Our family recently had dinner with family friends when hubby's mom visited from out of town. After a nice meal, our hostess offered us some homemade pie - rhubarb or apple. When she brought it all to the table, she brought along a brick of cheese. Now, I have to tell you, she makes wonderful pies. I decided to have a small piece of each (yes, I love pie) as well as a small piece of the cheese (yes, I love cheese). DH had filled up on the meat and potatoes so he passed on both the pie and the cheese.

I realize the point of the cheese being served alongside was because many people put a piece of cheese on top of their apple pie. Me? Nope. I'm not closed minded, it just isn't my preference. When the movie Ratatouille came out, the mouse explained that sometimes two foods taste good alone but when you put them together, it's even better. Even my youngest daughter understood that concept. As I said before, I love pie and I love cheese so I don't see the need to mix the flavors... even if it does provide a heavenly new taste.

A few weeks later, DH and I were helping my dad paint his garage while my mom was hosting a brunch for some of her friends. It was casual so mom had planned for us to eat with them during brunch and we talked about all kinds of things... including pie. One of mom's friends proudly announced that she finally had mastered an old family pie recipe - complete with cheddar cheese on top. My dad, who never met a pie he didn't like, asked "Cheese? On pie?" DH interjected "Yeah, I just learned about it yesterday when Nicole's Hickory Farms basket arrived." I was surprised that neither knew of this custom!

What DH was referring to is one of the cheeses in the Hickory Farms Family Gathering basket that I received from Mom Central on behalf of Hickory Farms as part of a blog tour campaign. It was named "Apple Pie Cheddar". He asked "What's with that?" And I explained that some people eat cheddar cheese on their apple pie. Then I shrugged. Apparently it's good, but I still don't see the need to ruin a perfectly good piece of cheese.

I signed up for the campaign because I love Hickory Farms products. As Christmas nears, I hate the crowds at the mall, but I enjoy checking out the Hickory Farms kiosk that only shows up at this time of year. For as long as I can remember, I've loved summer sausage. Oh, and have I mentioned that I love cheese? Well, this basket not only contained 2 Beef Summer Sausages but also two bricks of the Apple Pie Cheddar, a Ham Summer Sausage, a Pennsylvania Dutch Edam, Hot Mustard, Crackers and a cheese slicer. They arrived in a pretty basket that has now been repurposed to my medicine cabinet to organize all the cold medicines!

The foods at Hickory Farms are always great. The cheeses were tasty, as was the sausage. The cheese slicer, although not necessary for slicing cheese, worked like a charm. My only complaint with this basket is that it was filled with so much shredding to make it pretty that it was almost too much. But at least it's just paper and not something like packing peanuts!

It's also important to note that Hickory Farms has a social responsibility side, also. This year, Hickory Farms is donating to Share Our Strength. For each basket purchased, they are donating a portion to the Share Our Strength cause. In addition, shipping to APO/FPO addresses is FREE. So if you want to send some love to one of our brave troops, here's a great opportunity for you to save the shipping costs.

If you are looking for gift ideas, check out the inventory at your nearest store or order online. These baskets are wonderful for giving as gifts but also work well when you're entertaining. If you don't want an entire basket, you can purchase some items separately. But Hickory Farms isn't just about sausage and cheese baskets. As many times as I've been to the Hickory Farms kiosk at the mall, I've never realized they sold sweets! Various fruit baskets, as well as baked items like fudge, cakes, cheesecakes, tortes and other pastries! Their website even boasts such items as turkeys, hams and appetizers.

While I thought I was a Hickory Farms aficionado when I signed up for the campaign, I now realize I wasn't even close to knowing all that they offer. Next time I'm at the mall, I'll be paying more attention.

Thanks again to Mom Central and Hickory Farms for providing this delicious sample to review! Be sure to check out what they have to offer.

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Lately I haven't been as good about clipping coupons as I could be. It isn't that I don't like doing it, I just haven't put forth the effort. In reality, with the economy what it is, I should be focusing even more than I used to.

