Blog Posts by Anne-Marie Nichols

Monster High Gloom Beach Cleo De Nile Doll

This doll is every mom's nightmare.

The price of this toy is: $19.99 or less. Make sure you get it for less.
This toy would be great for: Pre-teen fans of the Monster High TV show.
The benefits of this toy seem to be: To freak out moms.
The downsides are: This doll is horrifying, but my eight-year-old daughter, Lucie, loved it much to my chagrin. Also, the hand fell off after two days of gentle play. Lucie taped the hand back on and seems happy with her repair.
This toy reminds me of: A street walker or a stripper. Seriously this doll is naked and semi-pornographic. Luckily my daughter started fashioning Cleo a dress out of Kleenex.
I would buy this for another child: Only if I wanted to tick off her parents.

LEGO NinjagoLEGO Ninjago

Since my kids aren't into LEGO, we gave it to Lucie's friend, Nash, to try out.

The price of this toy is: A bit high, but worth it. Since it's Lego, you can build on your collection a little bit at a time, fitting it into any toy

Read More »from This cynic’s guide to this season’s popular children’s toys

Style: Bootcut.

My body type is: Short and curvy.

Levi's

Perfectly Slimming 512 Boot Cut Jeans (short cut)

Fit: High-waisted enough to be called "mom jeans," wear these jeans with an untucked shirt. The boot cut is almost generous enough to be considered a flare, and looks great with cowboy boots or high heels.
Would wear to: Everywhere from Harley rides to lunch with the girls.
The color and texture is: Dark and looks new, but feels broken in. A word of warning: fits differ between various colors of 512s. Make sure to try on all Levi's jeans before buying!
Make me feel: Hip and secure enough not to worry about plumber's butt.
I'd recommend to: Any woman with a little "extra" who wants a comfortable but slimming jean.
I feel the price is: Extremely reasonable. The suggested retail price is MSRP is $44, but they were on sale for $39.99.

Lee

Comfort Fit Petite Boot Cut

Fit: Is cut just below the waist. It's a very stretchy jean, so perfect for bending down to retrieve dirty laundry off your

Read More »from Levi’s or Lee jeans? Flip a coin!

Blame it all on Alton Brown - I've been brining and smoking my Thanksgiving turkey since 2007. This year I'll be doing a Maple-Herb Brine. I've also made Alton's Honey Brined Smoked Turkey recipe, a Citrus-Stuffed Herbed Turkey with a honey and citrus brine and a Savory Turkey Brine using Kikkoman Soy Sauce. Yes, I'm a little brine happy, but who wouldn't be when it results in a delicious, succulent turkey!

Thanksgiving turkey

So what's brining anyway?

Brining is a process that is used to add flavor and moisture to a meat before cooking. Brine consists of water, salt, herbs and spices, and something sweet like juice, honey, sugar, molasses or maple syrup.

Many recipes have you heat the water to dissolve the salt and sugar. Afterward, you need to cool the mixture before use.

What kind of container?

When you're ready to brine, you'll need a clean, non-reactive container large enough to hold the meat and the brine. I've used a cooler (both plastic ice chests and Styrofoam coolers). Some people Read More »from User post: How to brine your Thanksgiving turkey

This week, Reading Is Fundamental (RIF), the nation's oldest and largest children and families' literacy nonprofit organization, is celebrating Reading Is Fun Week , which was started in 1979 to mark the start of summer reading. The RIF website provides free resources to help families celebrate Reading Is Fun Week including a day-by-day children's activity calendar for each day of the week.

Summer's Just Around the Corner

Summer, huh? Well, I don't know what's going on in your school district, but this week is my children's last real week of school. Next week it's clean up time, field day, parties and preschool graduation.

Like me you may be in a slight panic thinking, What am I going to do with these kids all summer? Thank goodness there are such things as library summer reading programs, summer camps, visits to parks, zoos, and the rec center, and playgroups with friends.

Lucie will be attending a preschool summer camp three days a week. I have Nathan enrolled in several mini-camps at his school, including a book club and a writing club. He'll also be learning American Sign Language and the principal (who's also our town's mayor) will be taking a group of kids to the state capitol building in Denver for a field trip.

Both kids will be participating in a week-long soccer camp and a career day at school. Plus, I've signed them up to help with a community service project that two teachers are supervising.

We'll be doing some camping as a family, too, and before we know it August 18 - the first day of school - will be here. Then I'll have two kids in school full time. I'm so exited!

Read More »from Celebrate Reading is Fun Week with RIF and get ready for summer

I realized this April Fools Day that my kids are especially bad at telling jokes. For one thing, Nathan's timing is completely off. And Lucie doesn't understand how to do a simple "knock- knock" joke to save her life. When she makes one up, they make no sense.

As a mother, this is disconcerting since the only reason I put up with my kids and their father is that they make me laugh. Aside from sending them to a comedy camp for the humor challenged, I thought a little humor therapy was in order. Maybe viewing Caddyshack would help, as would getting a few jokes books. Heck, Lucie could listen to Nathan reading the jokes out of the book and maybe they'd learn through osmosis.

Here are some of the joke books I found at the library:

• Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road?
• School Jokes
• Stinky Riddles
• The World's Greatest Knock-Knock Jokes for Kids
• Knock, Knock

And here are a couple we already had at home:

• The Everything Kids' Joke Book: Side-Splitting, Rib-Tickling Fun
• The Usborne Book Of Really Awful Jokes

In my opinion, the easiest jokes for young children are knock knock jokes and puns. Here's a sample from Yummy Riddles :

What do you call a dinner that talks back to you?
Rude food

What did one pork chop say to the other?
Nice to meat you.

Knock, knock.
Who's there?
Bacon.
Bacon who?
Bacon my mother a birthday cake!

This is not Chris Rock by any means, but it's a start.

Read More »from No joking around - great joke books for kids

These days the whole world seems to be turning green, which is a good thing not only for the environment but your bank account.

CafeMom just launched their Small Changes - Big Impact site with lots of tips on how to make small changes that add up to a big difference to the environment. (Full disclosure: I work for them as a community moderator and before that I was a ClubMom blogger.)

Many companies are producing green versions of their regular products, for example Clorox's Green Works, which is very affordable. (Click here for my review of Green Works.)

And like many moms, I'm buying more recycled and earth friendly products like energy saving light bulbs, toilet paper made from recycled paper, and environmentally friendly laundry detergent - all available at my local Costco for the same price (or cheaper) than the regular items.

Plus, I'm eating more organic and locally produced milk, eggs, and veggies. (Click here for my review of Horizon Organic's new DHA Omega-3

Read More »from 10 Ways to Green Your Home and Family