susiestar

We had a Belk Store open in our town on Wed. I had never heard of them, but am now quite fond of them!! They open all their new stores on the same day, so at least 5 other towns had Belk's open Wed also. I got a $10 of $10 purchase coupon in the mail. They had 15% off coupons in sale flyers at the store and in the paper. They had a wonderful set of 8 ceramic mixing bowls in different colors (each bowl a different color) for $19.99, prewrapped!! Lots of other great prewrap deals also. They had Calphalon 6 piece baking sets for $30. WONDERFUL quality!! Our town has not had decent makeup available for several years. Only Merle Norman (not bad, but not my fave) and drug store makeup. now we have Estee Lauder, Clinique, and Lancome!! I can get the stuff in the magazines w/o travelling 75 miles!! They had top regional execs for Estee Lauder come in with teams to do facials and makeovers. My mom has just gotten rid of glasses for the first time in 50 years, and had her eyelids done!! She had NO CLUE what to do makeup wise. The head honcho for Estee did her makeup and gave us TONS of samples. With a Belk card you get a discount on makeup!! Then Doreen told me to come in the next day to have my makeup done. colors are a prob for me as I am color blind. Mom had such a lift, much needed!! I took her a goodie bag for travellers that night and she gave my dau samples! The next day I went in and got a facial, facial massage, hand massage, and then my makeover. She wrote down all the colors and gave me MORE free samples!! I ahve NEVER looked so good. I even took a picture!! I ahve all the products written down, and can find less expensive versions of some. The best thing is teh way they were so sweet!! And if you go in and ask about foundation they will give you a free 3-4 day sample of your custom color!! No purchase necessary!! And the fragrances are plentiful. They had a drawing, pull a number out of a hat thingy, for Vera Wang Princess Perfume. It is labelled a tester, but is 3.4 oz!! I won it!! I can't use perfume at ALL (migraines), but it was still a nice thing. And my dau got a much sought after sample of Hilary Duff's fragrance. All in all, i will be looking at Belf for BF sales!! And the sale prices all over the store were great! Susie

I wish I had seen htis last week. I just gave away a whole bunch of pokemon cards and toys that were my nephews. Sorry! Susie

I have redeemed these w/o a kid with me before. I also get a kids meal at McD's every time. No questions about age. Susie

Elder Beerman is still around??? I thought they closed. Good shopping!

Went to Party City today to get stuff for my dau's bday party. Ended up spending $25.99 and the savings were $69.31!!! Some bargains: Discontinued platelines and accessories: 4/$1 This included napkins, plates, invitations, and even Chicken Little bubble blowers and a Fantastic Four party game!! Napkins were Hot Wheels, Shark Tale, Blues Clues, American Idol, and others. I got plates in bridal shower to use around the house. 50% off the racks of individual novelties. We got jelly rings for 7 cents, whistles for 27 cents, bubble blower guns for 27 cents, and some other things I forgot. Also: graduation bears 5" marked down to 49 cents from $1.99!! If you have a party city and any parties coming up you may want to check it out!! Susie

I LOVE Bordere's coffee!! Can't spell today, but hey! I used to work at a Starbucks in B&N and far prefer Border's coffee!! I can't wait for this program! I spend a TON at borders and B&N!!! Susie

I have the queen size one. My hubby and I LOVE LOVE LOVE it!! AHave had it since April and it still works perfectly. Neighbors bought a sleep number (name brand) a month before ours and it quit working in May. The sleep number warranty stinks!! They ahven't been able to get it repaired at ALL!!

Does the Target at 21st and Yale have better deals than the SuperTarget over on 71st? I have only been to the one at 71st, but willb e in Tulsa tomorrow, so might try the one at 21st. Susie

I got an email to save $10. Then when I signed up I got $5 off the shipping for buying one next year. so I got The book and RUSH shipping for $20. Not bad for a gift.

My Biglots had this for $12.97 and my MIL's had it for $9.99. Looks like fun, but my 6yo is reading. So I won't get to play with it!

I found this ad on supersaver. The Gamecube bundle includes on Gforce controller and your choice of ONE of the following games: Pikmin2, FZero GX, Metroid Prime2 Echoes, or WarioWare Inc (not exactly suer what the last title is, this is all I could see of the Wario). Any chance Walmart would match this? I live 1 1/2 hours from TRU, and can't get this online. usu our WalMart will match deals from the city, but wondering about this. Then my hubby would just have to return the bundle we got on BF. Susie

I can't get the link to work, can someone help?

have any of you had a camera for more than 1-2 years? How do these Kodak's hold up? Everyone I know who has had a Kodak camera (digital or film) has had them break easily and malfunction. Is this just people I know, or Kodak in general? I have an Olympus that I love.

