Archive | December, 2010

Have a perfect cuppa

by Mir at 1:00 pm on December 27, 2010 in Contests

Regular readers know that I’m pretty serious about my coffee. For a long time my husband didn’t drink coffee, and so I used a pod coffeemaker to make my lonely cup or two each day. But then I won him over to the dark side and now I brew a pot every morning. Mmmm.

So when I was offered a free Tassimo T20 Coffeemaker I was a little hesitant; I rather enjoy grinding my own beans and having a whole pot at once, you know? But the Tassimo does things like make cappuccino with frothy milk, and I can’t do that with my regular maker. So I agreed to try it out.

Pros: Makes a surprisingly good frou-frou coffeehouse drink (cappuccino, macchiato, chai) considering that it’s not a terribly expensive machine. Makes drinks fast. Allows for everyone to have their own drink with a minimum of fuss.
Cons: The t-discs are much less expensive than buying coffee out, but more expensive per cup than just making a regular pot of coffee. Despite regular coaxing from my son, my Tassimo brewer has yet to dance like the one in the commercial.

The bottom line for me is that this won’t replace my regular coffeemaker, but it is an awfully nice supplement if I want something fancier or have a guest who wants decaf or whatever. I can see this machine being ideal for households where any of the following are true, though:
1) there’s only one coffee-drinker
2) there are multiple hot beverage drinkers who all like different things
3) the ability to go from “I think I’d like a drink” to “drink in my hand” in under a minute is key.

And, of course, if you’re getting the machine for free, it’s pretty much a win no matter what, right? Right. So I’m giving one away.

If you’d like your own Bosch Tassimo T20 brewer in black, first go review the contest rules and regulations, then come on back here and leave a comment on this post by 8:00 a.m. Eastern (that’s 5:00 a.m. Pacific) on Thursday, December 30th, 2010 for a chance to win. Winner to be determined by random number generation and level of caffeination (mine, not yours). Heh.

Ready? Go!

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Get ready to box ‘em up

by Mir at 9:33 am on December 27, 2010 in Hot Hot Hot!, Product Talk

Every year after Christmas I vow to buy some decent ornament storage boxes, and every year I am hit once again by the reality that:
1) Ornament storage boxes are expensive
and
2) Ornament storage boxes never go on sale, even when everything else is on clearance.

(It’s a little bit like being stuck in a nightmare, perusing the $.50 rolls of wrapping paper, flanked by $40 storage boxes.)

So this certainly isn’t the greatest deal ever, but if you—like me—are realizing that your single-storage-bin-and-a-lot-of-old-towels method of storing your ornaments simply can’t hold up for another year, I have a suggestion. Target is currently offering this handy ornament storage box for $20 with free shipping. Coupon code ON6LKVO9 takes another 10% off. For $18ish shipped I’m willing to go for it, even though the item description doesn’t tell me how many slots it has (my guesstimation is 40 openings, based on the picture).

I’m calling the not-having-to-leave-the-house-ness of it the bargain. Heh.

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Fa la la la clearance

by Mir at 8:32 am on December 27, 2010 in Hot Hot Hot!, What to Wear

The dust is beginning to settle, but the really good clearance sales are just ramping up. This is truly the most wonderful time of the year, people.

Check out the clearance over at Charlotte Russe; prices start at under $5, and you can use coupon code student for an additional 10% off.

I have come around to Charlotte Russe in recent years; right now we’re in that sweet spot where I can shop there for my daughter, and get a few layering pieces for me while I’m there. (So far my daughter hasn’t yelled at me about it, so I think I’m okay.)

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Reserve your biscuit!

by Mir at 8:02 am on December 27, 2010 in Hot Hot Hot!, Quick Tips

Love Chick-fil-A? The spicy chicken biscuit is coming to town, and you can make a reservation to get a free one the week of January 3-8th, before its official release on January 10th.

Is this a marketing gimmick? You betcha.

But if you dig it, are you going to pass it up for free? Probably not.

Am I just jealous, because I can’t eat Chick-fil-A anymore? Maybe just a little.

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Get off your couch and explore

by Mir at 1:11 pm on December 26, 2010 in For the kids, Hot Hot Hot!

Here’s another I-know-it-was-just-Christmas-but-this-price-is-too-good-not-to-point-out deal:

Amazon has Active Life: Explorer with Mat for just $30 shipped (about half what anyone else is charging). It has great reviews and I can tell you from experience that my kids go nuts for the Active Life games. And I love that they’re up and moving, even if it does sound like a herd of elephants has invaded my living room while they play.

