Shortcut To All The Deals At Target

Go directly to the Current Promotions page, which gives you a summary of all the deals they currently have going on at Target, including: what's on sale, promo codes, which product purchases will net you a Target gift card, freebies, and more. This is useful because you can see all the fine print - what's restricted, when the deal expires, how much you need to get in order to get a gift card, etc.

Snowpiercer Is A Documentary

I kid, I kid. Snowpiercer is a totally fun, implausible, unrealistic sci-fi movie about a guy who needs to kill his way to the front of the train in order to take it over. There is social and class commentary, as well as some pretty surreal fight scenes. Chris Evans is in it, as is Tilda Swinton, who is barely recognizable as Prime Minister Mason and Octavia Spencer. The plot is full of holes, but I think it's pretty obvious that you're not meant to think too hard about it, and just enjoy the pretty and weird scenery. The movie is full of really lovingly rendered shots.

• Director Bong Joon Ho on the backstory for the more minor characters - gay relationships, who gets to go the front, etc. 
• Interview with costume designer Catherine George. 
• Hello, Tailor's review. 
• io9's interview with Bong Joon Ho. 

Epic Guide To Shopping At Target

I've been looking for ways to maximize savings at Target, a store I frequent for - well, just about everything. There are three Targets within a three-mile location of me, and I've found that I can often shave about 20-30% off the original prices. But I have to be pretty strategic about it, and I'm still working on getting my bills down even further!

My disclaimers: I am not paid by Target or any affiliates for these recommendations, and I tried to follow some coupon blogs like AllAboutTarget, but I found the constant coupon matchups and coupon recommendations kind of tedious and timewasting. (However, if you thrive on those, it's a very good blog for that kind of thing.) I have very specific tastes, and I try to keep the amount of junk food and extra stuff in our home down to a minimum - so many of the coupon recommendations don't really work for me.

Here's what has been working for me so far:

• The Target RedCard gives you 5% off everything both in-store and online. So that's a pretty easy thing to do. Other advantages include free shipping with no minimums and extended returns. 
• Bring as many reusable bags as possible for your shopping trip to get an additional nickel off every bag. Sometimes you have to remind the cashier to do it, and some are under the mistaken impression that no matter how many bags you bring, you still get just a nickel. Bug them. 
• Check for manufacturer coupons at sites like coupons.com or smartsource.com. The biggest pain about manufacturer coupon sites is that you have to inevitably install their software, because they try to limit the number of coupons you can print per computer. Other ways to get manufacturer coupons includes at your local grocery store at machines at select locations like the cereal aisle, or in the Sunday paper, or in inserts from magazines like Real Simple or Parents. For coupons on brand name organic products like Honest Tea or Alexia Frozen Products, go to MamboSprouts (which I actually discovered just yesterday). The one thing you want to factor in is how much time you want to invest in saving and searching for these coupons - if it's taking you more than an hour to do it, then is it really worth the pittance in savings and the paper you're printing them on?
• If you have specific brand products you like, check their Facebook or other social media pages to see whether they have coupons or not. For example, I joined the Honest Tea Facebook page because I love their tea, and their Facebook page just listed a coupon for $1.50 off 2 bottles of their newest flavor. I keep a separate Facebook account just for the stuff I "like" because I don't want it cluttering up my main feed, and I don't feel like telling my entire network of friends that I "liked" GoGo Squeez just to get a coupon. 
• You'll also get coupons from Target directly once you pay at the cash register. These coupons are known as "catalinas", and are often based upon what you usually buy. Save them to stack with the manufacturer coupons and sales. For example, if you buy General Mills cereals often, you'll often get a coupon for $1.50 off 3 boxes for your next purchase. 
• Print Target-specific coupons at coupons.target.com, which you can then stack with the manufacturer coupons and Target's weekly ad sales. You can only print each coupon once (I think) per computer, so if you have a coupon you want to use multiple times, try printing them from different computers.  
• Use the Cartwheel app to stack even more savings on top of the other coupons and sales. Check my post on how to use the Cartwheel app for further instructions. Regular items that appear on Cartwheel include Market Pantry milk, eggs, and the One Spot. Sometimes you can save up to 40% on particular items, so just check the app before you leave your house. The app is especially good on Target's house brand items, such as Market Pantry, Archer Farms, and up & up. 
• Get your prescriptions filled at Target, and get their Pharmacy Rewards card. After you get five prescriptions filled, you'll get a coupon for 5% off your next purchase, which you can stack with other savings. 
• Check the endcaps in the aisles. The endcaps, are the front and back of each aisle, which usually contain items on clearance. Most of the time they are junk, but I just got a nice, small Farberware cutting board for $3 to replace my beaten up Ikea cutting board. Clearance items start at 15% off and will slowly work their way up to 30% off, then 50% off, then if you're really lucky, 75% off. The best clearances happen right after big holidays like Christmas or back-to-school events.
• Use apps like Checkpoints and Shopkick to earn points towards Target gift cards. I've discussed Checkpoints several times before, and have only recently started using Shopkick. I've found it's faster to accumulate points on Shopkick, but I need to test it out further before I can make further recommendations. 
• Cross-check sales across grocery stores with the Favado app. Favado lets you check sales in stores like Target, Costco, Ralph's, and more, and lets you cross-reference the same items so you end up with the least expensive items on your shopping list. I only started using it, but I find it's pretty effective. If you spot a sale that's not in the app itself, you can take a picture and send it to Favado. 
• You can also price-match at Target. Their policy with price-matching Target and Target.com is a little weird - basically, if you bought it at Target.com first, they will not price-match that to the item at Target or other stores. However, if you are in a physical Target store, and you see that the item you want is cheaper on Target.com, you can go to customer service and get it price-matched there.

