"But it wouldn't be make-believe if you believe in me."

Crawfish are properly eaten with a jug of sweet milk and a newspaper. Just spread the crawfish on the newspaper and start eating. Take a swig of milk now and then to put out the fire. And if your mouth doesn't start to burn, the crawfish haven't been sufficiently spiced.

Doing extra chores is one way I tell my wife I love her. Sometimes, after she goes to bed, I'll clean the kitchen without telling her so that when she wakes up, she's pleasantly surprised.

From the article:

Being permissive and nice hadn't worked with my children. Begging, bartering, harassing and even politely asking hadn't worked either. But perhaps a pragmatic, tough-minded Machiavellian strategy would. With "The Prince" in hand, I set out to become a full-fledged Machiavellian mom.

There are options other being permissive and being an emotional manipulator.

Some of the things she did, as Miss C points out, are normal parenting. But intentionally pitting family members against each other? No. That's messed up.

My wife and I use 1-2-3 Magic. It works well for us.

Making My Little Pony plushes. Now let's see if I am right...

UPDATE: Nope.

I've never understood why extracurricular activities and charity work count more than a paying job to admissions officers. Maybe it's a class marker.

That bacon is so adorable!

Excellent photos, Jill!

The C-3P0 ballerina is my favorite.

There is no good reason not to include Takei. And since Star Trek is superior to Star Wars, the inclusion of Star Trek actors can only improve the franchise.

It's the hardest day of the year on which to be a Neatorama author.

"Like trying to get my wife in her wedding dress."

That man just made a mistake.

When I lived in Ohio, I heard this joke about ODOT, the Ohio Department of Transportation:

One day, a farmer was plowing his fields when he saw an ODOT truck stop by the side of the road. A worker got out with a shovel and dug a hole in the dirt. Then he went back inside. Another man got out of the truck and filled in the hole. He went back inside the truck. The truck drove 50 feet, then the men repeated the process.

After watching several holes being dug and filled, the farmer walked over to the men and asked what they were doing. "We're planting trees," was the response.

The farmer said, "But you're not actually planting trees. You're just digging holes, then filling them in."

The first ODOT worker said, "Yeah, but the guy who actually plants the trees called in sick today."

I wouldn't mind if my wife made more than I do. And she has, in the past. But it would bother me if I wasn't working professionally because that's a part of my identity.

When we got married, our mutual goal was to be in a position in which she could stay home and take care of our kids while I worked. We've gotten there in the past few years. The traditional gender roles don't work for every family, but they've worked well for us.

But I don't "wear the pants" in the family in the sense that I'm in charge. We're both in charge. We just have different roles. The fact that I earn the paychecks doesn't give me special authority.

I vaguely recall Mark Frauenfelder writing that when his daughter tells him that she's bored, he responds that fixing that problem is her responsibility. I've been taking the same approach at times with my four-year old. Her solutions are often clever.

I did not notice the nipples and thus never anticipated that nipples would be the dominant topic in the comment thread for this post.