Today Swagbucks is celebrating their second birthday!

Have you signed up with Swagbucks yet?  If you haven’t, what are you waiting for?  This is the easiest way to earn free gift cards and other awesome prizes.  Plus, if you sign up right now through my link and use the code LORASCODE1 (case sensitive), you will start out with 60 FREE swagbucks (30 for signing up and 30 for using the code)!  For more instructions on how to sign up, keep reading.

What is Swagbucks?

Swagbucks is  a search engine that rewards you for using it.  Every few searches, you’ll be rewarded with swagbucks.  The swagbucks build up and you can trade them in for gift cards (to places like Amazon, Target, Starbucks, Barnes & Noble, and Victoria’s Secret to name a few) or other prizes.

How Do I Earn Swagbucks?

It’s easy!  Just use it to do your normal searches that you normally use Google, Yahoo or another search engine for.  It’s that simple!

You can also make extra swagbucks by referring friends. Whenever your friends earn swagbucks, you earn the same number they do, up to 100.  So if you sign up, please go through the links in this post!

Plus, they’re introducing some new ways to win (detailed below).

Until 3/4, Swagbucks is offering my readers a swag bucks code to earn 60 swagbucks right off the bat, just for signing up!  The code is: LORASCODE1 (case sensitive).  Just click here to go to the registration form.  All you have to do is enter that code in the blue box that says SwagCode and you’re ready to start earning!!

To celebrate their birthday, Swagbucks is making a bunch of great changes.  Here is what they told me:

1) More ways to earn Swag Bucks every day: With Swabucks.com 3.0 users will be able to earn by having their toolbar visible on their browser (must be logged in) and also by simply viewing our ‘No Obligation’ special offers.   This means that in addition to all the regular ways to earn, the more you are engaged with Swagbucks.com, the more you will earn!

2) New look home page and Swag Store & rewards store:  Swagbucks.com 3.0 will include a revamped, cleaner interface that will provide a better user experience.

3)  Launch of the Swagstakes Portal: As you may know we currently run about a dozen on-going sweepstakes (called Swagstakes) at any given time.  With the launch of 3.0 we are going to have a brand new, fully stocked Swagstakes portal in which there will be dozens of Swagstakes running at all times! Some contests will be limited entry (meaning a set number of entries will be offered) so the odds for a user to win are greater.  The tentative list of items that will be offered during initial launch should include: $100 Amazon Gift Cards, Sony Bravia 32? TV, Amazon Kindle, Apple iPod Touch, Flip Ultra HD Camera, Panasonic Blu Ray with Remote, Apple iPad, Sopranos Complete Series Box Set, Rachel Ray 10 piece cookware set, Playstation 3 system + games bundle, Canon Powershot Camera, Seinfeld Complete Series DVD box Set, Viziio 22? LCD TV and plenty more!

4) Starting today, you will notice that your Swag Bucks in your account will be multiplied by 10 (as will the prices in the store.  So for example, if you had 45 bucks in your account you will now have 450 SB;  The Amazon which was 45 SB will now be 450 SB). NO prices are being raised on prizes (it will all be proportional – so have no fear about that), but what this split of the SB will allow us to do is to award bucks to users in ways that were not before imaginable (such as being logged into the toolbar, and viewing our special offers).

Don’t hesitate!  With all the free codes they’re giving away right now, this is the best time to sign up!

Note: With all the traffic from their birthday celebration, the site is running a little slowly.  If you can’t get through, try again later.

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And I love him so much!

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I hope you’re all having a fantastic weekend, whatever you may be doing….watching the Olympics, working on your job search, or just relaxing and enjoying time with your family!

Since the Haiti earthquake last month, I’ve posted several ways that I’ve found that we can help the victims. So when I got an email from Compassion International about another way to help, I wanted to post about it right away (even though I didn’t plan to blog tonight).

Help Haiti Live is a benefit concert that is going to be held on February 27 to help the people of Haiti. There will be concerts in both Los Angeles and Nashville and it will also be streamed live from their site. This will be a fun way to help out and also see some awesome artists! I hope you check it out!

