I'm a full-time mummy

I have the privilege of reviewing my subsequent books under Free Spirit Publishing, one of the set of 8 Toddler Tools™ Board Books by Elizabeth Verdick (illustrated by Marieka Heinlen) called:

Title: Calm-Down Time
Author: Elizabeth Verdick
Illustrated by: Marieka Heinlen
Publisher:  Free Spirit Publishing
ISBN: 978-1-57542-316-6
Board book, full-color: 24 pages
Dimension: 7" x 7"

Description from the product page:
"Every parent, caregiver—and young child—knows the misery that comes with meltdowns and toddlers’ temper tantrums. Through rhythmic text and warm illustrations, this gentle, reassuring book offers toddlers simple tools to release strong feelings, express them, and calm themselves down. Children learn to use their calm-down place—a quiet space where they can take time out to cry, ask for a hug, sing to themselves or be rocked in a grown-up’s arms, talk about feelings, and breathe: “One, two, three . . . I’m calm as can be. I’m taking care of me.” After a break, toddlers will feel like new—and adults will, too.

An award-winning author/illustrator team offers a fresh look at the times and transitions all toddlers face daily, giving young children coping skills to ease temper tantrums and handle strong feelings with confidence and cooperation.

Part of the Toddler Tools series, Calm-Down Time can be shared before (or during) the desired “time,” or whenever toddlers need encouragement with social skills and daily routines and transitions. "

I love the cute cover! And each of the pages are solid and has a glossy feel, plus the illustrations are just too awesome and creative! The size of the book is just nice, not too big, not too small.

If you look closely, the characters and objects illustrated are not only hand drawn, they are also actual textures used to replace the clothings, toys, even the wallpapers in the book are from the actual thing! It's very cute and has that added touch!

With this book, I'm trying to teach Ben that yes, there are times we get sad, mad and angry and that we want to vent out the frustrations, but we can also take steps to calm ourselves down. And there are easy, positive and healthy choices we can take to calm down such as taking a deep breath, relaxing and taking a break in a quiet place, or even just a nice little hug!

In my opinion, the Toddler Tools series are a good choice for parents to use with their children because of the positive message they brings! No wonder this book is the "Gold Mom’s Choice Award® Winner"!

You can get this book from Free Spirit Publishing, Amazon and many more.

I received no monetary compensation for this review, I was provided with a copy of the book by Free Spirit Publishing in order to facilitate my review. All opinions expressed in this post are my own. Please do your own research when purchasing products, as your opinions may differ from mine.

And if you'd like to read my previous book reviews, you can do so by reading this post of mine called "My Book Reviews"

I came across a new baking cookbook which was available for review on netGalley and decided to request it. The cover page is just so cute and totally attracted me! Btw, the book is called: "ZOMBIE CUPCAKES".

Title: Zombie Cupcakes-From the Grave to the Table with 16 Cupcake Corpses
Author: Zilly Rosen
Publisher:  Andrews McMeel Publishing
ISBN: 9781449401122
Paperback: 80 pages
Dimension: 7 1/4 x 8 1/4 in.
On Sale: February 15, 2011 — Coming soon!

Description from the product page:
"Conjuring up her inner George A. Romero, professional cake designer Zilly Rosen focuses her creative attention on crafting a legion of edible undead inside Zombie Cupcakes: From the Grave to the Table with 16 Cupcake Corpses. With a nod to Romero's zombie franchise, Rosen offers instructions for crafting 16 terrifying treats, including:
    * Toxic Bite
    * Zombie Rising
    * Keep an Eye Out
    * Destroy the Brain
      and more!
Readers can raise their own macabre multitude of Zombie Cupcakes creations from the undead with an average creation time of less than one hour. Each Zombie Cupcakes design includes a full-color photograph of the zombie creation at hand, as well as an illustrated instructional overview and a convenient sidebar list of every item you will need to complete the cupcake."

Cute cupcakes I like!

