Holiday Gifts

It is kind of late, so I will probably have to come back and edit my spelling and grammar, but I just had to throw this out as one of the best Christmas gift ideas ever! The whole family will love it. Teenage kids can record the MTV awards and keep it for years to come. You can hook up the VCR and record your old movies that are degrading in quality as I type.

And the "sending gifts of food", in Hebrew it's "Mishloach Manot", which is like Sending Rations or something of the sort. Basically, you take a bunch of cookies, candies, and small toys, pack them with pretty ribbons, and give them as gifts to friends, or strangers (not much of that going on, except for schools where you sometimes randomly switch between class members). Sadly, the custom is being ruined in recent years by modern and healthy versions of those gift baskets.

Don't know what to give your teenager for a birthday? How about "the ultimate driving experience"? That's right, your teenager can attend the BMW driving school at the Performance Center in Spartanburg, SC.

Hints and tips when you are searching for wedding gift for guest. Well the first thing to do is type in the exact phrase that you are looking for, but I guess that you already know that seeing that you’ve just searched for wedding gift for guest and this web page came up.

The biggest tip that I’ve got is not to bother looking any further. You have already struck the Eldorado of wedding gift for guest information. The leaders of the pack. The holy grail of Internet info on the sometimes not so easy to find subject of wedding gift for guest.

That’s not to say you’re at that page right now, because our wedding gift for guest site is too new to be the best in the field, or even in the top 10 websites. But the Internet sites that we link to above are the leaders of the pack.

I bought all the kids Easter gifts. We don’t do candy ladden baskets. It’s a throw over from mommy having a weight problem. I just don’t see the sense in spending tons of money on candy. So they get a big gift instead. And I buy a chocolate bunny and some jelly beans. That’s it. Dinara is the only one who misses it. She tried to negotiate with me the other day that perhaps I could let the Bunny know via our email contact that she would prefer a big basket of candy instead of a toy. I told her The Bunny doesn’t negotiate gifts and perhaps she might not want to appear ungrateful.

She contemplated that and agreed.

This site, cathtatecards.com has some of the best cards, magnets, postcards, etc. I’ve seen. Look under the Greeting Cards category for a sub-category called Loose Knits. These are vintage pattern leaflets (not sure if they’re authentic or not) with hilarious captions added under them. Definitely a good laugh.

Push to Talk doesn't look like it's actually happening any time soon in the UK (if at all) so in the meantime we'll be satisfying our instant chat urges with these Walkie Talkie watches. At �35 per watch, we know what everyone in our families will be getting this Christmas. And once everyone's kitted out, we'll be off on our annual Christmas day walk (annual exercise is very important to us) to play armies.

I just purchased a couple clearance plates from the Pfaltzgraff website. I got three of these plate sets, called Holiday Spice Tapas Plates. Cute as a button, four plates each 4” square, and perfect for those little Christmas gifts you always wind up needing at the last minute. Each set is on clearance for $7.58, so I thought they’d be very cute for gifts. May keep one for myself.

Recently I had the chance to taste a few of Perry Creeks wines. The estate winery is up in the Sierra foothills south of a town called Placerville, (Hang Town–Old Dry Diggins), in El Dorado County–down in the iron clay and garnet soils of the Cosumnes River drainage.

It’s a long twisty ride out to the winery from Sacramento, CA, but this time of year the country side is all green and the wild flowers are out in force–lots of manzanita and digger pines to look at–live oaks, too.

After AJ I went to go see Sideways on Wednesday, I decided that I needed to rekindle my affinity to wine. I used to really want to be a connoisseur, but somehow that dream faded (and only fades dimmer and dimmer when I realize that Don doesn't drink alcohol anymore). The movie rekindled the same feelings in AJ, so today we went on a shopping spree with one thing in mind.

Too bad for me that I've only read fifteen pages of my wine collector's manual. I do know one thing, though: Champagne. I didn't buy all these today (I had the gift bottle of VCP left over after I snagged it on sale at Whole Foods after the holidays), but I thought I would take a picture of my fledgling wine (Champagne?) collection.

