The holidays are fast approaching. This is the only time that I am in a baking mood. It seems baking just has more purpose in November and December. Some of my fondest holiday memories revolve around baking cookies and using cookie cutters to make Christmas trees, bells, gingerbread men, and snowmen.

When I was asked if I would like to review Ann Clark cookie cutters, I said yes because of how much I enjoy using cookie cutters during the holidays.  She makes some really cute and fun cookie cutters.

These handmade cookie cutters from Vermont are really cute. They are several different styles. What I love about these are the handle – making it easy to press into the dough and remove the cutter. I hate to admit that I’ve been confused about which end of the cookie cutter to stick into the dough. With a handle on the wrong side, that certainly won’t be a problem anymore.

Also I think cookie cutters make great holiday gifts. They can be at the center of the gift or a great embellishment for a gift tag. Ann Clark cookie cutters come in a variety of shapes. You can find a cookie cutter that matches your interests. The cookie cutters are well made and each comes with a recipe.

For the giveaway, I have an assortment of cookie cutters. They are – a frog, a butterfly, an angel, and a pumpkin.

To enter, just leave a comment on this post. You can comment on the cookie cutters or holiday baking traditions. You can also retweet this post for an extra entry(Twitter – GeekyHousewife). Contest closes Sunday, November 7th. The winner will be chosen at random(Randomizer.org) on Monday, November 8th.

Cookie cutters were provided free of charge. The opinions about the Ann Clark cookie cutters are my own

Today I raised a barn – all by myself. In full disclosure, I had directions. Oh, and it wasn’t actual size or really to scale for that matter. It was also a Trio set that my daughter received for her birthday – which is next Monday. We’re starting the celebration early.

The box says that Trio is for 3-5 year olds. For the most part the pieces are easy to stick together. Some pieces are quite challenging. The instructions were easy to follow. There are also alternate barn designs too.

I will have to admit that it was fun putting the barn together. She has been playing with it non-stop. She did help put together the wheelbarrow. Once I stop reveling in actually being able to build the barn, we will try some of the other designs. We might even make our own. I was never into building blocks, so it is nice to have a daughter who wants all sorts of different toys.

We have recently switched to Charmin bathroom tissue. Why? Because our daughter who is greatly influenced by commercials thinks it’s the only brand to have if you want soft tissue. She is four and actually gave up getting a small, cheap toy to procure the Charmin Ultra Soft toilet paper.

She couldn’t wait to use it and said it felt so soft. It was definitely worth the extra money in her eyes for her soft tissue paper. The rolls eventually ran out and so I picked up another pack. Little did I realize that I picked up the Ultra Strong Charmin instead of the Ultra Soft. There is no getting anything past her as she recognized this Charmin was not the soft Charmin. I was still clueless that I had picked up anything different until we got on the last roll. I noticed the packaging was red instead of blue and only then did I read the full name of the product. Now I make a conscious effort to get the blue packaging of Charmin.

So, even though I couldn’t really tell a difference in either tissue paper, my daughter did. She would recommend the ultra soft since it’s so soft and feels nice.

My little girl is at the age where she really enjoys stories at bedtime.  She is so close to learning to read. She already knows her letter and sounds and has some words memorize. That’s why when asked if I would like to review The V-Tech V.Reader, I thought it would be a good learning tool for my little girl.

The V.Reader can best be described as an e-book reader for kids. The V.Reader comes with one book cartridge and a USB cable to connect to the PC. You can connect to the Internet to download additional content for your V.Reader. The cartridges have a story as well as games. The cartridges also have a dictionary that you can look up words used in the story. The games are centered around the story and can help to build reading comprehension skills. Each story is animated and plays out on the colored screen. Then you can listen to the page being read.

The front of the V.Reader had a clear cover that can be used when a child is listening and watching a story. It also makes the V.Reader more like a book. I noticed my kid using it to hold the V.Reader just like a book.

One night my husband was working late and asked if we would like to hang out with him at work. I grabbed the V.Reader hoping that it would entertain the girl. We were there for nearly two hours, and she played with the V.Reader for a good hour and a half. We had the cartridge the comes with the reader and Toy Story 3.

The V.Reader is a fun learning tool. It has kept my girl entertained for hours, and each cartridge has a lot of replay value since she loves hearing the same stories. It takes four AA batteries that seem to be holding up pretty good so far. Overall the V.Reader has been enjoyed by the girl and has fostered her love of reading. What more can a Mom ask for.

The V.Reader is available at Target.

I was given a V.Reader by VTech for my review. I was allowed to keep the product, but the opinion I am sharing remains my own

I, of course, think my child is a genius. She is four and already has a strong sense of letters, sounds, and even some spelling. She is definitely ready to learn to read so that’s why when asked if I would like to review a Vtech product I chose the Bugsby Pen and Learning System. We had seen this product in the store and my little girl played with it for at least five minutes before we had to finish our shopping. I knew that the Bugsby would be something that she could handle on her own and would keep her engaged.

The Bugsby learning system comes with everything to get you started – the wireless pen, book, and cartridge. Insert the cartridge into the back of the pen and then turn it on. Open the book and then touch the pen over the words to have Bugbsy read individual words or press the pen to the play button to have Bugsby read the whole page. It’s read in a clear voice and has a volume control.

What I like most about the Bugsy is that it is wireless. The books are about the size of regular children books so it fits nicely into her lap and is easy to store.

