I'm stocking up on groceries this weekend and plan to stop by my favorite store, TJ's. Some staples:

- Whole-wheat pitas
- hummus
- Ak-Mak crackers
- white cheddar popcorn
- honey-wheat pretzel sticks
- Unburied Treasure
- Mochi
- Ends & Pieces (scraps of fruit leather...sadly, now gone)

I'm up for trying new things! Any suggestions?

This is directed toward the girls, but any guys with advice, feel free to chime in:

What's the best way to "comfortize" a pair of pain-inducing shoes? The shoes in question are all flats or low heels/wedges, so height isn't the problem - the stiff backs and sides dig in, and I end up with blisters on the back of my heel and top of my toes. I've tried those cushiony pads that stick onto the back of your shoes, which help a little with the heel part, but not the top or sides.

I do want to wear the shoes I already have, but if there's no satisfactory way to make those comfortable, what brand of shoes (not sneakers) is really comfortable right out of the box? I'd need to be able to walk about two miles in them every day.

I'm in love with these little kids! And the scenario. The only thing I'm not sold on is the gigantic tree - does anyone else feel it's a bit overpowering?

Nevertheless, the overall cuteness trumps the Tree Blob...so I'll probably buy this anyway.

I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts, deedle dee dee
There they are a-standing in a row
Big ones, small ones, some as big as your head...

I posted this question in Montro's kick-in-the-pants blog, but it's buried now, so which bigheaded blogger knows the answer:

Is the deadline for 5+5+5 up to and through January 1st (i.e. designs submitted on the 1st will be included in 5+5+5), or is the Dec. 31 the last day?

If you have gallery photos in your profile, will you please post what size you wear in this blog?

If you have shirts of different sizes, you could just post the name of a shirt in each size (e.g. "Communist Party is a girly M, and Pandamonium is girly L.")

This should be helpful for people who are new to ordering shirts here and aren't sure what size to get (like me...I'm undecided between two sizes), and also anyone who's thinking about switching to a different size for their next order.

I just requested a reprint of this tee in hopes that it will one day fill the currently absent nerdy-graphic-designer position in my closet.

But, if this does get reprinted, I'd like to see a couple changes:

- The red needs to be magenta! See EM why kay, 'kay?

- Five-color limit means the shirt no longer needs to be on white! (I have no personal bias against white shirts, but I bet YOU do.) So I'm picturing this design on pale yellow or light blue...and all the graphic elements that need to be white can happily remain white. Revolutionary!

If a submission is posted at, say, 10 pm today, would it then read "Score for 6 more days" at the stroke of midnight (thus being scored about one day less than submissions posted in the morning)? Or do all subs stay in the running for precisely 148 hours?

I'm wondering because I just came across a design with only 34 votes, but it was marked as having just six days of scoring left.

Was it any good? I was going to watch it a couple weeks ago during a 2-for-1 admission day at the local indie theater, but the movie didn't get such great reviews. Sometimes I totally disagree with critics, though, so what did you "real" people think? Is it worth a rental (eventually)?

My sister and I were talking about the KICK-ASS CHILDREN'S BOOKS blog and we both remember this one kid's (or "young adult") book we thought was great, but cannot for the life of us figure out the title, author, anything. The book followed a group of kids as they solve some brainteasers/mysteries...these are the ones we remember:

1) A ping-pong ball gets stuck in a deep hole in the ground, and they have to figure out how to get it out. Finally they realize they have to flood the hole with water and make the ball float up.

2) There's a bake sale at school and someone gets a penny too much (or too little) in change and they have to figure out where the extra cent came from.

3) Someone's mom baked blueberry pie and a piece is mysteriously missing...who ate it?


Help!

I just saw this last night (thank you, Target $4 Black Friday DVD sale!)...and wow. Emperor penguins are amazing. Some of the scenes nearly broke my wimpy little heart.

Baby penguins are so cute and...scoopable.