AMomTwoBoys

Make a sour puss face and complain to the interwebs.  It works for me.

<complaining>

The results of the Label Daddy BlogHer ‘09 Sponsorship are in…and it’s not good news for AMomTwoBoys.

(Can anyone identify what that icon is?  I can’t figure it out)

Oh well, so we move on and try to figure out what other companies might want to send me to BlogHer.

Here are a few of my ideas:

The most obvious is:

Keurig:

Since buying my Keurig 2 months ago I’ve decided it’s quite possibly the greatest thing I’ve ever bought.  I’d say “ever spent money on” but I spend a LOT of money on my kids and, as much as I love my Keurig, I love them more.  Except first thing in the morning when my Keurig is making me coffee and my kids are just making me crabby.

Anyhoo, I’ve been part of talking at least one person into buying a Keurig (Maura) and have *hopefully* talked Susie & Jennifer into making the purchase as well.  (Trust me ladies, you won’t be disappointed).  So, if Keurig were to sponsor me and send me to BlogHer I’d buy one of those little wheel-y cart thingies and I’d drag a Keurig around with me.  I’d also get a backpack with Keurig’s logo to carry around sugar, creamer, Kahlua and Bailey’s.  How kickass would that be?!  That way I could make everyone coffee and show them how awesome a Keurig is.  What better way to sell a coffeemaker than to supply a bunch of hung over women with coffee?  It’s GENIUS, I tell you!

I was thinking maybe FritoLay would be another one to hit up, but I emailed them asking if they’d be willing to supply me with a few coupons to give away for their Ruffles Naturals (which are the best potato chips EVER.  Seriously, I just ate them for breakfast) and I got a big fat NO in response, so I’m thinking that since they don’t want to give up $10 in coupons, they’re not going to want to shell out money to send me to Chicago.  Just a guess.

Same thing goes for Chrysler.  I love my Pacifica, and I’d love to tell all the Mommy Bloggers all about it, but I think Chrysler has some financial issues right now, and probably doesn’t want to sponsor me for BlogHer.  Again, just a guess.

Do any of you have any ideas?  I’m totally open to suggestions.

On another note, there’s been a new development in the Capital One saga.  Complaining to the interwebs got me a phone call from Capital One’s executive offices.  Somehow, my post was forwarded to them (thanks, anonymous forwarder!) and they were calling to make amends.  Which I greatly appreciate.  My interest rate has been reduced to my original 9% and the extra $90 in interest I was charged has been credited back to my account.  I voiced my complaints with the very nice woman who called me, which were mainly that:

• Being told I was unable to discuss changing my interest rate until I’d paid my minimum IN FULL & early was a crock of horse shit.  Especially given the fact that it didn’t end up even being true.  As soon as my February payment had credited to my account, I was out of collections and in good standing again.  Seems to me like someone was just trying to get a few extra dollars paid early.
• While I take responsibility for not noticing that my E-Bill had not come through, I came to find out that the reason it hadn’t been delivered was because, just as Maura said in the comments, Capital One wanted me to update my security questions.  So they weren’t letting BofA access my bill (WTF?) and I don’t (but will now!) check my BofA online messages regularly.

So, the good news is that my interest rate is back to 9%.  Until May when Capital One is apparently increasing EVERYONE’S interest rate to upwards of 17%.  Unless you “opt out” of the change, at which point your account will be closed to new purchases and your interest rate will remain at it’s current level until your account is paid in full.  Also assuming you don’t have any late payments.  :0)

I give Capital One credit for making an attempt to rectify this situation, and I thank all of you for helping me get their attention.  I just wish it were this easy for everyone.  I can’t even imagine how families who are having trouble making ends meet will be able to handle a 17% interest rate.  It’s like a never ending downward spiral.

Also don’t forget about my giveaway for beauty products.  There’s some…interesting…and expensive stuff up for grabs!

And, Hot Mom Reviews has a whole new look thanks to Christy at Ruby and Roja and we’ve got a working feed thanks to Cathy at Desperately Seeking Wordpress, so you can now subscribe and be up to date on what we’re talking about!  Try to contain your excitement.

OH!  I almost forot to share that I have one sick kid (Dylan has a nasty cough) and one who’s acting like he’s getting sick (Zach sat with me on the couch for 30 minutes this morning and then took a nap at 8:45am.  Given that he never sits still for more than .7 seconds, I’m taking this as a sign.  A sign that my weekend might be hell.  In which case you’ll get to hear even MORE complaining from me!  Yippee!

Before I go…my feed stats are all wonky.  I lost 100 followers on Tuesday.  Hoepful it’s feedburner’s fault and not that I ACTUALLY lost 100 people.  That would suck.

