Never forget the diapers (or toilet paper) again!

I signed up for Amazon Subscriptions a couple of days ago and today we got our first shipment – a big box of diapers and a big box of toilet paper delivered free to the door.  Free shipping, 15% off and they will send us diapers on a regular schedule!  I signed up for diapers once a month and toilet paper every three months (they have all of the non-spoilable grocery type stuff available) – their website and email reminders make it really easy to change how often you want to get things, add a shipment or skip a shipment whenever you need to.  You get the 15% off and free shipping every time. Hopefully once I get it set up we’ll never have to think about diapers again … except when we are changing a particularly stinky one that is!  Now that’s my kind of shopping.

Thanks to ParentHacks for telling me about Amazon Subscribe & Save.

Have you been to New Orleans since Katrina?

I haven’t been back to New Orleans since our trip in 2004, but a friend of mine just went and said it’s still fabulous.  His trip report (written by his wife) is here.  Until 2004, I went at least once a year.  I’ve celebrated several New Year’s Eves, several Jazz Fests, and several French Quarter Festivals in New Orleans, not to mention just random visits.  It’s a great city and I’m glad to hear it’s still a fun place to visit.  Hopefully some day it will be an attractive place to live in too.

One of the things that’s held us back is taking the kids.  Or rather not wanting to take the kids.  I was going to take them until Frank painted this picture for me … Caleb wandering down the street in the French Quarter picking up everything interesting he saw in the street.  Ugh!

Best book trading site

The New York Times has an article about book trading sites and I was disappointed to see that they choose BookMooch as the number one site and didn’t even mention PaperBackSwap.  I am a member of BookMooch and PaperBackSwap so I think they are both good, but I far prefer PaperBackSwap for several reasons:

  1. First and foremost, they keep the wishlist in an order.  So if I’ve said I’m interested in the latest Harry Potter book, when it becomes available, they will tell me and give me 48 hours to decide if I want it or not.  The next person on the list has to wait for me to decide if I want it or not.  They get the next copy.  BookMooch emails everybody that wants it at the same time, so I’m never, ever going to get a copy of Harry Potter from BookMooch.  Eventually, it’ll be my turn on PaperBackSwap.
  2. The PaperBackSwap interface is much easier to understand than BookMooch.
  3. PaperBackSwap lets you print postage.

Note that I quit using TitleTrader, one of the other ones mentioned by the article.

Which book trading site is your favorite?

Drinking while pregnant: now it’s ok?

I only got grief once for drinking when I was pregnant – it was a glass of wine on my birthday – but I’ve heard and seen of many instances of strangers telling women they shouldn’t drink because they are pregnant.  Well now they are saying that 1.5 units of alcohol a day is ok!  Again.  (One of my friends was told to have a glass a wine a day when she was pregnant – her kids are now in their 30s and doing fine.)

We’ll see what they say next year … in the meantime, relax, and let the pregnant woman have a glass of wine.  Believe me, she is way more worried about her baby’s health than you will ever be!

Swapped babies: to swap back or not to swap?

The TV series Private Practice told the story of two moms whose babies were switched at birth.  Turns out it’s not all fiction.  These Czechoslovakian women had their babies swapped at birth too.  After an initial agreement to swap back they’ve changed their minds and have decided to keep the babies that they have been raising.  Unfortunately, one of the dads doesn’t like the decision.  The babies are 10 months old …

… I can’t even imagine being told that Caleb wasn’t "mine" and that I had to give him up.  I think I agree with these moms.  By now he’s mine no matter what!

(Private Practice went on to give the story another twist … one of the babies wasn’t expected to live past five and her father is the one that made the switch.)

Are you a left brain or right brain thinker?

Supposedly, if you see her spinning clock-wise you are right brained and therefore more creative.  Spinning counter-clockwise?  You’re left brained and logical.  My problem?  She spins one way for a couple of seconds and then all of a sudden she’s spinning the other way and there’s a little skip.  I think the picture changes.

Picture linked from i-am-bored.com.

 

spinning nude girl

The Right Brain vs Left Brain Test If you see dancer rotating clockwise, you are right-brained (creative), counter-clockwise, left-brained (logical).

Building a secret apartment in the mall

Eight artists built themselves a one room studio in the mall parking garage and kept it a secret for FOUR YEARS!  It’s one of those interesting crimes that makes you wonder how you could do it and not get caught.  (Unless you are homeless or want to make a statement, there’s probably no real reason to create a one room studio in a parking garage.) You can read more about it in the Rhode Island news: 1 room, no view.