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Win a $100 Gift Card to 1-800Flowers!

Jan 042010

I love flowers. I do. All kinds of flowers. Flowers make me smile even when the situation at hand doesn’t call for smiling. I love to photograph flowers. I love when my kids bring me flowers they have picked in the yard even though they’re just “weeds” to the rest of the world. I love flowers.

Flower

But sometimes Valentine’s Day rubs me the wrong way.

It’s probably because my eighth grade boyfriend (I use the word loosely as we never even kissed) broke up with me on Valentine’s Day. Classy! I had a boyfriend in college who tried to make a big deal out of the day but it still felt weird. FireDad and I usually find a book for the boys and might even send each other an e-card. But we’re kind of low key.

But who doesn’t like flowers?

As such, we’re trying to make Valentine’s Day special for you or someone in your life. We’ve partnered with FabulousSavings.com to give away a $100 gift card to 1-800Flowers. (A company which I got to learn more about at the Cheryl&Co blogger event and, honestly, I’m in love with the company as a whole now!) That’s right. $100 gift card. For you. Send them for Valentine’s Day to your sweetheart. Or to yourself so everyone in your office thinks you’re hot stuff. Or save them for your mom’s birthday. Or your own birthday. Or your grandparent’s anniversary. Or your anniversary. Maybe you could send them to your local Fire Department as a token of thanks for all the hard work they do to keep your community safe! In short: do what you want with it!

The hope is that whatever you do with it, maybe, just maybe, it will make your heart a little softer toward Valentine’s Day. The process of gifting someone else something as fun as flowers via this giveaway has softened my heart. A little. I might even buy FireDad a real card. Shocking! (And we’ll likely spend our Valentine’s Day like this.)

Want to enter? Read the rules below.

FabulousSavings.com, a top source for online coupons, is giving away one $100 gift card for 1-800-Flowers.com in time for Valentine’s Day! This contest runs from January 4, 2010 to February 4, 2010 at 1:30pm EST.

How to enter:

1. Visit FabulousSavings.com and leave a comment below (on this post here), telling us what you like best about the website and providing a working e-mail address and your Twitter username.
2. Follow @FabulousSavings & tweet: “Enter to win a $100 1800Flowers gift card courtesy of @FabulousSavings (via @FireMom) http://tinyurl.com/vdaycontest .”

To gain one additional entry, you may write a blog post about the contest and FabulousSavings.com. Simply leave another comment below (on http://tinyurl.com/vdaycontest ) with your blog post URL to submit your additional entry.

Limit of two entries per person.

Winner will be determined using Random.org and contacted via e-mail on February 4, 2010. Winner has exactly 24 hours to respond via e-mail. If winner fails to respond, another winner will be selected.

Best of luck, everyone – in this contest and in love!

Official Rules:

To be proclaimed a winner in this contest, you must be:

At least 18 years of age
A US resident

Spam accounts and tweets will not be accepted. No purchase necessary.

FabulousSavings.com reserves the right to cancel this contest at its discretion. FabulousSavings.com shall not be responsible for any possible technical difficulties or delays which might otherwise affect eligibility.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask!

He’s Making Leaps & Bounds (& Jumps)

Parenting 8 Responses »

Apr 202009

BigBrother is a smart dude. He always has been. A typical first child, he was quick to learn words, numbers, letters, shapes and colors. But he’s had his own issues with which he struggled. I mean, don’t we all have our own things that trip us up?

BigBrother has struggled with some texture issues over the years. A recent example makes me cringe as it involves vomit after attempting to taste a strawberry. I won’t explain it in detail. But we’ve dealt with this for years. He’s a very picky eater because of these issues. Not only do new foods usually result in gagging but he simply can’t touch wet foods with his fingers (think of cantaloupe or the inside of a grape). Veggies were out of the question. Certain meats couldn’t be swallowed. Juice was unacceptable. And he prefers to use a brush to paint with as finger paints kind of squick him out. We’ve learned to deal in some ways but we’ve continued to expose him to new things in hopes that the constant exposure would help him.

Things have been slowly improving over the past few months culminating in some big changes just this month.

BigBrother now drinks juice. He now not only eats but likes cooked carrots. Last night, the child ate peas. (I almost fell off my chair.) He recently and willingly ate chicken. A few days ago, he ate half of a grape, touching the wet part first. He told me after he swallowed that he wouldn’t be doing that again but, hey, he chewed and swallowed the bite. I was pleased. And then, this past weekend, he did something totally out of character.

He touched a fish.

The Easter Bunny brought a fishing pole for BigBrother earlier this month. As the weather was fabulous this past weekend, FireDad decided that we’d go to a friend’s private pond after supper one evening (during which BigBrother ate a Sloppy Joe sandwich without prodding). BigBrother caught about seven fish while LittleBrother whined and cried that I wouldn’t let him jump into the water. BigBrother was intensely proud. What shocked us most wasn’t how he reeled in the fish with skill or how the activity kept his attention for so long. No, it was the touching of the fish. And not so much the first time… but he asked to touch the next fish that he caught as well. Shocked doesn’t cover it.

While I don’t have a picture of BigBrother touching the fish, I can’t not share this one.

Learning to Fish

I don’t know why BigBrother is suddenly more open to different textures and experiences. I don’t know if it will stop tomorrow. But I do know that I am very proud of all that he has been doing lately. He’s growing into quite the awesome little dude. I mean, have you touched a fish? Did you ask to do it again? And do you have texture issues? Right. Awesome indeed.

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[Regarding some of the challenges we have faced with BigBrother's texture issues but simultaneous advancement in learning, we have two giveaways you should know about! You can win a year of meal planning from A Flash in the Pan or a six month subscription to JumpStart.com and a CD-ROM for your child's age range. Both things are helping us help BigBrother so we're giving you the chance to help your kids as well!]