Looking for Stocking Stuffers?

This is not a paid advertisement. Just me spreading the word about a great company! :)

Looking for great stocking stuffers, or on the lookout for natural skin care products? Then I recommend you check out Goat Milk Stuff!

Owned and operated by an awesome homeschool family, each family member participates in producing their handmade goat milk soaps, from the initial milking of the goats to the final bagging of the soap. They use natural ingredients with no chemicals, dyes or synthetic colors - you can count on their products having minimal ingredients you can trust!

But there's much more to them than just soap! They also have lotions, salves, bug repellent, deodorants, hand sanitizers, soy candles and much more, as well as knit washcloths, soap savers and dishes, and for the guys, shaving accessories! My favorite product is their lip balm (Black Cherry is my flavor, while my mother likes Vanilla ;).

And Indigo, one of their youngest, makes loom bracelets! You can even customize the weave and colors.

"But, Skye!" you say. "The person I'm buying for is dairy-free!" Well, so am I! But aside for their goat milk soaps, a lot of their products are dairy-free (and gluten-free!), so they really have something for everyone. And if you or someone you know has problem skin, hundreds of people with skin conditions - dry skin, acne, even eczema and rosacea - have found relief with their soaps! Just check out the testimonials.

Almost all (if not all) of their products are the perfect size for stuffing stockings (they even have gift sets!), so whether you're looking for Christmas gifts or on the hunt for some new natural products, check out Goat Milk Stuff and support a great family making great products! I highly recommend them.

Musing Mondays: My 4-Point Approach

Time for the Musing Mondays question, brought to us by Should Be Reading. Today's question(s):

How do you decide to read a book by an author you haven’t read before? What sort of recommendations count most highly in making that decision?

I rarely care about the "author" when I'm choosing a book - I simply go by the actual book. Sometimes I will look to see if the author is female or male depending on the story, but that is very rare. The only time I ever care about the author is if I love the book - then I go looking for them, and more of their work.

So how do I decide to pick up a book? I have a "4-Point Approach":

1. Cover. Unless it is by a very favored author, my choice to pick up a book begins primarily with the cover. Yes, I totally "judge a book by its cover." At the bookstore or library I mainly browse anything facing forward - if just the spine is showing, it will have a very hard time grabbing my attention (unless the title is so off the wall and in such big letters I can't help but notice it).

2. Title. After cover comes title. If it's too weird, long, or plain, I'll skip right over it if the cover doesn't really grab me. One-word titles are all the rage right now, which could be considered too plain, but they are doing a pretty good job of making them unique and interesting (Paranormalcy anyone? ;).

3. Summary. And I'm not talking about the inside flap or the back cover description - I'm talking the one-two sentence summary on the back of the title page. If a book does not have this, I will most likely put it back - simple as that. Unless the cover/title looks exactly like something I'd read, I don't have the time to stop and skim the book description. If the summary really intrigues me, though, I may scan the description afterwards, just to make sure it is what it seems.

4. Subjects. If the summary is too vague, I'll glance at the subjects. These give me a better idea of just what exactly I'll be getting into. If most are to my usual tastes I'll give the book a try, but if they are all "familial relationships" and "vampires" then I have no interest in even trying.

As for Recommendations...I rarely listen to them. If someone recommends a book I've never heard of but sounds intriguing then I may look for it at the bookstore/library -  but it will get the same 4-Point Approach like any other possible read. If I'm already interested in a book but unsure if it'll be any good I may scan through a trusted review or ask someone who's read it, but otherwise I go simply on my own tastes.

This is all, of course, within the context of my favored genres, which consist mainly of Young Adult, and Suspense & Urban Fantasy trade paperbacks ("t-ps" are a genre to me ;). I rarely browse genres I don't read, and even more rarely pick up something in them for perusal.

So how do you choose what you read?