Seems my honey and the bunny are pretty tight - I got the inside scoop on how the bunny tried to get me a set of Denise Interchangables but ran out of time, so I got this crate of stuff instead. NO COMPLAINTS, the crate is good storage, I needed more point protectors (apparently, since it seems I pilfered a set from Justin at SnB by accident last week, so sorry!) and how can you have too many stitch markers and holders, needles, or too many yarns to play with? The colors of the wool he bought probably don’t show in the picture that well, but they have a really subtle varigation thru them, can’t wait to see how it knits up - now, the question is what to make with them?

Happy Easter everyone!! I’m off to spend quality time with the Knitting bunny the greatest guy in the world.

oh no its good friday, ive got nieces comming, and no easter gifts ithink im gonna be busy today

i will be trying to do something like this!!!

I had a couple of links to post, then realised that for many children it's the Easter holiday so it's turned into a fully blown Easter fest.

First up is the Easter Bunny rap.

Make your own Easter greeting cards (like the one above) with Letter James.

I bought three hens at lunchtime. Three milk chocolate hens, perched atop three chocolate wicker baskets, presumably filled with lots of little Easter goodies. I haven’t rattled them - in fact I barely dare approach the bag for fear of being overcome by a whiff of chocolate escaping from under the cellophane wrapping and succumbing to temptation. Which is why I am telling you there are THREE chickens. So that I can’t eat any of them between now and Easter Sunday. And if I mumble sheepishly upon arrival that one of said hens got smashed into smithereens when my hand luggage was scanned at the airport, DO NOT BELIEVE ME. Look for telltale signs of chocolate consumption around my and Tadpole’s mouths.

It being my birthday, or rather the day after my birthday now, I’m taking the day off. We celebrate Christmas for 12 days, why not my birthday? Speaking of which, if you are in a giving mood, any of the following would make a great birthday present; something for every budget…

* Smile… :-) Better yet, make somebody else smile… :-) :-) :-)
* Do something good for our future, and send a donation to the ACLU or EFF.
* Rescue a cat or dog from the pound — if you love cats and dogs.

Oh enough already of this selfless stuff. How about…

* a copy of Cinema 4D Studio Bundle — for the love of 3D.
* a Fujitsu T4010 or Toshiba m200 Tablet PC, or a 15” PowerBook — I don’t discriminate, and I actually do need to use both.
* a 30” Apple Cinema display — bigger is better. * a 30” Apple Cinema display — bigger is better.
* a Porsche Carrera GT, Seal Grey please — boys and their toys
* a Gulfstream G550, with lifetime maintenance, fuel, and crew — hey, you never know; Bill Gates might be a big fan of this blog. Besides, I hate public transportation.

See, I promised you something for every budget.

Every time we come up with something we think is *so* cool, our trusty tipsters trump us. Today’s tip: the Vortex hand-crank blender, which some believe is a better product than the Lehman’s one we featured yesterday. We’ll leave that up to you to decide, but here are the Vortex’s vitals: compact add lightweight (it’s base stores in the pitcher for convenience), made of Lexan, two-speed gear system works as an ice crusher or a food processor, and an ergonomic hand-crank. Hee haw. Thanks for the tip Brian B! At $69.95, it’s cheaper, too.

The electronics retailer's new Vex Robotics Design Systems is actually more than just a neato $299 robotics kit for hobbyists. It's intended to fill a gap seen at Segway Inventor Dean Kamen's hugely popular FIRST national high-school science competition. For the uninitiated, FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) is a now 16-year-old program that not only encourages high-school students to learn about science, technology, engineering, and robotics but engages them in regional, national, and even international robotics competitions that resemble major sporting events more closely than science fairs.

This weekend, the parents had 'homework.' I had to buy a dozen easter eggs and fill them with candy and toys. Okay that's easy and fair. They are having their easter egg hunt on Wednesday.

