As I have mentioned before, I am a Purex Insider and as such I get to try a lot of their awesome laundry products. Most recently I was sent some Purex Plus Oxi to test out.

About Purex Plus Oxi

A few things I was told about Purex Plus Oxi:

• The "most powerful Purex detergent available" It works on over 101 stains!
• There are 3 stain fighting enzymes in Purex Plus Oxi and each enzyme works against different types of stains.
• Works in both high efficiency washers and traditional washers
• As with other Purex products-it is not going to break the bank! It costs half the price of leading brands! :)
• Hypoallergenic formula with light fresh scent.
• Can be used for a pretreater as well. Just pour a little on the fabric, rub stained item together and let sit for 5 minutes before putting in washer.

What did I think:

Well, my sons gave me the perfect chance to test out this product! To REALLY test it out. My baby boy, E-Pup was eating chocolate one morning right after Halloween, and went to hug his big brother (E Dawg) before school. That was a big problem, and E Dawgs shirt looked like this:

He quickly changed his shirt and ran out to the bus stop, while I went to work on removing the stain from this white shirt. I pretreated it with the Purex Plus Oxi:

And washed it and dried it. After school, E Dawg was so happy to see that his shirt now looked like this again:

Apparently my little E-Pup did not think that was a tough enough test though. He is 20 months and into everything. So, he went ahead and did this to his other brother, Army's bed sheet:

ACK! Well, I tried out the Purex plus Oxi again and this is what that corner of the bed looks like now:

YEAH!!! It worked! On both of the baby's messes! I was very happy with the performance! It really worked out!

Also, I want to make a quick note about the scent of the Purex with Oxi. Most of you know I usually buy dye free, scent free detergent because I have kids and a husband with SUPER sensitive skin! This is a lightly scented detergent so I was a bit nervous about using it. One of my VERY sensitive skinned guys is Army. That is his sheet with marker covering it above. I washed his sheet in the Purex plus Oxi (lightly scented), and he has not had any skin outbreaks or rashes at all. So, at least for my sensitive skinned family, the scent was not an issue!

You can enter to Win!

There are a couple of great ways to win here! I will be giving away 3 coupons to 3 different readers of this blog so they can try out Purex plus Oxi themselves. You can enter that giveaway right here on this blog on the Rafflecopter form below! YEAH!

Purex has their own awesome giveaway going on!! The Purex plus Oxi Sweepstakes is up and running and it has $6,000 in prizes!! You can also enter to win LOTS of different prizes from Purex here in that sweepstakes!!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
The Terms and Conditions in the rafflecopter form says: Please note that the giveaway will end on 12/09 at 12:00 AM EASTERN time. That means you have until 11:00 PM on 12/08 Central time to get in entries (That is only 10:00 PM here in AZ). Please note that winners will be picked at random by Rafflecopter after the giveaway ends! Also, Facebook is not affiliated with this giveaway and cannot be held responsible for it in any way.

***By Way of Disclosure, I was sent a free bottle of Purex Plus Oxi for my review, and was given the 3 Free coupons as prizes for this giveaway. I was not however compensated in any other way and all opinions expressed are my own!***

Black Friday! Arguably my favorite holiday of the week and one of the top 3 of the year (after Christmas and my birthday-which I will always count as a holiday). BUT this year it was not to be. This year was one of those lovely years when residency (or fellowship in this case) has blocked my shopping. So, as Wes works to earn us the money, I will not be out spending it and shopping as I usually am. And honestly, I am not too upset about it. I have been able to find most of the items I need online at great prices through the year anyway and will continue to look for the best prices for the rest of the Christmas list. That being said, I hope many of you got the chance to stay up all night shopping and getting GREAT deals! AND I want to hear about your adventures! PLEASE!!! Share your Black Friday stories and feed my addiction since I was unable to go! Comment with your stories! To get started, let me repost below my (LONG) story of my Black Friday adventure from a couple years ago. It was great-quite amusing (not sure the hilarity of it really translates in writing, but just know-it was funny!)!! As I am preparing for one of my favorite days of the year (Black Friday), I thought I would repost my funny shopping experience from last year. It is a long but (hopefully) fun read! I know I have a lot of new readers over the past year that might get a kick out of this post! If you are a long time reader, you may want to re-read it so you can use my lessons learned to help prepare for the big shopping day! :)

Most years, I do all (or most) of my Christmas Shopping on Black Friday. I am usually one of those very organized shoppers with a list of where I am going, when I am going there and a plan for how to get all the deals I need to make Christmas happen for cheap! Since Walmart price matches, I generally try to do as much of it as I can price matching.