Things that are worth your time and money at Target:

• Archer Farms products are pretty good, especially the chips and nuts and snacks. The fresh bread is pretty good, too.
• The One Spot, where there are often seasonal items available for $1-3, is a great place to snag useful and cheap organizational tools, educational items, and baby stuff. Wait for The One Spot to appear in Cartwheel before buying anything, so you can save a little extra. 
• Up & up lotions, cleansers, and wipes, are generally cheaper and comparable to their brand name counterparts. 
• Threshold furniture seems to hold up pretty well as long as you are not too harsh on them. Be sure to read the reviews before you buy anything. 
• Designer collaborations, especially if it's one you like, are worth getting. Because, let's face it - how often are you going to be able to afford Peter Pilotto? Keep in mind, though, that sometimes the collaborations fall through, and you can often end up purchasing the items on clearance a few weeks later after the initial rush. 
• I've found that milk and eggs are consistently cheaper at Target, especially since they are frequently in Cartwheel. 

Things that are not worth your time or money at Target:

• Up & up diapers are the worst. I bought them because they were really cheap compared to Pampers or Huggies, but they fell apart on my kid pretty quickly, and they barely absorbed anything. If you are going to use them, don't use them at night. 
• Produce and perishable items are not often available at a great price, and they are often limited in stock (unless there's a SuperTarget around). You'll get better and cheaper produce at your local grocery store. 

Good Advice

I love finding good advice, but it has to be from reliable sources.

• Safest ways to stop pain. 
• Use flaxseed oil to season your cast-iron skillet.
• Replace regular purchases with one-time purchases.  
• Store your batteries properly.
• Protect your skin from drying out.
• The skinny on electronic trade-in programs.
• Retailers that let you stack coupons.  

Greening The Mail Part 2

Apparently buying a new house means somehow EVERYONE finds out where you live and starts sending you coupons and catalogs.

Now that I'm (mostly) unpacked, it's time to start getting rid of the junk mail.

• redplum - Unsubscribe here. Takes 5-6 weeks to go into effect. What's nice is that you don't actually have to give them your email address for confirmation.
• Valpak - Unsubscribe here. Giving your email address is not required but you can provide it for confirmation. May be 2-3 months before complete removal.
• Pennysavers - Unsubscribe here. Email address required. Unsubscribing is not permanent in California and Florida, and will resume after 12 months.
• Smart Saver Magazine - Local to Southern California, planned expansion to the Bay Area. Unsubscribe here. 
• YellowPagesOptOut - Registration required to stop delivery.
• PaperKarma - Web app for getting your name off junk mail. Free and available on iOS and Android. 