I love the cute cover, so scary yet tempting you to check them out further! Exactly like how a horror flick would be... you know where the characters in the film would still go and check out the source of eerie/spooky sounds and stuff and them get themselves killed or something... Hehehe... Only for this book, you get 'killed' with the cuteness of the cupcakes!

Each recipe came with the pictures of the cupcake and pictorial guide on how to do the frosting/decorative layer, which makes you drool even more and wanted to attempt to make each and every one of it! There's also a mini trivia on zombie movies for each of the cupcake recipes.

I wish I could post up more pictures to show you the cuteness and creepiness of some of the cupcakes but this book is not on sale yet (scheduled on 15th Feb 2011) so I think I better refrain from doing so.

In my opinion, the cupcake recipes are pretty easy to do, the hardwork is more on the decorative/frosting layer. I think this book is a good choice for cupcake lovers and those who are interested in dabbling with cupcakes. I would try this if I ever decide to venture into cupcakes in the future!

You can purchase this book from Andrews McMeel Publishing website or from Amazon.

I received no monetary compensation for this review, I was provided with a galley proof of the book via my association with netGalley as a reviewer in order to facilitate my review. All opinions expressed in this post are my own. Please do your own research when purchasing products, as your opinions may differ from mine.

And if you'd like to read my previous book reviews, you can do so by reading this post of mine called "My Book Reviews"

After mulling for a while and getting bored with muffins, roast chicken wings and cheesesticks, I decided to take the leap and do something new... cookies!

Was chatting on MSN with a fellow SAHM bloggy friend (Yes, Catheryn, YOU!) when she told me there are premixes for cookies and she tried it long ago. Some time back while grocery shopping, I saw it! Cookies premix! I immediately read the instructions and ingredients required and decided to take the leap on Tuesday 5th Oct.Needless to say, my first attempt at baking the cookies are disastrous!

So without further ado, here goes:

CHOCHOLATE CHIP BUTTER COOKIES

PREPARATION TIME: LESS THAN HALF AN HOUR

* About 5 minutes to mix & knead dough
* 10 minutes for baking process 

Ingredients / Tool Required:

What to Do?

Add premix, add in melted butter	Add in egg mixture	The mixture after adding choc chips

* Mix to a smooth dough, add in chocolate chips.
* Roll the dough into small balls and place on the baking sheets/tray, spaced slightly apart.
* Flatten each balls slightly.

BAKING PROCESS

* Set oven to 200℃ and bake for 10 minutes until golden brown.

THE RESULTS

REACTIONS FROM MY "GUINEA PIGS"

ME	5th Oct 2010: "Yikes...this is a disaster!! It looks more like chocolate cookies... I should've stayed around and keep an eye on the baking process... it's kinda hard on the outside and just nice inside. Tastewise, not too sweet." 26th Oct 2010:"Yes! This is more like it! Delicious!"
BEN	See pictures below... btw, he had 3 cookies on the day itself!
HUBBY	5th Oct 2010: "You mean this is not chocolate cookies?!" This was followed by jokes while grocery shopping at night about how we could use my cookies as a ninja weapons etc etc... -_- 26th Oct 2010:"Mmm... so much better!"
MIL	5th Oct 2010: "Very hard to bite. Don't give Ben eat." 26th Oct 2010:"Yes! This is more like it! Delicious!"

So there you go.... my CHOCHOLATE CHIP BUTTER COOKIES disaster & success attempts!

Overall, I'm happy with the 2nd attempt! I failed in the 1st attempt as I didn't stay around and keep an eye on the baking process. I realised the instructions stated to bake for 15 minutes and I set it at 20 minutes and went out to the porch to play with Ben and forgot about keeping an eye on the cookies. Yikes! With the experience from the 2nd attempt, I felt much more confident and am going to attempt few more times before I stop relying on premix for cookies..

To view my other recipes, feel free to hop over to my Recipe Library page for more info!

I leave you with some snapshots of my cheeky little man...

Brought to you by: Mama Baker wannabe aka