Well, this year, I only needed a few things as I did most of the Christmas Shopping for this year right AFTER Christmas last year. It was a new experience for me. I almost skipped Black Friday altogether this year as I thought Wes (my hubby) had to work Black Friday (he did work but only 1-10pm). So, Wes and I looked through the ads and found that there were a few things we wanted at 3 stores.

The stops would be as follows:

1-Midnight stop at Walmart...hoping to get an art set for one child, PJ's for all 4 kids, a writing toy for another kid, and the super cheap towels.

2-6am Menards stop for: pop up tent & tunnel, "Cuddle Up" (Snuggie imitation-Wes wanted to get me one for Christmas), Wii remote charging station, and "Cuddlee Pets" (imitation Pillow Pets) for all four kids.

3-Stop at Younkers to use $10 coupon and possibly get nicer "Snuggie"-like item.

Obviously with 4 kids at home, one of us shops and the other stays home with the kids-especially when the first stop is at midnight. In years past, Walmart has been my first stop and I have gone in and grabbed the toys I was after and hurried out while everyone else was still fighting over electronics. This year Walmart split up the sale so electronics doorbusters went on at 5 am and the other ones (the ones I needed) went on at midnight. I thought it would make it easier for me to get in, out and get what I wanted without SOOO many shoppers at midnight.

WRONG! Dead wrong! First, when I left my house at 11:40ish, the streets were empty except for a steady stream of minivans making their way toward Walmart-no joke! I walked in to the store and could hardly walk in it was so crowded. I was lucky enough to have a nice manager hand me a cart (they were basically gone) as I walked in (that is one benefit to pregnancy-people want to help you out generally). So I fought my way through the people back to the PJ's and grabbed the 4 pair I needed-surprisingly the exact ones I wanted for each kid. ALL towels were long gone by the time I made it to them, so I made my way to toys. The art supplies I wanted were all gone, but I DID get the writing toy. So, I was ready to make my way to a line.

There was one employee on that side of the store that was herding people into a HUGE long line that went from the last check stand, through the sections of toys, health and beauty, pets, Christmas and all the way into the garden area. It was insane. It would have been a fine idea if that was the ONE store line and it fed into all the checkout stands, but no. It fed into only ONE checkout lane-ONE! I realized this and told the employee I was not done shopping when he tried to convince me I HAD to get in that line to check out, and I made my way back over to the grocery side of the store where I got in another long line. (Not even CLOSE to as long as that other line.)

While waiting in line I had the guy behind me pinch my butt, then an older guy rammed into my cart with his cart and tried to cut in front of me in line. When I said "Really?! You think so?!" to te old guy and told him to go to the back of the line, the butt pincher behind me did and said nothing. Then tried to act like he was ready to defend my honor AFTER the older guy was gone (it was pretty funny).

There was a woman in front of me that had lots of heavy stuff and no cart and I had a cart and hardly anything in it, so I moved my stuff to the front part of the cart and offered her the back of my cart for her to rest her stuff in while we waited in line. She took me up on it and we started to talk. As we were getting closer to the front, I realized I had gotten the WRONG size for one of the PJ's, Thank goodness I had made this friend, so she watched our cart as I ran back and (luckily) found the correct size.

After over an hour in line, I made it to the front finally! I made it home from Walmart at about 2:30am, and thought I would throw in a nap.

When the alarm went off at 5 am, I turned it off and went back to bed. I woke up around 6:30/7 and ran over to Menards in my PJs. There I was able to score the Cuddle pets (all 4) and the tents. The Wii chargers were sold out, and the snuggie things were made of really coarse feeling felt so I opted to leave without one!!

Waiting in that long line was quite amusing as the lady in front of me was very funny, and the lady in front of her was even funnier. The one 2 up from me kept having people ram into her cart, and she never even flinched or got upset at them. We told her how impressed we were that she was so patient, and she said "Honey, I work at the casino! This is nothin!"

