To say that my daughter loves bath time just doesn’t seem to describe how much she enjoys it. She has a ton of ducks and other bath toys. Her favorite by far -both inside and outside the tub - is the Smart Splash Color Play Penguins.

It’s a set of 6 penguins each with their own color ring. Each penguin has a shape on it’s top hat that matches their ring. Raegan loves to take them out of their tube and place them back in it during bath time. When she is not playing with them in the tub, the penguins can usually be found in her play doll house or even in her bed as she sometimes go to sleep with them.

The penguins have been a great toy for her. They have helped teach her colors and shapes. Plus she has so much fun playing with them with her other toys.

We just bought Rae a sand/water table that the penguins will probably migrate to this summer. They have been a very versatile toy, entertaining Rae for hours on end. Overall it’s been a fun toy for both bath and any time.

I’ll admit that I’m not a coffee drinker but aspire to be one. No one ever asks you to come in for a cup of soda. You never read the morning paper with a tall glass of milk. It’s always coffee. So, I aspire to be a coffee drinker. One thing I’m learning is that is an acquired taste, translation: I will have to drink a few gallons before I begin to enjoy the taste.

I’ve never owned a coffee machine but have always wanted one. Even if I don’t drink that much coffee, it would be nice to at least offer a coffee drinker visiting my home a cup of java. That’s why when I was asked if I would like to try the Senseo coffee maker, I jumped at the chance. This would give me the outlet the have coffee on hand to offer guests plus give me a chance to start acquiring that taste for coffee.

The Senseo coffee maker is one sexy coffee maker. It’s sleek, black, and uses coffee pods instead of having to measure out how much coffee is needed. You can either make 1 or 2 cups of coffee.

So, after setting up the coffee maker and preparing it, I made my first cup of coffee that I’ve had in a long time. I added a little milk and drank a few sips. My husband adds sugar to his coffee, so my next cup I added sugar. It was much better! To use the Seseo coffee maker, first turn it on to heat up the water. It takes about 90 seconds. Then place your cup underneath the drip and press the button to make the coffee.

Your four ounces of pure java joy will be ready in mere seconds. Each cup is four ounces, which apparently is a serving size of coffee. I would never have guessed that because all the coffee drinkers have huge coffee cups or drink it by the thermos. I will tell you one thing, after drinking a cup of coffee, I feel more awake and alert. I see why coffee is such a great pick-me-up. It works wonders.

The coffee maker came with a pack of medium roast pods. I was anxious to try other flavors, so I bought a pack of Senseo French Vanilla. My husband didn’t care for it but I like it since it helps to cut down on the coffee taste. Remember I haven’t acquired my taste for coffee yet.

It’s the perfect coffee maker for us since we don’t drink that much coffee but can still enjoy it every now and then. Also we have it on hand to offer our coffee drinking guests. Plus I love the way the house smells after brewing a cup. It’s better than any potpourri to me.

Doesn’t that coffee look good? Well, Senseo is giving you the chance to experience their coffee maker free. Visit ShareSenseo.com and fill out the survey. You will be entered in a contest to win a Senseo coffee maker, pods, and a pod canister. This is open to U.S. residents. Promotion ends June 30, 2008.

I had to buy Rae some more soap and not wanting just to get a regular bar, I decided to give Johnson Buddies a try. I was lured in by the ‘lasting longer than regular soap’ tagline and since the soap was less than $1, I was sold on it. The yellow box made Rae think it was colors as she kept getting it out of the bathroom and asking me to open it. Finally bath time rolled around and I did open the yellow box.

She might have been disappointed from the lack or crayons, but the soap works just as the box described. It’s easy to get a good lather with it. Also the cloth makes it easy to grasp and hang onto. The smell is more of a clean fragrance so it isn’t overpowerful. Overall we are real happy with it and will buy another one when the time comes to replace it.

Some days it’s nice to have an easy, good meal to throw together for the family. I’ve tried several dinner in a box-type meals and haven’t been that impressed. The last trip to the grocery store I noticed one in the refrigerated section.

Just look at the name: cheesy taco mac kit. My mouth was watering in the store, so I had to get it. The next night was one of those times I needed to make a quick and easy meal. I pulled out the taco kit and got ready to cook.

Much to my surprise but makes sense now since it was refrigerated that everything was already cooked. Basically I just needed to microwave the macaroni pack and the sauce/meat pack, then mix. It was a breeze, and dinner was done in 10 minutes.

But how did it taste? Really good. There was plenty of flavor to it. It was a little on the spicy side actually, so it had a bolder flavor than if I had made this myself. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. Usually box meals are flat on taste, so I was pleasantly surprised to find one with some kick.

The taco kit was less than $5 and has four servings. The calories for each serving was 370, which is important to us since we are trying to cut back. Of course, it’s not something we will have weekly, but it’s a nice, cheap, good, and easy meal when needed.

Last week I needed to buy a new cleaning product to scrub the toilets. Not really wanting to buy a traditional brush since Rae loves to play with them and since that grosses me out, I wanted to try one of the newer disposable brush cleaning solutions.

I chose the Scrubbing Bubbles Fresh Max starter kit since it came with the wand and two disposable cleaning pads for less than $5. My reasoning was that if I hate it then I’m only out $5.
I don’t like cleaning especially the bathroom so I like products that work and work fast. Also the cleaning products I use take the least amount of effort on my part and hopefully return stellar results.

After using the Scrubbing Bubbles Fresh Brush, I will never go back to using a regular toilet brush again. It’s amazing how well I was able to clean with the pad. I’ve never been able to scrub that way with a brush.
Best of all it was fast and easy to clean the toilets and have them noticeably cleaner. I just wish the pad wasn’t a one-time use deal because it feels wasteful to throw it away after not using it that much. Still it is nice to have a clean toilet and no toilet brush for Raegan to confiscate as a toy.

