I took Madison to Burger King yesterday, and we went through the drive thru.  Burger King has a new product or two that they added to their menu.  You now can order apple fries or macaroni and cheese with your kids meal.  I thought this was great since I really don’t like getting Madison french fries.  Needless to say, I was a little surprised when I saw my receipt and found out that they charged me extra for the apple fries.  Of course, the huge sign in front of the drive thru did not state that. You know, I am not asking for it to be on sale or anything. However, I would have liked to see something on that sign letting me know that the apple fries were going to be 49 cents more. The other thing that irritated me was that, for free, McDonalds gives you way more apples.  Needless to say, we won’t be frequenting Burger King any time soon.

Several years ago (Bill and I weren’t even married yet), we were invited to a wedding for his cousins. It was Halloween weekend, and the theme was to dress like we liked in the Renaissance area. I wish we would have known about The Renaissance Store back then. We needed renaissance costumes with all the props without spending an arm and leg since we were college. I have to admit that it was one of the coolest weddings we have been too.

The Renaissance Store carries armor, books, boots, costumes, accessories, gifts, videos, jewelry, etc. As you can tell, they carry anything you would want or need. I know that there are people who do renaissance fairs on the weekend who would completely love this shop! Definitely check this shop out for all your Renaissance needs.

This is a local store for me. I don’t think they are a national wide chain. However, if you live in the Chicagoland area, you need to stop at Darvin Furniture for your furniture needs. I am pretty sure that their sales people work on commission. However, you don’t feel them breathing down your neck while you are looking. I have never found a time when I couldn’t find a salesperson to help. The salespeople are extremely knowledgeable and helpful. They carry almost all of the name brands of furniture and mattresses. They also have great financing deals going all the time. The only thing is that you need to put down a third of the purchase price. You can use cash, charge, or even money from your checking account. At this time, we have bought our kitchen table, our living room set, and today, we just bought new mattresses from them. We wouldn’t keep going back if this wasn’t a great store to shop from.

With all the money you can save with them, you can start looking at vacation packages, train travel, and cheap flights to rome. I know we were able to take our savings and use it for such things. What I didn’t know was that there are a bunch of airlines I never heard of like turkish airlines, go airlines, and spirit airline. I wonder if those are as easy to use as an
american flight schedule? Nothing is worse when you are trying to book a flight, and you can’t figure out the airlines schedules especially when you have to make a transfer.

Another great place to do some of your Christmas shopping is Lakeside Collection. They too have a little of something from everyone. If you have ever seen LTD, they are like that but with way better shipping prices. Unless back ordered, all of your order comes in at one time. You also pay shipping and handling based on what you spend. I like it, because I can find things in there I cannot find in the stores. I order some of Madison’s Christmas presents every year from their catalog. You can view their catalog either online or request one to be sent to your house. If you know what you want to buy, you can just enter the codes in and not have to search online for each and every thing.

If you want some easy Christmas shopping, go check out Lakeside Collection. I just places a huge order today myself.

I have ordered from this company in the past, and I do like their offerings. They have a wide variety of products that you can order and get personalized. What I did not realize was that they charge a personalization charge of $3.25. Their shipping and handling is also based upon how much you spend verses weight.

The part of the site that I loved was that I had a customer service representative asking if I wanted to chat, and if I did, she would give me 10% off my offer. I ended up needing her help, so I was happy they approached me. I may not have used it otherwise. Other companies should take note of this practice, because I can see more sales happening.

If you need a great gift, Personal Creations is a great place to start.

I love IKEA most of the time. I hate IKEA because I want to spent way to much money there. Most of the items at this store I would classify as contemporary. They sell everything from furniture to silverware to kitchen cabinets. There is something for everyone there. I just bought this bookcase there:

I bought 12 baskets to put in there and am going to use it as a toy box of sorts. I saw it on display there like that and love it. They have whole apartment sizes rooms set up to show you how you can decorate with a limited amount of space. I also bought this computer desk there:

As I said, they have all sorts of things. If you live close to an IKEA, you should definitely check it out!

Even though this store is farther away from me than Menards and Home Depot, I think Lowe’s is my new favorite store. As far as prices go, I think they are pretty much in line with everyone else. However, there are some very specific things that stood out for me when we made a trip out to Orland last week.

First, we were looking for a very specific vanity. I only have room in my bathroom for a 24″ one, Bill wanted oak, and I wanted it to have drawers. That does not sound too picky. However, to get a vanity that small, it was very difficult. I was able to go onto Lowe’s website and see what choices were available. It also allowed me to enter my zip code. It told me what stores were the closest to me. The part that I was impressed with was that it told me that my local store had the inventory for what I was looking for. Nothing is more frustrating than either having to call or go to the store to find out that they don’t have any (just happened with Home Depot). They also had way more choices for vanities there (not in the size I needed but in general). We were also able to pick up a medicine cabinet that we did not find anywhere else.

Their customer service rocked. Once we were there, we did not have to search someone down to help us. They immediately asked us if we needed help. Also, Bill even loved the next thing I am going to talk about. On every display, they listed where in the store you could find the item. It told you the row, column, and shelf to look on. I cannot tell you how much time that saved. I loved it!

Overall, this was a great shopping experience. Lowe’s got a good chunk of our money last week, and we will be heading out there again this week to pick up a few more odds and ends that we need to finish the bathroom. I would highly recommend Lowe’s for your home remodeling needs.