Then the 2 guys behind me in line ( who were both a little gangster looking) were telling me the funniest stories about the other places they had already been. I heard tales of Toys R Us, Walmart and Target. The funniest of which was the one guy telling me he saw a lady with 2 HUGE carts full of stuff at Walmart at 1am struggling through the parking lot, so he started to rush toward her to help, and she yelped and started running through the parking lot trying to push one cart and pull the other! He said to me "I guess I look pretty scary running over to help at 1am." He thought it was hilarious. The other guy saw a fight break out and a man escorted from Walmart at about midnight (I had seen the escort out and wondered what had happened so it was interesting to hear from someone that was back there). FYI the fight was over a pricematch for $99 Wii's.

After I went home, content with my shopping and feeling done for the day, Wes wanted to go get the nicer looking Snuggies from Younkers for my present. We went over and got them (as I stood in line for over an hour he took the kids to see Santa in the mall-with NO line BTW). I have to admit-I learned I am NOT a pet person...a mom and daughter in front of me in line were saying "I just don't know which one he will like better, he is so picky...maybe I should grab the other one?" I assumed they were talking about the pillow pets they were holding for the grandkids (they had been talking about them a lot). Then the daughter said "Let's look at them together" then she walked over and grabbed a second pet bed and set it next to the one they had and they proceeded to discuss the DOG's color and pattern preferences...I was baffled-I thought dogs were colorblind, but then again, I have never had a dog. Do they really have preferences?! Seriously pet owners, do they?!

All in all I had a successful day and got most of my goal products, but I also had a few things I learned that I want to share:

1-We are all in this together-we are all stuck in this crazy crowd trying to get the best deals, so let's try not to make it so miserable on each other-no need to be mean. Remember the things your mom and dad taught you and don't pick on other kids, don't push and shove, and be nice! (That does NOT mean you need to be so nice as to give up the things you want to someone else that wants it too-go get what you need, but don't trample others to get it).

2-No sir, there is no cutting in line no matter how old, how frustrated or how aggressive you are-that young little weak looking pregnant lady WILL stand up for herself! I will NEVER start a confrontation, and in fact I will always try to be pleasant and kind to others, but so help me, if you get in my face I WILL defend myself and as my father-in-law says, "If it is a matter of who can pitch the biggest fit, I can if necessary."

3-Black Friday is stressful-the economy is bad, and we ALL want/need that deal to make Christmas happen, so it is probably a good time to be patient and to help out a stranger and do some service for others-like the lady without a cart. It did not hurt me at all to share mine with her, but it sure made it easier on her!

4-Patience, Patience, Patience!! Would I on any other day wait in the Disneyland length lines at a store? No, no I would not. Would I have the patience for it? No, but on Black Friday I put on my most patient face and head out the door!

5-Black Friday shopping is NOT nearly as fun alone! Thank you for all my friends and family who have gone with me in the past and made it an FUN experience! Those of you that can share with me the cart crashing and we can laugh at it together! Those who have waited in those eternal lines and talked to me and helped further develop our relationships as we tried to make a stressful situation fun! Thanks Wes, Mom, Andrea, Melanie, Spence, Lindsey, Lisa, Laurie and all the others that have joined me in my madness over the years!!

6-If you can, bring a buddy with you to Black Friday-it really is better that way (see lesson 5).

So, readers-do you do Black Friday?! Any funny stories you can share?! I would LOVE to hear about it!!!

I love food. I really do! I find myself feeling jealous when other bloggers get to review and try awesome products and I don't. So, I enter their giveaways and I buy stuff and I wish it was me reviewing that awesome food! One of the items I have been jealously stalking on other blog reviews is Farm Rich products! So, when the contacted me a while back to do a review/giveaway, I was excited beyond words!

They sent me 2 coupons for FREE products. I headed to the store and began my search in the freezer aisle to choose which 2 awesome products I would try. Should I get the famous Mozzarella Cheese Sticks or maybe go for the Mozzarella Bites or the Queso Cheese Bites?   Maybe I should get the Mini Pizza Slices or the Stuffed Pretzel Bites? But honestly, the Jalapeno Peppers, the Mini Quesadillas and the Meatballs all looked amazing too...

What did we Try?

