*Ahem* Well, you’ll notice my Toy Tuesday post is going up, er, rather late. *blush* There is a very good reason for that. I was busy doing research! No, really! I wasn’t merely playing with our (Isabelle’s and my) new “toy”, I was making sure that it was actually worth blogging about.

The verdict? YES! Definitely worth blogging about. So worthy in fact that I’m just going to have to let this post be a teaser because I spent too much time with the Manners Minder and not writing a blog. Yes, I know – shame on me – but you’ll thank me later.

So, what is this thing I am so excited about? Manners Minder is not really a toy, but it was so fun for Isabelle and me to use that it felt like one! Manners Minder …read more

Last week’s Toy Tuesday entry got me to thinking about the nature of toys and what we consider to be a toy. If you look up the definition for the word “toy” you’ll find many different meanings for this one word. Rightly so! What a tech lover is going to think of as a toy might very well differ from what a seven year old would want if they were given a new toy and some seven year old boys might have very different opinions than the seven year old girls. Certain things have a wider appeal as a toy (the …read more

Despite the iPad’s horrifying name, I would be remiss if I didn’t talk about the potential joy you could give someone by wrapping up this not-quite-iPod, not-quite-netbook bit of delight.

The iPad is more of a luxury gift and I’m categorizing it under Toy Tuesday because, let’s face it, anyone who gets a new gadget that they have been looking forward to feels like a kid on Christmas, whether it is a new phone, new computer, new mp3 player…it is the delight of learning all of the new features, the ability to get apps and just feeling like you’ve got a neat new accessory to help you power through work and play.

To make sure the iPad could be a neat gift and not just a way to throw your hard earned money down the drain ($499-$829), I visited a source I’ve gone to in the …read more