A good work friend of my husband’s is having his first baby in July.  He and his then-girlfriend were kind enough to send us a gift card when our daughter was born, so of course I am going to get them something.

But what?

I’m torn because I know that as a first-time mom, she will definitely need a bunch of “practical” items, some of them she may or may not even know she needs yet.

I sort of pride myself on being the person who can be counted on to get a useful baby gift, rather than some weird baby book that the person might not even like, or things like thick, wintry socks for a baby born in August.  Trust me, I’ve seen that.

For some reason, this time I keep leaning towards cute.

I love cute things, but I rarely buy them for babies other than my own.

But my head keeps telling me that I’m being selfish, and to get something that can be used many times, rather than a froggy hooded towel.

Persuade me…

Thanksgiving seems like such a long time ago, does it not?

It seems that almost all of you are in it for the stuffing, with 48% of the vote.  Dessert and alcohol tied at 14% (imagine that) and turkey came in with 11%.  Which is suprising because I don’t know all that many people who are crazy about turkey.  NOBODY voted for sweet potatoes, which boggles the mind. Your house must not feature the ones my sister makes.

Today I wish to ask your opinion of this rather highly rated shirt from a popular tween store called Justice.  I want to warn you that it is made of polyester.

I will say it right now, unless the men in your lives have very specific hobbies that they LOVE (i.e. golf) men are quite difficult to buy for.  Much more so than they claim to be, anyway.  One can only receive so many ties, after all.  Even if they are nice ones.

So here is a little guide to help you out a bit.

Buffalo Nickel Tails Side Hand Painted Cuff Links

I’ll admit it, I’m a sucker for cuff links.  When I was a little girl, I remember going through my parents’ jewelry cases and seeing cuff links and having no idea what they were for.  These are real Buffalo Nickels and are a nice departure from your boring old black/silver combination.

James Perse Lounge Long Sleeve Crew

My husband used to be the kind of guy who never wanted to spend more than five bucks on a shirt.  I kid you not.  So on a daily basis for almost twenty years, my eyes have been assaulted with the most ugly, godawful shirts you could ever have the misfortune of seeing.  But about six months ago in a sudden moment of clarity, he decided that life was too short to wear crappy shirts all the time.  He felt he deserved a little luxury, a little comfort, even when relaxing at home.  And indeed, shouldn’t that be when you feel the most comfortable?

Incase Monochrome Soft Touch Slider Case-4G

What would be more appreciated than a wonderful case for his beloved iPhone?

Pioneer AVIC-Z130BT 7″ In-Dash Navigation AV Receiver with iPod/iPhone Control, Bluetooth, Pandora

Make him the envy of everyone in the neighborhood with this uber cool navigation system from Pioneer.  It has everything he could ever want, and maybe some things he never even knew he wanted.  Until this came along.

Roku 2 XS 1080p Streaming Player

This little device will allow him to watch almost everything he wants on television, including Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Instant, Pandora, sports, plus more.  Enough, in fact, to keep his butt glued to the couch so that you can have some time to do some more online shopping without any pesky questions being asked.

Logitech Harmony 650 Remote Control

Sick of having five different remote controls for everything? Then this top-rated baby is the solution.  Even better is that he will be so enthralled with this gift, he won’t realize it isn’t just for him, technically.  You know, like when he buys you a  KitchenAid stand mixer.  Sure, you love it, but you won’t be the only one eating the results.

Logitech Ultimate Ears 700 Noise-Isolating Earphones

Does he do a lot of traveling?  Work in a noisy environment? Or does he just have some really annoying neighbors?  His ears will thank you forever.

How to Be A Gentleman

Do you have a certain younger male relative who constantly mistakes family gatherings for frat parties? Then this short, quick, and to the point handy dandy guide is just for him. Gently given advice, but sometimes greatly needed.

Kiehl’s Ultimate Man Body Scrub Soap

Does he want to be the ultimate man?  Of course he does! Then get him this soap!

My daughter is tosser/turner/flipper type of sleeper.  She also has pretty much no body fat and gets extremely cold at night, but won’t sleep under covers due to the tossy/turny thing.  My solution so far has been to have her wear footed pajamas at night.  Well, that worked well until we got to size 3T, when the manufacturers apparently made the decision that they could suddenly stop placing the piece of fabric over the top of the zipper which helps to keep the zipper from digging into the neck.  So, her zipper tends to annoy her, which in turn annoys us.

