We were at Target yesterday and bought this Blu-ray + DVD great deal. It’s the latest Disney and Pixar movie production – UP.  This package has 4 discs including 2 Blu-ray discs, 1 DVD and 1 digital copy.  The digital copy is a file that you can transfer to your computer or digital media and watch it. All these for only $19.99 plus sales tax.  The package even come with a special ‘UP’ journal book for you to put down all your special memory.

My son watched it and like the movie a lot. The beginning of the movie was very touching. I am not ashame to say I shed a few tears. It is a meaningful movie which is great for all ages in the family.

I also found the 4 Discs Blu-ray + DVD + digital copy for the same price on Amazon (no sales tax and free shipping for order $25 and above). The original price at Amazon is $45.99 and with this $19.99, it is more than 50% discount. The only thing I am not sure if this pack includes the free journal book or not. The journal book may be a Target exclusive offer.

Blu-ray discs and players are definitely coming down in price. I think we will soon able to afford a Blu-ray player. *wink* … but my hubby said that we should get a nicer plasma/LCD TV before purchasing a blu-ray player.

My sister-in-law loves to add special touches to her Christmas gifts she gives out during the Holiday season. Every year she will make something herself to give out. I’ve seen her handmade Christmas cards, small photo frames and ornaments. They are all very pretty and cute. When I was in her room one evening last week, I saw some semi precious gemstone beads lying around her crafting table. I think her friends and relatives will be getting handmade jewelry gifts this holiday. *wink* She is definitely starting early this year.

When I saw her, I asked her about the beautiful semi precious Wholesale Beads and she told me she bought them online at Beads of Cambay. She enjoys shopping there because of the free shipping they offer for orders $100 and above. She also said this online shop always has Newest Beads Added to their collection every so often. And most importantly – their worry free shopping policy.

I think this is a great idea for handmade Xmas gifts to fill up the stocking. She told me it is not difficult to make your own jewelry as long as you have the right tools. You can find out more about jewelry making by searching online. Or you can even visit your nearest crafting shop to see if they offer any classes for this hobby.

Pictures credit: Copyright © beadsofcambay.com

We receive a flyer from my boy’s preschool about the Halloween Carnival at Wilson Park on Oct 31st, 2009.

Date: 10/31/09
Place: Wilson Park, 2200 Crenshaw Blvd, Torrance CA
Time: 4pm to 8pm

Kids can enjoy themselves at the carnival booths and games. Adult can join in if they like. They will be selling the unlimited use wristbank for $5 at the park on the day itself There will be a costume parade at 630pm.

I will definitely take my boy there that evening. At his age now, he should be able to play some games by himself.

Take note on your calendar.  Coming Monday October 26th is the World Pasta Day.  At Buca di Beppo, they are giving away free spaghetti with your choice of meat sauce or marinara, with purchase of any Buca small or Buca Large pasta or entree.

We’ve been to their outlet in Huntington Beach once.  They serve authentic Italian meal.  They do have several outlets in Los Angeles area – Redondo Beach, Pasadena, Universal City and Santa Monica.  So if you are looking to eat out on October 26th and want a deal, visit a Buca di Beppo restaurant outlet to get the free spaghetti with purchase offer.

If you are local to South Bay area in Los Angeles, you will be familiar with King’s Hawaiian Restaurant.  They have another branch in North Torrance named The Local Place.  I just received a flyer in the Sunday newspaper with its latest promotion and thought I should share it with my readers.

All Keiki Meals now just for $1.49 on Saturday and Sunday with purchase of one adult entree.  Only valid for kids 12 and under with maximum two meals per adult entree.  The offer will end on 11/29/09.

The Local Place – Keiki menu  

Teriyaki Chicken Bowl $3.55 (Reg price)
Saimin $3.15 (Reg price)
Hawaiian Chicken Nuggets $3.65 (Reg price)
Grilled Cheese Sandwich $3.15 (Reg price)
The Little Island Burger $3.55 (Reg price)

Monday is Columbus Day.  We have some good sales going on around town.  So today we decided to visit  The Factory Outlet at Camarillo.  We left home early at 9am so that we could get there by 10am. 

