Celebrating Halloween is always a lot of fun, and Chase's Treasures has decided to celebrate this year by hosting its first ever Facebook competition!  Here's the scoop:  If you're a fan of Chase's Treasures' Facebook fan page, you can upload a picture of your child (up to the age of 15) in his or her Halloween costume.  Then, you get your friends and family to become fans of Chase's Treasures on Facebook, and they can "like" your picture.  At the end of the competition, the picture with the most number of "likes" wins the prize.  What prize is that?  It's a $100.00 gift certificate to Chase's Treasures -- just in time to start your holiday shopping! Shop worth $100 for free from ChasesTresures.com

Here are specific instructions on what to do to enter the competition, and if you have any questions, you can always email info@chasestreasures.com and we'll help you out:

1) Go to www.facebook.com/chasestreasures.fans.  If you're already a fan, skip to step 2.  If you are NOT yet a fan, click "like" to become one.

2) Simply enter your name in the box, then, click the photo button which is the first one to the right of the word "attach."  Click "upload a photo." Choose your photo from your computer, and then click the word "share."

Once you've uploaded your photo to the Chase's Treasures fan page, it's time to enlist your friends and family.  Tell them to become fans of Chase's Treasures (www.facebook.com/chasestreasures.fans).  Once they have become fans, they can "like" your photograph!

One Like is one vote. The photo with the most number of "likes" on November 30th, 2010, at midnight, wins the competition.

Labels: Free Shopping, Halloween Photo Contest, Hallowen

Some people have the luxury of having children that just eat dinner.  You cook it, they eat it, and that's it.  That's not my house, though.  My girls are picky, and it is hard to find dinners that appeal to both of them.  When I stumble on something good, I write it down (my older daughter and I are making a cookbook -- more on this another time).


One dinner that has made the cut in my house is tacos.  My dad, who grew up in Mexico City, is surely smiling about this.  Tacos are great because you can do many different kinds, and there are ways to cut down on the expense at the grocery store.  For "regular" tacos, we buy one box of "Stand and Stuff" taco shells, some ground meat or ground turkey, a block of cheese, a can of black beans, a can of vegetarian refried beans, a head of lettuce, 2 avocados, 1 package of taco seasoning, one package of guacamole seasoning and a jar of taco sauce.

Now, here's the money saving tip on these -- buy less meat.  Most people buy a full pound of ground beef, but we have found that 2/3 of a pound works fine to feed the 4 of us if we use a can of black beans as well.  So, when you are cooking your ground meat (or turkey breast or chicken breast), you add in the taco seasoning and then stir in a can of black beans.  The beans provide excellent protein, and are very inexpensive in the supermarket.  They basically take on the flavor of the taco seasoning, and once you have them in the shell with taco sauce, lettuce, and guacamole on top -- it is very tasty.

You can also save money here by purchasing the entire head of lettuce (so much less expensive than buying "pre-made" and you can use the rest the next day for a steak salad (Easy Kid-Friendly Food Ideas Number 2), a block of cheese that you shred yourself in a food processor at home (we use Mexican white cheese that we buy at Costco, but you can do this easily with cheddar or Monterrey Jack), and by making your own guacamole (much cheaper to buy 2 ripe avocados and a packet of seasoning than a pint of ready made).

If you think you'll still be hungry after a couple of these (a box of Stand and Stuff Taco Shells has 12 shells), you put a can of vegetarian refried beans in a bowl and melt some of your freshly shredded cheese on top.  Pop that in the microwave for a couple of minutes, and voila, you have a Taco dinner side dish.  

Your kids will love this dinner, and so will you.  It is easy to do, fun and tasty to eat, and it just isn't very expensive.  Plus, you can change up our protein choice to keep it fresh from one week to the next.  We have also used sliced chicken breast and/or shrimp.  You can cook either of those with a packet of taco seasoning, but we usually use a quick marinade made with salt, pepper, lime juice and honey and it always turns out fantastic.

Labels: food, kid friendly dinners, money saving idea

I don’t know about any of you, but when I became pregnant the first time, the very first book that I bought to answer the million questions I had was “What to Expect When You’re Expecting.” Despite my OB-GYN begging me not to read pregnancy books for the potential fear they might instill about my every twinge, ache or cramp, I nearly slept with my What to Expect book throughout my pregnancy.

