Read: -This

Black & White & Read All Over
$1.99
I liked the Housewives of OC,Loved the Housewives of NYC,and honestly didn't think any other"Housewives" would surpass my guilty pleasure of NYC.but just as I was disappointed it was over, Bravo starts up with the New Jersey Housewives. I have to say I Love-love this version of the Housewives. The woman are wealthy,yet family is stressed as THE most important part of these women's lives. Their friendships seem real.like they started before the show did,unlike the other 2 housewive shows.I watched. The women (except Danielle) seem more realistic. and if you start watching you wonder what the heck Danielle was thinking to put herself and her 2 young daughters on a tv show when you have a book written about your not so nice past. She blames one of the other housewives because it had never come out in 20 years of living in NJ. Did she ever think the tv show has producers ect. that do backgound on the people on the show,and maybe that's how the rumours start.Wouldn't it make for a great storyline to have this come out while their filming? Anyways , I could watch them 24-7.Great job! Great show.

Leap Frog - Learn to Read at the Storybook Factory
$14.98
This is a decent video but not essential. Now, the Letter Factory is definitely a must-have. My son is almost 4 yrs old and has been moved to the "Early Reading Program" at his preschool even though his age group is typically in Phonics first, then upon an assessment of readiness, they are moved to reading. He knew all his letters by 18 months old and knew the sounds of each letter by 3. If you are looking to help your child learn letters, you should definitely get the Letter Factory. It's amazing and fun to watch. My son wanted to watch that more than the Baby Einsteins (other than Baby Macdonald).

If you are wanting your child to read by 3 or 4, then this video is not going to help in my opinion. It may possibly help for an older age group -- If anything, it helps get children almost ready to read in the right mind-set and tries to make it fun. My son watched it a few times but wasn't hooked on it. One thing that I didn't like is that the video only uses capital letters and that is not helpful when any book you pick up is going to have both upper and lower case letters. If the child only sees words with all capital letters, than this is not going to help with reading a real beginner book like "cat in the hat". The lower case letters are going to be foreign.

From my internet research, children that can read at age 3 are usually the ones that learned by word-recognition/memory (i.e. not actually reading). Like my son recognizes the word "STOP" because its on all the stop signs, it's background is always red, and in the same shape.

Lufkin QRL525MP 1-Inch by 25-Foot Quick Read Tape Measure
$7.99
I just ordered my third Lufkin quick read. Over the years I have owned many tapes. This tape lasted just as long as any (around 6 months with heavy use). The nice thing about this tape is the easy reading. Its easy to read from both sides, and allows you to be a little more precise. I wish the fatmax would have this type of reading setup!!!

CDN ProAccurate Quick-Read DTQ450X Thermometer
$19.99
I bought this themometer along with a Taylor Classic to replace my old and inaccurate probe thermometers. I measured ice water and boiling water with each to check the 32 and 212 temperatures. The CDN measured 33 and 211 while the Taylor measured 36 and 190 degrees. I was able to adjust the accuracy of the Taylor some by using the hex bolt on the back but this calibration should have been done at the factory. Also since the Taylor calibratrion was off high at the low setpoint and low at the high setpoint it cant be accurate in the entire temperature range. I would give the CDN a 5 star rating except I've had poor reliability on previous digital thermometers. I'm hoping for this one to work well over time.