Telling It Like It Is

What are some cheap and fun things to do during family vacations to Chicago? Anyone who has been to Chicago during the winter months knows that taking a Chicago vacation requires bundling up with warm winter clothes to offset the cold, blustery, freezing temperatures and winds from the Windy City. There are a lot of fun and cheap things to do in and outside of Chicago, indoors and outdoors, including things to do in the suburbs for families, kids and adults of all ages.

Looking for fun things to do in Chicago during the summer or winter? Chicago has a lot to offer tourists and vacationers throughout the year with favorite places including museums, parks, indoor and outdoor swimming, golf courses and mini-golf courses, family entertainment centers, live theater, ice skating, comedy clubs, festivals, art galleries, restaurants, working farms and orchards, amongst thousands of other Chicago attractions.

Whether you take a vacation to Chicago in the spring, summer, fall or winter months, make sure you plan your itinerary to include the popular places in downtown Chicago and in the suburbs north, west, east and south of the city. Coupons, discount tickets and pass cards like the Go Card help a lot to reduce the overall costs of a vacation trip and tours around Chicago, or anywhere else you want to go.
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Taking a vacation in Chicago is one of the best places for travel, with so many things to do during the summer and winter months, there is no chance of ever running out of fun things to do in Chicago for cheap. Chicago is by far one of my favorite vacation hot spots since my kids and grandkids live there, and since I used to live in the northwest suburbs of Chicago years ago, visiting my old stomping grounds will be a treat.

We’ve had a good time during our inexpensive Staycation vacations, but this year we decided we really needed a getaway vacation where we can fly to Chicago and enjoy the Windy City and its many attractions. Planning a cheap vacation trip to Chicago includes finding good deals on hotels, car rentals, air fare, discount event tickets and finding as many free activities as possible. When it comes to planning a vacation to Chicago or anywhere else, cheap is good, but free is better.

Deciding where to stay in Chicago, where to eat, where to park if you’re going to spend time in downtown Chicago or surrounding cities, and where all the hot spots are in or outside of the city are things that must be decided. Picking what hotels or motels we would consider for our visit to Chicago was easy with Hotels.com, and since I used to live there I know what neighborhoods are good or bad, and what areas to avoid at all cost.
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Are you making New Year’s Resolutions for 2010? Remember, New Year’s resolution statistics are not on your side, so if you really want to be successful at achieving any New Year’s goals for the year 2010, you have some hard work ahead of you.

Anyone can make a list of New Year’s resolutions, and the list may include the most popular top ten, twenty or more resolutions that are common each and every year. Trouble is, far too many people make New Year’s resolutions without actually making a real plan of sticking to or keeping the New Year’s resolutions that they’ve set for themselves.

Making New Year’s resolutions can be very beneficial for all of us, but the chances of sticking to these resolutions throughout the entire year usually doesn’t work out, unless you change the word “resolutions” to “goals”. Personally, I never make New Year’s Resolutions. Not ever.

“Cheers to a New Year and another chance for us to get it right.” – Oprah Winfrey

While I don’t do New Year’s resolutions, I do set personal and professional goals that are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time-bound, also called SMART goals. If you’re going to make any kind of New Year’s resolution for 2010, 2011 and beyond, you’re much better off and much more likely to achieve the personal and/or professional goals you set if you have a solid action plan to help you accomplish your goals.
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Merry Christmas to you and yours! Happy Holidays, Feliz Navidad, or all the other ways of saying Merry Christmas in different languages that I don’t know. I’ll be taking the rest of the decade off and then start working on those New Year’s resolutions…(goals really) like everyone else.
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Looking for the perfect last minute Christmas gift for someone this holiday season, but running out of time? Magazine subscriptions make great xmas gifts for men, women, teens and children, especially when they’re on SALE. Plus, you can buy a subscription as a gift today, and instantly print out a gift card to let them know about their gift. Magazine subscriptions make great stocking stuffer gifts too!

This week only, the magazines listed below are all on sale for either $5.00 or $10.00.

