Just Simply Holly

Although I came in on the planning a little “late in the game”, my best friend and her daughter were well prepared in advance! As everyone knows, one of the things that is absolutely mandatory for a long road trip is GOOD music! And when you’re traveling across several states, the option of tuning in a good channel isn’t always possible!

So being able to burn your favorite songs to a CD so that you can listen to what you like without having to skip past the songs you don’t really care for is a MUST! I personally run Roxio on my computer, which happens to be one of the weekly deals available this week at buy.com! You can get the Roxio Easy CD/DVD burning software along with a bonus of a 1 GB flash drive stick for an AWESOME price of $19.99 BEFORE the $10 savings for first time Google Checkout customers and it even comes with free standard shipping! Let me tell you, I’ve used several different CD/DVD burning programs, and in my personal opinion, Roxio is the BEST! Their drag and drop system makes burning a CD/DVD as easy as 1-2-3!

The other thing that has really helped this trip go smoothly is the navigation system that my friends daughter got from a friend of hers. This thing is REALLY neat and offers us the peace of mind of knowing where we’re going in case we happen to miss a turn! Buy.com has this awesome Garmin Street Pilot on sale this week, but you’ll have to go check it out yourself if you want a peek at their awesome price, I’m not going to spoil it for you…LOL!

I’m telling you, whether you’re going on a long road trip or looking for an MP3 Player, Digital Camera or even video game accessories, Buy.com is going to be your one stop shop with the best prices around!

OK, back to my trip, I’ve blogged enough for now!

I’ve been busy today getting the last of the things I needed for my trip and getting things taken care of here in the house. I’m on a pretty good “schedule” as far as being able to have done what I want done here in the house before I leave! And I have everything I need to take on my trip, now it’s just the matter of getting everything to fit in the suitcase that I’m taking, THAT will be interesting!

But what I wish I would have found sooner is this REALLY cool Flexible Tripod that would have really came in handy on the trip for the TONS of pictures I plan on taking!!

The coolest thing is that it’s among the many items that are available at great prices this week in Buy.com’s weekly deals and if you hurry over there you can actually get it for a total price of NOTHING! Yes, you’re reading that right, the price of the Case Logic flexible tripod is $0! How is that possible you ask? That’s simple. The current price is $10, BUT, if you are a new Google Checkout Customer, you’ll get a $10 discount. And shipping is also free, so that’s how you can get a Case Logic flexible tripod for free! So, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR??? Hurry up and get over there and grab yours NOW!

And while you’re there, be sure to check out the other amazing sale prices on the rest of Buy.com’s Weekly Deals! They have 23 other items at blockbuster prices, like this 8GB Apple iPod Nano for just $139.99 and this Kingston 4GB SDHC card for just $21.95. But remember, the same thing applies to those items as the tripod, if you’re a new Google Checkout customer, you can take an additional $10 off the price AND have it shipped for free!

No matter how you look at it, Buy.com has some AMAZING prices on many of the items you’ve been shopping for. The difference is that with buy.com you get the item you want at an amazing price from an amazing company! So make sure you check them out the next time you’re shopping online!

In lieu of my trip, that is just a FEW days away, I decided that I needed to do some SERIOUS clothes shopping! So last night, with my daughter in tow, I set out upon what I thought was going to be a shopping trip of nightmarish proportions! I say this simply because I’m a horribly picky and boring person when it comes to clothes! Give me jeans or sweats and a T-shirt and I’m happy as a lark….LOL! I’m definitely a dumpy/frumpy housewife!

But after finding out that some of the areas we are going to be driving through next week will have temps in the low 100’s, the reality is that my NW Ohio attire simply won’t cut it! I was in need of some clothes that could be worn when temps are higher than anything I’ve ever experienced before!

The most amazing thing to me about my shopping trip is the fact that I found EVERYTHING I needed and wanted in one stop! For me, that is TOTALLY rare and almost unheard of!

Anyway, I took some pictures of the outfits I bought last night so that I could share them with you! I ended up buying a total of 5 tops and 5 bottoms (3 capris and 2 shorts). I honestly can never remember a time in my adult life that I have purchased that many outfits for myself at one time…LOL! I also purchased 2 outfits that were completely away from my “norm” as far as clothes go! One is a sleeveless striped top with khaki capri pants the other is a sleeveless flower print “flowing” top with white capri pants. Everything else was pretty normal other than the fact that they were a little more colorful than my normal wardrobe…LOL! So here ya go!

This is the shirt that I was talking about that is most out of my “norm” as far as my clothes go. But I absolutely LOVE this shirt! And, it comes in several other colors and patterns, so I’m hoping to pick up at least one or two more before they’re gone!

So, there you have it. The proof of being spoiled…LOL! It was cool though! But definitely not something I’d want to do regularly..LOL!

The kids were asking me the other day what we were going to do for their dad for Fathers Day. It wasn’t until they asked me that I realized that it’s only a few weeks away. My husband is like most other guys, he likes tools and gadgets. Since I don’t know enough about the types of tools he really uses and needs for work, I decided that the best thing we could get him for Fathers Day would be in the gadget department.

