How many times has this happened to you: you're in the check out line at the grocery with the kids, just tyring to get your food paid for so you can get home already, when the kids spot the rack of impulse buy stuff--you know the candy and gum and Hot Wheels cars and Pokemon cards. And they start begging for something, anything, come on PLEEEEEAAASE! And you say no and they keep whining and the woman in front of you is writing a check for her groceries and you're not sure you can stand it one more second.

Sound familiar?

Now imagine that you get everyone home and you unload the groceries and find . . . POKEMON CARDS! The ones you said you would not buy for the kids! What do you do then?

One mom, faced with that exact situation, auctioned the cards on eBay. She made $142.51, but that's not the best part. The BEST part is the story about how exactly the cards wound up in the shopping basket and why she's auctioning them and not her six kids.

Go. Read. Laugh. And remember the next time your kids toss a bunch of extra crap into your cart: there's always eBay.

As I mentioned a couple of days ago, back to school clothing shopping with a 14 year-old is a challenge. I have discovered that it can either be a knock down drag out fight or a learning experience on both sides. As my son gets older and has more definite tastes, I am always interested to see where those tastes go. They are not necessarily my tastes, they are his and deserve to be acknowledged.

One item of clothing my son loves is T-shirts. Not just plain white T's, but shirts with a message of some sort. Recently he and I both discovered a line of clothing with a an edgy look and a great, positive message. The clothing line is even more interesting to my son because it was started by two young boys from our small, local community. The shirts contain graphics portraying everything from flying birds, to rap stars to outspoken messages about gun control. I have to admit when I saw the gun control images I paused for a moment; it is virtually impossible to see a gun and not feel a moment of quiet. However, upon further inspection, the gun control messages are everything positive.

I suspect that these shirts are not for every teen or every family. I also suspect that nearly image with a gun, no matter the intent, is not allowed within a public school. Some of the shirts are beyond my son's age level, some he finds funny, others strike a chord within him. These shirts are also not cheap, mostly in the $30 range. My son will not have an entire closet full of them. But if he finds a message compelling and he takes pride in spreading the word, then I am all for it.

What do you think? A positive message or too much?

It seems like just last week I wrote about Ellie's last day of kindergarten. We were both so sad that day, crying together in the back seat of my car. Next week, she starts first grade at a new school - and this time I am the only one who is feeling sad.

We went back-to-school shopping yesterday and in the time it took to pick out a book bag, she seemed to grow up a little. She walked next to me in the mall, but didn't hold my hand. She rolled her eyes when I suggested a cute Disney Princess backpack. She begged for leopard print high-heeled clogs (no), a long blond hair-piece (no) and a sparkly black and gold backpack (sigh...okay).

She wore the empty backpack through the mall, walking so tall with a confident stride that I hadn't seen before. When we got back out to the car, it was clear a storm had blown through. The ground was damp and the air was cooler - the beginning of the end of summer. I am excited for Ellie and so proud of the person she is becoming. But before I settle in to another school year, I think I am going to need a good cry first.

It seems that the ingenuity of kids wanting to get around the rules is still alive and well. Whatever new technology comes along, kids will put it to use to get into trouble. Take pre-paid "credit cards", for example. Sometimes called "cash cards" or "gift cards", these have become very popular for gift giving, lately. The recipient is able to get what they want for a gift, rather than getting what a well-meaning but clueless friend or relative thinks they want.

Both Visa and Mastercard offer such cards and highlight the fact that they are accepted by any merchant that accepts traditional credit cards, online and off. The problem, however, is that it's easy enough for kids to get hold of these cards opening up a world of adult pleasures to them. A recent investigation in the UK found that children were easily able to obtain the cards on their own, purchase restricted items such as liquor and adult videos, and gain access to pornographic and gambling websites.

Visa prefers to focus on the positive aspects of the cards. "They introduce children to the financial world, start to teach them about financial discipline," said a spokesman. I'm not sure there's any way to solve the problem, other than to make sure parents know what their kids are ordering.

Guard your daughters! Just in time for back-to-school shopping, Paris Hilton's clothing line has been unveiled at the popular celebrity boutique Kitson.

For reasons that completely escape me, large enough crowds gathered for the line's debut and appearance by Hilton to force police to close a lane of traffic and require backup.

