preparations

Complete Ged Preparation
$18.50
This book is drenched with practice questions. Steck-Vaughn is the exclusive distributor of the OFFICIAL GED practice tests -- you must keep that in mind.

I highly recommend this book.

Joseph Joseph Nest 8pc Food Preparation set
$49.95
From reading the reviews, I knew that the sieve would be flimsy but the rest of the set was supposed to be dishwasher-safe. I put the small green bowl in the top rack of my dishwasher but the colander only fit in the bottom rack; the bowl is fine, but the colander is now noticeably warped on one side. (Incidentally, I have a set of nesting bowls I bought from Ikea a decade ago and they still look great, despite having gone through the dishwasher countless times. And they only cost a tenth of this set.)

The other issue is one I didn't discover until I tried using the measuring cups for the first time. When I'm baking, I like to run a knife across the top of the measuring cup to make sure I'm measuring ingredients as precisely as possible. That's only doable with the smallest measuring cups because the others are countersunk, so that the handles allow them to nest properly in the set.

The set looked gorgeous when I first took it out of the box, but it turned out to be a real disappointment. Unfortunately, it isn't possible to give less than one star otherwise I'd give it zero. As far as I'm concerned, this was a complete and utter waste of money.

Preparation H Hemorrhoidal Suppositories, Economy Size 48 suppositories
$21.01
Works as advertised. However, product is a little crunchy and left my mouth feeling numb. My doctor assures me that this is normal.

H&R Block At Home 2009 Deluxe Federal + eFile [Previously TaxCut]
$29.99
Guidance for all your personal tax situations. Federal forms. Step-by-step interviews guide you through a customized experience relevant to your tax situation. Everything you need to prepare your federal taxes in one complete program.