Really I should never go shopping hungry. I could not limit myself. I got the Mozzarella Cheese Sticks, the Stuffed Pretzel Bites, and the Meatballs...on that trip. (I have been back for more...) (Not all items made it into my picture-sorry)

What did we think?

Well, it is an understatement to say we liked them. We loved them. My kids have asked for them (all of them) over and over again since we tried the first bag. You might say they had us at the first bite. Really. Let me tell you about them one at a time:

Mozzarella Cheese Sticks: OK, this was the fan favorite at the Johnson house with the children! My oldest son asks for them EVERY DAY after school since he tried them. He told me that these Mozzarella sticks paired with his favorite spaghetti sauce is the perfect food! My second son is quite a picky eater and often will not eat what I prepare for him. I made these as a side to go with spaghetti one night and he ate and ate and ate. He loved them and it was not a fight to get him to eat dinner that night! The other 3 kids also loved them and would eat them anytime, anywhere and would consider it a real treat!

Stuffed Pretzel Bites: Though the Mozzarella Sticks were the clear favorite overall, these were a close second, and the favorite for my oldest daughter. Well, really for both my daughters. My oldest daughter really loved that the cheese was inside so it was less messy "especially for the younger kids."  I agree with her on that, and they taste great! I really liked these a lot and would happily have them as an after school snack or for a party or to watch a football game, or for whatever other daily use you can think of! I would note that you need to make sure they are cooled off enough before giving them to kids after cooking them because the cheese can get pretty hot! Just to throw that out there. :)

Meatballs: This was the mom favorite for  making my life easier! What a quick easy way to make an everyday meal (for us Spaghetti with sauce) extra special for the kids! Just adding the meatballs to my sauce rather than using ground hamburger made the kids so much happier (and it was so much easier for me). My son that hates sauce, willingly ate it with the meatballs in it! And I would note that the flavor of the meatballs is fabulous! We tried both the original Meatballs and the Italian Style Meatballs, and liked both!

Where can you find Farm Rich products?

On the Farm Rich website you can find out who near you carries these great products. Just search for your area here.

There is a fabulous coupon right now...

Also on the Farm Rich website right now you can print a coupon for $1.50 off 2 Farm Rich products. Get the coupon here.

Anyone want a chance to win?

I sure hope so because one lucky Beckee's Deals winner will win 2 FREE Farm Rich product coupons (just like I got-$6.99 value each)!!  If you want to win, just enter on the Rafflecopter form below:
a Rafflecopter giveaway
As the Rafflecopter says "Please note that the giveaway will end on 11/14 at 12:01 AM EASTERN time. That means you have until 11:01 PM on 11/13 Central /time to get in entries (That is only 9:01PM here in AZ).  Please note that winners will be picked at random by Rafflecopter after the giveaway ends!  Giveaway sponsor will send prize out and I cannot be held responsible for getting it to you. Sorry. Also, Facebook is not affiliated with this giveaway and cannot be held responsible for it in any way"

By way of Disclosure, I was given 2 Free product coupons for the purpose of this review and 2 more Free coupons will be provided to my giveaway winner. I received no other compensation for this giveaway and as always, opinions expressed in this review are mine (and my kids).

YEAH!!! I was one of those teenaged girls that ordered a non-smelly, non-messy meal on a date. Not a salad, but something that would look "reasonable". Then later I would sneak off and eat my smelly seafood, and my messy Taco Bell food. You know, the stuff I REALLY liked to eat! :)

My point here is that I love Taco Bell (and to all those boys that took me to expensive restaurants, I am sorry-I could have saved you a lot of money by telling you this back then...) So, Taco Bell and I go way back and I have always been a fan, but I became a SUPERFAN when they started selling the Doritos Tacos Locos!! Oh.My.Gosh! HEAVEN in a shell!

That all being said, what I REALLY want to share is that TODAY ONLY (October 30, 2012) you can get a free piece of heaven (ie a free Doritos Tacos Locos). Check it out:

If you are not getting the picture (Or can't read it-I barely can), it says that since there was a base stolen duting the World Series, you can get your free Doritos Locos Tacos today (10/30/12) from 2-6 pm. SO excited!!! You can find a Taco Bell location near you here

Hey there friends!



Generally when I do a giveaway on Rafflecopter, I just announce the winner through the rafflecopter widget and I email the winner to get the prize to them. I wanted to announce that a winner has been picked for the Marlow and the Monster book (it is Melanie J and she has been emailed).