But then I had to make an Easter Bonnet. Excuse me? A bonnet for a boy?

I didn't know what to do, so headed to Hobby Lobby ....

Below is the 'bonnet' we came up with for his easter parade.

Do you have somebunny special you want to send a special Low Carb Easter gift to? CarbSmart makes it easy with THREE great low carbohydrate gift baskets! These precious easter assortments are sure to delight that special somebunny in your life. Filled with low carb versions of all the traditional Easter treats including sugar free chocolate filled eggs and an Easter bunny for them keep for years to come.

Happy Easter everyone! Unlike Clotilde, Dave and I don't have any special Easter traditions. In fact, last year I even forgot to buy him an egg!! This year, I decided to make up for that by splashing out on some very special eggs from Hotel Chocolat (the same people who do my monthly Chocolate Tasting Box)...

Dave's White Chocolate Extravaganza is shown above and looks absolutely gorgeous! My egg was half milk and half dark chocolate and was filled with eight huge chocolate truffles in assorted boozy flavours. Mmmmmm!

Hey, people with the Fellowship of the Ring extended dvd, this website has instructions on how to find the neat "easter eggs" hidden in the discs. There is the Two Towers trailer (which I notice shows scenes that were not in the theatrical release, so I assume they will appear in the extended release of that film), and an MTV spoof of some sort (I haven't watched it yet).

I got this e-mail from a reader, in response to my writing about the sad throwaway cycle for bunnies. Buy them for Easter gifts, and dump them when the novelty wears off (and isn't that a great lesson for a child?):

I am responding to the question about an overflow of rabbits from Easter. Why don't they just keep the rabbits for a few weeks, and if no one adopts them, make them into meat rabbits and sell the meat?

I'm hoping he's just a troll, trying to jerk my chain a little. But I'm guessing not.

For Kesia Sullivan, "clean sweeped" by Walsh and his team in December, "it was the best Christmas gift ever."

The mother of three boys, 11, 1and one half and 4 months old, Sullivan says things were under control -- pre-kids. But the Long Beach, Calif., couple -- she's a social worker and her husband, John, is a government employee -- define the word busy. She adores the private space "Clean Sweep" created just for her.

Walsh has no sympathy for those who excuse sloppy homes as some kind of syndrome. "Labeling this situation as a disorder -- it's a cop-out."

My 2-year-old sweetheart, Madeline, doesn't sit in a stroller anymore. "Wok wok wok," she said as soon as she saw Target's parking lot. This left my double-stroller just half full as I pushed it with my 1-year-old son, Jared, peering out of its back seat.

The three of us were on a mission to purchase a wedding gift off our friend's bridal registry, a wedding that had already come and gone. With one child beltless and napless, the situation was a serious one -- one that required an in-and-out strategy.

We printed the registry and made our way deep into the department store, cross-referencing rows and aisles against our store map to find what we were looking for. I located the item -- a four-slot bagel toaster. "It's awfully large," I thought to myself. "Isn't a bagel toaster too specialized for the simple job of toasting?" There was no time to ponder. Good enough. Let's go.

Instead of snow on the last day of winter, 2,000 brightly colored eggs adorned the lawn next to the Fishkill town hall.

It only took about 15 minutes for them to disappear.

About 200 children took part in the annual Town of Fishkill spring celebration and Easter egg hunt Saturday.

The eggs were collected in three waves of dashing children, starting with the oldest -- all urged on by their parents.

The first group was so eager to start gathering eggs, they tried, unsuccessfully, to speed up the countdown by Fishkill's Recreation Director Cindy Starke.

For the free event, each participant was allowed to collect eight eggs and was given a raffle ticket for gift baskets of stuffed animals and candy.

The only problem with Nyko's decision to release an iPod accessory called the Universal Car Mount ($29.99) is the natural disbelief it inspires: it can't really be universal, right? It probably doesn't work with some iPod, or with some car? Thankfully, we were pleasantly surprised with the answers to both questions: it's a highly compatible and well-built iPod mounting accessory.

