GiveLitter - Only Costs you a minute please Take that minute :D

Any one that has read my blog for any amount of time should know I am a cat cat cat cat person!  I love cats, I have had a cat my WHOLE life except for the 9 months I lived in a dorm in college.  I convinced my once fiance (now husband) to adopt cats even.  I love their independence but the occasional affection they show.  Low maintenance (compared to dogs) yet serenity when petting them :D

Worlds Best Cat Litter is giving 1 lb of cat litter to these worthy causes for every click you make. Every day you click to the partitcating organizations they get 1 lb of free litter to their shelter! (do you have cats?? I do! I buy a 28 lb and it might last 3 litter changes and that is not changing it daily, which I know shelters change way more!!!!)  Seriously YOU have NO idea how quickly these shelters can burn through litter depending on the number of kennels and the turnaround.  If you could PLEASE take a minute from each day to just check in and vote to give your 1 lb of litter, trust me it will be appreciated!!!

Thanks for the reminder MOM and Julia Coolia!

Don't understand my lingo? Go here.  

Some links provided in this post may help fund my blog - see my disclosure statement here.

Name a Roach for your Sweetie - or send a chocolate one (do not read while eating, ewww)

I am putting the picture at the end of this post in case you did not heed my warning and are eating or like me have a very weak stomach when it comes to even seeing roaches.  But, I want to get this posted because I was very excited to see this offer last year(at least the first part) and so super excited it was such a success that they are doing it again. (to see my post last year, you can click here)

If this has not scared you away, go here to find out more information about naming one of the 58,000 Madagascar Hissing Roaches in the Bronx Zoo for just a $10 donation.


Naming a roach in honor of someone near and dear to your heart shows that you've noticed how resilient, resourceful, and loyal that person is. Or maybe it's in recognition of your one and only's virility, or strength in the face of high radiation. You're not afraid to say, "Baby, you're a roach!"
All the money earned from the Adopt a Roach promotion is used to support the Wildlife Conservation Society and its five parks in New York City.

Not enough to scare you away yet?  Well, for just $25 more you can also buy your sweetie a hand-painted, artisanal chocolate roach. Insert your ewww here!  But don't worry, these are NOT chocolate covered roaches, they just look like roaches :D

Don't understand my lingo? Go here.  
Some links provided in this post may help fund my blog - see my disclosure statement here.

Please consider eating out at Chili's on Wednesday in Honor of Haven Grace

Haven Grace was born with a heart defect that required her to be in and out of hospitals since she was two weeks old. She was life flighted from Tyler, Tx to Children's Hospital in Dallas on many occasions. Finally in August of this past year she received a heart transplant and appeared to finally be on the road to health. However a few days after Christmas she was once again life flighted back to Children's Hospital in heart transplant rejection. She passed away January 4th and has left an amazing legacy of compassion and amazing love towards others. Her parents are pastors of a church that they started a few years ago in Tyler, Tx. They give so much to others and are now trying to cope with the passing of their only child.

As you can imagine, a heart transplant, hospital stays and all the helicopter life flight rides over the years have really added up. This coming Wednesday, January 18th, many Texas area Chili's restaurants are hosting a day to Give Back To Haven. 15% of sales from people that show the Give Back to Haven Grace flyer at Chili's are being donated to Haven's family to help cover the cost of the funeral and medical bills.

Enjoying a nice meal out with family or friends at a participating Chili's on Wednesday will go a long way towards helping a hurting family heal. More information can be found out about Haven Grace Davis and her family through their Facebook page, Praying for Haven Grace.
Be sure to print the flyer or call your store ahead of time to determine if showing on your cell phone will be sufficient.
Check the facebook page for added participating locations, but as of this post here is the list I know of:
East Texas Area