On Integrity

• Interview with James Van Der Beek of Dawson's Creek fame. Those kids — No. 1, they’re so young. No. 2, they’re under such an intense microscope. And there’s a lot more money to be made off of them than there was when I was famous. I mean, I don’t know. I just don’t judge. It’s very easy. People love to judge. People love to be self-righteous. They get a lot of energy from that. Listen: Fame is not hard. Right? Being a soldier is hard, digging ditches is hard, coal mining is hard. But it’s tricky. It’s not something you can ever get any sympathy for, nor should you, and it’s not something you can really explain to someone who hasn’t gone through it. But it’s tricky because ... you’re the same. You feel generally like the same person, but the behavior of everyone around you starts to change. I remember we did season one of Dawson’s Creek in complete obscurity. Then when we were shooting season two [which was shot after everyone was famous], my trailer door had a latch that stuck, so the only way to get it closed was to slam it. And I said something to one of the producers, but it kept on breaking, whatever. But within a week, I had all the producers in my trailer for a very serious sit-down, because they had heard that I was slamming my trailer door. That never would have happened in season one.
• Prada, suicide and sexual harassment: A whistle-blower speaks out: Oh my god. I wanted to commit suicide. It was horrible. For two weeks, I couldn’t go out from my apartment. How could this be possible, that they openly admitted everything, and it was acceptable? … [I was in the] private office of the female judge, with my four lawyers, and she screamed at me … She said, “If you don’t settle the case, I am going to make you lose, and you are going to have huge trouble financially and socially, because  you have created so many problems in society.” … I said, “I can’t settle the case. I need a ruling. Society needs a ruling.” My lawyer said, “Yeah, she didn’t have to wait for three years if she was going to settle the case …”
• Rina Bovrisse on suing Prada: What I did for this case was what many in the US consider “educated common sense.” My parents instilled in me to have integrity and pride for life. My family comes from a Samurai background and they have pride for living with faith and morals. My mother died of a heart attack a few years ago while I was on a business trip.  She always told me to have faith in what I have my passion in, no matter how long it takes, the fighter is the winner.

More Environmentally Friendly Grocery Shopping With Bulk App

I constantly go back and forth on committing to being more environmentally friendly in my daily life, because while it's absolutely the right thing to do, it's also kind of time-consuming and infuriating at times. We recycle, reduce, and reuse as much as possible. Yesterday we cleaned out the garage and took out a whole bunch of cardboard to a recycling center; I took some dead batteries to the local Home Depot, which was one of the only places I was aware of that would accept non-rechargeable batteries for recycling. 

Did you know that the air packaging that comes in Amazon.com boxes cannot just be tossed into the curbside recycling bin? You actually have to take it to a grocery store with a recycling bin specifically for plastic bags. I dropped it off at the local Ralph's, but I felt a bit uneasy about it since it was shoved to the side, behind a sign, overflowing, with little text about what it does and doesn't accept. 

It's one of the reasons why I am conflicted about being more environmentally friendly. If retailers and lawmakers don't actually make it easier to recycle things, then things don't get recycled. I mean, how many people are actually going to read the packaging labels on various Honest Tea pouches that say you have to go set up a separate box in your kids' classrooms for recycling that you then have to package off and ship, when most of your recycling could just go into the bin at home or at school that gets picked up by the city? Almost none. 

Enough about that. Anyway, I just started using Bulk, an app created by Zero Waste Home, which is a blog dedicated to going even further than "reduce, reuse, recycle", and has as its mantra "refuse, reduce, reuse, recycle, rot". In this app, they have created a community resource that lists any stores that provide bulk bins, and allows users to submit stores, indicate what bulk goods they sell, and whether they accept reusable containers, as opposed to just using the flimsy plastic produce bags in the store (which I confess I still do, but it's probably time to make a change). 

The app is very attractive looking, and very basic at this point. I registered in order to add new stores, rate items, and bookmark locations. 

For the bulk selections, you can rate the stores on the various offerings, and what sort of items they have on sale such as baking supplies, alcohol, grains, etc. In this screenshot, I rated our local Sprouts, which offers quite a variety of bulk goods the last time I checked. I actually think as a result of checking out the bulk bin more thoroughly, I'm going to drop a few things from our Target list, such as sugar, brown sugar, flour, etc, since ounce for ounce, it will be cheaper getting it from Sprouts. One of the things that I didn't capture in the screenshot was that it asks whether the store accepts reusable containers or not. Some stores do, other stores don't. I think a great thing to add would be to ask whether the store also provides a discount for using reusable bags/containers. Sprouts will give you a five cent discount for every reusable bag you bring. 