What Bentley's new two-door delivers is a blend of top-line luxury and incredible performance. With its twin-turbo, 6-liter W-12 pumping out a thrilling 551 horsepower and 479 pound-feet of torque, the Continental GT is among the dozen or so fastest and most powerful vehicles on the road.

Yet for those who expect Bentley to be synonymous with bespoke, the new car won't disappoint. Like the massive Arnage, it boasts some of the most elegant woodworking ever put on the road, each car requiring 20 hours of skilled craftwork to complete the carefully honed and polished matching pieces. That's more time than it takes many mass manufacturers to build an entire car. All told, each GT involves 200 man-hours of labor. Equal care goes into preparing the car's leather, which uses as many as 17 matched hides. Even the steering wheel cover is hand-finished, a task requiring no less and no more than 234 eye-crossing stitches.

After moving to new house in Mountain View, I have to put heavy investment on Sony DVD Recorder, a boom box, toaster, vacuum cleaner, clothes iron and a thermometer for the house. I did not have the chance to research all the various thermometer & hydrometer sensor but I was at a sports shop and they are selling the Oregon Scientic Standard Thermo-Hygrometer with Clock for $39.90. It monitor indoor and outdoor temperature and humidity using wireless sensor. It has atomic clock with 2 alarm and display the min and max temperature and humidity.

You can find candles with just about every fragrance imaginable, from blueberry to ocean mist to hot apple pie. Now there's a candle that lets you experience the scent of Jesus, and they've been selling out by the case.

"We see it as a ministry, " says Bob Tosterud, who together with his wife came up with the idea for the candle.

Light up the candle called "His Essence" and its makers say you'll experience the fragrance of Christ.

Bob Tosterud and wife Karen say the formula is all spelled out in Psalm 45.

Looking for a “niche,” Seder said they asked themselves, “What is Berryville missing?”

“Obviously, we do like to eat and drink,” said Seder, pointing at the walls of products.

But, it couldn’t be just any foods, he said.

‘We wanted to be different from any store in Winchester,” he said.

So the couple turned to food products which promote Virginia businesses, including many in Clarke County. To be assured of quality, they wanted to concentrate on products which have won the “Virginia’s Finest” label.

The variety might surprise you.

From Clarke County comes chutney, dried tomatoes and salsa, and fruitcakes and baked goods from the Holy Cross Abbey monastery.

There are special pastas, flavored with garlic or olives, from Charlottesville; all natural cheeses, and, from Front Royal, Walden Farms’ smoked chicken, trout and salmon.

There is even some Virginia’s Finest sheep’s wool for spinning or knitting, Seder said.

Generally, and especially if it's a question of budget, shower gifts can be less costly and less elaborate. For the wedding, you can focus on a long-lasting gift for a new couple setting up their first home.

If you've already given a substantial gift at the shower, think about something more personal or creative you can share with the couple for a wedding gift - a book, CD or special photo album. The point of your gift is to let them know you share in their happiness and wish them well for the future.

I saw a whole row of these on the holiday candy shelf at Duane Reade's yesterday and did a double take because I found their very existence so bizarre:

The product page copy describes it as "a beautiful and "tasteful" symbol of the religious holiday" and I have to agree because, really, nothing says "I love you, Jesus!" or "Screw you, Herod!" as much as chomping down on a milk chocolate cross.

Folks.... I have been diligently looking for low carb Easter goods for my kids' baskets. The only place I have found anything is CVS with Russell Stover chocolate bunnies and chocolate pecan eggs.

