I had some great experiences shopping this year before and after the holidays.  Now, I am still not sure where there is a local TJ Maxx by me.  However, I did some shopping at the one in Wisconsin by my family after Christmas.  It is was just liked I remembered — great items for low prices.  With the economy the way it is, we all need to start shopping at places like this.  You get the same quality items — just at a way better price!

Now, the one of the best shopping experiences I had this holiday season was at Marshalls.  We had a holiday party to go to on December 20th.  Now, I personally hate shopping in the month of December, because well, it sucks.  However, my wonderful little girl outgrew her Christmas dress!  It fit at Thansgiving, and it looked like she grew 2 inches from then!  Instead of panicking, Madison and I headed over to Marshalls.  Now, this was high holiday shopping time, and I was impressed.  They had a great selection of kids clothes that were marked, so it was super easy to find what we needed.  The fitting rooms were clean and large enough for me to go in the room with Madison.  On the way to the fitting room, I found shoes.  I was able to try on about 20 different pairs that I liked.  I loved that they had the little foot stockings at the end of each aisle for you to use when you forgot to bring socks.   Being the weekend before Christmas, I was seriously concerned about checkout.  However, they had a great system going and every register was open.  (Nothing irritates me more when you go to a store that is really busy and they only have one or two registers open, and they don’t open any more).  We had a great experience on Marshalls, and I will definitely be going there for more presents and items for my kids.

What are your favorite places to shop and why?

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I have found my new favorite place to shop online.  Why do you ask?  I just found the best deal ever on a Leapster 2 by using Shop.com.  Now, Leapster 2s on their own run around $79.99, so when I saw this one, I got super excited.  See, this one with a game is $79.99!  This gets even better too!  If you look closely at the Leapster, it is Star Wars!  Now, Madison is a Star Wars freak, so I can only imagine how excited she would be to see this under the Christmas tree from Santa!  I am excited, and this isn’t even for me.  Also, because it black, this can easily be passed down from Madison to Will.  I don’t have to worry about hearing that it’s a girl color!  (Yes, I am thinking that far ahead).

Now, Shop.com has over 2,000 stores, so you can definitely find something for everyone there.  You can type just about anything in the search engine on there, and it’ll pull it up.  You will see all the stores that carry that item plus how much each one wants for it.  I also love that purchases can be made using one universal “shopping cart” to buy everything at one time or by clicking over to participating merchants’ sites.  You can easily get all your Christmas shopping done at one site and know you are getting the best price!  I love that this takes some of the time and stress off me.  I love that I found her present, and I was just browsing through the toys! Shop.com also has expert advice, shopping tips, and articles.  My only complaint is that you can’t search through the toys by age (which is important when you have an 18 month old, since he still sticks everything in his mouth).

If you want a one stop shop for your Christmas shopping this year, Shop.com should be it.  See you there, because I am going to do some more shopping!

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I took this picture of Madison late last night. We had put her bed, and about an hour later, she came screaming out of her room. She was crying so hard that we had no idea what happened.  All I know is that I saw she had a mouth full of blood, and I ran her into the bathroom.  We still couldn’t figure out what had happened, but we had her rinse her mouth out with water and calmed her down a bit.  What we learned was that somehow she took her Pumpkin flashlight, and whacked herself in the face.  You can’t tell from this picture, but she actually somehow cut two little spots below her lip, and her entire lip is swollen.  She also had some black and blue marks show up instantly. After we calmed her down and found out what happened, she says to me “mommy, do you want to take a picture?”.  That’s my blogging girl!  LOL  She knew I was going to write about this.  LOL

The good news is that she is okay today.  The swelling went down, and she just has 2 little cuts below her lip.

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Did you all hear about the helicopter crash that happened in Aurora, IL on Thursday?  I get upset everytime I hear about it, and since it is fairly local, it hits home.  We use to live in Aurora near Copley Hospital where I think this happened.  Also, as a mother, it breaks my heart to hear of a little one dying.  The little girl (who was one) was being taken by helicopter to Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago.  It seems as if the helicopter hit a radio tower.  They aren’t sure if the lights were working on it.  However, the tower operator swears they were on.  From what I have also heard, this tower was used as a landmark and it was referenced on maps that should have been on the helicopter.  I wonder if the families of all involved in this should be talking to helicopter accident lawyers (you can find some at HelicopterAccidentAttorney.com). The pilot of the helicopter was a father who worked two jobs to support his six kids. It is a sad story all the way around.

What floors me is that two years ago, the FAA was asked to force the companies who run these helicopters to give the pilot night goggles and training and devices that warn pilots about obstacles and terrain. They would only recommend it which means companies aren’t going to do it. Not surprising, the pilot of this crash did not have these safety devices. The rate of these helicopters crashed are at an epidemic, and as of right now, nothing is being done. That is almost as sad as these senseless deaths.

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It is hard to believe that Halloween is a little over a month away, and it is time to start looking at Halloween Costume Stores again. I remember rushing around last minute last year trying to find a superman costume for Will (As you can see, I did find one!).  This year I am not quite sure what we are making the kids.  I did find some Handy Manny costumes in Will’s size, so we may go with that.  Madison changes her mind from day to day what she wants to be.  Right now, she wants to be a fairy with wings or a princess.  This is very surprising for my house due to the fact she is soooo not a girly girl.  However, she is old enough to decide what she does and does not want to be for Halloween.  She could be asking for much worse, so I am happy with a fairy or a princess.  I think we are leaning towards a princess since last year she was supergirl, the year before that she was Tinkerbell, and the year before that she was a flower.

How do you decide what your kids are going to be for Halloween?

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