Whatever your views on whether or not we should be in Iraq, there are an awful lot of our neighbors and friends - most of them very young - deployed there at the moment. If you have wondered how you can do something nice for them while they are overseas, here is a list of specific ways to practice a little lovingkindness when we are powerless to do much else.

Another blog for those with an appreciation for the domestic arts

This blog makes me want to pack up and move my kids to urban Oakland. I want sidewalks! I want Vietnamese noodle stands!

I probably won't though, for a wide variety of reasons ;-) One of them is below (see post about SLA shootout and my family history).

Another smart, funny mama blog I've discovered: Michelle in a Hand Basket

I was so sad to learn today that Liz Baldwin passed away this month after a long illness. Liz was an attorney, a mother, and an activist who became the leading expert in this country on issues related to breastfeeding and the law. Sound like a silly topic? Well it wouldn't if you were a woman fired from her factory job after asking for two fifteen minute breaks a day to express her milk so she could continue nursing her baby. It wouldn't if you were one of the dozens of divorcing women each year whose husbands try to get sole custody of their children on the grounds that there is something wrong with nursing a two year old. And it wouldn't if you were one of the many women each year who are still thrown out of public places across this country because you dared to sit on a bench and discreetly nurse your child. This stuff happens every day, but Liz Baldwin had begun to change views in this country through her advocacy and legal writing. I had the pleasure of meeting her once and she was extremely kind and gracious. She will be missed.