Hilton describes the collection as "really comfortable" and "really affordable" but the average person is likely to find it an expensive and trampy version that's a bit Hello, Kittyesque. Tight jeans, colorful satin tops, and T-shirts make up the bulk of the pieces, with more to be released next month.

For $88 people can purchase the twisted seam skinny jeans Paris wore home from jail (and appear to be cutting off the circulation on the size 0 model wearing them on the website). Remember when Paris' hair was styled in the shape of Minnie Mouse's bow in the back? The pink halter with black bow tie accent recreates that look on the wearers breasts for $68. The cheapest items are T-shirts for $34, some which bear Hilton's lips or face, because we're really not seeing her face enough lately in the media.

In my house we have a little bit of everything when it comes to age variety. There is the teenage boy, 14. The tween girl, 10. And lastly, the preschool boy, just a couple weeks shy of three. There is noise galore, demands, squabbling, much driving and even more juggling. Right now I am hearing the most noise from the tween girl, Cassidy. The topic? Her back to school clothing needs. Not the school supplies or reading lists, mind you. But the clothing. It's all about the look. At first I thought maybe I could simply ignore her and she would go away. After all, this is a child who has a closet to rival Paris Hilton. But no, after a recent review of her wardrobe I realized she has grown out of most of her wardrobe and needs a bit of everything to start the school year. A convenient situation for her, a sigh for me.

So just what is it that a tween child wants for her closet? Not wanting a wardrobe filled with skinny jeans or low riders, I have recently taken it upon myself to find out just what these girls are wearing this year. Following are a few items likely to be hot on the demand lists of many a tween age girl this August:

• Hannah Montana, or Miley Cyrus, of the Disney channel has inspired quite a lot of looks this season. She favors sequined tops, jeans and scarves for her ensembles. Her look might be a bit flashy but with a sweater it transitions nicely from fall into early winter. I like this one because she doesn't show too much skin.
• The Rocker Prep look. We can thank Avril Lavigne for this inspiration. Again, this look might not be the favorite of parents but there is little skin exposed and the accessories include sport socks and plaid skirts.
• Denim. While good, sturdy jeans are always welcome, I could easily do without any sort of denim mini skirts for girls of this age. Many types of denim are being featured this year so there is a wide variety to suit many types of tastes.

While not all tweens are immersed in fashion this is an age where the clothing and shopping urges are likely to surface. Hopefully your school shopping experience will go smoothly and your tween will end up with tasteful, functional clothing.

Nolan's stuff goes missing all the time. In the last year, I estimate that I have purchased approximately five million and three pairs of rubber-stamped toddler socks, and all I have to show for that is one frayed red sock and one limp grey sock. They go missing: in the dryer, under the couch, in other kid's diaper bags? Who knows, but I could probably save a fortune if only someone could rescue me.

Enter Mabel's Labels. Mabel sells labels that adhere customized ownership tags for everything from sippy cups to underwear, and even allergies. The woman has thought of everything: labels for your daughter's sippy cup, that remind caregivers and teachers of her allergies. Label's for your boy's shoes, which will inevitably look the same as four other boys' shoes at school.

My favorite, though, are the labels for me: cord labels, in which I can finally categorize my plethora of computer and light cords and cables (I just counted: I have 9 cords in my desk drawer alone. I haven't the faintest notion of the use for any of them.)

Labels can be purchased by category or as a combo pack - and Mabel claims they'll last up to four years, through dishwashers and washing machines and much roughness and tumbling. Thank Pete for entreprenurial Moms.

It didn't used to be this way. There was a point in my pre-mama life where heads would turn because I'd entered a room or walked down the street. A time when I wore dry clean only pants and thought heels were practical. But motherhood has effectively obliterated any attempts I might previously have made to come off as polished or poised. It's a wonder if I make it out of the house without some type of stain on my jeans. I consider applying mascara a real splurge. Lip gloss is the only cosmetic product in my bag (lost between extra pairs of underpants for in-potty-training kiddo, snack baggies, and crumpled receipts) and the concept of matching accessories is totally lost on me.

Now when heads turn I can be sure it's because of my kid. He has ridiculously long eyelashes that he knows how to use. And also, he is insanely better dressed than I am. This is not my doing.

