denisegk's Profile

"Expand"? We have a Goldenbooks copy of Shazzam from the 70s that friends found in the attic of their new house and gave to us since we like superheroes way more than they do. The superdupers have been in Goldenbooks for a long time. And if you can find some of the older ones, they are wacky and weird and totally fun. For instance, ours has a weird gap in the story about midway through. There's no missing page, just everything has moved on without explanation all of a sudden. It's straight out of that bit in the movie Elf where the boss is mad at James Caan for not actually checking all the pages of the newly published book before okaying the printing.

It does sound crazy doesn't it? But I've heard it again and again from pros and tv-pros that all you really *need* is 18". I've always guessed they mean "that's all you need to just barely squeeze through" rather than to be really comfortable. The bigger numbers sound MUCH more sensible.

sounds like the only things they need to do are bottle it up, send it to grocery stores, start a marketing campaign to entice those of us who don't make our own yogurt, watch the money roll in. if they are really having problems they must be either lazy or fearful of expanding their business.

I like the points in this post, but I just wanted to add one tip regarding sippy cups. If you are putting juice in the cup and that's what you are worried about spilling all you need is water. You need to water down that juice. We fill our kids glasses 1/2 to 2/3 full of water before adding in the juice (depending on the juice) and it just doesn't stain. As a testimony, I submit our light beige couch which is still light beige after 7 years and two kids. Our kids mostly drink cranberry, grape, and pomegranate juices and we've had spills from those disappear entirely after drying. Even when they don't, the juice is already so diluted when it's spilled that even if I don't know about it right away, I can still clean it when I finally do find out about it and it comes out with regular old soap and water (sometimes dishsoap is required or make up remover soap). We have 0 (that is ZERO) juice stains on our couch which has had numerous cups spilled or even poured out by our children and visiting kids. Seriously, try water, it works.
We do have one very bad stain on the couch, but it's my fault from when I spilled almost a whole bottle of thrush medicine down one side. So, I decided that's where the file cabinet could go to serve as a side table. That is the only stain.

Yes: Red Balloon and A Town Called Panic. First my kids just liked watching all the silliness. Now the 6 year old practices her reading on the subtitles of Panic. Snort-laughs galore.

tetegrondona: Immersion school is when you are immersed in the language and culture in order to learn better/more quickly. Many business people like to use it but it is also good for others, including kids. Usually you will spend a lot of time only hearing and being allowed to speak the language being taught and practicing the manners/customs of daily life as well.

I meant that those *gamerooms* in the homes of nonchalant parents were cool, and therefore we'd hang out there. The gamerooms that came with a nag were not cool places to hang out, and so we rarely did.

AT, can we PLEASE GET AN EDIT FEATURE? It's so annoying. Those new 10 minute time limits would be enough.

pine cones work great for cats. I put them down all over the garden, leaving a bit of room around just moved plants or small sprouts. Once the plants have acclimated or the sprouts got about 2" of growth, I put in some more pine cones up close to all the plants. It helps keep weeds down. Cats don't like to walk on the cones and they certainly don't put their little hineys down. We also put pine cones around the edge of the sand pit the kids dig in and the cats stay out of there as well even though it has to be even more of a temptation. I've heard from Master Gardeners that moving objects keep cats away too - hanging twirly plastic spirals or those mirrors on fishing line so that it can blow in the wind.

WHAT?! That just ain't right!

Agreed. Also goes for the other peope who pointed out that while Knoll, Miller, Cassina, etc. are using better materials, they are also mass producing these items (and not always in W.Europe or the USA) so the incredibly huge price difference is NOT because of just the materials + craftsmanship. The name on the label and the marketing costs they wish to recoup also account for the price difference. More designers, decorators, stylists, and design enhusiasts blogging about "quality designs" need to be honest about that. As well, shoppers and readers need to take with a grain of salt the company reps (and bloggers) talking about why their furniture costs so much until there is more honesty.

NewCaroline: Thank you for these links. I have the exact same problem. Good to know the lastiseal is a primer too. Our brick is so dark it just depresses the whole house (we have an open plan home). I'm planning on painting it all white white white.