Shopping Sites You Need to Know About

Even if you never click on these links (and you SHOULD) I need a list like this in my life.  These are all places that I've ordered from, or intend to order from, with prices that make me giggle.  In a good way.

PaperMart.  My mom ordered ribbon from this site for my wedding, and I'm still working through the leftover spools.  $3.72 for 100 yards of 7/8" satin ribbon?  Yes please.  Plus spools of tulle for tutus, packaging supplies, janitorial supplies, food boxing and wrapping, tins, jars, jewelry boxes, fabric trim, papers, and really...just go look around. If it's paper, plastic, or cloth and is meant to package something up?  They have it, and cheap.   (Somebody come save me, I can't stop browsing.  They have those neat reusable nylon shopping bags that fold into their own little containment pouches, 12 for $27.  Surely someone wants to split a pack of those with me??)

eShakti.  I haven't ordered from them, but I intend to.  Custom-tailored clothes for incredible prices.  Dresses are around $70, which includes tailoring for bust and height.  Add $7.50, and you can change necklines, add sleeves, change the hem length to above or below the knee, or anything else applicable to that garment.  They carry cardigans, dresses, jackets, skirts, scarves, pants, but only for women.  (Ooh, just noticed in google right now that a lot of folks have been doing reviews, and have $20 off coupon codes on their review posts.  Sweet!  Pair that with the overstock section, you could find a dress for about $15!  Probably couldn't be customized, though.)  Also, register today and you can save $20 off your first order.  Do it!

Halo Heaven.  Picture everything you need to make a little girl into a fairy.  Wings, tutus, huge flowers, wands, plus silly plastic shoes, necklaces, capes, hats....now picture it all wholesale prices.  There are dollar-store type swords and pirate gear, little cloth shoes for babies....so much stuff.  I recently perused the overstock/discontinued section and ordered wings, tutus, flowers, and wands for four little girls.  My total was $20.  GO.

(No, none of these folks know me at all, and they have no idea that I'm giving them props.  I just really like passing on info.)

Baby Steps

I knew that February would be a slow, baby-filled month around here.  We all made it back to church on Sunday- I was quite a sight, playing the organ with Baby Boy strapped into the baby carrier!  Honestly, it was easier to play with him in the carrier than it had been when I was pregnant.  At least this time I could see my feet :)  By the end of the pregnancy, my belly was so in the way that I couldn't play the pedal notes directly beneath me.  (If you haven't seen an organ up close and personal, there's a keyboard underneath we play with our feet.  It takes a special kind of crazy.)

Spring is in sight, and the kids and I are getting gently back into life.  We went on a long walk Monday morning- it's been a long time since we've done that, and EVERYONE was exhausted by the time we got home!

Mimi is still enjoying special time with her Grandma- when I told her it was time to go, she sternly told me "Mommy stay here.  Baby stay here.  Sister stay here.  Mimi go to Grandma's!"  She adores her alone time with Grandma!

On the mornings that we aren't "dividing to conquer" the girls, they know they have a schedule.  At 6, Ernie can start reading a book if she wants.  At 7, they can quietly go downstairs and watch a movie before breakfast.  At some point, we're going to move the tv set upstairs- every movie in our house is pretty tame (we don't OWN anything above PG) but I'd still like to know for sure what the kids are watching.  If we wanted to be really fancy and up to the minute, we'd join the rest of America in owning a flat panel tv and buy a second set, and we'd have to look at flat panel tv stands, but for now I'm going to be provincial and say that my 6-year-old TV set is just fine.  (Right, dear husband??  Haha)

(If you DO have a flat panel TV, DO check out that link above- CSN has an amazing selection!)

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Disclaimer: In return for this post, CSN has provided me with a gift code to any of their 200+ online stores.  Over and out.

CSN Review

CSN Stores is HUGE- they have over 200 "stores" currently listed (under categories as broad as outdoor furniture, kids and babies, and office supplies!)

Now that the bones of our yard are almost complete, and we've been chased indoors by rainy November weather, we've started dreaming about the indoor projects that we dream about every winter.  For one thing, the kitchen- my husband has huge plans to take out the ceiling, the walls, the cabinets....basically everything.  Something like drop leaf tables might come in handy, for when we need space in the adjoining school room for kid crafts, and then need MORE space for when we have company over!  (Like...Christmas Eve.  I think our current count is about 22 folks.  Need. More. Chairs!)  One like this would be nice, since it matches our current dining room table.  And how cute would it be painted?


But one like THIS would be biiiigggeerrrr!



Disclaimer:
I have been compensated, in the form of a gift code, for this review.

Preferred?

Woot- CSN contacted me again about doing a review.  Seems I'm on their "preferred blogger" list.  *blush*

The only problem is...I can never, ever decide what to order.  Seriously, it's a huge shopping network!

Anyone up for modern bedding?  (I have baby stuff on the brain...look how awesome those sheets are!)

Or look, I can pretend I'm back at a certain cell phone company I worked for very, very briefly after they devoured....err....acquired the company I was at... (please tell me I'm not the only telecommunications alumni out there...you guys know what I'm talking about, right?  If that little "jack" pillow down there was orange...)

Or maybe something more grown up is to your taste?  Yummy... I love those pea cocks!  

What gives?  I never knew I liked modern, but apparently modern bedding is kind of my cup of tea.

CSN Stores

I was excited when CSN contacted me about doing a review on my blog- ran over to check out their lighting section first, because we've been day dreaming about replacing the teeny chandelier in our foyer ever since we moved in.  But oh, they have kids' stuff....furniture...kitchen things..pet...office...school....I actually got a little distracted.  There are over 200 "CSN" stores!

Doesn't this chandelier look like the one in Beauty and the Beast?  (I think we had an identical one when I was growing up- I LOVED that chandelier!)



Mmmm......red....


I love how different this one looks- kind of like a bird cage!



OK, because I can't keep out of the toy sections, check these out!


Love this- it's like a perpetual puzzle!


These are just classic.  (And at $8, pretty well-priced too.)


What would you DO with this?  Or rather, what WOULDN'T you do with a Bilbo?


OK, I think Mimi would flip over these blocks.


THIS.  Just look at this.  Pop one in, another ball pops up...it could go for hours.  Literally, I think Ernie would pound these balls for hours.


So tell me... what would YOU order to do a review on?