Games or utilities?

Either! Just want the stuff you peeps have found you can't live without. I've got the NYT, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, MLB and ESPN.

adding an 8 year old to the ebay pile. gah.

the playdate that was planned for today over a week ago, well it got moved to Sunday (messing up my plans) and today there was no karate, so it was improvise day. Last night I decided to contact one of his friend's father and see if we could do something impromtu and last minute - otherwise mac would do tv and cartoons/games on the computer all day (or fight with me if I limit it). so after I slept in, we contacted the friend's dad again and met them at the playground. The boys kept trading the grumpies and hurt feelings back and forth. good god it was exhausting, now we are home (good thing too b/c it has started raining) and he has pitched a fit that I wanted to watch something on tv, and then that after that when I relinquished it back to him, that I dared to be so "bossy" as to tell him that I was no allowing him to just watch videos for the next 2-3 hours. He already watched 4 hours of tv today - that is more than half of some kids' whole week allotment.

Can we add an almost 13 year old to the eBay pile?

Being grumpy because he's a) tired from the pool party he attended today and b) somewhat offended that his sister, for once, is engrossed in a game and doesn't immediately want to relinquish the computer and he's having to *gasp* wait.

He's a master of "You can have it after I'm done with..." which has a tendency to go on and on and on. So shoe's on the other foot and he's miffed that I'm not in the slightest bit sympathetic. He also knows not to push me too far, since I could care less about the computer games and would have absolutely no problem selling them off to buy new shoes.

Barb, how about a timer? Or allowing one kid the 7-8 hour and the other kid the 8-9 hour?

There's also the "one cuts the cake, the other chooses the first piece" with the first kid having one hour, but the one who goes second gets some added time.

Is it a common thing for people to bring their pets over to friends houses? By which I mean that this is the second weekend N and W have had guests, and the guests have brought over their yappy, ill-trained dogs, and I want to say something, but don't want to if it's something everybody does and I'm just gonna look crazy.

Or maybe these are the type of people who bring their dogs to drop their kids off at school and let the dogs out of the car.

Love dogs, my parents have a boxer that wouldn't hurt a fly, or a burglar --on purpose at least. She's still a biggish dog, and her greatest danger lies in how much she loves people, because she could kill a small kid knocking it over to give it kisses.

Now I'm imagining her full-body wiggle she does when she's excited, and the comedy potential if she was doing it alongside a crowded pool deck.

I sent my 12 year old to a 6 hour marathon karate class today. Then I sent him to his father's. Of course, no chores got done and his room is a pit, but I am sane.

I would never bring my dog to someone else's house without explicit pre-approval. The only exception would be my sister's house, since our dogs are best friends and they all like my dog. Otherwise? No.

Barb, how about a timer?

Eh, maybe if they were younger. They're both old enough right now to resolve on their own and generally, Abby doesn't care. She's not as enthralled with playing for long periods of time like Nate. And like I said, if the argument gets to where it annoys me, I just turn the thing off and make them go read.

With respect to the dogs, I would never bring any of mine, but that's because they're all big. However, my in-laws, who have a small fourteen pound dog, take him many places. I don't think they'd bring him somewhere they knew he wouldn't be welcome.

Basically, I think it's a small dog owner thing.