BUT I feel like you are all winners on this one because there is a sweet deal on Amazon right now where you can ALL download the Kindle version of Marlow and the Monster for FREE!! Just click here to go download your free copy!

Hey all! I recently mentioned that I love books, especially children's books! And one of my favorite companies to buy them from is Usborne. Usborne is an international company and have prints from other countries and cultures. Many of their specials are books that have won awards internationally. And recently my sister-in-law became an independant consultant for them! These books are fantastic, and she sent me a few to review. I am so excited to tell you about them!!

Let me just tell you about each one.

See Inside Your Body

From Ashley: "The See Inside the Body book is one in several 'see inside' books that are designed to spark children's curiosity in a variety of different topics (Space, Ships, Science, Dinosaurs, math, planet earth, world war II, Famous Buildings, Ancient Rome, Ancient Egypt, How Things Work.) They have short paragraphs of information that are easier to remember then if they were just reading a book. There is also a similar series called look inside which are also very fun."

What we thought:
Solace (age 9): It is a simplified version of your body. Kids could learn why they should take care of their body and what's inside their body.
Ender (age 8): I think it looks like mini x-rays in color and that makes it really fun learning for kids.
Armour (age 6) I want to be a doctor when I grow up and this book helps me know what I can do when I'm a doctor.
Mom (Beckee, age undisclosed): This is a great book with "over 50 flaps to lift." The kids like to lift the flaps and it has lots of fun facts about inside the body. My husband is a radiologist (meaning the MD/doctor that reads the scans/x-rays) so his job is all about studying the body. The kids love to read about anything they feel is "about dad's work." So, this was the perfect "See Inside" book for my family! And I would note that it is really well made, so although we have read it a number of times, so far none of the flaps are wearing or ripping off .

Wipe Clean 123

From Ashley: Each page has objects to trace that help develop coordination for drawing letters and numbers. so they are practicing those motions while having fun drawing other objects.

What we thought:
Kindle (age 4): I like to write my numbers over and over in the book. And it just wipes off to do again!

Mom: We have a lot of "Wipe off" type book that are supposed to be written in then erased and re-written in. Many of them don't really erase and are not good for rewriting on. This book is so much better! Kindle was able to write and rewrite in her book over and over. She is in Pre-K this year and we do "Mommy School" for her Pre K. She has been using it to practice writien her numbers and tracing her shapes for a couple weeks now, over and over!! It is GREAT!

That's Not My Plane

From Ashley: There are tons of "that's not my...." books. Anything kids are interested in is probably there. They have other great touchy-feely books as well. Animal Hide and Seek is one of my baby's favorites. It has many fuzzy things on each page. All the chicks on a page are touchable and the cow and the puppy and the pig (not just one thing touchable per page)

What we thought:
Mom: OK, I have to tell you all that this is the favorite book of all the kids even though it is geared to the younger ones. Everest (my 18 month old) Love, LOVES this book and asks for his "plane" all the time. He will listen to this book over and over and will sit on my lap reading it for hours. We also own the "That's not my Princess" book which has been Kindle's favorite book for a number of years. I plan to buy more of the "That's Not my..." books and highly, HIGHLY recommend them!

Huckleberry Finn

From Ashley: Huckleberry Finn actually just went out of print, but we have lots of chapter books for the older kids and series books. Conspiracy 365 is one that is being made into a movie.

What we thought:
Solace: It is an easy to read book, but better for older kids (Ender adds-it makes more sense for older kids). Older kids can understand it better.
Mom: This is like an easy read version of a classic story. It is written in a way that I think my 6-year-old could read it and would like it whereas the original Huckleberry Finn might be a bit above his reading level at this point. Great way to introduce your kids to some of the classic stories.


Usborne is an international company and have prints from other countries and cultures. Many of their specials are books that have won awards internationally.

SPECIALS

Here is my favorite part of these books-that I can get these awesome books at a GREAT price (You all know I love a great deal!!) There are always Specials going on. They have internet only specials and then they have customer specials for every $40 you spend. The internet specials do count toward the $40 to get other great discounts.

Ashley says: "The one discount I am most excited about is the Encyclopedia of World History IL C/V hard cover for $16 regularly $39.99. Their encyclopedias are very colorful and well done. They also have That's Not My Dolly for $4 right now!

