I have been running this site for nearly a year and for some strange reason it has taken me all this time to review one of my wife’s favorite items; The Learning Tower.
I used to be a regular attendee to Toy Fair in New York for the ecommerce company I work for. It’s an event for anyone in the toy industry (sellers, buyers, reporters, etc…) and my wife would typically take off for a few days and come with me. She would help me navigate the huge convention hall, take notes, and just act as my assistant. In the evening, I would take her out to a nice dinner and we would enjoy the city. It was always a great couple of days for both of us.
Toy Fair is massive and there are things hidden away in aisles where you wouldn’t typically expect to find them so we would hit every aisle and every booth to make sure we didn’t miss anything. That may not sound difficult but Toy Fair is HUGE!!! It takes up the entire Javits Center in Manhattan as well as several other buildings down town. The business I am in sells licensed and pop culture items so it’s actually a pretty small segment of the overall toy market but part of the fun was the challenge of hitting everything to make sure we didn’t miss anything.
The first time we went, my wife was pregnant with my oldest son, Harrison. We had a lot of fun going through the baby and little kids sections even though it had nothing to do with why we were there. We got to see stuff we might want for our son before a lot of it was released to the market. We also got to see stuff that was already on the market that companies were trying to push to new buyers. It’s a unique situation where you get to talk directly to the company and in the case of smaller companies, directly to the owner/creator.
One of the items that really interested us was the Learning Tower by Little Partners. The product had been around for a year or so before we ran into it at Toy Fair but our excitement was fresh as we had never seen it before. The Learning Tower is the perfect kitchen companion for anyone that likes to cook with their children. It’s not just for the kitchen but that seems to be it’s most popular application. It’s the ultimate step stool that brings your children up to counter height and keeps them there safely and securely.
Nothing at Toy Fair is for sale to the the general public, meaning, you can’t walk through, hand your card to someone and walk out with it. Buyers can put in orders for their companies but the products are shipped to the company/store they were bought for and not available to walk out with. I tell you this simply because if it was possible for us to leave with a Learning Tower that day, we would have.
My wife LOVES to cook and bake and always fantasized about cooking with our children. In addition to loving to cook, she is also a safety professional. Her job is to make sure the workers at the company she works at, work safely. The need to keep everyone safe is a big party of who she is and one of the things I love about her. The Learning Tower appealed to her need to keep her soon to be born child safe and her desire to have our little one active and in the kitchen helping Mom cook.
It’s so much more than a step stool, it’s an adjustable platform that safely brings your child up to counter height. It’s most popular application is in the kitchen but it can be used anywhere. It’s very well constructed and the platform can be adjusted so it continues to become useful as your child grows. It can hold over 200 lbs and has plenty of room for a second little one if you have more than one child. My 5 year old and 3 year old share it with no problems.
What makes this item even better is you can buy accessories that make it more functional. You can get a kit that turns it into a puppet theatre in minutes or a chalk board that hangs off the side for arts and crafts. It comes in 9 different finishes so there is sure to be a design that matches your decor.
At nearly $200, it’s not cheap but we believe it’s a great investment. We have had ours for 4 yeas now and it gets uses all the time. It’s very common for used Learning Towers to sell on ebay and Craigs List for $100 so it holds it’s value really well. When our boys outgrow our Learning Tower we plan on selling it on Craigs List to recoup part of the expense of buying it but even if we didn’t do that, we have have more than gotten our moneys worth with this item.
We recommend Heirloom Wooden Toys if you are looking to buy one. You can check it out on their Learning Tower Page.
The Learning Tower got some media attention a few years ago when it was featured on the Rachael Ray show. Check out the video below
Found on Amazon.com
When I first saw the infomercial for the Shark Steam Mop, I froze — eyes wide and just stared in amazement. ”What a glorious invention!” I thought to myself. Then another thought chimmed in, “Remember the Sea Monkeys.” What? Oh yeah – the Sea Monkeys…
Anytime I see something on TV - that I think looks too good to be true - I usually find out that it is. I first experienced this when I was about 6 or 7 years old. I begged and begged and begged for some Sea Monkeys. If you don’t know what these are take a look. My Grandpa finally gave in and got them for me.
I was over the moon with excitement! I couldn’t wait to see them grow into the creepy alien looking things on the package, to watch them build cities and to do whatever else Sea Monkeys do. I was so disappointed to discover that after waiting for weeks for them to do something — anything, that they did absolutely nothing!
