86 Days

Do you know how many shopping days are left until Christmas?  I do.  There are 86.  Including today.

Are you panicking now?  I am.

I've never done any Christmas shopping online before, but I have to admit that when there are three feet of snow on the ground and lots of crabby shoppers about, it might be the best way to go.  In which case, I have to consider CSN Stores. They have so much to choose from, I know I could find something for everyone on my list.  There are the coolest wardrobes, educational toys, (I love a battery-free Christmas), and even this Pan Am bag which I have fallen in love with and will be putting on my list.

So hop to it, people.  86 days and counting!

(I was compensated with a free gift card for my honest review of csnstores.com)

Boogie Wipes

You all remember my Poster Child for Birth Control, right? No? Here - I'll remind you:

After I posted that picture ten million people threw up just a little, and one sweet woman from Boogie Wipes took pity on me and sent me a box full of her product.

Not that it matters all that much, but the package came in the cutest little presentation. There were two huge packs of Boogie Wipes, plus a healthy sprinkling of individually wrapped wipes, all atop a cute little layer of crinkly orange confetti.

The Magic Menthol wipes smelled so good that I immediately shoved one up my nose and left it there until it dried. My kid's favorite was the Grape scent. Smells kind of like chewable Grape Tylenol, which I'm always tempted to munch on like candy.

And the wipes are so soft! It's like silk, or air, or, hey, like a saline infused tissue. My kids actually held still while I wiped their noses! Boogie Wipes are basically a baby wipe with saline in them. And because I use baby wipes in a pinch for just about any cleaning job, there's really no reason why a regular wipe shouldn't work on snot, right? But Boogie Wipes contain some little extra bit of magic, because I swear that I didn't have to wipe the kids' noses as many times to get all the gunk out. And I could be wrong, but it seemed like the snot didn't start flowing quite as soon afterward.

I don't know if there is magic in these things, or if there are just some really smart ladies behind them, but either way, I'm a believer.

And thanks to these lovely Boogie Wipes, Trent has cleaned up pretty nicely!

*I was not compensated for this review in any way. I'd already gotten awesome free goods when I decided to write this. I just loved Boogie Wipes enough that I wanted to share my love with all of you!

On Globes And Pencil Sharpeners

I am homeschooling my kids this year.

I am going to be the hottest girl in their class.

That's a first for me.

Homeschool is a hugely intimidating task. I not only have to educate my children, but I have to do it better than a public school would, or I get a big FAILURE stamp on my forehead. I have to make it fun, and try not to turn them into social misfits. You know - the kind of kid who can't interact with his peers because he's been spending all his time making macaroni art and breastfeeding.

Thank goodness I'm all dried up, huh?

So, in a rather unrelated event, CSN stores sent me a gift certificate to use in any of their 200+ stores, and so I picked out a few tools to use in our homeschool endeavors.

They shipped me an electric pencil sharpener and a globe, per my request.

I picked the pencil sharpener because there is nothing I hate more than a stupid hand crank sharpener that will only shave half the pencil and makes me use bad words in front of my impressionable kids.



Unfortunately, the electric one I picked out will not shave either half of my pencil. A week after this one came in the mail, I went out and bought a dollar pencil sharpener from Wal-Mart. It's not perfect either, but it comes a lot closer.

I'm not going to give up though. You get what you pay for, really. (This was a freebie for me, so no harm done.) I think next time I'll go with the X-ACTO brand.

The globe that I ordered was better. It spins, it correctly labeled all the oceans, etc. It's an inexpensive globe that gets the job done. I've used it in a couple of quick, impromptu lessons, and I was satisfied. Mostly the kids and I sit around the breakfast table, chomping on our cereal and taking turns spinning the globe, closing our eyes, saying, "I'm going to live in..." and then slamming our finger down on the spinning orb to make it stop on the location of our future homes. I need to learn to swim, by the way. We kinda love this globe - best toy ever.




I don't think the globe would fare well in a fall to the floor, or if it were taken hostage by my one-year-old, but I don't have plans to let that happen to our educational breakfast entertainment. As long as we're careful with it, this globe should last us as long as we need it. I would definitely buy it again, if I were made to do so with my own money.

That pencil sharpener can go to hell, though.

(In case you couldn't tell, this post is a review for products that I received for free from CSN Stores in return for posting my honest feedback and links to their website. I was not compensated in any other way, and I think it's obvious that my opinions are genuine.)