Have you checked in?

Places.  As of a few days ago, it has a new meaning for a lot of people.  If you have a smart phone and are accessing Facebook then you've probably already figured out that they launched a new feature called "Places".  It just rolled out and is wrought with controversy.  

If you haven't a clue what I'm talking about, let me briefly fill you in.  Places allows people to announce via Facebook exactly where they are.  "Checking-in" and announcing where you are isn't a new idea. Companies like Foursquare, Gowalla and Whrrl have set the groundwork for this and users have been posting their check-ins on Facebook.  Seems only natural that Facebook would try to cash in on the craze.

Some people love this idea but I'm just not sold on it.  I know a ton of people using Foursquare and Gowalla and I often joke that it's like an announcement that people can go rob your house.  You're obviously not there.

Although Places isn't available here in the Quad Cities yet, it will be soon.  When it is, I'm curious how many people will flock to using it.  Me?  Not a chance.   At least not until they work out some things.  While other location-based social networking programs allow you to personally check-in and work to achieve various titles, Places allows other people to check you in also.  That kind of freaks me out.  Friend or not, I'm not wild about the idea of someone else having control of announcing to their friends where I'm at.

But as much as I hate the idea of location-based social networking, I find myself drawn to Whrrl.  At Whrrl, it isn't just about the check-in features; that's only one small part of a larger picture.  On Whrrl, you're able to upload pictures and create stories related to your check-in.  It's a very cool feature that I've used for both marketing campaigns as well as personal digital scrapbooking.

So how is it that I swear I won't use location-based apps yet I throw praise at Whrrl?  You see, I can check-in, take advantage of specials and promotions, participate in recommendations people make, make recommendations of my own, join societies, create societies, post pictures and create slide shows yet not lose all my anonymity.  Whrrl's "Just Me" option is what makes all the difference.  No matter what I do, I'm able to choose the level that I want to share with Whrrl members, as well as whether I want to share on Twitter or Facebook. I'm also able to go back later and amend the privacy settings of a check-in to make it more (or less) public.

Over the course of the past month, I've found myself more and more interested in it.  A Whrrl contest even prompted me to create a society of my own.  After participating in various car-related activities, I decided to create a society called "Under the Hood".  I couldn't find any society that involved automobile maintenance so I created Under the Hood and added the following description to it: "When you neglect your automobile, it will begin to neglect you! Don't forget about general service, oil changes, tires, car washes, window repairs, paint... It's all about taking care of our vehicles."  Automobiles... That's what the Under the Hood Society is all about.  If your business offers car-related services or sells car-related products, check out the merchant program to see if Whrrl can help drive customers through your door.

As a social media participant, you may decide that location-based services are a waste of time.  You may find that Foursquare, Gowalla or one of the other services is best for you.  You may decide to go with Facebook's Places feature. For me, I'll stick with Whrrl.  It's well rounded, thought out and offers a lot of cool features.

...Now I'm waiting for all my favorite merchants to discover the benefits of it, too.

Back from BlogHer. Wow.

I returned home yesterday from BlogHer and I'm still in shock at how amazing it was. Although I don't have any photos downloaded yet or any wonderful blog posts ready to publish, I have so many things to share that I just don't know where to start.

The event itself is like any trade show - seminars, vendors, food and swag. But at BlogHer, it's the traditional trade show on steroids. Seminars are intense and informative with fantastic peers as the moderators. The vendors had tons of information as well as product samples. There was never a lack of food around although I seldom took the time to actually stop and eat.  (I lost like five pounds at BlogHer!)

Then there's the issue of the people. Lots and lots of people. Mostly non-judgmental., mostly warm and welcoming.  Once I got my feet firmly planted, nobody ever made me feel like the small blogger than I really am. People often said they recognized my business card and "I've been to YOUR blog" and seemed sincere about it. Established bloggers offered advice about how to get to the next level in the blogging community.  The celebrities, Carson Kressley, Rick Bayless, Tim Gunn, Brooke White and Paula Deen were all unbelievably human. As I swoon about "Oh my, You're (insert name here)" and ask them to sign an autograph, they were all so kind.

BlogHer was fantastic. Unbelievable. Informative. Wonder how long before I talk myself into registering for BlogHer 2010! I bet not very long!

More to come on this site and SAHM Reviews as I organize my photos, my swag and my thoughts.

