Congratulations to Lady Birmingham Girl and Lady (or it could be Lord) "P" (how mysterious!).  Please e-mail me ASAP at thequeenoffree(at)gmail(dot)com so that I can pass along your info to the folks at MyBlogSpark.

Thank you everyone for entering.  :)

Here are a few of my favorite finds from this week.  Some of the links are new ones, some are my favs for those who might have missed them!  Have fun.

Restaurant Freebies and Coupons:

• The day is finally here!  Today is Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-fil-a.  Break out your hooves, ears, and tails.  Dress up your small people in cute costumes, order, eat, and rejoice!  Don't forget that even an old t-shirt colored with black magic marker cow spots will get you at least an entree.  If you're dressed in cow attire from head to toe (*ahem* hoof), you will get a free combo.  There are even free cow downloadable cow costumes on The Cow Appreciation Day Site.  It's good for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.  The 135 Chick-fil-a will have a petting zoo in the evening and even fireworks at 10 PM.  The Greenwood Park Mall Chick-fil-a will have a birthday party for the Baby Cow with cake, party favors, and more.  Happy Cow Day.

• Tomorrow you can get a free Slurpee (tab 4) from 7-11.  Get it?  Tomorrow is 7-11 so go to 7-11.  :)

• Free Arby's BBQ Cheddar Roast Burger with Soft Drink Purchase and this coupon between now and 7/13/09.  Thanks Frugal Femina.

• Free 15 Song Album Download on iTunes from Lollapoolza.  Thanks Hey It's Free!

• FREE Chocolate Friday from Mars.  

• Bodycology Body Lotion, courtesy of Walmart.  Walmart also has Viva Paper Towels, Playtex, Triple Flex, Nivea, Stayfree, Carefree, and Goodnights.

• Coupon for a free Gardein (think Garden Protein) Veggie Entree.

• Ideal No Calorie Sweetner.

• Free Issue of Bridal Guide Magazine.  As usual, know how to unsubscribe if necessary.

• Free Dog's Life Magazine.  Thanks Hey It's Free!

• Other Magazine Free Issues: Sherman's Travel Magazine, National Home Gardening Club, North American Hunting Club, North American Fishing Club, Handyman Club of America, History Club Channel, & O Magazine (5 issues).

• 5 Free Accu-Chek Glucose Meter Patriotic Skins (decals to go over meter).

• Depends, courtesy of Costco (Must have a Member #).

• Accuve Astigmatism, Accuve Moist, Accuve Oasys or Focus Dailies Contacts.

• Enfamil Formula.

• Free Travel Guides for the US and Canada for download or Via Mail.

• Disney Movie Rewards Program where you can get a free Enchanted Call for your little Princes or Princesses.

• Free 30 Day Trial of MyTotalMoneyMakeover.com.  I *heart* Dave Ramsey.  Thanks Money Saving Mom!

• I'm hearing rumors of Delia's offering a $10 Gift Card when you try on a pair of jeans.  I will try to confirm this one sometime today for you.

• The a list gift this month at aerie stores is a full sized shimmering body spray (Happy Birthday to the Eldest Princess, oh yeah).  If you're already a part of the club, you have to go in on a Thursday to take advantage of it.  If you're not a member yet, you're first month's gift is a free pair of undies (any day of the week).  When I was in there yesterday, I also noticed they have a ton of undies on sale for $2.95!  A big hello to the new friends I met there yesterday by the way.  :)

• Tomorrow is also a Lowe's Build and Grow Clinic, featuring a really cool looking Treasure Box.

• Don't forget the Coach Poppy Giveaway.  It is awesome!  The Eldest Princess LOVES her new pencils and pencil box.

I realized it might be best to condense three of the posts that I promised to you this AM into one post so here it goes . . .

