Time for the Smart Phone Leap - An Open Letter to AT&T & Verizon

I have decided I am ready to take the smart phone plunge. I have been holding out for a Verizon iPhone, however with my current phone acting up, I don't think I can wait much longer.

I have had a cell phone since 1995. At that time, I was living in Delaware, attending college, and purchased a Bell Atlantic Wireless Phone. I remember paying a whopping $19.99 for a plan that included free nights and weekends and something like 100 anytime minutes. Of course, that was before the days of national plans and I selected Bell Atlantic because they had the largest region encompassing Delaware, southeastern Pennsylvania including Philadelphia and southern New Jersey. My then-fiance (now husband) also purchased the same plan at the same time. We have been with them as they morphed to Bell Atlantic NYNEX, and then to Verizon as I moved to Pennsylvania, Virginia, and now Michigan. After 15 years, I have been relatively happy with the reception and customer service I have received. My parents, sister, and brother as well as several friends across several states are also Verizon customers so free Verizon mobile to mobile minutes compromise about one third of our usage. Subtracting out phone calls between my husband and I (because we would both switch), this is about 250 additional minutes a month. Staying with Verizon is a no-brainer EXCEPT they don't have the iPhone.

We have become an Apple household. My husband is on his second MacBook Pro for work, and last year we bought a MacBook Pro for home use. My husband purchased a first generation iPod Touch and was so happy with it that he bought me a second generation for Christmas 2008. Last year, we received a free iPod Touch with the purchase of our laptop, so my husband upgraded to the second generation and my 4.5 year old inherited the first generation. We all love our iPod Touches and use them for games, movies, music, mail, calendar, and more.  For this reason, an iPhone is a no-brainer EXCEPT they aren't on Verizon.

So, I need someone to sell me on a Verizon smart phone that will replace ALL the functions of my iPod Touch without requiring a major time or money reinvestment to transfer my music (from CDs) and movies purchased in iTunes. I get a lot of recommendations for a Droid phone, however everyone I have talked to who previously had an iPod Touch still uses that for movies and music. My goal is to have a single device.

Alternatively, I need to find a way to inexpensively acquire additional minutes for AT&T either on my wireless or by upgrading my home phone. I have a barebones, 100 local calls per month plan with no long distance through AT&T. I also have DSL through AT&T, so additional bundle savings may make this a reasonable alternative.

So AT&T make me your best offer for 700 Family Share minutes & the 2GB iPhone data plan with local phone and High Speed Elite Internet service. And I hope the 3G service is more reliable than my DSL. I am already incurring extra costs for the data service, and don't want to increase my basic phone

Or Verizon, recommend your best smart phone that will replace my cell phone and iPod Touch.

Do you have a smart phone, which one? Who is your carrier?

Gymboree Gymbucks Redemption Time

Today is the first day of GymBucks redemption at Gymboree. I was surprised to be an only customer at the store when I arrived (it did get crowded while I was there).

Most of the merchandise is not on sale since you are getting the GymBucks redemption. However, there is a Buy One, Get One 50% off promotion on jeans running as well as some leftover clearance from the early summer lines.

For fall, I was able to get my daughter two pairs of jeans for $11.28 each. I also stocked up on a few items for next summer - two t-shirts, a dress, and a pair of shorts ranging from $3.12-$9.41

For those who are not familiar with GymBucks, a few times a year Gymboree designates a GymBucks earning period. For each $50 you spend during the earning period, you earn $25 in GymBucks to be spent during the redemption period (usually ~2 months later). For example, I earned my GymBucks on May 13 and June 3. During the redemption period, you can redeem $25 in GymBucks on a $50 purchase. At the worst, you are receiving 50% off full-price merchandise. While the redemption period does not have many sales, I received 30% off promotions when earning my GymBucks in addition to sales.

$10 off of My Little Pony, Strawberry Shortcake, Littlest Pet Shop, & Baby Alive at Amazon.com

Amazon.com is offering $10 off Hasbro Girls Toys through Friday, July 16. You will need to spend a minimum of $30 from the selected list and it must be an item fulfilled through Amazon.com and not a third party.

These toys include Strawberry Shortcake, My Little Pony, Littlest Pet Shop, and Baby Alive Merchandise. There are a few items on the list that my daughter has that I want to recommend.


My daughter asked for the My Little Pony Gumball House for Christmas. Prior to asking, she was back and forth as to which size of ponies she wanted (the small Ponyville, or the larger ponies). She loves her gumball house. The house comes with one figure - Sweetie Belle, the unicorn. It comes with a number of accessories. My main complaint is that there are open windows that the accessories fall out of when stored inside. The music from the "elevator" can also get a little annoying.

After Christmas, she had returned some duplicate items and used her credit to buy the Ponyville Ferris Wheel. The Ferris Wheel comes with a single figure, Pinkie Pie. She really likes putting all of her ponies in here and sending them for a ride. We did find that the ponies had to be placed in the cars facing a certain direction or the weight of their heads would tip them out of the cars. The music can be annoying, but my daughter loves the Ferris Wheel (Probably helps that she loves going on rides).

Recently, my daughter has been into water toys. Grandma just bought her the Strawberry Shortcake Splash-n-Petal Pool. The pool comes with a Strawberry Shortcake figure. The pool has a slide, a picnic bench with umbrella and a flower shower that you pump yourself. The toy takes no batteries (a very good thing for a water toy). The set even comes with a towel for Strawberry Shortcake and a place to hang it on the outside. The Strawberry Shortcake doll has a large hat which does not stay on her head that well and causes her to tip off of the slide. Other than that, we really like this toy.

As long as all of the toys you select are eligible for Free Super Saver Shipping, you will get the offer even if the final price after the credit is under $25 since the pre-discounted price is over $30. Make sure you select the Free Super Saver Shipping option since standard shipping is the default.

Note: I am an Amazon Associate and receive compensation for purchases made through Amazon links on this page. I have not been paid to promote the sale or the products.

Virtually Earn Free Tickets at Chuck E Cheese

For a limited time, you can now virtually earn up to 30 free tickets before even stepping foot in Chuck E Cheese. They now have a Virtual Ticket Blaster game online. You play a game where you click the hands using your mouse to gather tickets. You have 30 seconds to gather as many as you can. My game ended when I hit 30 tickets before the 30 seconds.

If you sign up for the Chuck E-Club you will receive coupons by e-mail. There are coupons that you can print without signing up, however the ones I receive by e-mail are less expensive or provide more tokens, or a combination of both benefits. For example, through the e-mail club I received a coupon for $19.99 for a large one topping pizza, 4 sodas, and 25 tokens plus a bonus coupon to add 20 free tokens. The non-subscription coupon for a large one topping pizza, 4 sodas, and 25 tokens is $26.99.

There are also coupons available for token only packages if you opt to go at a non-meal time. Our Chuck E Cheese opens at 10a, so you could easily go then, and stay for 90 minutes and go home for lunch. Another advantage of going early in the morning, is that it tends to be less crowded.

It may be summer, but a trip to Chuck E Cheese would make a nice escape from the heat on a really hot day or a nice place to avoid a rainy day.