1. Stacks & Stacks: When we were at the Long Island cottage in September, my husband commented on two things that were in the cottage that he "wished" we had at home…a mail and key holder by the front door and a hanging towel holder in the bathroom.  Instead of the hanging towel holder (his point was that people were coming out of the bathroom with dripping hands even when I put out hand towels), I just got a simple, cute paper towel holder for the bathroom.  That should take away any confusion.  I found both at this great site.

2. Huggies Extra Sensitive Wash: My oldest son has very sensitive skin, so we’ve always had to buy special products for his skin (read: more costly).  I was pleasantly surprised to discover this reasonably priced (around $5), fragrance-free body wash that does not irritate his skin.  (It’s also safe for babies and kids with eczema.)

3. Single-item parting gifts at birthday parties: I love, love, love this idea because (being the clutter-phobe that I am) I’m not a big fan of a lot of little tchotchkes that are normally found in birthday party goody-bags. I went to two birthday parties this month where the moms gave single item gifts.  One, had an assortment of books that she let the kids choose from on the way out. It was really cute, because it had a picture of the birthday boy as part of the bookplate. (An easy way to make bookplate stickers at home is to use a photo of your child with a few typed words and print it out on labels.)  The other had an assortment of puzzles that she let the kids choose from.  Since my son loves both books and puzzles, he was happy too.  This is one idea that I’ll be borrowing in the future. (Except for my son’s next b-day party…he has his heart set on Chuck-E-Cheese, so attendees will be getting their goody bags of toys and candy aka tchotchkes - I apologize in advance.)

4. More variety in term life insurance policies:  I’m not a financial planner.  I just "play" one as a mom.  Seriously though, every mom should be knowledgeable about the basics of finances.  I really like that there are new options in term life insurance (the best type of insurance in my - and Suze Orman’s - opinion).  Met Life has a new "Term Life & Disability Package" which combines the two types of insurance that families need the most.  Prudential Financial, Inc. also recently introduced a new term life insurance policy that includes a money back guarantee, PruLife Return of Premium (ROP) Term, which guarantees the return of all premiums paid if the insured person lives past the end of the term.
 
5. "My First Daily Planner" Wall Hanging by Leaps and Bounds Kids: I have been looking for a kid’s wall calendar to give my son a visual of the days of the week, the months, etc.  I found this and so much more in this wall hanging.  It also has space for the day’s weather, the season, the activities of the day and there’s even a space for how the kid is feeling.

6. It was love at first sight when I saw Staub’s blue, round teapot, but at $120 (coupled with the fact that I already have a perfectly good teapot) it’s going to have to wait until a special occassion … perhaps Christmas.  If my husband is looking, he can find it at Sur la Table.

7. I want a BlackBerry, specifically I want the  BlackBerry 8830.  It includes email, text and instant messaging, a personal organizer, a web browser, GPS and it’s cute.  I won’t get one though because I truly think that it would hurt my relationship with my husband and kids.  (I can easily get obsessed with email.  At least with the computer, I have to turn it off at times.  As such, a BlackBerry would not be a good thing for an obsessive person like me.) It’s still one of my favorite things though. 

Posted by Kimberly on 17 Oct 2007 at 02:23 pm | Tagged as: Favorite Things