"It changed my life!"

Dream gift

I am writing about an object that my husband and I have purchased more than a dozen times, but never used ourselves.

The Amazing Miracle Blanket is a special blanket designed to easily swaddle newborns. It keeps them wrapped up tight and feeling secure, which allows them do to the one thing it would be super helpful for them to do -- sleep. And not just sleep, but sleep for long periods at a time -- five, six or even eight hours. It helps ease fussiness and stops the twitching that wakes babies.

I first found out about the Amazing Miracle Blanket from a co-worker. My friend Sheri was having a baby shower and my co-worker, having just had his first baby, suggested it as a gift. He swore by the blanket's magical properties to keep his new baby son resting peacefully. He said it was the best gift they got.

So I ordered one. When the gift was opened at the baby shower, no one really knew what to do with it. The women in attendance examined it and passed it around, skeptical. I was a little, too. It does have sort of a cheesy infomercial name about it. I starting explaining that the friend from work swears by the thing, but no one seemed convinced.

A month later, I meet Sheri, now the mother of a newborn, at lunch. She walks up to me in the restaurant and kisses me, tears in her eyes.

"Oh my God, thank you! That Amazing Miracle Blanket is the greatest thing ever!"

She went on to tell me that she uses it every night and it made all the difference. After a few sleepless nights, she decided to give it a try. She wrapped her newborn up in it and he slept longer than he ever had. "I wash it every other day along with my maternity bra, that's how much I use it," she said.

So, with that endorsement, my husband, Jon, and I started giving Miracle Blankets as our standard shower gift. Friends, family, co-workers, neighbors -- anyone with a bulge in the belly got one.

"Trust me," I tell them, "you will love it." The moms- and dads-to-be always have the same reaction. They hold the blanket in its plastic packaging and turn it slowly back and forth and just look at us oddly. We smile confidently. We know.

And like clockwork a few weeks later, we get the note or the call or the big hug. The Miracle Blanket allowed a friend to get enough sleep at night so she could stay focused at her job. Sheri's Amazing Miracle Blanket was dispatched to friends whose marriage was stressed to the max from lack of sleep. One couple said they used it until their rather full-size baby was stretching the seams. It was a sad day for them when little Nolan didn't fit into his Miracle Blanket anymore.

Right now I have three on order -- all for couples who have no idea what it is or how it will help them. And when I say, "Oh, I need to get you an Amazing Miracle Blanket," they give me the same skeptical look. They'll learn.

-- Maryanne

Clean freak

While I don't normally go in for expensive and seemingly unnecessary cleaning products, a friend (and serious cleaning fanatic) had hyped the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser so much that I couldn't help being curious. I had seen the advertisements and though I don't have any kids writing on my walls with crayons, I am clumsy and like to drink beer -- which sometimes results in collisions with walls and other messy miscalculations. So, I went out and bought a box. Since then I have used the things to clean just about everything from dirty sneakers to my craggy white linoleum kitchen floor to amazing effect. I find myself wandering around my place looking for marks and dirt to magically erase. I have given Magic Erasers to friends as gifts. Of course, you still have to clean the object after you magic erase it, but it saves a lot of time and effort. I'm not so sure about the newer version of the product with the blue thing on one side. I still can't figure out exactly what that is supposed to accomplish, so I'm sticking with the original.

Note: The box warns that if you use the product on dishes or pots and pans you need to wash them thoroughly afterward. I don't know what they are made of exactly, but even if they pose health risks I'm willing to take the chance.

-- Kristen Bremner

Bathtub scum, beware!

An hour into scrubbing the bathtub for the third time in as many months, I threw in the brush. It's like hand-sanding the side of a boat. There's gotta be the cleaning equivalent of the power sander.

Found it. The Black and Decker Scumbuster. Check it out. Nine heads. Cordless. Power. Scrubber.

-- Joe

Girl meets grill

I have been called a "late adopter" by some, a Luddite by others, and a cheapskate by family. I discover bits of technology years after the rest of the world has, marvel at their ease and convenience, glad this or that object is now in my life, yet never regret that I didn't own it sooner. I think I just like my products thoroughly tested -- you know, by everyone -- before investing in them myself.

Some products are more likely to draw my attention than others. I have long had an approving eye on DVD players, and I capitulated to a cellphone only three years after most of my friends and family had one. But when my father called me four years ago with the news that he was sending me a George Foreman Lean Mean Grilling Machine, I can honestly say it was a product that had literally never occurred to me. "That's ... great, Dad," I said, all the while thinking, "What does a vegetarian need with a grilling machine?"

My father had been seduced into attending a live demonstration, run by George Foreman himself, and left with two Lean Mean Grilling Machines for himself (a small one and a "family size") and one for each of his children and stepchildren. "We can do burgers, chicken breasts, steaks, fish fillets..." My father remembered who he was talking to. "And you can probably do vegetables on it, too."

Except not really. The accompanying pamphlet pays lip service to a few vegetables, but the grill is unmistakably designed for meat. A slanting, rippled surface tunnels grease and juice (from meat) away from the food into a waiting tray. When cooking vegetables, these are often the juices you want to keep around. Also, try lining up a bunch of asparagus without each stalk rolling down the grill plate and landing on your kitchen counter.

The grilling machine arrived and sat in the corner of my room for several months, until the day I made a peanut butter and banana sandwich and thought, "Didn't Elvis like these grilled?" Having no butter in the house, and thinking olive oil might not be a good taste match, I unboxed the grilling machine. And let me tell you, a peanut butter and banana sandwich on the George Foreman grill is mind-blowingly good. The bread touching the hot surface crisps up just right, while the rest of the slice gets hot and steamy. The bananas melt into the peanut butter, and sometimes a bit of banana stuff hits the surface and carmelizes. It is so, so much better this way.

Sandwiches! I grilled peanut butter and chocolate sandwiches. I grilled strawberry and Nutella "dessert" sandwiches. I grilled peanut butter, tahini and peach sandwiches. I grilled cheese sandwiches. I grilled a sharp cheddar, dijon mustard, veggie sausage, and sauerkraut sandwich and then ate that every day for a month. I grilled leftover burritos and falafel sandwiches. I grilled hummus and arugula sandwiches. I grilled, you understand, everything that could be put between two slices of bread.

And then some. You can grill leftover French toast and pancakes. You can grill croissants. You can grill blocks of tofu, if you like that sort of thing, and most long-term vegetarians do. You can sprinkle grated cheese directly onto the surface until it burns up into a lacy pattern of what is undoubtedly bad for you, but tastes so good. And in between, I just swipe the grill surface with a wet paper towel, and it is as clean as the day I took it out of the box.

The satisfaction I get out of telling people how much I love my George Foreman Lean Mean Grilling Machine is the same satisfaction I get when I tell them I love In-N-Out Burger for its meatless "off the menu" menu. "I understand your surprise that I have found occasion to enjoy this meat-centric product/fast food establishment. The answer is, grilled sandwiches/French fries animal style." I can't make In-N-Out at home, but my grilling machine is worth every bit of space on my countertop.

-- Laura White

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