All they turned out to be were stupid little brine shrimp. No disrespect to brine shrimp of course, but they are super boring and look nothing like sea monkeys – or what I thought sea monkeys would look like. Lesson learned.
So, I was cautiously optimistic about the Shark Steam Mop. After all, if it didn’t do what I thought it should, I would just take it back to the store.
I asked my husband to watch the infomercial and he was on the fence about whether or not we really needed it. I explained that it would a be great thing for us to have. I would be able to get the floors clean, without having to worry about using chemical cleaners. This was especially important to us at the time, because the boys were getting ready to crawl and putting everything into their mouths. With the steam mop, it only uses steam to clean the floor. Before long, my husband was on board with trying this product as well.
We found one at Costco (it came with extras that the other ones we saw, did not have) and the rest is history. I love my Shark Steam Mop and I wouldn’t want to be without it. Here are some of my favorite features:
- It’s light weight and really easy to use. I don’t have to lug a bucket, cleaner, or anything else with me. Simple!
- As I mentioned before; there are no chemicals — just hot steam to clean your floor.
- The floor dries in just a few minutes. This is fantastic! With 2 kids and a dog running through the house at all times, I don’t have time to wait for floors to dry.
- If something gets spilled – and it usually does – I can just grab my steam mop and have it cleaned up in a jiffy! It cuts through everything including juice!
- I never have to buy floor cleaner – so it saves $$$$. Gotta love that.
- No streaks and the hot steam leaves the floors really clean.
I just aquired my second Shark Steam Mop. My other one lasted for 3 years. I’ll admit that my first one would have lasted a lot longer, if I had treated it nicer. It got used a lot and I never drained the left over water out when I was done, like the instructions told me to.
Getting my new Shark Steam Mop made me fall in love with it, all over again! It really is a great invention and it’s my favorite cleaning tool ever!
There are a couple of models and I just have the basic Shark Steam Mop (on Amazon.com for $59.85 Retail $99.99). They do have a Deluxe Shark Steam Mop (on Amazon.com for $99 – Retail $149) and they also have the Shark Vac then Steam (on Amazon.com $149.99). I can’t say how those work but if they are anything like the basic model, I’m sure they are wonderful.
Be aware that it is recommended for use on, “…sealed hard floors–including wood, tile, linoleum, and vinyl…”
Bottom line. I love it!
~Christie
I have been seeing and hearing ads for Audible.com for well over a year now but always ignored them. I love to read and audio books never interested me so consequently the ads never interested me. Over this past year, a lot has changed. I subscribe to a lot of podcasts. Some are entertaining and some are educational. I listen to a few podcasts every day at the office and love the portability of taking them with me on my iphone and listening to them in the car or when I exercise. For some reason I never saw being entertained or educated via a podcast as the same thing as listening to an audio book.
Additionally, my favorite news radio station has suddenly become very hard to tune into consistently. It must be my car as it works fine in my wifes car but I no longer have that as an option. Sure, there are music stations that I like and I always have all of the stuff on my iphone to listen to but I was still disappointed to lose that radio station.
Finally, I have a 30 – 35 minute commute to work every day and it just started feeling like more and more wasted time. With two kids and a busy work schedule I don’t have nearly as much time to read as I once did.
One day this past November, I was listening to one of my favorite podcasts and an ad came on for Audible. It just somehow clicked this time. They were offering 50% off their Gold membership plan for the first 3 months. I will give you a run down of the membership plans a little later in this article. With that initial trial I downloaded Stephen Kings The Gunslinger, it’s the first book in the Dark Tower series. It’s a series I have always been meaning to read but never seemed to get around to it. The audio book normally sells for $19.93 but with this membership offer I got it for $7.62. It’s less than a hard cover book but a little more than the paper back would have cost me. That seemed pretty reasonable to me knowing that they had to pay a voice actor to read the book.
This was my first exposure to an audio book and it did not disappoint. The process of signing up with Audible was simple as was the process of purchasing the audio book and putting it onto my iphone. Audible offers a download manager that takes care of all of that. The voice actor did an excellent job, his voice matched the tone of the story and it wasn’t rushed. I looked forward to my commute to and from work so I could listen to the next part of the story. It took me about 2 weeks to get through it which is a lot faster than it takes me to get through a regular book nowadays (mostly due to time). I had joined with the intention of getting a book, trying it out but most likely canceling before the 3 month trial expired but I have changed my mind, I am an Audible and audio book convert!