</complaining>

It’s only February, but the talk of and excitement for BlogHer ‘09 in Chicago in JULY is in full swing.  And it’s driving me CRAZY.  Because, unless I can win a sponsorship, I won’t be attending.  Which makes me VERY sad.  Because those three days in San Francisco last year were so much fun, I learned so much, and I met so many amazing people…the thought of missing out on it all is enough to send me into a full on depressive state.  And no one wants that.

But then today (I’m always late to the party) I saw that there is a Label Daddy BlogHer ‘09 Sponsorship contest going on…and a little light went off in my head.

Self, I said, Don’t just sit on your ass being bummed you’re missing out on BlogHer ‘09, sit on your ass and write a post to try to win a sponsorship!

So, here we are. I thought I’d play around with Label Daddy’s wares and show you how I’d incorporate them into my life.  These might not be traditional uses for labels or stickers, but what’s traditional about AMomTwoBoys, anyway?

Here you go:

And, YES, it would need to be ON HIS FOREHEAD.  To ensure everyone is properly warned.

Just look at his room.  Or my living room. Or my backyard.  This kid is a MESS waiting to happen.

And if you think I wouldn’t actually order that label and use it, you’d be wrong.  VERY wrong.

Okay, so their stickers aren’t NEARLY big enough for this purpose, but I couldn’t help myself.

But you might be thinking to yourself- “Self, isn’t this about BlogHer?  Shouldn’t she incorporate BlogHer into her post?”

And so I give you these, my ideas for labels to take to BlogHer and attach to my friends:

I could seriously do this ALL THE LIVE LONG DAY. It’s kind of like Twitter, but on crack, because you only have 15 characters with which to work.  That makes it muy dificil.

Label Daddy seems to be a great site for people who ACTUALLY need labels for stuff…like for your kid’s day care, camp clothes, sporting goods, etc.  At this point, all I’m focused on is coming up with the  next great label for BlogHer ‘09 in the hopes that Label Daddy sees the genius behind my creative process and decides to sponsor me.

I can PROMISE them that I’ll be a ton of fun to take along.  If you agree, leave a comment so they can see how much support I’ve got!  We’ve only got until tomorrow!

I got an email the other day from a company offering a giveaway to my readers, and who am I to say no?! I mean, it’s beauty products and I want to ensure I’ve got the hottest readers on the internet.  I’m totally looking out for you.  You’re welcome.

In the interest of full disclosure, I’ve never used, reviewed or even SEEN these products before, and the descriptions are taken word for word from the PR email.  So, take it for what it is – free stuff- and don’t be emailing me threatening to sue if you grow a sixth toe*.

The Goods:

AminoGenesis’ Tripeptinon™ capsules are designed to lift, firm and strengthen facial connective tissues giving skin the most youthful appearance possible. Tripeptinon™ combines three powerful anti-aging, anti-wrinkle and anti-sagging technologies along with the base formula of 17 amino acids to address surface issues as well as underlying issues such as supporting and connective tissue. Price: $79 www.aminogenesis.com

Fairhaven Health Dreambelly Stretch Mark Cream: Contains ingredients recognized for their ability to revitalize skin during pregnancy and tone skin after childbirth. Ingredients include aloe vera gel, natural butters, moisturizing oils, grapeseed extract as well as rosehip seed oil and antioxidant-rich vitamin E. DreamBelly helps prevent stretch marks by keeping skin supple and elastic and may aid the body in regenerating strained tissues and help fade existing marks. Price: $19.95 www.fairhavenhealth.com

TOKI: The Collagen You Drink

TOKI reintroduces a youthful look and feel to skin with an extraordinary ingredient base that includes the moisture-rich retention of Hyaluronic acid in a mucopolysaccharide complex. The mucopolysaccharide complex replenishes skin from within, and combines with Collagen Peptide and Vitamin C to restore a more youthful quality. When modified with HAI™ Amino Acid Extract from Hijiki seaweed for enhanced absorption, the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles may be dramatically reduced. Your skin tone, moisture level and resiliency are revived. In as little as 45 days, skin texture starts to become smoother and tighter and the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles may be diminished. Price: $175 for a 30 day supply. To order, visit www.888ageless.com.

