i'm snoring with my eyes open

Here it is 2:30 AM and guess what I'm doing?

If you guessed sleeping, you'd be wrong.

Although, maybe this is all just a dream.

It started out with me going online to order the paint easel for Lynn and the iPod for Denise at around 9 PM tonight. And then one thing led to another and I was setting up an Amazon Store, which someone had suggested I do a few weeks ago to help with our fundraising efforts.

Then I inadvertently deleted my store at least twice, but only after I had populated it with several of what I considered to be our "Top Picks." And then, I had to stop myself because I could easily spend the next 100 days populating my store with items that have vastly contributed to an improved existence and that I would wholeheartedly recommend to other parents and/or carbon-based life forms.

To the left of my blog in the sidebar is my new Amazon Store. I've called it "The Amazing Trips' Top Picks" because within that store are items that we own and have used and would suggest to others. If you click anywhere on that box - it will take you directly to My Amazon Store.

From there, you will see that I have set up a few different categories that I can absolutely guarantee will change. Tonight I waffled for at least 30 minutes over whether I wanted the category to be classified, "Gadgets we Love", "Things we Use" or "Electronics".

Thirty minutes I spent on that one simple task.

It's no wonder I'm up at 2 AM.

There is some redundancy because a few items show up under different categories and although my OCD is having a tough time with that, my desire to fix the redundancies is trumped by the knowledge that small children (and the sun) will be up soon.

It's never been my goal to make money from this blog. However, seeing as I would really like to continue hosting raffles with various prizes, it would certainly behoove our savings account if we had a source other than our paychecks to fund the "cancer crusader contests."

Honestly? I'm not expecting too much.

But whenever I write about a Favorite Thing Friday, if the item can be found on Amazon (which it usually can), I will link it to my store. And in the off chance someone makes a purchase through that link, a small percentage (~4%) of the sale will go in to the cancer crusader prize coffer.

(At least I think that's what it said.)

The other thing I like about having my own store, is that I get a lot of e-mails from people asking questions about equipment we use. What kind of camera do I have? What kind of stroller do I have? What kind of baby carrier do I have? What kind of sun hats are the children wearing?

Even if people don't chose to buy the items through Amazon, I have all of those things that we use linked in my store.

And there will be more.

A lot more.

Most of the items that are in the store will be recognized as things I've written about before. And since I haven't yet finished boring the world with items that I think work well and make my life easier (and more fun), the shelves of my virtual store will soon be sufficiently stocked.

Toys. Books. Games. Movies. Apparel. Gear.

So there you have it. Another new widget on the side of my blog.

Thrilling, isn't it?