Generosity and How it Applies to BlogHer

The other day I received an email from Prizey, one of the best sites for blog giveaways.  They've changed their format which will allow more listings to post.  When the email came in, I didn't have time to sign up right away so I flagged it to do later.

I finally signed up SahmReviews.com yesterday then realized I hadn't surfed the ZRecs Network lately. (Nothing against them because I haven't surfed any of my favorite sites lately as I mentioned in yesterday's whiny post.) So this afternoon, I took a few minutes and stopped by ZRecommends to see what they've been up to.

Aside from some great reviews, I found out that they offered a giveaway for a BlogHer ticket and only had a handful of entries.  I would have entered that if I realized it but it's been hit or miss lately for me.  But in the midst of my reading, I found out they are giving away a three night stay at the Chicago Sheraton, the host hotel for the BlogHer conference!  I thought I missed out on two great giveaways until I read the fine print that said they're accepting entries until 11:59 p.m. (CT) on May 1.  My heart dropped a little as I looked at the calendar and said to myself "That's today!"

So here I am, typing away my entry in hopes that I can score not just a room, but an awesome room.  An executive perk stay. Here's the quote from their site:

We've just confirmed arrangements with the Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers, host of the 2009 BlogHer conference, to give away a three-night, executive-perk stay at the Chicago Sheraton for the nights of July 23-25. Those nights include the night before the BlogHer conference begins, plus the two nights of the conference, and the room they've reserved for our winner is on the hotel's Executive Club Level, with no strings attached - no rack rate, no taxes, no access fees, just a free three-night stay at one of Chicago's top hotels.

What's the big deal about executive?  Well, the Executive Club Level not only has a nice lounge with incredible views, but they offer daily complimentary breakfast, hors d'oeurves each evening and snacks and beverages throughout the day.  The BlogHer room block has high-speed internet access, but that's a perk that BlogHer put together for their room block.  The executive, however, offers free high-speed internet, office supplies and PC/Mac workstations as their standard fare. 

Although there isn't much time left to enter, if you're quick then you can do still make the deadline.  Head to ZRecommends for all the details!  And if you aren't entering, at least wish me luck because I would love to win!

Knock, Knock. Nicole are you there? (Christmas 2008)

Me:  Hello?  Nicole?  Are you there?  I haven't seen you around.

Answering myself:  Ummm.  Yeah.  I think so.  What day is it?

Me:  It's Sunday.  That means the kids go back to school tomorrow.

Answering myself:  WooHoo! 

I was looking at my blog and didn't realize it has been forever since I posted.  The past few weeks have been crazy.  We decided to spend Christmas in Alabama this year so things were a little off kilter.  The last week of school was filled with volunteer stuff for both kids' schools, work at the church, school programs and parties and OMG a freakin' snow day.  Should have been called an ice day because we were covered in ice - not snow.  Trying to pack for the trip, take care of last minute stuff then have a snow day.  Wasn't what I had planned.

There was just enough of a reprieve in the weather for us to hit the road on Saturday the 20th.  We drove to Alabama - DH, myself, two kids and two dogs.  Was a long trip but well worth it.  While MIL was getting her grandgirl fix, I had planned on spending some time relaxing, shopping with DH, maybe hitting a movie, finishing my annual Christmas calendar presents and catching up on reviews for SAHM Reviews.  I had not gotten many posts done when DH insisted I step up the pace since after Christmas things would be too hectic to meet any deadlines that I had.

But we shopped and went out to eat and spent time with family... and I got in a review post here and there.  I have a few posts lined up for here but just haven't gotten to them (yet). 

Then Christmas morning, I opened up a package of nothing.  Literally, there was nothing but wrapping paper.  I turned the wrapping paper inside out to see my gift.  You can look up top to the URL and you can see it too... Written on the back side of the wrapping paper was a note.  DH registered my domains:  http://www.sahmramblings.com/ and http://www.sahmreviews.com/.  I am totally stoked.  That's the best package of air I have ever received.  It was literally the only thing I asked for as a gift. (Oh wait, I asked for a new Crock Pot too since my old slow cooker went kaput the week before we left.  My mom and dad got me a new one.)

