A Clean Break

Dear Method 25oz. Dish Soap,

I love you. I love your beautiful, sleek bottle, your hip, subtle colors and your fresh, clean scents (especially you, cucumber and pink grapefruit.) I also love the fact that, like all Method products, you're non-toxic and environmentally friendly. At almost $4 a bottle, you're way more expensive than the other dish soaps, but I buy you anyway. Yes, make that way more expensive - I believe with their sale price and a couple of coupons, I could get one of your competitors and they'd end up owing me $2.95. But such is the price of love.

But I'm afraid form over function has gotten the better of you. Your sleek, shiny body with its clean lines looks great on my kitchen sink, but isn't meant to be picked up with soapy hands. Did you know you turn into a missile with the right combination of water and suds? In fact, just today you slipped out of my grasp , bounced off my espresso machine and went careening off the counter, narrowly missing my cat. Boy was he pissed.

Also, your spout sucks. After repeatedly getting clogged, and me having to repeatedly clean it, I finally ripped your entire top off today. You're not nearly as attractive now.

So, Method 25oz. Dish Soap I'm afraid I've reached the end of the line with you. The next time I'm at Target and I'm tempted to reach for your fetching body, I'll remember all the heartache you caused me the last time I was washing dishes, and I'll reach for one of your less attractive, cheaper shelf-mates instead.

xxxxoooo,
Sweatpantsmom

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tags: method | method cleaning products | method dish soap | household products

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You Had Me At "Deep Fried"

I was recently sent a gift card by Outback Steakhouse and invited in to help celebrate their 20th Birthday by trying their signature dish, the Bloomin' Onion, or any of their other menu items. As you can imagine, this didn't take too much coaxing. Free steak? I'll be right down.

While my family isn't big on onion rings, I insisted we order the Bloomin' Onion as an appetizer, if only to compare it to this awesome diagram they sent me in the press kit:



I say any appetizer that has it's own blueprint deserves to be tried at least once. Besides, I'm a sucker for anything deep fried; you could roll a toilet plunger in batter, drop it in some hot oil and I'd probably eat it.

The Bloomin' Onion didn't disappoint. Seriously, the thing is huge and looks like the original onion must have been the size of a basketball. It could easily serve six to eight as an appetizer - the four of us, even though we were starving and tore into it like a pack of wild dogs on a spare rib, hardly made a dent in it. And it really was pretty good - much lighter and less soggy than an onion ring, and way easier to eat. I would have liked to have the option of a different sauce though - the one they served it with reminded me too much of warm thousand island dressing. I would suggest a nice ponzu sauce, but that would be so snooty.

For my entree I had one of their special 'birthday menu items' that is available for a limited time - their Charbroiled Tuscan Ribeye Steak. It was quite nice - tender, juicy and cooked rare just how I like it. And if I hadn't just eaten a ten-pound onion I might have even finished the whole thing.

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tags: outback steakhouse | bloomin' onion

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Brainetics Can Make You Smarter and Fun At Parties

Guess what I can do? Figure out the square root of any number from fifty to fifty nine, in my head. That's right - I'm a badass. But I never would have been able to do it if it weren't for Brainetics.

I was asked to by the Parent Bloggers Network to try out Brainetics, a learning system intended to help children in grades 4 through 7 master math and language skills by using shortcuts and memory tricks. The program was developed by Mike Byster, described in the brochure as a "human calculator." And I believe it after seeing the speed with which he added up columns of digits, figured out square roots in his head and multiplied endless rows of numbers. He can even alphabetize all the words in a sentence as you're talking to him, which could be either the best trick ever or the most annoying habit of all time.

The system consists of five DVDs that take you through various exercises, tricks and challenges that can help your child master math and language skills. I went through the system with my 9 and 11-year-old daughters who are in grades 4 and 6 with varying degrees of interest; some of the lessons required a higher level of multiplication skills than the average 4th grader, and a level of concentration that even three juice boxes couldn't improve.

Here's a brief rundown of what you'll find with the Brainetics program. I'm going to divide my review according to the five DVDs, since I feel that each one could also be used on its own, depending on which skills your child would like to develop. (The kit comes with a 'playbook' which is a workbook with most of the exercises they present in the DVDs.)

