Free eBook, 3 days only!

I am a big fan of Mike Bennett and his work, and he has a number of short story collections available. One of them, Salvation and Other Stories, is currently available for *free* via the Amazon kindle store. So hop on over there and get it, read it, and rate it!

This collection includes "Night Crossing" which is the introduction to Mike's epic vampire saga Underwood and Flinch which is available as a free podcast through iTunes. I really, really love the book and can't wait to buy it when it does come out in paper.

Free Kindle eBook!

I don't know how long this will be free, but you can download this right now from Amazon for FREE for your Kindle or Kindle app (also free!)

Currently Available Free Samples

Tara over at DealSeekingMom posted this fantastic list of currently available freebies. I love getting freebies in the mailbox, it makes it feel like a holiday or something when I get free samples!

My Recent Freebies

Thanks to Swagbucks, I was able to earn $30 worth of Amazon.com gift cards (just by searching the internet!), which I redeemed for the following (plus two songs) COMPLETELY FREE! Swagbucks = AWESOME.

Also, since I'm posting freebies, I got this in the mail recently:

I've actually gotten 4 samples of the new Pantene, I'm not sure how that happened but I figure I'm set for any and all future travel ;-).

Free Stuff for MEEE!!

We had a product show at work. I got some loot! Here's the best stuff (in other words, the non-paper/ad related stuff that I took home with me):

 

I just realized what the box of gloves says...um, yeah those are gloves. They don't give away condoms at product shows. At least not where I work....Also, the shirt says "For Research Purposes Only" across the chest. Hee hee.

Free Coffee, anyone?

Hot Tip! Free Cold Stone!

My lovely friend Adrianne posted this on FB. If you go to the Cold Stone Creamery website and join the birthday club (and while you're at it, sign up the kids and husband too!) and you will get a free ice cream (with mix ins!) for your birthday. Mmmm. Free ice cream. You really can't beat that.

Enjoy!

Edit: The easiest way to do this is actually to create a My Cold Stone account for yourself first. Then once you get the verification email, you can enter other family members under your account for the birthday ice cream.

State of the Finger Address

I got my stitches out today. Not bad at all. Only one bled a teeny bit but none of them hurt. My finger is a little bit infected (BOO!) just to prove that no matter how clean you keep it, getting a bit of pumpkin and germs in when you cut it can create infection, so I get to take Keflex. Whee. No biggie, really. I don't mind Keflex at all. Amoxicillin (totally random, but spell check suggests Amontillado as it does not recognize Amoxicillin- hee hee) makes me puke, so I'd rather take just about anything than that. Or sulfa, because I am allergic to that. Did you know that most people with sulfa allergies are also allergic to latex? Interesting, no? I am one of those people. Neato. Or not.

So anyway, I am excited because last night while grocery shopping/picking up my "happy pills" at the pharmacy, I got a coupon for a $20 Target gift card with new prescription at the pharmacy! So J and I get to go shopping for free! YAY!! I am not sure what I'll get yet. I may just be lame and get J some new jammies and me some new long sleeved shirts or something. I feel like I should get C some shoes, but those are way more than $20 so I'm thinking they'll have to wait until we get our Christmas money. We also need some new tupperware containers, as a certain toddler **cough cough J cough cough* has done away with many of the ones we had.

Anyway, in summary: my finger is now stitch free but slightly infected so I get to buy a new Rx and get to go shopping with the $20 gift card that comes with it. Or, to quote one of C's favorite "sayings": So I was pimping some hos and found $20.

Maybe that doesn't exactly work. Hmm.

Recent Freebies by Mail

I have gotten a ton of samples in the mail, most of which I've seen advertised on Money Saving Mom's blog. Here is list a few of the best, links if they actually are still available:

(Aside: I just noticed there is an amusing pattern in my freebies. Hmm. I wonder what the postman thinks?)

• Free sample of Oregon Chai's latte mix, includes a $1 off coupon. I am enjoying this as I type, and the promotion has run out but they repeat it fairly frequently, so keep the link!
• Free sample of 6 different Nescafe Instant Coffees (can't be worse than the well known chain's new instant stuff, can it?), just click on "Try it on us" and sign up. I haven't gotten any spam, so it's well worth signing up.
  