After getting that first book, I decided that it would be good way to accomplish several goals:
- Get caught up on books I have wanted to read just for the fun of it
- Get caught up on the business and personal finance books that will help me improve my financial situation and grow as a business man
- Find some books in the Audible for Kids section for my boys and see if works as a way to keep the kids occupied on long car trips
With what seemed like the makings of an actual plan forming, I got a new book in December called Freakanomics. It’s a book that asks strange questions and really makes think you about the economics of life. I decided that I would alternate. My membership plan with Audible gives me one free credit every month that I can use towards the purchase of any book. Since I can’t afford to spend more than I am already spending on the membership, I will get myself one book a month and alternate between pure entertainment and books that will also educate. I enjoyed Freakanomics but didn’t learn as much from it as I had hoped. It was more a collection of essays that got you thinking than it was a lesson in economics. Still a worthwhile read/listen but probably not one I would recommend as a must read.
January came around and I got the second book in Stephen King’s Dark Tower series but I also sprang for a second book (it was only $6.49). The Audible for Kids books are pretty inexpensive if you are a member and I really wanted to see if my kids would enjoy listening to something in the car. My son is in Dinosaur mode. It’s all he talks about, thinks about and plays with these days so when I saw the Magic Tree House, Book 1: Dinosaurs Before Dark I had to get it. It’s meant for longer car trips like the one we are taking in a week to see some family but I tested it out on the drive to day care and to my surprise, there wasn’t a peep out of either of my boys on the whole ride. They sat there with mouths open listening to the story. When we got to day care, they said they liked it but weren’t ecstatic about it nor have they asked to listen to it again so I got a bit of a mixed review from them. I think the real test will come from that hour long cart trip we are taking next week.
Audible Membership Plans
Audible has several different membership plans and before you sign up it’s important to know what you are going to get with each one.
No Membership – This isn’t really a membership plan but it should be mentioned as an option. You do not have to become a regular recurring member to buy from Audible. If you only think you are going to want a few audio books a year, this is the way to go. You will have to pay full price for that audio book but it’s better than committing to a monthly membership plan. To participate, simply go to Audible.com and buy a book.
Audible Listener Gold – This is the plan I am on. This plan costs $14.95 a month but with that, you get 1 free credit every month and with that credit you can get any book you want. They key here is books on Audible range from $4.95 up to $35 so if you are going to subscribe to a plan like this make sure you are using that credit to buy a book that costs more than the plan. It doesn’t make sense to spend $14.95 for the month and then use that free credit to get a book that would have cost you $4.95. Most books are more than $14.95 so you will have plenty to chose from. As a gold member, you also get 30% off anything that is not purchased with a credit, free audio programs and a complimentary subscription to the audio version of the New York Times or Wall Street Journal. You can get the same deal I did and click the following link to get 50% off your first 3 months at Audible
Audible Listener Gold Annual – This is the same as the plan above but you pre-pay for the entire year. When you do this, your cost per credit goes from $14.95 per credit to $12.46 per credit. A worthwhile savings if you know you are going to stick with it for a year. If you aren’t sure, it’s better to play it safe and go month to month. You can still get the same discount on the first three months, just go to 50% off at Audible.
Audible Listener Platinum – This is similar to the Gold plan that I am on except it costs $22.95 a month and you get 2 free credits every month. This brings the cost of those credits down from the $14.95 I pay to $11.48. A better bargain if you think you will get through 2 every month. I am not sure I can so I am sticking with the gold plan for now. They don’t have any special offers that I am aware of with the Platinum level so sign up by going to Audible
Audible Listener Platinum Annual – This is the same as the plan above except you pre-pay for an entire year. This will bring your cost per credit down from the $14.95 per credit I pay to $9.56. Pretty cheap if you know you are going to go through 24 audio books in a year and can afford to lay it out all at once. Sign up by clicking here to go to Audible
Summing it Up
Audible isn’t for everyone. If you aren’t big on books or don’t have a lot of quiet time to spend listening to these books, it’s probably not worth it but for me, they make my commute into work a lot more enjoyable.
photo courtesy of amazon.com
My kids, ages 8 and 5, had seen the ad for Pop the Pig by Goliath at least a half dozen times before Christmas. Thinking that it would be an entertaining family game for the four of us, I picked it up at Toys ‘R Us for about $20.00 (that’s not cheap, either, in my book) and gave it to them before the holidays even came around. The kids were excited to play it and as we opened up the baggie of little plastic hamburgers, we all exclaimed, “Awwww!” because they were so cute. We were off to a good start. I consulted the directions to make sure we were setting things up correctly and we began a game.