I added a Ralph's location to the app, since it wasn't listed, and it was pretty easy to do. The only part where I messed up was when I left off a period for the Ralph's website, but then again, it was also pretty easy to send an email indicating I erred. 

The 2013 Guide To The Checkpoints App

People still search on the old Checkpoints guide that I wrote a few years back. Checkpoints has since changed quite a bit, but the overall premise is still the same: scan items, check into places, and do other things via the app in exchange for coins and points. The coins can be used to play in-app games to earn more points. The points can be exchanged for gift cards from places like Amazon.com, Macy's, Target, and more.

What has changed:

• There are fewer points and coins being assigned to each store and item. In most stores, you can earn coins with specific items, and the point spread you can earn is between five to thirty or forty points. Sometimes if there is a specific ad campaign going on, you can earn even more points. 
• The app opens with the following screen below, which tells you the "Scan Of The Day", and other ways to earn points on the app. 

• In the previous guide, I mentioned a bunch of cheats where you could gain extra points and coins by scanning the same item multiple times or checking into multiple locations at the same area. You should know that this is against Checkpoints' terms of use, and if caught, could lead to getting your account banned from the app. Before you get banned, though, you will get a warning, and have to agree to use the app as it was intended. You still get to keep the points you already earned.

• I didn't find this out until recently, but you can register your airline rewards cards to earn extra miles. Registering your Alaska Airlines miles account nets you 1000 airline miles, while the other airline loyalty programs will net you 500 miles or points. Just add your airline loyalty membership card number 

• The fastest way to earn points, which I haven't really done, is to refer people for points. The new rules allow you to earn up to 7500 points for every friend you refer. What happens is that you earn the points that your friends earn for the next two weeks. (As noted in the screenshot below, my bonus code is "cheekyang".)

Other miscellaneous notes:

• Scan At Home no longer exists. You can no longer scan items from the comfort of your own home, unless you live right above a grocery store. 
• Whereas before there was a two-minute delay before you could scan stuff in a different store, or check into a different location, now there is at least a five-minute delay before you can scan new items in a different store. 
• You can now earn points by signing into Checkpoints.com online and completing offers, such as watching videos, registering for different sites, or answering questions or surveys. I do not recommend signing up for different sites - some of them require money upfront or later, and some of them end up deluging your email inbox with spam. The surveys are not worth the time investment, as you have to answer a few questions to qualify, and most of the time you spend five minutes answering questions only to find out that you don't qualify. I wish they would screen these better. 
• Installing apps no longer seems to net you any coins. Instead you get points for every app you download. Some of the apps will require you to complete a task before you can earn any points.

• If you decide to install the Checkpoints toolbar, you can earn points from doing your searches through Yahoo! and shop via your account to earn extra points when you buy things online. For example, shopping at Barnes & Noble will net you three points for every dollar you spend. There is a daily limit to the number of searches you can do via the Checkpoints toolbar. It appears to be seven searches, according to my history. That's kind of low if you ask me. Make it at least ten searches!

• To check the history of your scans and points, log in on Checkpoints.com. From there, you can check your history, collect points by completing tasks like watching videos or completing surveys, and checking your history by clicking on "My History". 

"Tomorrow And Tomorrow And Tomorrow" - Sir Ian McKellan & Patrick Stewart's Interpretations Of Macbeth

While searching for "Patrick Stewart reading Shakespeare", I came across the following video of Patrick Stewart as Macbeth and the famous "Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow" soliloquy. This particular version appears to be a modern version with the original lines intact, and the atmosphere created is a menacing, dark one.




Patrick Stewart talks a little bit about the soliloquy, and how Sir Ian McKellan gave him a bit of advice on how to do it. "The important word in the tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow is the word 'and'." And that was the key for him. The NYT review of the Macbeth interpretation is very positive. Apparently you can watch the whole thing on the PBS website for free.



