As of August 15, 2009, this page will no longer function as an ongoing blog...for ongoing updates and continually added shopping sites and cool products, please visit my new blog, Shopping From Home. Also, see the latest links (as of 9/1/09) to more good stuff at the bottom of the page...

Please continue to enjoy this page and all the great product finds contained herein, it's not going anywhere!

Lots of people have asked me where I find many of the cool things that I've purchased over the years and I usually tell them that it's because I spend too much time online and just come across great stuff. My sister has told me on many occasions that I should start my own blog for my friends with links to cool shopping items or sites. Well, here's my attempt at that. I have no experience whatsoever with something of this sort, so please bear with me while I work on learning it. Lots of great stuff to come!

My goal is to update this page at least once a week, so check back often for more great stuff! The most recent stuff will be listed first, so if you've already been here several times (I hope!) you don't have to scroll through the whole thing to see what's new.

Back To School Time! It's that time of the year for many parents out there, so I thought I'd dedicate today's shopping sites to back-to-school supplies. Of course, these sites have many more products that are not school related, so have fun browsing!

www.theultimategreenstore.com All things green! Love the Kleen Kanteen Reusable Water Bottles and check out the Whimsical Bento Lunch Box Set - its sturdy containers keep food from getting squished and it fits in most backpacks or you can purchase a carrying case separately.

These Crocodile Creek lunch boxes are adorable. They are padded, insulated, 100% Phthalate PVC free, and they wipe clean with a damp cloth. Amazon has lots of them in different colors/themes and they're between $14-$15. See Amazon link below to go directly to this lunchbox.

This Foogo Straw Bottle Thermos is leak-proof and made from BPA free materials. It is dishwasher safe, keeps liquids cool for 12 hours, and has a hygienic push button lid with pop-up silicone straw. It's made to be kid-proof - has an unbreakable stainless steel interior and the exterior withstands daily wear and tear.

www.mabelslabels.com Has a great selection of labels for all those supplies your kids have to bring to class - everything from clothes and shoes to bags, lunch gear and stickers for toys, dishes, bottles and more. You can purchase them individually or in specially packaged sets. They also sell "My 411 Wristbands" which can be customized to include names, phone numbers, allergies and other special needs a child may have - great for everyday or field trips/outings.

www.stuckonyou.biz is another great resource for all things labels - for your child, you dog, or even your kitchen!

www.seejanework.com is a great web store for all things office and organizing. You can find anything here from from paperclips and holders and pencils to pen pockets (love these!), cool page tabs, to roccoco chalkboard decals and overnight bags. Tons of great stuff and gift ideas. See just a few examples in the slideshow at right. There's even a kit you can buy for $6 (Habit.Former) that is designed to help you organize your life and make order a part of your daily routine in 30 days.

www.goodnitelite.com offers an innovative solution for parents who's kids get out of bed way too early.  The goal is to teach kids to stay in bed until it is morning.  It is a combination of a nightlight and a timer that changes the visual display to either a sun or moon to teach kids "day" and "night".  Best of all, YOU choose the time you want the sun and moon to be displayed - just don't push your luck, you late-sleepers!

Neat Receipts by Neatco. Since we're looking at organizing today, I must mention this product which is for those of us (yes, I am one!) who hoard receipts and business cards and such - or for those of you who just want a better way to organize it all. These small scanners use technology to read and extract key information from your paper, so you can organize it, export it, or securely store it in their easy-to-use database system. There's a mobile scanner as well as a desktop scanner, and it's available for Windows as well as for Mac. Slightly pricey, but worth it if it helps resolve clutter and organize your life.

ZipBin is "The toy chest that's also a toy"™ This is a great toy storage solution that parent and child alike would love. It comes in two sizes, regular and mini. The material is sturdy and has a carry handle and lid; it unzip at all 4 corners and turns into a play mat - there are several different designs to choose from, from dinosaur playscape, to road and rail (we have this one), fairy castle, farm and more. Toys can be stored inside the bin when it's zipped up and when play time is done, just zip up with toys inside and all is nice and neat! It also can be folded flat to fit inside it's lid for storage when not in use. Also comes in a mini size which would be terrific for travel!

www.flipclips.com Looking for a cute gift for a grandparent? This is a great idea - turn your digital video clips into these adorable and fun flip books. They start at just $4.99 and are super easy to create. The website walks you through every step and offers great tips and instruction. I've made at least 3 flip books and can tell you they are great!

www.worldwidefred.com Want to find something cool? Original? Weird? Affordable? Then check out Fred & Friends. Fred says it best (from website): "...I have travelled the four corners of the globe in search of truth, justice, and the ultimate in style. Stuff that works, puts a smile on your face, and doesn't cost a fortune. I'm Fred. Why not let me into your home? I promise to help around the house..." I'm currently craving the Bloom clip light and the M-cups - measuring cups that stack inside each other like one of those Russian stacking dolls! Check out the hundreds of products Fred has to offer!

