With the economy the way it is, one of the many things parents have had to cut from their children’s lives is music training.  With all the shows on TV now like American Idol, Nashville Star, and America’s Got Talent, you can understand why kids want to improve their voice.  Your kids may not even be reaching that high — they may just want to get a part in the choir or play.  Private lessons have always been pretty costly, and depending on where you live, may or may not even be available.

Ariella Vaccarino has changed all of that.  Ariella is an opera singer and an experienced teacher based out of Los Angeles.  She is also the creator of Voice Lessons To Go.  Voice Lessons To Go is a 4 volume CD box set.  You can buy them as either a set or singly.  Volume 1 is called Vocalize and Breath.  It shows you singing warmups and breathing excercises.  Volume 2 is Do Re Mi Ear and Pitch Training.  It filled with vocal excercises.  It will improve your sense of pitch by concentrating on scales and chords.  Volume 3 is Pure Vowels.  It is compiled of vocalizes seperated by ah, ey, ee, oh, oo, and i.  Volume 4 is Stamina.  This is a group of vocal exercises to challenge and strengthen your abilities.  She also offers on her site the ability to submit your voice and receive a vocal assessment.  For $9.99, you can submit one minute.  If you spend $39.99, you are able to send 3 songs!  She will give you her full assessment and recommend song choices and exercises.  She’ll also get back to you within one week with that!

With the range of products and pricing, there is definitely something for everyone.  This makes a great stocking stuffer or Christmas gift for the aspiring singer in your life.  Since I think this is such a great product, I had a set of these sent to me to give away to one of my lucky winners!  The winner of this giveaway will receive all four CDs!  Here’s what you need to do:

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This giveaway will end on November 25st at 8:00 pm and is available to US residents only. Good luck!

I know this book isn’t 100% family friendly.  However, if you don’t find yourself laughing after reading WTF?: How to Survive 101 of Life’s Worst F*#!-ing Situations, there is something definitely wrong.  This book is about crazy (and some not so crazy situations) you can get yourself into and what their solutions would be.  Now, some of these solutions are inventively therapeutic, sometimes offensive, most of the time not illegal, and usually very funny.  I use WTF quite often (not on here, of course), so I knew I’d like this book right off the bat.  For example, their solution for being in a bathroom without toilet paper range from:

• stare at the holder,
• use a substitute
• shower
• use the sink
• call someone

Now, these suggestions are for a public restroom too!  Each suggestion has about a paragraph telling you how to do the suggestion.  There are so many situations that they address in there.  Some you will encounter at some point in your life and some that you most likely won’t.  However, if you do, you’ll have the solution in this book.  WTF?: How to Survive 101 of Life’s Worst F*#!-ing Situations is seriously hilarious and should be found in quite a few stockings this Christmas.

Do you remember all those classic books we had as a kid?  Well, The Kids Bookstore has taken these loved books and made them even better!  How do you ask?  They take the book of your choice (and they have a ton to pick from and most of the classics that I remember.  There is even The Night Before Christmas.) and make it into a hardcover book.  They then take the first page of the book (even before the title page) and put a printed dedication.  This includes the child’s name, a meaningful blurb that you write to the child, and a photo that you give them.  If you are lucky (depending on the book), this dedication may even show up on the inner back of the hardcover.  This definitely gives the book a personal touch.  If you have more than one child, this should also help you to keep track of whose book it really is.

For the kid who has everything, a personalized book is something they most likely don’t have.  I know my daughter would love to see her picture in a book.  The books offered cover a wide range of ages — from 2 to 9.  You can find everything from the classics like Wind In The Willows and Alice in Wonderland to newer titles like Pinkalicious.  Reading is a gift we must pass onto our children, and this is a great way to pass that on.

Often when we are in the doctor’s office, we see Highlights.  For many of your who are in my age range, we all pretty much remember Highlights.  It is one of the few magazines that is for children and is educational.  My only issue with Highlights is that it is for old kids, and I have younger ones.  When I found out that Highlights now makes High Five, I was estatic.  High Five is for preschool age children, and it is a huge hit in my house.  When Madison’s magazine comes, she literally will spend an hour flipping through it herself on the chair.  That is even before we sit down together to do some of the activities!  I love that it is right at her level.  You aren’t going to find a small business for sale or a crossword puzzle. Instead, there are stories and activities that you can do with with your children.  In my latest issue, we learned how to make bathtub crayons and chocolate covered bananas.

If you are needing a gift for a preschool age child or have on yourself, make sure you subscribe to High Five.  It is the only magazine I have seen on the market for that age group, and you know it is quality since it is made by Highlights!

This Sony DSLR camera is my first “real” camera. This is definitely not a point and shoot camera. However, this another camera that you don’t need to read the book to figure out how to use it.  You also don’t have to contact a few mortgage lenders to be able to afford it either!  You will find that the majority of my pictures on Lisa Cooking are done with this camera.  My inlaws also took it to Hawaii with them on their vacation.

Some of the highlights of this camera include 10.2-megapixel Super HAD CCD which gives you clear, sharp photos, Live Preview of your subject, Tiltable 2.7-inch Clear Photo LCD Plus screen, Continuous shooting while viewing, Smart teleconverter 2x zoom, Expanded ISO sensitivity, Super SteadyShot in-camera image stabilization, Bionz image processor, 1200-zone evaluative metering, Dynamic Range Optimizer, Anti-Dust technology, Auto Pop-up flash, Eye-Start autofocus system, 9-point center cross AF sensor, Scene Selection modes: Portrait, Landscape, Macro, Sports, Sunset and Night Portrait/Night View situations, Creative Style Settings including Standard, Vivid, Portrait, Landscape, Night View, Sunset, B&W and Adobe RGB modes, Index and Slide Show Display, High-resolution thumbnails for PhotoTV HD viewing, Function Guide Display On-screen menus are intuitive and easy to use, Stamina Battery Power, and High-capacity media options.

In plain English, you’ll take some of the best pictures of your life with this DSLR camera.  The picture to the left here was taken the same day I got the camera.  If I could figure out how to use the DSLR in one day, anybody can use this camera!