• Kotex Sample pack from WalMart. Came with several different pads and pantiliners, plus at least 2 coupons. Good way to try their pads, which I don't usually buy. You may be able to sign up for this multiple times, I haven't tried that but they repost the ad once in a while.
• Always Being Girl sample pack. The best feminine product pack, as it came with a coupon for a free package of Always Infinity pads. And no, you don't have to be 13 to sign up!
• I also got a free travel/purse pack of OB tampons. Bonus? Came with two coupons. Fail? They expired in July.
  

I still haven't received the pregnancy test freebies I signed up for a few weeks ago, but I'm assuming they had a ton and a half of signups so I am going to give them another month before I give up on it.

Homeopathic and Natural Kiddo Remedies

Since J was born, it's been very hard to watch him suffer when he's sick without taking more than a painkiller. Due to the "ban" on cold medicine for young children, I've had to get creative with relief for him.

Once he turned one, I could use honey to calm his cough. I have been using Tea Tree Therapy Eucalyptus Chest Rub that I got at a local market instead of Vick's. I've actually been using it on us too, and it works very well without containing turpentine. Yep, Vick's has turpentine in it. Anyway, I know that the website linked above says not to use on children under 2, but the jar says nothing of the sort and J isn't allergic to any of the ingredients, so I'm not exactly concerned.
Today I got a pack of new Boiron's Children's Homeopathic cold products in the mail. (I believe I saw this opportunity on Money Saving Mom's blog.) C is a skeptic, but I say if we can't give J "real" medicine we may as well try the homeopathic stuff. The "sample" pack actually included the new kid's versions of the following: a 6-dose pack of Oscillo for flu-like symptoms, Coldcalm pellets for multi-system cold relief like a runny nose, and finally Chestal honey cough syrup. When I signed up to recieve this I was thinking I'd get small samples, not full-sized products. They sent me over $45 in medicine for free! (By the way, I know they say that these products are not for children under 2. However, J is almost 2, and having looked at the ingredients and knowing what I do about homeopathic medicine, I am confident that I am not putting J in any danger whatsoever by giving him the cough syrup now.)

I have only had J try the cough syrup so far, because he's still fighting a cough from the last cold he had from about a week and a half ago (poor boy!) and when he goes to bed at night he coughs for a long while and it keeps him up. I will reserve a full review of the cough syrup for this weekend, but I have to say that my initial impression was that it's about equal with plain honey. The second dose I gave him this evening was just about 20 minutes ago, and he's stopped coughing and now is sleeping. Considering that he went down at about 7:15 and with no medicine coughed off and on for about an hour, I'm pleased so far. I'm thinking I will try just honey tomorrow night to compare. We'll just have to see.

Brandi Carlile CD Giveaway!

Rachel is giving away Brandi Carlile's new CD until midnight on the 27th! Here's the linky:

http://schiranotriplets.blogspot.com/2009/10/music-giveaway-brandi-carlile.html

Good luck! (Well, I mean, I hope I win, but good luck anyway)

Slightly Random Freebie...

If you need tires or something, and happen to go to Big O tires, they will give you one (or more, they gave me 2 for J) stuffed "Little O" animals. J says that they're "beews" (bears) and loves them to pieces, and they are just the right size for a toddler to hug. I had originally planned to pass one on to J's cousin Ian but I don't think J will let one go very willingly.

ETA: Here's a picture that I found on some non-ebay auction site (just for you Caesaria!): You can't really see but he has crazy dreadlock hair, I guess that it's supposed to look like tire studs. I think Little O is supposed to be like a tire-bear hybrid? I don't really want to think about the logistics or genetics of that...

BRU Gift Card with Pampers Purchase

If you are a Pampers lover, you should check this out. For once, you don't have to buy the huge boxes of diapers for this deal, just 3 84-count or lower Pampers diapers and you get a $10 gift card for Babies R Us.

5 Free MP3s!!

Just spotted on MoneySavingMom.com!

Order the Big Kahuna Reef Game (for free!) on Amazon.com right now, and they will give you $5 in free MP3 credits! The credits are added directly to your Amazon.com account. You don't even need to download the game, just order it. Once the order goes through (no need to enter any payment info or anything) you will receive an email confirmation of your $5 MP3 credit. You may need to download the Amazon MP3 Downloader, but once you do that it automatically sends your songs to iTunes or whatever you use.

I've already got my 5 songs :-).