Buy these now! Look at this price! If only I had a place for these..... Sprout Bottle Vases from CB2.com for $2.50 & $3.95!!

www.retailmenot.com I have this website down at the bottom under Links but thought it is worth mentioning up here, too. It is my favorite find site to find coupon/discount codes for retail websites - before I buy something online I always check here first for a discount code, if available - this site has saved me a lot of money! (This is for YOU, Tia!)

www.zappos.com - I think many people already know of Zappos, but I like it so much and had to list it here. I love shoe shopping at Zappos - the site itself is super easy to navigate and even search for something pretty specific. The best part is the awesome customer service - free shipping (usually) and free returns so you can't go wrong!

www.shutterfly.com is my favorite site for creating photo projects, especially photo books. Their program to create the books far exceeds others I have tried with tons of layout and background options. I have begun to create photo books for every 6 months worth of pictures rather than buy too expensive photo albums, then pay for prints...and the photo books take up much less space on the already crowded bookshelf! Another thing I do on this site is create ornaments - every year I create 2 hanging ceramic ornaments, one with a picture of each daughter, to hang on our xmas tree. The idea is to give each daughter all of her ornaments (18 years worth?) when she becomes an adult and hopefully it will be something special that she hangs on her own tree. Corny? Maybe, but I like it. The photo coasters are cool, too - they make great grandparent gifts!

Christmas in July!I first saw this Christmas-Tree-in-a-Box last year and wanted it but it was sold out everywhere. It's just cutesie, perhaps a fun holiday decoration for an entry or side table.

Check out the Baker's Edge Brownie Pan, for those (like me) who love the corner or edge brownies - yum!

Just bought Dr. Laura Schlessinger's book In Praise of Stay-at-Home-Moms at Barnes & Noble - found it on the bargain table for $4.98!! Go get it, hurry! If you don't find it, ask an associate - I did and they found a box in the back - what a deal!

Salt Water Canvas makes perfect beach bags .... after a recent trip to the beach with my two girls and numerous bags of supplies from towels to clothes to sand toys, hats, sunscreen, car keys, wallet, and snacks - lots, and lots of snacks I knew there had to be a better, more organized way to do it! The Whale bag is just perfect - big enough for everything and many compartments that are not too small - the screen"ish" material is super strong and durable and, best of all, lets the sand fall through the tiny holes (but nothing else gets through!). The colors are fun, too - I bought the Salsa & Chartreuse bag and received the Yellow w/ Kelly Green Stripes Whale bag free (special promo they were running at the time.

http://www.patemm.com/sells the Patemm Pad - a beautiful, compact, smart, smart and practical on-the-go diaper changing solution. I've had mine for years and still love it and use it all the time! I keep it in the back of my car and change my daughter there every time I'm out - check out the website to see how stylish they are. I also think these make a great shower gift.

http://www.nashelle.com/has beautiful initial pendants. For the longest time I had wanted necklace charms that were simple and had either my daughters names or initials on them. Most I found were either way too pricey or they were stirling silver or some other material that required maintenance (I hate polishing jewelry)! Nashelle's customer service was great - I ordered two of the "identity" initial charms (no necklace) with my girls names on each. They are 14 carat gold fill - NOT plated - so virtually maintenance free, can be worn in the shower, too! I love them and they go with everything!

http://www.janbrett.com/- Jan Brett is a children's book author. A cool thing about her website is that you can choose from tons of black & white illustrations from her books and print them out for your kids to color - fun!

http://www.ticcheandbea.com/ This is something I have wanted to do for a long time. They make memory quilts - baby size and larger. You can have a quilt made from cut up pieces of your baby's clothes or even a grown-up version made out of t-shirts! I have a couple of large bins of baby clothes for each of my girls that I couldn't stand to part with and have always wanted to make a quilt out of them, I just haven't gotten around to it just yet (like a lot of things in my life)! The great thing about this company is that it's very reasonably priced - you purchase a kit which includes a everything you need to make the quilt and detailed instructions. Even better yet - if you don't want to sew it yourself, you can send the cut squares and kit back to them and they'll do it for you, for an extra fee, of course! You can also pay a little more and send them the clothes and THEY will cut out the squares for you! I can't wait to try this out myself.

This rainbowcake is so cool-looking! Ok, those of you who know me know that I am no cook - or baker for that matter! I came across this site (no idea how!) with very good directions to make a very cool looking rainbow cake that I'd like to try someday - just thought I'd like to share it in case one of you wants to try it out. If you do, please let me know how it worked out!

keep checking in for more great stuff!

http://www.tatouagedesigns.com/I love those removable wall decals that are out there now, mainly to decorate the kids' spaces, but they won't work anywhere in my house because we have "knock-down" walls - they have texture. The decals won't stay unless you have a flat surface. The answer is Tatouage! I've used these for years and they're so easy - just rub on with a provided "popsicle" stick and, voila!, the look of hand painting. That's the best part - it really does look like it's hand painted on the wall. When my oldest daughter was born, my mom hand painted roses on her nursery walls and it was soooo beautiful but it was not easy. When we moved, I wanted to recreate her nursery and used tatouage instead for the flowers and everyone who sees it thinks I hand painted her room! See my pictures below.

http://www.magtrim.com/is another cool decorating idea. They make magnetic light charms that will instantly attach to most metal objects (think lamps, sconces, chandeliers, candle holders...) to dress them up. They have many different designs, from classical "crystal" shapes to fun fruits. My dining room chandelier is dressed up with these and I love it! See my picture below.

keep checking in for more great stuff!