a calendar! Tweet @theHSF and use the #GiftAndWin hashtag on Twitter to join the conversation. Don’t forget to like them on Facebook on the Heart and Stroke Foundation page as well as the Heart and Stroke Calendar Lottery page, where the daily winners are announced.

The Heart& Stroke Calendar Lottery is on sale from October 3, 2011 to December 20, 2011 at midnight (while supplies last). Calendars will be available for purchase online, by phone at 1-888-514-7767, or by mail. Purchasers need to be at least 18 years of age Calendars cannot be purchased in the name of a minor. Please note that the Heart&Stroke Calendar Lottery is intended for Ontario residents only.
For more information or to make a purchase, visit calendar.heartandstroke.on.ca

HURRY! Buy before November 10, 2011 and you’ll get a chance to win an extra $25,000 in our Early Bonus Prize! Order your Calendar before December 15, 2011 and you’ll automatically be entered into the wonderful Early Bird Prize of a cool quarter million – $250,000!

It is the Perfect Gift – Calendars make a perfect choice for the holidays! Orders received by December 1, 2011 will be delivered to the primary purchaser by December 24th!

Now to win on my blog..

You can be one of 5 winners here on my blog by doing one of two things or get two entries and do both.

1. The Calendar Lottery celebrates Paying it Forward to those who help you in big and small ways. By giving a calendar, you’re supporting the Heart and Stroke in life-saving research and giving the possibility of winning daily cash prizes every day of the year. Who do you want to Pay it Forward to and why? Comment counts as one entry

2.Simply tweet “Give your friends a chance to win big & support @theHSF by paying it forward. Get a calendar, give a calendar. #GiftandWin.” make sure u cc @commoncentsmom on your tweets. As well please leave me a comment with a link to your tweet. You can tweet a maximum of once a day…so that means if you start today, you could have 12 entries.

This contest is open to Ontario residents ONLY and will end Nov 12th, 2011 at 11 pm

There will be 5 winners who will each receive 2 calendars!!

Category: Reviews and Giveaways / Tags: cash, Heart and Stroke Foundation Lottery Calendar, Ontario

Win with Kinder Moments

October 28, 2011 / Common Cents Mom / No comments

One of my favorite brands, Kinder comes out with a wonderful new Facebook application called Kinder Moments. If you have a holiday photo or really any fun funky photo you want framed you can simply upload it and voila within moments you have a beautiful framed photo to share.

I have already gone and played with the application. My daughter loved to tree climb and we had a perfect weekend for it awhile back and enjoyed our day in High Park so I had to capture that moment in a frame.It was a day of laughter and joy, that I was able to capture and now it is a framed moment that will be around for a very long time.

I love that we can add frames to those special moments of our lives, what a great way to remember and stay in the moment.

Have you liked Kinder on Facebook? Look on the left side of the page is a tab labeled My Kinder Moments; this is where you can frame your Kinder Moments. And this month there is a prize!! Think the framed memory and a prize, I think that is awesome.

Right now, when you load a picture this month, you will be entered to win $500 gift card to treat yourself to a new Fall Wardrobe. I can’t win as I am a #kindermom but would love for my friends to win. I have loved working with Kinder these last 3 months, and if you know us Kinder and Kinder Eggs have been a will always be part of our lives. Thanks Kinder for another great way to capture the simple moments that bring us pleasure.

*Disclosure: I am part of the Kinder Mom program and I receive special perks as part of my affiliation with this group. The opinions on this blog are my own.

Category: Reviews and Giveaways / Tags: Kinder, Kinder Eggs, Kinder Moment, win

Win a New Smile with Invisalign Teen

October 27, 2011 / Common Cents Mom / No comments

Are you a mom who has a teen who needs braces? or maybe you are like me and you do?

Personally since I was young I have hated my mouth. But I have been too afraid to go to the dentist to get the work done, after all who wants to have a metal mouth?

When I was young we could never afford the expensive work, and well the cost of dental work can be scary especially when you have teens in the house so I was actually excited when I saw that Invisalign Teen were giving away a full treatment with the value of $7000 to a lucky Canadian.

Why do teens want it,instead of the good old metal mouth? Why do moms love it?

It fits teens’ busy lives
Invisalign aligners are comfortable and durable (they are made of plastic), so it’s easy for teens to continue the activities they currently enjoy (like playing sports or musical instruments) which might otherwise be challenging or uncomfortable, wearing traditional metal braces.

They looks great.
Invisalign’s near-invisibility is still one of the most popular features for teens; treatment is very inconspicuous, making it easier for teens to “fit in” without calling attention to their orthodontic treatment.

They can remove them.
Since teens can take the aligners out to brush and floss, they can maintain normal, healthy hygiene during treatment. No more gross, gunky braces to worry about!
They can eat what they want – no “forbidden” foods.

It’s comfortable.
Invisalign Teen aligners are made of lightweight plastic that is custom-fitted to each patient’s teeth.
There are no wires or uncomfortable metal brackets poking or scratching their mouths or gums.

Sounds great right? To enter to win the treatment you enter here

Now for my blog readers Invisalign Teen is giving one reader a cute outdoor sports chair. All you have to do is leave a comment. Remember you have to be Canadian to enter.This giveaway ends November 17th, at 11:00 pm EST.

So leave a comment and dont forget to go and enter on the main site as well.

*Disclosure – I am participating in the Invisalign Teen program by Mom Central Canada on behalf of Align Technology, Inc. I received compensation as a thank you for my participation. The opinions on this blog are my own.

Category: Reviews and Giveaways, Uncategorized / Tags: Giveaway, Invisalign Teen, smile, teen

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