Consumer Reports

Three new products have made it into our home this week.

Adjustable toddler skates. Why did no one think of this before? FINALLY people are starting to realize we'll pay a bit more if we know it will last. A winter coat bought for McKay at REI (like MEC, but 'Merican) last year had "growth tucks" that could be unstitched to give us another couple of inches of room. The rink opens in a few weeks, and we are READY!


Compact Fluorescent light bulbs. Ok, I know these have been around for awhile, but with our new improved social conscience, we're trying to do what we can to save the Universe (WHAhhhhaaa, Flash Gordon's alive???). The jury is still out on how we like them. Hate them above the dining room table, maybe ok in the bathroom and we'll try a few other locations in the next few weeks. Stay tuned. However, this is the propaganda that got us:

What that means is that if every one of 110 million American households bought just one ice-cream-cone bulb, took it home, and screwed it in the place of an ordinary 60-watt bulb, the energy saved would be enough to power a city of 1.5 million people. One bulb swapped out, enough electricity saved to power all the homes in Delaware and Rhode Island. In terms of oil not burned, or greenhouse gases not exhausted into the atmosphere, one bulb is equivalent to taking 1.3 million cars off the roads.

Carcassonne. Again, something that has been around awhile. But we're BUSY living our lives here (or something...). We didn't find out about FireFly or Dead Like Me until after they'd been cancelled. Typical tile playing (think Catan) but with none of the annoyingness of the dice. Still having fun making pretty cities, but I'm sure there's strategy involved somewhere too.


Anything else out there that we should know about? If it's come out in the last four years, there's a good chance we don't know about it. Please educate us so we too can be good consumers!