Since he purchased a new laptop a few months ago, he doesn’t need a new computer, so there’s one thing to take off the list. He also purchased a new MP3 player recently, so I can take that off the list as well. Then I remembered something he said the other night when we were watching a movie. We have an old and very cheap surround sound system that does not work well, and he said something about how nice it would be to get a better system that actually worked like it was supposed to!

So I clicked on over to Buy.com to see what kinds of surround sound systems they had the best deals on and found an awesome Harman Kardon CP40 5.1 channel home theater system with a DVD player AND a powered subwoofer that I could snag for way less than the normal retail price!

I’ll admit that I’m not the most technical savvy person when it comes to stereo type equipment, so I hopped on the phone and called my sister who is. She and I both looked around the Buy.com website for a while, checking out the great deals that they have on every type of electronic gadget you can imagine. My sister couldn’t get over the amazing prices they were offering on their weekly deals and she even snagged up one of these Digital Spectrum pink digital frames that they have on special right now for $59.99!

Anyway, back to me and my search for a surround sound system. Buy.com had several to choose from, and it was not an easy job trying to narrow the choices down, each different system had it’s own awesome features, but ths Harman Kardon just seemed to jump out at me as the best system and the best deal!

And I really like the fact that it comes with a built in DVD player, the one that we have right now is a combination DVD/VCR and we lost the remote for it in the last move, so you actually have to push the buttons to work it, which is a pain, especially with my old eyes….LOL!

Now all I have to do is figure out which day I can order it so that it will be shipped to the house on a day that he’ll be at work and won’t see it so that he’ll be surprised when he opens it on Fathers Day!

OK, I’ll finally admit it! I am TOTALLY addicted to shopping online! It allows me to see a wide range of products from several different merchants, all from the comfort of my own home. If I don’t feel like getting dressed up, I don’t have to and I also don’t have to deal with crowds or rude sales people. With a little bit of searching and a few clicks, I can usually find just the item I am looking for. When you add the fact that I don’t have to drive, use gas or deal with traffic, it makes online shopping even more appealing. But, as they say in the commercials, “BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE”. Now there are places online that actually offer online coupons for your favorite online retailers! For instance, I’m going to use a Bluefly coupon for $30 off any purchase of $150 or more and buy my daughter some really awesome spring clothes that will make her say “You’re the best mom in the world”….LOL! So you see, it’s a win/win situation for me, I save money AND make my kid happy AND I don’t have to go outside into the freezing temps to do it! AHHHHHHH….life is GOOOOOOOD!

I forgot to tell you one of the things that happened this weekend. My daghter has been using my dinosaur of a 19 inch monitor for over a year now. It’s been an awesome monitor, it’s only draw back is that it’s an old CRT monitor so it weighs a TON! We’ve known for a while now that we were going to have to replace it sooner or later, but we were hoping later rather than sooner. She was sitting yesterday playing a game when the monitor went black. Since it has done that before, we really didn’t think much of it, it usually would just come back on by just powering it off, then turning it back on. This time, we weren’t so lucky. No matter what we did, the monitor simply was not going to come back on, PERIOD!

So, I started looking around online, trying to find the best deal possible on a new monitor for her. Although I’ve shopped for different computer accessories many times, I honestly had no clue there were so many different brands of monitors. The one that I found that seemed to be the best monitor for the money was a viewsonic monitor that I found online. If I had the time to wait for delivery I’d have snagged it up in a heartbeat. But since it was one of those immediate needs, I ended up going to a local store and picking up one for more than the online one cost. But she’s happy, so I’m happy…LOL!

I’ve heard people say time and time again, on various websites, news paper articles and even on the news, that Walmart is basically the Anti Christ because of how few of their items sold have a “Made in the USA” tag on them or because they aren’t unionized. But let me share something with you that recently happened to me while shopping with my sister at our local JCPenney store.

As you may, or may not, know, I am currently taking college courses with my major being Marketing and Sales. The chapter we’re currently discussing has to do with global trading and importing/exporting. It also talks a lot about how many of the products sold by American merchants aren’t made in America and it prompted us to start paying attention to product labels in the stores we shop at.

So while I was shopping with my sister at JCPenney this past Saturday I started looking at the labels on the womens clothing. I spent around 25 minutes “label shopping” and was actually quite surprised at my findings! In that 25 +/- minutes I did not find a SINGLE label that said “Made in America”, not one! Why did I find this so surprising? Well, you never hear people protesting at the local JCPenney store, do you? Yet it’s obvious that the bulk of the merchandise they sell isn’t made in America and I’m also pretty sure that their employees are not unionized.

So tell me, what makes JCPenney so much better and/or different than Walmart? They’re a “big box” store, they sell merchandise that is made in countries like Malaysia, China, Japan and Indonesia and they’re non union.

My opinion? They’re no better, if anything, they’re worse! Why, you ask? That’s easy! JCPenney is worse because they put ridiculously high markups on merchandise that is of the same quality as the merchandise you can purchase at stores like Walmart. They also have stuck up sales people who have the “I’m better than you” attitude that drive off down to earth customers like myself. People like me, who struggle to make ends meet, who want to get the best value for our dollar rather then just having the most popular name on our clothing.

