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My mother send me these little gems recently and holy cow have they changed the way I sew! Well, not actually the way I sew, but definitely how I hold things together as I sew. The Clover Wonder Clip replaces the straight pins that have, for years, pricked my fingers.
Use them just as you would regular sewing pins. They stay put and won't snag your delicate fabrics! Plus, when you accidentally drop one on the floor, you aren't panicking to find the lost pin before someone steps on it! Ouch!
REVIEW PROS: They hold like a pin without puncturing your fabric. They come in a hinged storage box.
REVIEW CONS: They are much pricier than old fashioned pins at $6.99/10 or $32.99/50. (Be sure to use a coupon when purchasing these little beauties!)
RATING: 5/5
Over dinner not too long ago, our friend casually mentioned, "I now have 5,000 copies of my book in the garage." Hold on. Rewind. "5,000 copies of what book?"
Turns out, Kevin is one of those rare people who do what they say they are going to do. (Oh, to have that feather in my cap.) In his case, it was "write a book". He handed me a copy, right off of the aforementioned stack, to read in advance of it's official launch date - 26 June 2012.
Let me introduce you to a brilliant doctor turned author, Dr. Kevin Jones. Kevin is a orthopaedic surgeon and researcher at the Hunstman Cancer Institute in Salt Lake City, UT and a mighty fine musician, I might add. Following an undergraduate degree in English Literature at Harvard University and medical school at Johns Hopkins, he pursued orthopaedic surgical residency at the University of Iowa then fellowship training in musculoskeletal oncology at Mount Sinai Hospital and the Toronto Hospital for Sick Children.
And his book? Well, I plowed through it. And now I'm here to shout it from the rooftops! If you've ever visited a doctor, if you've ever worried about needing a second opinion, if you've ever headed to the internet or library to dig a little deeper into a diagnosis, if you've ever struggled with a medical decision, or if you just want a deeper, better educated view of your personal health but have no idea how to get meaningful conversations with your physician started... then you NEED to read this book! Read more about it at www.doctorscannottellyou.com.
Or better yet, buy a copy for yourself. What Doctors Cannot Tell You is available from Amazon in paperback and Kindle edition, Barnes & Noble in paperback and Nook book, and from Kevin's garage. :)
REVIEW PROS: Following each chapter of the book, you'll find 67 questions that patients should be asking their doctors at different stages of treatment in order to become as knowledgeable as possible about their own health.
REVIEW CONS: Your initial thought might be that your doctor is withholding information from you. Ever thought that maybe your doctor cannot tell you more because you're not asking the right questions? Put those conversation-starting questions to work for you! Yep, the ball's in your court.
RATING: 5/5
I have never reviewed a book on my "craft" blog before. I'm not even sure if anyone pays attention to my silly entries, but if anyone out there is listening...
I recently devoured a book called Little Princes: One Man's Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal by Conor Grennan. Within its pages is an account of one man's journey to find himself by taking a brief hiatus from a career to "self-indulgently" travel the world. What he discovered on this journey could not have been farther from the experience he had originally planned. Grennan fell deeply in love with the orphaned children of Nepal and was moved by their seemingly hopeless situation - lost, poverty-stricken, voiceless and afraid. He and a very small handful of friends began fighting the tide of child trafficking, a dangerous prospect in this remote part of the world. His story is remarkable and his work continues to this day.
Dust off your library card if you must, but buying this book is better! A portion of all book sales support Next Generation Nepal, the non-profit organization that Conor Grennan established to reconnect trafficked children with their families in Nepal.
REVIEW PROS: It will tug at your heartstrings and, hopefully, move you to action.
REVIEW CONS: It may not be the most eloquent piece of literature ever published, but the story is compelling. You will weep.
RATING: 4/5
Come on! This has to be the cutest picnic "basket" ever. Can't you just image my super-stylish spring picnics in the park? Me, in a June Cleaver cotton dress complete with crinoline petticoat, my daughter, gathering armfuls of dandy lions, darting back to our blanket only to snag a cucumber tea sandwich from our tiffin box. I have to wonder... would Yogi Bear tear right into the lunch inside or would he, like me, just stare happily at it's design?
Target, Tiffin Box, aqua link or yellow swirl, $24.99
REVIEW PROS: It's the perfect size for a generous lunch. It saves the earth from another jumble of plastic sandwich bags. It's top-rack dishwasher safe. It makes the user look hip.
REVIEW CONS: The compartments do not have an airtight seal. I know full well that my daughter will eventually find a way to pack her treasures into it and persuade me (with puppy dog eyes) to keep it.
RATING: 4/5
