Birthday Treats in My InBox

Birthdays are always fun, especially if you have signed up to get newsletters and special deals from various restaurants you frequent.

I have a birthday coming up next week, and already the special deals are starting to arrive by e-mail.

So far I really like the one from Perkins that offers me a fabulous breakfast of two eggs, any way I like them, a stack of  three pancakes, and my choice of two strips of bacon or two sausage. The best part is that it says to come in anytime, and it doesn't seem to require an additional  purchase of any kind.  I'll be going for this deal for sure.

East Side Mario's sent along a coupon worth $10 off if the bill comes to $30.  Since we usually choose from the $12 pasta dishes, with the all you can eat bread and salad, I'm pretty sure, even with a beverage, that we would be a few cents short to take advantage of that offer. But it might be a good opportunity to try something different without the bill actually adding up to more.


Buds on the Bay, a restaurant in Brockville that is not part of a chain, offers me a free entree, up to $19.99 in value, and will even supply the cake.  I am, however, required to make a reservation and bring three friends with me in order to take advantage of that.

Montana's, on the other hand, offers me a free dessert, as long as I get it within the week before or after my birthday.  It doesn't actually say I need to buy anything else, but I do like their food, and have not been there recently.

Boston Pizza used to treat me to a gourmet pasta each year, but now they just offer free dessert. That's rather disappointing as I never missed a chance to pig out and save $16 in the process.

Swiss Chalet also offers me a free dessert.  I could gain weight just collecting on all the sweets, but I'll likely just choose one or two of the offers over the next couple of weeks.

Kelsey's gets a little more specific and offers me a Brownie Pop.  I think I'll pass.

No birthday would be complete without ice cream, so Dairy Queen has sent a buy one get one free offer for a Blizzard as long as the one you buy is a medium.  My favorites are Chocolate Cherry Love and Salted Carmel Truffle, or perhaps I'll try the new Royal Rocky Road Brownie Blizzard.  I do intend to collect on this freebie.  Dairy Queen actually sends me a few such BoGo deals throughout the year, just for agreeing to receive their e-mails.

That's just today's offers, so there may be more to come.  If you know of any other good birthday deals that I might be missing out on, I'd love to hear about them.

One year I had a very special birthday offer from Lone Star, and really enjoyed it.  I have not seen anything since, however. I just looked at the site, and found that if you sign up to be a "Lone Star VIP" now they will give you $10 in Texas Bucks for your next visit.  This year they seem more interested in celebrating their own 30th birthday, or anniversary, than helping me celebrate mine.  There are deals to be had, but you have to go during the week, and I like to eat out on weekends.

So, if you have never signed up for any of the available deals that can come your way, not just on your birthday, but sometimes throughout the year, I'm wondering what's stopping you.  Some people tell me they don't like all that "junk mail".  My answer to that is to create a junk mail account someplace like Yahoo, Hotmail, G-mail or Mail.com.  Then you can enter contests, ask for newsletters, and sign up for your birthday deals, and other specials, or coupons, without ever having any of that stuff land in your personal e-mail box.  You can just go look for the bargains when you feel like it.

I'll not only be older next time I talk to you, I'll likely weigh more, but hey, birthdays only come around once a year, and at my age, they are definitely meant to be celebrated.

Some Days You Just Win

It's been a rather amazing day.  We went into Ottawa, and stopped to eat at The Lone Star. We have never been there before, but right now they are running a two for one Brunch special. Well, I always figure, if one of you gets to eat for free, there is no sense looking at the price side of the menu, so I had the Country Fried Steak, with fried potatoes, 2 eggs, beans and toast.  Oh, and let's not forget the free dish of tortilla chips and salsa they put on your table the minute you arrive.  Hubby had the Cowboy breakfast, which has 3 eggs, potatoes, beans and toast, and chose the sausages to go with that.  Since my meal was $2 more than his, it was his that got deducted from the bill.  I have a birthday coming up, but life is getting in the way of celebrating it at that time, so I wanted to do something a little different this year, and chose to go to the Lone Star for a meal.  I'm glad I did, and I'm sure we'll go back again sometime.  There is still another week to catch this, so get yourself over there next Saturday!

We went from there to the mall, where I made a small purchase at the drug store, and dug out a couple of my freebie coupons to cash in while I was at it.  I got the Lindt Swiss Classic and a bag of Doritos, both for free.  I have mentioned winning both of these coupons in previous posts.

While at the mall I went looking for shoes. I need new runners, or, to be more specific,  New Balance walking shoes. They also need to be well ventilated.  I could not find any in my size but while looking my hubby managed to find a pair of dress shoes with genuine leather soles.  He's been looking for such shoes for many years, without success.  He purchased them today, at a full 40% off.

We then went over to Leon's, to present our Visa card and get a rebate because an appointment they made with us was not kept.  I'll tell you the rest of that story when it comes to a conclusion, but so far, I cannot complain about how we have been treated. They are going out of their way to make us happy and I believe things will work out well in the end.

So, though we spent a bit of money though out the day, we actually came out ahead in the end.  Maybe I should have bought a lottery ticket today, just to finish it off right.