Just an FYI for those of you with sensitive skin: Beware the highly scented deo!! My dau has supersensitive skin and we have had a really tough time with deos for her. The best has been Dove sensitive unscented. The ones with fragrance seem to be really bad. I usually take deals like this and then give the deos to our homeless shelter or domestic violence shelter. Places like this get soaps and shampoos, but they have a REALLY hard time getting deodorant. Esp name brand new ones. I try this time of year to do as much of this as possible. Also, if your school has an ED (emotionally disturbed) or sp. eD class, these things are almost ALWAYS appreciated by the teachers. These kids have a really hard time with lots of things (understanding hte why of them, and also gettign them). Often the families are so broke either from lack of $$ to begin with or the high cost of therapy and meds that things like personal care products are let slip b/c no $$. Or the kids end up with brands that are "off label" which is not necessarily bad, but some brands don't work. Just a thought as this is a good time of year to remember others. Susie

Planet feedback is one of the BEST ways to give feedback. I used to work for the call center at the company that did Planet Feedback. It is truly amazing the difference between a complaint to a company like circuit city from a customer individually and from Planet Feedback. The people at Planet Feedback are pretty active on your part. (And I don't have great things to say about some of their other lines - like jewelry!) Susie

Man, I am SOOOO jealous of all of you. The nearest Target is 75 minutes from me. Yes. 75 mins, over 70 miles. We only have a SuperWalMart in my town. The town recently cut a deal for one of those Neighborhood WalMarts if the city refused permits to Target. ARGGGHHH. So much for competition.

I would talk to the mgr at your Target, esp if you shop there frequently. If you have a good relationship iwth them you may be able to get a rocker at the BF price or close to it. Just talk to the top mgr, be kind and confused and hurt. DON'T get mad at him, just ask if there is any way he can help. BTDT and had some success with this.

Have you browsed Sierra trading post (www.sierratradingpost.com) for things? I often find little things for the hunter/outdoorsy types on my lists there. If $$ is short, maybe making batches of his fav. candies, cookies, chex mix, etc... and wrap them in hoiday bags or containers. Nice office supplies are also fun. My dh has a stocking with about 10 little pockets that my mom sewed for him. We do all sorts of tiny things in them. Anyway, hope this helps.

We give a few smaller items as Santa gifts wrapped in special paper. The significant gifts, in size or $$ or whatever, are from mom and dad or the entire family. We decided to do this b/c we want our kids to appreciate what they get. With our oldest it didn't happen if Santa gave the big ones. We want them to be able to say Thank You to a person. Our family does stuff a bit differently b/c my oldest has his own devel. issues and entitlement is a problem. Kids are entitled to a fun Christmas, and to celebrate the meaning of the season, but they need to understand the importance of giving as much or more than just getting. We also have each kid buy and wrap gifts for every family member, starting very early. Anyway, I wish we could just do the Santa gifts for the big ones, or even most. but it doesn't work for us.

I grew up with a mixed tree with ornaments from all the years and a few new ones each year. As a teen we added an outside tree with red bows and bird seed ornaments for the birds and squirrels. I also got a tree of my own as a teen, just for teddy bear ornaments. This year we will do a big tree with all sorts of mixed ornaments, and one at my parents. My kids will have a separate tree for fun, although the big tree is full of their ornaments. The little tree will have teddy bears, b/c my dau is as nuts about them as I was as a teen. I have all my old teddy ornaments and she is getting some new ones she doesn't know about yet! I think we will probably do a few 12" trees around our small house too - one in each kids room!

The coupon says only good in those states, but my Krispy Kreme took it with NO problems. They didn't even call attention to the states. I had never been in and was surprised that if the HOT DONUTS light is on everyone gets a free glazed donut! I will be back there!! Susie

I have gotten more deals here in the last 2 weeks than I ever thought of. Probably saved as much as I will on BF!! I will be hanging around! Susie

Employee at BBW yesterday said that they will have BF specials, but corporate won't release them until that am. They will find out when they come in to work what they are. She was really helpful with other stuff, combining expired coupons, getting smaples from the back, and generally trying to give away the store, so I think she was being fairly honest. susie

Thanks for this thread. We have 2 juiceboxes and 1 unopened. Were going to give the 3rd to my youngest, but can't find chips manyplaces. I may invest in the mp3 player just to make the thing usable more often. OTOH, I may not and just do something else. Does anyone need a juicebox? Susie

I have an olympus that I love. MIL got it for dh and I last Xmas. My parents have sony digital cameras. Have used them for years, a number of different models, but real workhorses. I have NEVER know anyone who took photos more than 1 or 2 times a year who was happy with a kodak for long. They don't seem to hold up. This was also a problem way back when I was using film, also. At least 8 of my friends/relatives have had Kodak digital cameras that were hard to use and didn't last, some not even through ONE occasion. Hope this helps and you are happy with whatever you get! Susie