We’re still working on our Halloween costumes for this year, though we’ve got almost all the materials. I can’t recall if I mentioned it or not but our 4-year-old son is obssessed with all the Mario characters from Nintendo, so he wants us all to dress up in that theme. He’s going as Mario, his little brother will be Baby Mario, I’m Luigi and my wife’s the lovely and talented Princess Peach. I think we have just about everything except the hats, which will be the toughest part. Photos most definitely to come!

But since there’s only about a month left till the big day, here’s a few more Halloween-themed coupons for ya. I’ve also put a Halloween sidebar on the right side to try and keep coupons up to date in there for ya.

10% off any size order at BuyCostumes.com
Plus Free Shipping on orders over $60!
Use coupon code HAUNT10. Valid through: October 1, 2007

5% off online orders over $65 at BuyCostumes.com
Use coupon code FRANKEN5. Valid through: October 31, 2007

$10 off online orders over $50 at Celebrate Express
Use the above link to activate the promotional keycode.
Cannot be combined with other coupons.

10% off online orders over $75 at Celebrate Express
Plus Free Shipping!
Use promotional keycode SKB-097D.
Offer applies to standard shipping on merchandise orders of $75 or more within the contiguous U.S. only. One coupon per purchase. Not applicable to previously placed orders. This offer cannot be combined with other coupons.

My grandmother lived in an apartment in the Bronx. This is my dad’s mom I’m talking about. I never knew my grandfather, though, as he died when my dad was just a teenager. But we’d all go visit Grandma Pearl fairly regularly in her cozy (not small, but medium sized) apartment. And for my sister and I, it wasn’t our ideal place. Sure we loved our grandma, but her apartment was just… well, so not kid friendly.

Antique wooden furniture. Lots of knick knacks. (Yet no paddy wacks! Sorry, couldn’t resist.) And I remember a lot of tiny little blue and pink perfume bottles. You know, the kind you see in those old movies with the tube coming off the top and leading to a big bulb that you squeeze to get squirts of perfume out? Thankfully, she had a TV, which helped pass some of the time. Other than that, there were just two things in her apartment that I actually looked forward to getting my hands on.

The first was some metallic candy dish that looked like it was designed by someone right out of Aladdin. She must’ve restocked this thing like clockwork, because every time we came over and raced to that dish, we’d lift the cover to see what was in it. My sister was a big fan of the caramels, while I loved the coffee candies. Other than that, it was usually a mix of standard lemon, cherry or strawberry hard candies.

The second item? I’m not quite sure what to call it, except for a very large music box. It was triangular in shape and had three long legs, letting the thing stand probably about two or three feet of the ground. The lid opened and you could keep it open with a latch. (I used to bring my little G.I. Joe figures and have them embark on all sorts of dangerous undercover missions in there.) But there was also this metal knob underneath that you could turn and it’d play music. It’s sad, but I don’t even remember the tune anymore. I just remember being completely captivated and mesmerized by it.

It’s been years since Grandma Pearl passed away and I have no clue what happened to that magical music box. But anytime I hear or see any kind of music box today, that’s the first thing that springs to mind. And suddenly I’m a pre-teenager again, sucking down on a sweet coffee candy, while Duke and Snake Eyes race against the musical timer to free Scarlett from the clutches of Cobra…

Speaking of music boxes, look what I happen to have right here (cue music):

15% off an order of $75 or more at San Francisco Music Box
Enter coupon code AFF1X7 during checkout.
Valid through: October 15, 2007
Valid online only. Cannot be combined with any other discount offer. Cannot be applied to previous purchases. Excludes Thomas Kinkade, Lena Liu, and sale merchandise.

Saturday was the first day of Fall, so we celebrated by heading upstate to beautiful Warwick to go apple picking along with some family friends and their 4 year old son. The weather couldn’t have been more perfect and we ended up spending roughly 4 hours at the place. (It was big. REALLY big. As in, they give you a road map to the orchard complete with street names when you arrive.)

The place was so huge you actually just drive right into the orchard yourself and park pretty much wherever you want. Hop outta the car and walk about 2 feet to a tree and start picking. The great thing about this place was that a lot of the trees had very low hanging apples. So even our little guy could reach up and grab himself an apple. Once he saw he could pick his own apple there was no stopping him. Try getting him to actually EAT one, that’s another story. Anyways, at the end o’ the day we managed to fill up one rather large bag, which must be about 50 or so apples.