My mother-in-law, who is truly the queen of shopping expeditions, and who travels with a piece of luggage large enough to smuggle several full grown rabbits, for the sole purpose of transporting the cosmetics she deems daily necessities, buys nearly all of my son's clothing. She cannot help herself, and I love her for this. Before my kid was born--no, before I was even six month's pregnant--I had an entire baby boy wardrobe at the read. I had to beg to be able to buy some things myself.

Most recently she found a pair of bright orange and blue Haribo high-tops at a little kid's shoe boutique (orange being his favorite color.) And when he wore them to dinner last night, no less than a zillion people had to comment on how adorable he was in his Eighties inspired sneakers. Sneakers I would never wear in a million years. But then, I'm a fashion wimp who wears jeans every day. But my little guy? He can totally pull them off.

Well, you need a prescription, and it doesn't apply to all antibiotics, but if you live in an area where there is a Publix store, you can get seven generic brands of antibiotics for free. Plublix is a privately held grocer and I guess they can do whatever they please. What they are doing is giving away the drugs that make up nearly 50% of the generic pediatric prescriptions filled in their stores. The free drugs are limited to a fourteen day supply of amoxicillin, ampicillin, cephalexin, ciprofloxacin (excluding ciprofloxacin XR), erythromycin (excluding Ery-Tab), sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprim (or SMZ-TMP) and penicillin VK.

Meijer, another privately-held retailer, began the same program in the Midwest back in October. And Wal-Mart and Target currently fill prescriptions for these drugs at $4 a pop.

This article doesn't address why these retailers are doing this, but let's speculate anyway. I can't believe they are doing this out of the goodness of their corporate hearts and assume there must be a sound financial reason behind the idea. Engendering the good-will of parents by giving their children antibiotics for free will no doubt result in these same parents shopping at these stores for their other needs, including expensive prescriptions. Whatever the reason, it seems like a win-win situation to me. What do you think?

There are some aspects about having a little girl that are simply lost on those who have only boys. Sure boys are cute and we love them to pieces, but a little girl you can dress up and make their hair pretty. For those of us who absolutely loved those styling head toys when we were children, the ability to do our daughter's hair everyday is a dream come true. A site that will make the hair dressing all the more fun is called Hooked on Baby.

This super cute site offers the most amazing collection of hair bows I have ever seen. There are bows embellished with buttons, there are polka dot bows and some super cute plaid ones. My favorite bows are the ones with a touch of bling on them, but there are also autumn themed ones that would be the perfect accent to a fall outfit. Hooked on Baby has adorable mommy gift baskets with candles and one of a kind picture frames and there are also some of the most gorgeous diaper cakes I have ever seen.

My daughter is older now and far too traumatized by my brushing and styling efforts to ever again let me near her hair but if you have a little girl check out Hooked on Baby and enjoy the beautiful accessories!

When Ellie and I were shopping for bathing suits earlier this summer, I was amazed at what the department stores had to offer. High-cut ad low-cut one piece suits and skimpy bikinis were the norm and I found most of them to be way too revealing for a child. Of course, Ellie liked them. After trying on lots of suits, we eventually found a few that we could both agree on.

While I do think that itsy bitsy bikinis are inappropriate for little girls, I think the folks at Wholesomewear have taken covering up to the extreme. Those photos you see here aren't young girls on the beach wearing cover-ups over their swim suits. Those are the swim suits. They are from Wholesomewear's WaterWear line (say that three times fast) and are basically wetsuits covered by dresses. Touted as "swimwear that "highlights the face rather than the body," these suits leave everything to the imagination. If you are a girl, that is. If you are a guy, feel free to let it all hang out - Wholesomewear doesn't make a suit for you.

I can't imagine these would be very comfortable or easy to swim in. And I am all for covering up, but don't you think this is a bit much. Would you put your daughter in one of these?

If you find the Wholesomewear Website to be slow, that is probably due to a mention from the Queen of all Media, Perez Hilton.

There's just something wholesome and lovely about cotton string. Kittens chase it, elaborate recess games have been developed around it, and brown paper packages are tied in it. So it's not that surprising for the string doll key chains from Kamibashi inspire oohs, aahs and an irresistible urge to start a collection.

