A Work at Home Mom’s Blog

Hubby finally talked me into it. We went to the loan company earlier this week and refinanced my truck, and added a little to the loan. Emphasis on a little. We could have used a thousand or two to get Christmas gifts, buy tires for his truck and get mine worked on, but we didn’t go that far.

He got rained out of work on Wednesday, so we went out and did a little Christmas shopping. We got about half of the shopping for his side of the family done (big family) and got a few things for Pumpkin. I managed to get one gift for my side of the family, but I’m having trouble coming up with ideas for everyone else.

I also got a nice deal on a LeapFrog Didj for Pumpkin on eBay. I had looked at them at Walmart, where the system was $60 and games were about $30 each. The one on eBay had 4 games with it. I had hoped to get it for about $65, but when it was all said and done I ended up paying $80 including shipping. Still a pretty darn good deal if you ask me.

She had been asking for a Leapster 2, but I didn’t want to get her one of those because it’s more for preschoolers. She would get tired of it quickly. So I started looking for a deal on a Nintendo DS. Good luck with that, right? Then I saw the Didj at Wally World, and when I told her there was something similar to a Leapster 2 for kids her age, she seemed interested. That combined with the educational aspect got me started looking on eBay, and I found one in no time.

So the Didj is going to be her big present. I also found a killer deal on a Hannah Montana game that’s similar to Guitar Hero but plugs into the TV at Amazon.com, so I may get her that too.

I hated to refinance, but I suppose it’s not so bad. We don’t have to make a payment this month, and my monthly payments will be a little lower now. And it only extended the loan term by a few months. And now I can buy a few Christmas gifts.

I love adorning my walls with photographs. As much as I appreciate artwork, I like to see the smiling faces of friends and family when I look at my walls. But with a little help from PhotoFiddle, you can have the best of both worlds.

PhotoFiddle is in the business of creating art from photos. They can take your favorite picture and transform it into over 50 styles, including oil painting, watercolor, charcoal drawing, pop art print, and much more. You can upload a photo and see it in every available style before you make a decision. And if you’re not satisfied with any of them, they will create a custom piece at no extra charge. They have received positive press from The Washington Post, USA Today, The Today Show and more.

So when PhotoFiddle offered me a custom canvas of my very own, I was ecstatic. I searched through all of my digital photos, looking for just the right one. I wanted to have a family portrait, but I couldn’t find anything that I thought was canvas-worthy. So I sent in one of my dad, Pumpkin and my niece. It wasn’t very high quality though, so I finally found someone to take a picture of Hubby, Pumpkin and me. I cropped it and sent it in, but the quality was too low on that one as well. But when I sent in the original, it turned out nicely. I asked them to remove some items from the background, and they got that done in short order.

The PhotoFiddlers were quite patient with me while I got my photographic ducks in a row, and they answered my questions quickly and fully. I received updates on the progress of my canvas, and an email with a tracking number when it was shipped. Two days after I got that email, the FedEx guy was at my door with my new masterpiece.

When I opened it, I was in awe. It turned out beautifully. Check it out:

I opted for the color sketch style. I thought it was the most fitting style considering the picture- my family as our everyday selves. Had we been all dressed up and proper looking, I might have gone for the oil painting style. But we’re rarely seen all dressed up and proper looking.

I’m very pleased with my experience with PhotoFiddle. Their customer service was great, and my canvas is the new highlight of my living room. So I’m pleased to announce that the folks at PhotoFiddle have been kind enough to allow me to give away one of their gift certificates!

How to Enter

The prize up for grabs is one $50 PhotoFiddle.com gift certificate. There are several ways you can enter:

For one entry each:
• Make a comment on this post telling me why you would like to win a PhotoFiddle gift certificate. Don’t worry, there are no right or wrong answers, I’m just curious.
• Twitter about this giveaway. Include your Twitter username or profile URL in your comment for verification purposes.
• Stumble this post. Include your StumbleUpon username in your comment.
• Subscribe to my feed via RSS or email. Let me know that you did so in your comment.

For 3 entries:
• Blog about this giveaway. Include a link to this post and a link to PhotoFiddle.com. Include the URL of your post in your comment.

Each entrant may have up to a total of 7 entries.

This giveaway runs now through midnight on Monday, December 15th. (Just in time for Christmas!) The winner will be selected by way of a random number generated by Random.org. The winner will be contacted via email, so double check your email address when leaving your comment. If the email bounces or the winner does not respond within 24 hours, an alternate winner will be chosen. The winner’s gift certificate will be delivered by email straight from PhotoFiddle. Good Luck!

