Sam's Club & General Mills Support Breast Cancer Education and Research

As you all probably know by now (this post is a little late in coming), October is Breast Cancer Awareness month.   While we should all support breast cancer education and research throughout the year, it is also nice to give special attention to such an important topic.  There are very few people that I know that haven't been affected by breast cancer either directly or indirectly through the fight of a friend or family member.  Personally, I just love seeing all the pink in the stores this month.

One store where you will find some of the familiar pink packaging to support breast cancer awareness is Sam's Club.   Purchasing some of your favorite General Mills products such as Cheerios and Fiber One will even allow you to help determine how their donation money is spent by voting at PinkTogether.com until April 14, 2012.   To learn more about Pink Together, you should check out their facebook page here - http://bit.ly/samsclubpink.

Do you want to win a $25 Sam's Club gift card that you can spend on some of your favorite products that are packaged in pink for breast cancer awareness?  Here's your chance!  

Mandatory Entry:  Which pink products will you buy with your Sam's Club gift card if you win?  Tell me in the comments below.

Optional Extra Entries:

1. Like me on facebook.  Post your initials in the comments.
2. Follow me on Twitter.  Post your username in the comments.
3. Tweet about this giveaway using @rmgm, @SamsClub and #myblogspark  Post a link to your tweet here.  This can be done once daily.  
4. Follow me publicly on my new blog, LovingLakeLiving, via Google Friend Connect and post a comment with your username.  (Yes, I realize I haven't posted much there yet, but I don't want you to miss it when I finally do!)

Details:

• Only open to US residents
• Winner will be chosen using random.org
• Giveaway ends 11:59pm ET on October 28, 2011
• Include your email address in your comment if it is not available on your profile page.  If an email address in not in the comment or on your profile page another winner will be chosen.  
• Winner will have 48 hours to respond or another winner will be chosen.
• Prizes will be sent directly from the sponsor.  I am not responsible for prizes that are lost or damaged during shipment.  If you win a prize and do not receive it, please let me know

*Disclaimer - The information and gift card(s) have been provided by Sam’s Club and General Mills through MyBlogSpark.

Back to School with Box Tops and Sam's Club

It is officially back to school time.  With less than two weeks until my monkeys start school, I am on a mission.  I want to get the things they love, need, want, and will use with minimal stress for everyone in the family.  For us, minimal stress means that I will be able to find what we're looking for easily, that the kids won't fight while we're shopping, and that Doc won't freak out about the cost of it all.   :o)  Sounds easy enough, right?  Wrong!  I know that it won't be easy.  First of all, Pumpkin doesn't like to leave the house for any reason.  I sometimes worry that she is going to be agoraphobic as she gets older.  If given the option, she would stay home and play all day, every day.   The second issue is the list.  I don't know about your school supply list, but every year there is at least one item on ours that I assume either isn't made anymore, or perhaps never existed in the first place.   Finally, since Doc doesn't do much of the shopping in our family, he doesn't really know how much things cost.  He is always surprised (not in a good way) at the receipts I bring home.

While most of the shopping won't be easy (I always hope for the best, but expect the worst.  It keeps me from being disappointed.).  There is one place that I know I can go and indulge in a little stress free back to school shopping.  You might be surprised to hear that the one place is Sam's Club.   Before walking in, I tell the girls that if they are good then we can get an ICEE before we leave.  At only $1.15 at our club, I might even let them each have their own.  (Yes, I sometimes bribe my kids.  Does that make me a bad mom?  Even if it does, I'll probably keep doing it.)  For some reason, the girls enjoy Sam's Club shopping (more than other shopping).  Maybe it is the occasional free samples located throughout the stores.  Maybe it is the hope that someday we'll buy them the ginormous stuffed animals or the huge swing set on display in the middle of the store.  Maybe it is just that they get to pick out their own snacks for their school lunches.  Whatever the reason, I'll take it.

With both girls in school full time this year (sniff), I will need lots of snacks.   They'll be eating daily snacks, plus the snack foods in their lunches, and we can't forget the sports snacks for after school activities.  All of those snacks means that bulk is the way to buy.  Right now at Sam's Club, you can buy some of your favorite snacks from General Mills and get bonus box tops - 6 Box Tops on a Pack, in fact.   I don't know about you, but our school loves Box Tops for Education, so I know they'll appreciate the extra tops.  I know that we'll be grabbing some Nature Valley Granola Bars and Chex Mix.

What will you be shopping for at your local Sam's Club for Back-To-School?  Tell me and you could win a $25 Sam's Club gift card to help with the endless expenses of BTS.  Here's how:


Mandatory Entry:  Which General Mills Box Tops item will you purchase during the Sam's Club Back-to-School event?  Leave me a comment.  Be sure to include your email address if it is not visible in your profile.

Optional Extra Entries:

1. Like me on facebook.  Post your initials in the comments.
2. Follow me on Twitter.  Post your username in the comments.
3. Tweet about this giveaway using @rmgm and #myblogspark  Post a link to your tweet here.  This can be done once daily.  
4. Follow me publicly on my new blog, LovingLakeLiving, via Google Friend Connect and post a comment with your username.
5. Like Sam's Club on facebook and leave me a comment with your initials telling me you did.
6. Follow Sam's Club on twitter and post your username in the comments.

Details:

• Only open to US residents
• Winner will be chosen using random.org
• Giveaway ends 11:59pm ET on August 29, 2011
• Include your email address in your comment if it is not available on your profile page.  If an email address in not in the comment or on your profile page another winner will be chosen.  
• Winner will have 48 hours to respond or another winner will be chosen.
• Prizes will be sent directly from the sponsor.  I am not responsible for prizes that are lost or damaged during shipment.  If you win a prize and do not receive it, please let me know

*Disclaimer:  Through MyBlogSpark, General Mills and Sam's Club have generously provided me with a $25 gift card, and some of the information provided above.  They will also be sending my winner their Sam's Club gift card.  All opinions are my own.  Others may have different experiences.