DVD 1 - Warm Up: Number Fun
My two girls are fresh and ready on the first day of our Brainetics run. It starts off with magic squares, which are grids in which every row, column and diagonal "magically" adds up to the same number. Both my girls have had their fill of these in school and were anxious to move on to the next exercises, although my 9-year old mentions that now she'll be able to "beat the fifth-graders at Magic Squares." We all liked a card trick called Take Ten, which uses simple addition to help you figure out which two cards have been pulled out of a deck. They're anxious to use this trick to impress their friends and older cousins, which seems to be a running theme here.

DVD 2 - Stretch Your Mind: Math Tricks
As I mentioned, the Fibonacci sequence is introduced here, which I found more interesting than my daughters did. They were much more anxious to learn the "ESP" tricks Byster uses to guess a number you're thinking of. Again, at this point I'm starting to get concerned that my daughters desire to learn party tricks is a precursor to college beer games and rounds of naked spin the bottle.

DVD 3 - Cranium Crunching: Math Shortcuts
By the third disc my 9-year-old is accusing me of "secretly trying to teach" her math, and opts to play with the cat. I ask her to calculate the number of times she'll clean the litter box in a year, as my 11-year old (and I) quickly master Byster's tricks for figuring out square roots, dividing and multiplying two-digit numbers. Note: As with most of his demonstrations, they are usually limited to certain equations. For example, he might show a shortcut for dividing by 91 but not for 80, or 65, or 50. My daughter's answer? "That's why calculators were invented!" I have to agree.

DVD 4 - Go The Distance: Mental Math
I admit that even this section had me nodding off a little and is probably for the very dedicated math student. Sometimes I felt like his 'shortcuts' for adding and multiplying seemed more laborious than doing it the long-hand method. Even though he stresses that some of these drills are only meant as brain exercises, I have to confess that we fast-forward through most of DVD 4. But I assured my daughter that we're still good people.

(Slightly off topic, There is a short animated sequence on this disk that tells the story of Thomas Fuller, a slave in the 1700's who was considered a mathematical genius. I found the dialog between Fuller and the slave-owners rather degrading, and wholly unnecessary in the context of what they were trying to demonstrate. I'm curious to hear other reviewers take on this.)

DVD 5 - Peak Performance: Word Challenge
This was my favorite disc of all, and one that even got my 9-year-old to come back on board. Byster teaches some very effective tricks for memorizing words and phrases. He tells a poignant story of a third grade teacher that changed his life when she introduced him to mnemonics, a way to associate what needs to be memorized with something else to make it more memorable. he recounts how she taught them the planets and their order by using the sentence 'My Very Educated Mother Just Sold Us Nine Pizzas' (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto.) He then has you attempt to memorize ten words without using mnemonics, and then again later on by putting each of the words in a story. The result? My daughters and I were able to memorize only five the first time, and all ten the second time.

Overall, I would recommend Brainetics for anyone whose kids are average to better performers in math, and are looking for a way to boost their learning skills. Most of all I enjoy Byster's enthusiasm for learning, his belief that anyone can master his skills, and for his urging to "think outside the box." One thing is certain - he got my two daughters to enjoy math, if only for a short while. Now that's a cool party trick.



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tags: brainetics | mike byster | brainetics review | math games

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Be a HERO

Do you have a daughter between the ages of 16 and 19, or do you know some one who does? If so, they might be interested to hear about the HERO Youth Ambassador Program, a school-based organization that provides support to orphans and children living in HIV/AIDS-affected African communities. Reading about some of these teens, who give up their vacations to travel to Africa, makes me have more faith in the state of our youth today. (It makes me even rethink my vow not to let my girls leave the house until they're thirty.)

And now HERO is looking for 20 teens to travel to Africa in 2008. (Juniors and Seniors in High School and College Freshmen are eligible.) What an amazing opportunity for young people who want to heed the call to serve others. Applications can be found here, but hurry - the deadline is March 1.

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Senseo Single Serve Coffee Pod System: Now, I'm Caffeinated 24/7

I have a saying, "You can never have enough coffee makers." We're a family of four with only two coffee drinkers (the other two, my kids 9 and 11, are the reason we need to drink coffee) but have in our possession five devices for brewing caffeinated beverages. There's the 10-cup grind n' brew, the Starbucks Barista espresso machine, an ancient French press and two stovetop espresso pots. I'd like to try an experiment one day where I have all five contraptions brewing at the same time, drink all the coffee and then see if I can stay up for nine days straight.