How to Buy these AWESOME products

If you are interested in buying these books, checking out the special or finding other awesome items from Usborne, please order from Ashley! She set up a "party" for Beckee's Deals readers to purchase through. Once you go to the website here, just click on the Beckee's Deals link then you can continue shopping from there. After you click on the party, you can find a link to the Specials on the left side of the page under the "Categories" heading.

By way of disclosure, I was provided the 4 books above free of charge for the purpose of this review. I received no other compensation for this post and as always, all opinions expressed are my own (and my kids since they helped).

I should also disclose that if you do buy through the party event I could potentially get party hosting benefits. If you want to purchase and do not want to go through the event that is not a problem, but please buy it from Ashley and help out my sister in law! That would be awesome!!

I just got home last night and I have a ton of cleaning and recovery to do, but I wanted to make sure to post this sweet freebie before I get going on all I have to do. (I will also be posting a review and giveaway later today so stay tuned for that!) Today only, Maggiano's restaurants is haveing an "On the house Classic Pastas day. See:
The postcard I got int he mail says "Come Celebrate 'On The House Classic Pastas' Day. Free Pasta for all! On Monday, October 22nd, anybody who visits Maggiano's gets a free classic Pasta to take home! There's plenty to go around, and nobody will go home empty handed!" I am not sure if you have to buy anything to get the deal, but I will be checking it out!

Just a reminder that this giveaway ends tonight! Get your entries in: http://beckeesdeals.blogspot.com/2012/09/new-school-years-resolutions-vans-foods.html

I love to read. I really do. I especially love children's books. I LOVE them.

Many of you know that I was a drama teacher as a career (in a previous life before kids). But you probably don't know that my minor was is reading. That's right, reading. When I found out I had to have a minor for my degree, I looked around and discovered that with a reading minor I got to study lots and lots of children's books and tactics to teach them. SCORE!!

So, I have read a lot of children's books in my day. And as I said. I love them! I am always excited to discover new children's books which is why I was SO excited to be contacted by author Sharon Cramer to review (and give away) her new book Marlow and the Monster.

First, let me tell you about the Author and the book, then I will tell you what I thought and tell you how you can enter to win your own copy!!

Who is Sharon Cramer?

Sharon Cramer is the author/illustrator of the award winning children's series called Cougar Cub Tales. She has also written and released a full length novel and is currently working on another YA title, due for release in December! She owns Talking Bird Books, and is an indie published author. Marlow and the Monster is here newest children's book release.
She is also so great to work with! So nice-she signed our copy of the book with inscription to my 5 kiddos! They LOVE that!!
What is Marlow and the Monster about?

Marlow and the Monster is about a boy, Marlow who has a monster pestering him nightly in his room. His parents do not see the monster and (as we all say to our kids) they are always telling him there are no monsters! One night Marlow gets so fed up that he brings the monster into his 4-year-old sister's room. She is scared at first, but ultimately, she helps him figure out what to do with his monster!

What did I think?

And as a mom, I am always glad to find a book that can help a child deal with a problem. We have a lot of monster problems at this house, especially with my oldest son and his VERY active imagination. As a younger child, he had a different monster in his room every night. And to him, his monsters were every bit as real as Marlow's monster is to him. As parents we just told him things like "Well, talk to the monster and try to be his friend then he won't seem so scary." We wanted to give him strategies to deal with his monsters. I love that this book also gives the child (Marlow) a way to deal with his monster. And I especially love that it is his little sister that helps him find a way to deal with the monster. That really made my Kindle (my 4 year old girl) happy! The story is sweet and gives children a way to think about dealing with their monsters that should make them less scared.

Without giving away the whole story, I will say that my only criticism of the book is that I felt there was a transition missing from the second to last page to the last page. I can make the leap in my head, but it just feels like there is a transition missing. The point is made that the problem is solved, but I just felt there was a leap there like I missed something.

One more fantastic thing I want talk about is the illustrations. They are fabulous! Just look at this page where Marlow brings the monster into his sister's room:

Isn't it fantastic?!  To quote the info I was sent, Cramer said that the book is "My first trip onto the wild side!" It is illustrated with quill pen and ink and the only splash of color is the monster because "Only the children can see him."

