Since saving money is important to the vast majority of stay at home moms, I am in the process of developing an online bargains and deals section. I plan to focus it on, obviously enough, deals you can get online.

This section does have a form you can fill out as well to contact me and let me know about any deals you might know of. Just give as much information as you can, and try to include the day it ends, if known.

It’s going to take a while for me to develop this one fully. It’s a pretty big topic, after all, and deals change all the time. But the system I put in to help me run it will allow me to post things with an expiration date, and it should take care of removing expired deals, which was always the most challenging part for me in the past.

I don’t often use this blog for politics, but this is a topic I’ve been watching and feel we all need to make sure things don’t get any worse. I don’t know that there’s a bill or anything on the topic of Net Neutrality yet, and I would prefer to keep one from being seriously considered.

Here’s the email I recieved:

Do you buy books online, use Google, or download to an Ipod? These activities will be hurt if Congress passes a radical law that gives giant corporations more control over the Internet.

Internet providers like AT&T and Verizon are lobbying Congress hard to gut Network Neutrality, the Internet’s First Amendment. Net Neutrality prevents AT&T from choosing which websites open most easily for you based on which site pays AT&T more. Amazon.com doesn’t have to outbid Barnes & Noble for the right to work more properly on your computer.

Politicians don’t think we are paying attention to this issue. Many of them take campaign checks from big telecom companies and are on the verge of selling out to people like AT&T’s CEO, who openly says, “The internet can’t be free.”

The free and open Internet is under seige–can you sign this petition letting your member of Congress know you support preserving Network Neutrality? Click here:

http://www.civic.moveon.org/save_the_internet

A list of all the ways you might be affected by Net Neutrality is located on the bottom of this link: http://civic.moveon.org/alerts/savetheinternet.html

As I said, maybe this will be a problem and maybe it won’t, but it’s worth paying attention to. My reading on this topic does say that Congress is looking at updating telecommuting policy, so this has the potential to become a serious issue.

No, not me. No need to wonder about why I’m writing about being hooked on pickles. Gage is the one.

He just discovered them this morning. Ariel wanted one, so I gave him a small piece. Then a larger one. Then another. That was finally enough for them, but I think I’ve created a monster.

You just never know what foods your kids will like.

I’m not! At least, not anything I don’t do anyhow!

My kids already have a garden going, so they’re learning about where food comes from. Ariel has been very excited to see the vegetables sprouting. She is very hopeful that the anise my husband planted for her will attract caterpillars like the one we had two years ago did. Yes, she remembers it well, especially having the coccoons and seeing the butterflies come out. She also just likes the taste of the anise, although we’ve told her she can’t pick any until the plant is taller than she is. Have to give the poor thing a chance after all.

I also figure stay at home moms are pretty good for the environment. I drive quite a bit less than I would if I were working. I wish I could walk Ariel to school, but her school is about five miles away, which is much too far for a preschooler and a one year old to walk. Next year, if we’re still at this same house, I’ve managed to get registered at the nearest preschool, which is an easy walk away. That will cut out the majority of my driving right there.

Yes, we do recycle. Ariel even knows some things always go in the recycle bin. And, of course, some things even get reused first. Lots of recyclable goods are great for crafts!

Certainly there are things I could do that would be more environmentally friendly, but I figure I don’t do too badly. I hope when we can buy our own place that I can make it very energy efficient, but at the moment that’s just a dream.

However, I don’t shop that much. My kids have way too many toys, but that’s mostly out of my control… you know how holidays and birthdays can be! They have a good number of clothes, but lots of hand-me-downs - thank goodness they’re still at an age where they don’t think anything of it!

Hmm… I wonder if letting them watch “Go Diego, Go!” counts as environmentally friendly?

Especially ones who really work at it?  Had one person do six spammy comments today. Folks, this is why I moderate comments - you never know what people are going to try to put in your blog comments. I guess this guy figured if I didn’t notice, that would be six places with multiple links to his site. Probably works some places.

I have quite a busy weekend ahead of me. Birthday party Friday, probably going to my sister’s on Saturday, then another birthday party on Sunday. It’s going to be a lot of fun, but I’m looking forward to a nice, quiet Monday.