Viernes Social is back! This week, we have another fun contest for you.

I received a 2010 Entertainment Book from Airfoil Public Relations to review. In the past, I’ve bought the Entertainment Book on my own, but found that I didn’t use it as much as I would have liked to. For some reason or another, I would always forget it at home, or forget to look in the book before making a purchase. Before I knew it, the coupons had expired and it was time to purchase the next year’s book.

This time, though, I wanted to make sure to take full advantage of the coupons. It helped that I received the 2010 Entertainment Book before 2009 was even over. I’ve already taken advantage of quite a few coupons to purchase discounted movie tickets, as well as save a few bucks on various restaurant meals. There’s even a few coupons for completely free items (no purchase required) that I need to use.

My trick this time around? I put the Entertainment Book in the door of our car. That way, whenever we’re out and about on the weekends, we can check to see if there are any coupons we can use before we make a purchase or buy some food.

Want to save money in 2010? One of you will win your own 2010 Entertainment Book for your zip code or you can choose another location for your book (like Orlando, Hawaii, San Francisco, etc.) if you want to save money while on vacation.

Giveaway

One of you will win a 2010 Entertainment Book for the location of your choice.

How to Enter

If you’d like to enter this contest for a 2010 Entertainment Book, simply leave a comment below letting me know if you’ve used the Entertainment Book before.

For extra entries:

1. Tweet about this contest with a link back to this post and include @modernmami in your tweet. You must leave a separate comment with a link to your tweet for your entry to count.
2. Post to your Facebook profile about this contest with a link back to this post. Leave a comment with the link to your Facebook status.
3. Become a fan of ModernMami.com on Facebook and leave a comment with your Facebook name.
4. Subscribe to this blog via email and leave a comment with the email you used to subscribe. (You can use the email field to do this instead of putting your email in the comment if you prefer.)
5. Subscribe on friendfeed and leave a comment with your friendfeed ID.
6. Write a blog post on your own blog and link back to this contest page. Leave a comment with your post link.

All entries must be in by Thursday, January 14 at 11:59 pm EST. Make sure to leave a separate comment for each entry. The winner will be chosen using Random.org and will be notified via email. (Please be sure to provide a valid email address with your entry.)

Disclosure: I received a free 2010 Entertainment Book for review. No compensation received.

I CAN.NOT believe Christmas is just 2 days away. And for us, really, the celebrations begin tomorrow. Nochebuena (Christmas Eve) is the day that we all get together and have our family get-together and big dinner. Good food, sharing memories from when my brothers and I were young, and creating new memories for my baby girl. I get to spend this time with my husband, daughter, and my parents. I love it.

I’ve never really taken count as to how much money goes into creating a meal for so many people. Even when I hosted Thanksgiving dinner at my house last year, I didn’t keep track; I just bought what I needed. But, I know that it can quickly add up. This year, I’m watching our money more closely and plan to do this even more so as 2010 comes around. One thing I’m doing to save money this year is buying presents for only the children in our family. The adults have agreed to this and it works out great for everyone, since it can be hard to find presents for grown-ups who already have a lot of things, anyway.

How can you save money with your holiday cooking? Well, Walmart is providing tips for cooking a Christmas Dinner for Eight for $30 as well as a New Year’s Party for Ten under $40. The Walmart Holiday Meals site has recipes from Food Network chef Aarón Sánchez with tips on how to create an affordable meal. The $30 Christmas meal for eight starts with the following ingredients:

• One 10-pound spiral cut half-ham
• Three 8-ounce cans Del Monte Green Beans
• One 10-pound bag of Russet potatoes
• One 12-count package of Sara Lee dinner rolls
• One 10 inch Pumpkin Pie

Aarón then takes these ingredients and spices them up to create dishes like Ham with Mango Jalapeño Glaze, Chipotle Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes, and Green Bean & Mushroom Picadillo. He does the same for the $40 New Year’s Party meal and even spices up Egg Nog to create a Coquito-like drink.

Want your chance to shop Walmart and create an affordable meal? Even if not in time for the holidays, you can always appreciate saving money when cooking.

Giveaway

We’re going to do a super-quick giveaway due to the time crunch. Two of you will win a $30 Walmart gift card.

How to Enter

If you’d like to enter this contest for a $30 Walmart gift card, leave a comment below sharing your own favorite holiday memory or your money-saving tips. (mandatory entry)

For extra entries:

1. Tweet about this contest with a link back to this post and include @modernmami in your tweet. You must leave a separate comment with a link to your tweet for your entry to count.
2. Subscribe to this blog via email and leave a comment with the email you used to subscribe. (You can use the email field to do this instead of putting your email in the comment if you prefer.)
3. Subscribe on friendfeed and leave a comment with your friendfeed ID.
4. Write a blog post on your own blog and link back to this contest page. Leave a comment with your post link.

