Author: Abby H.

Funovation Panel is Looking for New Members!

Abby H.

The Funovation Panel is a community of families that provide their feedback about new toys, videos, images, and much more.

They are looking for new members to help them understand what families want from toys today.

Members are invited to participate in projects such as in-home toy tests, early screening of TV shows, trend identification, and providing input on toys and ideas in the early stages of development. Help shape what will appear in stores and on screens across the world to better suit your family!

Also, to show our appreciation, for every Funovation survey you complete, you will be entered into a draw for one of three $50 Amazon gift cards. That starts with this one, so click here!

 

 

Faith Chapel’s Meet The Need is Drive Through Today 4/5/2020

Abby H.

I’ve posted about Meet The Need at Faith Chapel before– It’s a great way to pick up some groceries if times are tough for you. Usually, there is a little fellowship and the chance to pick up second-hand household goods and clothing (and they usually have diapers too- you just have to ask). Paster Josiah and his helpers aren’t letting the current crisis stop them from helping those in need!

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This Sunday Meet The Need drive-thru. In an effort to abide by the safety health ordinances within San Diego County due to the COVID-19 crisis, they are changing how they serve the community but certainly will not stop serving it. They will be providing a ready to eat meal & groceries this Sunday from 1:00pm-3:00pm.

The food will be distributed through your car window, so no need to leave your car, at the flagpole, outside the main sanctuary in the upper parking lot. They’ll be taking above and beyond precautions for health safety and social distancing.

No need to sign up in advance- all sign ups will be done on site!

California Utility Bills Receive a Credit in April!

Abby H.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAThe Climate Credit that we’ve all grown accustomed to seeing on our April and October bills has been moved to August and September when most Californians have higher utility bills due to the weather.

However, the PUC (Public Utilities Commission) is giving every California ratepayer a credit of $21.11 on the GAS portion of their utility bill this month.

In August and September, there will be a credit each month of $32.28 on the Electricity portion of each ratepayer utility bill.

Changing the distribution months will not change the total value of the climate credits you receive in a year. The shift will provide bill relief for customers and reduce bill volatility.

If you’re having trouble paying your utility bill and to learn more about the available resource to help you and your household, please visit sdge.com/coronavirus.

Visit Energy Upgrade California to learn about ways to lower your energy usage.

And if you want to save energy and earn money, check out my post about Ohm Connect.

 

 

Free Delivery with DoorDash!

Abby H.

I’m sure that by now you’ve heard that many restaurants are participating in the Great American Takeout!

On April 7th, order a meal for delivery with DoorDash and help an industry that employs more than 15 million Americans.

When you order through DoorDash, your first order has a $0 Delivery fee!

From your neighborhood sushi spot to the burger and fries you crave, choose from over 300,000 local and national favorites across the U.S. and Canada.

Get it delivered right to your door. Or, try Pickup on your way home. It’s mealtime on your time.

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Talk Back: What will you be ordering with DoorDash on April 7th?

New PinchMe Samples Drop 4/7/2020!

Abby H.

Set your iCals to remind you that the new PinchMe samples drop on 4/7/2020 at 9am Pacific Time!

Sneak Peek of April’s samples:

  • Caliper CBD Dissolvable Powder
  • Eva NYC Mane Magic 10-in-1 Primer
  • Dr. Dennis Gross Alpha Beta® Extra Strength Daily Peel
  • InTune CBD Peanut Butter Dog Treats
  • Nexcare™ Tegaderm and Tegaderm™ + Pad Waterproof Transparent Dressings
  • Nexcare™ Max Hold Waterproof Bandages
  • SlimFast Diabetic Weight Loss Nutty Caramel & Chocolate Cluster Snack
  • Lumify® Redness Reliever Eye Drops
  • Acne Wipeout™
  • Skylar – Salt Air Eau de Toilette Rollerball

New To PinchMe? Join PINCHme and receive free samples that you can provide feedback on.

PinchMe is awesome! Once you are signed up, they will email you reminders when new samples are about to drop, and remind you when it’s time to leave feedback.

Answer a series of questions about your household and shopping habits in the Member Profile. PinchMe learns what you like and offer samples just for you.

Once you’ve had a chance to try the samples, complete a short feedback survey to tell PinchMe what you think of the samples.

What are you waiting for? Sign up here and get on the free sample bandwagon! I’ve gotten all kinds of awesome sample/trial size items, as well as full-sized items to try out from PinchMe!

Freebie Round-Up!

Abby H.

bright boxes

I’ve been remiss in posting over the past week or so. Trying to maintain the new normal at home is a lot of work, and I’ve been going to bed early, leaving no time to blog.

But, I know y’all need some freebies, so here you go! I included as many freebies for Healthcare workers and First Responders as possible.

Craft More Happy Moments with Blueprint for FREE!!

Abby H.

**This post contains affiliate links and I may be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links.

Stuck at home with the kids? Starting to get a little goofy? We are all looking for a way to stay healthy and productive at home during this unprecedented time. Bluprint is here as your creativity-at-home resource, providing ways to nourish your creative hearts and minds, all at home, to sustain and connect during this uncertain time with a FREE Creativity Care Package designed to help families make the most of their time together.

