Definitely library books sales and garage sales. Make friends with a locally-owned used book store. They will often get duplicates of books, people who just want to unload a lot of kids books without caring what the buyback value is, or books that aren't in great condition for bookstore resale...these can be had for very cheap/free if you find the right relationship. I worked at a used bookstore in graduate store. We had a few elementary teachers who would come take care of our children's section (organize, prune out junk, highlight really good books), and they were "paid" in store credit/free books.

TJs GF cupcakes are good enough my picky DH will eat them. I've started bringing popsicles instead of baked goods...usually the larger, all-fruit ones, or a nicer ice cream pop if dairy is OK.

What I like about Starbucks is that you can order EXACTLY what you want, even off menu, and the baristas are supposed to make it for you. You could order an iced coffee in a trenta cup. You can order it in a trenta with no ice for so much coffee. You can also order a cold brew coffee (the kind they water down) **straight**, so it's suuuuper strong. That's also a good trick. I like to order hot coffee in an upsized cup, so you can add cream but still get 16 or whatever ounces of coffee, so "grande in a venti cup." I have done these things in the name of caffeine. I probably annoy the poop out of the baristas, but I always tip so I hope it evens out.

For me, sending back something that is broken - in cases where it was not requested to be returned - feels so wasteful and inefficient to me. Dir

Or the inconvenience of restocking and having too many IPs taking up too much stockroom space.

I think it really depends on the type of Amazon customer you are. I've had this account for almost 20 years, and order way too much from them, so they could easily see I have a low return rate. I'm sure there are many people who do shady things on Amazon. Is there such a thing as digital shoplifting?

Well, I did say that I view it as an inefficient use of scarce resources (time, money, packaging, fossil fuels...and my patience as I take 5 kiddos into the UPS store!), and that Amazon is probably on the losing end of this equation. I don't think I'm **entitled** to the free book, but was rather surprised that they wanted it back given the types of products we've been told to keep after I have returned them. I'm puzzled where Amazon draws the line. I'm sure there is an algorithm for returns, but given how little profit there is in books anyway, this feels like an unexpected position to take. Many years ago I did sell used books and other products on Amazon, mailing dozens of packages a week. When I made mistakes - and I did on occasion - I would send a new replacement via Amazon to the recipient, and I never asked them to return the wrong book. It didn't seem appropriate to inconvenience someone for my mistake. I might have taken a different approach if this had been my main income instead of a way to clear my bookshelves and feed our vacation fund. Maybe my attempt at a click-bait title colored your opinion?

That is good to know!! Definitely makes it easier.

That sounds awful. I'd like to say I would have appealed, but navigating customer service can be mentally taxing for many...me included. I often think of anything I've ordered as a sunk cost if it's less than $20, my arbitrary return point. If something is damaged or not as advertised, I might try to return, but it doesn't seem with the effort for most items. It comes with the online territory, I guess.

I pushed back little...I replied that it seemed inconvenient and wasteful for me to send it back, they may as well just charge me for it. Which they did. I'd rather have the extra book to give than the too-large father's day t-shirt that I returned and then was told to keep.

We have oot guests now and are leaving for vacation the following week, so maybe my grumpiness is contextual. I mostly was afraid the book would end up in my car for months gathering dust and guilt, like most UPS and USPS packages tend to do.

I've had similar lingering returns, although now that I know about the UPS store my life might be changing. I'm returning ALL THE THINGS!! Wrong headlights? Finally going back. Shoes too small? Send 'em home.

From Amazon. The way the books were packaged together, I am guessing there is an issue on the fulfilment end; it's almost as if someone didn't fully unpack stock on the warehouse. I thought if it were an ongoing issue they might like to know.

It's mostly a play on the phrase "does honesty pay?" I'm not doing what's right for the expectation of a reward, but I was surprised that they asked for the book back because it felt like a poor use of their resources. I agree that many could take advantage of Amazon, but with my 20+ years of being a customer and the dozens of boxes that arrive at my house monthly, Jeff Bezos knows I'm not trying to game the system.

Amazon sent two copies of a book we'd ordered. I'm thinking it's just a packing error - the two books were shrink-wrapped together. I sent Amazon a message letting the company know about the extra book and assuming that they'd just tell me to keep it. Nope! They'd like it back. It seems like an inefficient use of scarce resources on both ends of this equation, but probably more for Amazon, as the book is only $13. By the time they've paid for shipping and processing, what profit could be left on the book? (Aside, I'd just realized the book would make an excellent gift for an upcoming birthday, so I told them to just charge me for it and save me the effort of tracking down packaging tape and etc. and etc.)

