Visit Signals for other not-so-great gift ideas!

Jumbo Flat Panel Remote
Know an older person who is losing their sight? What about that uncle with the coke bottle glasses? Or maybe you are tired of constantly looking for Grandma’s remote control when you visit. Take a look at the Jumbo Flat Panel Remote Control from Sharper Image. It may look like a joke, but it does work. The buttons illuminate and glow in the dark making. Plus it can control up to 8 different devices if needed.

Visit Bed Bath and Beyond for other not-so-great gift ideas!

Everyday Essentials
I have always dreamed of taking a piece of pie to work for my lunch. What stopped me? Tupperware never showed me a container that was perfectly shaped to hold the triangle piece of cherry goodness I craved. I’ve moved on and found Everyday Essentials for food storage. Did you know they make individual cupcake containers too? Prices for this convenience vary, but the set of pie holders that every human being who eats pie must have is $7.95.

Visit Gooseberry Patch for other not-so-great gift ideas!

Anxiety Sculptures
When artist Christine Kaiser developed these dolls she was in a lock down unit. She believes that, “An anxiety held in your hand or placed on a shelf is one less hiding in your heart.” Frankly, when these Anxiety Sculptures adorn your shelf it takes the focus off your crazy behavior and onto why kind of psycho collects dolls like this. They are cute and quarky and even endearing. Who knew you could love anxiety for $40?

Visit Uncommon Goods for other not-so-great gift ideas!

Monkey Gram
Santa never had it so good! This special Santa’s Helper will keep the spirit of Christmas in your house all year long. The elf wears a holiday-printed vest, red booties, and a red, pointed hat, and is sure to spread a lot of holiday cheer. Think of the looks you’ll get when someone opens up this gift!

Visit World Wide Monkey for other not-so-great gift ideas!

Audible Kids is a site that provides digital spoken audio information and entertainment, and specializes in the spoken experience by providing digital audio editions of children’s books.

They have a dizzying array of books for all ages, even for a former teacher. There are books that have been awarded various medals like the Caldecott and Newbery, favorites (Where the Wild Things Are, Arthur stories by Marc Brown, Beverly Cleary books) and classics (Make Way for Ducklings, Charlotte’s Web, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory).

Anyone can create an account to search for a book in the vast library of audio books. Various ways of searching include typing the title or author into the search field, clicking on criteria (age, grade, running time, price, publication date, and award winning books) on the left hand side of the browser, or locating books narrated by a certain person or from a specific publisher through an advanced search.

I spent forever browsing the various children’s books available through Audible Kids. The site was extremely easy to use and I really fell in love with the Wish List feature that allowed me to browse for titles, listen to audio, and then save titles of books I wanted to purchase in the future. All of the books that I saved in my Wish List were stored in my Profile at the top right of the screen.

I found the audio previews to be very helpful. They are available for each book on the Audible Kids site. The previews are helpful since they are long enough to give a user a good idea of the reader’s tone and the pace of the story. Audible Kids also tells you the listening time of every story on their site.

Audible Kids audio downloads range in price, but tend to be very affordable. Prices begin at $0.99 for single children’s picture books. Chapter books, such as Ramona Quimby, Age 8 is $12.95. Collections are priced higher. I love the idea of collections written by the same author or including the same characters. To view the stories included in collections such as Frog and Toad ($12.95) and The Cat in the Hat and other Dr. Seuss Favorites ($13.95), users click on the “more” button located. Other collections, like the Jan Brett Trio ($1.95) and Robert McCloskey for Young Children ($9.95), includes thumbnail pictures of the titles included with the download.

Some audio downloads are even free due to Audible Kids partnership with Reading is Fundamental, Inc. (RIF). RIF provides free audio downloads to ensure that all children can access books to help them discover the pleasure of reading. There are currently nine titles available for free and include: Brothers Grimm’s Rapunzel, Edgar Allen Poe’s The Tell Tale Heart, Rudyard Kipling’s Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, Hans Christian Anderson’s The Emperor’s New Clothes, and more!

