Subscription Boxes for gifts

Today I am sharing one of my favorite gift ideas because it will work for practically everyone on your list.

But first don't forget you can see all the gift idea post by clicking the following links.

Neighbor gifts
Gifts that Give Back
Gifts for Cooks
Gifts for Girls
Gifts for Readers
12 Days of Christmas

Now for today's topic - Subscription Boxes

What is it? Well it is a monthly subscription that delivers to your mailbox/doorstep a box of goodies.  There are boxes of nail polish, jewelry, food, snacks, candles, beauty products, beverages, books, crafts, clothing, fitness, fragrance, hair, men's grooming, and much more.  I mean, honestly, if you have someone who loves oat meal....there's a box for that.  Gift wrap....there's  a box for that.There is pretty much a box for practically anything you can think of.

There is one lady in the blog world who I think has this whole subscription box thing on lock down.  For that reason I am not going to try to recreate the wheel.  Instead allow me to direct you to her blog site.

SubscriptionBoxRamblings

She has a list by category with all the details.

But here are some of the ones we have personally tried.

ipsy - $10/month; you receive a glam bag with beauty products

glossy box - $21/month; you receive 5 luxury beauty products

Elizabeth & Clarke - $30-60; you receive 1-3 designer blouses/tees every 3 months

Graze - $11.99/ month; natural nut and seed mixes, dried fruits, etc.

Watanut - $25/month; snack mixes

Birchbox - $10/month; beauty and grooming products

Julep-Maven - $24.99/month; nail polishes galore

Bootaybag - $12/month; 2 pairs of underwear each month

Most Subscription boxes allow you to choose a time period (3 months, 6 months, etc) Just read the details when  you sign up.

Subscription boxes are truly a gift that keeps on giving.

And that hard to buy for person may just be the perfect candidate.

Be prepared.  It will take you some time to look through her list but it is worth it and you are bound to find something to interest you.

In other news Bath and Body Works is offering a coupon book with any purchase.  You can pick up anything you need and get 4 coupons to use now thru Christmas.  Here is what you get:

All of the coupons require you to buy something.  Three of them you get a free item when you make a specific purchase and one you get $10 off a $30 purchase.  The pink one is good starting now, the others have various dates that go thru the first of December.

Lastly, I always good hooked by the seasonal flavors offered by Oreos.  I have just about tried them all.  Well these were by the checkout yesterday and once again I could not resist

The cookie part is more of a graham flavor and the cream.....well I am not sure if I had not read the package if I would have guessed Apple Pie but it is quite tasty.  They won't be around long.  I am pretty much eating one (or two) every time I pass the counter.

I  hope you have a great weekend.  Cool Temps in the forecast and that makes me super happy.  Meet you back here on Monday.

Words.....

I am a lover of words because they are powerful.  Words can spark every emotion in the book. And, oh my, we speak a lot of them everyday.  We hear a lot of them everyday.  I wonder if it is their plenty that makes us less careful with them.  If they were more scarce would we handle them with more care? Deliver them with more tenderness? Receive them with more grace?

We have so many ways to communicate but I have to tell you....I am shocked at some of the things people think it is ok to say.  From Facebook posts, to editorial comments, to the actual spoken word how did it become ok to just say these things?

Now I know we are all guilty of losing it sometimes.  I mean even the best of us gets stressed, sleep deprived or even hangry and I think we are allowed the occasional misstep.  But this constant barrage of hurtful talk is just too much.

I thought it would be fun to challenge ourselves today......

Welcome to Watch Your Mouth Wednesday!!!!

You are invited to think before you speak, to measure your responses and to treat your words like currency being mindful to spend them well.

Let's not just eliminate saying things that deflate people, tarnish feelings and leave people wounded.

Let's focus on speaking words that build up and encourage.

Today is going to be a great day, girls!

Let me start it by saying.....thank you for taking time to read my words each day.  I appreciate  you greatly!

Selling at 2nd and Charles

As a reminder 2nd & Charles is a new bookstore where you can sell your old/read books, movies and records.  I went shopping there soon after they opened and found some good deals.  You can read the blog post about that experience here.