Our first stop was at Coach.  It was 10:15am and the were many customers in the store already.  I whooshed to the back of the shop to find some good deals.  By the time I was done picking and paid for my THREE Coach Handbags, it was 10:50am.  That was fast.  Time passes real fast when you are having fun, in my case … having fun in shopping.

Each bag came out to about $100 after discount and sale tax. Original prices were between $268-$368 each.

We heard Lacoste Outlet was having a good sale too so we went to check that out but ended up with nothing. The sale was not too impressive.

Next we stopped at Esprit Outlet and what had pulled me into their store was a sign saying “Take Additional 40% off”. Of course I would check that out. We ended up with about $30 worth of stuff which includes two bermuda pants (Hubby’s), two blouses and a polo shirt for myself. The lowest ticketed prices on our items were $9.99 to $12.99 and we took another 40% off from there.

I think today’s shopping was more than enough for me. I like the three Coach’s bags were the best!

Are you ready for this year Halloween? October 31st falls on a Saturday this year. Most children will have no school that day and the parents will have plenty of time getting ready for the big day.

When walking through Sam’s Club this past weekend, I saw the big bags of candies stacked up high near the entrance. It is the sign that Halloween is coming up soon. But do you actually let your kids eat all the candies they get from their trick a treat session? I don’t. At his age now, he doesn’t argue with me on what he gets … yet! Honestly, after sifting through his Halloween’s treat bag, I only let him eat one or two pieces of the chocolates (not any other sugary candies) and the rest will go down to my own tummy or to my hubby’s tummy … or into the trash bin. 

My child is hyper active and with so much sugar in his system, it will be very unhealthy for him and very tiring for us as the parents. Even for normal children, too much sugar is not good for their health either. Think about the cavities they may get by consuming all these unhealthy candies!! EEWWW!

A healthy alternative for Halloween’s treat is something like the shelf stable Tetra Pak cartons milk. It is not just delicious and healthy but environmental friendly too – the Tetra Pak cartons can be recycled! I do keep boxes of these in my pantry as special treat for my child. Even as adult I enjoy it a lot too. It is convenient and on the go, you can have a yummy treat anytime any day.

I am helping Hershey’s and Organic Valley to spread the word about their Trick Or Treat Me campaign. Support the campaign by clicking Trick Or Treat Me on Twitter. For every tweet you sent to your friend from this site, Tetra Pak will donate 10 cents to the World Wildlife Fund. It will be fun! If they are nice to you … send them a treat. If they are not so nice to you … you know what to do! Have fun and enjoy.

First time I saw the Wii Console price cut was on Friday on Slickdeals. One of the post was mentioning the Wii Console price is now $200 at Amazon. And to confirm, I saw it again today at Toys ‘R’ Us flyer. TRU is selling it for $199.99 plus sales tax where applicable.

I’ve been playing a unit belongs to my SIL for a week now and I really like the Wii sport games. The games help me to work out my arms and make me sweat! SIL may take it back anytime. She is now too busy with her work to play with it but once her work load is back to normal, she will definitely ask us to return to her.

May be it is time for us to buy one. A lot of the older games have come down in price too. I will definitely buy it online at Amazon for the same price without the sales tax and with free shipping too. You know, we are currently paying 9.75% for sales tax in Los Angeles county. It will save me $20 by buying the Wii Console online at Amazon. Oh ya, it will save me gas money and time to drive to the store to buy it.

If you are a member of the AAA, you will get a 10% off adults admission at San Diego Zoo or San Diego Zoo’s Wild Animal Park.  And if you take your kid/s (age 3-11) with you between October 1-31, 2009 to these parks, you will receive free general admission for them. 

I haven’t taken my 3 years old boy to either park.  We were considering to visit these parks during summer but was held back due to the hot weather.  If the weather is cooler in October, we might have a visit to these parks to utilize this special promotion.  

This was my biggest purchase for my trip to Malaysia. I bought this EvenFlo Chase LX Booster Car Seat from Babies R Us a week before I left for my trip. Sad to say, I paid full price for this car seat at $59.99 plus sales tax. But the good thing is, I sold it to my cousin before returning to US.