From DH and the Alabama family, I received some clothes, a bath set, a bird feeder, a new set of cordless phones among other things.  I was happy with all of it and was once again totally satisfied with what Santa had delivered.  But THEN... After all the opening was done, DH handed me an envelope and said that everyone in the room knew about it except me.  I opened it to find a postcard that said "Merry Christmas. Pack up your stuff! We're leaving tomorrow morning for 4 days and 3 nights at this all-inclusive B and B in Destin, Florida!"  My MIL and BIL were going to take care of the kids and dogs while DH and I had some time alone.  (Then I understood why he was pushing me to get all my computer time in before Christmas!)

We left Friday morning for Henderson Park Inn and returned to Alabama on Monday.  In the middle, we enjoyed a few days of nothing but us.  We hadn't packed any shorts because DH knew that would lead to nothing but questions from me.  Freezing cold in Iowa, not freezing but certainly not warm in Alabama.  "Honey, why on earth do we need to pack shorts?"  Yeah, good call not to pack them.  Since we didn't have the kids, stopping by 15 stores to find shorts we liked wasn't a problem.  It was actually enjoyable and we found more than just shorts... and I typically hate shopping for clothes.  Once we had the shorts in hand, we headed back to change and walked on the beach for at least an hour and a half.  Ahhh, it was so relaxing, so nice, so not-freezing-cold-Iowa.  And it was just us.  (Can you see me smiling from ear to ear?)  Four days and three nights of going out to dinner, a movie, shopping, walking on the beach and relaxing.  All sans kids.  We even played checkers on a giant checker board during the B and B's happy hour.  It was absolutely wonderful.

Spending time with DH alone was awesome.  Despite the fact that we're together at home all the time, we really don't have that kind of quality time.  I can't remember the last time he had me laughing as much as he did this past month.  The B and B was a total surprise - I don't know how he managed to pull it off without me knowing.  Yeah, he's good at stuff like that.  No, I'm not planning on sharing him but I will be happy to set up seminars for him to teach other DH's all his Christmas surprise tricks.

2008 was a rough year with DH and I each losing a grandmother and an uncle.  With the stock market making life miserable for us and many others.  With us feeling like "if it could go wrong, it did".  But thanks to DH, we rolled out 2008 on a great note and I'm enjoying starting 2009 fresh and happy. 

Thanks to MIL and BIL for their parts in coordinating this special Christmas gift.  But most of all, thanks, DH, for being you.  For being wonderful.  For being my best friend and true love.  I couldn't ask for more.

Objects in Mirror are Closer than they Appear

As I mentioned in my prior post about fishing, we recently spend some time visiting my MIL in Alabama.  The trip wasn't intended to be anything other than a chance for the girls to see their grandma.  (And having an on-site baby sitter so we could go to dinner and a movie for our anniversary was a bonus.)

We spent a lot of time swimming (that post is still in the queue) and most of the time just relaxing, but the one very noteworthy thing we did was to visit a safari zoo.

You know how phonebooks have those "community" pages up front with maps and golf courses and points of interest?  Do you ever look at it?  Me either.  Before this trip, anyhow.

MIL's neighbor stopped by one day to deliver a pie.  Incidentally, it was one of three desserts she delivered during our short visit and I personally blame her for the 5 pounds I gained while on vacation.  Not the buffet and other dinners out, not the movie popcorn, not even the gummies that BIL brought over.  Nope.  One awesome blueberry cheesecake/coffeecake and two pies.

Anyway, after setting down the pie, Pie Making Neighbor immediately pulled out the phone book and pointed to a listing in that community section of the Huntsville, Alabama phone book.  It said "Harmony Park Safari" with an address phone number and short description.  It didn't really say much and Pie Making Neighbor had never been there.  She just said that she had driven by it and thought it might be something the girls might enjoy. 

After she left, I headed to the computer to Google "Harmony Park Safari" and was surprised to find that they don't have a website.  I had a few hits through travel sites but no real meat that told what exactly the place was.  By total coincidence, just the day before, Hillary at The Dunham Diaries had been to Harmony Park Safari just the day before.  Being overly concerned about the welfare of my car, I emailed Hillary and was delighted when she emailed back with nothing but positive things to say.

So we headed off to the safari zoo and were amazed at what was in store for us.  When we pulled up to pay our fee, we could see the animals congregating on the other side of the fence.  There was a fee for all of us, but with five paid admissions, we got a free bucket of corn.  Since we were in a mini-van, there were only two of us with windows that opened enough to launch food.  I can image how much more fun it would have been if we had more windows that could distribute food.