Which brought up a very good question once we got home: What the heck do you do with 50+ apples? Especially when there’s only really two of you who eat them? We don’t really eat apple sauce. We’re not big pie bakers. And baked apples make me queasy.

We did made apple pancakes on Sunday night, though which were fantastic. And that managed to eat up all of 3 apples. Sigh. Today I ate a few as did my wife, but that full bag is still sitting in the kitchen mocking us. I swear I heard it utter, “suckers” this afternoon under its breath. But regardless, we had an awesome time communing with nature, getting some fresh air and taking in some really gorgeous views.

And while I don’t have any coupons for apples, the whole outdoorsie/one-with-nature thing got me thinking of “natural” and “health” which immediately makes me think of GAIAM, the very cool and very down to earth online store that’s also chock full o’ Yoga goodness. So here are your healthy coupons o’ the day:

$10 off online orders over $50 at Gaiam.com
Use promo code AP6P in the box on the shopping cart page.
Valid through: December 31, 2007 11:59pm MT
Online purchases only. Does not apply to previous purchases. May not be combined with any other offer.

$15 off online orders over $75 at Gaiam.com
Use promo code AP2S in the box on the shopping cart page.
Valid through: September 30, 2007
Online purchases only. Does not apply to previous purchases. May not be combined with any other offer.

And a few current deals:
Compact Fluorescent Bulbs as low as $4 per bulb.
Gaiam’s Power Yoga Mat Kit - now only $9.99. Includes, yoga mat, yoga strap and DVD.
40% off Organic Bath towels. Now only $19.00 for 2 Organic Bath Towels.

NOTE: You must email in your entry to andrew [AT] ultimatecoupons.com in order to officially enter the contest, as per the rules stated below.

It’s contest time here at EverybodyLovesCoupons and for our first-ever contest, we figured we should have a pretty sweet prize. As luck would have it, we snagged ourselves a Nintendo Wii! And since we already have one, we thought we’d let some lucky stiff in the blogosphere win one of their own. So here’s the full scoop:

What You Win:
A brand-new Nintendo Wii which includes:

• Wii system
• Wii Sports game
• 1 Wii remote
• 1 Wii nunchuk
• 1 brand-new Mario Party 8 game

How You Enter:
Just write a post about online coupons on your blog. What you write is totally up to you. You could tell a story about how you use coupon codes to save money online. Or share the biggest savings you’ve ever scored online thanks to promo codes. Heck, go ahead and write a poem dedicated to online coupons. Whatever floats your boat, just write something about online coupons.

Whatever you write must contain the following:

1) The words coupon codes OR coupons which are hotlinked to the URL: http://www.ultimatecoupons.com

2) You must mention that the contest is being sponsored by Everybody Loves Coupons and link to the URL: http://www.ultimatecoupons.com/blog/

Here’s a short example of what you can write, though feel free to write about anything online coupon-related as long as you include the 2 links above:

Did you know you can save money by using coupon codes when you shop online? Sites like UltimateCoupons.com offer tons of great online coupons for hundreds of online merchants to help you get free shipping or dollars off your regular purchases. Plus, you can Win a Nintendo Wii from their coupon blog EverybodyLovesCoupons.

Just make your post by October 31, 2007 at 11:59pm ET and send your post URL to andrew@ultimatecoupons.com along with the post’s title.

Feel free to comment on this post, including a link to your entry so our readers can see your coupon advice or stories related to online coupons. And please feel free to spread the word around and encourage your own readers to join in.

***UPDATE: We will be selecting a winner at random from all correctly entered posts. But I will be doing something fun (either a smaller prize, list them in another post, etc.) for the more creative entries that don’t simply cut and paste.

“I’ve got a secret, I’ve been hiding under my skin.
My heart is human, my blood is boiling, my brain I.B.M.
So if you see me acting strangely, don’t be surprised.
I’m just a man who needed someone, and somewhere to hide.”

Okay, so it’s an old tune (any guesses out there? This one’s pretty easy…), but I don’t just have a secret, apparently I AM a secret. That’s ’cause my Blog Buddy Tish has awarded me the Best Kept Secret award. Woo! Not only do I get to proudly display this saucy badge on my site, but according to the Award’s Creator this one is given out for the following:

We all have a Best Kept Secret blogger or two we visit regularly - a blogger with great style and wit and warmth who hasn’t been discovered yet. Here’s our chance with this award to say, ‘Wow. Check out this blogger!’