See, this is the way that I see it. I can take my shopping dollars and go to JCPenney where I’m going to be ignored or treated like crap by a sales person who thinks they’re better than me and buy a pair of jeans for around $30. Or, I can take my shopping dollars and go to a store like Walmart where I’ll also be ignored, but for that $30 I can buy myself a pair of jeans AND a new shirt! So you tell me, why is that so wrong? No matter which store you go to you’re going to get non American made products AND crappy service from a non union employee! Wouldn’t you rather get more for your dollar as well? Or would you just rather have the pretty designer name and/or tag instead?

Yeah, I know, we just got past Christmas. But to be honest, we’re only a few weeks away from Valentines Day! And if you plan on buying a gift for your special someone online, then you really need to start thinking about gift ideas soon! So here are some of the things that I’m going to put on my Valentines wish list for my hubby:

• Chocolate, especially those chocolate covered raspberry basket things I’ve seen at a local chocolates store!
• Although I’m not usually a flower person, for once I’d LOVE to get a dozen roses!
• Jewelry, or more specifically, diamond pendants!
• Something to make me feel pampered like a manicure or a pedicure!
• Dinner and a movie!  Let’s face it, as parents we don’t get many date nights, even though our kids are teens!  You can’t leave these two alone for more than an hour without the cell phone ringing with one of them on the other end whining about something the other one is doing.

So, what kinds of gift ideas are you going to give your special someone for Valentines Day this year?  I’d really love to hear some of the neat ideas that you’ve come up with!

I’ve been looking at the various blogs and websites that I have accumulated lately, trying to decide what to do with some that are just sitting there with nothing on them. One of the things that has come to mind for me is the thought of starting some sort of online business on one of them.

With everything that I have going on in real life, it’s going to be almost impossible for me to find a job that will be flexible enough to work around my school hours, and having to drive my daughter back and forth to the bus stop in the morning and afternoon, as well as the regular appointments that my children have with doctors and counselors. So that’s why it would benefit me to find things that I could do online that would help supplement my husbands income.

There are some really good options as to the different types of online stores and products that I could choose from, but beyond choosing the right type(s) of products, there are other important options that I need to weigh as well. One of the most important things when running an online business is to have a top notch shopping cart software program in place. It is vitally important to keep your customers information safe and secure. When you take the extra steps to make sure that you are using a reputable shopping cart, you are not only protecting your customers, you are also letting them know that you value their business!

So stay tuned because when I do finally decide what it is I want to do with my extra website(s), I’ll be sure to post it here! And if you are also considering starting an online business, make sure you take the extra step to assure your customers that their online shopping safety is as important to you as it is to them!

I am happy to say that I survived Black Friday 2007 and I hope that if you went out this morning in the week hours of the morning to grab those early morning deals that the retailers that were offering that you survived as well!  I spent the night with my mom last night and she and I were up at 2:30 this morning and out the door shortly after3:00 so that we could be ready to hit Kohl’s when they opened at 4:00 this morning.  I was able to grab a couple of the micro fleece blankets they had for $7.99 as well as a few things for the kids.  My mom got  some great deals on clothes for the kids and she also got my gift, which is a gorgeous comforter set for my bed.  From Kohl’s we headed over to Walmart where I snagged up my new crockpot and a pair of memory foam slippers.  I also managed to get 4 oversized bath towels in 2 packs for $3.84 per package.  Other than that, there really wasn’t much at Walmart that we wanted.

After Walmart we went and grabbed breakfast and planed our next stops which were Kmart, the mall (JC Penney, Sears, Aeropostle and Elder Beerman), then ran to Meijer.  At that point I was tired (it was 9:00), and I was fed fed up with my step sister in law, who met up with us a Kohl’s at 4:00 AM and had yet to do anything but whine even though she hadn’t bought a damn thing!  After the fiasco with her and her daughters last year my sister swore they’d never go with us again, only to insist that they ride with us from the time we left Kohl’s.  So I informed my mom that I would not be going next year if they were going, I have nothing but disgust for this woman.  I have tried for years to be decent to her and treat her with respect, even though she has always been a bitch to me in the 24 years I’ve known her, but no matter what I do, no matter how many times I try to talk to her and be nice to her, she is nothing but a bitch to me.  And in the 4 hours that she “hung out with us” this morning without buying a single thing, she constantly whined and then examined everything that my mother bought as well as making sure she knew what my mothers total purchases came to.  It makes for a VERY unenjoyable experience, and frankly I’m done!  Next year I’ll go out with my hubby and we can shop just the two of us.  By then the kids will be 13 and almost 16 and more than old enough to be home alone during the wee hours of the morning.

But, I’m HOME!  I will be heading out again in a couple of hours to take my daughter to her favorite store so we can grab a few things that we have coupons for.  Other than that, I’m not going ANYWHERE the rest of the weekend…LOL!