About U Classic Novels:

“U Star Classics allows you to step into a personalized edition of your favourite class book starring you alongside your friends, family members or even work colleagues! No need to order a gift box, all the personalization for your classic novel can be done here and withing days you’ll be sent a first edition personalised novel to keep on your shelf forever. Choose between Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Dracula, Pride and Prejudice, Romeo and Juliet, A Christmas Carol, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and the Sherlock Holmes classic, The Hound of Baskerville. With U Star Personalized Classics, the plot remains the same, the only thing that changes is that it could be you following the yellow brick road, or your brother hunting vampires in the darkest depths of Transylvania, or your best friend starring in one of the best-loved romances of all time alongside her own Mr. Darcy!”
I was really excited to see one of these books. I decided to go ahead and use Betsy as “Dorothy” in The Wizard of Oz. I had the opportunity to choose other people to be the other main characters (the Tin Man, The Lion, Scare Crow and The Wicked Witch of the West) but I didn’t. The only other character I named was Toto. I made Maggie, one of our dogs, “Toto”. Although I am pretty sure she would have gotten a kick out of it if I was the Wicked Witch of the West.

When I got the book – I really thought it was so cool to look through the pages and see Betsy’s name where Dorothy’s used to be…and of course Toto was now Maggie. Because I think this is such an awesome gift, I am going to wait until Christmas to give it to Betsy. However, my son did read it and he was upset to say the least. He wanted to be a star of a novel. So I broke down and told him I would buy him one for Christmas as well, but he really would have to wait until Christmas to get it.

You know that when your child wants the same gift as another child, especially a book, it has to be a great gift. But U Star Novels doesn’t stop at the Classics. No! You can even personalize your own Romantic novel to include yourself and your significant other. Isn’t that cool?

U Star Novels can be purchased here for 24.95. The processing and shipping time were outstanding. Between the time it took me to order the book and receive it, it took less a week! That is great considering they are personalizing it!

Great Gift For: Women, Children, Men, Teachers,

I love to cook, it is such a pleasure to spend time making a meal and then hearing one of my kids say “Wow! That was good” or ask me to cook a meal they already tasted and liked. That is one of the big reasons I am including Cook Books in my Gift Guide. And the Champagne Taste/Beer Budget Cookbook by Woodrow Wilson is a cook book for anyone!

About Champagne Taste/Beer Budget Cookbook:

“Got champagne taste and a beer budget? Here’s the cookbook for you. A great meal doesn’t have to cost an arm and a leg. For the cost of burgers out, you can dine on filet mignon at home. The Champagne Taste/Beer Budget Cookbook shows the way. This small volume is full of recipes simple enough they’re a joy to cook, and tasty enough they’re a joy to eat. Whether it’s an intimate dinner for two, or having the boss over for the first time, you’ll be proud to serve from this fine cookbook.

Enjoy restaurant quality meals without the quality restaurant prices. One meal eaten in rather than eaten out pays for the book. With the money you save cooking with The Champagne Taste/Beer Budget Cookbook, you could serve filet mignon every night. Better yet, the money you won’t be spending will add up as fast as an executive’s paycheck. Best of all, the government hasn’t figured out how to tax these benefits…yet.

Serve something fancy, like pork medallions stuffed with bleu cheese or onion-stuffed sirloin. Serve something basic like meatball stew or pot roast. Serve something great every time.

The Champagne Taste/Beer Budget Cookbook is about more than just eating well and saving money. With instructions like “marinate significant other, set aside” and “open the beer, drink half” Wilson puts fun back into the kitchen.”

There were several recipes I wanted to try in this book, but I decided on Tex Mex Spaghetti. Why? I wanted to see a “hyped” up version of my usual spaghetti. Weird as this sounds, spaghetti is not one of the fan favorites in my house. I don’t know, maybe because I make it using such a basic recipe there is nothing too it I guess.

What added the “Champagne” quality of this recipe I think is that included Garlic Cloves, Cumin, Chili Powder, and corn as some of the ingredients. Ummm…that is definitely a leap from what I normally put in my spaghetti (I told you, my spaghetti is B.O.R.I.N.G!). So how did it turn out?

Well, let’s just say there was NONE left at the end of dinner! If that doesn’t say something about a recipe, nothing will.

If you are looking for recipes that “normal” but then add a twist to them to make them taste more like something you would get in a restaurant, this is a great cookbook. The only thing I was bummed about was that there were no Dessert Recipes.

Great Gift For: Men, Women, Anyone who likes to cook.

Champagne Taste/Beer Budget Cookbook can be purchased online here or on Amazon for 12.95. Or, if you would like to order wholesale, click here.

You have until Monday November 8th at 11:59pm EST to enter.

The winner will be chosen via random number generator the next day and notified by email. I’ll also post the winner on my blog. If I don’t hear back from the winner within 48 hours of sending the winning email, I’ll pick another.

GOOD LUCK!

*Open to US residents only

Disclosure: I received the above book in .pdf form to facilitate my review. No other compensation was given. All opinions and experiences are my own.