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We are finally home!

We attempted to leave the hotel around 9 this morning, only to find that our van battery was dead. *huge sigh* Luckily, the guy behind the front desk at the hotel was willing to give it a jump and his van happened to be parked right next to ours!

Other than that, we made it home without any more incidents…and we were home by 2 pm! That was a refreshing change since usually we get home late at night and do the bare minimum before flopping into bed. This afternoon, I got quite a bit of unpacking done, did all the laundry from the trip (except the kids’ blankets), ran to the store for basics like milk, and even edited pictures of the trip that are uploading right now!

Here are some pictures of where our little nightmare played out:

Get a load of this shower set-up! It’s so fifty years ago!

Here’s hoping I can get back to normal, less exciting posting next week!!

Here’s where Kelvin slept. We pushed the two cushion-y chairs together to make a makeshift bed, lined it with a comforter, put a pillow and blankets in there and he slept really well until the last night. We tried letting him sleep in Ava’s bed with her, but he just wanted to play all night long, so this was what we resorted to.

This is the space-heater that made the whole experience tolerable. Before they gave this to us, our room was a whopping 58 degrees!!

And here is how some of us entertained ourselves.

I love this picture. It captures how this experience strengthened our bond as a family.

And finally….the damages. The insurance adjuster was at our house within 30 minutes of us getting home and he decided the van was totalled based on these things and the mileage. We have a couple options that we’re deciding on now.

The front:

The back:

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We might get out of here by late today or early tomorrow!

The towing ban was lifted this morning and we just got a call from the towing company saying that they’ll tow our van as soon as they get the keys. They’re picking Chad up at our hotel and they’ll let him ride along while they tow it to the mechanic. Hopefully it won’t take long to make it drivable and then when we get home, Chad will use my car for work while our mechanic fixes the rest of the damages.

I’m having quite a bit of anxiety about driving the rest of the way home. This was the first accident I’ve ever been in, so it really freaked me out. Hopefully we can just get home without any more incidents…and believe me, we won’t be traveling in this type of weather again (unless absolutely necessary for some reason).

I’ll keep everyone updated when I’m able!!

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I’m cross-posting most of this from my other blog (Lora’s Journal) so that everyone knows why there won’t be much posting this week. Unfortunately, our trip to WI ended on a bad note with a car accident and we’re stuck in Iowa waiting for our car. I’ll post as I have time, but the kids hog the laptop most of the time because pretty much the only thing we have for them to do is watch DVD’s (we weren’t able to bring much with us out of the van…luckily we have access to a washer, dryer, and hand dryers! LOL).

If you read my previous posts, you know that we went on a trip up to WI to visit our family last week. We started driving home yesterday and hit quite a bit of snow and ice between Cedar Rapids, IA and Des Moines. We saw tons of cars in the ditch (at least 6 or 7 just in the mile before our accident) and I told Chad that I really wanted to get a hotel. But right after that, he lost control of the van. We were right next to a bridge and at first, it looked like we were going to go down into whatever was underneath the bridge, but then we fishtailed onto the bridge, hit the cement barrier on the bridge twice (once in the front, once in the back on the passenger side) and then slid into the ditch on the other side of the bridge.

Just wanted to let everyone know! I’ll update as I can (and I’m able to update Facebook with my phone pretty regularly).

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Since I gave up writing at Screaming Pennies in order to focus on this blog more, I haven’t written a single money-saving post. Right now I don’t have the time or energy to keep a blog updated with deals and ways to save money….but I really wish I did! How can I track down and post about cheap photo graduation announcements when I have a 2-year-old and 1-year-old wreaking havoc on my office area though? LOL Even though I’m taking an extended hiatus from that blog, I still keep up on current deals, which saves my family quite a bit of money. Today I found a deal that I thought quite a few of my readers would be interested in, so I’m passing it on…

Right now you can get a free sample of Pampers Cruisers with Dry Max! I’ve heard about these and wanted to try them, but since we cloth-diaper about 98% of the time, I only buy disposables when they’re on sale (plus, these won’t hit stores until March 2010). This is a great opportunity to see what I think of them for free! When you request this sample, you’ll receive 3 diapers, plus a chance to win free Pampers for a year (you’re a winner if one of your samples is stamped with Team USA)!