All entries must be in by Saturday, December 26 at 11:59 pm EST. Make sure to leave a separate comment for each entry. The winners will be chosen using Random.org and will be notified via email. (Please be sure to provide a valid email address with your entry.)

Disclosure: I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Walmart. In addition, I received a Walmart gift certificate to thank me for taking the time to participate and two to offer as a giveaway.

Photos from Walmart Holiday Meals site

This month’s Potato Tastemaker 2K10 challenge was Nutrition on a Budget. I had to create a nutritious dish for 4 with only $10 – using potatoes of course!

First, a few facts about potatoes:

• one medium-size potato has just 110 calories and is absolutely fat free
• one potato provides 45% of your daily value of vitamin C
• when eaten with the skin, a potato has more potassium than a banana
• potatoes are often one of the best values in the produce department, costing (on average), just $.25 per pound

For more potato goodness, tips, and recipes, check out Mom’s Dinner Helper from the US Potato Board.

Now, watch and see what I created:

Make sure you click over to the ModernMami.com YouTube channel and rank the video. You’ll have to sign in, but it’s super easy and free to create a YouTube account if you don’t already have one.

Here’s how to rank the video:

• View the ModernMami #tastemaker challenge 2 video at YouTube. Just click that link to go there.
• Sign in with your YouTube account or Google account; either works.
• Click the stars under the video to rank it.

That’s it!

Make sure to spread the word to your friends!

Rank the video. Pretty please?

Thanks!!!

Don’t remember what I made for part 1 of the challenge? I showed you how to make rellenos de papa…with a salmon twist.

Disclosure: As a Potato Tastemaker challenger, for round 2 of the challenge, I was provided with $10 for creating my dish. Additionally, I received a few kitchen gadgets and a recipe book. No other compensation received.

It’s been a very hectic, chaotic, but eye-opening last two weeks.

I was hacked. Specifically, this blog and all our other sites were hacked.

I attended a wedding that brought back happy & stressful memories from my own wedding 5 years ago.

And, we realized that we need to become a bit more frugal (to use the fancy term for cheap) in our daily lives, especially with the holiday season being around the corner. Or already here if you ask our local mall who already had Santa set-up for pictures!

Who are the idiots anyway who get together in the big boardroom once a year to conspire against us parents and decide that they’re going to start Christmas in the stores before Halloween is even over? I’d like to give them a nice smack on the head.

Oops. Ignore that full-on rant and let’s get back to where we were. Ahhh…yes.

Hackings

Though I see no real purpose and have no clue where it came from (maybe I offended someone?), our sites were hacked a little over two weeks ago. Well, that’s when we noticed it, but it might have been longer. It seems a Trojan was on one of the various computers we use to access our sites and apparently got our hosting FTP information.

Lessons Learned?

1. Be sure to upgrade WordPress when a new version comes out (if using WordPress as your blogging platform).
2. Run a virus scan periodically even if you have your anti-virus software set to auto-detect (which we did).
3. At the first sign that something’s not right (i.e., you can’t login to your blog’s admin panel), check it all out to prevent hack from spreading.
4. Search WordPress Codex for useful information on fixing the issue. Also use twitter! There are some great (and knowledgeable) folks on there that are willing to help.

Weddings

As if weddings aren’t stressful enough by nature, it doesn’t help to add on to the stress by not planning certain things in advance. Or, thinking you’ll have enough time the night before or morning of.

I planned my own wedding, but I had a lot of help from my mom. She gave guidance as to what things I needed to plan, reserve, and think about in general. In a sense, she was my own personal wedding coordinator, if you will.

Now, I know that wedding planners/coordinators can be pricey, but if you’re the type of person that either doesn’t know much about what’s involved/needed, or doesn’t really want to deal with it, then one should at least be considered.

Becoming Frugal

It’s never a good feeling to balance your checkbook and find that you didn’t have as much money as you thought you had. That’s not to say you’re in the poor-house, but more like you can’t account for money spent. You’re just not sure where it all went.

With the economy the way it is and budgets being cut all across various organizations, schools, etc., and with the holiday season coming up, it’s definitely a good time to step back and think about spending less.

My husband and I have made a non-formal commitment to each other to watch our spending more closely. We’ve started this week already by taking our own lunches to work. I’m going to look at my own advice to get some ideas for what to pack.

So, there you have it. A very quick recap of the past two weeks.

Now, what have I missed on your end?