Do you know that in all of the vast Amazon, I could only find ONE  2-piece long sleeve footed pajamas? ONE!  Come on now, I know that there are two year olds that are quite big for their age that could totally still be wearing footed pajamas but are ready to start potty training.  And do you know what will hamper potty training? Yup, a 1  piece footed pajama!

So clothing manufaturers, what is so hard about making a 2 piece pajama set where the pants happen to have feet?  What, I ask?

Also, when my son was about three or four, zip-off pants were everywhere.  And I loved them unconditionally.  There was nothing not to love, and they especially make sense in the climate we live in, which can be warm in the day, but darn cold at night and in the mornings.  But I was only able to buy them for about two years and then, poof! Gone!  Never to return!

Sure, I could buy them at a specialty clothing retailer like REI, but I’m not willing to pay that much.

Why do clothing manufacturers hate me so much?

I often bring my son along because he enjoys going, and also because he is forever optimistically thinking I will buy him a cookie or an Icee or something from the food counter.

Him: I need some new toothpaste.
Me: Ok, go pick whichever one you want.
Him: (putting a tube in cart) Ok, I’m taking this one.
Him: No, wait a minute… (goes back to shelf)
Him: I don’t care if it has Disney Princesses on it, I want the Bubblegum flavor.

Now, should I be proud that my nine year old doesn’t care if his toothpaste has the decidedly uncool (for him) Princesses on it, or that in order to get the Bubblegum flavor, you have to get the Princesses?

Me: We need a hand soap refill, choose one for us. I’ll let you decide which scent you like best.
Him: (coming back to cart in record amount of time) Got it.
Me: Oh, what scent did you choose?
Him: I dunno what scent it was, I just picked the pink one. Things that are pink almost always smell good.

Now, should I be concerned about his generalizations about the color pink, or that the scent he actually chose was pink  grapefruit, and was the nastiest, most godawful-smelling soap I have ever used in my life?

And does anybody blame me for not taking him to Target with me last night?

I just wanted a swing set.

OK, so they don’t make that particular model anymore,, but people are always trying to get rid of the big plastic stuff like slides, sandboxes, and swing sets.

And sure enough, I found quite the few listings in my area.

Little did I know I was to embark upon an odyssey that would leave me enraged, frustrated, and disappointed in all mankind.

The first lady we contacted said sure, we could buy it, and for fifty bucks off the original price.  Score!

We wanted to pick it up the next day, but she said she would not be home and we would have to pick it up next weekend.  Fine.  We told her we could come on Friday morning, we all agreed, and promised to call on Wednesday night to get her address.

Wednesday arrives, we call, and she breezily informs us that she has already sold it.  After speaking to us, she had re-listed at the price she was willing to sell to us for, and someone else responded.

Uh, what?

Well, people, she said, are flaky.  The people offered to come right away, yadda yadda yadda.

Hey lady, you know those flaky people you were talking about? Consider yourself one of them.

Then we had the man who was “firm” on his price, which was over by about a hundred and fifty compared to everyone else.  Stay firm, man, stay firm.  You’ll be firm for a very long time.  If this was involving Viagra, you’d be golden.  However, since it’s a swing set, you will wind up being very sad.

And the next one? Just sold, of course.

Finally we had the one who only replied to me once, didn’t reply for days after I offered to come and pick up the item ASAP, and then wrote me that someone had offered her more money.

This all in the course of a week.

I told my husband that if I wind up being screwed by ten people in a row, I’m buying a new one, dammit.

Roseart doesn’t even have the decency to melt correctly!

Once, long ago, as a newbie mom, I bought some Roseart crayons for the Munchkin. I mean, the price was so cheap! How could I not buy them? Then I figured out that Roseart crayons are the equivalent to the free crayons you get with the kids’ menus at restaurants. Which suck. So, never again did Roseart darken my shopping cart.

reddit via buzzfeed

So all the talk of espadrilles on the boss’ blog got me to thinking.  What’s out there for girls in an espadrille?

Well, these cute things, for one. From Spanish shoemaker Cienta, and I lurve the gingham detail.

These are from Old Navy, and much less pricey, to be sure.