Another great place to check out for you Christmas shopping is Maddigrace.  This is a unique boutique that really carries a little something for everyone.  They have gifts for moms, dads, kids, and you even pick yourself up a gourmet lunch bag!  This is a site after my hearts, since they offer free shipping.  They have a daily sale so make sure you check in to see how you can save even more money.  They also have a ton of items that you can get personalized to make what you get a one of a kind gift.

The site is just fun to look at.  The navigation is great, and it is quite easy to find what you are looking for.  The background colors really draw you in.  Ordering is pretty painless, and you can even use Paypal. If you are looking for a site to get all your Christmas shopping done on, Maddigrace is a great place to start.

If you are looking for a unique gift for either yourself or your family, then allPopart is a place you need to check out.  They take pictures that you send in and turn them into beautiful pieces of art.  We personally chose the 4 panel Warhol style for the kids pictures.  However, they have so many styles to choose from that you can easily spend an hour or two deciding what you want (trust me, I know from experience).  The next hardest part after deciding what style is deciding what pictures to use!  Once you have those two decisions made, the rest is breeze.  Everybody loves this picture.  Madison thinks it is the coolest thing ever to have this on the wall.  Will just says “see” to everybody, so they look at it.  I am currently waiting for Bill to hand it in the basement.  However, for now, I have it on the ledge:

It loks awesome there too, and it completely goes with the color scheme we have down there.  I have had several people already ask where we got it from!  This is an excellent heirloom to pass down and a great way to mark your children’s youth.  I highly recommend allPopart for their quality and for their customer service.  I am 100% satisfied and have told everyone they need to get some art for their house from allPopart!

With everything being on the internet nowadays, it really seems like you need a password for almost everything you do. Now, for security reason, you should not use the same password twice, make it with both numbers and letters, and you should change your passwords at least every six months.  I don’t know about you, but I belong to several places that I need passwords for, and it is seriously hard to figure out how to keep it all straight.  This is where the Internet Password Organizer comes to the rescue. Why should you use the Internet Password Organizer?  First, no one can hack into it on you.  Nothing is worse than having your computer compromised and the hackers being able to get into everything.  This provides you with a single centralized location in which to store all your online account login information, and the tabbed sheets makes it super easy to find what you are looking for.  Also, I have had my hard drive fail.  If that is the only place you have your passwords saved, you are in big trouble.  This notebook is also very discrete.  Without opening it, most people won’t even know what’s in it.  It also is better than sticky notes all over your computer monitor (now, I know lots of people who do this).  There is even sections that allow you to put in your ISP information, your email settings, your wireless network and router information, and any software licenses you have.

Now, I know a lot of you are wanting one of these, so I will be giving one of these to two lucky winners! Here’s what you need to do:

1. Leave a comment on this post. Go check out the Internet Password Organizer and tell me what feature you would like the best and/or why you want this.
2. Twitter about this contest. Please leave me your username so I can verify.
3. Stumble this post. If you don’t know what Stumble Upon is, please read Lori’s post at Blogging Cents. She explains it extremely well.
4. Add this post to other social media sites like Digg, Kirtsy, Blogging Zoom, Reddit, Propeller, Etc. (1 entry for each social network).

For 5 additional entries,

1. Blog about this on your blog. Please give me the URL, so I can verify.
2. Add this to any forums you belong too. Please give me the URL, so I can verify.
3. Subscribe to this blog using either my email or RSS feed
4. Add my badge to your sidebar:

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This giveaway will end on December 7 at 8:00 pm CST is available to US residents only. Good luck!

A book you must have in your home is Frankie: The Walk ‘N Roll Dog. This story will make you laugh, it will make you cry, and it’ll make you hug your pets and kids and tell them that you love them.  It also was just awarded National Best Book 2008 Award by USA Book News in the Children’s Picture Book Non-fiction softcover category, so I am not the only one who thinks it is great!

This story is about a little dachshund.  We learn about how she met her family and what their family life was like.  We also learn about a terrible injury she endured (a ruptured disk in her back) and how she lost the ability to walk.  She had surgery with only a 30% chance of every walking again.  She outfitted with her wheels that you see on the cover of the book.  Now, I am not going to give away how the story ends, so you’ll have to get the book to see if Frankie walks again.

The owner of this dog actually wrote the book, and it is a true story.  She is from Wisconsin (which is where I am from), so I personally identify with where this story takes place.  The illustrations in this book are awesome too.  The story is written at a level, so that all children can enjoy it and walk away with some good life lessons such as always look for positive solutions to overcoming and enduring challenges, don’t feel sorry for yourself, and having compassion for the physically challenged.  These are three great lessons that our children (and even adults) should learn and live by.  This book also opens a line of communication between you and your children too.  I know that Madison, my 4 year old, had a ton of questions for us after we read this.

This is a book that I really think everyone should take a look at and read.  We can all benefit from the life lessons in here.

Sick of boring hair ties for your kids hair? Want something that has a little flair to it?  Your Couture Kid is the place you need to stop.  We recently got a ponytail holder from them, and mommy and Madison love it!  The band that holds the hair is a good quality band.  In my house, this is extremely important, because Madison has super fine hair.  It is normally pretty difficult to find one that will actually stay in her hair.  I love how these dress up any outfit you have them on with.   We also got a ton of compliments from people about how nice it looked.  Now, Your Couture Kid has several different styles to pick from and I think there is one that would match any outfit you could come up with.  If you want a unique gift for the kid who has everything, definitely check out Your Couture Kid.