Free Taco Tuesday

The free food keeps on coming.

http://coupon.hangintherejack.com/two-tacos.php

Free Quiznos Sub

Tired of Subway Sandwiches? Go get your free Quiznos sub. Coupon expires 5 days after you print it out. Also an ID is required so don't use your fake name. :)

http://www.millionsubs.com/Reg.php

Juicy Fat Friday

Lately I noticed that many of my Facebook friends like to update their status with something food related. Some examples are: "XX is stuffed from a BBQ." or "XX needs to go work out (but can't move from eating too much)." or "XX fed her kids scones and whip cream for dinner." And why not? Food is the universal language for living the good life. That's why people love to take photos of their food. It's a subtle of way of bragging, saying "Yeah, I can ingest 2000 calories in one sitting and you can't!"

Below are some photos I found at the website: thisiswhyyourefat.com. Seeing that many of my readers love junk food and don't necessarily believe in moderation, this website will either scare you into healthier living or offer you tons of menu ideas for your next party. After viewing some of the entrees, all of a sudden those deep fried twinkies don't seem that bad anymore. I can almost smell the grease!

And no, I'm not calling anyone fat, that's just the name of the website. If you think you're fat, blame your parents. Fact is, if you're not eating well now, here's proof that you can be eating a lot worse! So if anything, you should be feeling a lot better about yourself right about now. Yes, you are welcome!

Other than the McNuggetini, I don't think there was anything on that website I wouldn't try. That chocolate covered bacon burger looked especially tasty. Below are a couple of my favorites.

Turbaconucken – chicken stuffed in duck stuffed in turkey wrapped in bacon.

Krispy Kreme bacon cheddar burgers

Pretty cool huh? He used a wired cheese cutter to get the cream off.

You can see the rest of the scrumptious entrees at the link below. So what's for lunch today?

Thisiswhyyourefat.com

Freebie Friday – Free activities

For those of you who don't have any plans tomorrow and need a reason to get out of the house, here are a few free local events for young families:

Saturday, February 21, 2009

• 10 - 11 a.m.
  Pottery Barn Kids Decorating Series
  - Easy & Affordable Decorating for Kids' Rooms
  RSVP required
  
  
• 11 a.m. - 1 p.m.
  Thomas Playdate at Toys R Us
  - Enjoy storytime, coloring fun, Thomas trivia, and Free giveaways!
  
  
• 2 - 3:30 p.m.
  Elmo is Turning 3 at Borders/Waldenbooks
  - Help celebrate the birthday of one of our favorite Sesame Street friends with a party just for kids. The family fun includes storytime, games, and giveaways.

Redemption for lost soles

As loving parents, we can never let our kids go out in the wet weather with holes in their shoes. So this past weekend we traded in another pair of shoes through the Sears Kidvantage program.

For those of you who haven't followed our stories, we've been exchanging countless pairs of worn-out shoes and pants throughout the last few years. For Dustin's current size 2 sneaker journey, you can read about our first exchange here. Then, just recently, not even three months ago on Black Friday, we did a second exchange here. I'm surprised his sole wore out so fast. It must be the softer Airator bottoms because Colby's Skechers that we got at the same time, are still fine.

So while Chrissy was exchanging the pants upstairs, I quickly headed toward the shoe department. I immediately noticed that the exact same shoe was still available, but not in his size. Honestly, since the Airators wore out so fast, I did not want to get the same shoes. So I just grabbed the best looking pair in size 2.

I told the cashier dude it was a Kidvantage exchange and he said no problem. He didn't ask for a receipt nor phone number so I could save my Jedi Mind Trick for the next time. He scanned both boxes and said the new pair was more expensive. I told him that the exact shoe was not available in size 2, but according the retail price on the boxes, they are both $44.99. He said the other pair was on sale. I said it's not my fault one's on sale, they're both still the same retail price.

He, being a smart Asian guy, looked at the long line behind me and then realized that it wasn't worth the effort to argue because that would only add more work and frustration to his already long day. And it's not like Sears was going to give him commission on a loss exchange. With that, he didn't say another word and I was on my way with a brand new pair of shoes within 5 minutes. If you're counting, this will be Dustin's 4th pair of size 2 shoes! Man I love this program!