Where can you get Marlow and the Monster?

You can get the book on the Talking Bird Website here or you can find the Kindle eReader edition and hardback copy on Amazon (just click the links to get to them). (The Kindle eReader edition is only $.99!!!)

Can you win a copy?!

Well, yes! In fact you have a chance to win a copy! One lucky Beckee's Deals reader will win a hardback copy of Marlow and the Monster. For your chance to win, just enter on the rafflecopter form below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway
Please note that the giveaway will end on 10/27 at 12:01 AM EASTERN time. That means you have until 11:01 PM on 10/26 Central time to get in entries (That is only 9:01PM here in AZ).  Please note that winners will be picked at random by Rafflecopter after the giveaway ends!  Also, Facebook is not affiliated with this giveaway and cannot be held responsible for it in any way.

And by way of disclosure, I was given a hardback copy of this book for this review and a second copy will be provided to my giveaway winner. No other compensation was received and as always all opinions expressed are my own! Good luck!

Here are my favorite deals in Scottsdale grocery this week:

Albertsons Market

• Petite Sirloin Steak Buy 1 get 2 free (8.99/lb reg price)
• Boneless Pork Loin Chops Buy 1 Get 2 Free ($5.99/lb reg price)
• Navel Oranges $.77/lb
• Bartlett Pears $.77/lb
• Albertsons Milk Gallon $1.77 (limit 2)
• Fresh Broccoli Crowns $.77/lb
• Alberstons Butter 1 lb quarters $1.99 (limit 2)
• Albertsons Large Eggs dozen  $1.27
• Snow Crab Clusters 8 Up $5.99/lb
• Whole Cooked Lobster 12-14 oz $5.99 each
• Chex Cereal 13.5-14.25 oz $1.99 each when you buy 3
• Stuffed Portabello Mushrooms 6 pack $3.99
• Fresh Made Guacamole 12 oz $3.99 (and folks, this Guacamole is AWESOME!!)

The following items are on sale 10/$10. At Albertsons you do not have to get 10 items to get this price. BUT this week, if you buy 12 of any combination of the following items you get them for $.83 each. Essentially they are $1 each unless you buy at least 12, then the price drops to $.83 each. Here are the items:

• Banquet Value Meals 4.66-10.25 oz
• Banquet Pot Pies 7 oz
• Hunts Pasta Sauce or Ketchup 24 oz
• Hunts Diced Tomatoes 14.5 oz
• Hunts Tomato Sauce 15 oz
• Hunt's Snack Pack Pudding 4 pack
• Rosarita Refried Beans 16 oz
• Blue Bonnet Spread 1 lb quarters
• Chef Boyardee Pasta 7.5-15 oz
• Ro Tel Diced Tomatoes 10 oz
• David Sunflower Seeds 5.25 oz
• Van Camp's Pork N Beans or Ranch Style Beans

Bashas (Bashas deals are almost always WITH their card! Just a reminder)
****Note that for a limited time, Bashas has "Coupon Magic" going on where all Manufacturer's coupons will be worth $1. So if you have any of those lower value coupons (like $.10 off) this is the week to use them at Bashas! They will be worth $1!!****

• Bashas' Hometown Grocer Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts $1.69/lb (first 4)
• Pork Loin (whole bone in) $.99/lb (first 1 only)
• Bashas' Large Eggs dozen $1.29
• California Grown Strawberries $.97 (for 16 oz package, first 3)
• Large Tomatoes $.77/lb (first 5 lbs)
• Large Navel Oranges $.77/lb (first 10 lbs)
• Food Club Cheese 6-8 oz chunks, shreds or cubes $1.88
• Doritos 10.5-11.5 oz $1.99
• Russet Potatoes 5 lb bag 2/$3
• Dole Ready to go Salads $.99 (Classic Iceberg 12 oz, shredded lettuce 8 oz, or classic cole slaw 14 oz)

The following deals are available with in ad coupon (Price listed is the price AFTER the coupon:

• PF Chang's frozen meals 22 oz $4.99
• Jose Ole Taquitos or Minis $1.99
• California Pizza Kitchen Pizza $2.99
• Haagen-Dazs Ice Cream 14 oz $1.99
• Eggo Waffles 9.8-12.7 oz 2/$3
• Farm Rich Appetizers 20-28 oz $3.99
• PF Chang's Appetizers 12-12.5 oz $3.99
• Yoplait Frozen Yogurt or Yogurt Bars 16 oz, 6-10 ct packs 2/$5