Here is how the game is supposed to work: with each turn, players roll the die, feed the pig a burger and then press down on his chef’s hat the number of times shown on the bottom of the selected burger. The pig’s stomach (which actually has a balloon-type devise underneath it) is supposed to get bigger and bigger with each press of his hat, until he finally “pops,” causing his belt to open. My kids thought this concept was hysterical and could not wait to see the pig “pop.” Unfortunately, there were a few problems with getting the pig to pop, the first of which is that his hat is very difficult to press down, especially for my littler one. But with two hands, he was finally able to do this. I can’t imagine any child younger than 5 being strong enough to pull this off. The second problem is that the growth of the pig’s stomach is so negligible that it is hardly noticeable at all. We kept peering and peering at Pig’s stomach, thinking we may have detected a slight change, only to wonder if we were just imagining it! Eventually, we were able to get Pig’s belt to pop open but the stomach never really got big at all. “Are you guys sure the belly is supposed to get big?” I asked. “Look at the picture,” they said. And sure enough, the image on the front of box shows good ole Pig with a big, inflated stomach. “This game is stupid,” my daughter said. “It’s junk,” my son said. Obviously, neither of my kids have a tendency to mince words.
“Maybe ours is defective,” I said, opening up my laptop to check the reviews on Amazon. While some reviews were positive, many echoed our same concerns. The average rating was 2 ½ stars out of 5 (with 73 customer reviews). Some said the hat was too hard for their children to push down (we agree). Others said the stomach never grew (yup). One pointed out that the big explosion their child was waiting for was first just the belt opening with a click (our experience too) and that after a few games the “explosion” became reduced to clicks only with no belt popping at all. I guess we should be happy that our belt does manage to pop open. The bottom line? This game is nothing like what it looks like on the television commercial and while the concept is charming, Pop the Pig fails to deliver “pops” or laughs
I have known of Groupon for awhile now but until recently, it wasn’t available in my local area. I used to check out the site and see what deals were available in Philadelphia, which is about an hour and a half from us, but with two kids, work and a very tight budget, we don’t get the opportunity to go into the city as often as we used to. I was pretty excited when Groupon starting offering deals right in our town and it looks like it plans on launching sites for many of the surrounding areas very soon. The company seems to be growing at an amazing pace, hopefully the people behind it are able to manage that growth so they don’t become the next dot com fatality but only time will tell.
For those of you that don’t know, Groupon is a “deal of the day” web site that provides huge savings in your local area. I have seen the savings range from 25% to 75% off with most being close to the 50% off range. Each deal has a tipping point that activates the offer. In other words, if enough people don’t buy it, then the deal is null and void. Most of the time, more than enough people jump at the deal. The deals can be for almost anything. In the short time it’s been available in my local area I have seen discounts for restaurants, local stores, flying lessons, spa treatments, and more. It’s part of the attraction of the site, every day brings something new and you feel compelled to read the emails, check the Twitter feed or view the site to see what the days deal is. It’s the perfect execution of a viral marketing plan.
It’s hard to see how some of the companies that use Groupon actually make money. To keep the math easy, let’s say a local restaurant offers a $100 meal for $50 (a pretty common deal on Groupon) the restaurant doesn’t get $50. They split that money with Groupon so Groupon get’s $25 and the restaurant get’s $25. After selling that particular deal, they still have to offer the $100 meal that was advertised. It’s not unusual for hundreds of people to jump on a deal like that so if you do the math, it’s quite a lot for a small business to absorb. Talk about eating into your margins!
