Oh man! I've been wishing lately that I could find a merry-go-round and some teeter-totters for my boys. We have a new park by us, and it mostly looks like the sterilized plastic safety ones. But it does have a few decent twisting climby bars, and there is a tower with a faux rock climbing wall on one side and curving bars on another. All the kids get up but then are afraid to get down, and I've seen so many parents climb up to rescue the kid and get stuck themselves. lol. There is another park not too far that has a really high metal slide, but no bump in the middle.

Oh no! That's awful. I hope you report it to the store/manufacturer/CPS equivalent. I'd be angry too.

I am not sure any of my other ideas count as classical, so forgive me if these are way off base. Not classics yet, but truly wonderful, are the stories by Jhumpa Lahiri. Eliana's lists are wonderful, so I will try not to duplicate. I like Spotted Horses by Faulkner. Any story by Alice Munro, but I believe Boys and Girls, and The Beggar Maid are well known. Flannery O'Connor's A Good Man Is Hard to Find is great. Margaret Atwood has a number of lovely stories, but maybe try Bluebeard's Egg. Joyce Carol Oates is another wonderful short story writer. I think Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? is well known. And I have a great weakness for the stories by Isaac Bashevis Singer, with Gimpel the Fool being the most famous. There are more, I'm sure, but that's what I can think of at the moment.

Adorable!

Why I Live at the P.O., by Eudora Welty. Don't know if it's considered a classic or well known, but it should be. ;)

FWIW, there are tons of young and adult basset hounds available on petfinder for Chicago basset rescue, and there are lots of basset mix puppies available through various rescues. I think there are benefits to puppies and adult dogs. Puppies are lots of work, but so much fun. Potty training doesn't usually take too long, but different breeds and individuals may take longer than others. Good luck deciding.

I love cats, but I can't live without a dog. We haven't had a cat for over a year now, and it will be a long time before we get another, if ever. But I couldn't live more than a few weeks without a dog. Once when I wasn't quite ready to get another of my own, I borrowed one of my mom's dogs for a month.

Very fun! Thanks for posting!

I freeze gogurt tubes for zoo trips. A major treat for my kids, (they've had them twice ever,) are lunchables. They have some that come with a drink and dessert. I saw take-along size nutella at the store last week. :w00t: Could you make caramel or candy popcorn or caramel apples? Another treat for my guys are the bottles of juice with character tops. We've gotten Clifford the big red dog, various Bob the builder vehicles, and a number of superheroes. There are also princesses. We keep tiny boxes of raisins for outings, and then for a special surprise sometimes I get tiny boxes of yogurt covered raisins. Have fun!

Praying. :grouphug:

If you add whistling to the list, you've described my 5yo DS too.

Mine isn't too awful. But if he turns to look at something, he turns his torso. :ack2: And his nighttime aim is horrendous. Not looking forward to the little one joining in.

Thanks for all the great info! I have lots to consider. I think we will definitely do this, just not sure if we'll wait a bit.

Thanks everyone! I have lots of questions, I guess, and I'm still coming up with more. Getting feedback from here is helpful so I can better formulate questions to ask of the rescue. I am curious about whether it is more common to have a dog for a week or several months. I worry about my boys feeling sad when the dogs leave, and whether they'd really understand. I was certainly going to consider smaller to medium dogs, but I am curious how you go about feeling comfortable bringing them into your home with children. We have a dog, and both boys are quite good with dogs in general. But they're still little boys, you know? I love dogs and could keep almost any dog, but I become particular when choosing a forever dog for my family. So I think I would be ok giving the dogs away ;) , and I feel like fostering would be a good thing to do. But I need to figure out if it would be ok for my family right now.

Anyone do this? What can you tell me about your experience? (If anyone recalls my post about a boxer, he was adopted by someone else the day I emailed about him.)

My old one has a decent length cord, not sure about this new one. The canister isn't very big, but it can really pack it in. It was useful for me as an every day or every other day quick run. If I waited a week, I'd have to empty it out before finishing. I agree about wanting brushless for your floors.

I got the Lynx for the cordless and roller brush on/off options, but it never worked as well as the Eureka, and the roller brush just stopped working. Oh well.

Looks a bit updated, but this must be the new version of mine, I think. It's not as loud as a big vac, but it's not especially quiet. I can still play chase-the-babies, but the pets don't go crazy. ;) They have a cordless version now, I see. I'm feeling tempted by rug-to-bare cordless myself, now.

I know this is going to sound like a foolish option, but when I still had my carpet-the-floor-daily newfie mix, I loved my Eureka stick vac. Picked up cheerios too. It's super cheap - $15-20 I think. I have a "real" vacuum now, and a Hoover Lynx cordless. I like the cordless well enough, but still miss the Eureka. I took it to my mom's cottage, where it has survived a flood and is still going gangbusters.

We have lots of Thomas, Brio, and Ikea, and love it all. So much fun. One brand we love that I don't see mentioned is Whittle Railroad. They make wooden trains that are the same size as Thomas/Brio, but look just like real trains or the model electric trains. We buy all our trains at a local mom & pop, but Whittle is available online.

We try to catch leprechauns by putting a little potato and mini cabbage (brussel sprout) in string potato sacks. We haven't caught one yet. The mischievous fellows always turn something green, frequently the milk. I hadn't thought of the toilet - that's a great one! There's lots of green decorating and green clothes and pinching of anyone not wearing green. I usually make corned beef and cabbage, which I love. Not sure anyone else really appreciates it, but that's too bad. :tongue_smilie:

Me too. My 2yo is partial to the one with the handle, so if he has it, I use the other. Otherwise I don't think I'd make much use of two.

Thanks everyone!

Hmm. I suppose they are all rated, aren't they. Some just better than others. Is there a huge difference between 300-460? And I'm looking online, and the GE one says "yes" next to Energy Star compliant, and the Kenmore says "no".

My fridge died overnight. :glare: So I'm looking at new fridges, and I'm wondering if the energy star rated ones really save a significant amount on the electric bill. Maybe this a stupid question. If so, please be gentle. The 2 fridges I'm looking at so far are 460 kilowatts/year vs 300.