Each two and a half inch doll is created by hand with love, one continuous piece of string, and a healthy dose of hipness older kids (and their parents) will appreciate. (Because of the small parts used, The String Doll Collection is not recommended for kids under the age of eight.) Pirate Davey sports a red bandanna and brandishes a wee wire knife (as threatening as a clothes hanger) and is said to help his owner navigate through the rough waters. Buster is missing an eye, has a big cast and a crutch, but promises to keep you out of the doctors office and into the game. Zombie has a smile of stitches, wears his heart outside his body and will help you dig up all the information buried inside your head, making him a perfect good luck gift before an interview or big exam.

It's easy to find gifts for younger kids, but it's a rare treat to find something suitable for older kids, especially boys. The String Doll Gang with their funny hair (a fuzzy little mohawk!), threatening names (The Grim Reaper, The Killer), and cute-but-not-precious appearance got the thumbs up from the junior high and high school boys in my household.

My friend is helping out her sister out and making some extra money by babysitting her sister's kids while she works full time. My friend has two children of her own and with the addition of her sister's, she has a total of four children under the age of six in her care every day. This means that whenever she needs to leave the house for any reason at all, she must do it with four small children in tow.

For me, grocery shopping with one kid is exhausting. There is no quick in-and-out with Ellie at the grocery store - she must stop and look at everything. Trying to shop with four seems nearly impossible, but sometimes my friend has no choice. She packs them up in the minivan and off they go. She manages just fine, but has discovered something interesting about being out in public with four children.

She says that strangers obviously assume these are all her children and clearly disapprove. She has seen them give her and the kids the once-over and walk away shaking their heads as if she has done something wrong. Other mothers don't return her smile and sometimes give her dirty looks as they pass in the aisle. The swears the kids are well-behaved and that this is not her imagination.

I only have the one kid, so I have never experienced this. Has this happened to you? What is this all about?

Yes, it's that time of year again. The most wonderful time of year (for parents, anyway, or so the commercials go). It's time to start thinking about back to school and all the shopping that goes along with it. Yay consumerism! July is still going strong and already stores are advertising clothes, notebooks, backpacks and anything else you could possibly imagine (and more).

Lucky for me I have a while to go before I need to stat purchasing lunchboxes and crayons for my little one. Lucky for you Yahoo Shopping put together this 'survival list' to help those of you with school age kids get through the madness.

As a kid I had a love/hate relationship with back to school shopping. On one hand I liked getting all the new stuff. I also hoped that the new stuff would make me cooler because it was so now, so of the moment. In fact, it did not help me to have a new purple latex trapper keeper with a unicorn on it, but it was a noble effort nonetheless.

Before the internet, vacation tips were shared via postcard like the one I sent from The Natural Bridge in Slade, Kentucky a few years ago:

The sign said "Family Tour: 1 P.M." Family, my ass! It was an hour and a half straight up or winding around on a narrow trail nestled between poison ivy, stinging nettles and a steep drop off. Our guide was very funny and the view was incredible. If I didn't have to give piggy back rides on the way down and sprained my ankle, I'd totally go again! -Angie

But had I submitted a post card-like entry to Parentography, anyone who logged into the site could find out that the family tours at The Natural Bridge State Park really AREN'T meant for families with children of ANY age, as they could trip and roll down the mountain; the gondola rides at the top have metal lap bars that do NOT seem safe; and holding onto your child's shirt to keep them from slipping and falling the 100 feet straight down to the pine trees will make your arms go numb but since you'll also be clenching your butt in terror, you won't really notice it much.

The site has a clean design and is easy to navigate. A drop down menu allows you to search for (or submit) suggestions on kid service, restaurants, lodgings, activities, parks & playgrounds and major attractions.

Travel plans can definitely be tweaked for the better by looking at the recommended ages for kids, what season the activity/event is suitable for, and probably most important for the parent to know: the time commitment other parents recommend allotting for the activity.

Parentography is still in the beta version and has a few bugs. When I put Michigan in the search engine, nothing came up, but the a sidebox listed Ann Arbor, Michigan as one of the most active communities for reviewers. And as a resource, it's only going to be useful if people register (free!) and start submitting, but I think Parentography has the potential to be the Wikipedia of family vacation planning or even just for pointing out interesting places nearby that you didn't know existed.