Although the animals are not tame, they certainly are used to being fed by random vehicles driving through their home.  All the animals mull around your vehicle waiting for you to toss out some corn.  Before entering the park, staff provided a warning and list of rules. They explain that you need to roll up your window quickly because the animals are known to put their heads in the vehicle.  In the case of the camel, that is very dangerous.  For that reason alone, the task of throwing corn should be restricted to adults and older children.

There was a great variety of animals at Harmony Safari Park.  We were able to get some really exciting pictures - like of a buffalo crossing in front of vehicle. Or a shot of the ram following us around, right after butting the back of the vehicle.  The alligator peeking out of the water.  And of course, the turtle crossing the road.  Kidding, the turtles were all inside a pen that we were allowed to walk into.  Just wondering if you were still paying attention.  There was one monkey in a cage but aside from the alligators, the rest were roaming freely.  (Wouldn't have much of a zoo if the alligators were uncaged, right?)  From the time we drove through the gate, we had plenty of attention.  The camel never came near our vehicle; he was busy grazing in a field nearby.  But as you can see from the pictures I HAVE included, several other animals did.

From what we were told, there are only 19 of this type of safari zoo in the United States.  It was a lot of fun and if you are ever in the vicinity of one, it's worth a stop.  Everyone in our car thoroughly enjoyed this adventure.

Be Careful What You Brag About

You know what happens when you brag about your garden boxes over and over and over again on your blog?  Your MIL puts in an order for one of her own when you visit on vacation. 

I thought it was funny because I did all the boasting about how great a job DH did creating the planter boxes then he ended up with all the work.  Isn't that they way it should be?  He didn't have to work solo though.  Assistant woodworker, Miss K, was on-hand to help out with the assembly.  The rest of us pitched in to help paint it when he was done.  Mine are not painted, but since she lives in an association neighborhood, she didn't want anyone to find any problems with it. 

It was a nice family project while we were visiting her in Alabama... despite the ridiculously hot weather.  Thank goodness we had access to a pool!  In all fairness, MIL was here visiting when we originally built mine and she was a big help.  So I can't complain too much.

Now, with her own raised bed, she will enjoy being able to plant tomatoes - the one thing that she will drive out of her way to a farmer's market to buy.  Maybe I need to tell her to start a blog so she can share pictures of all the progress! 

Oh, and I'm ashamed to say that I didn't get a picture of the final product!  When we were done, Miss M took some artificial flowers and 'planted' them in the bed.


8/22/08 Edit: MIL graciously sent along a picture for me to post on the blog.  Notice that she added trim to the outside of her bed after we left. Guess it wasn't classy enough.  Maybe the fact that I kept referring to it as a coffin made her want to jazz it up a bit.  hehe   Thanks MIL!

Is it Fishing or Catching?

There's been a bit of a break in blog posts lately. I know, you missed me. Thanks. I missed all of you too. Really. I've been miserable and grumpy because my schedule has been all out of whack.

Well, I have a perfectly good excuse. We were on vacation. We were away visiting my MIL and celebrating our 15th anniversary. DH had wanted to take us on a family cruise but I didn't realize that children's passports only last 5 years. It's okay, I had a great time and so did the girls.

Anyway, my laptop went kuh-flooey and I wasn't online as much as I had hoped to me. I have a whole slew of blog posts to do and I only got one done - my anniversary one! That was the important one, anyhow.

So here's an example of one of the blog posts sitting in queue... better late than never, right?

=======================
My MIL lives in a neighborhood where all the houses are built around a lake. While we were there, she took the kids to WalMart and let them pick cute little kid fishing rods. We got up one morning and headed to the stocked lake to let the girls go fishing. Our first family fishing outing!

Of course, only some of the houses have yards against the lake so we headed off to a house owned by one of MIL's friends.

Unfortunately, we stood there and watched the fish congregate several houses down. Private property though, so we cast our lines and waited. After a few minutes, the owner of the house came outside and tossed something into the water. Apparently he does it a few times a day and now have the fish trained outside his house! He invited us to use his yard so we moved all our gear down to his place.

DH did all the yucky stuff like bait the hooks with the really smelly stuff, remove the fish when we caught it and toss it back in. Grammy was official photographer and I got to do all the fun stuff. You know, giggle as the girls caught the fish then help them reel it in.

