I was blessed with a very even-tempered baby. He is 14 months now and has accompanied my husband and I on many trips to restaurants, movies, and sci-fi/fantasy gaming conventions. At the movies when he gets a bit fussy my hubby picks him up and walks around the back of the theater with him (if he is loud, hubby takes him out in the hallway). When he gets cranky near the end of dinner, we take it as our cue to wrap up dinner. If he's fussy earlier, someone will walk with him or we ask for our food to go. Never once have we had a complaint voiced to us about him. We never let it go on more than a minute or two (depending on the situation) and rarely is his crankiness not diaper or sleep related.

In fact, he only throws temper tantrums at home where it is actually easy to discipline with timeouts.

That said, I was raised to not get away with being a brat and my kids won't either.

Mine listens to me. He just doesn't do what he is told. That and he likes to test me to see how where his boundaries are.

@Earnest:

The amount of one's electrical bill (based on same usage) will vary from state to state, and even from city to city. For example, my mother and I use approximately the same amount of electricity per month in our homes. She lives in a small town in north Texas and pays about $50 a month. I live in DFW and pay $150 a month. I have gas heat, water heater, range/oven.

I still have Yo! Noid and Toobin for NES...

The word "Please" comes from the phrase, "if it pleases you". Of course it is polite, but it is used for requesting things. It seems to me that the border agent did not want the man to turn off his engine only if it pleased him, but rather that he *must* turn off his engine. Grammatically speaking, the agent was correct in not using the word.

I don't know if pepper spray was the best solution, but there is not really an excuse for not following the legal orders given by a law enforcement officer.

We purchased our home for 20% less than the appraised value. After a lot of hard work in much needed cosmetic improvements, we now have plenty of equity. It helps that house values in our area haven't changed a whole lot with the current market. And, since we bought it in 2008, we are getting a huge tax credit, not to mention we get a deduction for the real estate taxes paid.

Hubby and I rented since 2004. Having lived in 3 different apartments, I much prefer owning. As for renting a house, I noticed our neighbors were renting out their house so I looked online to see what they were charging. For a house 500 square feet smaller than ours and with a smaller yard (ours is 2 story, theirs is 1 so it has a larger footprint/smaller yard), the rent they were charging was over $200 more than we are paying for our mortgage, taxes, and insurance combined.

As an owner, I have the freedom of doing whatever I want to my house as long as it's in code. Our neighborhood's HOA is voluntary and we aren't in it so we aren't bound by HOA rules. Owning rocks.

I'm 26 and I heard it. Odd, considering that I'm half deaf in one ear.

A friend of mine (he's 25) teaches high school history and has students who have tried to sneak in phones with that ringtone. He gets really pissed off and takes their phones away.

I like redphone's idea. The reason you shouldn't dry bras in a dryer is because the heat breaks down the elastic. My laundry room has a closet rod above the washer and dryer, so I just hang mine on hangers. Unfortunately for my nursing bras, it doesn't keep the wide elastic band at the bottom from getting twisted up. A plastic form with enough space under the breast to help the band lay flat during washing would be great.

You think a good regular bra is expensive? Decent nursing bras (definitely not the ones sold at Motherhood) are priced even higher.

In Arlington, TX (and many other cities, I'm sure) it is illegal to leave your keys in the ignition when you leave your car unattended. That way, when your car gets stolen, YOU get a fine for your stupidity and the cops *might* find your car.

I knew a guy when I was in college who was a kleptomaniac. Let's call him "Fred". He was in a parking lot one day and saw a guy get out of his fancy new car with the engine running. The dumbass goes into a dry-cleaning shop and watches while Fred jumps into the car and drives it off. Of course Fred does get arrested for auto theft but the dumbass who left the engine running got a $500 fine.

I already do the one where you put the turkey stuffing in cheesecloth before putting it in the bird. I usually make more stuffing than will fit in the bird and will put what will fit inside, then when the turkey is done I mix the marinated stuffing with the rest and it's great (stuffing mixes don't have to be cooked in the bird, it just gives it flavor from the juices).

Another trick my mother and grandmother taught me was to slip the turkey in a lightly greased (I use PAM) brown paper bag before baking, adding just a bit of salt and pepper to flavor. The bag soaks up the fat and makes the meat literally fall off of the bones. If you reach in to lift up a leg to see if it's done and you end up with just a leg bone in your hand, it's done. In our house, a turkey ain't done until it falls apart or is "ruined" according to my late grandfather. Truly an excellent feast.

FYI, the company doesn't just advertise on late night television. They also advertise during daytime television. I know this because I'm a stay at home mom who keeps the TV on for background noise during the day otherwise it's too quiet.

I'm lactose intolerant, so I purchase Lactaid. It's always expensive :( But then the milk itself will last for a couple of weeks.

SparkS:

??? Have you ever been to a Walmart before?

Oh, to add to the interesting calls she's gotten, there used to be a manager at her store named Michael Hunt. Callers got a bit muddled when she would transfer them to him. Mr. Hunt thought it was hilarious.

LOL my mother used to work in the fitting room at Walmart, which also happens to be the incoming call center as well. She came home with the funniest stories such as:

"What's the number to 1-800-WAL-MART?"

"Can you tell me what time (name of movie) is playing?"

"Can you run over to the KMart across the highway and tell me how much **** is?"

"Do you have the traffic report?"

And of course the mother of one of the managers would call every day just to talk. She was suffering from dementia and was apparently very lonely.

SparkS, way to be an asshole. It seems you can't be congratulatory to him without dissing other people in the process.

I'm hardly jealous. In fact, I think it's pretty awesome that he managed to earn all of the badges. Yet it makes me wonder if he has many friends, school activities, how his grades are, if he's going to college, etc. If all the other areas of his life are doing as well as his earning all of the possible merit badges, then all the more power to him and he has a great future ahead of him.

And just for the record, I'm proud of my Eagle Scout husband, my recent Eagle Scout brother-in-law, and my future Boy Scout son (I hope. He's not yet 1). Getting his Eagle was a great accomplishment for my husband and I do believe it helped him, an introvert, to be more assertive and outgoing based on stories I've heard of him as a boy.

Again, congrats to Mr. Goldsmith.