Whenever I see something that seems like it would make a good gift, I make myself a note. Sometimes these notes clump into categories, and sometimes not. This is post of gift ideas I’ve been meaning to mention, but they keep not fitting with other posts.

Marmar Magnetic Necklace Sets (photo from the shop). Wait, because these are even neater than you think. FIRST, they’re neat because to change the pendant on the necklace, you just click a new magnet into place. But THEN, they’re ADDITIONALLY awesome because they work with all the Marmar refrigerator magnet sets! So, like, you get yourself a necklace, and you have magnets all over your fridge, and in the morning when you’re getting ready you can PICK A MAGNET OFF YOUR FRIDGE AND PUT IT IN YOUR NECKLACE. A squirrel one day, a cupcake the next! A famous scientist one day, a Santa-hatted cat the next! This idea appeals to me so much, I really really wish I wore necklaces. I would buy ALL THE MAGNET SETS.

Sons of Anarchy temporary tattoos (photo from fxnetworks.com). (I mean, clearly the photo is from fxnetworks.com. Clearly I do not have this nice young man in my living room posing for a photo for me.) I saw a mention of these in an interview with one of the cast members, and I immediately thought “OMG THAT WOULD BE SO COOL FOR A FAN OF THE SHOW.” Or for the partner of a fan of the show. Ahem. No-judging zone.
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This Saturday will be the first day of autumn. This puts me in the mood for hot drinks, and for down-filled blankets it’s still not cold enough to use, and for LEAF COLORS.

Le Creuset salt and pepper shakers in Flame (photo from Amazon.com).

Reversible Damask/Polkadot Lumbar Pillow (photo from Amazon.com). The price seems high for a single pillow, but it is a very pretty pillow.
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Can we talk a little about what we did for Father’s Day THIS year, so that we can refer to it NEXT year? I’d wanted to do a post on Father’s Day gift ideas last week, but I felt too discouraged, and also Paul reads here sometimes and I didn’t want to give away his gift idea. And of course all the store gift ideas are like “Barbecue! Golf! Beer! Sports! Tools! Here’s the perfect idea but it’s $250!”

I was lucky this year, because I thought of an idea for something I wanted to get ANYWAY for Paul, and Father’s Day was only a month or so away so I bought it and put it aside.

Wireless Remote Locator (photo from Amazon.com). Paul is continually getting frustrated at not being able to find the remote, and I am continually getting frustrated about the frustrated searching, so this is really a gift for BOTH of us. There is a risk, of course, of losing the remote finder—but I plan to NAIL IT TO HIS HAND THE WALL.
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For Mother’s Day this year, Paul is taking all five kids out of the house for most of the day. I’m…not sure I can find a single thing to complain about there. I plan to buy a box of chocolates and/or a pint of ice cream ahead of time, and spend the day reading and/or watching TV. Then I’ll go to Wendy’s for lunch. Maybe bring the food home with me, just so I can eat the fries with the maximum awareness of not sharing them with anyone.

Perhaps you are not expecting such a nice Mother’s Day yourself? My boss is looking out for you: she’s giving away a $25 Amazon.com gift card to one commenter on this post. You don’t have to comment anything in particular, though of course we all enjoy reading stories of past outrages and disappointments! They don’t even have to be your OWN stories, if a friend of yours had a particularly good-story one. Come on, spill it.

In the meantime, many of us have a little shopping to do for our own mothers.

My own mother greatly enjoyed The Cazalet Chronicles, a series of four books by Elizabeth Jane Howard. (Photo from Amazon.com.) The Light Years (careful: there are a bunch of other books with the same name) is first, followed by Marking Time, Confusion, and Casting Off. The first thing you’ll likely notice is that some of the books are unusually EXPENSIVE for paperbacks. Well, perhaps it wouldn’t be wise to buy all four right of the bat anyway, until you know if your mom likes them. Get just the first one and see. Or maybe the first TWO, since the second one is the cheapest of all four.
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I can make lists of toys I’m considering for the kids this year, and I likely WILL make such lists. But I also like to see lists of toys someone else has actually opened and played with, so that’s the theme of today’s grouping. This is mostly toys I’ve RECENTLY been surprised by and pleased with, but I’m also putting in a couple that our family has found enduringly fun to play with, and also one that I recommend you buy not for an actual child but for a grown up who likes miniatures/dollhouses (or MAYBE for a VERY CAREFUL child of the quiet and meticulous sort).

