I put it off for a long time. I said I didn’t need it. I was wrong. On Friday I became the proud owner of a smart phone. I didn’t go the iPhone route. Instead I opted to stay with my current carrier (T-Mobile) and got the brand new Motorola CLIQ. I love it! My favorite part is the full slide out keyboard. Texting is no longer painful and I can use complete sentences. In addition I am constantly connected to Facebook. I can update my status, as well as browse my friend’s statuses and comments. There are other social networking sites that you can use on the CLIQ (such as Twitter and MySpace), but Facebook is the only one I use. The CLIQ runs on the Google Android operating system. Much like the iPhone, there are a variety of applications to choose from. Many are free, others are available for a small fee. It also comes loaded with all your favorite Google applications such as GMail, Google Calendar, Google Maps and Picasa. For me, there is nothing not to love about this phone. Now I can’t imagine why I waited so long to get connected.
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Sometimes I feel like I am just out of ideas for presents for my kids. In a way I think it was easier when they were babies when they were entertained by an empty box. I remember our first Christmas together. I was so excited to see them open their presents. They were more entertained by the wrapping paper than by what was inside. Oh how I long for those days. Now I am bombarded by “Mom, I want this” every time they see a toy they don’t have. So the pressure is on. With a little over 2 months until Christmas, I have no clue. No inspiration. I aimlessly browse toy websites and stroll up and down the aisles at Target hoping for some glimmer of inspiration. So far…nothing. Zip. Zilch. Nada. So now, I’m feeling panic set in. I need the perfect gift. I MUST find the perfect gift. There has to be someone out there that can help me. I call on my trusted friend, Google, to come through for me. And here is what I found: Gifts.com: Not only can you find gift ideas for your kids, but also for any other person and for a variety of occasions. Their holiday recommendation are sorted by age group so that you can easily find recommendations. Amazon.com Wishlist.com: Not only can you search for toys, but you can add them directly to your child’s wish list. You can then share that list with friends and family (See my previous post on Wishlist.com) I just heard a story on our local news channel that focused on the importance of finding reputable product reviews. I do most of my holiday shopping online and I depend on product reviews to help guide me in the decisions that I make. The trick is finding good, dependable and honest reviews. One of the main problems out there are companies who have their employees post positive reviews that are obviously not impartial. There really is no way to know if it is an honest review, but there are a few things you can do to help ensure you find reviews that will help you. 1. Look for reviews that include personal experience with the products. A good review will give you the positives and the negatives. 2. Avoid reviews that are sponsored by the company/product being reviewed. Many review sites promote the positive & sponsored reviews to the top. 3. Check out a variety of sources for reviews. Every year we hear that phrase; “It’s the hot toy for the season” or “A must have this year”. So what is the hot toy this year? Apparently it’s something called a Zhu Zhu Pet, hamsters to be precise. The commercials started airing about a month ago, and now it’s all people can talk about. Parents are obsessed with obtaining the elusive little critters. Apparently they are in short supply and in large demand. I believe they usually retail for about $10 per hamster, but that is IF you can find them. There are some vendors online that have them at ridiculously marked up prices. I have heard that you can pre-order some items at Toys-r-Us.com, but they won’t ship until mid-December. These little hamsters have driven Moms around the country to stalk their local toy stores in the wee hours of the morning hoping to score a couple of hamsters. While my daughter is at dance class I listen to all the Moms talk about their search for the hamsters and of course their matching accessories and habitats. So if you feel like you need to add some critters to your household this holiday season, this may be the toy for you. For me, I think I have all the critters I can manage at the moment. So here we are, day two of fall. You wouldn’t know it,as you go into many major retailers, that we still have a few holidays between now and Christmas. It seems a little unnatural to me to see Christmas decoration on display while we are still in September. What happened to Halloween and Thanksgiving? Are they not important enough holidays anymore? There shouldn’t be Christmas lights on display next to the Halloween costumes, it’s just not right. But, as they say, if you can’t beat them…join them. So today I’m going to tell you about a website that simplified my holiday season last year. Wishlist.com is a great site that lets you create wishlists for any occasion. I used it for Christmas, but you can use it for birthdays, anniversaries, or even baby showers. I found Wishlist.com after becoming frustrated by my kids receiving gifts that they had no interest in. In turn, my house was becoming cluttered with stuff that they didn’t play with. So last year I created a wishlist for each of my kids and sent it to family members. The result was that they got things that they wanted and family members weren’t frustrated by trying to figure out what to get them. I encouraged all our family members to follow suit and it was a great time saver for me to know exactly what to buy. It was a win-win and I plan on doing it again this year. How does it work? Got to Wishlist.com and sign up for an account. Create a wishlist for each family member. Add the ‘Add to Wishlist’ shortcut to your browser’s favorites. When at any website (such as Amazon) just click on the ‘Add to Wishlist’ in your favorites and it will be automatically add that item to your wishlist of choice. You can also search on the Wishlist.com website for items. Once your wishlist is complete, you can e-mail it to your family and even share it via Facebook. You can update the list as often as you want! |
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: Offers a variety of ways to sort by available toys, as well as lists featuring the best selling toys. Also browse other parent’s lists for their children to get ideas.