Thanks for the award, Tish. It does my heart (and typing fingers) good to know that at least one other person out there is reading what I write. Heh. And Mike over at Ordinary Folk is the genius artist behind this one, and I gotta say it’s defnitely one of your best works yet.

Now I’m supposed to pass this sucker on to 3 other bloggers out there, so here goes:

Cathy over at Chief Family Officer - Whether it’s safety-related issues for kids or family finance-related stories, Cathy’s got a way of stating things straight to the point without sounding stuffy at all.

Lis over at Every Little Thing - Don’t ask me what her blog is about. As the title says, it’s about every little thing. Lis just cracks me up with her posts and particularly with her “hi-tech” self portraits.

Amy from You are a Fly - I haven’t been reading Amy’s blog too long and she may not actually be much of a secret, but you can sum her and her blog up in one word: sweet. I dare you to read one of her posts without feeling like you’ve just stepped into a very special episode of “Little House on the Prairie.” (And that’s meant as a compliment by the way…)

Congrats to you three and now as the laws of physics and the secret society of bloggers dictate, you can pass the award on to 3 of your favorite secret bloggers. Just follow this spiffy instructions and nobody’ll get hurt. Promise.

So tonight the kids gave us a nice present: they went to bed early! Lately they’ve been little monsters chattering away (or screaming) for hours until 9 or 10 each night. Which doesn’t give us much “alone time” to relax at night and catch up on some TV shows or movies, etc. But tonight they were both too zonkered from a long day after getting up so early. So with no new shows to watch (”Lost” doesn’t start for a few more months, we’ve seen all of this season’s “Doctor Who” already, and we’re waiting for the last half of Battlestar Galactica’s 3rd season), we grabbed the remote and checked out what movies were On Demand.

Nothing really jumped out until we got to “The Fountain,” starring Hugh Jackman (Wolverine from the X-Men flicks) and Rachel Weisz (from lotsa flicks, but her big breakout was “The Mummy”). I knew next to nothing about this film other then I remember it getting great reviews, it was somewhat science fictiony, had something to do with the whole “fountain of youth,” and it starred some actors I liked. So I figured it’d be a good lovey dovey time-travel time movie. Well, I figured wrong. Stupid me forgot this film was directed by Darren Aronofsky, the man behind the film “Pi.” Without getting too much into details, this one mixes three parallel tales from different time periods, dealing with the fragility of life, all mixed inside some crazy zen, buddhist metaphysical mumbo jumbo.

Now, I like smart films. I even like some artsy ones. But this one was just a bit too out there for me. My wife merely yawned at the whole thing and now I’ve lost 97 minutes of my life and I’m banned from picking any more On Demand movies. Sigh.

I could go list some spa-related coupons (tying into the fountain of youth part), but I’d much prefer to show off this coupon for horror movies, since I can’t think of anything more horrifying then what I just watched. It’s for Deep Discount, which if you’ve never checked out their site before, you should. What they lack in a slick site, they more than make up for with amazing discounted prices on DVDs, particularly with box sets, as well as CDs and books.

Buy 2 Get 1 Free on select Horror Movies at DeepDiscount.com
In your shopping cart, enter promotional code BUYTWOGETONE.
Valid through: September 24, 2007
Not valid on previous purchases.

The first time I ever made sushi was a nightmare. I was a senior in college and had just gotten into the whole sushi craze. Granted I was a semi-vegetarian at the time, so I was only eating the veggie sushi, but even now, it’s that combo of rice and seaweed that really makes a good sushi roll.

So I tried making it with one of my housemates named Dave. And if you ever make sushi on your own, let me give you just one piece of advice: Do NOT use Uncle Ben’s rice. Y’see, the key to sushi is the awesome sticky rice you make. And yes, it’s not just rice, but a mixture of rice wine vinegar and sugar that’s poured onto the rice to create the sticky sweet taste that holds it together. Except, it doesn’t work on Uncle Ben’s rice, which has built its reputation on non-sticky rice. But we were young. And in college. And just plain stupid. Plus, it’s all we had in the house so we figured it’d work. What we ended up with were half-burnt chunks of nori sheets, covered with various flakes of wet vinegary rice. In on way whatsoever did these things resemble a roll. Heck, the only way you could tell it was sushi was the black and white color. My memory’s failing a bit, but I believe my wife (college sweetheart at the time) was there, either helping us or more likely laughing at us and refusing to taste the things when we were done. All I remember is her repeatedly asking us why we used Uncle Ben’s rice. Sigh.