Amazon's Review of the 4th Edition of the book:

Announcing a brand new, cover-to-cover revision of America's pregnancy bible. What to Expect When You're Expecting is a perennial New York Times bestseller and one of USA Today's 25 most influential books of the past 25 years. It's read by more than 90% of pregnant women who read a pregnancy book--the most iconic, must-have book for parents-to-be, with over 14.5 million copies in print.

Now comes the Fourth Edition, a new book for a new generation of expectant moms--featuring a new look, a fresh perspective, and a friendlier-than-ever voice. It's filled with the most up-to-date information reflecting not only what's new in pregnancy, but what's relevant to pregnant women. Heidi Murkoff has rewritten every section of the book, answering dozens of new questions and including loads of new asked-for material, such as a detailed week-by-week fetal development section in each of the monthly chapters, an expanded chapter on pre-conception, and a brand new one on carrying multiples. More comprehensive, reassuring, and empathetic than ever, the Fourth Edition incorporates the most recent developments in obstetrics and addresses the most current lifestyle trends (from tattooing and belly piercing to Botox and aromatherapy). There's more than ever on pregnancy matters practical (including an expanded section on workplace concerns), physical (with more symptoms, more solutions), emotional (more advice on riding the mood roller coaster), nutritional (from low-carb to vegan, from junk food–dependent to caffeine-addicted), and sexual (what's hot and what's not in pregnant lovemaking), as well as much more support for that very important partner in parenting, the dad-to-be.

Overflowing with tips, helpful hints, and humor (a pregnant woman's best friend), this new edition is more accessible and easier to use than ever before. It's everything parents-to-be have come to expect from What to Expect... only better.

Chase’s Treasures has recently been featured on WhatToExpect.com, the FREE companion to the virtual pregnancy bible. WhatToExpect.com gives you a day-by-day personalized pregnancy guide, message boards, profiles and blogs so you can connect with other new moms, a due date calendar and features answers to almost all of your questions.

Chase’s Treasures is delighted to have a banner placed in the community section of WhatToExpect.com, so all new and expectant mom’s can read about their growing baby, and then head over to Chase’s Treasures to browse the fantastic, hip baby and children’s goods and threads we have.

To celebrate our recent partnership with What to Expect, we are hosting a giveaway! We have 6 brand new copies of the 4th Edition of What to Expect When You’re Expecting and we will give these away to our lucky winners.

To enter, simply leave a COMMENT at this blog post (click on "Comments" at the top of this blog post, near the title) with a your name, email address and a comment on something you like from Chase’s Treasures. Then, go to our Facebook fan page, www.facebook.com/chasestreasures.fans and click “Like” to become a fan and get exclusive discounts, promotions and sales.

Winners will be chosen at random, and we will email you to let you know if you’ve won so we can get your address and send out your new book.

Contest begins Thursday, October 21st, 2010 and ends the following Wednesday, on October 27th, 2010.

Labels: books, giveaway, pregnancy, Whattoexpect.com

I function on very little sleep. This is partly because I've been an on and off insomniac since 1990, and partly because in addition to owning and running Chase's Treasures, I have the house to run, 2 little girls to raise, and on the side (what side?), I am helping my daughters' school re-design their website, among other things. Being spread thin leads to working late nights, and I often go to bed only a few hours before I have to get the girls up (or they get me up), in the morning.

Getting them up and dressed and ready for camp, especially as sleep deprived as I am, could make anyone lose their mind. My sanity saver, and my 2-cents for all of you readers is: do everything you can the night before. This will totally save you (and your mind) from hectic mornings which also happen to be prime time for young children to make trouble, spill things, cry and otherwise make your morning go anything but smoothly.

When my kids get home from camp, the first thing I do is peel them out of their dirty, sweaty clothing and put them right in the shower. Then, while they're eating dinner, I unpack their respective camp back-packs and leave them for a few minutes on the air conditioner to dry and air out. While the bags are airing, I go to Samantha & Lexi's closet and pick out what's needed for the next day. I put their outfits for the next morning on the coffee table. I pack up the bags and put them by the door for the morning. The only thing left to go into the bags in the morning are their water bottles (thanks Sigg, for making awesome, stainless, BPA-free water bottles). I head to the kitchen, rinse and re-fill their water bottles and put them in the fridge so they'll be very cold in the morning. I then do the absolutely necessary -- I make the coffee and set the coffee maker to automatically turn on at 6:30 am.

