Spotlight

My two older daughters were born in Austin, Texas. Their great-grandfather had a cattle ranch, even. Imagine the joy when my husband started dating me – a vegetarian liberal Yankee! And now we moved away from Texas for a job, and are living in the North.

So, we need to find the right Texas apparel so we won’t embarrass my in-laws in the pictures. I avoid “bling” and clothing with words on them for my daughters, and search for modest clothing. Even with those restrictions, I can burn a hole in my pocket at Cavender’s! Who wouldn’t want a fringed shirt?

My daughters are drooling over the children’s cowboy boots, all of which are less expensive and better made than those at other resellers. Once you have boots, you need western belts and accessories, and then you’re all set!

We have Australian Cattle Dogs, who can herd the cows for my cowgirls, too. Now to find a ranch and some cows where we can show off…

Our family has loved Thomas the Tank Engine for years, and we were very happy to be included in the Parent Bloggers blog tour reviewing the new DVD Thomas & Friends – Engines & Escapades! Thomas & Friends is one show I love watching with the girls. I love the stories about the different engines, and love the gentle messages. The wonderful British accented narrators don’t hurt, either! We like Thomas & his friends enough that we named our (late) green car Percy, and my little blue medical scooter (at right) is named Thomas, as he’s little, reliable, and has a horn that goes “Peep Peep” like Thomas!

Thomas & Friends – Engines & Escapades is a DVD with six new episodes about the engines on the Island of Sodor. The DVD also includes a new song about our new friends the “Narrow Gauge engines”, and it is catchy and fun enough that I don’t mind having it stuck firmly in my head. Each of the DVD’s episode tells a story that includes useful morals, yet the stories are entertaining enough that the kids don’t notice that they are learning.

We really liked meeting Madge the truck, who was strong enough to carry James! She was also strong enough in character to deal with James when he was being rather snotty. We are very enthusiastic in the Gaggle household about strong female characters, and had been thinking that Thomas was rather lacking in that department. In Thomas & Friends – Engines & Escapades, we meet several new engines and friends on the Narrow Gauge line, and are very happy to see spunky females!

In Thomas & Friends – Engines & Escapades, there is a mix between the “old” engines (Thomas, James, Duncan, etc) and our new friends on the Narrow Gauge line who are even smaller than Thomas, yet work really hard. If you have a younger sibling in your house who feels like they need to be bigger, this set of episodes is a great way of reinforcing that little trains and little kids can do big things! Thomas has always been a good example that a little train can be as important as the bigger trains, like Edward, but meeting useful trains that are even smaller was great for my littlest one!

The Narrow Gauge engines have their special Narrow Gauge track, and they also have their own person in charge, just as Thomas and the larger trains have Sir Topham Hat. Mr. Percival works hard with his trains, and it is refreshing to see a new person’s face in addition to the new train faces.

Our family had two minor complaints about Thomas & Friends – Engines & Escapades:

1. The DVD is on auto-play, so it starts itself, which makes it difficult to select favorite episodes

2. We don’t see a lot of Thomas and Percy. We like the new engines, but we miss our old favorites!

With those two minor exceptions, we really enjoyed watching Thomas & Friends – Engines & Escapades, and we’ll be watching it again and again and again… This is a good DVD to pick up for any young engineers you know, there’s a great variety of characters and episodes that will enchant kids and entertain adults, too.

We give Thomas & Friends – Engines & Escapades 5 spotlights out of 5 – go pick it up!

Global Knowledge worked in conjunction with TechRepublic to learn more about the status of the IT profession as well as learning more about the effects of education and certification on the salary IT professionals.

As the wife of an IT professional, I was fascinated to read about these results. Within the 2008 IT Skills and Salary Report, we are seeing a raise in salary in general for IT professionals, a great thing to see when your family relies on an IT job. It was also cool that my husband received a larger raise than the average.

Within the report, we can see that when IT professionals have 4-year degrees or above, they have an increased salary. Additionally, with each additional certification such as MCSE training, salaries tend to increase as well. In a time when our country is headed into a recession, it is heartening to see a profession that is growing, and a profession that rewards people who continue their education and increase their skill set.

