It's a cheesy headline but it could be true. A great gift for men, (and you).

It's a little too late for Christmas gifts for him right now, the merchants can't ship in time now. However this is an idea that came right out of left field for me, and it's a gift for men that can be a great gift for him, (and you) anytime.

Normally I spend most of my time reading gifts related websites. But not all of my time. Today I was reading about something that I'd never thought about before, and it got my attention. The quality of the water we drink.

Did you know that it's estimated that there are up to 2100 different chemicals in our drinking water, some known to cause cancer? The Ralph Nader Research Institute has done a study that suggests that many of the chemicals common in many of the everyday products we use end up in our water. I won't go into how, that's for another time, but that's the conclusion.

And that the EPA think that the major threat to our children's health is lead in our drinking water? Or that another study found up to 11 different weed killers in our drinking water?

Scary stuff isn't it.

I just read something about this, followed a link and read some more and so on until I began to feel a little sick. I had no idea that there was such a problem with our drinking water.

So I thought OK, if that's the case, I'm going to start drinking bottled water, until I read that bottled water isn't considered to be any better than tap water, because there's no regulations about what is in bottled water, and no testing.

So I ended up reading about water filters. It seems that much of the US is using water filters, and I haven't caught up yet. Good water filters are walking off the shelves and as I can see for good reason. I was surprised to see that the best water filter removes from 97% to 99%  of almost all contaminants.

Like lead, or weed killers, or chemicals that are known to cause cancer.

So how about this for a great mens gift idea, a high quality water filter. You can get whole house filters so that all your water is filtered, or just a faucet filter so that his, (and your) water is filtered. There's lots of options for water filters, and it seems they work really well from what I have found from a little research. You can even get one for the shower so that you can shower in clean water. Great idea.

It seems to me from what I have read that Aquasana water filters work as well or better than any, and are cost competitive, but there's others.

If you're interested in watching a short video about lead in our drinking water here's one I've watched from Youtube.

Read more

I've been asked about the best store for gifts for men.

One of my readers asked me a question. Christmas is coming, and she needs some good mens gifts ideas. But she doesn't want to spend hours looking. What suggestions do I have?

My first suggestion is to shop online. There's a number of reasons I always find shopping online for mens gifts is the best way to shop. Firstly you can get a lot done in a short time.

Secondly, most gifts, for men or women or anyone, are cheaper online. I've talked before about why, but they are.

My best suggestion is to shop at Hammacher Schlemmer. Read more

Men can be hard to buy for, but make him some candy and almost every man will smile.

I know men can be hard to buy for. Christmas can be a bit daunting when you have to find a gift for a man, or a lot of men, and you can't work out what to get. My mother rang me last night and pleaded for an idea for a great Christmas gift idea that I'd like.

Know what I told her? Really nice homemade food. I love homemade treats like candy. Not only do I love to eat homemade candy, but I love to make it too.

When you make a gift of food you're putting some of yourself into it. You're adding some love, because you're doing it the hard way.

It's easy just to head down to the candy shop and buy some nice looking candy, but that's it, it's easy. If you actually take some of your own time and make some wonderful home made candy you've given a Christmas gift from the heart rather than just a simple gift. Homemade candy is a gift of love.

Well any homemade food, not just candy. I just happen to love candy, but there's all sorts of yummy foods that you can make yourself.

And I can guarantee that if you make him some candy chances are pretty high he'll like it. Just about everyone loves candy.

And you can make enough candy in one day to give to a whole bunch of men for their Christmas gifts. Why not make a complete homemade food basket, maybe add a few non homemade things like a nice bottle of wine or 3, (it's not easy to make your own nice wine), and make it into a beautiful homemade food Christmas gift?

Or if you've got a nice Christmas gift for  him already why not give him a small extra gift of some homemade candy that you've made just for him. After all, why stop at just one gift for Christmas? Read more

Barking dogs can drive you, or him, nuts. Here's a gift for a man who's being driven nuts.

I used to have a barking dog in the house next to me. It started up barking at about 4 am, so I know how annoying barking dogs can be. It ruins your sleep, and makes you grumpy.

You don't have a man who's a little grumpy because he's losing sleep because of a barking dog do you?

Luckily for me we moved away and now all I have is a rooster to wake me up early!

But seriously, barking dogs can be a serious disruption to his, and your, sleep.

Here's a gift idea for a grumpy man. It should overcome the barking dog problem. It's a cleverly disguised birdhouse. It's not really a birdhouse at all, it's actually an ultrasonic device designed to stop that dog barking.

It's a quiet dog behavior modification tool. He barks and it emits a sharp ultrasonic sound that dogs don't like, but people can't hear. It can be set to emit the sound by barking at various distances up to 50 feet away.

So, dog barks, gets blasted by ultrasonic noise, associates the noise with barking and learns not to bark if it doesn't want the noise.

Voila. Barking stops.

Great idea huh! Patented already.

Get it from Hammacher Schlemmer. When you get to their home page just type "barking dog" into their search box at the top of the page and there it is. $69.95

Better sleep is worth way more than $70. Read more

Here's a gift idea for a man who can't sleep so well. Maybe the noise keeps him awake.

So many people have trouble sleeping. I did last night which is why I thought I'd look for something that would help.

Now of course sleeping badly can be a medical problem, and I'm sure there's many men who suffer from poor sleep who need to visit a doctor. But in my case last night it was noisy, and I found it hard to get to sleep.

What can you do if it's just noisy and your man doesn't sleep well because the noise keeps him awake? Why not a device to help him overcome the noise by producing a smooth and relaxing whooshing sound to drown out those other more irritating noises that are keeping him awake.

It produces a variable volume, relaxing noise that he can adjust to drown out noise that might otherwise be keeping him awake.

So instead of lying there fretting he can sleep more peacefully and be nicer to be around the next day.

Get it from Hammacher Schlemmer. Search "sleep" at the Hammacher Schlemmer website and there it is. $54.95 Read more

You never need to pay retail to buy him a gift of sunglasses again.

Sunglasses are a great gift for a man. More and more we are being told about the importance of protecting our eyes from the sun, and that if we don't then our eyesight will suffer when we get older. Sunglasses protect our eyes from damage, and they look good.

So if you're wondering about what makes a good gift for him this year, consider some great sunglasses.

Now I'm sure you know all this, so why am I mentioning sunglasses now? Because I was asked about where to buy cheap sunglasses. Where can someone go to find sunglasses for their man but not at the prices you pay in the stores.

Firstly I'd suggest that you avoid the "cheap" sunglasses you get anywhere. You know the ones. The $5 or $10 glasses that you find everywhere. They are not quality glasses, and don't offer you, or him, the protection that is require, from my reading. Go for quality brand name sunglasses.

Well of course my suggestion is always to buy online. Buying sunglasses online is almost always cheaper then buying them any other way. Good sunglasses, including brand name sunglasses, are usually discounted online, so you benefit from lower prices.

So to answer the question about where I would suggest that my reader goes to find quality brand name sunglasses at a discount. I'd suggest that she go to Eyesave. They advertise savings of up to 60% off retail on their brand name sunglasses, and from my experience they do have extremely competitive prices. Read more