My youngest baby is turning 6 next month. Let’s not talk about how strange that feels; let’s just talk about what I’m considering getting him for his birthday. Perhaps you have a similar child turning 6 (or 5 or 7), or perhaps you have a birthday party to go to.

Penguin bank (photo from Target.com). We give our kids a bank and their first allowance at their 6-year-old birthday party. For my first two kids, I chose a bank for them; but with the younger three, it’s worked better to let them choose one. I discuss it with them casually while at the store display a few months before the birthday, and then go back later and buy the one they liked. Henry chose this penguin. (I would have rooted for this owl if they had it in the stores.)

Webkinz lion (photo from Amazon.com). After last week’s post, it will not surprise you to hear that he is getting a Webkinz. Every other family member (well, except Paul) has or has had one, and now Henry wants one. He said “lion” immediately when I asked what animal, but then later on he said, “Wait. Do they have sharks?” (They do.) So there may need to be more deliberation.
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A couple of weeks ago I bought myself a Webkinz fox (photo from Amazon.com), after seeing the kids play Webkinz and feeling envious. I felt a little silly, but I shouldn’t have: for less than $10, I have had evening after evening of games. NO THEY ARE NOT BABY GAMES, SHUT UP.

And it could have been even less than less-than-$10, if I hadn’t been so picky about getting the fox. But I WAS picky about getting the fox, so it was $9.90. (I also considered the hedgehog.) (Photo from Amazon.com.)
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There are things that I hear people talking about for ages, about how great those things are, and I’m too Anxious About New Things to try them. And then one day I DO (or else someone does it for me, as when I was 21 and my dad signed me up for an email account, knowing I wouldn’t have done it until my thirties otherwise), and my life is REVOLUTIONIZED. My parents use the expression that something “has improved the quality of our lives.” And while that sounds like the kind of thing people might say about a new vaccine or an economic upturn, they use it for things such as a new shower caddy.

Ever since I had my second child (and, perhaps more importantly, moved to a house no longer within walking distance of the post office), I’ve been whining about how hard it is to go to the post office: the lines, and the limited hours, and hauling children in and out of the car for what ought to be a 2-minute errand, and why don’t they have a DRIVE-THROUGH?? My dad kept saying and Saying and SAYING that I could get a pre-paid label online and have my mail carrier pick up the package, but I felt like…maybe I couldn’t. Like what if that cost more money? what if I weighed it wrong? what if my mail carrier hadn’t heard of it and thought I was being presumptuous? what if I had to print it on special label paper instead of regular? what if there was a pick-up fee, or or or?
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I didn’t get too fretful reading that if I’m going to use reusable bags I’d better spend $20 or more on each one or else I’m doing Something Bad—especially when it seems to me that the ones TRULY SUFFERING when I buy a reusable bag for $1-5 are the companies that sell the same thing for more than $20.

I did however feel some concern when I read about how very, very, VERY many reusable bags will be purchased in a fit of Earth Day spirit (or given away as advertising) and then will not in fact be used—so that we still have the original problem of plastic bags stacking up underground like the neverending leaves of deciduous plastic trees, PLUS the problem of all these REUSABLE BAGS. One store I shopped at this week was giving out a reusable bag to each customer without even asking if the customer wanted one; I wonder how many of those bags were pitched out as soon as the customers returned home?
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All year long, I clip those little “Box Tops for Education” thingies, and the kids bring them in to their school. I didn’t know it until this school year, but the Box Tops program also has something called “Marketplace,” where certain online stores donate a percentage of your purchase to the school.  I’m doing a lot of shopping right now ANYWAY, so this is a nice way to help the school without having to volunteer to help out at the Winter Fair (*shudder*). Plus, as it turned out, it was an excuse to do a little giveaway, and I really like doing giveaways.
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My co-blogger here at Milk & Cookies just wrote a post about favorite places to do online shopping, and today’s post is related: what are your favorite shopping blogs or product review sites? Places you go to find gift ideas — either for other people or, you know, for YOURSELF? 

I love shopping/review blogs (so much so that I ran my own until recently); here’s a list of some of my faves, as well as some new-to-me picks recommended by other folks:
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I’m sure some children’s rooms are perfectly decorated to be a magical fairyland of wonder and joy, but in our house the kids’ rooms just seem to be cluttered repositories for toys, books, piles of clothes — both laundered and dirty — and the lingering nose-assaulting remains of poopy diapers. There’s some artwork on the walls, but not much. The vibe is less Pottern Barn Kids and more . . . well, Messy Storage Area Where the Highchair is Stuffed in the Corner and a Box of Outgrown Clothes Gathers Dust.

I love the idea of a kid’s wall hung with wonderful artwork, though. Maybe someday I’ll decorate our boys’ rooms more than they currently are. Or maybe I’ll just keep a dreamy collection of kid’s art bookmarks along with my folders of gourmet kitchen appliances, built-in wooden bookshelves with integrated library ladder, and marble bathroom vanity tops.

If you like collecting things from Etsy artists — and who doesn’t? — here are some amazing prints that would be perfect for a nursery or little kid’s room:
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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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