While DH was trying to get us situated, Miss K caught a fish! Literally, that fast. Before we had hers off the hook, Miss M caught one.

They both thought it was cool and wanted to fish some more! DH baited up the line and we went to work again. And each caught another fish that fast. Again. Those of us that know what fishing is really like were absolutely amazed at how quickly the fish were biting. But hey, they were used to getting their morning chow while the owner was having his morning coffee. Who were we to complain?

We didn't want to overstay our welcome and at the same time, didn't want to sour what had turned out to be a wonderful experience. We called it a day and now know that catfish and carp can be trained with dog food.

We brought the fishing rods home with us after vacation and hope to find a lake nearby that can match the excitement. My only concern is that the next time it will be more like genuine fishing and less like catching!

The Ultimate Hot Wheels Experience

Now that I've had a chance to sift through all my photos of the Hot Wheels Collectors National that we attended in Chicago, I can throw together a decent overview of it.

Before I begin, I want to address a question that was presented as a comment to my teaser. Mommytime asked if it's always in Chicago - No. Last year it was in Detroit and next year I believe it will be in Virginia. For anyone living in Southern California, they have a convention there annually also.

DH is an avid collector of Dodge Vipers that are the size of Hot Wheels so he follows the collector forums to keep track of what new Vipers have hit the market. We attended the Collectors National in Detroit last year but the girls were too young to really appreciate it all and nap time tended to interfere with a lot of it. This year, we decided to let the girls stay up late, attend all kid-friendly functions and really partake in the entire event. They loved it and so did we!

The girls remembered the downhill races from last year and were anxious to get started on that. Practice sessions were set up during the week and the actual races were held on Saturday. Didn't really matter because the girls had as much fun during the practice sessions. They got to pick whichever cars they wanted, get into line, hand the guy on the ladder their cars then run to the finish line to cheer on their respective cars. They would return those cars to the case and pick new ones - always asking "Which one is fastest, Daddy?"

We paid a little extra to participate in the vending pull session. What's that? Well, it was a vending machine chocked full of limited edition Hot Wheels. The catch? You couldn't see what you were getting. That's the total fun of it. The glass on the front was frosted and it was just a game of chance. We let the girls pick the letter/number combination and push the buttons. Miss K was quite excited to win one of the bonus prizes!

The girls also participated in two different coloring contests. One was sponsored by the convention. The rules are very simple - parents can't help. Period. The kids were grouped by age then awards given out to the top three winners in each age group. I thought the girls did great and it was nice to see their independence during the contest.

The second coloring contest was sponsored by John Rhodes of Woodie's Adventures, someone attending the event. Each year, he sponsors the contest then has the winning design custom made into actual diecast cars. By completing that coloring contest, they were given one of the custom cars in last year's winning design. No charge. No purchase required. No catch. These guys do it for the kids because they want to. I don't know the name of the man who did the custom work for Woodie's Adventures, but he was also very generous - even stopping us in the hall to give some stuff to the girls for their scavenger hunt. Oh yeah, I haven't gotten to THAT yet. I'll get there in a minute. (If someone knows his name, could you please email me and I'll be happy to give him props.)

The Collectors National is held in a hotel and throughout the entire event people can open up their rooms to sell stuff... or buy or trade but that's semantics. Anyway, conventioneers set up tables and displays in their rooms, use the desks, the drawers, the beds for displaying stuff and you literally walk in and out of open doors like they are mini stores. It sounds kind of freakish, but it is so much fun that it's ridiculous. If you collect Hot Wheels, this is heaven because you are bound to find something that you don't already have in your collection.

That's where the scavenger hunt comes into play. To keep the kids occupied during the down time, the convention folks put together a contest where kids look for about thirty different items. A purple Hot Wheel, a convertible Hot Wheel, a napkin with a logo on it, anything with a Speed Racer logo on it, state quarters for Illinois, Wisconsin and Florida, etc. As the kids walked around the convention, they were constantly on the lookout for scavenger hunt items. People who manned the 'stores' were always so generous, offering to fill the bags with whatever the kids were looking for. The catch? None. The charge? None. Was it fun? Like you wouldn't believe. We would enter a room and the girls were responsible for asking for help. They would walk up to whomever they thought the room belonged to and tell the people they were on a scavenger hunt. The list would change hands and they would try as hard as they could to find something from the list. It is an excellent way for the kids to get involved and an awesome way to teach them about manners as well as start to develop interpersonal skills.