Despite all that, there seems to be no limit to the number of companies interested in offering a huge discount on sites like Groupon. So, how do they make money or at least hope to make money, offering such huge discounts? I have a few thoughts this:
- It’s a service or product that has huge margins and they can afford to offer big discounts in the hopes of gaining a new customer
- The company knows it will lose money on the deal but hopes it will make up for it by the increased exposure and the chance to capture new and repeat customers
- As with most coupons/gift certificates, a certain percentage of people will buy the deal but will never actually use it. When that happens, it’s pure profit for the business offering the deal.
The only negative press I have been able to find online is from companies that have used it and failed to turn a profit on their particular deal but is that really Groupon’s fault? They seem to be pretty up-front about what they have to offer companies but I have no first hand experience. I am sure I am missing some strategies that businessmen smarter than me have been able to take advantage of and I would think that a good portion of the companies that use it must make out alright for the company to be growing as fast they are.
Okay, so enough about how Groupon works for the businesses that use it, let’s take a look at the customer, the end user for the service. Can you really save that much using Groupon? Absolutely! That I know for certain. The deals they offer are legitimate and easy to cash in on. Before you give them your credit card number and start buying up discounts and special offers, we do have a few tips on how to best use the Groupon site:
- As with any coupon, don’t get sucked in by the deal and spend money on something you didn’t need or never intended to buy in the first place.
- You can get $10 just for referring other people to Groupon who make a purchase. I signed up and referred my wife, my sister and my parents. If they opt into any of the deals that come along, I will get $10 to spend on any deal I want.
- The site can be fun and addictive, don’t let that overrule your own common sense. If you can’t really use it, it doesn’t matter how good of a deal it is, don’t spend your money on it
- If you do buy it, make sure you pay careful attention to the expiration date. They are counting on a certain percentage of people buying into the deal but never getting around to actually using it. If you aren’t sure you will be able to use it before the expiration date, don’t buy it.
- Take a look at what other customers have to say about a particular deal before you purchase it by clicking on the “Jon the Discussion” link.
- I never buy into the deal the first time I look at it. I typically check out the Groupon site first thing in the morning before work. If I am not interested, I don’t go back until the next day. If I am interested, I wait a few hours and go back to the site on my lunch break. It gives me time to think about whether I will really use or need the offer and helps to remove some of the emotional excitement from the transaction.
- Make sure you read the fine print so you know exactly what you are getting and what the restrictions are.
- If you are interested in the service, make sure you register and create a profile, it will make it a lot easier to purchase deals and keep track of what offers you have available to you.
I highly recommend Groupon, if you can exercise a little self control, it’s a great way to save a LOT of money. You can check out their web site and sign up by going to Sign Up with Groupon
16 pc Large Red Blocks by Smart Monkey Toys
Price: $25 – $36
The other day we received a 16pc large red building block set, in the mail for a product review. These are by Smart Monkey Toys and I have got to tell you; even before I started assembling the blocks, I could tell they were going to be a hit with my boys.
When the kids saw the picture of the blocks on the packaging, they got super excited and immediately asked if they could play with them. I wasn’t crazy about trying to put the blocks together with two very impatient 3 year old boys, buzzing around me like a swarm of bees.
Anyhow, they were really keyed up and kept saying “please Mommy” in a cute non-whiney kind of way, so of course I had to finally concede. I’ve got to say, the first block took me a little bit to figure out — but once I decided to pull out the helpful and easy to follow instructions that were enclosed, it was a piece of cake. I was able to put all 16 large building blocks together in about 15-20 minutes. That is record time for getting anything done while my children are awake.
As soon I was finished, the boys immediately began playing. They worked together to build a large firehouse. Then they decided to see how tall they could stack the building blocks. I was very impressed with how flush, the blocks fit together. We have an older, cheaper set, by a different company and those blocks always tip over before the stack gets too high. The blocks from Smart Monkey Toys are also much sturdier than the others we have. I know this, because the boys later decided to use them as ice skates.
They are made of lightweight corrugated cardboard so if they fall over, or if – and this would probably never happen – one brother accidentally flung a block in the direction of the other brother, no one would really get hurt. Nice! Despite the fact that they are light, they are very well engineered and will hold a lot more weight than you might expect.
Another thing you can absolutely love about these blocks, is that they are made of recycled materials.
So, in case you haven’t figured it out already — YES; I would definitely recommend these blocks. They are wonderful!
These blocks are available from these fine retailers. The prices listed below are what they were being sold at when we wrote this review
- Amazon – $26.42
- Kazoo Toys – $25.52
