I'm still here!

Yes, I'm still here! I watch too much tv and yet I have nothing too exciting to post about TV-wise. Wednesday nights I watch "Toddlers & Tiaras" with my sister, sort of. She lives in another state, but we confer over Facebook chat about the general zaniness of the show.

I think I might have more to say about tv once Playhouse Disney switches to Disney Junior. They have been building up hype for about 3 months, but I think it's going to be a letdown. We'll see. They have 3 new shows: Jake and the Neverland Pirates, Tinga Tinga Tales, and a Babar cartoon. The pirate show looks a little too mature for toddlers, Tinga Tinga Tales is a show about African tales, and the animation for some reason looks very stereotypically "African." I hope the stories are better than the animation. Babar is Babar, I've never seen him before but he's an institution- he looks cool enough. They have 3 new short segments too, "A Poem Is..." which looks cool except the voice in the ad sounds Joan Cusack-ish, and not in a good way, "Oso's 3 Healthy Steps," which my daughter will like and I will be annoyed by, and "Mouskercise," which I am sort of curious about. It looks like most of the lineup will be the same, except that "My Friends Tigger and Pooh" has been phased out and "Little Einsteins" seems banished to early mornings and holidays. "Charlie and Lola" disappeared a few months back too, much to the rejoice on my husband, even though I thought it was cute.


I was watching The Bachelor but it's turned out to be pretty lame and boring. I watched the auditions of American Idol, which are funny and really the only exciting and entertaining part. I've been mostly watching a lot of Disney Channel and way too much Elmo, as usual.

And in real life, things are going quite normally. I'm still working part time and spending the majority time with my daughter. My husband is still working from home, which has turned out really well for us so far. It's winter in the boonies, so it was getting pretty cold last week, with -35F wind chills at night. For now, it's warmed up a little, to the 30s and 40s, so I'm thankful for that. My daughter, Curly Girly, is doing really well- being cute, learning a lot of words, being a typical toddler. She recently learned to jump, which is super adorable!

And in internet life, I've cashed out for Amazon gift cards on Swagbucks.com, iRazoo.com, and Zoombucks.com in the past week or so, ($5 on Swagbucks and iRazoo, $20 on Zoombucks), so I am raking in some nice $ to start off the year! I am saving for a new iPod Touch so hopefully I will have enough before my birthday in June. :)

Well, hopefully I'll have something exciting to ramble on about soon. Anything is more exciting than Disney Junior!
-duckyone.

8 easy ways to get FREE Amazon.gift cards!

I've been doing different, EASY things online on different sites in order to get some free Amazon.com gift card codes. It's great because it doesn't take a lot of time, it's all free, and doing all these different sites allows me to gather up quite a bit in my Amazon account. I bought my daughter an $80 toy kitchen last Christmas, and I paid for all but about $20 with Amazon gift cards for an iPod Touch for my husband this summer. So I know these work. Try one, try them all! Good luck!

1. Swagbucks- This is really one of my favorites. Get points through searching, completing offers, getting special codes, and adding the toolbar and "Swidget" widget. I've been a member for about a year and a half and have made $150 in Amazon gift cards! I showed the proof in one of my previous posts. Basically, it works! :)

2. Mypoints- Earn points through clicking on email ads, playing their instant win games, taking surveys, and through shopping. I don't go out of my way to find ways to shop through there, but if I already have a certain Christmas gift in mind for someone, I may do my shopping through them. I have been a member since 1999, and even being a slacker and ignoring the site for a few years, I have redeemed for over $100 in different gift cards, including Amazon and Bath&Body Works.

3. Zoombucks- This site is similar to Swagbucks. Get points for searching, looking through their site, completing offers, and playing games. You have to wait until you get 2000 points to redeem the first time (enough for a $20 gift card to one of several stores), but you can get 350 points just for signing up and completing your extended profile. I haven't cashed out yet but I should have enough by next month if I do well enough in the games. I have read about other people getting their gift cards though.

4. iRazoo- Yet another site similar to swagbucks, get points for searching and quickly reviewing sites. It is 3000 points to redeem for $5 Amazon, but you can get 100 points a day just for leaving a quick comment about 2 sites you search for and leaving short comments on them. That's $5 a month just for a minute of your time a day! I haven't cashed out yet- I should get my first one this week! Again, I've read about other people getting their gift cards through this site.

5. Opinion Outpost- Take surveys and earn points! You have to have 50 points to redeem ($5), and you have a choice between a Citi gift card, check, or Amazon code. The best part about the Amazon codes is that they are instant on this site! No pesky waiting! I have personally redeemed for over $60 from them in the past year.

