Renting Toys For Christmas

Have any of you heard of the website Toygaroo?  It's basically the "Netflix for toys".  Toygaroo allows parents to rent toys for a fraction of the retail price.  Just like with Netflix, you pick a rental plan, add toys to your queue or "wishlist", and the toys are delivered to your home.  You must return rented toys before you can get subsequent toys on your wishlist.

http://www.toygaroo.com/guest/xmas_welcome

(You'll notice the home page shows a kangaroo wearing a Santa hat, his pouch full of gifts.  There's also a really happy family of 4 wearing Santa hats and holding pretty presents in their hands (used toys).)

This toy rental service is particularly geared toward younger children who tend to get bored with their toys more quickly than older children.  Additionally, if a child falls in love with a rented toy, parents have the option of purchasing said (used) toy at a discount.  According to one website, this rental service is also meant to help struggling parents who are faced with the challenge of balancing their child's holiday wishlist with "budgetary constraints". 

Think this is all a bit unsanitary?  According to Toygaroo, they utilize an intense 3-step sanitization process to ensure "no yuck factor".      

What do you think about renting toys?  What about renting toys as Christmas presents? Terrible or terrific?  My vote?  Letting your kids unwrap gifts on Christmas morning that they aren't meant to keep?  Terrible!  As for the general concept itself (excluding Christmas time), it might have been practical except for the cost.  It might actually be more cost efficient to buy the toy and if your kid hates it or gets bored of it, sell it!  But that's just my opinion.  What do you think? 

Stuffed Mushrooms

If you like stuffed mushrooms, you will love this recipe.  These are soooo good.  I had them at a friend's house and then she sent me the recipe (by Pioneer Woman).  I made them last night and they were a big hit with everyone... including my hubby who does not like mushrooms! 

This recipe is so easy, but I'm not going to lie... so time consuming.  It's mostly because of the chopping up of several of the ingredients into tiny pieces.  If you don't mind that, you will think this is a piece of cake.

I didn't include many pictures because the Pioneer Woman does a good enough job of that for you.  Here are the ingredients you will need:

24 oz large mushrooms
1/3 cup white wine
1/3 lb breakfast sausage
1/2 yellow onion
4 gloves garlic
3/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 egg yolk
1 package cream cheese
salt
pepper


The instructions (and step-by-step pictures) can be found here:
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2009/08/stuffed-mushrooms-baby/

I bought three containers of the large mushrooms.  Cleaned them well (mushrooms are so dirty!), popped off the stems, and chopped the stems into itty-bitty tiny pieces...

This is what the completed mixture (stuffing) looks like after you've added all of the ingredients.

The recipe makes quite a bit of mixture.  I didn't know how far it would go so I topped off each mushroom before going back and piling the mixture in a nice generous heaping atop each mushroom. 

Each mushroom ended up getting a pretty generous helping.  Here's how mine looked right before going into the oven...

And here's the finished product.  Delicious!  I highly recommend.  I think next time I may make the mixture the day before.  I was trying to be too ambitious and I was running around making ten different things that day.  Also, I am no cook, so I am a little slower in the kitchen than most! 

Enjoy!

Christmas Morning Breakfast Ideas For The Kids

Have I mentioned I love Pinterest? I found these super cute, really easy to make breakfast ideas for Christmas morning.  These are cute to make for your kids or with your kids!

Waffle Christmas Tree

Rudolph Pancakes

Frosty Doughnuts (How easy are these? You don't even have to cook!)

Fruity Christmas Tree (use styrofoam cone and toothpicks)

Now you can't use the excuse that you don't have the time or you aren't creative.  These are so easy to do and your  kids will think you're brilliant!  :)

A Terrible Gift Idea for Anyone's Child

According to a recent article on MSNBC, the British Toy Retailers Association rated the Doggie Doo Game in their Top 12 List of "must-have toys" for the holiday season. 

The premise of this game?  Form and load play-doh poop pellets into the toy dachsund's mouth.  Position pooper scooper under the dog's butt.  Roll the dice.  Squeeze the leash button the number of times shown on the dice.  Each squeeze pushes air into the dachshund, moving the poop through its system until...surprise!  Doggie doo doo comes out of the other end.  The first person to collect three lumps of poop on their pooper scooper wins. 

What's the appeal of this game (besides the obvious)?  The wiener dog makes fart noises the entire time the poop is passing through the digestive tract and the dog's tail shakes anxiously the entire time.  (Because apparently there is nothing more exciting that taking a dump.)  You can purchase this game on the website http://www.petmyweiner.com/.  It's recommended for children ages 4 and up.  