And then, there were six! I was recently asked to test out a Senseo Single Serve Coffee Pod System which I quickly agreed to – how could I turn down a chance to have the latest in coffee brewing accessories in my kitchen? It would be like Paris Hilton passing on the latest Chanel Bag. I'm a slave to coffee fashion - when they come out with that espresso machine that can be installed into the glove compartment of my van, I'll be the first in line.

The Senseo Single Serve Coffee Pod System is exactly as it sounds; a way to brew a single serving of coffee using pre-packaged coffee pods. But unlike soup-for-one or those small, sad one-glass bottles of wine, a single serving coffee doesn't scream loser. A single serving of coffee says, "I'm hip! I can have coffee whenever I want! And I'll be up all night!"

This machine couldn't be easier to use. Fill the reservoir up with water, pop a coffee pod into the holder, select your cup size and brew yourself a single cup of fresh hot coffee. And in spite of it's single serve title, the Senseo actually can brew two cups at the same time - simply put two pods into the larger holder that's included, and choose the two-cup option. The best part? No grounds to spill, no pot to wash, no coffee grinder to clean.

The other great benefit of the Senseo is satisfying that one person who always shows up at gatherings asking for decaf coffee. Personally I don't understand these people and usually ask them to leave the premises immediately, but whatever. Now, I can keep a package of Senseo Decaf coffee pods on hand to brew them a single cup of unleaded brew before I give them a lecture on the health benefits of caffeine and send them on their way.

The Senseo coffee pods are widely available (I've seen them at Ralphs and Target) and come in a variety of brews– everything from Sumatra to Espresso blends, and flavors like Vanilla and Hazelnut. Like the decaf people, I don't get the flavored-coffee-people either, but I'll make sure and have a few flavored pods on hand for them, just to be nice.

Now, for the best part:

Want to try out the Senseo Single Serve Coffee maker yourself? Click on the link below and fill out the (short) survey for your chance to receive everything you see below:


Click here for your chance to get caffeinated.

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tags: senseo | senseo single serve coffee pod system | coffee | single serve coffee maker

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Reynolds Handi-Vac: It Really Sucks, But That's a Good Thing

One of the things on my sister-in-law's Christmas wish list was a food sealer, a contraption that seals your food inside plastic in order for it to last longer in your freezer. I'd seen them on TV but always thought they were a waste of money. Why not just put the food in a ziploc bag and suck the air out with your mouth, or with the vacuum cleaner like normal people do?

So when I received the Reynolds Handi-Vac to try out, I saw that they liked my way as well, although theirs is maybe slightly more sanitary. The Handi-Vac is a breeze and works like this: put your food (chicken breasts that have NOT been sitting in your van for three days, for example) inside the special, reusable vacuum freezer bag, seal the zipper, and press the tip of the Handi-Vac flat against the air valve on the bag. Press the 'On' button and extract the air from the bag. Repeat with the other ninety pounds of chicken breasts you've purchased from Costco.

The food sealers that I've seen are big and bulky and take up a lot of counter space, which is a big deal if you're like me and barely have room on your counter to slice an apple because of all the coffee makers and copies of People magazine laying around. The Handi-Vac is small and easy to store - in fact it's only slightly larger than our ear thermometer, which no doubt will make for some hilarious stories the next time my husband's running a fever in the middle of the night and I go looking for the thermometer half asleep.

Also, the Handi-Vac is incredibly affordable. Some of the counter-top food sealers can run as high as $300, where the Handi-Vac can be bought, as a kit that includes the vacuum freezer bags, for $9.99 at Target. That's a savings of $290, which you can then spend elsewhere in the store, maybe on ten pairs of shoes or twenty Xhilaration purses.

Finally, the re-usable bags were a big attraction for me - other food sealers use rolls of plastic that can't be used again. I don't see why the landfills should suffer just because I bought enough steaks to last me until the next century, and now I need a hundred cubic yards of non-biodegradable matter to seal them away in.

If nothing else, go check out the cool demo that they've put together. I've watched it a couple of times, and now I'm going to have to go have a nice, fat T-bone steak. Maybe I've got one in my freezer.

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tags: reynolds handi vac | kitchen gadgets | food sealer | food storage

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The Discovery Tornado Lab Saved Me Hours of Unnecessary Crafting

For the past few months my nine-year-old had been bugging me to make her a toy she saw at a birthday party awhile back. It consisted of two, 2-liter soda bottles joined together at their necks and containing colored water, and when the bottles were flipped one way or another the liquid would create a tornado effect. The ones she had seen were joined by a plastic sleeve made especially for this purpose, but she had been told (by a very "helpful" parent at the party) that the same thing could be achieved by using duct tape to join the two bottles. So go home, he told her, go home and tell your mom to get cracking on that craft in all that free time of hers.