This routine is my literal morning sanity saver. The kids usually dress themselves, and so that brings my morning down to 2 relatively simple tasks -- putting on the children's sunscreen and making their breakfast. Those things, thankfully, I can pretty much do with my eyes closed.

So, if your mornings are feeling rushed and pressured and everyone seems grumpy, don't go nuts. Save your sanity and just do as much as you can the night before.

Labels: camp, organizational skills, time management

Ok, so this isn't about July 4th. We have a carpet that is ivory (well, beige) with a blue/gray design throughout. It's Persian -- there's no point trying to describe it. Anyway, here's the red -- fruit punch. A bottle of fruit punch was left open inside of Alexandra's camp bag. And it spilled all over the ivory and blue rug. I didn't know this for hours, until I went to re-pack her camp bag at night. There it was, this huge, red oval. I tried to blot it out. I tried get it out with club soda. I tried to get it out with Resolve -- 3 times. Not much happened. It barely lightened.

Then I scoured the internet -- the infinitely large space of all answers previously unknown. Here I found the best tip ever for removing a red stain from a white and blue carpet (well, technically a fruit punch stain from any carpet). Here's what you do:

1) blot up the stain with a white towel

2) Mix dishwashing detergent, like Cascade, in a spray bottle with water. If you're like me, you use dishwashing tabs -- you can put those in a bowl with water until they dissolve and then pour into a spray bottle. I ran out of patience and just bought the liquid at the market.

3) Spray the dishwashing/water mixture on the stain. Cover thoroughly, but don't soak the carpet.

4) Put a fresh white towel over the stain. Then run an iron on medium heat over the stain for a couple of minutes.

You will see the red from the stain go from the carpet into the white towel. Repeat this process with clean towels until the stain is gone.

It is literally amazing.

Happy 4th of July.

Labels: dishwashing detergent, ironing, stain remover, stains

Today is my anniversary. Today (or technically tonight), my husband and I have been married for 8 wonderful years (and we've known each other for 10). I am amazed at how fast the time has gone; at the plethora of adventures -- large and small -- that we have been on and through; at the 2 wonderful, very special little girls we have created together.

So a big thank you to my husband, for being who he is, for loving me completely, and for making these last 10 years the best 10 years a girl could ever ask for.

One thing that my kids love to do is draw. There is almost never a day in our apartment when crayons or markers aren't out and being used to make me a picture, or to draw a friend or relative a card of some sort (Feel Better, Happy Birthday and the like).

That said, one product that my girls have "tested" from Chase's Treasures and that I've found immensely handy, especially when going out, is the Crayola DoodleBag.



The girls just love the Doodlebag, and for good reason. For starters, the Doodlebag is relatively small and light, so it is easy for the kids to carry. Plus, it can be personalized with your child's name, so there is right away no fighting over whose is whose.

The crayola doodlebugz doodlebag zippers open easily to reveal a pad of paper and pockets to hold your child's favorite crayola colors. She has everything she needs right there to draw you a priceless picture. One dinner out for us resulted in a rainbow and flower picture that we framed and hung on our wall.



Better yet, if your little artist gets tired of her crayons, she can just turn the page and start a whole new activity with chalk and a mini chalkboard. with an eraser and 12 colorful pieces of crayola chalk, your child can draw pictures, or you can even play a game like hangman or tic-tac-toe.

The crayola doodlebugz doodlebag has a quite a few pockets that can hold additional chalk if needed.

And not to worry that there isn't a place for completed pictures, the doodlebugz doodlebag has a front pocket for safe keeping. You can even keep stickers and other small goodies in there.

In 5 different colorways, you can easily find a Doodlebag suitable for either a boy or girl. The crayola dooglebugz doodlebag is a wonderful gift to give to your child, to give as a birthday gift for any toddler or preschooler and makes one of the best big brother or big sister gifts.

Labels: art, arts and crafts, birthday gifts, crayola doodlebag, crayons, drawing, sibling gifts, toddler gifts