• My interview with Ryan Trares of the Daily Journal (Franklin, IN) was rather fantabulous yesterday AM.  I really got to share my heart about what the blogging community has meant to me and what it's been like for the last 11 months blogging and sharing with you all.  You're such a part of my community.  Community changes, shapes, cares, gives, receives.  And I LOVE community.  I also love storytelling (no!?!?!).  Those who know me well know that I love hearing a good story and even more telling a good story.  And bottom line, everyone's got a story to tell.  Plus, so many of our stories are the same in so many ways.  Life is lived best when we're connected through community and story.  As a wife, a mother, a sister, a friend, a person, this blog has opened up a new venue for me to tell my story and engage in community.  I'd like to think I'm a more of who I've been made to be because of both of those things.  Ryan is great to talk to - a curious and interesting person in his own right (great attributes for a journalist to have, no?).  So my experience was fun and cathartic.  Which leads me to my second experience yesterday which was less than cathartic and fun but more amusing.

• I happened to be at the mall for the interview (Paradise Bakery and Cafe to be specific, YUM) and decided to run over to the aerie store since it was Thursday and with the a list you can get a free gift per month but it has to be on Thursday.  I had my laptop with me, so I swung it across my chest diagonally and put my Wonder Woman Bag with my handy dandy coupon binder over my right shoulder and trotted through the mall.  I slung down my binder on the aerie counter, flipped through the pages to find my card and easily collected my freebie which was AWESOME (see today's round up for more details).  Then I chatted for awhile with a very nice group of ladies working there whom were marveling over my binder.  I gave them my business card and hurried along down the mall to get back home to the girls and the Queen Mum.  After all, we had a busy day ahead of us and I needed to eat some lunch because I was starvin', yo.  Then I noticed a very fine looking young man looking at me admiringly.  Now mind you, this fella was at least a decade younger than me, very metro, muscular, and easy on the eyes.  Hmph, I thought to myself, "I don't look so bad for 32, eh?  That's right buddy, I am totally hawt but I belong to the King.  And he is lucky."  Now here is where I should have paused and corrected myself for such crazy pride and ridiculous notions.  I should have known something was askew, quite literally.  My brain and/or spirit would have been able to get there if it hadn't have been so darn breezy in that mall.  Yes, the air must have been cranked way up to compensate for the summer time heat.  But why was my chest in particular feeling cool?  One glance down and everything clicked into place.  Everything made much, much more sense.  Yep, that's right.  My top was unbuttoned right down past the bottom of my bra.  AIIIEEEEE!!!!!  I quickly gathered the buttons together and ran into Christopher & Banks.  I begged the women working at the counter to let me spare what was left of my dignity by letting me slip into a dressing room to *ahem* readjust things.  Once I got my buttons re-buttoned, I was sure to place my laptop only on one shoulder along with my Wonder Woman bag.  I laughed with the women at the counter and quickly made my exit from the mall.  These are just the types of things that happen to me.  And I'm happy to share them with you so that you feel better about your own lives.  Hopefully it wasn't like that through the whole interview or while talking to the gals in aerie, although the odds are good for one of the two.  *Sheesh*.  Lesson learned, laptop strap across your chest is not a fashion statement and may lead to wardrobe malfunctions.

• Last but definitely not least, I am thrilled to announce that as of a couple of short hours ago (right after our free lunch at Chick-fil-a) we have paid off our 2006 Chrysler Sebring about 3.5 years early.  Suck it Fifth Third.  And we're coming for you Sallie Mae.  People I am telling you, this journey of becoming debt free has moved much more quickly than I ever imagined.  It only takes a little intentionality to get that debt snowball rolling.  In the last 15 months, we have paid off my student loan, our furniture (dumbly bought on a payment plan), paid for a caesarian delivery and birth, paid for our daughter's ear tube surgery and MULTIPLE trips to the doctor, paid back the bar loan we took out between my husband graduating from law school and taking the bar when we were both unemployed, bought a new water heater with our emergency fund, and not used a credit card once.  We are believers in the Dave Ramsey system.  Our goal is to never pay a payment of any kind again.  ever.  Celebrate with me people, this is good news indeed.  It's kind of crazy because it's been pure blessing of the Divine combined with the King's hard work and my crazy frugality disorder (where every extra penny we have pays off debt) which has allowed us to begin tunneling out of our mound of debt.  Mind you, we still have the King's school (undergrad AND law school) debt to plow through and some credit card debt to eliminate.  We are not there yet.  In fact, we ain't even close.  But as Dave Ramsey says, we can see the light at the end of the tunnel and it ain't a train.  Choo Choo, baby.  Choo, Choo.  