But wait, that's not all! In addition to autograph sessions with the actual Hot Wheels designers, Mattel had a room set up displaying some of their latest products. In that room, you had the opportunity to put your destruction skills at work. An honest-to-God Hot Wheels smusher. What a marketing gimmick that is. Adults could crush their cars, but when kids did it Mattel was kind enough to replace the destroyed car with a brand new one. Whew. It took me forever to convince the girls to do it but once they did they wanted to keep doing it! The rep from Mattel said that it was mostly boys that thought it was cool.

And what event would be complete without a magic show. Miss M was especially fond of Mike D and his magic act. She couldn't stop talking about how he ate a (playing) card.

Overall, it was an awesome event and I regret that the next one is so far away. I doubt we'll be able to attend next year, but I can always hope that it will return to the central states in 2010!

Yes, I said "Hot Wheels"

Although I took a short blog hiatus, it wasn't all filled with gloom. We had to adjust the schedule slightly due to the funeral, but since we had already planned and paid for our family trip to Chicago, we really wanted to stick to it.

When we lived in Los Angeles, we didn't have to look very far for something interesting to do. Here in the Midwest, it takes a little more work. Granted, we do find some cool stuff to do with the kids, but for big, fancy events, we need to trek a little further.

This past weekend, the Chicago trip was focused around the Hot Wheels National Convention. Yes, I said Hot Wheels and I am referring to the toy cars. Yes, it was a convention for us just as much as it was for the kids… or vice versa. It was totally a family event.

I've been to several different work and hobby related conventions, but this one takes the cake. You know what people do at a Hot Wheels convention? Car stuff. Lots and lots of Hot Wheels car stuff. Some things, like contests for customizing your own Hot Wheels vehicle, are geared at adults. Scavenger hunts, magic shows and coloring contests are for the kids. The races, on the other hand are for kids of all ages.

There is so much to say about the Hot Wheels National Convention that it would be ludicrous for me to try to put it all in one post. So today, you're getting the teaser and the next post will have more meat to it.

It's Called a Bar of Soap

To celebrate DH’s birthday, we decided to take a short trip. Once at the hotel, Miss M was the first one to need to use the restroom so I unwrapped one of the complimentary bars of soap for her to use. She’s too small to reach it herself and of course, there are no stepstools here. So when she was ready, I hoisted her up to the sink to wash her hands. I was surprised when she asked “What’s that?” when I handed her the bar of soap.

Then I started thinking it through… We went from using the usual Johnson’s baby shampoo/wash right into the kids’ shower gel and separate shampoo. On all the sinks throughout the house, we have liquid hand soap in pumps. At relative’s houses, liquid hand soaps in pumps and at school and stores, wall-mounted liquid hand soap. Until this trip to the hotel, I hadn’t realized that they just had not crossed paths with a bar of soap before – or at least, hadn’t remembered.

I have a bunch of the complimentary bars that I keep in the guest bathroom for when we have guests staying over – figure it’s better to have those than for people to worry about bringing their own soap with them. So maybe I should put one in the girls’ bathroom as a novelty. Since a bar of soap is such an unusual concept to them, maybe they’ll be excited to use it!

Years ago, I remember playing Pictionary with my younger cousin and the word was alarm clock. While all the rest of us drew an old fashioned clock (you know, with the two bells on top), he tried to draw a digital one. Wonder what other everyday things that we grew up with that kids today aren’t familiar with.

Earn a Gift Card by Writing about Travel

As I've mentioned before, I'm a BzzAgent and have the opportunity to participate in Word-of-Mouth marketing. It's something I enjoy doing but seldom actually post about on my blog. BzzAgent, for the uninitiated, is a company that sends out samples and coupons to participating volunteer "Agents" who in turn, hand them out to people. As BzzAgent grew, the Frogpond was created to handle online companies and their Word-of-Mouth marketing efforts. Once again, it's something I seldom talk about on the blog.