Tyler - Chili's 531 WSW Loop 323 Tyler, TX
Jacksonville - Chili's 1225 S Jackson St Jacksonville, TX
Kilgore - Chili's 1212 US HWY 259 N Kilgore, TX
Lindale - Chili's 3210 S Main St Lindale, TX
Longview - Chili's 2800 Judson Rd Longview, TX
Lufkin - Chili's 4115 S. Medford Drive Lufkin, TX 
Nacogdoches - Chili's 1911 North St. Nacogdoches, TX
Mt. Pleasant - Chili's 2403 S Jefferson Ave Mt. Pleasant, TX
Sulphur Springs-Chili' 128 Shannon Road East Sulphur Springs, TX
Greenville HWY 30-Chili's 7099 Interstate 30 Greenville, TX
Corsicana-Chili's 2201 S. Highway 45 Corsicana, TX
Cedar Creek Lake-Chili's 1261 W. Main Street Gun Barrel City, TX 

Dallas Area
Allen-Chili's 903 W. McDermott Dr. Allen, TX
Carrollton-Chili's 2624 N. Josey Ln. Carrollton, TX
Stemmons-Chili's 2222 W. Northwest Hwy. Dallas, TX
Preston LBJ-Chili's 12815 Preston Rd. Dallas, TX
Knox-Chili's 3230 Knox St. Dallas, TX
Pinnacle Park-Chili's 1610 N. Cockrell Hill Road Dallas, TX
Casa Linda-Chili's 246 Casa Linda Plaza Dallas, TX
Forney-Chili's 824 E Hwy 80 Forney, TX
Garland-Chili's 1775 Northwest Hwy. Garland, TX
Firewheel-Chili's 3271 George Bush Frwy. Garland, TX
W. McKinney-Chili's 7675 S. Custer Rd. McKinney, TX
Rockwall-Chili's 685 E Interstate 30 Rockwall, TX
Rowlett-Chili's 2301 Lakeview Parkway Rowlett, TX
Wylie-Chili's 1600 W FM 544 Wylie, TX

Austin and Surrounding Areas
Chili’s Cedar Park 1205 N Bell Blvd Cedar Park, TX Chili’s Round Rock 2711 S. IH 35 (near Dell) Round Rock, TX 
Chili’s I-35N 6619 IH 35 North Austin, TX 
Chili’s Stassney 701 E. Stassney Ln. Suite #A Austin, TX 
Chili’s Brodie Oaks 4236 S. Lamar Austin, TX Chili’s Southpark Meadows 9900 S IH 35 Ste Z Austin, TX 
Chili’s Bee Cave 3480 RR 620 South Austin, TX 
Chili’s Buda 420 Old San Antonio Road Buda, TX 
Chili’s San Marcos 102 N. IH 35 San Marcos, TX 
Chili’s Bastrop 734 Highway 71 Bastrop, TX, 

San Antonio and Surrounding Areas
Chili’s New Braunfels 1254 I 35 N. New Braunfels, TX 
Chili’s Schertz 17650 IH 35 North Schertz, TX 
Chili’s Dezavala 12503 IH 10W San Antonio, TX 
Chili’s Henderson Pass 17750 US 281 N. San Antonio, TX 
Chili’s South Park 2310 Military Drive, Suite 101 San Antonio, TX 
Chili’s Summit 4983 NW Loop 410 San Antonio, TX 
Chili’s The Quarry 255 E. Basse Suite #1100 San Antonio, TX 

Corpus Christi Area
Corpus Christi-Chili's 5542 S. Padre Island Corpus Christi, TX
Calallen-Chili's 4120 US HWY 77 Corpus Christi, TX
Portland-Chili's 2010 Hwy. 181 North Portland, TX

Midland/Odessa Area
Midland-Chili's 2100 W. Loop 250 North Midland, TX
Odessa-Chili's 5025 E. 42nd St. Odessa, TX

Lubbock / Amarillo / Plainview Areas
Amarillo-Chili's 3810 I-40 West Amarillo, TX
South Amarillo-Chili's 5016 S. Coulter Amarillo, TX
Lubbock-Chili's 5805 Slide Rd. Lubbock, TX
Texas Tech-Chili's 607 University Avenue Lubbock, TX
Plainview-Chili's 1515 N. Interstate 27 Plainview, TX