6. Say and Win- Do you love Twitter? Are you going to tweet a lot anyway? May as well send your tweet through this site and get a chance to in Amazon.com gift cards. I have won $5 twice and $1 once or twice. All for something I was going to do anyway! May as well make your tweets work for you, right?

7. Amazon Mechanical Turk- This is directly through Amazon.com. Sign up to complete tasks, and when you do, get paid. Most are a few cents but some are more. You can get that $ sent right to your Amazon account. I haven't done it much- maybe made less than a dollar- but I got it right to my Amazon account so I know it works. Most tasks are simple, like looking at a site and giving your opinion.

8. Lightspeed Consumer Panel- Another survey site. I like this one because you can redeem for a low as $1 Amazon, or save up for more! I have redeemed over $20 through them, and the surveys are fairly short and easy.


If you are already members of any of these sites, then hopefully you know how awesome they are. If not give them a try! Also, if you have any other suggestions of good sites to get Amazon.com gift cards, I would like to hear them! I'm always looking to boost my Amazon account!

-duckyone

Get $$ back on your Halloween costume?

Have you picked out your Halloween costume yet? If not, there is a good deal going on now through Swagbucks that can make you at least $5 back in SB points (almost $10 if you choose an Amazon.com gift card, $5 if you choose Paypal)! What is Swagbucks, you ask? It's a search engine site (sort of like Google), only you win points for searching, and you use those points toward awesome rewards!

If searching isn't getting you enough points, you can get them through their toolbar, "Swidget" widget, completing offers, taking surveys, and special codes that they sometimes release. 450 Swagbucks will get you $5 toward Amazon.com, and 700 Swagbucks will get you $5 in cold, hard cash through Paypal! And just so you know it's legitimate, I will show you all times I got $5 Amazon.com codes!

Wait, there's more, I couldn't fit it all in one screen...

I also managed to get one gift card cut off between those two pictures, so in case you're keeping track that's 2 pages of $70 each and one $5 I missed....$145 in gift cards to Amazon! I used some of them to buy my daughter a nice toy kitchen for Christmas last year! So I know the site is REAL!

I just redeemed for another $5 Amazon code today, and I'm already up to another 288 points today alone! That's over half way to another $5 Amazon! It really does come in handy around Christmas time! This next picture is showing some of what I earned today, thanks to searching, doing a few offers, and having my little brother as a new referral. Nifty! Note this isn't all of what I earned today but it's all that fit onto that page.

So what does this have to do with Halloween, you might ask? How are you going to get $ back for buying a Halloween costume? Well, Swagbucks has a special deal going through tomorrow. All you have to do is complete offers and surveys, and the more you do the better the bonus you will get. Here's the details straight from the Swag Blog:

• Earn 20-99 total Swag Bucks and you've drawn a Walk, which gets you a bonus of 5 SB
• Earn 100-199 total Swag Bucks and you've hit a Single, which gets you a bonus of 15 SB
• Earn 200-299 total Swag Bucks and you've hit a Double into the gap - you've also earned a bonus of 30 SB
• Line a Triple into the corner by earning 300-399 total Swag Bucks- you'll also receive a bonus of 50 SB
• You'll hit a Home run if you earn 400-599 total Swag Bucks, and a bonus of 100 SB will be coming your way.
• A Grand Slam means you've earned 600+ Swag Bucks, and that comes with a 200 SB bonus!

Here's where your Halloween costume comes in. Order your costume from Costume Express on their special offers page and get 403 Swagbucks, earning yourself the 100 Swagbucks bonus...right there you already have enough for a $5 Amazon code! Plus, you get 30 (I think) Swagbucks just for signing up, and more points when you search!

Or, order your costume from BuyCostumes.com (also on the offers page) and get 615 Swagbucks, and earn yourself the extra 200 Swabucks bonus...that's 815 right there, plus the 30 for signing up...you're up to 845 and 900 is enough to get you 2 $5 Amazon.com gift cards, so a day or two of searching ought to take care of that!

The only thing is, you only have till midnight tomorrow to take advantage of this, so you'd better hurry and pick out your perfect costume if you want to get this good deal.

But there is another great thing going on over at Swagbucks right now! They have 4 limited edition Swagbucks that you may come across when searching (a 7, a 12, a 15, and a 32, you can see them over in the Swag Blog at Swagbucks), and if you come across all 4 in searches before Monday, you get a 100 Swagbucks bonus! That's pretty cool!

Just go to the button below to sign up, or you can sign up through the "Swidget" on the right side of my page. Hope you get in on this awesome deal! Happy Halloween, everybody!



-duckyone.