Few people know that jelly beans actually have a story to tell this Easter. The Easter Jelly Bean Story Jar is filled with 31oz. of jelly beans (almost 2lbs) that explains the hidden meaning behind all of the different jelly bean colors as they relate to Easter and Jesus. A grown-up alternative to an Easter basket, this gift will continually remind the recipient that someone loves them! http://www.pixiedustgifts.com/updates/06.php

I am waiting for our composter to be delivered this week - the Soilmaker (scroll down one). I love the name, it sounds "Arnoldesque." Don't worry, faithful reader(s), there won't be any "Compost Blogging." Well, maybe not much anyway.

Odors associated with bowling traditionally include smelly feet, cigarette smoke and beer. But what about grape, amaretto and cherry? One bowling ball manufacturer — Storm Products Inc. — is putting fruit and other popular scents into its mid- to high-end bowling balls, resulting in a steady increase in sales.

More than half the bowlers on the Professional Bowlers Association tour last year used them, including four-time PBA champion Ryan Shafer.

Shafer, who has a contract with Storm, said he may have won a match two years ago in Kansas City because an opponent was distracted by his black licorice-scented ball.

So yesterday was my birthday and Camille organised a surprise birthday party for me. I have no idea how she managed to get in touch with some of the people she did, but I had people turn up from all over the place. I had a magnificent time!

This one guy in the Lindy Hop scene that I know is a nationally renowned and universally respected DJ. He's also got a hell of a cool core set of friends, who helped make a 'surprise Web site' for his 30th birthday:

http://www.jesseis30.com/

While I'm sure many of you reading this blog don't know who Jesse is, I just thought might find the concept of a Web-site-as-gift to be as amusing and fascinating as I do.

I made one more bunny, so here is my current litter of bunnies.

I just saw the first supermarket Easter eggs on display. It was next to a shelf where they are still offering discounted Christmas cakes, and just along from the Valentine cards and candy. Also today my Chinese friends stopped by with a beautiful gift of tea, cakes and sweetmeats to honour their New Year. [I felt touched - as they said they had, on receiving our mini Christmas hamper.] But it's all a bit overwhelming. I only took down our Christmas cards yesterday - and there is still some Christmas pudding in the frig. In the meantime there have been birthdays and engagements and weddings to celebrate - all with cards, cakes, food and gifts.

The employees at Casey's General Store & Pizza in Postville truly demonstrated the joy of giving during the holiday season as they decided rather than buy gifts for one another they would remember area young people who are serving our country in the Iraq.

Manager Katie Kerr-Scheffert said, "We felt we wanted to help the service people who could not celebrate the holidays at home with loved ones. We thought sending them phone cards would brighten up their holidays a little."

1. Card Ministry. (shut-ins, hospital patients, birthdays, anniversaries, nursing home patients, etc.)

2. Flowers during Hospital Stays and for Funerals.

3. Visits to Shut-ins and Elderly

4. Care Packages 9 college students, military members, nursing home residents)

A company called bun-J offers some fabulous mobile phone holders - such as these "classical bags" (left) which include pockets for credit cards. mobile blog.it spotted them at CeBit.

There are three parts to every cooking experience:
1. The planning.
2. The cooking.
3. The result.

It is during the planning stages (1) that you anticipate the result (3). During my planning stages (1) for the Pan-Fried Onion dip (see title) I expected that it would come out tasty. In fact, the actual result (3) far surpassed my expectations during (1). Thus 3 > 1.

But first (2). The cooking. I took ...

The typical American spent $835 on holiday gifts last season, so save that part of your tax refund for next year. You can avoid putting those gifts on your credit card and paying for them next March.

A nonprofit organization dedicated to rescue and education, HRS blames thousands of cases of rabbit neglect, abandonment, and even death on impulse Easter purchases. The current campaign, "Make Mine Chocolate!(TM)" (http://www.makeminechocolate.org) was created by the Columbus, Ohio, chapter of HRS and is aimed at changing the public's attitude toward rabbits as holiday gifts.

"Purchasing chocolate rabbits would spare the lives of the countless rabbits ordinarily bought for Easter and then relinquished to shelters, or, worse, released outdoors during summertime," says Margo DeMello, administrative