Still not convinced?  Here's a commercial advertising this product: 

First off, I am not going to a website called petmyweiner.com to purchase anything...let alone a gift for my child.  Secondly, who are the parents purchasing this game?  Who is buying their child a toy that demonstrates:  1) doggie doo doo is fun to play with; 2) doggie doo doo is just like play-doh; and 4) what comes out of doggie's butt goes back into his mouth.  Probably the same parents who are teaching their kids that farting is hilarious.  No thanks, I will stick with the Smart Pup by VTech this year.  I'm pretty sure it doesn't encourage your kids to play with dog poop.      

Coolest Bib Ever

Why didn't I see this when my little boy was using bibs?  I would have been all over it!

The Art of Compulsive Shopping

It seems I can’t go into a store these days without picking up a little something extra for my little boy. Even when I am not going to the store to buy something for him, I end up leaving with an outfit or cool toy.  I used to be that way about shoes. It didn’t even matter if the store I went to had a shoe department. I always managed to find a store with a good shoe department that was within walking distance of my original destination.  Now my light bulb trip to Target turns into a quick trip to the baby department of Target, Marshalls, Ross, and Kohls… all of which are within walking distance of each other. And Carters is literally a 2-minute drive from all of these stores, so of course I have to stop by there as well.

Another dilemma I face is that all of my friends have children the same age as my baby.  This means lots of gift buying. I can’t possibly go into the baby department of my favorite store to buy something for someone else’s child and not pick up something for my own. I would feel like I was cheating on him. And I certainly can’t buy something really adorable for someone else’s little boy and not pick up the same adorable item for my little boy. I would feel like a bad mom.

My issues with compulsive buying of all things baby are compounded when there is any type of sale. It could be 1% off, and I am probably going to buy it, and feel justified in having done so. There is something about the words “sale” and “discount” that get me every time. Who on earth can resist a discount, free shipping, or a great coupon?  And stores are just making it way too easy.  It used to be that you had to print out coupons to bring them into the store, but even that hassle is long gone.  Most stores allow you to pull up the coupon on your cell phone now.  How ridiculously convenient is that?  Except Babies R Us.  What's up with those greedy peeps?

While I was pregnant with our son, I got busted at Babies R Us after sneaking a stash of coupons from behind an empty cash register.  I wouldn’t have had to steal the coupons if the stingy @$$ cashier would have given me more than one coupon.  So I took matters into my own hands, snagged a handful of coupons, and got busted. I left the store with my tail between my legs… and the entire stash of coupons I had snagged. Muahaha! My hubby was mortified when I told him how I had ended up with 12 Babies R Us coupon packets for 20% of anything in the store. But he sure didn’t mind using them a couple of weeks later when we went to pick up some pricey baby gear! 

Terrible Pregnancy Photos, Part 2

As promised... Part 2 of the Terrible Pregnancy Photos Series...

Because there's nothing sexier than a hugely pregnant woman riding bareback atop a motionless horse.  Although, whoever is off to the side holding the white fabric does a spectacular job of making it look like she and the horse are in mid-stride...

Maybe if I cover my breasts and I don't move, that hunter won't see me...

Hey honey, I have a great idea... let's gaze into each others eyes while I nestle my breasts and show off my baby bump.  What?  You don't have something to lean on?  Just grab an old tire from one of the 6 broken down cars in our driveway and on our front yard.  That will look hot... and really masculine. 

To be honest, this picture just really weirded me out.  It looks incestual and just plain disturbing.  It also kinda looks like Justin Timberlake when he went all platinum blonde for a hot second during his NSync days.  This picture did not make me laugh.  It made me uncomfortable.

Ya'll... this was their Christmas card.  Notice the 3 inset pictures surrounding the bigger one.  I don't know what I would do if I received a card like this from one of my friends.  Actually, yes I do.  I would run and show my husband, laugh about it for an hour, and then call our friends so we could all make fun of it together...)

Is this considered porn?  I was not sure if it was, so I went ahead and blacked-out her nips.  I don't have too much commentary to provide.  I am more distracted, and very disturbed, by whatever it is her husband is doing (I hope that's her husband).  Who thought it would be a good idea to rest her belly on her husband's buttocks... exposing his crack?  Is this some artistic statement that I am just not getting?  Some "circle of life" reference?