One issue I did have with the Bugsby pen is that it accidentally dropped from a chair to the floor with a cartridge in it. The cartridge then didn’t work. At first I thought it was the pen but after buying another book I was able to diagnose that it was the cartridge and not the pen that wasn’t functioning properly. So my advice is to store cartridges inside the book and to not leave them in the pen in case of an accident.

I received the Vtech Bugsby Learning System free of charge for review purposes. The above review is my honest opinion about the product.

One of the hottest toys this Christmas is Zhu Zhu Pets – small, robotic hamsters that retail for $8.00. I hadn’t seen the commercials for these adorable creatures and had never heard of them until I saw an empty display at Toys R Us that said there was a limit of four Zhu Zhu Pets to a customer. Naturally this had me intrigued. What was this popular toy that my four year old hadn’t even mentioned she wanted?

Finally she saw the commercial and then wanted one – or two. Luckily I ran across them in stock at the store and was able to get her two – an early Christmas present.

You can turn on your Zhu Zhu Pet by pressing the button located on its back, forehead, or nose. Just press a button again to turn it off. The Zhu Zhu Pet will scurry off into one direction and then change directions – all the while making cute, funny sounds. My personal favorite sound is the crowing rooster. You can also buy accessories for your pet that it will zoom through – much like a real hamster.

Overall the Zhu Zhu Pet is a cute little hamster that is quite entertaining and might be the best bargain under $10 this holiday season.

WTF? How to Survive 101 of Life’s Worst F*#!-ing Situations is a humorous look at how to handle 101 different scenarios. Have you been dieting for month’s and still not losing weight or you’re at the grocery store and forget your wallet. What do you do? In this book, you will find at least 3 ways to approach the situation. Some might be outlandish and hilarious but at least one will be a somewhat rational approach. For example, if your roommate skips out the day before rent is due, you probably wouldn’t sell your children but might consider the option of selling some of your stuff.

Some of the language in the book is at least PG-13, so this book – as if you didn’t notice from the title- is best suited for adults or older, near adult-age teens. The topics covered in the book include sex, drinking, job/career, and many others.

WTF? can be found in the humor section of your local bookstore.

For her fourth birthday, the only thing my little girl wanted was a ‘swimming puppy’ aka Rescue Pets Swim to Me Puppy. She had seen the cute swimming pooch on a television commercial and was instantly smitten with the idea of having one for herself.

I was hesitant to buy her one because of its size. Rae has an overwhelming number of stuffed animals. A hard plastic, slightly large puppy just didn’t seem to fit in with her other animals. But in the end we decided to get her what she wanted for her birthday. It was a good call. She squealed with delight as she gently ripped the wrapping paper away to reveal her newest toy. If she never touched the puppy again, it was worth every penny for her reaction to receiving it.

Daddy took the puppy out of the box while Mommy went to locate 3 AA batteries. Then there was more waiting since the puppy actually takes 3 AAA batteries. Once the batteries were installed, it was play time.

The Swim to me Puppy not only swims but walks. All the Moms in attendance were very impressed that the puppy also walked on carpet. As many Moms and kids know that just because a toy is advertised to do something, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it will do it well. But this puppy was walking like a champ on the carpet and then onto the floor – not missing a step.

When it was time for bath time, we put the puppy in the water. I hadn’t realized that the puppy has sensors and automatically starts swimming when the water is at a certain level. Rae was not too pleased with this but I did tell her that this is what puppies automatically do in the water – swim. She still isn’t wild about this as she really enjoys giving her toys at bath. So for now the swimming puppy gets in his swim and then spends the rest of bath time on the bath mat outside of the tub.

The Swim to me puppy might be a little larger than her other animals but she is still able to carry it around like her other fur babies. The ears are soft and so are the feet. Even though it’s a hard plastic toy, the puppy is easy for her to put her arms around and carry – that is when she is not taking it for a walk.

So far, the swimming puppy is a huge success and works as advertised. Now hopefully there will be something equally as exciting to her that she wants for Christmas. Her reaction to the puppy was priceless.

A dear friend of mine is getting married this weekend, so I would love to get her something nice for her wedding. But with a limited budget, my options are not that great but there is a neat website that lets you divvy up the price of an item between several people.

It may be easy to pool your money together when you live in the same city, but it’s not so easy when friends are scattered across the country. Divvy.com makes it easy for people to create a gift registry and then invite others. You can suggest an amount for participants when you send the invite. Participants can opt to send a gift card in case the invitation is not fully funded.

There are many gifting opportunities that can happen from birthdays to baby showers. Edivvy can be a great tool to get those much needed more expensive baby items like strollers and car seats – at the same time giving friends a very affordable way to give something you really need.

Edivvy is filled with unique gift ideas and gift suggestions in categories like new parents, shutterbug enthusiasts, and iPod owners.

This is one website I will keep in mind when it comes to Christmas and birthdays. It seems we buy so many gifts and always have a tight budget. But if our friends and family had an event on Edivvy, gift buying would be much simpler and we would help to get them something they really need.

We are traveling this weekend and with a potty trained toddler, we are making a few more potty break stops than we normally do. But when you got to go, you got to go. This is one aspect of traveling to a new place that I don’t like – you don’t know who has clean public bathrooms.

But then I remember the free iPod app SitOrSquat that lets you search their database of over 5,000 public toilets to find the cleanest one closest to you. It’s sponsored by Charmin and lets you search for public restrooms that are close to you. From there you can read reviews and get directions.

It’s a neat little free app that is especially handy when traveling. When ya gotta go, ya gotta go and you want to go in a clean restroom.