Review: Graco Argos™ 70 Car Seat

Evenflo Triumph Advance™

Well, the time has come to upgrade Kaleb to a new car seat! I've been extremely happy with the 2½ years of use I've gotten out of our Evenflo Triumph Advance™ (Ours was mint green and tan instead of light and dark brown.).  But, as with anything else associated with kids, this seat has reached the end of its usefulness for us and is starting to show those wear-and-tear signs that signal the seat may not provide as much protection as it did when it was new.

I've been doing lots of online research on car seats currently available and have also gotten some input from several of my mommy friends.  I've compared brands and safety standards as well as prices.  I want the best protection I can find for my Little Guy, but I also have to find one I can afford to buy!

Once I had all my options narrowed down to a few real possibilities, my friend Sharra and I went to Toys 'R Us (since we don't have a Babies 'R Us) to "play" with the demo models.  One of the things I love about car seat shopping at Toys 'R Us is that they don't strap their demo models down to the shelves, like so many stores do.  That means I was able to haul any seat I want off the shelves and onto the floor to inspect and test out all the features.  It got me a strange look or two from other shoppers.  And upon watching me heave one of the seats back onto the shelf, the sales clerk joked that he guessed he better stay out of my way.  But, none of that bothers me when it comes to choosing a safe seat for my son.

Flowers For No Reason Are The Best!

Flowers I received 10-25-2011.

I have the most amazing friends of anyone I know.  But one friend, in particular, goes far beyond what many others are able to do.  My best friend, Jack, is a man who was raised to understand the power of a flower.

In Jack's family, it was well known that his mother -- and later his sister -- deserved flowers for special days: birthdays, anniversaries, Mother's Day, Valentine's Day, Christmas, etc.  And Jack's father, Darren, passed on this knowledge to both his sons.  Later, he imparted this wisdom on his son-in-law as well.

Over the years, Jack and his brother continued the tradition of giving beautiful gifts of flowers to the women in their lives.  They joined their father in surprising their mother.  Along with their brother-in-law and father, they would send flowers to their sister.  When Jack's brother, Darren Jr., became engaged, his future wife was showered with flowers from men all around the family.  She once told me that, for about 3 weeks after becoming engaged to Darren Jr., her apartment looked more like a florist's shop than a residence.

Side view of the flowers received 10-25-2011.

When Jack and I became friends, it didn't take me long to notice that the women in his life -- both friends and family -- never went a holiday or special event without an arrangement of gorgeous, fresh flowers.  And so, it was no huge shock to me when I received flowers for the first birthday I celebrated after starting a friendship with Jack.  What has shocked me, however, has been the frequency with which I have received these gifts from my friend.

I get flowers for my birthday.  I get flowers for Christmas and Mother's Day.  For Valentine's Day I get flowers, sometimes accompanied by balloons or chocolates or fruit.  I even get flowers for our annual Friend-iversary!

But more amazing than any of these is when I get flowers on non-days....days that aren't holidays or particularly special for any reason.  I get flowers, sometimes, when Jack knows I've had a rough day or when I'm not feeling well.  Other times, I get celebratory flowers when I've had a particularly great day or have had a small victory or success in some area of my life.

The flowers pictured in this post are flowers I received this past Tuesday.  The card said, "I thought going back to work after a nice 3-day weekend would be a let-down for you, so here are your favorites to cheer you up! Have a great day, and I can't wait to talk to you tonight!"

Perfect. ♥

Things I'm Thinking About

1.  Every single person I work with is grossly underpaid.  Even so, every morning we come back to work, and the majority of us have a smile on our faces.  By the end of each work day, most of us drag ourselves to our cars, wishing we never had to return.  Yet, the next morning, we're all back again with smiling faces.  Are we just the craziest of the crazy?  Lunacy is about the only explanation I can find for such numbers of otherwise-normal people being so willing to spend 180 days every year with children who don't care and dealing with parents who don't care.  Then we all report to politicians who have never taught anything.....probably even hired "other" people to teach their dogs how to not pee on the carpet....and have to live by their legislation of the educational system.  No wonder some of my 8th graders can't multiply 3 times 3 without a calculator!

2.  Why do older moms with one child often seem to think they know more about parenting than younger moms with one child?  Didn't we all learn it by experience, and often on the fly?  You don't know me; you don't know my child.  I'm not trying to tell you how to raise your child.  Leave me alone.

Parents Beware This Teen Alcoholic Trick!

With the abundance of candies available to teens and children of all ages this time of year, I thought I'd share this bit of info about a "new" trend spreading among America's teens: sneaking alcohol by soaking it into candy!

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There will never be a shortage of ways for underage kids to get drunk, and adults will always be a few steps behind. The trend of soaking gummy bears in liquor isn't anything new, but it had remained a secret from most people for years. This past week, news outlets across the country have been warning of this “new trend” of vodka soaked gummy bears, so I guess this teen secret is finally out.

Teens have been increasingly using gummy bears as a way of concealing alcohol from parents and authorities. By soaking the bears in vodka or rum, they are free to walk the streets drinking without having to sneak sips or hide a bottle. While the news segment's intention is obviously to make parents aware of this trend, they may have inadvertently introduced a great idea to a large number of under-age kids who were unaware of the idea. The YouTube tutorial has jumped from 17,000 to 50,000 views since this news clip went live.

Vodka is a powerful alcohol that no teen should be experimenting with, but many do in part because of its relatively mild alcohol odor. Kids think it's harder for their parents, police, coaches and teachers to detect and it's become even harder now that teens are concealing it in gummy candy.

Kids across the country know about it, and police said it's something parents should, too.

Kids are using this as a way to bypass identification of bringing alcohol into events and into school.

Stingy Jack of the Lantern

Last year, as Halloween approached, I wrote a blog post entitled "Halloween: Are You Being Tricked?"  It discussed many of the various beginnings of Halloween traditions and their roots in pagan holiday festivals.  It occurred to me today, as I am sitting here thinking what sort of face to carve into this pumpkin I bought for Kaleb, that last year's post did not include the Jack-O-Lantern tradition.  So, here it is!

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When we think of Jack-o-Lanterns today we think of the carved pumpkins with candles lighting them brightly from within; but did you know that the Jack-o-Lantern actually has deep historical roots and originally didn't even involve a pumpkin? The Jack-o-Lantern stems from an old Irish myth about a man named Stingy Jack.