My aunt, uncle and cousin flew in from the left coast Monday night for Thanksgiving week. The fearsome trio of my mother, sister and aunt will be attacking the malls during the week, scouring for deals. They’ll come up with great holiday gift ideas that we didn’t know we needed but now we’ll never be able to live without. Imagine my surprise Monday night of Thanksgiving week when after dinner my grandfather, returning the favor in advance by bringing out six gifts, two for each dedicate shopper. He told them that these would aide them in their holiday shopping endeavors.

Each one of the lady shopping warriors received a Digital Message Reminder and a Buxton Bag.

My initial comment to my grandfather was that he needs to quit watching so my TV, but as I looked back to our shopping army, I became overwhelmed at how vivaciously my family’s shopping army poked, prodded, opened, closed, zipped and unzipped the many compartments of this over the shoulder organizer. Especially my sister, a high-fashion retail merchandiser. She was getting a kick out of the Buxton Bag.

“A purse for heavy duty shopping,” my sister remarked.

“Wow, I can put my cell phone in this pocket,” amazed my aunt.

“And I can put my camera in this pocket,” marveled my mom. The astonishments went on and on.

“And the advertisement has a guy putting in two bottles of water,” remarked my grandfather. Of course, my family went to the fridge, got bottles of water out and put the theory to the test. The Buxton bag passed with flying colors.

My family reports from the shopping lines that the Buxton Bag is more than up to the shopping challenge. In addition to all the items my aunt, mom and sister normally have in their purse, I’m told they each have extra space for goodies. My aunt has the bottled waters, my mom has the sandwiches, and my sister has the 2-lb bags of chocolate goodies. My aunt has also reminded herself via her Digital Message Reminder to go to Baskin Robbins and get the Pumpkin Ice Cream and to thank my grandfather with a reciprocal gift - a taco. A taco is something he’s never had before but now will never be able to live without. And the gift-giving cycle continues.

Thank you, Buxton Bag, for equipping the shoppers in my family with tools that will better allow them to navigate the shopping centers of Chicago.

Malls beware.

The holiday season means those old carpets are going to be put to the test when family, friends and loved ones come calling. Holiday cake and cookie crumbs, pets, children and the black sheep uncle who won’t take off his snowy, muddy boots, your carpets are going to need professional-quality steam carpet cleaner treatments both before the holiday madness begins and then again when the rush is over.

Calling a professional carpet cleaner to come in both before and after is one approach but it’s costly, timely and you have to work on the cleaner’s schedule. Not only that, but when those carpets need cleaning, again, you’ll have to go through the process, again.But, alas, something needs to be done with those embarrassing rags. Those gut-wrenching stains and noticeable spots need to be removed five minutes ago so the holiday guests won’t see them.

Instead of the logistical, expensive hassle of depending on someone else, try a simple, proven solution that can be done on your time, as frequently as you would like and will give you the professional carpet cleaning results you desire:  Rug Doctor Mighty Pro.

With over 35 years of dedicated experience, the Rug Doctor Mighty Pro steam cleaner will vacuum and steam away all the dirt, grime, dust, pollen, food and hazardous gunk that forms between the fibers, leaving your carpets fresh, new, and smelling great. Not only will your carpets be conditioned to handle the onslaught of the current holiday season but Rug Doctor Mighty Pro will better prepare your carpets for many holiday seasons to come.

Try Rug Doctor Mighty Pro risk-free for 30 days. Useful tools and assets that come with the Rug Doctor Mighty Pro include a 5-year limited consumer warranty, a universal hand tool, pre-treatment sprays and a bevy of steam cleaning systems and cleaners to revitalize the spirit of your old carpets right out of the box.

And, for beginners, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the Rug Doctor Problem Stain Solutions Guide, the definitive manual for conquering dozens of those hard-to-remove stains.Feel proud enough of your carpets to host holiday gatherings year after year after year after… or maybe just this year.