It's a bit jarring to see a young Sir Ian McKellan doing the same soliloquy. This is a more classic interpretation of the play. They both give pretty riveting performances, and I can't decide which version I like better. (Though it's not like I have to choose.)



Below, Sir Ian McKellan does a brilliant explication of the soliloquy, expanding on each word, and what's going through his mind as he interprets the work. If you look closely, Patrick Stewart is in the background. Kids, if you are doing your English homework on Macbeth, you should pay close attention to what he says.

Spontaneity Is The Spice Of Life

• The Psychology Of Giant Princess Eyes: Brenda Chapman, the creator and co-director of the 2012 Pixar movie Brave, said she came under fire for attempting to make certain characters more realistic-looking. “At one point they thought I was making the mom too big, her bum too big,” she told Time. “And that was frustrating for me because I wanted her to feel like a real middle aged woman.” 
• Which America Do You Live In? - 21 Hard To Believe Facts About 'Wealthy America' And 'Poor America': In millions of families, both the husband and the wife work multiple jobs and it is still not enough. (Caveat: Don't read the comments.)
• Chinese labor camp inmate tells of true horror of Halloween 'SOS'. 

Calabasas Farmers Market Favorites

I try to go to the Calabasas Farmers Market every Saturday with my daughter. I love getting her fruit samples, and trying out new foods. Lately, I've discovered a few things that I intend to purchase regularly. 

• Mills + Company Meats makes delicious homemade charcuterie. I tried to sample everything while I was there, and I was partial to the chicken liver mousse (and I HATE liver), and pork pate. They also have a housemade mustard, as well as pickled fruits and veggies. Every week they run a special, and unfortunately last week I missed out on the pork rillete. I picked up a pork pate jar for $10, which is a few bucks cheaper than what you can get for it online at goodeggs.com. 
• Cappy's Dry Rub is a delicious spice mixture that we use on our grilled meats. It works well on anything - chicken, beef, or pork. There are three blends - original, hot, or salt-free. The salt-free one works really well, because it allows you to control the amount of salt. Last week I saw that they also had a blend that was created specifically for fruits and vegetables. It tasted awesome. 

Everything You Need To Know About Target's Cartwheel App

It is no secret that I love Target - I have written many articles detailing the different ways you can save money there. But what really got me to make Target a permanent part of my actual shopping was their new app, Target Cartwheel, which is shockingly underused, considering how awesome it is, especially with the latest update.

Although Cartwheel is available on both Android and iOS, you don't necessarily need a smartphone or tablet to use it. You can also go directly to http://cartwheel.target.com and log in using your Facebook account.

The whole point of Cartwheel is to add items that you want to buy to your "cartwheel" that you want to save money on. Depending on the item, you can save anywhere from five to thirty percent. You can add up to seventeen items to your cartwheel to use at one time. The best deals usually are for Target's generic brands, such as Up & Up, Simply Balanced, Market Pantry, or Archer Farms.

When you are finished selecting all your items, click on the redeem in store button on the top right corner. You can then print out your Cartwheel-specific bar code, along with the list of items you want to buy. The list includes the item, the amount of, the number of items you can buy per offer, and the offer expiration date. Once you've found all your items, you can show the list to the cashier, and the cashier will scan the bar code to give you the discount.

Of course, if you know how to stack your coupons and various Target-related discounts, you can save even more on your purchases. Here are some good tricks I discovered since I've started using the app:

• The latest update allows you to use your phone's camera to scan items in the store or at home. Once the item is scanned, then the Cartwheel app searches its database for a match, and if there is a match, you have the option of adding it to your Cartwheel. This feature is perfect for last-minute purchases. 
• Stack your coupons. Target allows you to stack Cartwheel savings with one Target coupon, plus one manufacturer coupon per item. Target coupons can be found at http://coupons.target.com, and manufacturer coupons can be found at sites like Coupons.com, or SmartSource. In order to print the coupons, though, you will need to install the printer apps from the websites. The printer app tracks how many coupons you've printed, as some coupons have limits. 
• Additional savings can be had when you bring in your reusable tote bags and use your Target Red Card. For every tote bag you bring in to hold your groceries, you get a five cent discount. Many cashiers often forget, so remind them if they don't give you the discount. Your Target Red Card will net you 5% off every purchase.
• You can only use one Cartwheel barcode per transaction, but you can do up to six Cartwheel transactions a day. 
• You are limited to seventeen items per Cartwheel. If you try to add more items than allowed, you will be asked to remove an item before adding new ones. 

