Discount Tire is great. We also LOVE Les Schwab. They really DO run to your car!

Hanna Andersson clothing. DD5 received a winter coat from Grandma and Grandpa and some superficial stitching came out. They offered to replace it with a like-kind and quality ONE YEAR later. We chose not to, but the fact that they offered was amazing. They also offer such good quality, and they treat their overseas factory workers well (from what I hear). Timberdoodle - amazing family-owned company. Nordstrom - I'm a homegrown Seattle girl. Still family-run. And they survived their awful marketing re-brand and went back to their old selves.

A blog that I used to follow posted an article about this particular company, so I came across it passively: I wasn't actively seeking the information. I do know there are websites for certain causes, though, that track the information, from all sides of the political spectrum.

My parents live in Bothell, but just across the county border in Snohomish. The taxes aren't quite as bad as King County taxes, and the housing prices seem to be a bit better as well. When they go into Seattle, they either go across 224th (I think that's right) to Alderwood Mall and get on I-5 there, or go up 405 from Canyon Park, then down I-5. Rarely do they go south on 405 to Bellevue and cross Lake Wash. on 520 or to MI and cross I-90...traffic just too crazy. Nice people, nice parks, convenient shopping, but pretty suburban stripmall-ey for me. But still nice.

I just subscribed to The Scramble for 3 months. I'm excited to try it! I do most of my recipe planning online, anyway, even though I have two bookshelves full of cookbooks.

Juliet B. Schor wrote Born to Buy: The Commercialized Child and the New Consumer Culture. I just have recommended that book so many times, that I assumed he quoted the title in the article, not just her! :) Sorry!

Oooh, we love our Tupperware, too. We received big storage containers for dry baking goods. I love to give give the most functional thing on the registry...an everyday item. Most-recent wedding gift I gave was straight off of registry: 2 big Oxo pop-top dry storage containers. If I been hand-delivering to the wedding, I would have filled one of them with jelly beans, but that would've sent the shipping cost through the roof :)- If you want memorable or sentimental, I think the digital picture frame is a GREAT idea given they are a military family and subject to times apart.

I guess I'm not so interested in The Who of who is liberal/conservative, but getting a feel as to thought patterns of those aligned with each arena of thought. I tried to attach a poll to my existing thread to make it anonymous, but I couldn't do it. Thanks for the info Peek. At least I know that it isn't just one side of the argument that exhibits this thought process. I was feeling kind of alone on the conservative side caring about this.

Is it World Made by Hand by chance? My husband told me to read that stinker...it started out interesting, and then slipped into ludicrousness. But I think that one was about wide-spread nuclear detonations which changed the weather patterns in the world.

I'm loving motivated moms...it is really working for us. I like that daily list, and is such a nominal price.

THANK YOU SO MUCH! This is valuable information. I am on Flonase (if I remember to take it). I didn't think of Mucinex -- I'll try that. But rest? :smilielol5:

Anyone who still has a TV out there, you might want to pop up some popcorn and get ready for a rousing game of "let's spot the scientific error" :lol:. ABC is televising a movie called Impact (don't shoot me everyone, I know nothing about the content of this movie, bit is "only" TV-PG, so it might be at least exciting for the kiddoes). But hey, it has David James Elliott and Steven Culp, both from one of my favorite old shows, JAG, starring, so it could at least be entertaining :) Oh, and James Cromwell from Babe, too... From ABC website: The most spectacular meteor shower in 10,000 years results in a direct hit to the moon, leaving it on a collision course with the Earth. (DUH DUH DUHHHHHH -- MY SOUND EFFECTS) A small group of international astronauts, scientists and soldiers band together in a race against time to save humanity, in the thrilling limited ABC series Impact , airing SUNDAY, JUNE 21 and SUNDAY, JUNE 28 (9:00-11:00 p.m., ET both nights), on the ABC Television Network. David James Elliott ( Close to Home , JAG ) Natasha Henstridge ( Eli Stone , Species ), Steven Culp ( Desperate Housewives , ER ) and Oscar and Emmy-nominated James Cromwell ( W , L.A. Confidential , Babe ) are among the stars of the international cast. The world watches as a large meteor shower streaks across the skies. Hidden in the meteor field is a brown dwarf , a dead star. It smashes into the moon in a tremendous explosion of rock and debris. Fragments of the moon itself penetrate Earth's atmosphere and make impact. Even though initial damage is minimal, nerves are frayed throughout the planet. Experts quickly conclude there will be no lasting ramifications. Then strange anomalies begin to manifest themselves on Earth. It starts small -- cell phone disruptions, unusual static charges and odd tidal behavior. The world's leading scientists, including Alex Kittner (David James Elliott), Maddie Rhodes (Natasha Henstridge) and Roland Emerson (Benjamin Sandler), begin piecing together evidence that suggests that the moon and its orbit may have been permanently altered. Their fears are realized when the anomalies increase to the point where the effect of gravity is being manipulated by increased electromagnetic surges coming from the moon. People, cars and other objects are rendered momentarily weightless in random, isolated areas around the globe. Alex, Maddie, Roland and the rest of their team soon discover something far worse -- the moon's new orbit has put it on a collision course with Earth! The world now has 39 days to stop the moon or Earth, or all of mankind will perish. After a failed attempt by the United States to destroy the moon, the scientific team works together to mount an international mission to the moon. Alex, whose children and father-in-law (James Cromwell) have gone missing, is torn as he must join Roland on the mission to the moon. It's a race against time as the two celestial bodies are drawn closer and closer to impact.

