If you know my family, you know that we love music.  All of us play at least one instrument.   And so, there’s always some accessory to buy.   But my local music store doesn’t seem to stock everything that I need.  But, I have a solution.  I’ve got a favorite places to shop for band instrument supplies — Woodwind & Brasswind.  For a limited time, they are offering free shipping on all orders (except those requiring a big truck).  This is the perfect time to check out your instrument needs and get them shipped for free.

I’ll see you at the concerts!

Hidden in this package was some juice, Ovaltine, chocolate chips, and Raisinettes.  YUM!  Thank you!

So, giveaways are real.  And guess what…..I’ve got a giveaway coming soon.  I need to check out my comment feature.  So, if you don’t mind,  comment on this post.  This will make sure that this feature works well before the real giveaway happens next week.

Yesterday’s post on teaching kids about droughts made me think about weather in general.  I use a variety of websites to help me understand the weather.  You see, I’m up before the sun getting kids ready for the day and don’t get to bed until way after the sun goes down.  The weather changes throughout the day and I want to help my kids be prepared for the cold, rain, snow, humidity, etc.  It’s no fun being at school all day in clothes that make you uncomfortable.

I also use these websites to help teach the kids about weather.  We look at storms approaching, how to find out about weather watches and warnings and what they mean.

Today let’s talk about Weather.gov aka the National Weather Service.  You can get great info from the NWS for your local area.

• To get your  Local Weather – type in your city and state.
• Bookmark this page for future use.  You’re going to get a LOT of use out of it.  Use <ctrl> b in most browsers to save the webpage address in your bookmarks.

Now, at a glance you can see the whole week’s forecast — without scrolling.

If there’s bad weather, you can find the info here:

Just click on the link and find specifics about your local weather alerts.

While doing a little more research for this post, I found this cool map that shows all watches and warnings throughout the country.     Wow, there’s a lot going on in our country on any given day.  Looks like lots of fire danger because of lack of rain.  My friends in Minnesota would be happy to give drought stricken area some of their precipitation.

What websites do you use to stay informed about the weather?  Send me a comment to let me know.  Watch for more of my favorite websites.

But it gets even better….you can click into your region and then your state to get a county by county view of your lack of water.  In spite of hurricanes that whip through the gulf, Louisiana could use more rain.  What do you notice for your area?

But this is not all…there’s lots of other maps too.  Here you can find out about soil moisture, snow pack, and fire danger areas.

These maps can be a great way to talk about drought with your kids.

What did you win?  Let us know by adding a comment.

Happy Savings!

Did you miss the last Honeyville Grain sale?  Have no fear, it’s back!  For a few days you can get 15% off your order.  Check out my friend Jenn’s blog at Be Prepared Cincinnati for details.

Coinstar‘s ad says it all….turn your coins into an iTunes card (at least $40 worth) and then send away for a $10 iTunes card bonus. This offer is good through the month of September.  So start saving those coins.

This is a great idea if you’ve got coins laying around the house.   iTunes cards can be a great gift for someone who loves music. One year I gave iTunes cards to someone who lived out of the country. They loved it. No worries about shipping something bulky, or taking up room in luggage. Fast, easy, and very much enjoyed.

Look for a Coinstar machine near you.  In greater Cincinnati you can find them at many Kroger, Meijer, Wal-Mart, and Marsh stores.

Having Amazon Prime feels like a luxury…getting your orders quickly, and not having to meet the $25 threshold to qualify for free super saver shipping.  But at a cost of $79/year it can be hard to justify.  But…..for a limited time, Amazon is offering a year of free Prime Membership for students.  You’ll need a valid .edu e-mail address and verify that you are actually a student (not just an employee of a university).

Ever heard of Groupon?  I hadn’t until a few months ago.  This website offers users a way to buy discounted products and services from local companies.  The catch?  There must be a big enough group for the deal to proceed.   And the deals are only on sale for 1 day (most coupons are valid for 1 year).  Today’s Cincinnati deal is from the Tropical Smoothie Cafe near the Voice Of Ameria park in West Chester.  Our family plans to visit the VOA park and museum this summer and so we’ll stop by and get smoothies — at half off — thanks to Groupon.  Want to join me?

Don’t live in Cincinnati?  No fear, Groupon is available in many other cities across the country.  I’m currently looking for deals in cities we’ll be traveling to this summer.  How about you?  Have you used Groupon?  Do you like it?