It’s coming… Black Friday, the big kickoff to holiday shopping. And you can count on my staying far, far away from all the malls.

My first reason is simple. I worked retail for 6 years. I got plenty of experience coping with the craziness and don’t need to participate on the other side.

But beyond that I’d sooner shop online much of the time. I don’t like shopping in a crowd. I don’t care if I manage to get my kids’ dream toy or not. If they don’t get it at Christmas, they can wait for a birthday. The deals can be amazing, but the crowds are too much of a turn-off.

Technorati Tags: black friday, christmas shopping, crowds

My kids and I had a blast earlier today. I got some Insta Snow to try out, along with a couple other things, and let’s just say my kids really, really enjoyed it. How could I not take pictures?

Not dandruff… snow!

This stuff came from the Vat19.com website, and they have a lot more really, really fun stuff. Things like the Coiled Beeswax Candle that has the ability to extinguish itself, or the Color Flames Colored Candles that I also received. We tried one of those (sorry, no pictures), and the kids both want them for their birthdays.

Not everything they have is just for fun. A lot of it is practical too. But many items have a sense of fun while being practical. Or if you don’t want to call it fun, call it geek appeal. That works too.

Their site is a lot of fun to wander. Possibly too much fun, in fact. I spent rather too long wandering the site while thinking on this post. Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

Who am I kidding? It was fun!

I’m pretty lucky. My shopping list for Christmas is pretty short. My sisters and I draw names, so no one has to shop for too many people. It’s pretty nice.

I still intend to take advantage of the internet. I probably won’t have to ship any gifts on my family’s side since we’re all getting together in my area, but there will be shipping involved for my husband’s side. For that kind of shopping I definitely love using the Internet. No standing in long post office lines!

I have two favorite resources for online shopping - Amazon and ThinkGeek. In my family, those two work very, very well. Considering the range Amazon carries, it works pretty well for a lot of people.

I’m very grateful to have a short shopping list. It’s shorter this year than it has been in the past, and that was a bit painful. Removing my grandparents’ names from the list because two of them died this past year was very emotional. Made a difference in how I handled the name draw too.

If times are tight, instituting a name draw is one of my favorite recommendations for saving money. Most adults really don’t need that many Christmas gifts. And despite how much fun it can be to find the perfect gift, a shorter Christmas shopping list is really nice too.

Technorati Tags: christmas shopping, christmas shopping list

I don’t care that winter’s coming and that things are cooling off. That’s the beauty of spas - you stay warm. But the thought of climbing into one and just relaxing sounds great to me.

It’s been a busy day. Just one of those run, run run mornings. It’s only now quiet enough for me to dedicate myself to working and posting.

But who am I fooling? If I had a spa, I’d probably be plunging in, instead.

They’ve long been on my husband’s wish list too. He’d even take one of the little portable ones, just to have one. But, as I keep insisting, they aren’t practical for our life right now. We’d have to have a very good cover, such as the spa covers of superior quality at HotTubWorks.com, and even then have to watch to be certain that it was in place.

I’ve seen how important a good spa cover is, and the ones offered at HotTubWorks.com look really good. A good cover means the hot tub stays warmer with less energy used and it is much harder for someone to fall in accidentally. As a mother that second part really matters to me. Their cover has locking tie-down straps, a feature I can really appreciate.

It’s getting disturbingly close to the time that people start putting up Christmas trees. Not me - with small children in the house generally aim for about a week before Christmas. We have to move furniture around, so having a more crowded living room for more time than that is just too hard.

Many times we find that one string of Christmas tree lights has burned out. We have excess due to buying them on a clearance sale some time back, but eventually we’re going to need more. And that’s when I figure on making the switch to LED Xmas lights.

They’re significantly more efficient, coolor and look really good too. Only reason I’m not making a switch is due to my feeling that I shouldn’t be replacing something that still works just fine. We don’t leave our tree on all night or anything, so the power savings will be a bit less than it might be if we had them on more.

I love technology. I don’t buy nearly as much as I admire, since I don’t need it and can’t afford it. But practical electronics interest me too.

Humidifiers, for example. With the school year in full swing, a good humidifier is a must. How else to keep the kids as comfortable as possible during the inevitable colds?

There are a lot of great places to buy electronics, such as Abt Electronics. They offer some of the things I look for when I shop online, such as free shipping on some products. Their selection looks to be pretty good too. They have both practical and fun electronics.

Looking over their site does remind me that it’s time to check over my humidifier and maybe get a second… two kids, two roooms, after all. You probably know how often kids will get sick at the same time, and that little bit of added comfort can really help them and me sleep at night.