This particular project posed a few problems. For one thing, we never buy soda in liter bottles. I may drink coffee by the liter, but never soda. If that contraption could have been made by joining two Starbucks cups, well we would have had ourselves a house full of tornado toys. Another thing is, I don't trust the combination of large amounts of water, duct tape, and the willy-nilly arms of a nine-year old. I just knew that the toy would work fine for a few minutes, and then I'd spend the rest of the day cleaning up blue-tinged water off my couch and off the walls.

And most importantly, I don't consider myself a "crafty" person. You may not consider taping two pieces of plastic together a craft, but for me it may as well be needlepointing an entire set of living room chairs.

So imagine the screams of joy and the clapping of hands when The Parent Bloggers Network sent me the Discovery Tornado Lab to try out. My kids were pretty excited, too. Not only is it a hundred times more attractive than two Sprite bottles taped together, but at the touch of a button it makes tornado noises and has different speeds to simulate five different tornado strengths. The kids were a little disappointed we didn't have all that soda to finish off, though, so I gave them a bowl of candy to eat while we played with our new toy.

We live in California and have never experienced a tornado first hand, but we've seen them on TV and felt Dorothy's pain when she got sucked up into one in The Wizard of Oz. But luckily the Discovery Tornado Lab comes with a DVD that has some pretty breathtaking footage of actual tornadoes touching down, and also some sound bytes from people who have lived through them. The DVD is well made and worth watching - a really nice extra that makes the toy even more interesting.

Besides inserting batteries, there really isn't any setup, which is great (no duct tape!) Simply fill with water, turn the knob to your desired tornado strength, and push the button for sound effects. It comes with some small objects to drop in to the water to see how they react to the vortex effect, but my kids filled it with everything - small sticks, a little bit of dirt, some leaves. At one point I even saw a Polly Pocket purse and a small rubber wig twirling around in there - I guess they were trying to simulate what would happen if a tornado touched down on Polly Pocket's Ultimate Stylin' Boutique.

It's not every day that I enthuse about an instruction manual, but the Discovery Tornado Lab comes with such an unusual one that I think it's worth pointing out here. The actual setup and instructions take up only half a page, but the other 23 pages are filled with tornado facts and maps. It even has several experiments that you can do, and poses questions relating to the outcomes of those experiments. When was the last time you saw a thoughtful, educational instruction manual with that Bratz Limo your kid got, or with that pack of Pokémon cards?

My daughter will be entering fifth grade next year, and one of the things they'll be studying are different types of weather patterns and occurrences. I'm already planning on lending the Discovery Tornado Lab to her teacher, along with printouts of the instruction manual and the DVD. Come to think of it, this would make a great teacher gift, one I'm sure they would appreciate much more than that Santa mug or the pencil holder carved to look like an apple.

This isn't the first Discovery toy I've owned, and it won't be the last. I've always found them to be well made, and above all, educational. And thanks to the Discovery Tornado Lab, I won't be laboring over soda bottles and duct tape any time soon.

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The HP Photosmart Portable Printer Just Might Be My Favorite Gadget Ever.

I'm the gadget nut in this family. While my husband would be content to use a rotary-dial phone and a TV that needs to be hand-cranked, I have a hard time getting out of bed in the morning unless I know that there is some electronic device waiting to be purchased that will make my day more exciting. I've got my eyes set on a one-cup coffeemaker (even though we already have a grind-and-brew and an espresso machine fighting for space on our counter) and my husband has noticed that I make odd slurping noises whenever an iPhone commercial flashes on the TV screen.

So when The Parent Bloggers Network sent me an HP Photosmart photo printer to test out, I was ecstatic. Never mind that we have two working printers in our house already - one in my office and one in the kitchen for the kids to use - I'd seen these in action before and I couldn't wait to try one out. Plus I knew it would come in especially handy for printing out a detailed photo-wish-list of all the other gadgets I wanted for Christmas.

First off, this printer solved the number one problem I have with digital photography: the fact that I can take a gazillion photos of say, my daughters birthday party or the neighbor's annual Nude Barbecue, but none of those pictures ever see the light of day. Before, with traditional film cameras, I'd rush to get my film developed and then could share those photos with family and friends. Grandma could feel like she was actually at my daughter's Hello Kitty party, and my husband could hang those barbecue photos right up in his office.