General Mills & MyBlogSpark Family Fun Night Giveaway Winner

There were 71 entries for my Family Fun Night Giveaway sponsored by General Mills and MyBlogSpark.  Random.org selected lucky #13 which was:

13. Doodle741 said... Tweet! http://twitter.com/Doodle741/status/7971945660284928

Congrats Doodle741!  I will be contacting you via email shortly.

Thanks to everyone who entered and left comments on my blog.  Don't forget to enter for a Carmex Moisture Plus Lip Tints prize pack.  It ends on 12/13 (as of today there are only 5 entries).  Good luck!

Take Time for a Family Fun Night (Giveaway)

As you may have read here, my family is doing something a little different for Thanksgiving.  Instead of making it a huge holiday celebration, we are making it the calm before the storm.   We are making it a time to be together and enjoy each others company.  We are going to relax, unwind, and take a break from life as we know it in order to appreciate the people we love - the people that see us at our worst and still love us.

Our time together will include dinner out, a movie, Christmas decorations, baking cookies, and a board game or two over the four days of our Thanksgiving break.   We'll probably read together and go for several walks if the weather allows.  What would you do if you had a couple days of unscheduled time to spend with your family?

If your family enjoys movies, then I highly recommend you check out your local stores for sales on General Mills cereals. 

Starting in November, you can receive a free movie ticket when you purchase two specially marked packages of Big G cereals including Honey Nut Cheerios® (17 oz.), Cinnamon Toast Crunch® (17 oz.), Lucky Charms® (16 oz.), Trix® (14.8 oz) and Reese’s Puffs® cereal (18 oz.).

After purchasing two participating cereals, visit generalmills.com/moviecash to enter the unique code found inside each box of cereal and print your free Movie Cash certificate (good for one admission of up to a $12 value at participating theatres). To find a participating theater in your area, log onto http://emoviecash.com/dis_locator/.

Right now, Kroger has several of their Big G cereals on sale for $1.49 when you buy 4.  If you combine that with printable $1 off 2 boxes of Big G cereals and coupons that you can load directly to your card,  then you can get 4 boxes of cereal and 2 movie tickets for $4 or less!   Cereal for dinner and a movie out with the family sounds like a fun, easy, and inexpensive way to reconnect.

So, who wants to win a Family Flick Night prize pack from General Mills and MyBlogSpark?  Your prize will include two boxes of cereal and four Movie Cash Certificates. 

Here's what you have to do to win (mandatory):

1. Tell me your current favorite General Mills cereals that you are planning to purchase to get your movie cash.

For additional entries you can also do the following. Be sure to leave a comment for each additional entry.

1. Follow me on twitter (leave your twitter name)
2. Like me on facebook (leave your initials)
3. Follow me on Google Friend Connect (leave your username)
4. Tweet about this giveaway. You may do this once daily. Be sure to include @rmgm #myblogspark and a link to this post (leave a link to your tweet)

Details:

• Only open to US residents
• Winner will be chosen using random.org
• Giveaway ends 11:59pm ET on December 6, 2010
• Include your email address in your comment if it is not available on your profile page. If an email address in not in the comment or on your profile page another winner will be chosen. I will not contact you through Twitter or Facebook.
• Winner will have 48 hours to respond or another winner will be chosen.
• Prizes will be sent directly from the sponsor. I am not responsible for prizes that are lost or damaged during shipment. If you win a prize and do not receive it, please let me know.

Disclaimer:  I was sent a Family Flick Night prize pack from General Mills and MyBlogSpark to post about this program.  All thoughts and opinions are my own.

A quick trip to Sam's for back to school

Today I did some intense back to school shopping.  I was prepared with my lists of supplies, snacks, and a few grocery items.  The first stop on my list was Sam's Club.  The main purpose of my trip to Sam's was to get snacks for Peanut's school lunches.   While I was there though, I needed to pick up my upgraded Plus card (thanks to myblogspark, General Mills, and Sam's Club).   I just have to say that the people at the membership desk couldn't have been nicer.  They upgraded my card, told me about all the benefits, and even walked me over to the computer to print off my list of preloaded coupons.  While I didn't use any of the coupons today, there were definitely some good ones on there that will get used.  I'll update you all later as the year goes on to let you know if I think the Plus membership is really worth the extra money or not.  When I got a chance to look around for the items on my list, I was thrilled to see my favorite snacks with bonus box tops.  Peanut will be thrilled to find Chex Mix in her lunch on the first day of school!

After my trip to Sam's Club I headed to Target (followed by ToysRUs and Staples) to pick up the last of the school supplies.  As I searched futilely for Crayola Tropical markers and a 10 pack of pencils (Target only carried, 8, 12 or 24 count).  I remembered an email that a dear friend sent me last year that fairly accurately describes how I am feeling after my shopping expedition.  You'll have to wait for tomorrow's Funny Friday post to read all about it though.  Just so you know - I ended up paying almost $6 to order an 8 pack of those stinkin' markers online.  :o(  Hopefully they'll arrive in time for school.

*REMINDER: Don't forget to enter my giveaway for a Sam's Club GC from MyBlogSpark, General Mills and Sam's Club here

*Disclaimer:  Through MyBlogSpark, General Mills and Sam's Club have generously provided me with an upgrade to my membership, a $25 gift card, and some of the information provided above.  They will also be sending my winner their Sam's Club gift card.  All opinions are my own.  Others may have different experiences.