Check back in later in the day for today's Friday Freebie Round Up.  It's HUGE so I want to be sure it's completely finished before I fire it off today.  I'm going to adjust the time my e-mail is sent out to make sure you get it today with the Friday Freebie Round Up.  In the meantime don't forget that today is Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-fil-a.  Break out your cow-wear.  A few other things you can look forward to today:

• A post on my interview with Ryan Trares of the Daily Journal.

• A post on my most mortifying occurrence of the summer, which happened yesterday.  Not sure anything can happen today that can top it.  Believe it or not, there's a clue in the last sentence.

• A post on great things to do for free in Hamilton County.

• A post on something VERY fun and exciting happening to the Royal Family today (NO I am NOT pregnant).

Focus Dailies now want to give you a free pair of contacts. Check out this offer today!

• P & G Everyday Solutions has great new samples and coupons up on their site.  Log In if you've been to the site before or Register if you haven't.  Tampax, Metamucil, Tide, Crest, Pur, Iams, and more brands!

• Mark Your Calendar: Free 10 Day Supply of Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair at Estee Lauder Counters on July 23 from 5-9.  This is the same day that McAlister's is serving free tea all day long.  Sounds like you could have a fruitful evening out and not spend a dime.

• Free Screening of I Love You, Beth Cooper on July 9th in select cities (*le sigh* no IN ones).

• 5 Free Issues of O Magazine from Start Sampling.  Start Sampling is a great company to get free samples from in its own right.  Sign up for an account and take advantage of this offer.

• Tena Serenity courtesy of CVS.

• Free Dove Ultimate Clear Deodorant and Dove Energy Glow Body Wash.  These are both in Spanish but the Google Translator should help you out.  Thanks Hey It's Free!

• I realized I forgot to put the link up for the Barnes and Noble App. yesterday which gets you a mobile coupon for a free tall Starbucks Coffee.  Here it is.

• Free Potato Oles from Taco Johns.  Thanks Money Saving Mom!

I thought I would share three of my favorite ways to relax today!  Not that I'm relaxing right now.  I've got a ton to do and the interview with the Daily Journal is 11:30 AM.  YIKES, I gotta do some laundry.  And take a shower.  And do my hair.  And get the dishes done (Ok, who are we kidding?  I'm not going to do the dishes).  And iron my clothes (where did I put that iron again?).  And actually put on some make up.  AND . . .  What was I talking about again?  Oh yeah, relaxing.

Next week, the King is taking some vacay and I'm hoping we get to spend some QT relaxing.  Here's what I love to do when things are low key.

1) Read.  I get much more distracted when I read now than I used to in my pre-mom years.  Unfortunately, I can't crawl inside of the book when I'm at home like the Eldest Princess can (I swear you could bang pots and pans in front of that girl while she was reading and she wouldn't flinch); however, when I'm out and about - at a coffee house or somewhere serene I can easily tune the world out and become one with the words.  Here are three of the books I've read lately/am reading right now: Everything that Rises Must Converge by Flannery O'Connor, Through Painted Deserts by Donald Miller, and Rumors of Another World by Philip Yancey.

2) Nap.  I'm a sucker for a nap on the floor on a patch of sunshine coming in through the window.  Sounds bizarre but don't knock it until you try it.  It's a leftover relaxation habit from my childhood.  As a side note, I recently came across some research that said the body was designed for two periods of sleep/day.  A full 7-9 hours a night PLUS a twenty minute period in the afternoon during the one o'clock hour.  Power nap it up without guilt, folks.

3) Explore historical sites.  I'm a sucker for just about every historical marker that I see.  I have to stop and read them.  Free museums and historical societies are the best.  If you live in the Terre Haute area and haven't been to the Clabber Girl Museum, you MUST go soon.  It's fabulous and so well put together from a public history standpoint.  And of course for your own self guided tour it is free.  To put the icing on the cake, there's a beautiful restaurant with coffee bar and bakery counter there, too.

What about you?  What are three things you do to relax?