College Station
College Station-Chili's 1063 Texas College Station, TX

Greater Houston Area
Atascocita-Chili's 7359 FM 1960 Rd E Atascocita, TX
Conroe-Chili's 2241 Stoneside Rd. Conroe, TX
Cinco Ranch-Chili's 3130 W Grand Pkwy S Katy, TX
Mason Rd.-Chili's 21865 Katy Frwy. Katy, TX
Aldine-Chili's 10955 North Freeway Houston, TX 
Sam Houston-Chili's 123 IH 45 N Huntsville, TX
Fall Creek-Chili's 9350 N Sam Houston Pkwy E Humble, TX
Humble-Chili's 20070 US Hwy. 59 Humble, TX
Fairmont Parkway-Chili's 5548 Fairmont Parkway Pasadena, TX
Kuykendahl-Chili's 21118 Kuykendahl Spring, TX
River Park Center-Chili's 19940 Southwest Fwy. Sugar Land, TX
Nasa-Chili's 1150 W Nasa Rd. One Webster, TX

Please pass the word on.

Cold Stone Creamery - 10th Annual Ice Cream Social to benefit Make-A-Wish Foundation

Tomorrow, Tuesday, from 5-8 pm you can get a free Sprinkled with Wishes creation - Sweet Cream Ice Cream, Brownie, Rainbow Sprinkles and Fudge!
- at Cold Stone Creamery.
In return, Cold Stone will be accepting donations to the Make-A-Wish foundation. To find a store near you, go here.

My family and I have attended this the last couple years and it is a LOT of ice cream!

Free ice cream refers to 3oz. sample of Sprinkled With Wishes™ Creation™ served in a Like It™ cup. Waffle Products and extra mix-ins available for additional charge. Valid only during published date and time. While supplies last. No substitutions. Limit one per customer. 100% of all donations in September will benefit the Make-A-Wish Foundation®. For more information about the Make-A-Wish Foundation, visit wish.org.

Don't understand my lingo? Go here.  
Some links provided in this post may help fund my blog - see my disclosure statement here.

Like Pure Protein on Facebook and they will donate $1 to MS Society

Pure Protein is doing an offer via Facebook. For every LIKE they get to their page, they will donate $1 to the MS Society. In only takes a moment so head over here and like them :)

Online Facebook auction to help a local family

I really meant to get this posted sooner.  I have a regular reader that emailed me to ask me to post this and unfortunately her timing was terrible.  This has been a crazy busy week and I have not know if I was coming or going this week.  I hope to make amends as it appears the auctions are still going and I am so sorry I did not get this posted sooner(tax week is crazy around this house)

I am going to cut and paste here the email she sent:

Robin and Trina Harmeson welcomed triplet boys 6 months ago. Linus is the smallest of them and has had serious health issues since he was born. He has a congenital heart defect and has had several surgeries not to mention 18 blood transfusions. Hi recent surgery was to replace a heart valve and although he did well for a few days, the valve blew out. Rather than perform a 3rd surgery, doctors recommend managing his care to give his little heart time to heal. Their story can found here: A Story Of Two Moms

www.astoryoftwomoms.blogspot.com

This is the Facebook page we set up: http://www.facebook.com/TeamLinus

We are working on an online auction utilizing Facebook. It is scheduled to start mid-April. Our team has reached out to several local companies and

enlisted the help of other services to advertise and help with donations. I am hoping to get more companies that do business online and have a national presence so that the auctions appeal to more than just our immediate community in Katy, Texas. We have over 1000 people connected on the Team Linus Facebook page from all over the US and even the UK. Many of our followers are parents of multiples with children ranging in age from infants to school age.

 

 

Also, Wednesday April 20th, there will be a blood drive from 2-8 pm in Villagio Town Center on Westheimer Parkway in Katy.  Please consider coming by to give a little blood and have a chance to win a door prize.

 

Thanks Thao for the email(sorry for the delay in posting).

Worlds Best Cat Litter - Give Litter Campaign comes to Texas

I received an email from the folks at Worlds Best Cat Litter and I have to say I am excited about this campaign. If you can just take a quick moment out of your day and like them here, then vote for the charity you want to get cat litter.  That is all you have to do.  For every vote to that group, Worlds Best Cat litter will give 1/2 lb of cat litter to that charity!  For Houston, this is going to the fine folks at CAPS.  The other two organizations to choose from is the Austin Humane Society and the SPCA of Texas.
You can vote daily on this and each vote again will give 1/2 of cat litter to these very deserving organizations.