Oh yeah, in the meantime we found a cool pair of Skechers in the next size up (for Colby) on clearance for $15. Yep, we're already planning ahead.

From the Sears website:

Our KidVantage® Wearout Warranty is simple:

• it covers all children's apparel and footwear as long as the child for whom you bought the item continues to wear the size
• if the item wears out, Sears will, at its option, either repair or replace it with the identical item in the same size, or if it's unavailable, a similar item of equal value in the same size
• it covers children's sizes from infants' up to 18 in apparel, and up to senior kids' size 6 in footwear, with proof of purchase

Also, once you spend $100 (accumulated), you'll get a 15% coupon.
Note: It is good to keep the original box because they will need to scan the barcode.

Friday Freebies - Magazines

I haven't posted these in a while, but the offers keep coming in. Last month, our mailroom director stuck a post-it on my Motor Trend telling me to stop treating our mailroom "as your own personal mailbox." The nerve of her, considering all my mags end up in the breakroom anyway...

Anyway, I've narrowed the list to just the ones I think my readers would like. All subscriptions are no strings attached. No credit card or phone numbers are needed. Act fast and get them while they last. Enjoy and have a nice weekend.

American Baby
Art in America
Baby Talk
Cruise Travel
Harper's Bazaar
Martha Stewart Living
Metropolitan Home
Motor Trend
Popular Photography
Tennis
Woman's Day

Friday Fun - Star Wars A cappella

Only the nerds can appreciate this. The first one is the one floating all over Facebook. The second one is the original. Both are hilarious. Turn up the volume (unless you're at work, then put on your earphones). And yes, all the music is John Williams'. Can you name them all?

YFC Valentine's Dinner

Saturday's dinner was at the San Leandro Black Angus. We all used that $37 dinner-for-two coupon you find in the Sunday papers. The meal included the above appetizer sampler, soup or salad, choice of prime rib, ribeye, New York steak, etc. and a dessert. Not a bad deal. I totally forgot to take a picture of the meat because I was too busy chomping.

It was a great meal, start to finish. And there was a lot of food! How could I tell? Fongpay actually had leftovers to take back.

So what was the best part of the meal? No kids. Period.

That night just happened to be Daniel's birthday. He's a lucky guy.
He's 3 years older than me and still has a great head of hair.

Speaking of hair, for those of you wondering (and been afraid to ask) about Myron's lovely locks, I got the real story. Apparently it's Grace's idea for him to grow it long because she likes the Han Solo look. Hmmm, Methinks he's already surpassed Han Solo and heading toward Chewbacca... But that's just me.

I heard from a fellow blogger that maybe one of these folks don't like their face posted anywhere online. I say you should be honored to be on my blog because I only post photos of good looking people. In fact, I often spend a little time cleaning up people's facial blemishes (zits, cold sores, blackheads, cracked lips, food stains, etc), so chances are, you'll look better here than in real life! Yes, you are welcome!

Free $2 Subway Gift Card

Real easy. All they need is your mailing address. No need to sign up for anything. Limit one per household, so be sure you to use the addresses of your work, parents, inlaws, bf, gf, Christmas card list, etc. ;) Hurry up, only available for the first 142,500 claims. For California residents only (sorry Genie).

http://subway.com/california/

Also right now, ALL footlongs are now $5, not just their previous limited selections.

Our favorite is the Chicken Bacon Ranch. Happy eating.

Free Fries at Jack in a Box Today

I love their curly fries.

LINK. Click on Free Food icon on the right.

We're all connected

So not two days after my post about Andrew, I was approached by three people who think we might know him, but not sure. Then today at church during IBF, Ken displayed Andrew's photo and story on the big screen! Apparently, Andrew is the son of David (?) and Joyce Mark, who used to attend CIBC back in the 80's. I grabbed the above photo from their website. I don't remember them, but perhaps some of you older folks may.