One of the most enjoyable aspects of preparing for our wedding was picking out items for our wedding registry, specifically the china and crystal. I’m not a shopper but loved looking at all the different patterns and styles, daydreaming about one day handing down my ‘good china’ to my daughter(s). So, choosing just the right pattern was extremely important. I finally found the perfect china pattern for me as it represented me pretty well.

Those who are about to get married or those looking to start or add to their existing collection probably are hoping to find a good deal as well as the right pattern. While I have six sets of my china and would really like 2 more, I do not have a Christmas place setting yet. Crystallia.com is an online retailer that has been in business since 1996. They have been around since 1979 but closed their brick and mortar store 10 years ago and now are solely an online retailer. The Johnson Brothers dinnerware has one of the most striking holiday patterns I have seen in quite a while.

One trusted name when it comes to crystal is Waterford Crystal, which Crystallis carries. Crystallis sells 125 Waterford products with orders that are under $100 shipping in 3-4 weeks. Lalique Crystal has some lovely pendants and necklaces. So, brides, when you get those gift cards or need to exchange some of your crystal, there more personal options instead of getting something for the kitchen.

While I’m glad to be married, it would be fun to plan a wedding again especially with nice online retailers like Crystallis that have huge variety of items to fill any registry. Of course, the next time I have gift ware to buy, I know where to turn for selection and discounts.

I picked up Rae a cute die cast car at the store. It was so cute that I just had to get it. Take a look:

It’s from the Little Tikes Land series. The bigger version of this toy is seen in yards across America. They also had more like a train and other vehicles.

Rae loves cars and so getting her one made for her age group(2 years) makes me feel better about her playing with them. Ever since I gave it to Rae, she has been playing with it nonstop. So, I think the little $3 car is a hit.

When I was asked if I would like to review the Insignia Radio Compact Shelf System, my first thought was “sure, I’d love a new CD player.” After receiving it, setting it up, and reading through the instructions, this small unit does way more than any regular CD player could ever hope for.

The compact shelf system fits nicely on top of our VCR. It plays DVDS beautifully, which means we no longer have to use the PlayStation 2 for this purpose. The sound quality is phenomenal. We just mute the TV and listen to the sound through the two speakers. One movie even had barking dogs in it, and I almost went to check outside to see what was going on. The sound quality is the best we’ve ever experienced at our house.

While the radio shelf system has an iPod dock, I, sadly, do not have an iPod. I do have a Shuffle that plays beautifully through the USB port located in the front of the unit. All I have to do is use the remote to display on the TV screen the radio shelf menu. From there I can select it and play music. Other MP3 players will work too using the USB port.

We have really enjoyed using the Insignia Radio Compact Shelf System. It’s the perfect system for us as it fits well on the shelf by the television. The sound is great and is just right for our living room. Watching DVDs with the surround sound has been my favorite experience. It really beats using the PS2 for playing DVDs that’s for sure.

To say Raegan has a lot of toys would be an understatement. I can’t pass up a good deal on toys, so I’ve picked them up by the trash bag at the local thrift store when they have a toy sale. I’m always on the lookout for educational toys as well, so when I was given the chance to review the Animal Crack-Up Smart Snack toy from Learning Resources, I couldn’t resist. I knew I could offer my opinion on the product, but the real test would be how well Raegan liked it.

She was very excited when I showed her the box and couldn’t wait for me to open the box. One of the reasons I liked this product was that each animal is a puzzle. There is just two pieces, so it’s easy to put together. I had been wanting to get Raegan more puzzles to help develop motor skills and coordination.

The set contains 10 animal puzzles and a cute cardboard animal cracker box to store the pieces in when they are not being played with. Each animal has a different colored back, so you can either solve the puzzle by finding the front and back of the animal or finding two pieces of the same color. Or kids can get creative and put together part of a pig with a horse or any other combination their imaginations can conjure.

Raegan really enjoyed playing with them, and I was impressed with the sturdiness of the animal puzzle pieces. I was also happy to see that the pieces came with their own storage container in the form of an adorable animal cracker box. Overall it’s a fun toy that will help her learn colors, have creative play time, and develop motor skills.

While visiting my husband’s family this weekend, we took the kids to see Santa. My nephew, who is four, promptly rattled off his Christmas list to Santa: a Gameboy, a truck, and a chocolate bar! A kid after my own heart!

Chocolate is one of my favorite foods, so when I was asked if I’d like to try to new dark chocolate, I gladly accepted. It’s called Ferrero Rondoir. The packaging was almost too pretty to unwrap. That gold wrapper makes a nice presentation. I did say *almost*. Before I could even snap a photo of it, my husband had already begun to sample it! I’m not the only one who loves the chocolate in our home. He did offer his opinion of the chocolate since he ate the majority of it.

The Ferrero Chocolate received two thumbs up. My husband gave me the pointer of biting all the way through the chocolate since there were multiple layers of flavor from the crisp wafer to the dark chocolate center. The mix of flavors were divine. I’m normally not a fan of dark chocolate but Ferrero Rondoir was really good. It was harsh like most dark chocolates I have tasted before. This will definitely be one chocolate that will find its way under the Christmas tree this year. Ferrero not only makes some sweet chocolates but they have a sweet way to donate to a charity this holiday.

Ferrero Rocher has created a website that benefits the charity Share our Strength. SOS is a great charity that is focused on ending childhood hunger in the United States. Visit Share Something Sweet.com and send a virtual snow globe to a friend. For each snow globe sent, Ferrero will donate $1 to Share our Strength, up to $20,000. You can either choose a picture from your computer or use one from the website.

It’s fun to create a snow globe, and it’s helping out a great cause.