Nowadays, the two of us make sushi a lot more often (Sorry, Dave. That’s what you get for living a few states away…). And she’s one heckuva sushi maker. We don’t really mess around with the fish (though, occasionally I’ll buy a nice hunk of tuna or salmon), but we make some awesome veggie rolls using cucumbers, avocado, carrots, oshinko and if we can make a special trip to the Japanese mart, kanpyo, which is the sweet japanese squash. (sooo goood). It’s actually a lot of fun to make and a great group activitiy, especially since it makes tons of rolls. I’m fairly inept at making the rolls, but I definitely make up for it with my excellent cutting style, and more importantly, my eating technique.

You don’t need to be a sushi chef or even amateur one like myself to take advantage of this Chef’s Catalog coupon:

Free Shipping on online orders over $99 at CHEFS
Use the above link to activate the Promotional Code.
Valid through: October 31, 2007 11:59pm MT
Valid online only for free shipping within the continental United States. Does not apply to previous orders. Items with additional postage and handling, items shipped directly from the manufacturer (listed as “AP” beneath the item price), express delivery orders, and gift cards do not qualify for free shipping. Not valid with any other offers.

Browse more Chef’s Catalog Coupons or Cooking.com Coupons

Let me preface this entry by stating that I’m running on roughly 2 1/2 hours of sleep. (Just in case anyone’s keeping score out there: Our little one’s got a cold and decided to wake up 4 times at night the previous night, whereas my wife got real sick yesterday and was up from about 11:30 p.m. to 4 a.m. this morning.) And this lack of sleep while trying to work brings back memories and horrible Peter, Paul & Mary flashbacks…

Our 4 year old sleeps through the night now, but as an infant he full-out failed at sleeping. He’d wake up a few times at night, and it got progressively worse where it literally was every 45 minutes, he’d be awake. I even remember my wife nursing him in bed, I’d gently grab him, put him in the bassinet right next to the bed and sneak off to the bathroom to brush my teeth. When I came out, he was already back in bed with my wife. So yeah, a real restless, light sleeper.

Because of this and because I needed to work nights a bit (I used to freelance and do all my work at night from like 8 p.m. to midnight or 1), we made arrangemets that she’d go to bed around 9 and anytime he woke up, I’d run upstairs, grab him from his crib and rock him back to sleep. So there was a long stretch where I remember working on my computer, then hearing him cry and I’d run upstairs to rock him. To help, I’d put on one of the Best of Peter, Paul & Mary CDs we played for him. For some reason “Leaving on a Jet Plane” always seemed to calm him down. So with that song on repeat, I’d gently walk back and forth in his room till he fell asleep, usually after about 5 or 6 plays. Then I’d run downstairs, start working and, hey 15 or 20 minutes later, he’d do it again. Some nights I got away with only going up once or twice, but most nights I went up 3 or 4 I’d say. Do the math and tell me if you could stomach listening to “Leaving on a Jet Plane” these days without having the hair on the back of your neck stand up and your earlobes fighting desperately to close themselves…

And speaking of jet planes, I’ve got a great 72-hour Sale at Orbitz coupon for ya:

$50 off 2+ night hotel or vacation stays at Orbitz.com
Save $50 on 2-night or longer hotel stays or vacation packages to domestic and international destinations
Use the above link to get the promotion code and all the details.
Valid through: September 20, 2007
Travel must occur between September 18, 2007 and November 15, 2007. You must book your trip by September 20, 2007. To display qualifying hotels or packages, click “I have a promotion code.” and enter the promotion code, then look for hotels or packages marked with the icon “COUPON.” Limit one discount per hotel room and one promotion code per purchase.

Check out our Orbitz Coupons page for more great deals

Quick post in honor of the Yankees kicking butt last night and the BoSox losing, which puts the Yanks only 3 1/2 back of first place. Woot! No matter what team you’re rooting for (yes, even Tigers and Red Sox fans can take advantage), MLB.com is having a nice 4-hour sale today:

Get 20% off your online order at MLB.com
No code necessary, just use the link above.
Sale only valid from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. ET
Discount does not apply to shipping, handling, taxes or gift cards. Cannot be combined with any other offer.