Bluprint, an NBCUniversal online creative learning platform, provides ways for the entire family to nourish their creativity from home, offering rich learning experiences for all ages.

Join them to “Craft More Happy Moments” during our FREE unlimited access creativity event; March 26 at Noon EST – April 9. 

With Bluprint you can stream thousands of creative education classes from knitting, sewing, baking, drawing, family crafts and much more, taught by the world’s leading experts.  Bluprint is your one-stop destination for classes, patterns and project ideas for all skill levels.

During the 14 day event, Bluprint will provide free access to their full slate of content; including more than 1300 classes and series and hundreds of step by step project tutorials and patterns making this the perfect time to learn a new craft or hobby.

I’ve already signed us up! We are going to get crafting this weekend!

Weekly Meal Plan & How You Can Do It Too!

Abby H.

0a5e9dab796cea8a07eabe4eb4795b9e.jpgNow, more than ever, it’s important to plan meals and use what you have on hand. While the grocery store is still on “Ok to visit” list, it is important to limit our exposure to other people.

For those of you that are new to meal planning, I’ve got an easy 101 style post here with super easy tips and steps. After you get that down, here is info about batch or freezer cooking.

I’ve gotten a pretty good inventory of the pantry, freezer, and fridge done (I update it after every shopping trip), so I’m able to plan meals and use up what we’ve got with little waste. If you are looking for kitchen inventory printable, I like the kitchen inventories here. They are great printables.

I only post our dinner plans for the week, because our other meals are usually the same each day: Right now our local school district is serving lunch for a drive-through service for kids 18 and under M-F. It’s great because it helps stretch our budget and it gets the kids out of the house for a few minutes. They also include a cold lunch (usually cereal and milk and a piece of fruit) for the next morning. Often times, the cereal ends up being a snack for late afternoon. 

Breakfast: Coffee with 1/2 and 1/2  for me, and pancakes or something along those lines for the kids (they love the Kodiak Cakes Mix).  I also keep sandwich Ziploc bags of other frozen fruit on hand to make the kids smoothies when they request them (a few times per week). Berries, peaches, and mangos are pretty popular. recently the Big Kid has been on a protein shake kick in the AM.

Usually, I do a crockpot meal on Mondays, but now that we are home all the time, we’ve been having an odd combination of fully home-cooked, scratch meals, and frozen entrees and veggies. I have been posting our meal plans on Instagram too- As well as pics of stuff we are doing to keep busy.

  • Monday: Frozen Entrees & Veggies
  • Tuesday: Casserole (probably Chicken Tetrazzini)
  • Wednesday: Pasta with red sauce and garlic bread
  • Thursday: Frozen Entrees & Veggies
  • Friday: Breakfast for dinner: Bagels and cream cheese, smoothies, fruit
  • Saturday: Leftover fiesta!
  • Sunday:  Chicken Soup (from Scratch)

Please stay safe you guys! The sooner we flatten the curve, the sooner life can go back to normal- whatever that means.

Talk Back: What are you cooking for dinner this week?

Need Pizza? Free Delivery with Little Caesar’s!

Abby H.

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Social distancing doesn’t have to mean no pizza. I mean, really. PIZZA.

And while we are still nomming the leftovers from Big Kid’s birthday celebration, some of you may require pizza.

Little Caesar’s is offering free delivery for online orders of $10 or more 3/16/3/22/2020. Limit 1 free delivery per person, per day, small order fee for orders of $10 or less. taxes still apply.

Want them to leave your pizza at the door? Add “No Contact- Leave at Door” in the delivery directions during checkout.

And don’t forget- Wash your hands!

School’s Out… for 4-8 Weeks!

Abby H.
alphabet letter text on black background

For us, school has been canceled for the next two weeks, and then we are having our regularly scheduled 2-week spring break.

Big kids school sent home a big ol’ packet of worksheets (about 50 pages), which would be most of the work they would do in the classroom. Little kids preschool has been cancelled, so I did a quick google search for free preschool printables so she can do “homework” alongside Big Brother. But I’m not stressing too much about worksheets.

There have been a lot of schedules and ideas posted on social media.

I changed up one of the super colorful schedules going around, included stuff that we like to do, and more relevant activities, and posted it here on my google pages. You can copy it and change it as needed for you.  And I made it black and white to save your printer some ink.

There are tons of free educational activities online for kids to do. Here is a Google Doc with tons of links that has been making the rounds.

Scholastic set up a ‘Learn From Home’ website with four categories: PreK and Kindergarten, Grades 1 and 2, Grades 3-5, and Grades 6+. Each section is already equipped with one week of content for students with 15 additional days on the way.

I’m not too worried about keeping the kids busy. Big dude brought home his school iPad and has access to his math and reading stuff, plus we have craft supplies and toys to play with.

girl wearing multicolored dress making bubbles
Photo by John Cahil Rom on Pexels.com

And failing all that- Frozen 2 is on Disney+, and we’ve got Minecraft. If you don’t have Disney+, you can score Hulu, Disney+, and ESPN for a pretty low monthly price.

And sooo many bubbles. I’m not sure why, but kids love bubbles.

Don’t forget that March is National Craft Month! There are kinds of freebies and deals here.

Talk Back- What are you doing to keep yourself and your family from going stir crazy?