Go right now to Amazon and buy this set of DVDs (Scholastic Treasury of 100 Storybook Classics).  Throw out Barney, throw out all the loud, noisy crap we’ve been patiently tolerating in our cars during the long commute to school, and BUY THIS.  I wanted to try these DVDs long ago, but they were $100 for the set, and OUCH.  I got them for $45 during an Amazon 1 hour deal, and man, I should have bought these last year.

First, I couldn’t handle the toy store my minivan had become.  What a bleepin’ mess.  The girls were bored, I was frazzled from the whining, and there’s not a lot I can do to make the commute shorter.  Santa delivered these wonderful classic children’s stories on DVD, told by James Earl Jones, Sarah Jessica Parker, and countless other welcoming voices (meaning, NOT ELMO).  They are gently told, straight from the story books we grew up loving (Curious George, Chysanthemum, Where The Wild Things Are….100 stories!).  Some are live actors, some are moving pictures, some are cartoons.  They are quiet, yet the girls are mesmerized.   They are not fancy.  They are not Disney-fied (which isn’t all bad…I love me a good dose of Disney).  They are what we know anything with the Scholastic stamp to be: quality goodness worth our money and our time.

I get my quiet coffee and news, the girls watch a few good stories, and I lose the guilt that their brains are going to mush watching nursery rhymes over and over.  I see Volume 2 arriving Christmas 2009.

Answer to Stephanie’s Question, Where do I find Amazon 1 hour deals?  I suscribe to slickdeals.net RSS feed.  I check it throughout the day because really great deals go fast.  With 2000 gifts left to purchase, I can’t miss a beat.  I am thinking there must be a better way.  Slickdeals is OK, but I suspect there is something more direct. Anyone have any suggestions?