Originally, I  only shopped.  This time I went back to sell some books and see how that whole process worked.  Here are the books I went in to sell.

So the way it works is you take your books to the counter, they take your license and open an account and give you a claim number.  When I turned my books in the guy said it should be about an hour.  I was shocked by this because there was only me and two other customers in the whole store.  I thought oh my goodness are they going to read each book before they give me a buy back price.  I am convinced this is part of their business model and that they give  you this long lead time so you can shop and buy more stuff.  Well I was focused.  This was a sell only trip.  I was not buying.  After about 35 minutes I got a text that my quote was ready.

Now I want you to brace yourself.

Look back at the books that I took in.

There are nine in total.

They told me they couldn't accept 3 of the books because they already had too much inventory of those particular ones.  

Ok, so now we are down to 6 books.

Go ahead and formulate a price in your head......what do you think my quote was?

Well let me tell you....

Ready?

Are you sure?

Ok, they offered me a whole $7.00.  Yep seven bucks.  Now mind you that is $7 if I take my buy back in store credit.  If I take my buy back in cash, I only get $3.50.  And yes, they relayed all this to me with a total straight face.

Now I do yard sales.  I have them and I go to them.  And I am well aware that books at yard sales go for about 50 cents or a dollar which is not far off from this offer.  I guess the unsettling part is that I don't feel the yard sale people are going to mark them up and put them on a shelf and re-sell them to someone else for 4 or  5 times the price.

I love a good consignment store.  I support re-sell stores.  Honestly, I have always sold my clothes at these stores but never bought anything from them, because it seems like they give me good prices for my clothes but they sell them at too high of prices.

I am having the exact opposite reaction with this store.  I think I may shop here but not sure I will sell here.  I would rather pass the books onto someone who will enjoy reading them I guess.

Anyway, that is my personal experience.  I do plan on shopping here.  I think the prices are decent. And occasionally I may sell books to them but I don't think it is going to be my go to.....and I was really hoping it could be.

Have you tried them? If anyone has had a different experience, I would love to hear about it.

Make it a great week.  Talk to you on Wednesday.

Gifts for the 12-days of Christmas + a few sale items

First here are links to the previous gift idea posts:

Neighbor gifts
Gifts that Give Back
Gifts for Cooks
Gifts for Girls
Gifts for Readers

Now for today's ideas.

If you have been around me a while you know I grew up receiving 12 days of Christmas Gifts.  My mom bought and wrapped 12 presents for both my brother and me.  These went under a special tree not the main tree.  Each day beginning on the 13th of December we got to open one gift each all the way through Christmas Eve.

If you have little kids in your house who are always begging to open a gift early - here is your solution.

If you have big kids and adults who just love to open presents....well here is your solution.

Once grandkids came along, my brother and I slid out of our receiving slot and our kids, the grandkids, slid in.  Now each grandkid has a tree in their bedroom and under it Grandma places their 12 days of Christmas gifts.

Once the grandkids became teenagers they decided they wanted to do the same for Grandma.  So now they place 12 gifts under the tree in her bedroom for her to open.  It just a gift opening bonanza around here.

These are supposed to be stocking stuffer type gifts but you just tailor them to the person you are buying for.

Here are some general ideas:

Young boys/girls
Coloring books
Card games
Crayons /colored pencils
Matchbox cars
$5 restaurant/ice cream gift cards
Special plates and cups just for them
small dolls
Shower gels
Candy/gum
art sets
DVD/popcorn
Cookie mix to make Santa's cookies
personalized pillow case


Older boys/girls
Nike socks
Fun colorful socks
chap sticks/ lip glosses
Restaurant gift cards
Movie Gift cards
Shower/bath products
Nail products (polishes, files, buffers)
Books/devotionals
Face Masks
Body sprays
Gloves
Hats/caps
Favorite snacks
Facial cleansers
phone chargers
ear buds
hot chocolate
Starbucks gift cards

And for completeness in the past the kids have given Grandma things like
A scarf
Socks
Chocolates
Keurig Tea
Mugs
Shower Gels
Books
Pandora charms
Slipper socks
Calendar for the new year
Photo Coasters
Greeting cards (because she mails cards to everyone all year)
Stamps
Pharmacy Gift Cards

Now another tradition we have around here is that everyone gets a new pair of pajamas each Christmas.  Those would make an excellent gift for the Dec 24th present.

