Buying Books Online via The Book Depository

~ Posted on Monday, August 6, 2012 at 8:08 AM ~

Ever since I could remember, I love reading books! When I was young (less than 12 years old), I remembered going to my eldest aunt house and got mesmerised by this giant Disney book - all short stories and rhymes about princess, animals and fairy tales and the colors are so fascinating and beautiful and it slowly became a habit of mine to read and read and read.

In highschool, I'd borrowed books after books from the school library. And also rented books as well.

When I started working, a portion of my salary goes to books and magazines.

Now that I'm a mother of 2 kids, I'm still reading. Of course nowadays, I'd prefer e-books anytime since I can read it using my iPad at night after my kids went to bed. But that doesn't mean I've given up reading paperbacks. Just that nowadays, I only buy paperbacks if it's a good book worth keeping and also those crafts and activities books for my boy.

And since I'm a SAHM, I don't have much luxury to go out and browse around books for myself or my kids, so what else but to buy them online? In fact, I actually love buying things online as I get to compare the prices and read other people's reviews on the products before making a decision to buy.

For books, the first website I go when I want to buy books are of course: The Book Depository

Free Delivery on all Books at the Book Depository

What I love most about them is they offer worldwide shipping FREE!

OK, if you take a look at their books and compared them to Amazon, of course you can clearly see Amazon's prices are cheaper but because I'm living in Malaysia, a lot of books are not allowed to be shipped to Asian countries (like Malaysia!) and even if Amazon do ship over to Malaysia, the shipping fees is very very high! There are times when the shipping fees cost more than the books itself!

This is definitely the website I go to and I've bought loads and loads of books from them. Delivery takes from 3-4 weeks time and so far I've only experienced one time where my delivery was lost in transit and happy to note, The Book Depository honors my purchase and promptly resend a new set of books for me free in charge!

If you have never try them before, do give it a try!

** Updates on 8th August 2012:

My buying tips are as follows:

- Check out the books on Amazon, better if they come with preview function so I can have a look at the contents and outline.

- Read through the customers feedback (I always read those with 1-2 stars first)

- Copy the book's ISBN code (every book has their own unique code) from Amazon website and paste to The Book Depository

- Buy from The Book Depository!

Book Review - ParentSmart/KidHappy™ Ready for the Day!

~ Posted on Friday, August 3, 2012 at 9:06 AM ~

I read the press release of these new books with great interest especially when it mentioned "...the books illustrate everyday scenarios that can challenge parents and young children: getting ready in the morning, sharing toys, and going to bed at night. Along with simple dialogue and full-color illustrations, the books include color-coded text to cue parents about positive language to use with their children. The ParentSmart/KidHappy series teaches four positive parenting techniques: (1) how to validate a child’s feelings, (2) how to offer choices, (3) how to promote problem-solving skills, and (4) how to encourage alternative behavior.

So I immediately wrote in asking whether there is any possibilities of me reviewing the printed copies of these awesome books and a month later, these books arrived safely into our hands! Yes!!!

Without further ado, here goes my final review for the "ParentSmart/KidHappy™ Series" book entitled "Ready for the Day! A Tale of Teamwork and Toast, and Hardly Any Foot-Dragging":

Title: ParentSmart/KidHappy™ Series (Ready for the Day! A Tale of Teamwork and Toast, and Hardly Any Foot-Dragging)
Author: Stacey R. Kaye, MMR  Illustrated: Elizabeth O. Dulemba

Publisher: Free Spirit Publishing
ISBN-13/-10:  978-1-57542-268-8
Paperback:  32 pages
Dimension: 8 1/4" x 8 1/4"

Description from the product page:
" Getting a preschooler out the door in the morning can be a frustrating battle of wills complete with crying and complaining—by parents and kids alike. Ready for the Day! offers healthy, lasting solutions for a stress-free morning routine.

This book, and others in the series, provides a BONUS for parents and caregivers. With honesty and gentle humor, Ready for the Day! shows how to handle typical morning routine struggles by modeling three parenting techniques using color-coded text to teach the language of positive parenting:
* Giving encouragement
* Validating feelings
* Offering choices

These techniques are explained in detail in a section at the end of the book that is just for adults. The result: you get through morning routine challenges with less stress while building your child's emotional intelligence and your own parenting skills. Ready for the Day! features:
* An engaging, realistic story that will ring true for parents and kids alike
* Easy-to-use techniques and positive language highlighted in color-coded text
* A section just for adults that explains the language of positive parenting
* An easy, fun way to improve parenting skills—by reading with your child"

I'm a full-time mummy

As I go through the book with my 3 years old son, I can see him nodding in agreement and I relate it to my boy on how similar he is with Maya (the main character in this book), that they both have to get ready for the day and dady has to get ready too to leave for work.

