Sylvania PalPODzzz LED nightlight - Keeping kids in their beds and monsters in the closet

As any parent of a three year old knows, nightlights are essential to keeping not only kids that age happy but also their parents. Something tells me if we didn't have the appropriate light to darkness ratio in my daughter's room we'd be seeing her a lot more in the middle of the night, and we don't want that to happen. No, that would be bad. Very bad.

Chicky has been thrilled with her Sylvania PalPODzzz ladybug nightlight. The PalPODzzz is this sweet detachable/rechargeable nightlight/flashlight LED doohickey (Okay, so no one will ever hire me to come up with professional descriptions for new products. I think I'll live.) either shaped like a ladybug or a spaceship. The thing she likes the most about it is that the ladybug itself can come off of its "leaf" charger (which also lights up) and she can keep the flashlight portion either in her bed or on the floor next to it and she knows she can use it whenever she needs to. I like it because it's rechargeable, so after I dig it out of the blankets every morning I pop it back on the charger and it's ready to go for that night.

Another plus is she now has her own flashlight to play with during the day when she wants to go exploring. No more stealing Mommy and Daddy's emergency flashlights. It's not fun to find out during a major ice-related blackout that your preschooler has been playing with the flashlights too much and now none of them work. Trust me on this. The flashlight itself is not super powerful - which is good since it always seems to be pointed in the direction of the baby's eyes - but it's the perfect strength for, say, couch cushion spelunking.

Also, not too bright to shine in one's own eyes. If you're into that sort of thing. Bonus.

She's playing with it right now, as a matter of fact. There is a missing toy and she's playing "detective" to find it. Carry on, Sherlock.

As a nightlight, I do wish the PalPODzzz was a bit more powerful. The light up leaf is a little dim for my daughter's liking (she likes her nightlights pretty bright) but as an emergency keep-the-boogie-man-away device the PalPODzzz seems to be working out just fine.

All in all the PalPODzzz is a pretty nigty product at a good price (just $19.99). So may we recommend the Sylvania PalPPODzzz portable LED nightlight for keeping those pesky monsters under the bed where they belong?

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This is a review for the Parent Bloggers Network.

Garage Sale America - where have you been all my life?

When life was simpler (read: before having a child) I used to love to dig through piles of castoff items at yard sales, state fairs, "antique" stores and the like. I spent my summer vacations in Maine, going from one small store to the next, searching for that something special to add to my already growing collection of antique cameras, candlesticks and Fiestaware. I was on a mission. I was focused. I was obsessed. I was broke (hence the tag sale-ing).

I miss those days.

Once I found an antique Heywood-Wakefield child's rocking chair in one of these stores, not what I was looking for but a good find nonetheless. I balked at the price tag and decided to pass and I've been kicking myself in the tuckus ever since. Having grown up around furniture makers in the shadow of the furniture capital of the world I have a special place in my heart for Heywood-Wakefield and Nichols & Stone furniture and I should have snatched up that rare find when I had the chance. Even if it would have cost me most of my paycheck.

Okay, all of my paycheck. And then some. Remember, I was broke.

That's the beauty of those types of expeditions, though - you never know what you're going to find. But you can be guaranteed that it won't be there when you get back.

Up until now I've never had my own yard sale (garage sale, tag sale, what have you) since I've never had enough of my own things to warrant trying to get rid of the overflow. But now it's time. Through years of consumerism, the joining of my things with my husband's, and then from an inheritance I have enough of my own stuff that I don't want and I'm going to try to sell it to others. It's time for me to hold my own yard sale.

I'm terrified. Where to begin? How do I price a box full of fairly recent hardcover books? Or, for that matter, my husband's old bedroom set? How do I prepare? What do I need to make this sale successful? How do I act when complete strangers show up on my yard at 8am to pick through my things??

When the Parent Bloggers Network said they had copies of Yard Sale America by designer Bruce Littlefield to review I knew this was the push I needed.

I was very excited to receive this book, but I have to admit if I was in the bookstore and had no plans to have a yard sale I might have passed this one by (kinda like that chair, but for different reasons).

It's a soft cover book with a kitschy design. A book to be taken seriously? It's hard to tell at first glance. But within its orange covers the reader will find not just a wealth of information on Garage Sales - such as the location of the World's Longest Yardsale or a list of Do's and Don'ts for Sellers - but a piece of Americana.

Littlefield, through his travels, has amassed a wealth of stories about the characters he has met on the road - The Yardsale Queen, the world's oldest and youngest yard sellers, Andy of Andee's Anteeks (Anteeks - Kolectibels - Old Stuf - Sum Junk. He byes and selles - Ask for a kard) - and it makes for a charming read.

It gets better. Do you know how to spot a fake or a reproduction? I didn't. Do you know the history of Bakelite? Lalique? Tiffany? Barbie? (Oh how I wish I still had those old Barbies my Nana kept for me when I was a kid) It's all in this book, in easy-to-read bite-size pieces, like so much of the garage sale munchies one might find at the World's Longest Yardsale. Easy to swallow, all served up with powdered sugar and more than a touch of Littlefield's enthusiasm for bargains.

Here's the best part: Wondering what to do with all your treasures after you've spent a weekend at tag and rummage sales? Littlefield is, after all, a designer, and the book has a section on interior design with these cheap treasures. As a matter of fact, Littlefield has furnished his own house almost completely with items he's purchased at yard sales. It's a helluva lot more interesting than Pottery Barn.

I'm glad I have my own copy of Garage Sale America. Not only do I feel more confident about holding my own yard sale now but I feel a lot more familiar with a piece of this wonderful country that I may never have known. Don't pass this book by... like I did with that chair. That damn chair that will haunt my dreams.

I'll know better now.

I'm in love... with a diaper

It's early in the morning. Your eyes are only half open as you approach your child's room. Your child, of course, is fully awake and raring to go but you are still semi-comatose. The last thing you want to find before you've had your morning cup of coffee is your child soaked head to toe because their overnight diaper just couldn't handle the load.

But that's what you find. Again.

So you strip her down, start a bath for her and remove all the bedding from her crib, including her favorite spot-clean only lovey bear. None of this was on your agenda for today.

Does this routine sound familiar? Then it's time to get Huggies Overnights. Seriously, go now. I'll wait.

I could tell immediately after removing one Huggies Overnights diaper from the package that nothing was getting through these suckers. And I was right. An entire package of Huggies Overnights used and not one leak. Not one!

(No, that's not enough emphasis)

NOT ONE!

(That's better)

There wasn't even that thin band of wetness at the top of my daughter's pajama pants that I normally found almost every morning. For me, that was the true test because my daughter is quite acrobatic when she's asleep. So either the absorbent pad in the diaper did its job or the diaper moved with her really well. Or maybe both.

Does it sound like I'm gushing? (Ha! Gushing!) Well, I am and I'm not ashamed. I may be in love with a diaper.

The only negative thing I can say about Huggies Overnights is that the diapers were a bit more fortified than other diapers my daughter has used, so the first time I put one on her she was confused by the extra bulk. But she got comfortable with them very quickly. I think she may be happy with the dryness, too.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: I base my satisfaction with a product on how many people I would recommend it to. I'm fairly certain my girlfriends are sick of hearing me sing the praises of Huggies Overnights, but I know for a fact that a few of them have tried them on their kids. The verdict so far? Not one negative comment.

With all this raving about a diaper you're probably wondering if I think Huggies Overnights is the second coming. Well, I don't think Huggies Overnights are going to save the world but I think they'll, at least, save you some washing. In my busy life that's enough.