I have found my new favorite place to shop online.  Why do you ask?  I just found the best deal ever on a Leapster 2 by using Shop.com.  Now, Leapster 2s on their own run around $79.99, so when I saw this one, I got super excited.  See, this one with a game is $79.99!  This gets even better too!  If you look closely at the Leapster, it is Star Wars!  Now, Madison is a Star Wars freak, so I can only imagine how excited she would be to see this under the Christmas tree from Santa!  I am excited, and this isn’t even for me.  Also, because it black, this can easily be passed down from Madison to Will.  I don’t have to worry about hearing that it’s a girl color!  (Yes, I am thinking that far ahead).

Now, Shop.com has over 2,000 stores, so you can definitely find something for everyone there.  You can type just about anything in the search engine on there, and it’ll pull it up.  You will see all the stores that carry that item plus how much each one wants for it.  I also love that purchases can be made using one universal “shopping cart” to buy everything at one time or by clicking over to participating merchants’ sites.  You can easily get all your Christmas shopping done at one site and know you are getting the best price!  I love that this takes some of the time and stress off me.  I love that I found her present, and I was just browsing through the toys! Shop.com also has expert advice, shopping tips, and articles.  My only complaint is that you can’t search through the toys by age (which is important when you have an 18 month old, since he still sticks everything in his mouth).

If you want a one stop shop for your Christmas shopping this year, Shop.com should be it.  See you there, because I am going to do some more shopping!

For me, this is an easy question.  I am a Jeopardy fan especially when it is teen week (which is about the only time I know a good number of answers).  For me, I choose Jeopardy for several reason.  First, it makes you use your brain.  On that show, being smart is a good thing.  You don’t see people having to do stupid stunts to be able to make money.  I also have a family connection to it.  As a kid, we actually played this as a family.  My mom would keep score, and we would see who did the best every day.  It’s those kinds of memories that make me love the show even more.  My kids are too little to watch Jeopardy, but I hope when they get older that I can play against them too.

Now, I am a Press Your Luck fan too.  Who can resist the Whammy guys?

What’s your favorite game show and why?

I’ve gotten this same email about five times now, so I wanted to give everyone a heads up that if you tend to give gift cards around the holidays, you need to be careful that the cards will be honored after the holidays. Stores that are planning to close after Christmas are still selling the cards through the holidays even though the cards will be worthless January 1. There is no law preventing them from doing this. Below is a partial list of stores that you need to be cautious about:

Circuit City (filed Chapter 11)
Ann Taylor- 117 stores nationwide closing
Lane Bryant, Fashion Bug ,and Catherine’s to close 150 stores nationwide
Eddie Bauer to close stores 27 stores and more after January
Cache will close all stores
Talbots closing down specialty stores
J. Jill closing all stores (owned by Talbots)
Pacific Sunwear (also owne d by Talbots)
GAP closing 85 stores
Footlocker closing 140 stores mo re to close after January
Wickes Furniture closing down
Levitz closing down remaining stores
Bombay closing remaining stores
Zales closing down 82 stores and 105 after January
Whitehall closing all stores
Piercing Pagoda closing all stores
Disney closing 98 stores and will close more after January.
Home Depot closing 15 stores 1 in NJ ( New Brunswick )
Macys to close 9 stores after January
Linens and Things closing all stores
Movie Galley Closing all stores
Pep Boys Closing 33 stores
Sprint/Nextel closing 133 stores
JC Penney closing a number of stores after January
Ethan Allen closing down 12 stores.
Wilson Leather closing down all stores
Sharper Image closing down all stor~s
K B Toys closing 356 stores
Loews to close down some stores
Dillard’s to close some stores

(If any of these stores are wrong, let me know so I can correct it.  Snopes has confirmed some of these)

Gen. Ann E. Dunwoody
55 years old from Fort Belvoir, Virginia

Call it breaking the brass ceiling. Ann E. Dunwoody, after 33 years in the Army, ascended Friday to a peak never before reached by a woman in the U.S. military: four-star general.

At an emotional promotion ceremony, Dunwoody looked back on her years in uniform, said it was a credit to the Army?and a great surprise to her?that she would make history in a male-dominated military.

“Thirty-three years after I took the oath as a second lieutenant, I have to tell you this is not exactly how I envisioned my life unfolding,” she told a standing-room-only auditorium. “Even as a young kid, all I ever wanted to do was teach physical education and raise a family.

“It was clear to me that my Army experience was just going to be a two-year detour en route to my fitness profession,” she added. “So when asked, `Ann, did you ever think you were going to be a general officer, to say nothing about a four-star?’ I say, `Not in my wildest dreams.’

“There is no one more surprised than I?except, of course, my husband. You know what they say, `Behind every successful woman there is an astonished man.’”

You can read the rest of Gen. Dunwoody’s story here.

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

Last week was a pretty good week.  My week started off with an email from a New York Times reporter wanted to interview regarding a post I wrote about Amazon’s frustration free packaging.  Once I picked myself up off the floor, I emailed him back and told him it was okay to call.  I had a great conversation with their technology reporter, and I went on my merry way.  Seriously, my  heart was beating about 400 miles an hour while this was going on.  I asked for him to let me know when it gets printed, and I thought that was the end of it.

On Thursday, I was super surprised to get a call from the New York Times again!  This time they wanted to send a photographer to my house to get pictures of me and my kids!  I ended up with 2 hours to get me and the kids ready and clean the house.  It went well, I think, and I hope to find out soon when the article will get printed.

I feel incredibly blessed right now even though my mom is teasing about when Oprah is going to be calling.