But unless I emailed them out, I would never share my digital photos because printing them out was such a laborious process. Open the photos in Photoshop! Resize them! Arrange them on a page! Add to that the fact that both my husband and I are designers and will analyze and correct color for days on end, and you can see why those photos of my daughter's birthday party in April have never made it into an album. That would be April 1999.

The Photosmart solves that problem, and then some. I have to stress here how unbelievably easy to set up and use this device is. I'm not big on reading manuals, so I was relieved to see it came with a 'cheat sheet,' one of those posters that has basic instructions (and diagrams) for doing a quick set-up on a product. I timed myself, and it took me exactly eight minutes to set up the Photosmart and print my first photo. Not bad, considering it took me five hours just to figure out how to install the tape cartridge into the video camera we bought a few months ago.

The touch-screen on the Photosmart works beautifully, and except for the fact that it just amped up my longing for an iPhone, I have to say it's one of my favorite features. It makes navigating through the thumbnails of your images incredibly easy, and gives my hands a nice break from using a mouse or a keyboard.

I first used the printer without hooking it up to my computer. For me, this is the way to go, as it makes the printer truly portable as a stand-alone device. You simply pop the memory card from your camera into the designated slot (to accommodate various types of media from compact flash cards to memory sticks to MultiMedia cards) and your photos appear on the touch-screen in thumbnail format. Touch any photo to enlarge, or touch the arrows to scroll through your images. Seriously, you could use this printer while driving a car, drinking a mocha and talking on your cell phone, although I would never endorse such ridiculous behavior to my readers. I would urge you to forgo the sugar in the mocha in favor of a double cappuccino.

Once you've picked a picture to print (or you could go ahead and 'print all' if you're that type of devil-may-care reckless personality) you can either do a straight print or customize with any of the many tricks the Photosmsart has up its sleeve. You can put a variety of borders on your photo (the Summer border with Naked Barbecue kills) or place icon 'stickers' on your image (useful for putting a pacifier over the beer can in that photo of your drunk uncle.) Get the handy stylus out of it's smartly-designed nook on the printer and draw on your image using a couple of different brush widths and a variety of colors. Or, use the onscreen keyboard to type in a caption in one of five different fonts and several different colors. You'll never have to scrawl "Loser" with a Sharpie over your ex-boyfriend's picture again!

(Their red-eye feature works great - my results were just as good as those I get in iPhoto.)

I did try using the printer in tandem with my computer, but I have to say that for me it defeated the whole purpose of having a photo printer. It took the novelty and fun out of being able to point and print out an image directly from my memory card, and I found the program a little cumbersome. The USB cable (which usually need to be purchased separately but was provided to me by HP) just seemed like yet another cord to deal with. I'm going to unplug it and use it to tie back the curtains in my bedroom.

I was also sent a set of HP Photobooks to test out, and it made me marvel at how ingenious the whole HP photo system is. I started off with the smaller, 5 x 7 sized book and was able to print out my photos with my Photosmart and place them right into the album (the pages snap right in with their ingeniously-designed snap-spines.) Unfortunately I wasn't able to use the software included becuse it isn't Mac compatible, but apparently you can use it to create different layouts with different themes and add text and desig elements to the page. I'm hooked!

My two daughters, ages 9 and 11 couldn't get enough of the Photosmart and turned into photo-printing maniacs; I had to put my foot down when I realized they were going through all of my paper printing pictures of my daughter's stuffed rabbit in various forms of inebriation while holding a wine bottle Christmas tree ornament. I'm considering purchasing them a Photosmart of their very own; besides wanting to keep mine all to myself, I could see the touch screen taking a beating at the hands of overzealous tween girls, and I don't see the stylus hanging around too long before it's lost in the seat cushions of the couch.

Lastly, as if the Photosmart weren't awesome enough on it's own, I'm thinking of ordering this cool carrying case so that I can take my nifty printer with me wherever I go. Look for me - I'll be the one printing photos while in line at Trader Joes. Of course, I'll be on my iPhone at the same time.

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*Wanna put those photos of yours into an album as a present for Grandma? Click here to get 20% off Photo Books at the HP store.