In addition to their regular week long special, Bashas also has a 4 Day Sale Friday 10/5-Monday 10/8 that includes the following:

• Bananas $.33/lb (First 6 lbs)
• Haas Avocados 3/$.99 (first 6)
• Bashas' Drinking water 24 pack 500 ML bottles $1.99 (first 4)

Fresh & Easy

• Lays XXL 10-10.5 oz Buy One @$4.18, get 1 free
• Gala apples $.79/lb (sold in 3 lb bag for $2.37)
• Rainbow pears $.79/lb (sold in 3 lb bag for $2.37)
• Fresh and Easy sparkling cider 25.4 fl oz Buy 1 @$2.98 get 1 free!

Fry's (Remember their sales are almost always WITH card)

• Cook's Shank Portion Ham Bone in $1.29/lb
• Pepsi Product 20 packs $4.99
• Fry's Milk half gallons $.88 (limit 4)
• Red or Yellow Bell Peppers $.88 each
• Mini Peeled Carrots 16 oz $.88
• Kroger Cheese bar or shredded 8 oz $1.88
• Gala, Granny Smith, Red or Gold Delicious Apples $.77/lb

Safeway (Remember their sales are almost always WITH card)
****If you spend $75 or more in a single transaction using your club card between 10/3 and 10/7, you get a $10 rewards coupon for use on your next trip to Safeway.****

• Ranchers Reserve Boneless Beef Bottom Round Roast $2.99/lb
• Tomatoes on the vine $.88/lb
• Pantry Essentials Milk gallon $1.77
• Coca Cola Product 12 packs $3.29
• Gorton's frozen fish products 6.3-24.5 oz Buy 1 get 1 free
• Pepsi Products 2 L $.99

Safeway has a Just for U card where you can load coupons onto your card. There are always great coupons. You can use the coupons by loading them on your card or by cutting out the coupons from the ads. The following items all have coupons from this weeks add that can be clipped or just loaded onto your card. Prices listed below are the Price after the coupon:

• Hilshire Farm Ultra thin Lunch meat $2.49
• Russet Potatoes 5 lb bag $.99
• Chex Mix, Gardettos, or Bugles 7.5-8.75 oz $1.50
• Ocean Spray 100% Fruit Juice & Veggie or Cranberry Juice 64 oz $1.79
• Fritos or Cheetos 9-10.5 oz $1.99
• Mr Clean 40 or 48 oz Multi Surface cleaners limit 2 $1.99
• Swiffer WetJet 1 Starter Kit Limit 1 $14.99
• Safeway Select Salsa $1.99 24 oz
• Safeway Select olive Oil 25 oz $4.99 (limit 4)
• Ken's Salad Dressing 16 oz $1.19 (limit 3)
• Mt Olive Pickles 24 oz $1.49 (limit 3)
• 7Up Product 2L $.88 (limit 4)
• Kleenex Facial Tissue 100 ct $.79
• Quaker Rice Snacks 3-3.52 oz $.99 (limit 10)
• Silk Soy Milk 64 oz $2.89 (limit 3)

In addition to their regular week long special, Safeway also has a $5 Sale Friday 10/5-Saturday 10/6 that includes the following:

• Sabra Hummus 2/$5
• The Snack Artist Roasted Pistachios with sea salt 16 oz $5
• 7Up Product 12 packs 2/$5
• Nice N Easy, Garnier Fructis or Pantene Hair Care $5
• StarKist Solid White Tuna 5/$5

Sprouts

• Yellow Onions 2 lb/$1
• Green Bell Peppers 2/$1
• Roma Tomatoes 2 lb/$1
• Haas Avocados 2/$1
• Red Bell Peppers 3/$1
• Baby Carrots  1 lb bag $.88
• Mild Cheddar cheese bulk cut $2.99/lb
• Almond Breeze Almondmilk 64 oz 2/$5

***Remember that I generally just price match at Walmart as much as I can rather than go to all the stores separately! I LOVE being able to do that. You can also pricematch at Target, but I find it easier to pricematch at Walmart.