The books Riley wants us to read over and over are Good Night Moon, Curious George Visits a Toy Store, and any of the Dr. Seuss tongue-twisters. As children’s books go, I figure it could be much worse—at least he likes the classics. He’s got more than one book in his collection that would have to find its way to the recycle bin if he wanted to hear it every day, such as the odious/preachy I Love You Mommy.

I’m sure most of us are up to our ears in kids’ reading material and don’t need a whole lot of suggestions in that arena, but I wanted to share a few of the title that have a special place on Riley’s bookshelf. A couple of them are many years old, from when I was a little kid, and I hope that Riley one day enjoys them as much as I used to—and maybe even passes them down to his own kids. If they survive his childhood, that is, which given the state of some of his much-loved tomes seems doubtful.
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On my last post Sarah posted a comment asking whether the Dyson vacuum was worth the expense, and I thought HEY I WOULD ALSO LIKE TO KNOW THE ANSWER TO THAT QUESTION.

Sometimes I think in all caps, I don’t know why.

In the hopes of pooling our collective smarty-pantsedness, today’s post will focus on three insanely expensive products—your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to weigh in on whether or not you think they’re worth the cost. Bonus points if you have actual experience with the product, but totally uninformed opinions are welcome too. I mean, this IS the internet.
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In addition to two children who are determined to systematically destroy every surface of our house with crayons, blunt objects, and various bodily substances, we also have two pets, a dog and a cat. They are known to shed, drool, barf, and occasionally, in the case of our cat, find creative places to void the contents of their bowels/bladder.

I lead a very exciting lifestyle. It involves many paper towels.

For those of you who are pet owners, what sorts of things do you consider must-haves for dealing with their various messes? My list is brief, but CRUCIAL:
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Back in 2005 I bought myself a Mommytags necklace when Riley was born, and now that I’ve got a second child (is that ever going to seem completely normal to me, the notion that I have not a child but children?) I need to get myself a third tag with Dylan’s birth date on there. I suppose at that point it won’t quite have the same military vibe (which I love, because hello, as mothers have we not all joined some sort of poop-smeared Special Forces Brute Squad?), but I dig that piece of jewelry. It’s got just the right feel for me: not too froufrou, perfect for t-shirts and dresses alike.

I like the idea of customized jewelry but there’s a lot of cheesy stuff out there, apparently targeting the cheery holiday sweater crowd. I did some browsing around to see what was available that didn’t seem like it should come with a shot of insulin (note to jewelry makers: if your website automatically starts playing sappy music upon loading, most of us can’t hit the Back button fast enough. Welcome to 2008, where web design should not hold a person down and dry-hump their leg); here are a few of the items that caught my eye:
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I hope you’ll indulge me in another post designed entirely for my own benefit, but I so enjoyed reading what foods are a constant hit with your kids, I was hoping we could talk about a similar subject: what activities are guaranteed to distract your children?

You know, when you’ve got dinner on the stove and the laundry is whumping around in the dryer for the fiftieth time to ‘de-wrinkle’ and the phone is ringing and you seriously have to pee and you just need five. Damn. Minutes? And you’ve got a whiny, bored kid following you around making his whiny, bored noises, and he’s watched all the kid’s programming you can ethically deal with for the day, and what you’re looking for here is an Ooh, Shiny to throw in his direction?

Here are the ones that work for my whiny, bored kid:
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When my 2.5-year-old was younger I went through a long period of worrying about what he ate, or more specifically, what he didn’t eat. For a while there it seemed like he lived almost exclusively on Saltines and milk, and I compulsively checked him for symptoms of scurvy. Well-meaning people gave me all kinds of suggestions for foods to offer him, but in the end he refused them all and rode out the crackers-and-dairy stage with all his teeth intact.

His palate has expanded since then, but he’s never been one of those kids who happily devours whatever Mom and Dad are having. I don’t really push that issue, especially when I’m low on time and dinner just needs to happen, even if it involves a less-than-gourmet, surely-not-approved-by-Jessica-Seinfeld meal for him. When I’m in a rush and trying to juggle two kids and get the dog and cat fed and empty the dishwasher all at the same time, I tend to go for the tried-and-true. Sure, I might be encouraging a Food Rut, but . . . well, I don’t know, I guess I’ve decided it’s not that big of a deal.

The foods my kid never refuses:
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So it’s your lunch break at work, or you’re at home and the children are (THANK YOU JEBUS) napping, and instead of jumping on your next office project or tackling the never-ending laundry pile, you sit in front of your computer, and . . . well, what are you looking at?

Other than personal blogs and embarrassing, brain-rotting things like People.com and CNN.com, I’ve got a few favorite websites I like to check in with when I have some downtime. I’ll show you mine if you show me yours, okay?

(Heh.)
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I don’t know about you, but I sure don’t get to spend as much time reading as I used to. Pretty much the only time I open a book anymore is right before I fall asleep at night, which is to say I maybe get one or two pages in before slumping into an openmouthed, snoring coma.

Therefore, I really don’t want to spend my minimal amount of reading energy on an “eh” book, you know? And while I feel kind of bad making recommendations for or against books here (such a totally subjective topic), what the hell, let’s talk about the best things we’ve read lately — and the don’t-waste-your-time ones, too.

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I am not exactly a professional photographer over here. In fact, I don’t know what half the buttons on my camera do, I can’t remember what an F-stop is, and the last time I used my tripod I caught my foot on it and sprawled flat on my living room floor.

But! I do love taking, editing, and sharing photos, and thanks to the tools I use, they don’t always suck. Unless they are of me (because my mouth is always hanging open or my eyes are pointing in two different directions or a fat roll has somehow snuck into the scene), or of my cat (because she always appears to be an amorphous black blob). I post most of my favorite images to Flickr, and one of these days I’m actually going to print some family photos and hang them in my house. REALLY I AM.

Anyway, my suggestions for turning out halfway decent photos without having a single clue about photography:
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