I will tell you what…If you told me that using ten minutes of my day would help me feel more aware of my surroundings, focus more on the little things in life, and mediatate I would probably… laugh in your face. Ten Minutes? What’s 10 minutes? 600 seconds? That is nothing! So I was really excited when I was given the opportunity to review The Next Ten Minutes written by Andrew Peterson.

Although a little hesitant, I was thinking there was no way 10 Minutes (600 seconds!) would make a difference in my life. NO WAY. But I really wanted to try because I don’t know about you, but my life sometimes feels overwhelming. I mean, think about it.

What is a good day for me?

5:00 am – Wake up and work on blog
6:30 am – Start real job
7:30 am – Get dressed and get kids off to school
8:30 – Back to real job
3:30 – Stop working, kids get home from school
4:30 Start cooking dinner
5:45 – Leave for football practice
8:30 – Get home from football practice
9:00 – Kiss my kids goodnight and back to working on blog until I can’t keep my eyes open anymore.

This is my schedule 3 out of 5 of the weekdays. Thursday is worse because both my kids have karate and are at different levels, so different classes which happen to start at 5:30 – meaning I have to leave my house at 5:15!!! Now, this is truly an overwhelming schedule for me and honestly, as much as Reece loves football, I cannot wait for it to be over!

Throw in a wrench like the bills, the health of family members, the dogs chewing something up and you can see the the word “overwhelming” doesn’t even come close to what I feel. Sometimes I feel like if I tip the wrong way one day I am going to fall off this tightrope I call life. And this is where The Next ten Minutes comes in.

About The Next Ten Minutes:

“The desire to discover meaning in our lives is a powerful motivator for many people. Some turn to psychotherapy and counseling for help, some turn to spiritual teachings, and many turn to both. The Next Ten Minutes is the guide to help us discover the seeds of transformation and meaning in even the most ordinary routines. The Next Ten Minutes consists of a collection of exercises originally created for use in Dr. Peterson’s successful counseling practice. Rather than taking readers out of the everyday, Dr. Peterson invites them to move more deeply into the familiar tasks of ordinary life, such as turning simple breathing, eating, physical love, or throwing out the trash into meditative exercises that can transform your day. Based on both Buddhist philosophy and proven psychology techniques, these succinct and accessible meditations also offer simple and effective methods for therapeutic counseling and personal growth. The power to seize the day is but a few simple steps away. “

Really? Ten Minutes? Really? Everyday activities? Yes to both of those. I loved this book for several reasons. This is not your typical self help book in that you read one chapter after another. No. In this book, you can go from activity to activity to activity in no particular order. And when Mr. Peterson says these are every day activities, he means it. I really hate to admit this, but my trash can is always the fullest on the street on trash day. I mean, over flowing full. How come no one elses is like that? This is a question that has been on my mind a lot, but it is in my head and then it is gone…woops…another thought flew in. So as I was deciding which activity to try first, guess what activity 6 is? You got it – Throw Something Away.

And how, pray tell, is throwing something away going to 1) Make me more aware? and 2) Take ten minutes? Very easily. The purpose of this exercise is not to make you feel bad about how little you recycle, or that, God Forbid, make you feel that you must recycle everything because in all actuality, that piece of trash is not recyclable and it really is trash no matter how hard you try to recycle it.

Mr. Peterson takes us through an exercise of examining a real piece of trash, what was it’s history? Was a tree cut down for it? Out of what forest? What does the future hold for this piece of trash? How long will it sit in a pile at the dump? It is with these thoughts that we are creating a deeper focus, a type of meditation on this little piece of trash and its life cycle. We are then instructed to give the trash a funeral, show our appreciation for the work it played in our house and acknowledge that all things must die. And then, finally, we throw it away. We release that piece of trash. What a simple act after the deep thinking we were just doing.

But then Mr. Peterson says we can take it further by adding other activities like keeping a garbage log, practicing deep reuse – can this item be used again for something?, become an amateur “Garbologist” by talking a walk and examining all the trash on the roads, and finally, practice anticipatory decomposition – shred your important papers before throwing them out. deeper activity.

Now, my summation of the Trash Exercise is not nearly as detailed as Mr. Peterson’s and to get the full effect of the exercise, it is best to read it in his words. But I will tell you this much. I know when I throw something away now, I do think about it, even if I do have to actually release it and really throw it away.

The Next Ten Minutes is full of exercises like these meant to help you “Seize the Moment,” notice your day, make you aware of your every day surroundings, and maybe, just maybe, allow you to grow a little.

Great Gift For: Anyone who enjoys looking for a little more personal insight!

The Next Ten Minutes is being released this October and can be purchased here for 17.99.

You have until Sunday November 7th at 11:59pm EST to enter.

The winner will be chosen via random number generator the next day and notified by email. I’ll also post the winner on my blog. If I don’t hear back from the winner within 48 hours of sending the winning email, I’ll pick another.

GOOD LUCK!

*Open to US residents only

Disclosure: I received the above book to facilitate my review. No other compensation was given. All opinions and experiences are my own.