Wanna do something reaaally fun and help a girl out? Go to this link, look at the articles and activities, and leave some comments!! C'mon, you know you want to.

http://www.museumtour.com/site_parents_corner.php

My work just got some passes to the St. Louis Science Center. Let me know if you want em and I'll send them to you!

Mamaneen's blog the other day about racially mixed kids and especially Strange Quark's reply to it (about how it is detrimental to teach kids to be "color blind") got me thinking.

My 4 year old daughter has never really questioned skin color. She has noted that her own skin is tan (her father is half Chilean, and people frequently comment on her "pretty skin tone") but I don't think she's ever really heard or at least noticed herself or others being labeled as "black" or "white" or anything else. --read more >>

I spent the past two days in the courthouse, waiting and waiting and then finally being selected for a jury. The whole experience was very interesting - I liked seeing and being a part of the process. The case was tricky though, and ever since it ended, I can't stop thinking about it. --read more >>

I know fish oil was discussed the other day, and I've looked into it, but there are so many kinds! What kind do you get?

I have a question - I'm going to my best friend's baby shower next weekend and was thinking of getting her a sling. I had one, but never really liked it. I preferred the snuglie type thing. I think she asked for a maya wrap, but that's what I had and I never found it very comfortable. But maybe that was just me. Any suggestions on what kind to get? Thanks!

Ugg. This morning I was running late and feeling stressed out - dashing around to try to get us out the door so I could get the kid (4) to daycare and myself to work on time. She threw some crazy fit about what she was going to wear - "Dresses with ties in the back are too difficult!!! It's not tight enough!!! Wahhhhhhhhh!!!"--read more >>

Has anyone ever heard of this? I never have, but I stumbled across it while googling shyness in preschoolers.

My 4 year old daughter is really shy. At home and around some people she knows well she is a total chatterbox. It's mostly around adults she doesn't know well, and even some that she does know well that she doesn't talk. If they talk to her she will sometimes respond by shaking or nodding her head, other times she just stares at well-intentioned strangers with a rather embarrassing dead-pan look. --read more >>

How do you know when a little kid needs glasses (just turned 4)?
How do they do the tests when they can't read yet?

I posted a few days ago about getting a gift certificate to an awesome bookstore for my birthday (which was yesterday) and asking for suggestions of books to buy. I though I'd share what I got:

- Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cook Book
- Blonde by Joyce Carol Oates (fictionalized account of Marilyn
Monroe's childhood)
- A DIY Project Book
- The Delivery Man (novel about a prostitute in Las Vegas - liked
the cover)
- Black Hole (a graphic novel by Charles Burns)
- Paint it Black (novel by Janet Fitch, who wrote White Oleander)--read more >>

My mom got me a $75 gift certificate to Powell's, our giant independent bookstore here in Portland. I'm stoked! Any suggestions of books so good you need to own them rather than just borrow them from a friend/the library?

I've been thinking about weight, body image and self-esteem lately. My little girl is not even four yet, so it's not a huge issue right now, but I want to encourage her to eat healthily and not overeat but also of course teach her to be self-confident and to love herself and her body. --read more >>

If you are married, do you file jointly or separately? I am so clueless about these matters. What are the pros and cons? We got married in January of '07 and I am worried it's going to royally screw me. Damned marriage. Any advice?

Does anyone have any ideas for making some quick money, like today? Here's what I have so far:

Sell stuff (books, clothes, housewares) at resale shops
Sell plasma
Look for payed research opportunities

I have had a crazy, heightened sense of smell the past few days. The other night my husband was having a whiskey and coke in the kitchen and I smelled it really strongly through the house. This morning on the way to work I could smell a cigarette in someone's car several cars up from mine. I have an IUD, so I can't be pregnant, right? What else could it be?

I hear you ladies work magic, so...
My husband just applied for a job that would make our lives so much less stressful. I'm trying not to think about it too much, or how nice it would be, but really. We really need this.
Somehow even with my new grown-up job we are still always broke.
Thank you!

No, not me. My almost 4 year old. She was wearing pull-ups at night (she's been daytime potty trained since she was 2) until a few months ago, but usually woke up dry. So I stopped using them. But now she pees in the bed pretty often. Not every night, but enough that it's a big pain in the ass. I think it's just because she's such a heavy sleeper. She doesn't even wake up! I mean, I remember wetting the bed and instantly waking up when I was little. She just sleeps right through it. Is it worth the hassle? Should I just let her sleep in the damned pull-ups?

We moved from Indiana to Portland 2 years ago. My husband (then boyfriend) and I had both lived in Indiana our whole lives and were aching to get away. I love Portland (except for the gray, wet, nasty weather we've had for the past month or so). My husband loves Portland. There is so much to do here (beach, mountains, good music scene, arts etc.), I have a good job, the kid can go to a good public school in a few years, the husband loves school and when he's finished he'll have a lot of job opportunities. --read more >>

Christmas was a lot of fun with me, husband, kid, my dad and step-mom at our apartment. My little girl (almost 4) had a great time and handled herself beautifully considering all the excitement and sugar (I think she ate about 20 candy canes) and not a lot of sleep. We did have one incident on Christmas Eve though that really embarrassed me for some reason, and I'm wondering how other people would have handled it.--read more >>

Bonfire of the Disney Princesses
by Barbara Ehrenreich

Contrary to the rumors I have been trying to spread for some time,
Disney Princess products are not contaminated with lead. More careful
analysis shows that the entire product line--books, DVDs, ball gowns,
necklaces, toy cell phones, toothbrush holders, T-shirts, lunch boxes,
backpacks, wallpaper, sheets, stickers etc.--is saturated with a
particularly potent time-release form of the date rape drug.

We cannot blame China this time, because the drug is in the concept,--read more >>

I know there was a post about this a few days ago, but I couldn't find it!
I need suggestions for what to give my dad for Christmas. What are you guys getting your dads? I was going to make him anything but then I couldn't think of anything he'd like, and now time is running out ...
He is an old hippie, artistically inclined, a musician ... Any ideas?
Oh, and under $40.

I am broke broke broke, so beside my kid, everyone is getting homemade, thrifted, or very cheap gifts this year. I am also feeling very overwhelmed and disgusted by the consumerism I see this holiday season. It's the first year in a long time that I've had a TV, so the commercials are really shocking to me - they are all so blatant, over-the-top, in-your-face, shameless, etc. etc.
That being said, I love Christmas and I love giving people stuff. I am artistic in some ways, but not particularly crafty (I can't sew or knit).--read more >>

OK, I'm slowly adjusting to life as a career woman. This morning my step-dad called to talk to my mom who's visiting, and asked what I was doing up so early - I told him I was getting ready for work, now that I'm a career girl. My 3 year old overheard and corrected me, "You're a career woman, not a career girl." That's right honey!
Anyway, here are the areas I need advise in:--read more >>

I wrote about this a few days ago, but I feel like I have write about it again because it is REALLY getting me down. --read more >>

Last week I started working full time. I like my new job and I'm excited about it, but I think it's going to be quite an adjustment for my daughter (three and a half). We didn't have to put her in full time daycare - she's at her preschool three days a week, but instead of me picking her up she goes home with other mamas two of the days. The rest of the time she is with her daddy, who doesn't have class or work Thursdays or Fridays. But I tell ya, she is PISSED at me. She is vacillating between being clingy and pushing me away, screaming, whining, hitting, crying...--read more >>