(Though this offer is no longer available, other great electronic gifts are available from As Seen on TV Network)

This is by far one of the coolest gadgets to come across by desk. Everyone has a box full of film negatives and slides laying around. They’re easy to ignore, especially in the day of digital photos. Well, now you don’t need to let your memories sit in a musty box. You can take your old negatives and slides and put them into your digital photo libraries with the Scantastic Slide and Negative scanner. With the advent of digital photography, many of us have forgotten about our pre-digital lives because those film pictures don’t factor into our new digital based lives. Well, now there is an easy way to scan your old film negatives and slides and add them easily to your digital photo libraries.

The Scantastic Slide and Photo Scanner is an easy to use tool that quickly makes high quality scans of slides and negatives.

The slide scanner creates 5 MegaPixel quality scans. Scantastic is also designed to be a film scanner and can make equally as impressive picture negative scans. The film to digital converter resolution of 5 Megapixel means that you can make poster size blow up of all your old pictures.

I like the convenience of the Scatastic slide and film negative scanner. Many photolabs will provide a similar service, but it can be expensive and the quality is sometimes less than you would expect. This clever little device gives complete control of your film to digital conversion. Included software allows you edit and manipulate your scanned images.

The Scantastic will make a great gift for the holidays and it’s very reasonably priced. I know I’m going to pick up a few for the holidays. My family members will love the Scantastic Slide and Film Scanner.

 This Holiday Season, instead of getting your friends and loved ones bland, vanilla store-bought greetings, show them how much you care by crafting your feelings with the award-winning Cricut Expression Personal Electronic Cutting System.

“But I don’t have a creative bone in my body.”

That’s okay, because the Cricut Expression is simple, quick and easy to use.Winner of the Disney Consumer Products Global Stationary - North America Best Product Award (September 2008), Cricut Expressions Personal Electronic Cutting Machine  makes professional looking greeting cards, signs, elementary school creatives as well as stencils and etchings with grace and style. An essential tool for beginners and craftsmen, Cricut Expressions will allow you to express yourself with arts and crafts in a way you never thought possible before.As the video on getmycricut.com says, all you have to do is

1) Select Your Image
2) Select Your SizePress “Cut”
3)  Press Cut

And your on your way to making detailed, stylish, precise patterns, cuts, cards, designs and more.Cricut Expression 24” Personal Electronic Cutter comes with 2 cutting mats:  a 1′x1′ and a 1′x2′. Cuts can be made from ¼” on up to 23 1/2”. If you have the cartridges from the original Cricut machine, then you’re in luck because the Cricut Expressions accepts, as getmycricut.com writes, “the existing line of Cricut cartridges.” Additional features include:

• Quantity (how many cuts at the specified size)
• Auto Fill
• Fit to Page
• Fit to Length
• Mix n Match (each character has a separate creative feature)
• Portrait (ability to rotate selected characters and cut up to 23 ½”)
• Flip
• Line Return
• Center Point

The durable blade on the Cricut Expression Cutting System can last for about 1,000 cuts -  pending on materials cut. Materials suggested for cutting include:

• Paper
• Card Stock and Heavy Card Stock
• vinyl
• “Window Cling Materials” (according to getmycricut.com)
• thin magnets
• posterboard
• fabric papers
• metallic papers

and more…

A 30-day Home trial of Cricut Expression is available from getmycricut.com for only $33.00 plus $24.99.

This season, be the relative who created, cut, shaped and designed memories that will be remembered for a lifetime.

