Earlier this week I said the giveaway would be either a book or something warm and cozy. But every time I flipped a coin, it came up “$100 worth of Restaurant.com cards.”

This week’s giveaway is courtesy of two sites:

• MyBargainBuddy.com, run by the lovely and talented Karen Hoxmeier, whose motto is “Never pay full price again” (what a nice idea!)
• Savings.com, the fabulous deal site that invited me to the SaveUp 2010 conference in Chicago. (Thanks again to all of you who voted for me. I am now a DealPro — this video proves it.)

Each contributed $50 worth of cards so that some lucky reader can have cheap chow. That could be you –  so enter, already. Here’s how:

• Leave a comment below
• Subscribe via e-mail or RSS
• Sign up to follow Surviving and Thriving on Twitter or Facebook

If you do any (or all!) of these things, please leave additional comments to get credit for each entry.

The deadline is 9 p.m. PST Monday, Jan. 3.

I flew back from Alaska on Monday morning. It was standby – a friend gave me an airline buddy pass, bless his heart – but I got on. The last person to get on, mind you, and in a middle seat, but how could I complain? It cost only $65 including fees and they didn’t charge me to check a bag.

From there it was the light rail into downtown Seattle, followed by a most unusual Metro bus trip: The driver didn’t know where she was going.

Alane Farmer is the winner of the moose calendar and the “Alaska Girls Kick Ass” bumper sticker. Alane is a fellow Jersey girl but apparently is also an Alaska girl wannabe. I know how she feels, having just gotten back from a month in the Great Land.

This week’s giveaway is still up in the air. It might be something warm and cozy but it might also be a book. I’ll flip a coin later in the week.

In other news:

Carnival time: “10 financial lessons from ‘True Grit’” made it into the Carnival of Personal Finance over at Blonde and Balanced.

Forensic accounting? If you frequently encounter the case of the missing funds, it might be time for “CSI: My Wallet.” That’s the topic of my current Living With Less column over at MSN Money. “Committing ‘capital’ crimes? CSI ‘em” uses crime-scene terms to attack common budgetary problems. Yes, it’s gimmicky — but gimmicks can help us look at issues creatively instead of being stuck in the “I don’t do math” rut.

Online or in person, the after-Christmas sales can be worth the trip – and not just for extra wrapping paper. This is your chance to replenish the gift closet and to find good deals on items for your home or yourself.

I’ll be heading back to Seattle soon, but I can’t leave the Last Frontier without giving away some Alaskana.

Here’s what’s up for grabs this week:

The 2011 Alaska Moose calendar — a year’s worth of funky ungulates. My favorite is July, a mama moose soaking herself in a lawn sprinkler. The calendar is photographed and produced by the Anchorage Daily News, my former employer.

An “Alaska Girls Kick Ass” bumper sticker, aka a little attitude from a northern latitude. (This item generated much interest during summer giveaways.)

To enter:

• Leave a comment below
• Subscribe via e-mail or RSS
• Sign up to follow Surviving and Thriving on Twitter or Facebook

If you do any (or all!) of these things, please leave additional comments to get credit for each entry.

Entry deadline is 9 p.m. PST Monday, Dec. 27.