Chinese Politics

Chinese debate Middle East crises and draw parallels to their own country. 

Hackers put up anti-Chinese Communist party mooncakes on government site.

How to handle a Chinese government raid.

Chinese bloggers try to "un-verify" social media accounts to protect themselves.

Charles Xue, Chinese American billionaire investor, goes on CCTV to criticize himself.   

China detains activist billionaire Wong Gongquan on suspicion of "gathering crowds to disturb social order.

How to block a surveillance camera by Ai Weiwei.  

The rise of the nu han zi or manly women in China. AKA tomboys. 

Worth Reading/Watching

Hello, Tailor Spring 2014 Fashion Post

The Surprising Science Behind Napping

Roy Choi's Los Angeles Restaurants

There is Amazon Instant Video for iOS BUT NO LOVE FOR ANDROID???

There's No Excuse For Misogyny In Space - This article is about Riddick and its terrible treatment of Katee Sackhoff's character.

Which brought to mind, Hello, Tailor's review of Dredd, in which she calls it a great chick flick. After reading her endorsement, I watched it on Amazon Prime. It was pretty satisfying on several different levels - it wasn't overly complicated, there was zero angst, and all of the main characters were slowly fleshed out, especially the women. Lena Headey was pretty amazing as Ma-Ma, the scary drug kingpin of the Peach Tree block. Olivia Thirlby plays a rookie with psychic powers, and you can see her slowly growing into her role.

Much better than a bunch of lesbo and rape jokes that centered around Sackhoff's character.

Worth Reading/Watching

8 Reasons People Of Color Must Rally For White History Month

How Can I Eat Well While Working From Home?




Netflix wants to know what shows you're pirating.

Everyday sexism at the Art Institute of Chicago.

W. Kamau Bell Is Trying To Become A Thing

Field Negro Guide To Arts & Culture w/Vernon Reid & Kamau Bell - podcast, also available on iTunes.

Jaden Smith said something stupid on Twitter today, which reminded me of Key & Peele's sketch about him:



Jaden's Mythology from Peter Atencio on Vimeo.

5 Good Sushi Restaurants In The San Fernando Valley

Today, I came across kevinEats' post on Go's Mart, an obscure sushi joint in San Fernando Valley, and it reminded me that there are quite a few good sushi joints in San Fernando Valley. Most of them never make the local media's "Best Sushi In The Valley" lists because apparently L.A. writers don't like to venture further than Northridge for their food. It makes finding recommendations around where I live pretty difficult.

Here are a few places that we've really enjoyed:

• Brothers Sushi: A tiny restaurant in a non-descript strip mall on Ventura Blvd. The service is friendly, the food is good, and there's quite a number of rolls that are interesting and delicious. We especially like the spicy tuna rice cakes, and the kerry roll is pretty good, and the salmon nigiri is always yummy. A warning: I am pretty sensitive to albacore tuna, and whenever I eat it here, it does terrible things to my stomach. I would skip it if you are sensitive. 
• Little Brother's Sushi: If you can't make it to Brothers, this is a good alternative, though I think this one is more popular. It's also on Ventura Blvd, a further bit down. They have almost the same menu. 
• Shibuya: This place is across from Calabasas Commons. It gets crowded pretty fast, and for good reason. It has some great rolls, the nigiri is fresh, and we especially loved their rock shrimp tempura. (It's not always available, so you have to ask for it.)
• SUGARFISH by Sushi Nozawa: This restaurant just opened at The Commons, so we haven't had a chance to try it yet. We have tried the one in the Santa Monica location, and it's fantastic. This restaurant is a bit more refined than your normal neighborhood sushi joint, and they offer a tasting menu. It's not for those on a budget. 
• SushiEx: Budgeters should go here. This is a little mom & pop place on Vanowen in a tiny strip mall. I'd recommend it for takeout as there are only two small tables inside. As many Yelpers noted, they skimp on the fish for the sushi rolls, so watch what you order. What you do get is pretty good, and they have a fairly large, interesting menu for such as small operation. The owners do not speak much English, so be a little patient with them. They also offer other Asian snacks in front of the register. 