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tags: hewlett packard | hp photosmart photo printer | photograpy | hp photo books

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I Use It Everyday: Tabasco Gets Me Hot

Call me crazy, but I don't think there's anything that doesn't taste better with a healthy dose of Tabasco shaken on it. I put it on everything - eggs, chicken, tacos - I'd probably put it on a donut if I weren't watching my carbs. Sure it's hot and can make your lips feel like they're burning off and singes your throat like you just drank a cup of hot lava, but like giving birth, you soon forget the pain and want to do it all over again! Coincidentally, too much Tabasco can make you sound like you're in labor.

I recall my sister-in-law once saying to my brother, "What IS it with your family and Tabasco?" as we all fought over a bottle at a family gathering. I'm not sure, but somehow the spicy condiment was a staple in our Japanese American diet. I never thought there was anything strange about the pairing of Tabasco and ramen noodles and I thought nothing of emptying half a bottle onto my Denver omelet. I remember that familiar red and green bottle being present on our kitchen table at all times, and even today I still make sure there's always one in my refrigerator. Hey kids - mommy forgot to buy milk, but what about some Tabasco on your cereal this morning?

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tags: i love tabasco | desert island condiments | tabasco |

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The Daring Book for Girls: Don't Judge This Book By its Cover

Not that it's a bad cover, mind you. I happen to like the nostalgic feel of it; the weighty look of the title makes me think I'm going to find a map for buried treasure inside, or a spell for turning the mean boy next door into a toad. But my tween daughters? They thought it looked "old." That was pretty much the final verdict for us and this book: I loved it, my girls - eh, not so much.

First my side of the story, because not only am I their mother and know what's best, but I'm bossier and have more cash.

When I first got The Daring Book for Girlsto review for the Parent Bloggers Network I felt like I had been transported back to my childhood. Everything from the typeface on the cover to the line drawings inside were reminiscent of a set of child encyclopedias I remember having as a little girl. Remember that? Before Wikipedia? It's hard to imagine having to look for information without a search box and a cursor.

And if I could sum up The Daring Book for Girls it would be this: It has virtually every nostalgic activity in it that a parent dreams of doing with their kids, but don't always have the time. From setting up a lemonade stand to planting a secret garden, from bird watching to making a wooden tree swing. Throw in some yoga positions, a few math tricks and a recipe for making fake blood, and you've pretty much got the perfect book for getting your kids away from the TV and actually doing something. Why, it even made me want to consider pulling myself away from the computer for a few minutes.

And now for my girls' opinions. Keep in mind that they're 9 and 11, and don't know what's good for them yet.

They're first comments, besides the one about the cover looking "old", were that all the illustrations looked "old." Oh, and all the activities looked like they were "from a long time ago" and the type used for the body copy looked like "something out of an old book."

Do you see a theme here?

And on some of these points, I tend to agree with them. Let me explain.

I'm an art director. I enjoy good design, I totally get and appreciate the feel the authors were trying to achieve with this book, and I think they succeeded. But that's not to say that tween girls, who love a good iPod commercial and covet Japanese manga books with their slick graphics and mod colors are going to appreciate a book that looks like a throwback to a 1940's Girl Scout handbook. No matter how many times I threaten to ground them.

And though we all know you can't judge a book by its cover, I think that it's hard to expect children, who are bombarded with such sophisticated visuals these days to look beyond first impressions. Even when I showed my nine-year-old the section on 'sleep-outs (which she's been wanting to do) she had a hard time getting past the vintage silhouette illustrations. And don't get me started on her comments about the campfire songs, but I can hardly blame her - Darling Clementine was rusty even when I was a little girl.

My 11-year old pondered the list of Books That Will Change Your Life, and while she was excited to see her favorites Harry Potter and Nancy Drew included, she pointed out that not a single book on the list took place in modern day. She just did a book report on The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and wrote that it "taught her about friendship and conflict resolution" - so where was a nod to the modern 21st girl in this list? She had me there.

In spite of all our disagreements, I still love The Daring Book for Girls, but I concluded that, at least in our case, the book is really for moms to use as a guidebook in seeking out activities that they might bring to the attention of their daughters. When I mentioned to my youngest that there was a recipe for making a vinegar and baking soda volcano, she wanted to take another look, and even flipped to the next page to peruse the Rules of Bowling. There might be hope yet.

I found this video just as I was writing this review, and it's late now but I'm going to show it to my girls tomorrow. For me, this really captures the spirit of he book, and I think seeing these activities in a modern context would make them much more appealing for my jaded, modern girls. They might just reconsider that sleep out...



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tags: the daring book for girls | andrea j. buchanan | miriam peskowitz | book reviews | tweens | the dangerous book for boys | gifts for girls

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