PLUS! Take and extra $5.00 Off at Checkout and get an instant $5.00 off of 130 of your favorite magazine subscriptions –just add the eligible magazines to your cart, and you’ll see the discounts automatically applied at checkout. Shop for magazines with a $3.00 or $10.00 discount, too–offer expires December 31.
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I would like to wish all of my readers and visitors a very Merry Christmas! As you celebrate Christmas with your family and close friends, please remember to say a prayer for those who are less fortunate than yourselves, for our military and their families, and those who have lost a loved one in death.

Please keep in mind the less fortunate with your Christmas donations of toys, food and cash donations for the needy. Have you remembered Christmas Tipping Etiquette?

Here are a few Christmas Prayers and Poems I’ve collected from the net for your consideration. Don’t miss out on listening to the video song below of Nicholas Jonas singing “Joy to the World (A Christmas Prayer)”, which is available for download HERE if you love this Christmas song by Nicholas Jonas as much as I do.

By the way, the image above is the Thomas Kinkade Tabletop Christmas Snowman Figurine, from one of my all-time favorite Thomas Kinkade Collections – available on Amazon.com. (I love love love Thomas Kinkade!)
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Oprah Winfrey fans, listen up! Amazon.com is currently running a “Magazine Steal of the Week” subscription deal on Oprah Winfrey’s “O” magazine for just five dollars, plus deals on other popular magazines HERE!

A one full year magazine subscription to Oprah‘s “O” Magazine is just five dollars, until the deal ends on December 19th. Oprah’s magazine usually goes for $18 for a yearly subscription– $5 is definitely a steal!

PLUS, you can use the $5.00 magazine subscription “steal of the week” on Amazon to extend your current magazine subscription to Oprah and other magazines, and this deal is not just for new subscribers!
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Zhu Zhu Pets are not being recalled as of yet, but ever since GoodGuide.com reported that the popular Zhu Zhu Pet Hamsters may potentially have toxic levels of antimony, parents and consumers are wisely concerned. UPDATE BELOW!

The Consumer Protection Safety Committee (CPSC) released a brief statement today about their intentions to investigate the safety of Zhu Zhu Pet toys.

The CPSC’s Official Statement regarding the investigation of whether or not Zhu Zhu Pets are toxic and unsafe and need to be recalled, or not, is as follows:

“CPSC is working especially hard this time of year to ensure that toys are safe for all children. The agency is proactively evaluating certain toys and we are working with consumer groups to test toys that have been brought to our attention.

Parents should know that there is a new child safety law that went into place this year that:
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Zhu Zhu Hamster Pets are selling out in stores all across the U.S. during the 2009 Christmas toys shopping season, and questions are now being raised about the safety of these adorable hamsters by the consumer watch group Good Guide (www.goodguide.com). Are Zhu Zhu pets toxic for children or are they safe?

Dara O’Rourke, co-founder of GoodGuide, tested Zhu Zhu Pets for chemicals with his group, and says Zhu Zhu pets have elevated levels of tin and antimony – a metal with potential health hazards. “If ingested in high enough levels can lead to cancer, reproductive health, and other human health hazards”.

Good Guide partners with other companies to rate the social, environmental, and health impacts of hundreds of products, which includes testing toys like the Zhu Zhu pet for, among other things, toxic chemicals.

Good Guide says the Zhu Zhu Pets stood out because of high levels of antimony. Attempts to reach representatives of Zhu Zhu Pets by phone were unsuccessful, as their office was closed at the time this article was created.
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Wondering where to find Zhu Zhu Pets? Is Toys R Us sold out yet? As was expected for Christmas 2009 and Black Friday this year, the Zhu Zhu Hamster pets have Black Friday shoppers going crazy and wondering where they can find Zhu Zhu Pets. These adorable little hamsters are listed as one of the hottest Christmas gifts for 2009 and shoppers are beginning to find stores are selling out fast.

Thank goodness stores like Amazon.com are stocked full of Zhu Zhu Hamster Pets Mr. Squiggles, Pipsqueek, Num Nums and Chunk. The Zhu Zhu Pets Funhouse and accessories are selling fast and furious, so get your fill of hamster pets while they still last. There’s no need to stand in long lines at Target, Walmart or Toys R Us stores, especially since Christmas shoppers can easily buy Zhu Zhu Hamster Pets online at Amazon.

Toys R Us press release ensures the Zhu Zhu Hamster Pets would be in stock and fully available, but many shoppers are already finding stores reported to be offering these toys are already out of stock.
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