When we wrapped gifts back in July, we wrapped most of Grandma's 12 day gifts.  They each have a number on them so she knows which to open each day.  I found these little card stock numbers at the end of last season when when all the holiday stuff went 75% off at Target so hopefully they will have them again this year.

I can't post what is in these boxes because it would totally spoil her surprise for this year.  But you get the general idea.  It is a fun tradition.  I have no doubt my kids will carry it on for their own children because they absolutely love it.

Nordstrom is offering triple points this weekend and some attractive sale prices on some of my favorite items

Frye Melissa Boot 50% off now $199

Foldover Clutch now $22.48

Halogen Cuff $19.49

Stance no-show socks

You might remember we talked about these socks before.  I think they are the best no-show socks I have tried.  They stay on your foot and don't ball up in your shoe while you are walking around.  Several Stance no-shows are on sale.  You can see all the Stance sale items here.


Happy Fall to you all !!!!

Enjoy your weekend.  Talk to you on Monday.

Review of a Cleaning Product

So I have spent a little more time on the sofa than usual lately which has left me with a lot of time to watch QVC.  They demonstrated this cleanser and I was sold.....primarily because it was a degreaser.

I placed and order for the GP66 cleanser.

I got two bottles for a little under $25.

Now just because I love  you, I am willing to show you the following images.  This is my vent from my stove's hood before I cleaned it.

And this is it after I cleaned it.

  

It may be hard to see but there is a lot of grease in that first picture.  Look, this is a working kitchen.  I cook about 6 days a week.  So that vent takes a lot of abuse.  I sprayed it and let it sit for about five minutes.  Then I dropped it into a sink of water and let me just say I was amazed at the gunk that came off of this thing.  I repeated this process two more times.  It is now sparkly and smells fresh.  Hopefully I can remember to clean it more frequently now.  

Since that went so well, I went ahead and wiped down all of my cabinets.  Then I had a couple of Bath and Body candles that we had burned down to the bottom.  I put each of them in a bowl of warm water to loosen the remaining wax so I could scoop it out.  Then I pulled off the labels and used the GP66 to clean off the remaining sticky residue.  Look how clean they turned out.

I always save these and use them for a number of things.  They are just a great size and come in handy for all kinds of things.  I have used them for a utensil caddy, a pencil holder, storing small crafting items like buttons, holding cotton balls or make-up brushes on a vanity or even as a small vase.  Don't throw out your old candle jars.  Clean them up and be amazed how many ways you will use them.

This cleanser also said it was good on soap scum.....I still have to try that but unfortunately I ran out of scrubbing energy in the kitchen this week.

I cleaned the vents, the cabinets and these candle jars and didn't even use half of one bottle.  So I feel like it was a good value and performed well.

Off to cook something in my sparkling kitchen.......talk to you soon.

New Target Brand - A New Day

Spent a little time browsing thru Target this weekend and loved this line

A New Day

One it has really cute stuff and two it has good prices.  Here are some of my favorites:

Plaid Coat

This coat is what drew me to the brand.  It is so cute. It is only $39.99 and comes in XS-XXL.  How great is that?

Then there is 

Quilted Jacket

The Quilted Jacket comes in 5 color options. I like them all.

Twill Anorak

The Anorak is in 4 color options and again XS- XXL - $39.99

But there's more than just coats check out these trendy tops:

$24.99 Floral Top

and

Plaid Top

Poplin Bell Sleeve

To see the whole line click here

But I  will show you just one more thing.

Ruffled Sweater

OK, that is all for now.  Check out the line yourself.  I think you will find some cute things.  Plus almost everything comes in all 6 sizes which makes it fun for everyone.