Lash Food

Move over full lips.  Eyelashes are the next beauty must-have for 2009.  From the pages of magazines to Hollywood’s red carpet, batting full, luxurious lashes is the latest “It” accessory.  No matter how many coats of mascara or layers of extensions we apply, it seems like we can never achieve the look without getting the “Tammy Faye Baker” effect.  Mascaras and lash extensions are unforgiving on eyelashes, leaving you with dry, brittle, and damaged lashes. LashFood is a new natural conditioning stimulant for thicker, stronger and more beautiful lashes in just 2 to 4 weeks!LashFood’s breakthrough natural ingredients, including Biotin an essential vitamin, Arginine a natural amino acid, and herbal extracts, helps promote the natural growth and strength of eyelashes and eyebrows. The result: your lashes become thicker, darker, and longer with this revolutionary conditioner.  Price:  $129 for a five month supply.  www.lashfood.com

*****This item also comes with a $50.00 Gift Certificate to Bruno Jamais restaurant in New York City!*****

The Rules

Simply leave a comment telling me which product you’d like to win.  If you want to win more than one, leave a separate comment for each.  Only one regular comment per person, per item.  To gain extra entries, mention this contest on Twitter, with a link to this post, and then leave a link to your tweet in the comments, with which product you want.  You can Tweet only twice per day.   The contest for the first three items is only available to resident’s of the United States and Canada. The contest for Lash Food is only open to US Resident’s. Comments will close at 12 Noon (Pacific time) on Tuesday, March 3rd.  I will email the winners at that time and they will have until Thursday, March 5th at Noon to send me their mailing address.  If I don’t hear from them, I will pick a new winner.

Good luck, and stay HAWT!

*Which I totally doubt will happen.

That’s the message I got the other day from a major credit card company.  Is it in your wallet?  Probably.

We’ve had a card with this same company for YEARS.  We’ve had balances that were REALLY high, and they’ve certainly made a good amount of money from us.  Our balance is down significantly now, and haven’t added to in in about a year.  So, YAY us!

Anyway, since I love me some Bank of America Bill Pay, I have my BofA account receiving E-Bills for this card, and it’s scheduled to pay automatically every month.  And every month, I look at my list of outgoing payments to ensure everything is kosher.

Somehow, this month, I didn’t notice that BofA  had never received an E-Bill from my credit card company.  So BofA was never prompted to create a payment.  So my credit card payment, of $135.00, wasn’t made.  AAK.  I was, of course, oblivious to all of this.

Until Friday morning when a random 800 number appeared on my caller ID.  And I answered it.  And the person on the other line identified themselves as being from the credit card company that’s in my wallet.  And then I accidentally (REALLY!) hung up on him.  And was like “Oh, shit, I have no idea why they were calling.”  So I did some research and realized that the payment had never been made.  My online statement showed me that I was 8 days late and I had an outstanding payment due of $404.00, which was due by March 14th.

Now, when you’re period is 8 days late, it’s fairly significant.  BUT, when your credit card payment is 8 days late, and you’re not usually late, you’d think it wouldn’t be that big a deal.

You’d be wrong.

The credit card company that’s in my wallet had already sent my account to collections.

F to U to the C to the K.

I immediately scheduled a regular monthly payment on THEIR website which was scheduled to post later that day.  Within an hour or so my phone was ringing again and it was the handy dandy collections department of the card that’s in my wallet.  I explained the situation to the woman, who didn’t seem to give a rat’s ass, and ended the call thinking the drama was over.

I was wrong.

As I sat at my desk pondering the ridiculousness of the situation it occurred to me that a $404.00 payment seemed REALLY high.  I mean, my February payment should have been $135.00.  Add in their $40.00 late fee and another $135.00ish payment for March and you come up with $310.00.  So why did I owe $404.o0?

Because they’d increased my interest rate from 9% to 23%.  After being 8 days late on my payment.  TWENTY-THREE PERCENT!  Are you fucking kidding me?

So, I immediately called them back and demanded that they reduce my interest rate.   To which they responded, “You need to discuss this with a different department” and then promptly disconnected me.  So I called BACK.  And spoke to the correct department.

Which is when I learned that regardless of the fact that as of that evening I was going to be current, and regardless of the fact that I didn’t have a payment due until MARCH 14th, they were still unable to reduce my interest rate.  I need to pay the entire $404.00 before they’d discuss adjusting my interest rate.

*Insert sound of screeching records here*

WHAT?  But I’m now current.  I even paid an extra $40.00 to my account.  “Yes, but it hasn’t posted yet and you didn’t pay the entire amount.”  Okay, so tomorrow, after it’s posted and I’m current for my February payment, I STILL can’t call back and discuss this with you because I’m not current for my March payment, which isn’t due for another three weeks?  AND, I’ll have to pay the extra $100 in interest before you’ll discuss reducing my interest rate?  “Precisely”.