They will give a bonus donation of another 1/2 lb if you also sign up for thier newsletter.

Bonus Box Tops Offer for Kroger and Affiliate Stores

I just got an email from Box Tops letting me know of a bonus offer that started on Friday.  You do have to log into your account to activate this on your card, but once you do, you are set.  Then, everytime you purchase 3 participating Big G cereals in a single transaction, you will receive 20 bonus box tops toward your selected school.  That is the equivalent of $2 FREE money to a school of your choose!
If you are not familiar with Box Tops, you might want to check out the information here.  Each one is worth a dime to the schools and with our crazy coupon ways, those dimes add up FAST!  If you don't have a participating school, consider at least signing up a local school for the free money since these are automatic savings.  If you want to take it a step further, consider saving the box top logos off your boxes of products to trade or even donate to a school nearby! 
My kiddos school only had about 138 kids and generated over $300 in one year!  That was $300 that went straight to more playground equipment and supplies :)

Name A Roach for your Sweetie

Yes, you read that title right! While seeking deals for you guys, I noticed this and at first I was disgusted (roaches are my one ewwwie I can't handle). But, upon reading the information, this is kind of a neat idea and I love the fact that the $10 goes to Wildlife Conservation (even if it is roaches, ewwwwie)

Might be a cute idea to get your kids to learn about all species, including the ones we don't necessarily want in our house (ewwwie, and sorry guys, I am feeling the zaniness of FRIDAY! Hope to hit some good deals this weekend to share with you)  If you have a weak stomach, do not scroll down and look at the picture (ewwww) 

If this has not scared you away, go here to find out more information about naming one of the 58,000 Madagascar Hissing Roaches in the Bronx Zoo.
Naming a roach in honor of someone near and dear to your heart shows that you've noticed how resilient, resourceful, and loyal that person is. Or maybe it's in recognition of your one and only's virility, or strength in the face of high radiation. You're not afraid to say, "Baby, you're a roach!"
(Don't get any ideas of sending this certificate to me honey, it was hard enough looking at the picture to post this -ewwwww!)

Thanks SD (I think, ewwww)

Don't forget to click to donate Water

http://changents.com http://givehealth.changents.com

This will be coming to a close soon, so please consider taking a moment out of your day to click to give fresh water to those in need!

Reminder - P&G to donate a day of water per click

http://changents.com/ http://givehealth.changents.com/

If you have not clicked to give fresh water today, please take a moment to do so.  Don't forget you can also tweet and share on facebook to give a days worth of clean drinking water to someone who may not otherwise have access.
This is a very worthy effort and it takes only a moment of your time.  Please don't forget to verify your email by clicking the link (I promise they will NOT spam you)

Restaurant.com Feed it Forward 2010

I am so excited to hear this promotion is going on again this year.  For the next 37 days Restaurant.com is letting you  give up to 40 $10 Restaurant.com Gift Certificates every day through December 31. It's a great holiday gift for everyone on your list. And the best part is - it's FREE!
To send a gift, the giver provides their name and email address, as well as a valid name and email address for each person they wish to give to—as many as 40 people every single day. Participants can also import their email address books directly on the giving site or log-in Facebook for even easier giving.
We can't give a single gift certificate away unless you help us. The success of Feed It Forward™ depends completely on you. Start Giving and tell us which 40 people you'd like to send to and we do the rest. It's really easy. And come back every day to give 40 more! But, remember you can only give to each person on your list one time throughout the program. Don't forget family, friends, co-workers, that teacher that inspired you, your next-door neighbor, and so on. We hope you join us and celebrate the gift of giving! Start Giving.

How easy is that?  Your receipient will receive an email with a certificate code they will type into the website, then they will be allowed to pick their restaurant and print the certificate.  Hopefully, they will also be inspired to send out certificates to their family and friends as well.