Features on this car seat includes:

Almost everything is perfect for this booster car seat. I would recommend this car seat for older children, not for infant or toddler stage. The back is too straight up for the younger children to nap during car ride. We all know how children like to nap while the car is moving. When we went on a 4 hours drive up north while we were in Malaysia, my son napped and it was very uncomfortable for him as his head kept falling forward. I was sitting next to him and used my hand to hold his head up for his nap.

Of course, for the price we pay for this car seat, it is good to use it as a back up, either for a second car or for the grandparent’s car or for travel. It is very easy to install and it comes with a storage bag. It weighs about 12 pounds.

Here are some pictures of the car seat from different view.

In the storage bag

Front View

Back View

Internal Harness

Detachable arm rests and cup holder

Our very own Organic Sleepy Bear has arrived!! Thanks to ParentReviewers for the chance to review this beautiful teddy.

Firstly, do you notice anything different between this 100% Organic Sleepy Bear and other teddy bears out there? Do you see the big bear is actually wearing an Organic Khaki wrap with a baby bear in it? This is the very FIRST stuff toy that promotes baby wearing.

The moment my son set his eyes on this Organic Sleepy Bear, he cannot let go of it. My son is almost three and a half years old. He is in the stage where he plays pretend with his stuff animals a lot. He talks to them, hugs them, kisses them, feeds them and more. They are his best friends now. Sometimes I am a little jealous because they get more kisses and hugs from him than I do. But I am happy that he is learning to play on his own.

Firstly, I really like the two colors coordination that made up the Organic Sleepy Bear. Its colors are neutral and suitable for boys and girls. The stuff animal is made of 100% softest organic cotton. This eco-friendly teddy is just the right size for my son’s age, not too small to give a big hug to. Most importantly, there is no loose material that was used in making this Organic Sleepy Bear. The eyes, nose and mouth are made of soft stitching and there is no buttons or snaps. It is the safest stuff animal you can give to your children without worrying they may accidentally choke on any removable parts. I think every child would love to be the owner of this bear.

Now let me tell you where you can find this Organic Sleepy Bear for purchase. Currently, it is only available exclusively through the retailers on the list below for Canada and USA.

CANADA

Tadpoles & Butterflies
Sherwood Park, Alberta CANADA
info@tadpoles.ca
www.tadpoles.ca
1.888.312.6554

The Extraordinary Baby Shoppe
1131 Wellington Street W, Ontario CANADA
900 King Street West, Ontario CANADA
spearso@bellnet.ca
www.extraordinarybabyshoppe.com
613.321.7249

USA

Supermommy’s Superstore
2411 Ring Road, Suite 105
Elizabethtown, KY
accounts@supermommyssuperstore.com
www.SupermommysSuperstore.com
270.769.6693

Sweet Infant
1007 S. Country Club Rd.
Lovington, NM
support@sweetinfant.com
www.sweetinfant.com
575.441.3005

Nurtured Family
8525 Jackrabbit Rd., Suite B
Houston, TX
support@nurturedfamily.com
www.nurturedfamily.com
832.239.5140

Heavenly Hold
510 Briarfield Crossing
Marietta, GA
amber@heavenlyhold.com
www.heavenlyhold.com
404.849.5394

Baby Carriers-n-More
265 W Cimmarron Way
Erda, UT
robyn@babycarriersnmore.com
www.babycarriersnmore.com
801.671.5740

Attached to Baby
Seattle, WA
sara@attachedtobaby.com
www.attachedtobaby.com
800.887.1461

Oregon Soap Shoppe
91C South Daysville Road
Oregon, IL
glcamling@aol.com
www.OregonSoapShoppe.com
866-411-6614

My son still drinks a lot of milk. Usually at home in Los Angeles, we will buy the Organic refrigerated milk for him. But since now we are in Malaysia, I give him one serving box Dutch Lady UHT Low Fat milk. I usually get the 6 boxes in one pack. When they are on sale, they go for below RM6.00, without the sale, the price is between RM6 to RM7.