My frugal tendencies are nothing new... Just the other day, hubby was recounting a story for my dad. Way back in the day when Prodigy was one of the few places online to gather for information and trading coupons, I was a very active coupon-clipper. I traded the baby and pet coupons from the Sunday paper for household products and cereal. It was not uncommon for me to get loss-leader cereal for nothing or next to nothing. Actually, I purchased it faster than we could consume it. So atop the cabinet in my small apartment kitchen, there was a row of cereal lined up neatly and looked like books on a bookshelf.

These days, I spend more time sorting through all the weekly advertisements to haul on my regular grocery shopping trip to Walmart. Sure, I gather coupons if I have the time before going. But usually, I'm happy just to have Walmart match the competitors' ads.

Speaking of grocery shopping... Unless you haven't looked at a calendar lately, you realize that this upcoming Thursday is Thanksgiving. When people put together their Thanksgiving shopping list, many lists contain the same basic staples: turkey, potatoes, gravy, stuffing, green beans, cranberry sauce, rolls and of course, dessert. Although different variations occur from there, those items are pretty common. Thinking through the cooking aspect of it can be overwhelming but in times of economic difficulties, the financial part of the dinner is more devastating. A few dollars here, some more there... some people may forgo the big meal because they don't feel they can afford it.

In true Walmart fashion, not everything has to be out of your price range. A Walmart advertisement arrived in the local paper almost simultaneously as a blog tour invitation from Mom Central. Both referenced the Thanksgiving promotion of "Turkey dinner for eight for as low as $20". Money saving tips and recipes can be found on Walmart's Holiday Meals site. Additional details of Walmart’s $20 Thanksgiving feast are there too. Here's what the feast includes:

• One 12-pound Grade A turkey*
• Three 11 to 15.5-ounce cans Green Giant vegetables
• Two 14-ounce cans Ocean Spray cranberry sauce
• Three 6-ounce boxes of Stove Top stuffing
• One 5-pound bag of red potatoes
• One 12-count package of Sara Lee dinner rolls
• One 22-ounce pumpkin roll cake

(*Prices and availability may vary in AK, HI, OK, NM, WI and at Walmart.com. Prices on select Grade A turkeys begin November 4; limit two turkeys per customer; weights and brands vary by store. Quantities are limited; no rain checks. All prices do not include tax.)

It's a great promotion and I'm glad to be able to let people know about it. But as a thank you from Mom Central and Walmart for posting about this promotion, I have received a $30 Walmart gift card. The great news for you, other than this money-saving Thanksgiving dinner, is that Mom Central and Walmart have sent along two additional $30 Walmart gift cards for me to share with two of my readers! So if you're a Walmart shopper and plan to do some holiday shopping there, keep reading for details on how to enter this great giveaway... compliments of Walmart and Mom Central!

The Prize: $30 Walmart Gift Card (2 Winners!)

Participants -

...must provide a US shipping address
...must provide an email in the first comment, email me directly with an email address or have email accessible from their profile.

Sometime on November 30, 2009, two winners will be chosen at random (using random.org) from all valid comments left. Winners have 72 hours from posting/notification to respond. If winner cannot be contacted, I will move on to the next random selection.

How to enter:

(1) Visit Walmart's Holiday Meals website.
(2) Come back and leave a comment telling me one of your favorite ways to save money on your holiday meal without cutting back on quality!
If you want to increase your chances of winning, here are some options to earn additional entries -
-- Three Entries: If you have a blog or website, add my button to your page. (Here's the code:)
<center><a href="http://www.sahmreviews.com" target="_blank"><img alt="SAHM Reviews" src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v737/ia2ca/Sahm/SahmReviews125.jpg"/></a></center>
-- Two Entries: Publish a blog post regarding this contest by November 25th and link back to it.
-- One Entry: Post a budget-friendly Thanksgiving recipe in the comments.
-- One Entry: Share on Facebook. Come back and leave a comment.
-- One Entry (Daily): Follow me on Twitter and Tweet this contest
"Thanksgiving dinner for 8 for $20! Details and giveaway for a $30 Walmart Gift Card @SahmReviews http://tinyurl.com/yfwvqle". Comment with a link to your tweet.
-- One Entry: Follow SAHM Reviews on Facebook Of course, don't forget to leave a comment.
-- One Entry: Subscribe to my feed via RSS or email.
-- One Entry: Follow me using Google's Friend Connect feature.
-- One Entry (Daily): Read any of my non-giveaway reviews and leave an appropriate comment on that post. Come back here and leave a comment stating which product/post you left a comment on.