Worth Reading/Watching

Shamed in Edina for using food stamps.

Time Warner Cable admits it lost customers because of CBS/Showtime blackout.  (Note: we totally cancelled the TV portion of our cable last week. Amazon Prime and Hulu Plus are adequate enough replacements for us.)

Bill on unlocked cell phones moves forward.

9 Recent Children's Books I Adore

I love reading, and I want to pass on that love to my two and a half year old. Luckily, she loves going to the library, so we go almost every week, and every week is an opportunity to pick something new out. I discovered that as a mom, I'm fairly picky about children's books. I read material to her that is far above my daughter's comprehension, and she seems to do just fine. She's memorized some of her favorites. She's not picky, though. As long as the story entertains her, that's enough.

For me, the illustrations and the story have to be good. If the story can't be good, then the art needs to be beautiful. Too often, the stories are too long drawn out, have an overly obvious moral, or are just plain not fun. If the art isn't good, then it totally takes me out of the story. 

Below, I've listed 9 children's books that I picked up recently and adore:

• Bark, George by Jules Feiffer is hilarious, short, and sweet.
• Who Wants A Cheap Rhinoceros by Shel Silverstein is funny, silly, and full of awesome sight gags. 
• The Grouchy Ladybug by Eric Carle is a classic case of escalation. "Hey, you. Want to fight?" has become a running joke in our house. 
• Where's Walrus? by Stephen Savage is a beautifully illustrated wordless story about a walrus' escape from the zoo, and the zookeeper's hapless attempts to find him. 
• Press Here by Herve Tullet was given to me by a friend, after we watched that video of a baby who couldn't figure out how to work a magazine. We love the interaction on this book. 
• Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell is a classic and great for peeking at animals. 
• Going To The Zoo With Lily & Milo by Pauline Oud is a fun and cutely illustrated book about a bunny and a mouse's adventures at the zoo. 
• Counting With Wayne Thiebaud by Susan Goldman Rubin is an easy counting book filled with wonderful paintings by the artist Wayne Thiebaud.
• A Very Special House by Ruth Krauss, illustrated by Maurice Sendak is a great nonsense poem full of fun and imagination. 

Additional Google Reader Replacement Suggestions: Not Reviewed At All

I came across this article on The Verge, which discusses the hiccups the popular Google Reader alternatives have been experiencing, and how they're improving on the original product. Plenty of people chimed in on the comments with their own products and suggestions for alternative replacements. I have not checked these out yet, but am listing here for future reference.

• SwarmIQ - Free, I think.
• Feedbin - $3 a month, has beta Android app. 
• Tiny Tiny RSS - a free, self-hosted, open source solution. There's also an official Android client. 
• Rivered - Different from other Reader alternatives in that it's just a "river" of updates - no unread items, no categories, no tags, etc. 7 day free trial, "Less than the price of a coffee per month after that". (Ugh, just name the damn price.)
• Fez - Social, smart tags, view your feeds a few different ways, there's also a self-hosted version. Pay what you want, starting from $2 a month. If you pay for 6 month or yearly subscriptions, you'll get at least one month free. 
• SubReader - Currently in private beta. Free to sign up. 

Shortcuts: Target

I've been making better progress with saving money, but sometimes I'd rather really just skip straight to the meat on a website and get my deals immediately. So here are the shortcut links for Target:

• Target Weekly Ad
• Coupons - Coupons can only be printed once.
• Clearance
• Target RedCard: 5% off all purchases; free shipping, extra 30 days to return items, pharmacy rewards.
• Daily deals
• Cartwheel
• All current deals and promo codes
• Sample spot: occasional free samples
• Target Facebook
• Target Style Facebook
• Target electronics trade-in program
• Target text alerts
• Target's price matching policy
• Target Cartwheel 

Bonus savings: every cloth bag you bring in to hold your stuff gives you an additional $0.05 discount. 

Typically, I peruse the Target weekly ad, print out the necessary coupons, and print out appropriate Cartwheel coupons. Then I see if there are additional coupons for the items I need to buy, such as Pampers, directly from the company itself. Target allows you to stack the manufacturer's coupon + Target coupon + Target cartwheel program + the sale price, so you can get pretty substantial savings.