Today, however, there was a Frogpond offer that I wanted to pass along to my blogger friends. Writing is something that all of us blogger-types enjoy doing - so why not make a few bucks off it? As part of a Frogpond promotion for a travel blog called GoneGoing, they're offering the following:

Frogpond™ Special Offer
This promotion runs from 1 February 2008 to 31 March 2008

We're giving away $10 Amazon.com® gift cards* to all Frogpond Agents and their referrals who contribute to GoneGoing. Simply use the form below to participate, then write a travel blog article containing at least 200 words and at least 4 photos from a recent trip. Each article will get a $10 Amazon.com gift card, and each person can submit up to three articles. For more information look in the "My Promotions" area of your profile once you've joined below.

Although I take a ton of pictures everywhere we go, I seldom post them on the blog. Since I have so many pictures, I'm considering posting at least one article because I like to shop at Amazon and can always use the free gift card. Figured I would share the link and let all of you take advantage, too!

I want to make it clear that I do not get compensation of any kind for anyone signing up for this through my blog. I'm posting my BzzAgent referral link so they'll know you were referred through an agent and therefore can take participate in the promotion.

If anyone posts anything, let me know!

Racing to Save Expiring Airline Miles

When we lived in Los Angeles, we traveled quite a bit… back to Iowa to see my family or to the southern states to see his family. Before the kids came along, I had enough banked time at my (poor devoted public servant) government job that I could travel with DH to trade shows – places like Miami, Washington DC, Minneapolis and Vancouver to name a few. When we had one child, we hit San Francisco, Seattle, Orlando and Acapulco. Finally, before moving back to Iowa, we took both kids to Hawaii. We traveled on whatever airline was the cheapest, but all things being equal, we opted for American Airlines.

Our frequency of air travel has changed dramatically since returning to Iowa – as in zilch. My last flight was the Iowa house-hunting trip. Miss M and Miss K love to travel but we've found it's cheaper to just drive if we want to go anywhere with the kids. DH and I would love to take a getaway trip but have to limit the length – can't impose on the grand-sitters. We've only done that once and it was just a two day trip by car to Chicago; not cost effective to fly anywhere in that amount of time. My folks live here so no air travel required on that front. Our airport is small enough that it requires a connecting flight in at least one city… Translation: Flying anywhere from here is an all day job. Since it takes one day to get to MIL's house by van, we just drive - it's easier, don't have to rent a vehicle once we get there, can stop as often as we like, can haul a cooler without having to carry it, not limited to amount of stuff to pack AND the kids have a DVD and video game system at their disposal

So what we have ended up with is a bunch of airline miles that are dwindling into non-existence. I found out that some were about to expire but we didn't have many on it so I just converted them into gift certificates. I think some other smaller ones expired. Then there's the biggie – American Airlines. I have enough for a free flight about anywhere, DH just shy of that. We would have to buy tickets for the girls – filed that in the "someday" slot. Oh yeah, did I mention that American changed the frequent flyer policy and the miles are about to expire unless I have activity on the account?

About six months ago, my mom let me know she received an email from AA that her miles would expire December 15, 2007 unless there had been activity within the 18 months prior to that. She was curious if that applies to my account also and I confirmed. We quickly remedied her problem by signing her up for points.com and getting the signup bonus mileage. Any activity counts. We had a few problems with my dad's but eventually did the same for his. I got them taken care of, but didn't put much thought into mine.

OpinionPlace.com allows you to take surveys for American Airline credit so I figured I would just do one of their surveys. To my dismay, week after week I didn't qualify so that was a bust. By the time I had thrown in the towel on that inroad, I had missed opportunities elsewhere. Other ways to retain your mileage are clicking through AA.com while shopping online – no guarantees that it would post on time though. Same with their "AAdvantage Dining Program by Rewards Network". Finally, with the clock ticking away, I talked my MIL into signing up for points.com thru my referral link. Why I didn't think about that when I signed my folks up is beyond me. Tick, tick, tick… that didn't post either. In the midnight hour (December 4^th), I managed to land an OpinionPlace survey but doubted it would post by the 15^th. I had resigned myself to the fact that I was going to have to donate miles as a last result. I logged on yesterday to check my account – if it wasn't updated, I was going to call customer service to donate the miles. Better safe than sorry. Low and behold, it had updated! OpinionPlace.com came through in lightning fast time!

Whew – safe for another 18 months… I don't plan on waiting that long to use up those miles though!

If you are an AAdvantage member, have you checked your account lately?