Thanks again to Mom Central and Walmart for providing the prizes for this giveaway!

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After trick-or-treating with my brother and sister-in-law, we sat around their kitchen just socializing. My cousin and his family live in their neighborhood also and stopped inside to warm up during their trek around back home. My cousin's wife reminisced about their recent trip to Chicago to American Girl to celebrate their daughter's birthday. They put together an entire weekend around the store!

Over the past few years, more and more I hear of mother-daughter junkets to Chicago to the American Girl store. Chicago is a few hours from here so it's quite a trip just to spend the day at a store that centers around dolls. Although I'm sure my daughters would love it, it's just not something we have pursued. It's a destination place and I continue to hear moms raving about what a great bonding experience it is.

But it got me thinking... there sure are a lot of girl parties and girl outings, but what is out there for boys? My nephew celebrated his birthday gaming with friends, but other than hitting a ball game with dad, what kind of father-son junkets are there? I was talking to a friend recently who has two boys the same ages as my girls and she said there really isn't anything. When I was at BlogHer over the summer, I had the chance to meet with staff from the local Ridemakerz store. They sponsored an event the night before the Ford presentation and brought along some of their products for us to assemble and play with. I mentioned the Ridmakerz concept to my friend and she couldn't wait to tell her husband.

So what exactly am I talking about when I say Ridemakerz? Many families are familiar with the build-a-bear concept where kids go through various design stages to create their very own stuffed animal. The Build-a-Bear business model was the inspiration for Ridemakerz (and Build-A-Bear Workshop is actually an investor in Ridemakerz.) Basically, you go to the store and design your own toy car. I'm using the word loosely there, because depending on what you do, it may end up being a big-boy gadget instead of just a toy.

We participated in a mock assembly at the pre-BlogHer event but have only walked through the actual store. Although you can create a car online, it's really not the same experience as fidgeting with it in front of you. You can walk through the whole process online to see the various steps.
Chooze: Select from several body styles followed by Street or Monster chassis.
Sonicize: Pick what types of sounds your car will emit.
Motorize: Decide to have it free wheel or radio controlled.
Mobilize: Choose the wheels and tires!
Customize: Add the frills. Hood scoopz, decalz, ground effectz, accessories and more.
Personalize: Create a personalize license plate.

You can even create a certificate of title for your new vehicle.

It's a cool concept and you can go as simple or diverse as you like. In my opinion, it's a great bonding experience for dads and kids. It's also a great destination for youth groups and clubs or even for organizations such as car clubs (yes, adults can play too). They offer bashes, as well, with varying pricing packages. Both my girls really enjoyed putting the car together so I can't imagine what a boy would think!

Here are a few of the pitfalls with Ridemakerz: There are only a handful of locations - not nearly as plentiful as Build-A-Bear. Mainly because it's very time intensive. It isn't a place that you can just pop into during a regular trip to the mall. It needs to be a planned trip - as in you go to the mall to enjoy the Ridemakerz experience (and maybe hang out at the mall a little before/after). The other problem is that the price can easily creep up on you. Each time you add features, you add to the price. Just like in real life, if you want your car tricked out with every gadget, it's going to cost you.

Just like many mothers and daughters enjoy that special trip to American Girl, fathers and sons (or even daughters!) should look at some bonding time at Ridemakerz. So with Christmas approaching, consider putting together outing plans to the Ridemakerz nearest you. It's bonding that you can't put a price on.

If you want more information about Ridemakerz, visit their website, follow them on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook!

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Mornings around here have been less than perfect. Miss K, I've discovered, is not a morning person. As I try to wake her up, she moans and says "not yet mom" and all I see is a teenager grumbling "Just five more minutes." Need I remind you that she's only in kindergarten... it's going to be a long road ahead of us.

