Have you been reading Follow Lingling as She Gives Lymphoma a Beatdown? Here's an evening where Leanne's husband has an almost regular night out. Everyone deserves that. (Tip: Amalah)

"If you're a less-than-perfect parent and would like to do a quick e-mail interview at your convenience…" Ah, you had me at 'less-than-perfect'. This post came into my feed reader marked as new, but alas I've discovered it is from last July. I hope it is still going on, though, and if so, you can see the instructions at Sweet Beatrice.

Here's a moment I've had myself when talking to someone who is newly pregnant for the first time.

I think this is my favorite in the What The Fuck Was Meredith Viera Smoking? series.

It's true, I do believe that we will pay for all that space poop sooner or later.

"Ovaries on Strike" is home with her babies!!

Ever need to make something fast with Bisquick, but then you realize you've even run out of that? Give this a try:

1 cup flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon Crisco

Mix dry ingredients together, then using a pastry knife cut the Crisco into the mix. Makes 1 cup Bisquick equivalent.

Unlike real Bisquick, this has to be stored in the fridge — which makes it less convenient than the real-deal, but it works in a pinch. It is also good if you’re concerned about all the weird ingredients found in Bisquick. (Haha, I know…)

I've realized that if I kept the house at 60°F the only one who would be cold is ME! I live in a house full of polar bears, I think. This makes it really hard for me to justify cranking up the heat on a chilly (for California) morning like this one. I guess I am destined to spend the winters in triple layers of fleece. However, I have found that Mr. Plain's fleece jacket fits nicely over mine, but the fucker sometimes actually wears it himself. So selfish.

Here's one just for me ;) I'm in the mother's club this post references, and this writer is spot-on.

Neil, I weep for you. Thank god you can tell a good story. Lemons, lemonade, and all that.

A beautiful post about savoring every moment.

Just reading this made me tired — I can't imagine actually doing it!

A writer's dilemma.

And finally, a roundup of some of the many opinions on the "Can a Mom ever have a drink?"* debate: Christine, IzzyMom, Christina, and The Zero Boss.

*Answer: Hell yes, I'm drunk right now! Now where in the world did I leave the kids…

One morning in 2005, Mike and Robbie were watching a cartoon on PBS. I thought I heard something strange, so I went in to check it out. What I heard was "Coming soon to a theater near you" and for the rest, let's just go to the email I sent the President of PBS on November 4th of that year:

My kids just finished watching Dragon Tales and I had to rewind the Tivo to make sure I saw what I thought I saw — you seriously put a commercial for the movie CAPOTE on after it?

My kids are 2 and 3 and they just watched people crying and being led off to the electric chair. Are you sure this was a GOOD CHOICE?

I'm OK (sort of) with the fact that the only commercials my kids ever see are on PBS when they watch Dragon Tales. But Smith Barney is one thing, an R-RATED MOVIE is another.

What in the WORLD were you guys thinking??

OK, so in my haste I said "electric chair" instead of "gallows," but don't you think I should have at least gotten a response? Don't you think it is a little harsh for my kids to be asking me "Mommy, why are those men crying?" at 7:30 in the morning?

This is why my kids will never watch PBS. Non-commercial programming my ass.