DeChristmasification

I always find it so sad that the Christmas decorations have to come down. If I had my way, I’d keep an artificial Christmas tree up all year just so I could sit and look at the lights at night. But, my husband doesn’t share my enthusiasm for Christmas decor, so the week after New Year’s, everything comes down.

We have storage shelves in our basement, and there’s one section just for the Christmas stuff. We store everything in large Rubbermaid totes-two for the Christmas ornaments and small figurines, one for my large Snowman figures, one for all the indoor and outdoor lights. Our two artificial wreaths get put in a heavy duty trash bag and stored in the corner next to the shelf.  It’s really not that hard to do since we have purposely kept our decorations to a manageable size. Believe me, I’d be Danny DeVito’s character in “Deck The Halls” if I could get away with it, but Chris prefers understatement, and it does make set up and take down easier.

For this week’s Blog Blast, Parent Bloggers Network wants to know how you clean up after the holidays, or if you just leave everything up all year round! Write a post on your blog, linking back to 1) http://rightathome.com and
2) http://blog.parentbloggers.com.

Make sure to send your blog post link to parentbloggers@gmail.com and they’ll round them up on our blog – so give your post a creative title!

What can you win?

A $250 VISA gift card!! (maid service for post-holiday cleaning, perhaps)! One winner will be chosen at random.

For some great tips on organizing your home,  check out the new website from SC Johnson, maker of products like Ziploc, Pledge, and Glade. The site is called Right@Home,  and it organizes all kinds of helpful articles into four categories-Cleaning & Organizing, Food & Cooking, Designing for your Home, and You & Your Family.  There are some really yummy looking recipes, and check out the “Where’s your stuff?” bag, an easy craft to turn a hanging sweater bag into a way to organize all your kids’ stuff! You’re sure to pick up a tip or two.

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Gifts For Everyone On Your List!

Just because Christmas is over doesn’t mean you don’t need to buy birthday presents or presents for other reasons, right? So I’m going to keep working my way through my list of products that I wasn’t able to review before Christmas, and I hope you’ll keep these items in mind for purchasing!

For the High-Fashion Traveler:

Trinabags has bags in all styles, shapes and sizes so you can pick up the perfect gift for girl who likes to travel in style! I like this “wool-like” blue plaid one called “Rae“, and right now it’s on sale for only $35.00 plus $5.95 shipping.

raeblueplaid

For the Treehugger

The Modella Fitted Junior Weekender ($8.92) is perfect for guys or gals. Made from recycled plastic bottles, this bag keeps the environment safe while keeping your products in line! You can find it at Walmart stores.

modella-bag

For the Little Ones

Tiny Tillia Plush Set ($12.99) is the perfect gift for children! A loveable animal accompanies a fresh-scented bubble bath or body wash, for good, clean fun any parent will love! Tiny Tillia products are available on their website and at Target.

tiny-tillia

For the Tweens/Teens

Kids are crazy about lip balms and Alba Botanica’s Hawaiian Lip Balm Trio ($9.99) offers three yummy flavors to keep lips hydrated and healthy! You can find these on the Alba website and at Target and CVS.

lip-balm

There are even more great items available on all of the above websites. Happy Shopping!

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Orijinz-fun and educational card game

orijinz-box-front-web-smOrijinz is the fun card game that educates players on why we say the things we do! With 150 cards that each teach the definition and meaning of common words and phrases, it is literally hours of fun and learning.

I’ve been pulling out cards at random and reading them to the boys. Each card has a word Origin, the definition, and some have a “tidbit”, a fun fact about the word. To play the game, one person reads the origin and definition, and the other players try to guess the word. For example, a word whose origin is the Arabic meaning for “storehouse”, definition is a periodical that contains articles and stories, the word is magazine.

I’m planning to take Orijinz with us to visit my sister and brother-in-law, so we’ll have a group of boys ages 10,12, and 15, and four adults. It will be interesting to see how many words we will know. The game is only $14.95, and the “Buy” link on the site goes to a PayPal page. Unfortunately, purchases made now won’t be delivered until at least January 2nd, and for that I owe the sponsor an apology. I was hoping to have this posted by December 19th so there would be time for delivery by Christmas, but I didn’t make it.

If you are looking for a gift for someone who loves to read or learn about language, or a fun game to take to a party, please support my sponsor and pick up Orijinz!

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