DesignSwan.com saved Christmas

It sounded like a good idea at the time.

My daughter loves Legos. So, in my usual "do before I think it through" mode, I make up my own Advent calendar idea. I buy a couple big boxes of Legos and decide to give them to her as little Lego structures for 24 days. I even make up these fun little clues (and they rhyme!) that tell her where I've hidden them each morning:

Today you don’t have to look far.
I’m hiding inside a cookie jar!
If you don’t see me in one, try the other
Just don’t eat the cookies without asking mother!

Now we're 17 days into it. She has a Lego Christmas tree, a few different Santas, a Lego reindeer, a little kitty, giraffe, elephant....then I start to run out of ideas. She gets a Lego chair. And a pathetic little Lego house. I'm getting desperate....what will I make for tomorrow?!? I do some web searches, but come up short on anything that won't take 10 hours and another trip to the Lego store. But I don't give up. I keep looking. Finally an image search on "simple Lego designs" gets me to The Site That Saved Christmas (aka DesignSwan.com).

No, they don't provide step-by-step directions on how to make a Lego butterfly out of three 2x8s and six 1x4s, but they do showcase some innovative product designs, some of which happen to be Lego-inspired. After knocking out 3 simple Lego critters that mirror these playful memory keys and an extra figure inspired by the simplicity of the designs, I found myself spending hours browsing the amazing photography, funky product designs, and interesting artwork this site showcases.

I was a both drawn to and repulsed by the creepy Alien Skeleton Bar but thoroughly entranced by some stunning photos by Mark Mawson and Jennifer Squires Ross . I also lost an hour of sleep browsing pages of fun food art, unusual fruit bowls, and brass-knuckle inspired designs. It's the Willie Wonka's of eye candy.

So, relieved that my design slump was over and my daughter's Lego Christmas was saved, I signed up for their newsletter, stashed away the final few days of advent Lego figures, made a cup of tea, and browsed some more.

OK, so it's been a while since my last post. Sorry. Got kinda busy there. But I'm still here and I still get excited about stuff, so here's my next "ooo, that's cool!" moment:

Really, really good deals. I'm talking, like, 40-70% off for things I like, or things I'd like to try. If you havn't checked out Groupons.com or LivingSocial.com yet, I recommend you give it a whirl. They send you daily emails with the day's special offer, like a $20 gift certificate for dim sum for $10, or a 1-hour massage for $35. If you're interested, you buy it and they send you an email with the link for the gift certificate. Easy, fun, and rewarding for someone like me, and great for the companies that participate. I'm trying out a few new places I haven't been to before, and haven't been disappointed yet!

Happy savings!

Star Wars Designer USB Flash Drives

I ran across these while researching a blog post I'm writing for the Cyber Sisterhood. Clever and useful, I'm thinking stocking stuffers for a couple hard-to-buy for family members.

They have a few different series of designer USB flash drives to choose from, but here's a sample:
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You can check them all out at mimoco.com.

Update on the Day Spa for Kids

So I finally tried out La Di Spa, the kid-friendly day spa with three other girl friends and their daughters (see Day Spa for Kids post). The staff was fabulous and the girls had a blast. They were served crackers and "tea" (fruit punch served from a tea set), got to pick out their own "ice cream" (aka scented fizzy balls) and drop them into the water. The kids definitely enjoyed the pampering, with lots of giggles and glee.

While I'd do it again (as a special occassion, of course), I would opt out of my own mani/pedi next time around. This is clearly a place you go for the experience, but don't expect your treatment to last long after you walk out the doors.

What else is cool? View other blog posts >
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What's in that movie?

Like millions of other moms, I took my kid to see Wall-E at the theater over the summer. It looked cute, got great reviews, and was rated G. It has an adorable little robot and the story covers the importance of taking care of your body and the environment. And it scared the bejeezus out of my daughter. We're talking tears-streaming-down-her-face scared.

It would have been handy to know there was a scene in which a space ship appears to land on Wall-E and it's unclear if he will be OK. Even though the movie is rated G and was a lot of fun for the over-4 crowd, I wish I had know about Kids-In-Mind.com before heading to the box office.
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The site not only gives you a quick-look visual of why the movie is given a certain rating based on how much sex, nudity, violence, gore and profanity it contains, it actually describes the "offending" scenes so you know what to expect, how your child might react, and make decisions accordingly. And a huge plus, they also rate the short that precedes the main feature!

I'm thinking this site wouldn't be bad to evaluate date night options, either. Only our criteria would be quite a bit different, if you know what I mean (wink wink).

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Anti-Princess Books for Your Little Princess

If you have a preschool girl and you're anything like me, you are a little sick of Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White and all their sorority sisters in fairy tale land. They all fall in love at first site to some gorgeous babe of a prince who is somehow not arrogant, self obsessed or spoiled and they go on to build false expectations about love, relationships and, well, being a girl.

Like many 4-year olds, by daughter is in love with Princesses. She had a Princess birthday party, wants to watch all the princess movies, read all the princess books and buy all the princess toys. Fortunately, a good friend gave my daughter "The Paper Bag Princess" by Robert N. Munsch a few years ago, which has been one of my all-time favorites (thanks Jen!), but I've struggled to find more like it.

So kudos to the Amelia Bloomer Project - a list of anti-princess books for girls from preschool to young adult. I'm definitely going to have to check out this year's recommended title "Princess Pigsty" and a 2005 listing "The Princess Knight", both by Cornelia Funke.

What else is cool? See more blog posts >
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Solar Table

Too cool - you can power your laptop or other electronics with your patio table. The SunTable stores backup energy (you need to put in in direct sunlight to charge, of course) you can use for laptops, cell phones, radios, lights, etc. It can be used as a back-up in black-outs too.

It's meant to be kept outdoors, so it's built for the elements, and it's built to last. The only thing not so cool about this table? The price! $2200 - ouch!

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