Most children want video games all the time, especially during the holiday season. Most adults want to give children holiday gifts that are fun and exciting, but that will also benefit each child as well. This holiday season, let both sides win by giving children the gift that comes from an innovative union of video games and education:  BrainWare Safari.As previously posted, BrainWare Safari is intuitive education software that both entertains and teaches kids ages 6-12 while they enjoy “interacting with their jungle friends.” Kids enjoy the invasive, engaging animation and usability while parents feel relieved at the kids’ accelerated cognitive development that occurs from interacting with this innovative education software technology.While the child delights in completing exercises that help their jungle companion grow and develop from birth to adulthood, the child’s attention, memory, visual processing, sensory integration and self esteem develop as well. It is kids’ education software applications such as BrainWare Safari that are helping to revolutionize video games’ role in education.Parents and guardians whose children have used BrainWare Safari can attest to the progress their young ones have made while engaging in this children’s’ educational software. (From brainwaresafari.com):“The BrainWare Safari software had a tremendously positive impact on our boys and enabled them to demonstrate high measurable achievement through enhanced cognitive skills, visual awareness auditory skills, thinking skills, and memory enhancement. I urge you to give this software your highest consideration.”—Eugene G. White, Ed.D.Superintendent, Indianapolis Public Schools“Overall, we are very impressed by the changes we have seen in our son. Please continue to promote this wonder (BrainWare) — it is truly the next step in the evolution of education.”—Dr. Michael D. BrownBoard of Commissioners, Indianapolis Public SchoolsBrainWare Safari is design to work on PCs that are powered by Pentium III 600 MHz or faster and that operate on Windows 98 or newer. For Mac users, OSX is required. BrainWare Safari requires a minimum of 200 MB of disk space and an internet connection so users can stay constantly updated with the newest version of BrainWare Safari.One of the more thoughtful as seen on TV products to grace the As Seen on TV Network radar, BrainWare Safari will be the kind of holiday gifts that kids will think were purchased for simply their enjoyment. Now, when they want to spend extra time on the computer at night, parents and guardians will feel a little easier knowing that the child is being productive – whether or not the child realizes it.Go ahead, try BrainWare Safari for your child today and witness results first hand.

Looking for a gift that will leave a lasting impact this holiday season on the Bobbys and Suzies in your world? Those magical Christmas gift ideas for children? The special present on the last night of Hanukkah? Or that inspirational Zawadi on January 1?

Consider music. Really, really good music. Consider the kind of music that not only Bobby and Suzie can hear, but the kind of music that can only come from their own creativity, their own inspiration.

Consider Giovanni’s Roll Out Keyboard. From internationally acclaimed composer and pianist Giovanni Marradi comes this dynamic, portable, soothing battery-operated roll out piano keyboard that can be played anywhere at any time for anyone’s delight. The sound of a baby-grand piano from an instrument portable enough to store in a purse or backpack, complete with everything you need to learn and play, Giovanni’s Roll Out Keyboard is the perfect Christmas gift for children who are considering a venture into the musical arts.

Giovanni’s Roll Out Keyboard comes complete with Giovanni Marradi’s Gini Learning Method, a step-by-step musical learning system that simplifies piano techniques, allowing children and adults to start using their creativity immediately while pressing down on Giovanni’s Sensi-touch keyboard – a keyboard that remarkably simulates authentic acoustic piano keys. The Gini Learning Method makes perfect piano lessons for beginners because the Gini system is designed to go at the pace of the learner.

Not only is the Giovanni Roll Out Keyboard the perfect piano starter kit with the perfect starter keyboard for piano study, but the Giovanni Piano comes stocked with a comprehensive set of tools to allow Bobby and Suzie to play, record and sing as they learn. An auxiliary jack comes standard so Bobby and Suzy can either plug into the stereo and be heard by the whole family or plug in their headphones and play with an element of privacy. A Microphone fluidly plugs in to the Giovanni piano as well, allowing their singing prowess to come to the forefront as they learn and play. Giovanni Roll Out Keyboard even comes with MIDI port connections compatible with most any computer recording software. And if Bobby and Suzie want to sound like a full band, their portable keyboard piano has settings to sound like a synthesizer, string quartet, guitar or drums.

Before you know it, Bobby and Suzie can be on world tour thanks to the Giovanni Roll Out Keyboard – and you.

Not only does it make a children’s gift for the holiday season, Giovanni’s Roll Out Keyboard comes with a 90 day free trial. Help Bobby and Suzie try their hand at music without getting locked into pricy private lessons and the investment of a piano. The only trouble you’ll have next holiday season is topping what you got them this season.

Who doesn’t love Billy Mays?  Better yet, who doesn’t love Billy Mays outtakes, especially when they’re fricken hilarious!?  So without further ado, the As Seen on TV Network Blog brings you some of the best Billy Mays outtakes this side of the internet.

Be sure to comment and let Billy Mays know what you think!

Tags: Billy Mays Bedazzler Engrave It Handy Switch Zorbeez As Seen on TV