The 2008 IT Skills and Salary Report is a very useful piece of information for anyone who is looking at IT as a profession, as well as for IT professionals who are looking to improve their own salaries.

Have you ever read any books in the Urban Fantasy genre? Some mystery fans may be leery of reading paranormals or vampire books. However, there are some very intense mysteries published that are also paranormal/urban fantasy/vampire books as well. A Rush of Wings, by Adrian Phoenix is one of those hybrids, containing an intensely suspenseful mystery, vampires, as well as a touch of romance.

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When I first heard about paintball, I thought it sounded like a goofy idea that would pass quickly. Clearly, no one should follow my advice when it comes to trends, as paintball is here to stay. I’ve seen paintball games used as teambuilding exercises for a department in a company, I’ve seen paintball birthday parties, and I know of families who spend time on the weekends involved in paintball competitions.

If you’ve never played, there are a bunch of sport centers that feature paintball games; a great way to find out if it’s right for you and your family. Once you’ve tried it out, you’ll want to check into finding cheap paintball guns, and buying them from a company that carries the basics, the best known brands, and has a good price range.

If you’re kitting out yourself or your family, be on the look-out for helmets (with goggles! don’t poke an eye out!), protective clothing, and the ability to buy a paintball gun package so you don’t miss out on the one crucial accessory! Be sure to look for guns made by the Tippiman, Ion, and Spyder brands, as those are some of the best-selling. If you buy a product like the Tippmann custom pro, you’ll be able to find replacement parts easily, and if you buy it from Ultimate Paintball, you’ll get free shipping, in addition to many good deals!

Go have fun, but remember that you’ll have more fun if you’re safe and if you know you got free shipping and you didn’t pay full price!

The girls of the Gaggle of Girls love dogs. We have 2 dogs, both of whom are good with the kids, and one that loves playing fetch with tennis balls and Frisbees. But yet they begged for a new dog and/or a puppy regularly. We check out breed books and research training techniques, but there’s nothing quite like a real puppy. Imagine the joy when I got a puppy for my birthday!

For those of you who also have dog and puppy-loving kids, weve found two great puppy/dog themed picture books that you’ll love. We love Amy E. Sklansky’s books, including The Duck who Played the kazoo, so we were thrilled to find From the Doghouse: Poems to Chew On. We’ve loved the Fancy Nancy books by Jane O’Connor (as well as her adult novel), so we were eager to read The Perfect Puppy for Me. Both books celebrate the joy of dogs and puppies in a unique way, and in a way that will enchant the adult reading the story as well as the listening kids.

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Isn’t the quote “You can never be too rich or have too many friends?” I completely agree about the friends piece, but if you aren’t rich, you can never have too many coupons! There may be quite a few great coupon and deal sites online, but it’s always a good thing to have a new coupon site!

Buy it with Coupons is dedicated to posting some of the best deals available online. It was serendipitous that right before going to the vet for the puppy’s first shots that I found their post linking to 25% off pet meds. This is definitely a site I’ll be checking out before shopping.

Some authors use the same main character for all the books in a series. Other authors use one book’s minor character as the next book’s main character. It’s rare, though, to find a series where the first two books focus on the same character, yet the third book makes main characters out of people who were on the sidelines. Michelle Rowen manages that feat in her newly released book in the Immortality Bites series, Lady & the Vamp, which follows her hits Bitten & Smitten and Fanged & Fabulous.

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Notorious is Michele Martinez’s newest suspense mystery novel. An intense mix of thriller, suspense, legal mystery, and some sexy bits, Notorious is a novel you should only pick up if you don’t have any pressing engagements. I recommend a nice cup of tea, a cozy chair, a fleece blanket, and a dog to warm your toes while you read about federal prosecutor Melanie Vargus’s latest case.

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You’ll Be Sorry by author/illustrator Josh Schneider is a cute tale about why you’ll be sorry if you do something naughty to your little brother or sister. Let’s be honest, parents, how often have you said “You’ll be sorry if you …”? But why exactly will the child be sorry? My parents always said that I’d be sorry because my brother would grow up to be bigger than me. I was four years older, so that wasn’t an immediate incentive.

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