If you aren’t lucky enough to have vision insurance or have vision insurance that will only pay up to a certain amount for your contact lenses, you should definitely check out LensShopper. Now, my vision insurance will pay up to $250 a year for contact lenses. That sounds like a lot, but if you wear contacts, you know it isn’t. That only pays for a couple of months of contacts, and then I pay out of pocket for the rest. My last order of contacts I stilled owed money on after they took the insurance off. That is where LensShopper comes into play. Their lenses are a ton cheaper than what I normally pay for my contacts! They even have even better deals if you order in bulk! I love that it tells me how long the delivery time is and whether or not the contacts are even in stock. Nothing is more annoying than ordering contacts, and then after you place your order, you find out their are backordered. I love that they even make it easy to find the best deals on their site by listing the best deals for each kind of contacts. If you just want to search out your contacts, you can choose to search by manufacturer, lens type, and even popular lenses.
Now, I personsally use the Focus Night & Day contacts. I found on their site that I can get a box for $40.95 (if I order bulk) and get free shipping! I love free shipping! That is a darn good deal for my contacts! I would save almost $40 off my normal order of 6 boxes! I can’t complain about savings like that! If you need contacts, you need to definitely check out LensShopper for all your contact needs!
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!
Did you November is National Novel Writing Month (hence, NaNoWrimo). NaNoWrimo is an interesting approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1 and end November 30. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word). This requires you to write a minimum of 1,667 words a day which can be very daunting. This is why using Dragon NaturallySpeaking for NaNoWrimo would take some of the pressure off. I know my sister would love to write a novel one day. It is honestly her lifelong dream. She went to college and majored in English, so she could do it. However, she is super busy (and this is before she even has kids!). When I learned about Dragon Naturally Speaking, I knew this would be a perfect fit for her. This can definitely help her blogging (of course, she is a blogger too!). However, I personally don’t think she thinks she has the time for something of this magnitude.
If you want to see how this would help you, you have to take the Dragon’s typing speed test! I tried it with Will (my 16 month old) hanging on me (so I really do type faster, but this is what my life is like normally. That is why blogging usually takes me all day. LOL Here’s my test results:
Let me tell you, I couldn’t believe how fast the speaker was compared to my typing. Granted, I could have typed faster without Will, but I still couldn’t have kept up with the speaker. There is no way. I think I know what I am buying my sister for Christmas. She has some big changes coming her way and this would allow her to both continue blogging and to write her novel.
I may not be writing a novel, but man, I can see so many uses for myself with this software. Since I have five blogs and two little kids, I could definitely get more work done with this versus me typing out my blog posts (see score up above – lol). This would make it much easier to write posts for my travel blog when we are on the road, and I could write my posts for my cooking blog while I am cooking the recipe I am going to write about. I could take the time I save and spend it with my family instead of working. It would be nice to be able to go to bed before midnight. Do you want to see how easy this is to use?
As you can see, anyone can use this software. It is that easy. Don’t believe me? Read some of these Dragon Reviews. I actually know people who have this and they absolutely love it. I am still working on getting my hands on one of these, so I can save some of my precious time.
You know, I seriously hate being negative on here. I really do. However, some thing just tick me off to no end, so you all have to hear about them.
If you are a regular reader here, you know about my struggle with the public school and that we are considering sending her to private school. Click here to read all about it.
Now, my taxes pay their salaries and getting someone to talk to me is like pulling teeth. Then they don’t really answer what I ask either. However, my favorite has to be the Chicago Tribune article I read this week that the schools districts are telling parents to ignore the state test scores since they were graded differently this year. However, at the state level, they are saying the grading is comparable to years past. So who is right? Who needs to recheck their job descriptions and find out that they have no right to tell the parents anything?
Seriously, where is the accountability? I hear over and over that public schools are better since they are accountable. Really? They won’t talk to parents, they lie about test scores, etc. Where is the accountability?
Here is what I have learned from the private school. They are very transparent. They don’t baby any parents. The principal even said at the open house that if 90% of the parents can do it right, they all should be able to and that they don’t put up with that crap. Every time I have called and talked to them, they have answered every single one of my questions. They told me the class size this year for every single grade (K-8). The people answering the phone were extremely knowledgeable. There has only been one question they didn’t know the answer to and she gave me the number of the person who would (and that person did!). I can come in anytime and tour the school, and their test scores are an open book that can also be looked at any time I want. Granted, I have to pay to get this type of service but don’t I pay the public schools too?
As most of you know, Bill and I have been looking for a vehicle that gets better gas mileage. Our Jeep Liberty, well, it stinks on gas mileage. We are averaging around 20 mpg, and Bill drives a minimum of 70 miles a day. Needless to say, with gas prices as high as they are, Bill alone spends over $500 a month in just gas for his car. I recently came across a site that I could have used before we put out name on the waiting list for a Prius. vLane allows you to research and compare vehicles with just a few clicks. You are able to even research different options on the vehicle that you want. If that isn’t enough, you can run a poll like the one below.
Now, since we are on a waiting list for a Prius, I thought I’d ask everyone their opinion on getting extra options on our Prius. If you have a question you’d like other opinion on like my Prius question, you can create your own poll. It can be listed only on their site, or you can even embed it on your blog like I have done. You can also search for a vehicle based on total price, monthly price, fuel type, fuel economy, performance, and manufacturers. You can also see (by stars and reviews) what other reviewers of the site think of each vehicle. If you can’t find your dream vehicle on vLane, I would be seriously surprised.
Let me know if you make any of your own polls, so I can go vote for you (either on your blog or vLane)! Also, don’t forgot to vote on my poll!
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