I’m not the handiest guy in the world. I’ll admit it. (Yeah, they don’t call me Handy Andy for nothing. Actually they don’t call me that for anything. In fact, they don’t call me Andy, probably because I don’t like it. But I’m digressing…) So when we were preparing for our first born’s imminent arrival we decided to call in a baby-proofing expert. Yeah I can (and did) change out outlet faceplates with the funky babyproof version that kids can’t stick their fingers in. That much I could do. But screwing in all those latches in the kitchen cabinets and on the entertainment center below the TV was more cursing than I was willing to handle. So we found somebody in Westchester who made the trip over and for a few hundred bucks outfitted our whole house with latches, knobs, safety locks, etc. It was definitely worth the money.

I did install the gate at the top of our stairs. And that took probably about 5 or 6 hours, half of which was spent by me screaming at the stupid gate or the wall for not working right. I think it would’ve been easier if we just decided to move everything downstairs and live there until the kids were teenagers and we could safely let them go down the steps. But somehow I got it to work without looking “too” ugly. And of course, about a year later we replaced our entire wrought-iron railings since they weren’t up to code and we were afraid our son would just jump over it. (We did have that hard plastic stuff all around it so he wouldn’t fall through, but the height was fairly low.) And when they put in a gorgeous new wooden railing all around, I made sure part of that installation was including a wooden gate at the top. I didn’t care one bit how much it’d cost for that gate, as it’d look real nice and be far more protective than any regular gate I’d have to manually attach. And, of course, there was no way I was going to go through that ordeal all over again.

Beyond the little outlet covers which even a monkey can replace (it’s just 1 screw really), the two other key baby proofing items I’d recommend to any new parents out there are the door “finger pinch guard” cushions (C-shaped foam that you just stick on the side of any door) and toilet locks. The door cushions keep babies/kids from closing a door completely or more importantly, from slamming any doors and thereby getting their fingers trapped in them. They cost a few bucks apiece, so buy a slew of them and slap them on every door in your house. The toilet locks look like some crazy alien invention but they’re really fairly simple to put together. They’re also fairly easy for guests to break as they force open your toilet seat cover in an effort to “just make it in time.” So buy a few extras, ’cause they will break. Trust me.

Anyways, September is Baby Safety Month, so double check your house for any dangers you may not be aware of. Chemicals in easily accesible cabinets. Small coins or parts lying around the house. Balloons. Rubber Bands. Your Extra Sharp Knife Collection you just can’t live without. You get the picture. Best thing to do for parents of babies? Get down on your hands and knees and literally crawl around your home. Look for trouble spots that you can bang your head on (then buy those cushiony pieces of foam), small objects you can easily grab, exposed wires, etc.

Nowadays, our 4 year old can open the entertainment center beneath the TV and even show our 2 year old how to do it. So our best babyproofing option now is to “just say no.” Heh. And to help you out this month, Babies R Us is having a huge sale on all sorts of babyproofing items, along with other general baby items.

Shop the Big Baby Book at Babies R Us
Use the above link to shop through the online catalog (Toys R Us Big Baby Book) and get these special offers:
$10 off Car Seats & Booster Seats priced $40 or more
$10 off Strollers priced $40 or more
$20 off Travel Systems Priced $100 or more
20% off Crib Bedding sets priced $69.99 or less
20% off Lamps & Mobiles
Buy 1 Get one 50% off All Gerber Basic Bedding
Buy 1 Get one 50% off Carters Basic Bedding
20% off Toddler Basic Bedding 4-pc. Sets
$2 off 2-pack Cups
$5 off Infant Carriers
$10 off Indoor Infant Swings (Excludes Travel Swings)
$5 off Soft Play Gyms (Excludes Tiny Love)
$10 on Play YardsTravel Yards priced $50 or more
$8 on Walkers & Stationary Entertainers priced $40 or more
$10 on High Chairs
10% off Wooden Toddler Beds priced $99.99 or less
$20 off Crib and Mattress Combos
15% off Boppy Pillows & Slipcovers 10% off Nursery Monitors priced under $99.99
$20 off Nursery Monitors priced $99.99 or more
15% off Thermometers & Humidifiers
15% off Toy Boxes, Table & Chairs Sets & Toddler Beds from Step2
Buy 1 Get 1 50% off Kiddopotamus Swaddle-Me Adjustable Newborn Wraps
$5 off Bouncers & Travel Swings (Excludes Full-size Swings & Gliders)
$3 off Bathtubs, Bathseats & Diaper Pails priced $12.99 or more (Excludes Booster Car seats)
15% off Avent Dr. Brown’s, Playtex & especially for baby Infant Feeding or soothing items
15% off Safety Gates & Extensions priced $14.99 or more
Valid through: September 29, 2007 11:59pm ET