Since we’re on the subject of saving money, have you noticed the new page on my sidebar? The one titled Samples, Coupons, and Other Savings? If you click on that, you can see a list of sites and programs that can save you lots of money. The sites featured there change frequently, so you can check back often to save even more! I especially recommend checking out Coupons.com. I print lots of coupons there and that site saves me literally hundreds of dollars every year.

P.S. Want to hear about my horrible morning at the mechanic that involved an accidental call to 911? Click here!

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Relief workers are now in Haiti (and have been for several days), but there’s still a lot that needs to be done in many different areas. So many people have donated, commented on blogs that were donating on a pay-per-comment basis and most importantly, prayed! Today when I visited my blog-friend Lovelyn’s blog, I found another way that we can help.

When the earthquake struck, there were many families in the process of adopting Haitian children. Needless to say, they want to get their children out as quickly as possible. From what I understand, Haiti has agreed to release the children, they can get humanitarian parole, and they have planes and places to take the children that have food, water, and medical care. The only thing they still need is the US to approve the children’s evacuation.

These families and children need us to call or email our Congressmen and ask them to help! Please visit A Place Called Simplicity for more information and a sample letter with the info the Congressmen need. Obviously, time is of the essence. Please make time to do this today!

I will let you know if I find other ways that we can help the Haitians in their time of need. Like many others, I have a hard time sitting around and worrying about things like acne solutions when so many people are suffering so much!

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By this time, I’m sure all of us have heard about the Haiti earthquake that happened on January 12. I cannot even imagine the suffering all of those people are going through right now….the ones who have lost their families, their homes, and everything they own.

I’ve seen the pictures and watched the videos and my heart just breaks for them. I wish I could go there and hold those children and give them the food and water and shelter that they need. But obviously, at this point in my life, I can’t. I have children of my own here to take care of, as do most of my readers. But you can still help!

First and foremost, you can pray! Pray for comfort for those who are suffering, pray for strength and safety for those who are down there helping, and pray for generosity from those who are giving.

You can also give money to help the relief workers help those affected by the earthquake. There are many organizations that are accepting donations to help them, but my favorite is Compassion International.

Here is how your donation will be used by Compassion:

• $35 helps provide a relief pack filled with enough food and water to sustain a family for one week.
• $70 gift helps care for their needs for two weeks.
• $105 helps provide relief packs filled with enough food and water to sustain two families for two weeks.
• $210 gift helps care for two families’ needs.
• $525 helps provide relief packs filled with enough food and water to sustain 10 families for two weeks.
• $1,050 gift helps care for 10 families’ needs.
• $1,500 helps rebuild a home.
• $2,100 helps supply 20 families with the basics for three weeks.

If you have anything at all to give, please do. Even if things are tight right now, maybe you can donate anything you saved on food this week. Maybe instead of eating out, you can eat in this weekend and donate what you would have spent. Maybe you can buy the cheaper first communion invitations and donate the difference.

Personally, I had an auction ending on ebay today and we decided to donate everything we got from that auction. I’m sure it doesn’t even make a dent in what is needed overall, but to those few families who benefit from the money we gave, it makes all the difference in the world. Don’t decide not to give anything just because you can’t give much…the little things add up!

We have all been so richly blessed, and even a little bit goes a long way to help those in need!

**UPDATE**
Since I wrote this post, I found out that Crystal at Money Saving Mom has organized a post with lots of different ways you can help! There are even ways that you can donate for free, if you can’t donate financially…visit blogs, leave comments and the blogger will donate a predetermined dollar amount for every comment or link. At the very least, please consider clicking over and doing this!

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…is going to be a big sister (again)?  Yup, you guessed it…me!

My mom posted her big news over here, and being the helpful daughter that I am, I told her I would post it over here for our millions of one or two faithful readers!

She’s due in the middle of July and this is going to be #9!!!!  At some point, she’s going to need project management software just to keep everything and everyone straight!

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