Ever watch WordWorld on PBS? If so, this word magnet set makes perfect sense. If you have never seen the show, the best way I can describe it is that is a cartoon.  The characters in the this cartoon look like what they are like a bee.  However, their body spells what they are.  You can see what I mean by looking at the image on the right.  This is for kids three and up.  However, I found that my 18 month old loves it too (I just need to keep an eye on him, so he doesn’t try to eat the pieces)!  You get 7 3D word magnets, 5 flat magnets, and a 2 sided fold and go play mat.  The kids love the magnet aspect of it.  I love that this doesn’t require batteries.  It requires my kids to use their imaginations and make up stories.  I also love that it has its own carrying case, and that the magnets have their own spot in the play map.  This has been a hit in my house, and I can definitely see it being a hit in yours.

Did you know . . . .

• There are over 1,000 different kinds of “smellers” in your nose?
  • Test show a 40% improvement in mood when exposed to a pleasant scent.
  • The average human being is able to recognize approximately 10,000 different odors.
  • Your nose can smell directionally, telling you where an odor originates.
  • A woman’s sense of smell is keener than a man’s.
  • No two people smell the odor the same way.

With that being said, it isn’t all that surprising that you can get cards that actually smell.  Scentsational Greeting has come up with a way to add scents to their cards, and let me tell you, they smell wonderful.  I was amazed at how good they smell.  Their signature scents include lavender, vanilla, ocean breeze, lemon, roses, and coffee.  They even have a holiday line including peppermint, christmas tree, and gingerbread.  All you have to do is gently rub the front of the card to release the awesome scents.  They have card for just about every event too.

If you want to send a unique card that everyone will love, check out Scentsational Greeting.  You’ll be the talk of your friends and family.

Do you kids write and draw lots of stories? Would you love to make them into keepsake? If so, Tikatok.com is a website you will want to try out. With Tikatok, you are able to take your kids stories and drawings and make them into either hard cover or soft cover books! They even have title pages and dedication pages! You can keep them yourself or give them away as gifts! Registration on the site is free, and you don’t get charged until you order your book. You can even buy gift certificates for the author or artist in your life.

It is pretty easy to set up your book too.  Kids can definitely do it themselves.  As for the illustrations, you can either scan them and upload them yourself, or mail them in for them to to do.  If they don’t know what to make their book about, there are suggestions they can use.  You just put in what you like, and it will give you several different ways you can talk about that topic.  Your kids truly do have control of every aspect of their book.

If you’d like a unique original gift for someone, this is definitely it! Kids like nothing more than to express their creative side, and this allows them to do so and show everyone.

A great gift to give any women in your life is Giella custom blend cosmetics. There is no more guessing on what shade will work best for you (or her). They make cosmetic pencils for lips, eyes, and brows. They also have concealer. For your lips, they have custom blend pencils that range from sheer to cream to full bodied. You can even add soy butter and conditioners if you like. For your eyes, you can create the perfect eye liner. You can keep it matte or add some shimmer in gold, silver, copper, or bronze. For brows, you can create a color that matches your hair, softens your brows, and is smudge proof. Madison and I tried the nail polish they also have this afternoon. It dried pretty quick with a great shine. The lipstick and lip gloss also has a great look to it. I love that you can customize everything, so it looks best with your hair color and skin tone. We watched While You Were Out Today, and this is a great show to see how much a little of the right kind of makeup can make a difference!  I’m not sure if they used this kind of makeup.  However, they had a lady that had 80’s makeup and was using all the wrong colors.  When they updated her look and showed her the right colors for her skintone, the difference was amazing.

The best part is that this can all be made while you are waiting. It takes about 5 minutes to make. You can find this at Henri Bendel’s in New York City, selec t salons in Baltimore, Louisiana, and Philadelphia, and online at www.giella.com.  To do this for Christmas, here’s what you need to do:

Purchase an empty lipstick case, lip gloss wand, cheek tint or concealer compact or nail polish bottle, and we will fill it according to what your gift recipient wants.  They will send the empty component(s) (for lips, cheeks or nails) with instructions of how to pick the perfect color and texture online at www.giella.com. Then they will mail the personalized custom colors and keep the formulas on file for future reorders.  How easy is that shopping, and you (or the woman you are shopping for) gets exactly what they want!

Why do I love Dragon Naturally Speaking? Let me count the ways . . . .

Ok, so the video doesn’t tell you all ways I love Dragon Naturally Speaking. However, it does show you how easy it is to use the software. Literally, all you have to do is plug in a noise canceling headset to your computer and download the software. You place your cursor where you want to type and away you go. Now, you do have to train the software to your voice. I tend to talk fast, so it had to correct for that. Plus, if you find that it is typing same wrong word, you can train it on that specific word. This isn’t rocket science to figure out (which is good because I have a tendency to NOT read the books or pdf files that comes with software).

I was able to create that video while my kids were up and playing at my feet (and you can tell when they grabbed my leg, because the video starts wobbling. You can also hear them a little too.) However, I did want to show that you can still be involved in doing other things and be able to use Dragon NaturallySpeaking. This more than triples my typing speed when I am typing and dealing with my kids (Take the Dragon NaturallySpeaking typing test if you don’t know what your typing speed is). I am actually writing this blog post using the software too. Here is the official video on how this all works:

As I stated in my video, I am finding that I can get a lot more in the little snippets of time I have during the day plus I am able to get way more done at night. I love being able to go to bed before midnight. I love being able to answer emails and do blog posts when I have Will sitting on my lap drinking from his sippy and watching cartoons. I have five blogs, so being able to write more content in less time is a huge plus for me. Plus, anyone who knows me, knows I have no problems talking. I am able to do my freelance work and reports using this also. I will be recommending this to my boss. Beside blogging, I have used it to make my daily lists of what I have to do each day plus some grocery shopping lists too! I am not the only one who thinks it is great, check out this New York Times Review.

Dragon NaturallySpeaking is really for anyone who works on a computer. If you talk faster than you type, you need this. If you want to be more efficient in your work, you need this. If you just want a new toy to play with, you DEFINITELY need this. Time is money, and the time you save from using Dragon NaturallySpeaking makes it worth every penny.