Our Holiday Gift Guide – Household and Dad Edition!

Today we’re happy to bring you the Household and Dad editions of our gift guide!

We’re going to start out with something I don’t believe I’ve ever done before – a vlog. I am never dying to get in front of the camera (and for all but the first 3 seconds, I’m behind it), but I thought it was the best way to highlight these products. (When you get to the part about the Dyson where I totally lose my train of thought, just ignore it, mkay? I can’t figure out how to edit it out of there.)

Featured products:
Keurig Platinum Single Serve Brewing System
Keurig Platinum Single Serve Brewing System

Dyson DC31
dyson DC31

Breville Ikon Hemisphere Blender
breville ikon hemisphere lcd blender

Hamilton Beach Slow Cooker
hamilton beech slow cooker

And here are a few great gift ideas for the dad in your life!

Ballparks of America Map Baseball
Ballparks of America Map Baseball
This handmade map is sure to be a hit (heh) with your favorite baseball fan. The baseball shows a map of the United States and features some of the most famous stadiums in the country, including Fenway Park, Yankee Stadium, Camden Yards, Wrigley Field, and our personal favorite, Busch Stadium. It comes with its very own piece of astroturf, and makes a great display piece. My husband and my dad both loved this ball, and I was pleasantly surprised by the price – it sells for only $20.

SE115 Sound Isolating Earphones
shure se115 earphones
If you’re looking to splurge a bit on dad, take a look at these headphones from Shure. These high-quality earphones are light-weight, stylish (they come in blue, pink, black and red), and are the perfect accessory to an iPod, smart phone, etc. My husband tried these out and said the sound quality “is phenomenal.” He had been using the ear buds that came with his iPod, and he noticed an incredible difference between those and the Shure earphones. Also, Jenny’s husband Bobby has a set, and told me about his great experience with Shure’s customer service. Customer service is always important when making a purchase like this!

Posterbrain
posterbrain
My husband loves posters (we have about a hundred rolled up in our basement, just waiting for the day that he creates a man cave). Posterbrain is a fun way to make unique posters with your own photos – you can make them small, medium, large, or huge! You just log on, upload your photo, and your poster is sent to you overnight – Dad will find a red-wrapped poster tube complete with a holiday bow the next day on his door step. How fun is that? I love this unique gift idea. The quality is great, the price is right, and Dad will love it!

Craftsman tools

craftsman drill driver

This is Jenny butting into Emily’s post again (something that I take an unhealthy pleasure in, I might add!) You may know from reading this here blog that my hubby is a mechanic. He’s also just a general all-around really-good-at-fixing-stuff-guy (aka I married my Dad, anyhoo.) and he uses a LOT of Craftsman tools. He likes them because, well, they WORK, and they have a Lifetime warranty! On the rare occasion that he’s been tough enough on a tool to break it, he’s been able to get it replaced. Yes, he is a card-carrying “Craftsman Club” member! Craftsman tools make great gifts for the Mr. Fix-Its in your life, or you know, if you want to send him a big hint to fix that broken cabinet or leaky faucet. 🙂 You can get Craftsman tools at Sears so they’re easy to find and affordable!

So there you go – gifts for the home and the Man! Enjoy!

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Yet another post for the “Emily is Neurotic” file.

mouse
I am paranoid – paranoid – about mice in our house. (As an aside, searching “mouse” on Flickr was a giant mistake.)

Ugh, just the thought of it sends chills down my spine.

Mice haven’t been an issue in our current house (knock on wood, please God do not let those be famous last words) but there was a period of time when we had a serious issue with them when we lived in our old house. That was just one of the myriad exciting parts of living in a house that was built in 1888. But anyway. I am constantly waiting to find evidence of a mouse in our house, and I think it’s starting to be a problem.

As in, perhaps I need to seek help.

The other day, I saw what was probably a brownie crumb on our kitchen counter and I freaked out, thinking it was mouse droppings. I finally convinced myself that if it was just one, it was probably just a crumb and not a sign of the devil a mouse. I’ve started following the children around with the vacuum cleaner when they eat snacks downstairs.

And as of yesterday, my paranoia is actually keeping me up at night.

We started decorating our house for Christmas yesterday (more on that disaster later) and our tree goes where our dining room table typically sits. The easiest way to move the table to the basement is to move it out on the deck and carry it outside down to the back door. So, in between one trip from the basement to the deck, we left the door open. It was open and unmanned only long enough for me and Andy to walk up the stairs of the deck, grab a chair, and walk back down, but that was long enough for my imagination to run wild. Last night I dreamed that a mouse got in while the door was open, and I remember “seeing” it scurry (ewww even that word freaks me out) up the stairs. When I woke up, I realized it was just a dream, but just because I had dreamed it didn’t mean it wasn’t true, so I literally laid awake for probably close to an hour thinking about whether or not there was a mouse in the basement, how I could find out if there was, and how I could trap the nasty little thing.

I could not get back to sleep because I was so stressed out.

And now that I’m posting about this, it’s going to be just like yesterday when I thought to myself “I really love this pre-lit Christmas tree!” as I plugged in a level of branches, which of course didn’t light. So yeah. Now I am really screwed. I need something like a metal detector that works for mice. Yes, that would be great. Until someone invents one, though, I may never sleep again.

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I Likes To Shop for Free!

Despite the fact that Thursday was both Thanksgiving Day and my husband’s BIRTHDAY, I had to get me some DEALS! And CVS starts their “black Friday” sales on Thanksgiving Day instead of Friday. So at 10 a.m., my BFF Luanne and I hit CVS! My “regular” store wasn’t open (the horror!) so I went to another store that I used to frequent and happily two of my homies were the only ones working! That and the dozen donuts Tim Horton’s donuts Luanne & I brought them helped us have a really FUN shopping trip! Luanne and I each did 3 transactions, were able to use Rite Aid $5/$25 coupons because this CVS accepts competitor coupons, got a TON of freebies because they had everything in stock, and “made” a ton of ECBs. It was EPIC!! But of course, I forgot to take a picture. D’oh!

But never fear. Hungry for more deals, I went to Rite Aid and Walgreens and my “regular” CVS on Friday. Here’s what I got!

riteaidloot

The best score of the day was at Rite Aid. I got 2 Schick men’s razors, 3 Schick Intuition razors, and 3 packs of Schick disposables all FREE plus a penny. I also got the Scope, toothbrush, tampons, shampoo, & shave gel. I ended up spending $7.21 and will get over $8 back in rebates plus a $5 Rite Aid gift card! Yee-ha!!! Now that’s what I call shopping!!

Then I moved on to Walgreens for free deodorant, shave gel, and body wash, 99 cent crayons (64 pack Crayola! with sharpener!) and of course a gallon of milk. 🙂 Because we needed milk!

Finally, back to CVS to get a couple women’s razors that they didn’t have at the other store on Thursday (I graciously let Luanne have the one they did have in stock. ‘Cause I am big-hearted like that!)

It was a great drugstore freebie shopping weekend! And NO ONE was at the drugstores on Friday, so I didn’t risk traffic or being trampled to death. Woohoo!

Hope you got some great bargains this weekend. To see what everyone else got, check out Super Savings Saturday at Money Saving Mom!

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