Wishing you a great week!

Gift for Readers

Today we are going to talk about a few ideas for any avid readers on your gift list.

But first, to see previous gift idea posts you can click below

Neighbor gifts
Gifts that Give Back
Gifts for Cooks
Gifts for Girls

Now on to ideas for those who love to read.

Each month I review the books I have read that month and perhaps you can find ideas there.  But here are a few of my all time favorites:

I love a good book series.  Because when a book is good you don't want it to end.  My favorite way to read a series is for several of the books to already be in print so I don't  have to wait for the next one.  Here are a few of my favorite series.

The Walk Series

The Mitford Series

Sisterchicks

Yada Yada Prayer Group

Of course, you can buy these series individually or you could give someone the whole set.

The following are all time favorites of mine.  When I have a chance to buy a gift for someone, these are often my go to books:

Redeeming Love

The Nightingale

The Traveler's Gift

When Crickets Cry

I personally think a devotional is always a great Christmas gift.  After all it is good to be equipped for the new year with a great devotional.  Here a few of my favorites:

Jesus Calling

Unlocking Belief

All in All

Now if you don't want to buy a book there are other things you could give:

Book lights

Now this next thing is ideal for someone who reads in bed.  It is like a throw for your shoulders.  And you know how I like a good throw.  But when you are sitting in bed reading with just your shoulders exposed this is ideal.

Reader's Wrap

And, of course, you can't go wrong giving a reader an opportunity to buy more books so a gift card to Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books A Million or even our new 2nd & Charles store.

Have a great weekend!

The First Signs of Fall

I am well aware that Fall doesn't officially begin until the 22nd of September but when I wake up and it is in the 50's.....I just fully jump into fall.  Fall doesn't stay around long.  So I declare it early and try to enjoy it as much as possible.  I immediately went to my Fall Board on Pinterest to get inspired.

I settled in on making these little yarn pumpkins.

Here is all you need.

Yarn, scissors, pipe cleaners and twine if you want to make it into  a garland.

You simply wrap the yarn around your hand.  The Pin said 120 times.  I thought that was a mighty plump pumpkin and opted to only wrap it 80 times.  

Then you cut a 10 inch piece of yarn and tie it around your yarn bundle.  you want to go thru your fingers capturing the front and back.

You then cut a green pipe cleaner into thirds.  Take one of those pieces and tie it onto your pumpkin, twist it together and bend it to make a stem.  

The Pin tied several onto the twine to make a pumpkin garland.  Here's how I put it together

I had some little burlap pennants and some little canvas ones that I layered together and stapled onto the twine just to add a little something extra.

This was a quick, fun and inexpensive little craft.

Pinterest people are quite creative.  Please feel free to follow me on Pinterest, if you like.  I try to pin some really fun things......and then I even try out a few and show them to you here.

After the craft I pulled out my fall bin and began decorating other areas around the house.

Some fall leaves for the front door.

Fall flowers for the dining room buffet.

including a little pumpkin painting by my youngest

Fancied up the dining room table with my fall tablecloth from William Sonoma and a glass pumpkin I found at Marshalls

These little succulent candles came from Crate and Barrel and make the perfect little napkin topper.

A few faux pumpkins and leaves by the front door.

Pumpkins and candles by the fireplace.

I got this pretty jar for my birthday in May.  Until now it has held some dainty white summer flowers.  I traded those out for some fall wheat.

Homegoods has a great selection of fall pillows.  I went there to buy some drawer organizers and I came out with these fall pillows.

And these....

And just as I was about to make it to the checkout counter, I found this plaid paper runner for $3.99. Ok, yes, get in the shopping cart.....you can come home with us too. 

It was just enough for the kitchen table.

Then I made our favorite fall snack - candy corn and dry roasted peanuts.

And lit a great candle from Bath and Body.

 

And then in a stroke of extra good fortune, I saw where Hallmark is debuting some new fall movies starting on September 23rd.  Thank you, Hallmark! Click here for the details.

Ok, Fall, I hope you enjoy your stay. I certainly will.