But at the same time, Miss M, my 1st grader who basks in the glory of being the "good" child in the morning, rushes to get her chores done. She knows that whenever she does, I'll praise her in hopes that her sister will see that it's good to get ready for school on time.

So each morning, as Miss M finishes up early and has time to kill, she asks "Can I (insert request here)?" Sometimes she wants to play her Nintendo DS, sometimes watch TV. If she has quite a bit of time, she asks to play her latest video game on the Wii, JumpStart Escape from Adventure Island (due to be released tomorrow, November 17, 2009.) We tested and reviewed JumpStart Pet Rescue for the Wii in September and I felt my girls were a little too old for it (target market age 3-6). While they thoroughly enjoyed it, I felt they needed something a little more challenging. Jump Start Escape from Adventure Island targets kids ages 5-9 which is more appropriate for my girls so Jump Start / Knowledge offered us the chance to try it out and I certainly couldn't refuse!

Well, as a reward for Miss M getting ready on time, she's been able to play JumpStart Escape from Adventure Island quite a bit. And since I'm usually scrambling to ensure that her little sister doesn't miss the bus, I didn't get to watch her playing it the first few times that she did. Even in a different part of the house, I could hear her yell "This game is AWESOME!" Knowing JumpStart's history of educational games, I asked "Have you been learning anything or is it just a game?" She shook her head and said "It's just a game."

Awesome. She's totally right. What parent doesn't love a kid playing a learning game but think they're not really learning anything?

Later, after watching her a bit, I pulled out the game manual and asked Miss M which games she was playing. I pointed to "Rubble Trouble" and asked "Do you plan that one?" She said "Yeah. I play that." To which I responded, "Honey, that game teaches you math." "What about 'Jet Pack'?" "Yes, that one too." It teaches reading. She said that she really likes playing "Foot Frenzy and Goon Lagoon" too. Foot Frenzy practices dance, beat and rhythm. Goon Lagoon didn't identify a specific learning activity. Those are just a few of the land activities. Then slide down for underwater equivalents of those activities.

While some aspects of the game aren't really education-based, such as modifying the appearance of your Jumpee (avatar) or the house, others work on math, reading and rhythm. The picture of Miss shows her strutting her stuff in the fashion show. As you can see from the "Bubble Trouble" pictures, to continue to advance through the game, the player needs to do a variety of activities on various levels. Each activity allows the player to earn sand dollars and there are multiple lessons on three levels as well as easy, medium and hard difficulties. The game encouraged Miss M to play each of the different activities in order to achieve the final goal... earning helium tanks to repair the blimp and get off the island!

I wondered whether the game would be fun for Miss K, so I asked her if she had played it at all. Her sister had let her nudge in on it once. Before dinner tonight, I let her have a shot at it. Then I asked if she was able to play it okay or if she had trouble. Miss K said she could play it fine... and when I asked which JumpStart she liked better, she excitedly exclaimed "This one!" That surprised me because she really loves Pet Rescue. Although she's capable of playing games like "Bubble Trouble" where the goal is to maneuver the avatar through a field to find the correct answer. Sometimes it was completing the series of letters "J, K, L, _, _, _" and options would include the correct answer as well as some incorrect ones. In other levels of the same activity, the goal would be to find the opposite of the given word. I was delighted to see the range of lessons within just that one activity.

However, Miss K pretty much only wants to do activities that involve changing outfits or walking the runway. That pretty much explains real life around here so it's only fitting that it plays into the game that way.

To sum it up, it's a great educational game and it's for the Wii. It keeps kids attention while they are practicing basic learning skills. There really isn't much down side to the game except that I wish it encouraged the kids to be standing rather than sitting on the couch!

Thanks to JumpStart and Knowledge Adventure for providing this game for us to review. It's been a great learning experience even though the girls don't realize it! Your kids not old enough for Jump Start Escape from Adventure Island? Then give JumpStart Pet Rescue a shot. Don't have a Wii? Check out the online game! For more information about JumpStart, find them on Facebook, Twitter or read their blog!

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