This conversation continued for 10 minutes because I simply couldn’t wrap my brain around the fact that they were going to leave my account in collections even AFTER it was current.

Finally, just as my brain was about to explode, I said “Then I’ll just transfer my entire balance to another card” and hung up on the bitch.

And now I’m just PISSED.  I’m annoyed that they’re screwing me over after being only 8 days late on a payment.  I’m annoyed that they’re doing this to THOUSANDS of people across the country right now.  I’m even more annoyed that most of those thousands of people ARE having financial difficulties and are late because they simply don’t have the money and not because of a technical glitch.  And doubling their interest rate isn’t going to to ANYTHING to help the situation.

I’m gong to call Capital One and fight this.  I’m going to be an annoying pain in the ass until they reduce my interest rate and credit me back the extra interest charged to my account.  And then I’m going to redeem my rewards, transfer the balance and cancel the card.  Screw them.

Capital One will NOT be in my wallet in the near future.  Or ever again.

**If you’re here from StumbleUpon, and you made it all the way to the end, you deserve an award!  I’m hosting a giveaway for a $50 cell phone case…it runs until 6/15/09 and there are cases available for almost all phones and PDA’s!**

In case you can help, I really can’t think of many better causes right now:

If you’ve been around here for a while, you know Angie of KEEP BELIEVING.  You may or may not know that her husband Brian has been battling a brain tumor for years, and he’s nearing the end of his fight.  There’s a button on the sidebar over there <— that takes you to the site where you can donate.  Or, you can visit the KEEP BELIEVING Fund website.

You also probably know about my wacky friend Heather and her gorgeous daughter Maddie (who also happens to be my future daughter-in-law).  Heather is currently raising funds for the March of Dimes March for Babies.  You can click on either of those links for more info.  Heather’s also offering up some GREAT prizes for people who donate (see her website).

And if you’re not ready to click on the donate button yet, click on this. That’s Maddie, who’s in the hospital with pneumonia RIGHT NOW.  Help her, and other babies.

Please and Thank You.

It’s here AGAIN!!!  Remember when we did it a few months ago and it was SO much fun!  Well, the time has come again to open up my comments for hijacking.

SO, feel free to take over.  Whatever you want.  And, in case you have something to say that you don’t want to share *publicly*, please feel free to be anonymous.  Between you and me, just leave a *fake* email address and no one will be the wiser.  I’ll still have to approve it, but we won’t know who you are!  Although, we’ll spend PLENTY of time trying to figure it out.

Please also remember that I will have final say on what ends up posting, so be nice.  Don’t make me break out the wooden spoon.

*Heather sent me this card and I had to share it with you here*

Have a Great Valentine’s Day, Everyone!

I thought I’d share some photos that I’ve taken with my IPhone* in the past few weeks.  But when I was uploading them, I realized that I take a lot of pictures of my kids with messy faces.  Which helps to explain why I go through baby wipes like they’re going out of style.  They eat like pigs.  I have NO idea where they get that from. *Cough*

And, finally, this picture I took yesterday.  The back of this car said “I am a Ninja!” which immediately made me think of The Bloggess, because doesn’t EVERYONE immediately think of Jenny when you see a Ninja?  I know I do.

Obviously, my taking-photos-while-driving skills are lacking, because I didn’t get the freaking “I am a Ninja” sign on camera.  But you get the idea.

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*One of the things I don’t like about the IPhone (besides that it doesn’t have MMS capabilities, WTF, Apple?!) is that the camera quality kind of totally sucks.  And there’s no flash.  Hello, Apple:  Get your shit together.  For a $200 phone, I would expect it to have a decent camera and MMS.  Blackberry can do it, why can’t you?

ALSO:  In case you haven’t heard yet, several of my friends were stuck on an elevator this past weekend while in Nashville.  You can read Amy’s story here and Heather’s story here.  I’m totally pissed for them and I think the Hotel Preston should be ashamed at how they handled the situation.   As someone who’s worked in hospitality, I can’t even IMAGINE what the management of that establishment is thinking.  Although, I’m sure as soon as they feel the force of the social media backlash, they’ll change their tune.

I’m sorry, but you’ve got to admit that he’s a moron.

I mean, really.  What a dope (no pun intended.  Ha).

I just want to smack him upside the head and say:

WHAT IN THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?  ALWAYS CHECK FOR CAMERAS, DUMBASS!

What are your thoughts on the whole situation?  Should he have been suspened for three months?  Should he have lost his Kellog deal?  Should he lose ALL his deals?

My Funny Valentine Baby Blanket, $35.00

Set of 3 Washcloths, $12.00