The super simple checkout process makes this site even more of a dream to use. Add books to your cart, click check out, bill purchases to your credit card, and go to the My Downloads to download each title you just purchased. If you use a Mac, your Audible Kids books will download directly to iTunes where you can listen to your audiobooks and transfer them to an iPod. PC users have to install the download software. Audiobooks you purchase from Audible Kids are always available on your “My Downloads” page.

I’ve made several purchases of single children’s books (Make Way for Ducklings and Corduroy), collections including Frog and Toad Audio Selection and The Cat in the Hat and other Dr. Seuss Favorites, while also taking advantage of 2 RIF free downloads (Rikki Tikki Tavi and The Emperor’s New Clothes) and have been incredibly pleased.

My two children (4 and almost 2) love listening to stories in the car. They never complain about not having a hard copy of the book since they enjoy visualizing pictures as they listen to the stories being read. I enjoy listening to our downloads from Audible Kids since they are a nice departure from having to listen to the same songs over and over again. Some of my favorite stories are those from the The Cat in the Hat and other Dr. Seuss Favorites collection where the stories are read by stars like Kelsey Grammar, John Cleese, Billy Crystal and Dustin Hoffman. I see myself downloading many more stories from Audible Kids to put on our iPods for summer car trips and long plane flights.

Huge props to Audible Kids for providing fabulous content through an easy to use interface!

Written by Leticia, a part time working multitasking mama who loves spending time with her husband and two children, exotic vacations, and cooking great meals. Leticia writes about technology products and technology issues affecting children through her blog, Tech Savvy Mama.

The one product though, above all others, that enabled me to continue breastfeeding through excruciating nipple pain was Medela Hydrogel Pads. There are variations on this product in the market. Different brands have been around longer and were easier to find at first. Now though, my local Target stocks them with their breastfeeding supplies. Even if they didn’t, I would have searched high and low for my next pair, just to get me through another day.

These pads are a lifesaver for moms just starting out breastfeeding. You can rinse and reuse for up to 24 hours, and there are 2 pairs of pads to a box. You just peel off the back and press the cool, soft, soothing pad onto your nipple. It provides instant relief that lasts for hours.

Thank you, Medela, for designing this little pad that is one of the reasons my son and I are finally enjoying our nursing experience.

Written by Canape, who is a girl from the deep south who loves her husband, her stepdaughter, her dogs, and her baby boy. She’s a musician by trade, and a baker and writer by hobby. She and her husband renovate houses on the side and she writes a personal blog at Don’t Take the Repeats.

TurboTax recently released its 7th annual list of the top 100 tax procrastinating cities. Do you know which city was number one? Chicago. I might as well live there, because I just finished preparing ours with the TurboTax software. Although we waited and went out on a limb doing them ourselves, it ended up being easier than I expected. The software walks you through it step-by-step and I loved the help lines under each item that I could click for more information or to ask a specific question.

We used TurboTax Deluxe edition for Maximized Deductions, which prepared our federal and state returns and even allowed to e-file them when I was finished. The CD is for the 2007 tax year, but each and every time you open the program it will search online for updates and bring your program up to the current year. My favorite feature was that in the top left hand corner it continually showed me what our return was at the very point of entering information. Thankfully, this year it went from red to green by the time we completed all the steps.

by Emily

We love to read and one of our new favorites is The Cake Thief written by Sally O. Lee. The Cake Thief is a beautifully illustrated children’s book with a charming ending.

Clarence loves cakes. He doesn’t like to talk to others in his town, but he enjoys sneaking into homes to snatch any kind of cake he can find. One day while attempting to steal a cake, Clarence lifts the lid to a cake stand to find a note addressed to him, inviting him to a party where he is asked to bring a cake. Never having been invited to a party before, Clarence doesn’t know what to do. He can’t bring a stolen cake and decides he must learn to make one.