I love the beautiful and realistic illustrations! I I love that daddy let Maya choose what to do by giving her 2 options. I love the ideas of letting a child feel important and independent bt making their own decision and yet able to accomplish what I want hence the 2 options set!

My verdict? Definitely a must have book!

I'm a full-time mummy

You can get this book from Amazon and Free Spirit Publishing website.

I'm a full-time mummy

I received no monetary compensation for this review, I was provided with a copy of the book 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'm a full-time mummy

Product Review - Scotch™ Premium Kitchen Scissors

~ Posted on Thursday, August 2, 2012 at 9:10 AM ~

I came across this tweet message looking for Malay bloggers to review kitchen tool products and as a Malaysian, this is one step easier to pitch for products to review since Malay means most likely the PR or sponsor is in Malaysia! Anyway, I replied the Tweet asking whether they are OK with Chinese bloggers as well, and to my surprise, I received a reply saying mummy bloggers all welcome and we continued our communication via emails and the rest is history!

I received 2 pairs of scissors for my review: one for kitchen use, and the other for children's use, which you can read my rave reviews here. So here goes my final review of the "Scotch™ Premium Kitchen Scissors":

I'm a full-time mummy

Description from the product page:
"3M’s new Scotch™ premium kitchen scissors are produced from Japanese-made stainless steel which has been treated using 3M’s unique electro-polishing process for superior smoothness in comparison to generic stainless steel. This means there are fewer ridges and rough spots on the blade surface, which can trap food residue and breed bacteria. It also enhances the material’s ability to resist corrosion.

3M’s unique electro-polishing process makes Scotch™ premium kitchen scissors more hygienic for safer food preparation which is really important to everyone. The micro-serrated blades also add on an extra level of sharpness, making it easier for everyone to cut through meat and bones or to snip fresh herbs and fruits! Many of us take great care in preparing quality food for our family, so tools that aid in safe and hygienic food preparation are always welcomed by Malaysians.

With the Scotch™ premium kitchen scissors, slicing, trimming, and shaping food is simply a breeze! It’s time to get creative in the kitchen as it’s now so simple to shape food into fun images to whet the appetites of the little ones or to impress the guests. For greater agility and to get things done faster, you no longer have to worry about using a cutting board. Using a pair of high quality kitchen scissors can give you a great time cutting your way through vegetables, meat and anything else your recipe calls for."

I'm a full-time mummy

Honestly, when I saw this scissors, I told my MIL and hubby "OK, you guys go ahead and try this scissors out then just before you want to use, call me, I want to take pictures for my blog review!" - I have to be honest, I was skeptical at using scissors to cut meat! I mean, hellooooo, scissors?!!!!

So yeah, I told myself let others be guinea pigs ngek ngek ngek... But it sat there unused as MIL forgotten about it and hubby was too busy with his work, so I decided to try it out myself as I have to submit my honest feedback in my blog for you guys to read!!!!

Now before I go ahead, I just want to share my opinion on this scissors. It is quite heavy but not that heavy that you need two hands to hold it, when I said heavy I'm actually comparing it to normal scissors hahaha... I love the sturdy grip on the handles, the solid materials of the handles and I'm impressed that there is not many ridges on the blades as this will mean less food will be trapped in the blades.

And you see the rounded ridges between the 2 handles? That is a multifunction feature where you can use the scissors to open bottles! Cool eh?

How I tried out this scissors? I had to wait for our next grocery shopping (every fortnight) and once I got hold of my chicken meats (I planned to use some for roasting and some for frying), I wash the chicken meats, also wash the scissors as well. Then I muttered a prayer hoping that this is going to work and started sniping gently.

To my absolute surprise, the meat cuts off ever so gently! I was amazed at what I saw! The chicken meat just fell off easily as I snip and snip and snip. I got all excited and I think that's how my 3 year old felt too when he realised he could easily cut papers with his Kids scissors!

The scissors is magnificent! I even try cutting by few milimeters just to see whether it is good enough to cut small amount of meat and yes, works wonderfully! So good and excited I was that I took the scissors, the chicken meat I was holding and the container storing the cut meats and demonstrated it to my MIL.

She too went 'Whoaaaa... that was easy! Next time can use scissors to cut meat!' So people, this scissors is MIL approved too! Hehehehe!!

I tried with fish the next day and it cuts smoothly as ever. So so so easy!

My verdict of this scissors? No doubts about it, this scissors pack a punch and YES, it cuts meat like a scissors cut papers! Smooth and easy! Love love love it!

I'm a full-time mummy

The new Scotch™ premium kitchen scissors retails at RM35.90 (about USD12) and is available at all major supermarkets, hypermarkets and DIY stores.

I'm a full-time mummy

I received no monetary compensation for this review, I was provided with the product by 3M 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.

I'm a full-time mummy