I bought 7 packs of 6 boxes each at Carrefour this morning at RM5.79/pack. These should be able to last us till the end of our trip. We are staying here for about a month and we have another 25 more days to go. He drinks 1-2 boxes a day depending what he eats for lunch. At night, he doesn’t drink milk anymore but he could if I allow him to. Just that I don’t want him to go to bed with a full stomach of liquid, he may wet the bed.

These boxes of UHT milk is made locally by Dutch Lady Milk Industries Bhd. It is enriched with Vitamin A & D3. Each box contain 250ml (~8oz) of UHT milk. I don’t need to refrigerate the unopen box of the milk which come easy as I can keep them in the bedroom and warm it up early in the morning right before he wakes up.

The milk aslo enriched with Active-care which is a complete combination of nutrients that helps keep your kid’s mind and body active and alert at all times.

Protein – helps build body tissues, essential for growth and development
Calcium – helps build strong bones and teeth
Vitamin B2 – for the release of energy from carbohydrate, protein and fat in food
Choline – plays an important role in the development of memory
(from Dutch Lady website)

We stopped going to Sushi Boy a few years back because they increased their prices on the items. But lately, I’ve been going back to them quite frequently after it was being introduced again to me by another blogger/friend of mine living in South Torrance.

Now, they often have specials, different ones too. When I was there last month, they had the Yokohama Set on Special for $4.99. That was a really good deal. The set has a total of 15 pieces, including 4 pieces of California rolls, 6 pieces of maki rolls, tuna, salmon, shrimp, eel and yellowtail. Too bad that special ended July 31st.

And now, from Aug 1st to 31st, Sushi Boy is having the Salmon Fest.

Salmon Avocado Roll 8pcs – $4.99 (reg $6.70)
Washington Roll 8 pcs – $5.99 (reg $8.00)
Philadelphia Roll 8 pcs – $4.99 (reg $6.70)
Salmon Lover 13 pcs – $7.99 (reg ($10.50)

So get them before these deals are gone!

It is not easy to find the best website hosting for your website or blog. Sometimes you do it by trial and error. And when you found a good one, you might want to stick with it even though it might not be the cheapest web hosting company available.

Before deciding on your web hosting company, drop by WebHostingRating dot com. You will be able to see a list of their top web hosting companies. It all depends what type of service you are looking for. If you own a business, you may prefer to find one that is dedicated for Business Web Hosting and they may not be the cheapest around but can provide their customers with higher quality and more reliable service. 

If you have the time to go through all the reviews on each one of them, do it!  You may read some good ones and some not so good.  You weigh your own priorities and ultimately choosing one that you hope it will work out for you.  Remember to cross your fingers at the moment you click the ‘confirm sign up’ button. 

My web hosting company is Bluehost and I have so far no complains of any kind about them. I do appreciate their 24 hours online chat service which helped to provide me with answers I might have on the odd hours when I encounter any problems. They may not be the cheapest around. The monthly fee is $6.95/month if signed up for 2 years. There are other companies that might be cheaper but I am not be eager to test them out for now as I value the service I am receiving from Bluehost. Many friends and bloggers I known have gone through nightmares because they changed their web hosting companies and some even lost their valuable information on the website. I am not ready to take on that challenge, thus I am happy to say, I am fortunate enough to find a web hosting company that meets my need for now.

Going through the Sunday newspaper plus the flyers that come with it is my task every Sunday.  And while doing that two days ago, I saw this Kids Eat Free at Marie Callender’s Restaurant and Bakery.  A lot of times, I forgot about the offer, hence I am putting it down here in my blog so every one who loves to eat out for less with their families can have a great deal as well.

Kids Eat Free at Marie Callender’s Restaurant and Bakery every Tuesday and Saturday.  Will receive one FREE KID’S MEAL with each adult entrée purchased. Only the lower priced kid’s meal will be discounted. Does not include tax or gratuity. No cash value. Cannot be combined with any other offer, discount or coupon. Not valid on Holidays. Valid at participating locations only.