I would almost give my right arm for a good video camera. My digital camera will only do 30-second videos with no sound, and it’s about dead anyway. I’d love to have something to capture some memories of Pumpkin with while she’s still young.

So I entered to win a Flip camcorder over at Common Sense with Money. These little cameras are so awesome! From what I’ve read about them, they’re very easy to use. And I just adore their sleek design!

The giveaway runs through December 10th, and you can earn up to five entries. So head on over there and get your name in the pot too!

I went back to the doctor today for a follow-up on my ADD medicine. I had talked to her last week when I took Pumpkin in and told her that what she had given me wasn’t doing much, and she told me to try taking two. I did, and wow! It made a world of difference. I told her that today, and she said she could tell just by talking to me.

I mentioned that now I just needed to work on getting better organized, and she agreed. Then we got into this big discussion about how almost everybody has some symptoms of ADD, but not everyone needs medication. And she said that even though the meds were helping me, that it would take some work on my part too. So true. But I keep finding myself putting it off in favor of work that I need to get done, and when that’s done there’s more work to do. I’ve got to make myself start making lists and schedules and all that boring stuff, and I’ve got to make time to get this disaster area of an office cleaned up and organized. I think I do much better when I’m not surrounded by chaos.

But anyway, she went ahead and put me on a higher dosage and told me to follow up in a month. I expressed concern about paying for the medicine once my Medicaid runs out, and we discussed a couple of options for that. But for now I’m just glad that I can stay on what’s working for a while. Now if I can just get the other stuff that’s holding me back squared away, maybe I can get back to life like it used to be.

December is going to be a lean month for my family. One of my main winter writing jobs, one that my trouble concentrating rarely affects because it consists of lots of small parts, has been put on hold. I’m not sure if Hubby gets paid for the time he got off for Thanksgiving, so that’s going to put a hurtin’ on us if he doesn’t. Overall it’s just a crappy month, and of course it would have to fall right at Christmastime.

I’ve been trying to find ways to come up with some extra money. I’m considering getting some new insurance quotes, but that won’t help us right away. We need more immediate stuff. I did find a couple of things that might bring a little at the recycling place, but other than that I’m pretty much drawing a blank.

I’m trying to do some housecleaning this week, and I’m hoping I run across some stuff that I can sell quickly. I had some stuff in the paper, but the stuff that didn’t sell didn’t even bring any calls. I may run the ads again since it’s free and all, but I’m not going to hold my breath.

I’ve also been on the lookout for one-off writing jobs that pay by PayPal. So far nothing has come up, but I’m not giving up. I’ve got to get Pumpkin at least a couple of things for Christmas. I’ll cook or (gasp!) craft for everyone else if I have to.

Hubby has been talking about refinancing my truck loan and adding a little to it, but I’m trying to discourage that. As much as I would love to have enough money to go all out, the last thing we need is more debt. I had hoped to come close to paying my truck off at tax time, and if we refinance to get money back there’s no way that will happen.

I hate it when I end up dreading Christmas. I want to enjoy it, but sometimes it’s just really hard to.

How do you feel about your body? Do you find yourself saying that you “feel fat?” It’s alarming how many women and girls (and yes, boys and men too) do.

If you or someone you know is struggling with body image issues, Life Doesn’t Begin 5 Pounds from Now by Jessica Weiner is a must-read. Weiner has written several books on the subject, and she’s currently traveling with the Dove Self-Esteem Fund tour, speaking to young girls about self-esteem. Life Doesn’t Begin 5 Pounds from Now is all about changing the thoughts and language that contribute to poor body image. It’s a fun and engaging read, full of anecdotes from real girls and women and quizzes to help us uncover the areas we need to work on.

I’m giving away a copy of this awesome book to one lucky winner. Here’s how to enter:

For one entry each:
• Leave a comment on this post.
• Twitter about the giveaway, and include a link to this post. Include your Twitter username in your comment for verification purposes.

For three entries:
• Blog about this giveaway, and include a link to this post. Include a link to your post in your comment.

So you can have up to five entries.

This giveaway will run from now through 11:59 pm December 16th, 2008. U.S. residents only may enter. Winners will be contacted via email, so you must include a valid email address in the comment form to win. Good luck!