Cute, Cuddly & Practical

I like to bake. But as with most of my endeavors, I get overzealous, thinking I'll have time to make dozens and dozens of cookies only to squeeze out just one lone batch, if that. As a result, those giant bags of brown sugar I get at the local warehouse club tend to get a little hard.

You guys probably know this already, but if you put a piece of bread or a hot dog bun in the bag, your brown sugar will soften right back up. And being the smart people that you are, you probably also figured out you shouldn't forget about that bread and leave it in there more than overnight lest it get disgustingly moldy, as I found out one day when I actually went to bake something. Yuck!

Thanks to an iVillage "Our Favorite Things" email, I'm going to be the proud owner of a Sugar Bear, the cutest little terracotta wonder that you simply moisten and put in the brown sugar bag to soften. The best part is, you can forget about it and it won't get moldy, unlike that bread. They come in different designs, but in my humble opinion, the bear is the only way to go.

And they'd make great little gifts/package ornaments at the holidays when you give your friends and family homemade goods. Just something to think about...