This delightful tale was perfect for our family due to our love of baking, but Clarence is sure to sneak into your homes and steal your hearts too!

by Leticia

My kids are star struck by Justin Roberts and the Not Ready for Naptime Band. I just attended my first children’s Rock Concert this weekend and I survived the kiddie mosh pit, screaming Mommy and Daddy fans and jumping toddlers. As featured on Noggin, Justin Roberts is highly recognized for his unique music geared for family listening.

The lyrics are silly, whimsical and intelligent. The sound is pure rock with undertones of Elvis Costello, Paul Simon and Dave Matthews, which means his CD’s appeal to parents as much as kids. It is great when you find yourself singing along to tunes with your kids. The website has a concert tour schedule as well as the current merchandise and CD’s. Put away the sugar coated cartoon soundtracks and turn off your radio, because Justin Roberts is the sound of childhood with a rock and roll edge.

By Helene

Props and Pans is giving away a 2007 TurboTax Deluxe CD to one lucky reader. You’ll be able to use in for your 2008 returns by simply clicking “yes” when it asks you if you would like it to install updates. To enter please leave a comment telling us how you prepared your 2007 tax returns by Sunday, April 20, 2008.

It has an intuitive design that makes it easy for beginning computer users to use. My 4 year old daughter can either click or squeeze the mouse to navigate the desktop. The only downside to the KidzMouse is the lack of a scroll wheel. Despite the lack of a scroll wheel, KidzMouse products are wonderful and easy to use.

KidzMouse products are made to work with Mac and PCs and no additional software is needed for it to work. KidzMouse makes mice with Disney, Sesame Street and Nickelodeon designs, along with insects like the CoolBug ladybug. They also make other products with children in mind, including keyboards.

Written by Leticia, a part time working multitasking mama who loves spending time with her husband and two children, exotic vacations, and cooking great meals. Leticia writes about technology products and technology issues affecting children through her blog, Tech Savvy Mama.

I’m not sure how I cleaned before the Magic Eraser was invented, but I’m sure it involved using a lot more elbow grease. I’ve yet to find anything that Magic Eraser does not clean. Just wet it and wipes down door frames and months of kids grabbing the paneling as they leave the room, and all will be magically erased in seconds!

Have a toddler who loves to “decorate” your kitchen cabinets? The Magic Eraser will remove pencil writing instantly without marring the finish of the cabinets like a pencil eraser does. Need a gift for the parent of a newborn? Give them a Magic Eraser. Believe me, they will need it later and thank you!

by Perri

I used to think that rice cakes tasted like cardboard, so who cared how good they were for you. They’ll still always taste bland. I recently changed my mind thanks to finding Quakes made by Quaker Oats. These rice cakes come in a bag similar to potato chips, but are only 70 calories per serving and have a whole lot of fiber. The flavors they offer are delicious. My favorite’s are caramel corn and ranch, but not together.

As a light and crispy snack, these are not the large round rice cakes you are used to seeing. They are small circles and are the perfect size to pack in a ziploc bag for a mid-afternoon work snack or road trip. Quaker has also begun making a new product called Mini Quakes, that are an even smaller rice cake (about the size of a nickel) in sweet flavors like peanut butter and chocolate mint. I could eat about nine of these bags at a time! But that would defeat the idea of being only 90 calories a bag.

by Emily

My family and I spend a lot of time outdoors in the summer and I hate to spray them down with a bunch of chemicals to protect them from bugs and mosquito’s. I feel like I’m doing more harm than good by applying some products. Last year I found Swy Flotter made by Kiss My Face, which is a natural tick and insect repellent.

What I love most is that it is made without animal ingredients, artificial colors, unnecessary chemicals or animal testing. It’s a blend of botanicals that works for you and the environment! Swy Flotter contains no DEET and is perfect for children. The bottle is very cute and kids are attracted to the orange color, and the scent is very mild.

by Maria

http://www.propsandpans.com/2008/03/16/bacon-salt-makes-everything-taste-like-bacon/

Emily