I recently came across another item that falls along the lines of “why didn’t I think of that?”. The mom who came up with the Parking Pal, in my opinion, is a genius.  The Parking Pal is a circular magnet with a child size hand print in the center.  When you put it on your car/van/vehicle, you child puts they hand on their, and it keeps them safe while you load or unload your vehicle.  Being that I don’t have a driveway and we park on the street a lot with the minivan, I love that this keeps Madison safe.  I’ll be honest, when we first used it, I was completely surprised by something.  Madison knew what I wanted her to do without telling her.  She knew that I wanted her to stand there with her hand on the magnet while I was loading the car.  I love that this is intuitive enough that she just knew what was expected.  This has also been a hit with other moms.  They all wanted to know where I got this from, and all thought it was a great idea.  Now, the Parking Pal does come in several designs to pick from — everything from soccer balls, to fish, to flowers.  There is definitely something for your kids that you can get on there.  The Parking Pal will run you about $7.99.  However, $8 is well worth insuring my daughter’s safety.

Image via Wikipedia

This was my favorite newspaper.  I think we have been subscribing to it since we have moved here.  However, about a week ago, they changed their format.  Now, I have went through several format changes with them already.  However, this one, I cannot stand.  I cannot stand it to the point that I will be leaving them and getting a subscription to another area newspaper.  (The advantage of living in Chicago is that we have quite a few to pick from).

This  makes me sad.  However, the changes that have been made this time around I just cannot stand.  The majority of their articles completely blend with the ads for things like fat burners and real estate.  As a blogger, we got a lot of slack for not disclosing what is paid and what isn’t.  However, it doesn’t look the print media has to have the same standard.  The majority of the articles have huge pictures and less content.  I know it is not just my eyes playing tricks on me either.  It actually takes me quite a bit less time to read the paper everyday.  A lot of the articles also look like blog posts with the amount of stuff on the page.  If I wanted to look at something that looked like a blog, I would read my news online.  I personally love having a print paper in my hand.  I like the style and how informative a paper is.  If I want a synopsis, I go to the internet.  If I want to read full articles, I look for my local paper.

As soon as I find my credit card, I will be canceling my Chicago Tribune subscription and signing up for the Chicago Sun Times.  Hopefully, their paper will be less tabloidy and more news.

My favorite store ever online (the one that I order everything from for my businesses) is now selling t-shirts!  I wish they were doing that when I was selling lia sophia, because I would have been a huge customer for that.

However, enough about why I think this is cool.  Let me tell you why you want to use VistaPrint.  First, they are cheap.  I order my business cards from them, because I only have to pay for shipping.  If you want a custom picture on your cards, it is an extra $5.  Another thing I love about Vista Print is that they have anything and everything you need for a business from t-shirts I mentioned before to business cards to stampers.  They are always have sales.  Once you get on their email lists, you will find that whatever you need to order is usually on some sort of sale.  For example, if you use TShirts25 you can get 25% off any T-shirts that you order!  I have also always been impressed with the quality of their products.  I have yet to receive a product that I did not like!

I can only say lots of good things about Vistaprint.  I would highly recommend them for all your personal and business needs.