Is it straying into that dangerous WTM slippery slope of politics if I ask who among you consider yourselves conservative, and who, liberal? (I'm NOT talking political parties...) I'm just curious because I consider myself conservative, and my conservative friends just never talk about this stuff (unless they talk about boycotting Disneyland, which I think is just silly.)

Thanks! I will pray for his recovery and comfort. I will look forward to an update. (I haven't even called my doc yet...I'm a bit nervous about it.)

Funny how the topic of commercialization of childhood usually turns into a Disney Princess discussion! It just shows me how entangled Disney has become in our everyday lives. They have some marketing machine, huh?? Thanks for all of your insights, everyone. I've enjoyed this thread. I'm glad I posted it!

We move so much (every 3 years at the least) that I've become quite detached from my stuff. If it is super important, we have it in our car (obviously not feasible on a trip to Malaysia!). In fact, I had a secret wish last move that our truck was hijacked and we got to start from scratch...if that were the case, I'd cut our stuff down by HALF at least! God bless you, Heather, it's going to be a great adventure! Besides, Rubbermaid totes probably float, huh? :lol:

I goofed on an ebay listing a while back and ended up paying the buyer $15 to take my toy off of my hands :banghead: because I listed "first class mail" as an option. Bah -- I was too quick to list and I didn't do a thorough proofing job of the listing. I had to ship the toy priority mail as first class mail doesn't even allow you to ship an item over about 1 pound. No wonder the USPS is thinking about dropping Saturday delivery...most people are choosing UPS and FedEx for their shipping needs. Hope it works out Rosie! Those puzzles are SOOOOO cool. I have one on my Timberdoodle wish list.

I'm still waiting for mine... :glare:

YES! I'm SO tired all of the time, and crabby sometimes too :( My husband says I sound like a longshoreman in the morning. I try to explain to him that I can't help it -- I'll start choking if I don't "take care of business". Do you know anyone who has had the surgery? Was it helpful? I've heard it can often make things worse, and is REALLY painful. Best wishes to you! I hope you feel better soon, too :)

I sent you a PM (I don't want to put my church in a bad light.)

dd3 still occasionally can't hold it overnight. I have the waterproof mattress pad, then moisture barrier, fitted sheet, moisture barrier, fitted sheet. I do the moisture barriers perpendicular to each other (a "t") as she's a "rover" all over the bed. Usually the first set catches anything her overnight underwear doesn't, but this way I just have to peel off one set and she's good to go for the rest of the night...

Just read the article. Ugha. Thanks for the link...I'm not a huge CK fan anyway, but that just sealed it.

If you grill, make a "beer can chicken" -- THE BEST whole chicken you will ever have! Here's a link to the recipe: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Beer-Can-Chicken-102216 You will need a beer can chicken rack, which is really cheap...I got ours a the hardware store for about $2.99! If you want to spend a lot of money ;), Williams Sonoma or Sur La Table have fancy versions for a bunch of bucks, but it isn't necessary... If you don't want to grill, Julia Child's whole roasted chicken is also scrumptious: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Julias-Roast-Chicken-with-Lemon-and-Herbs-102264 Make sure you make the pan sauce that is linked in the recipe. If he likes spicier food, this Indian tandoori chicken is super great, but read through the recipe because it requires an overnight marinade and some possibly unusual pantry spices: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Tandoori-Spiced-Chicken-with-Tomato-Ginger-Chutney-106850 I'm not sure why this got 3 forks on epicurious; my family ADORES this....even the littles.

Pretty blatant...advertising, at trade shows and rallies supporting this particular cause. Advertising with very sexual overtones, too :( which is a new thing for them. I wonder if they have a new marketing director...

You'll think I'm crazy, but I love vinegar. Thanks for the suggestion! That makes sense.