Melissa & Doug Magnetic Hide and Seek Board (photo from Amazon.com). A couple of times a year, my mom and aunt go shopping to stock their gift shelves and the toy rooms they’re responsible for freshening. This is one of the toys that most impressed everyone when we opened it up to try it out. They’d already realized that each door opened to reveal something inside (cookie inside the cookie jar, car inside the garage, etc.), but we hadn’t realized the item inside would be a removable piece. And in typical Melissa & Doug “impress ‘em by going one better than they even knew they wanted” form, the pieces are magnetic so they don’t scatter everywhere if you tip the puzzle.

Caring Corners Nanny Oakes Interactive Nursery (photo from Amazon.com). This is another of their finds, and I think what most impressed me about it was how little I thought I’d like it, compared with how much I did like it.
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I saw one of these fancy Easter baskets by chance, and now am dazzled by the idea that grown-ups can have Easter baskets too, with excellent fancy chocolate instead of the “chocolate-flavored candy” kind.

Godiva Enchanted Easter Basket (photo from Godiva.com), $85 with free shipping if you use code BUNNY.

See’s Deluxe Easter Basket (photo from Sees.com), $59.50 plus shipping, which they call the “Extra Large Family Basket” but I changed the name because I don’t want any lip about how many people ought to be sharing it.
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It had never occurred to me that I would want a vegetable peeler in the shape of a bird—until I saw one, and then I Just Knew.

(photo from Amazon.com)

Same with the can opener that looks like a toucan—or rather the head of a toucan, which is a little disturbing now that I think of it.

(photo from Amazon.com)
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I don’t think of St. Patrick’s Day as being the kind of holiday to SHOP for, and that’s a crying shame.

Green Boughs earrings by KUKLAstudio on Etsy (photo from the shop), $38 plus shipping. It is an eternal mystery why so many Etsy sellers show their earrings upside-down. My favorite way to see them is on a person; second favorite is hanging from the edge of a wine glass. (The green bough earrings were right for this post, but holy cow check out the dragonfly earrings from the same seller. My jaw shifted downwards.)

Olive Green Drop earrings by Kneehighs and Pigtails on Etsy (photo from the shop), $10 plus shipping. I have very similar earrings from this seller and I love them: they look good with a fancy outfit or with jeans and a t-shirt.
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I need a new travel mug, because mine broke. Which reminds me of how I GOT that travel mug. I was shopping with my mom at Target, and I saw a travel mug in the most gorgeous, almost ETHEREAL shade of pink. Glowing glossy pale pink. But it was only 30% off, and it was expensive to begin with so it was still well over $10, and most importantly I didn’t NEED a travel mug because I never used one. I dithered for awhile because it was SO LOVELY, but I didn’t buy it.

That evening, I was suffused with regret. WHY hadn’t I bought it?? Maybe I WOULD use a travel mug! How did I KNOW if I didn’t even TRY? Even though the Target was a half hour away and I’d need to bring kids with me, the next morning I went back to get the pink travel mug—and it was gone. I have two other Targets within reasonable driving distance, and I went to both of them over the next couple of days, but no luck. I looked online, at Target’s site and at any other site that carried that brand of travel mug: no luck. I whined about this to my mother at some length.

The next month was my birthday. One of my gifts was THE PINK TRAVEL MUG.
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I had such a nice Christmas! Paul gave me these sweet earrings:

(Bird Girl earrings from Marmar on Etsy) (photo from the shop)

and the new Lynda Barry book I would have had to buy for myself if I hadn’t gotten it as a gift, because I couldn’t wait ONE MORE MINUTE:
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