If you would like, feel free to leave your contact info in the comments section and we can all gift each other as well.  (I suggest you use (at) and (com) etc in your email so as to avoid spambots)  You might also want to warn some of your friends their certificate might go to their spam folder(mine did).


Thanks reader Jen for the certificate AND letting me know this offer was live again this year.
Lets get off to giving!  I am headed to enter my 40 emails right now.

Have you clicked to give today?

http://changents.com/ http://givehealth.changents.com/

If you have not clicked to give today, please consider doing so right now. You can do this daily PER email address and you can also share via facebook or twitter for yet another click. You will get an email you must verify each time you do this, so please check your spam folders. It will take less than a minute, I promise! For every click provides 1 days worth of clean drinking water. We are fortunate to have clean water and I am currently reading a book that has some disturbing information about future wars that will be fought over water.

Time to Clean out the Cupboards and Help your Community

Tommorrow, your local letter carrier will be picking up non-perishable food items right at your mail box. All you need to do is leave a bag in or near your mailbox tommorrow and your letter carrier will pick them up and deliver them to a local food bank or pantry.
How easy is that? I know I have WAY too much food to consume before the best by date, so tonight I will be looking to see what I can offer up before it goes to waste.

Just 8 inches - the kindest cut

First picture added for ANON!

The last couple of years, I have decided to become a hair donor. I like growing my hair out long, but I get rather tired of it come the hot TX summers and usually am ready for a change. Rather than have all that hair end up in a pile on the floor, I have my hairdresser chop my pony and then I can donate it to Pantene Beautiful Lengths or Children With Hairloss .
I prefer these two organizations because they are not-for-profit, they only require 8 inches as the min. for hair donations, and they will accept colored hair.
If this is something that interests you, please take time to read over each website to choose the organization that works best for your needs! I do know Pantene's will not take your hair if there is too much grey whereas Children with Hairloss will. It is certainly worth it to find out which organization your hair is a best fit for. I know I feel about 2 lbs lighter(it really weighs about that much) and feel GREAT about giving to such worthy causes.

ETA: Since I don't like having my picture up, I had dh take a picture of the backside. This is what my "do" looks like now with the front pinned back! (For Anon poster that wanted to see the "do" shot :P

Clean your house - Adopt a Soldier

Ok, hopefully my title caught your eye!

I have a confession to make to everyone:

I really really hate sample and trial size products. While it is GREAT to get a sample or trial size item free, I hate trying to store them. They don't always stack well. They take up space. They usually only have enough product for a couple days which means more trash or water to clean out plastic bottles to recycle. My list goes on and on why these little bottles of products annoy me. Fortunately, for me I was informed of a WONDERFUL website that will solve my angst and get the clutter OUT of my house!

Adopt a US Soldier is a 501 (c) 3 non profit organization that focuses on connecting supportive Americans with currently deployed soldiers. You can register on http://www.adoptaussoldier.org/ and a soldiers information will be emailed to you within a couple of days (at the latest!). You can then write letters, send cards or even care packages full of items to your soldier while he is deployed overseas. Some soldiers may contact you back on anywhere from a daily basis, to no contact at all. There are some 'silent soldiers' that have no access to internet or mail, so please do not be discourage. These soldiers need even more support than others! If anyone is interested in more information, please visit http://www.adoptaussoldier.org/.

Reader Jennifer contacted me and informed me she currently is a member of this organization and has two adopted soldiers. She has been sending care packages and was hoping to get together several items for gift bags for her soldiers to share with others in their unit. If you are local to the Katy area and want to contribute without adopting a soldier of your own, please contact Jennifer(jennifer @ theextremehousewife dot com) for more information.

For non-locals, take a look at the website. Trial size items are PERFECT for soldiers stationed overseas. This is a WIN-WIN situation. You help those serving our country with much needed items, and for those with families, you take that expense OUT of their budget AND you get a decluttered house! I know I have more Blistex, deodorant, razors, toothpaste, and fruit snacks then I will EVER be able to use, and these much needed items would certainly be appreciated by those soldiers stationed overseas. Judging from the quotes I read from the soldiers, this program is a SUCCESS.