When I was in college and graduate school, my father's job changed and suddenly the family was able to go on vacations. While I 100% understood why my family was taking vacations/doing things very differently from how they had while I was at home, I still had a sense of being left out/not fair. I think to soften the blow, or make it more equal, or some other motivation, my mother would occasionally mail me gift cards or other financial gifts. I appreciated the gifts then, and as a parent I see how they fall squarely into the "fair does not mean equal" camp. But your situation sounds imbalanced from the start, so maybe that isn't a helpful option for you. I'd say that they are welcome to come with you to Universal. Pay for the hotel, admissions, whatever for the two or three days you are there. They'd be responsible for getting to and from Universal themselves. Should fit with the financial, interest, and time-off-from-work restraints. To make it unpleasant? It's a trip to places they don't want to visit They can't afford to do it they way they'd like (sodas, etc) And they'd probably lose their jobs in the process.

I have asked my dr many times about the causal mechanism for weight gain with SSRIs. She believes that, aside from changed habits (easy to monitor and change...well, easier than metabolic issues!) the reason is the SSRI isn't working effectively. My dr pointed out the importance of eating carbs with serotonin drugs: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-antidepressant-diet/201007/reversing-antidepressant-weight-gain You might also think about adding l-methylfolate (my dr recommended 15+ mg, ymmv), to help in production of serotonin/dopamine/norepinephrine.

I don't know where on the I-95 corridor you will be, but it looks as though only MD, PA, and CT have laws regarding leaving children in cars. In MD and PA, your 9-year-old son would be fine. In CT, there is squishy language about length of time in car and danger levels. This is just to say that in your case, I'd escort older son to bathroom, see him safely leave and into the car, and then take younger son to ladies' room with me. I'd perhaps mix up the order depending on who needs the restroom the most ;) I have little problem leaving children in a car if they can safely leave a car and know where I am in case of an emergency if I am running a 5 minute errand like using the restroom. At a rest stop, though, I would not bat any eyes as a child who was sitting at a table by himself, on a bench by himself, or standing outside the ladies room door by himself. And what would our options be if your DH were traveling with two daughters?

In addition to Epsom salts, magnesium taken internally can be very moving. Larger doses of Natural Calm usually do the trick for my toilet boycotter.

Key word "select"... My older two are still scarred by the "Mr Edwards gets attacked by bear" episode. Babe and Babe, Pig in the City are big hits here. Shaun the Sheep I always want to try older movies with the kids, but then see from the link above that Gone with the Wind is rated G.

Can you add a "draw the tree" box to do monthly? Pick a deciduous tree you can see from inside and draw how it looks on the 1st of each month. More nature study: do a weekly bird observation/count. My kids love "find my mistake" problems for both ELA and math. We use them as warm-ups. Foreign language components? Days of week, count to 20, common phrases. Poem, verse, song memorization.

Food prep - always have fruit and veg ready to eat. Meal plan - especially ways to repurpose meal ingredients into new meals, so it's not so much leftovers as preparing parts of tomorrow's dinner tonight. Lunches - try to make nutrition dense NO JUNK FOOD IN HOUSE. It really makes a difference for me.

Singapore's Earlybird Marth is colorful and appealing to many kiddos. We have done both the EB sequence and skipping right to 1A. I feel as though most kiddos with an enriching home life would probably not need EB, but we also have mathy kids. If the other curriculum choices feel heavy, EB might lighten the load.

For me, identifying what researchers call a "keystone habit" was paramount for my well-being. (Charles Duhigg's book ^Habit^ was very influential for me. You can Google "Charles Duhigg keystone habit" for videos/articles.) A keystone habit is one which kind of powers or motivates other good (or bad) habits. So in my case, it's getting up early. I can tackle almost anything if I've gotten up early...especially earlier than all kiddos including baby. It seems silly, but I want to do what's right in terms if eating, parenting, productivity, exercise, etc. if I have gotten up at 6 a.m. (Disclosure: I'm also Hashimotos and lifelong depressive, so energy and motivation are perennial problems for me.)

In my mind, barns and banjos feature prominently.