One of my readers emailed saying she actually babysat Andrew in our church nursery! Wow, it's amazing how far reaching the CIBC connection is! We are truly all a part of God's family.

Ken recommended we all visit and read their blog. Like me, Ken was touched by their story and just felt the need to share with everyone. I hope you would take the time to read some of their entries.

As you know, Andrew passed away on Saturday. His pastor spoke about him today. It's a real powerful sermon. You can hear the message here: Reflections on the Suffering and Death of a 27 Year-Old Man.

Life

Today I was introduced to Andrew and Grace through a friend's blog. Wow. What a sobering evening tonight has been. I ask that you pray for them.

http://www.graceandrew.blogspot.com/

I don't know Andrew or Grace. From what I can tell, they've been married for 5-6 years and have two young children. Andrew has been battling cancer for the last two years, and they've been blogging about the entire experience so that we "can learn and grow" with them. Sadly, based on this morning's blog, he's about to go at any moment now. I believe he is 27.

The entries can be heart-wrenching to read, but I'm constantly amazed at their unwavering faith, as well as the peace that He has given them during this unfathomable time. Their strength and courage speaks volumes of their walk with the Lord.

All in all, it just reminds me of how fragile life is, and how God can have such drastically different plans for each of us. Just reading Andrew's daily ordeals made me more aware of the many things I take for granted, like my health and my family. I just assume they'll always be there for me.

I cannot imagine what it feels like to be Andrew right now. Just two weeks ago he was still actively blogging. But now he may already be gone. I just met him and now I'll miss him. I only wish I had found his blog earlier. Thank you for your story, Andrew.

Friday Fun - Women drivers

I just saw this on someone's Facebook page. Hilarious!!

January photo recap

Yeah I know, it's already February. I meant to post this last weekend but ran out of time. So here goes:

Matt took this photo with his snazzy remote control, but I had to clean it up. Below the railing were some photos hanging that were kind of distracting, so I got rid of them. They were pics of their small group, their wedding... you know, insignificant stuff that I wasn't a part of. So they had to go. Doesn't it look so much cleaner?

Justine loves going to the homes of little girls to play with toys I'll never allow in our house.

Another wall I had to clean up. There were purses hanging above their heads.
(not to mention the grafitti, stickers and squashed bugs.) Haha. JK, there were no bugs.

My boys are most well-behaved with those little devices in their hands.
That is, until the battery dies.

You can always count on Jim to add some dementia dimension to the photo.

I always wanted to take a fobby picture. Peace? Victory? I don't get it.

This deceptive family came over claiming to want to learn MJ.
We thought it was beginner's luck when someone won big on the very first hand.

Then when the other half self-drew this on the very next hand, we knew we where
getting conned! Together they cleaned our clocks (as well as our cheesecake).
Needless to say, they are no longer welcomed at our house.

There's this stupid game on Facebook called Word Challenge. I recruited the
entire gang to help me beat Nancy's score – which we finally did after an hour.
But then last week I was quickly surpassed by a different Nancy!
I hate this game!

I think Mia was pinching his butt.

This pretty cactus plant was on the kitchen counter. I never noticed it until
I was reaching over it for a drink and then my elbow found it.

Only Colby knows who the real photographer is.

Al tried his best to rock on, but the song choices weren't ghetto enough so he was a bit
out of his element. We're still waiting for Rapper's Delight to show up on Guitar Hero.

Hey Mia, so what did you think about your dad's singing?

It was yummy!!

6:13 Arrived at Denny's parking lot
6:15 Put name on waiting list with about 20 people ahead of us
6:38 Got seated
6:47 Placed delicious fluffy pancake in my mouth, followed by greasy crispy bacon
7:06 Left Denny's with about 30 people still waiting to be seated
8:15 Already falling asleep at work

If you're planning to go at lunch, here's a suggestion: send a low-seniority sacrificial lamb do-nothing sub-level coworker there an hour early to put name down on waiting list. Then when you all arrive, your table should be ready. Good luck and happy eating!

Free Grand Slam

Tomorrow. That's where I'll be.