A couple of months ago, my girls got to check out a really cute new toy - it’s Sesame Street’s own Ernie, made out of K’NEX! We adore Sesame Street and we like K’NEX products too, so we had a lot of fun with this. K’NEX has several different Sesame Street Building Sets available - my favorite one is Super Grover, natch - and they retail for around $10.99 each. Other, more elaborate sets are available too - I noticed a set that pairs up Bert and Ernie and another with Cookie Monster and Hooper’s Store.

Each character can be constructed in various ways, and the coordinating pieces can be stored in their own custom canister. The arms and legs have hinge points too, so you can (carefully) move your little characters around once they’re all put together. We had lots of fun with this!

My review is coming pretty late here - we received this at the end of the summer, as you can see by the pictures of Nikki and Lexi in shorts and tank tops! Unfortunately, illness has kept me away from writing reviews for several weeks. But I’m getting my gallbladder out very soon, which the doctors are going to yank out of me K’NEX style, quick and easy. I’m looking forward to getting past all of that, so I can get back my regular ol’ life!

If you have little Sesame Street lovers, this would be a great gift, and it’s small enough that Santa could easily stuff it in a stocking. I wouldn’t mind picking up a few more of these sets for that very purpose! You can find them online at the link above or in stores right now!

Check out this weirdo crazy cool thing I got to review recently:

It’s called the Slendertone EnerVive. It’s this little contraption that zaps your muscles with electronic pulses via these sticky pad things you place on your skin. The product was accompanied by a detailed map showing exactly how to place the pads so you don’t injure yourself. Some of the selling points of this system:

You may have noticed I’ve been conspicuously absent from this blog. I’ve wanted to post about all of that for a few days now, but wasn’t sure what to say about it. The audience I have here is slightly different from the readers I have at my regular blog, and I’m not always sure how to word things for a more varied crowd. But, I figure you deserve an explanation, so I’m going to give it a go.

I’m a little burned out. I’m not feeling well. If you’re a reader at my main site, you’re probably aware of the health concerns I’ve been dealing with lately. Honestly, between the almost-daily headaches and the endless worry I’ve completely burdened myself with, I just can’t hang. I still have a stack of fine products sitting here on my desk to review. If one of those products is yours, please email me and we can discuss when your review will post. If you entered the Music Month contests, hang tight. I’m going to re-run that whole thing when life smooths out for me a little bit. I’ve got a ton of music sitting here to tell you about and to give away, and it’s not going anywhere, so stay tuned.

We’re going through some crazy shit over here at the Casa de Chaos, even more than usual. I’ve got my fingers crossed that things will even out a bit once we get into November and December. I’m not even doing Christmas at my house this year, can ya believe that? So, stick with me, folks. It’ll all work out.

Yay! Fall is here! And, it’s almost time for Halloween! All this month, you can get in the Halloween spirit with all your favorite shows on Nickelodeon, Nick Jr. and Noggin! During the week of October 27th, you can catch Halloween-themed episodes of Go, Diego, Go!, Ni Hao, Kai-lan, and Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! On Friday, October 31st, Nick Jr. will air a Halloween marathon from 9:00 a.m – 2:00 p.m. (ET/PT) with spooky episodes of preschool favorites including: The Backyardigans, Dora the Explorer, Go, Diego, Go!, Max & Ruby, Yo Gabba Gabba!, and The Wonder Pets! And on Sunday, October 26th at 3 pm (ET), you can see a brand new episode of Pinky Dinky Doo on Noggin.

Do your kids like to play games online? Log onto NickJr.com! They have brand new games for Halloween, including the “Backyardigans Trick or Treat Game” where kids can dress-up the Backyardigans in spooky and silly costumes. You can find lots of other great things on the site too, like step-by-step instructions for making Nick Jr. Halloween costumes and Jack-o’-lanterns, plus dozens of Halloween-themed kids activities, kids coloring pages, crafts and more.

If you can’t bear the thought of missing a single minute of Halloween-themed programming, here’s the run-down:

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