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After-Christmas Vera Bradley savings

by Mir at 11:21 am on December 26, 2010 in Hot Hot Hot!

Didn’t get the bag you were coveting this year, but got a little bit of mad money in your stocking? Right now you can save up to 40% at Vera Bradley on everything from their most popular colors to their holiday items.

Truthfully, I’ve never been a huge Vera Bradley person, but I bought my daughter a purse from there for Christmas and was blown away by how nicely it was packaged, plus just what quality workmanship clearly goes into them. I’m a convert! And now I’m drooling over their Christmas stockings.

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Year-end pantry stockers

by Mir at 9:07 am on December 26, 2010 in Groceries, Hot Hot Hot!

The flurry of lightning deals at Amazon is finally over, and my family seems fairly pleased to have me back. Heh. Now in lieu of chasing those timed deals, Amazon is offering a a bevy of “year end deals,” and I—of course—went straight to the groceries.

Some of the Year-End Grocery Deals are the sorts of things I probably shouldn’t be looking at, like chocolates. But there are still New Year’s Eve parties and such; maybe you need just one more hostess gift? Or maybe you saw that episode of Everyday Italian when Giada made a bread pudding using panettone? Because they’ve got cheap panettone and that would be an amazing thing for New Year’s. Just sayin’.

Or maybe you need a whole lot of organic canned pumpkin. I don’t judge. (It comes out to under a buck a can if you buy via Subscribe & Save.) There’s always a time in the spring or summer when I want to make muffins and discover that apparently it’s against the law to sell pumpkin at the supermarket when it’s above 50 degrees. I wouldn’t mind having a few extras in the pantry.

Then again, after yesterday’s carnival of eating, I’m not sure I need to eat again, ever.

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The glorious aftermath

by Mir at 10:39 pm on December 25, 2010 in Hot Hot Hot!

I hope you all had a wonderful day, whether you were celebrating Christmas or not. I have watched both Scrooged and A Christmas Story and the dog was (narrowly) prevented from eating Jesus out of the nativity, so I’m calling the day a complete success. I hope yours was similarly awesome.

Anyway! I am feeling fairly well shopped out (I know), but if you’re ready to start hitting the post-holiday sales, you know that Kohls is doing that Early Bird thing where the big bargains actually started today, and go into tomorrow morning.

Shipping is currently free on $75+, and everyone can use coupon code HOHOHO15 for an additional 15% off, through December 26th only. And don’t forget to redeem your Kohls Cash if you earned some the last time ’round!

(Psssst! The Christmas stuff is all on sale, but it’s not listed under clearance. Just go find it in the regular place, under Furniture & Decor.)

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Oh holy night… of coffee and cashmere

by Mir at 9:10 am on December 24, 2010 in Groceries, Hot Hot Hot!, What to Wear

Happy Christmas Eve! Whatever your religious leanings, I hope today is a day of rest, relaxation, and time with the people you love most.

Two quickies for you, before I head off to spend some quality time with my Roku husband:

First, today’s Friday Sale Coffeepalooza at Amazon is worth a look if you have either a Keurig or a Tassimo brewer; if you have the latter, there’s currently a one-time $5 discount available on Tassimo discs ( TDISC555) that works on top of the Friday Sale prices.

And second, the after-Christmas stuff has already begun over at Macy’s, including their big women’s cashmere sale (you’ll see it on the bottom left of their splash page, there). Coupon code CASHMERE will give you free shipping on your $75+ cashmere purchase, and in addition to the 50-60% markdowns already taken, another 15% comes off in your cart. This is not only the best time to pick up that sweater you’ve been lusting after, I can virtually guarantee that they have twice as much inventory today as they’ll have on the 26th, because this sale always sells out really quickly. Just sayin’.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

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Merry Christmas! I got you a song and a movie

by Mir at 3:15 pm on December 23, 2010 in Hot Hot Hot!

If you go here on Amazon, you can enter code GIVEMP3S for $2 worth of free MP3 downloads. (Thanks for the tip, Theresa!) Then you can go here on Amazon and tweet to get $5 towards on-demand video.

It’s like getting a free song and a free movie in your stocking. Except you get to pick them out yourself. And enjoy them right now, if you want. What could be merrier?

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