Happy Veteran’s Day to you and yours, RMT’ers! With this being the month of Thanksgiving, it seems appropriate that Veteran’s Day falls in this month focused on gratitude. So today we all need to take the time to thank a past and present soldier for all they’ve done to defend our freedoms, rights, and privileges we’re afforded as citizens of this country. And since defending freedom can work up quite the appetite, I also want to be sure both active and veteran military personnel know about this awesome offer from Applebee’s today only: One Free Meal. Eat up, soldiers, you deserve it!

Now onto some other great deals for us regular citizens… I went to my local Target yesterday for paper towels and a new hoody for T, but of course I came away with much, much more than that pathetically short list of two lonely items. See, I always make it a habit (especially this time of year, holiday gifts, RMT’ers!) to comb through the toy clearance end-caps to grab as much discounted toy product as I can, and this day was no exception. Armed with a special in-store coupon ($5 off $50 purchase) PLUS a previous-purchase $5 gift card, I was especially ready to get my bargain on.

First I found this LEGO Atlantis-themed vehicle set. Now normally we are NOT into getting T LEGO-level bricks because they are just too small and nowhere age-appropriate (that and T still adores his Duplo and Megablock sets, so no rush to upgrade around here!). However as of late, T’s received a few of the smaller kits (50 pieces and under) as party favors or birthday gifts. These smaller kits have proved to be great “dad and boy” projects for them to work on; they also seem to take just 30 minutes or less, which is ideal for T’s short attention span. I’ve sometimes even seen similar baggie-sized kits at the checkout stand of Target for around $2-4, but I’ve just not seen them lately. While today’s LEGO find is not that small of size or quite that low of a price, the price for what you get is pretty gosh darn amazing. Originally marked at $29.99, this location was clearing it out for only $7.48! You know I grabbed both sets up for sale; I figure I’ll put one away for a present TBD later, and I can stash one for when T is just a wee bit older where he can sit still enough to help C with a 265-piece kit.

And just when I thought that was a great find, I came across this Thomas & Friends Trackmaster Rattle & Shake Coal Hopper set featuring two train cars (one being battery-operated Rusty) and a coal hopper . Listed for $29.99 originally, the mark down on this was all the way to a low $5.48! Again, I grabbed the two I saw on the clearance shelf, one for a gift and one for T for either Christmas or at a time TBD down the road.

My other great retail find of the day is from Forever 21. Starting today through November 11, 2012, Forever 21 is offering a special line of tops (T’s and sweatshirts) in support of Big Brothers Big Sisters.

From their website: “Forever 21 is donating $1 of the purchase price of each tee in the Love to Give, Give to Love Collection to Big Brothers Big Sisters from November 11, 2011- November 11, 2012, with a minimum guaranteed contribution of $10,000.”

For more information on this program, be sure to check this link; you can also go here for product offerings during the special sale period.

Have a great weekend being grateful for those who serve our country and for everything that their service affords us!