I discovered iTunes yesterday and it's going to cost me.

I'm hoping for an iPod for my birthday so I surfed over to iTunes during lunch just to see what the site was all about. (Yes, I know I'm light years behind in embracing digital music technology, but I'm blaming it on my advancing age and subsequent tendency to be wary of any new-fangled technological stuff.)

I ended up buying 10 songs and burning my first digital music CD -- all before I was done eating my salad. The bargain shopper in me just could not resist the price -- 99 cents a song -- and the control freak in me couldn't resist the ability to create my own custom CD -- filled with all the songs I love.

Do you know how many CDs I've bought only to find that I only like ONE song on them? iTunes will put an end to that. Just a few quick clicks and 99 cents charged to my credit card and I get just what I want.

Music has always been central to my life -- the radio is always on in our house and in my car. I listen to music while I work, while I run, while I garden ... and there's really not a genre I don't like. My CD collection runs the gamut from Abba to Kid Rock to Tracy Lawrence to Eminem. For the most part, my choice in music is determined by my mood.

I've been dreaming up the perfect compilations ever since -- maybe a running music CD full of thumping rock songs that make me run faster; an 80s mix for a friend's birthday; a country-rock music mix for the husband; the perfect holiday CD for Mom ....

The only problem is that I'm on an old slow computer at home -- and I'm on dial-up. Ugh. I don't even want to think about how long it might take to download music there. So, now, I'm seriously thinking about buying a new, faster computer (maybe even spluring on wi-fi).

Yes, this new fangled techonology is going to cost me.

When my neice and nephew were growing up my older sister NEVER took her kids to area fairs and festivals or amusement parks. I never understood why.

After dragging two kicking, screaming kids out of the Waterford Fair last night it all became crystal clear. She wasn't the cruel anti-fun-loving mother I thought she was, she just knew better.

There is no pleasing a kid at a fair. I could've spent my entire paycheck there & I'd still have been dragging them out of there kicking and screaming.

The drama started with the battle over a baloon. Specifically those being handed out by the People for Life. Wasn't going to happen. Tantrum #1.

Drug them out on to the midway where they spotted the taffy and candy apples. They hadn't had dinner & we insisted they eat a hot dog first (Yeah, I know...not much better nutrition-wise, but still). Tantrum #2.

They finally ate their hot dogs and we set off toward the games and kiddie area. First stop -- the fish game -- where you throw the ping-pong balls into the tiny fishbowls for a chance to win a 1/2-dead fish. 10 ping-pong balls and $4 later and they didn't win a fish. Tantrum #3.

We played the fishing game and they both got a (suprise) "mini prize" fish and realized they didn't get to choose from the big animals on the side. Tantrum #4.

They spotted the duck pond game & wanted to play. $2 a player for, no doubt, another "mini" prize. Uh. no. Tantrum #5.

Tantrums #6, #7 and #8 came shortly after -- we couldn't find the chickens, some kid scared Lauren in the porta-potty and I wouldn't shell out big money for rides.

We had been there for less than 2 hours, spent almost $20 and we'd had enough. Dan scooped up Kelly, I wrestled with Lauren and we dragged them both out the gates and carried them for 1/2 mile to the truck. Buckled their squirming, wailing butts into their carseats and just started laughing (which made them cry even harder and louder).

They wailed most of the 20 minute ride home.

And, then (I swear to God) when we got home, both kids were just fine and Kelly even said (in her sweetest little daughter voice) "Thank you for taking us to the fair mommy, that was fun. I had fun!" and gave me a big hug.

I felt like one of those soap opera characters who is slowly being driven insane.

I have serious doubts as to whether I will make it through the next 18 years with my mind in tact.

But, staying away from the fairs and festivals should help.

They've moved my blog to Moveable Type -- the same format that most of the other Erie Times News bloggers are using. They tell me it will be MUCH easier for you to post comments now (gone is the cryptic verification code). I hope this will make you more willing to add your 2 cents to my blogs.

So now that it's easier for you to talk back to me, I have a question for you. Do you have an iPod or an MP3 player? Is one better than the other? Do you love yours...hate it? Does it get FM reception too?

Obviously, if you read my previous blogs you know that I ask these questions for selfish purposes -- I want to buy one and am not sure what to buy.

I'm sure there are lots of other readers out there like me. So help us all out and tell us what you consider the best buy!

I'm surprised that I've only received one entry for our spa day giveaway for the next Her Times magazine. So, in case you missed it, I'm extending the deadline to end of day Monday. Here's the info:

* Do you & your friend deserve to spend a day at the spa? Tell us your top five reasons why and we may choose the two of you for a trip to Ambridge Rose Spa and Salon for a few hours of primping and pampering. We’re looking for funny, inventive responses from fun-loving friends. We will be photographing your experience and including the winning entry in our October 29 issue! Send a photo, your full names, contact info and top five list to hertimes@timesnews.com. Deadline to enter is September 11, so hurry!

My five-year-old asked me the other day: "Why don't boys like girls?"
I said "Well, Daddy's a boy and he likes me and he likes you, too."

She thought about it & quickly amended her question.

"Why little boys don't like little girls?" (clearly something must've happened in preschool recently)

I said "Oh, Kelly, they'll like you soon enough. And, then they'll chase you all over trying to get you to pay attention to them."

"I'll run really fast, like you do Mommy" she said.

All I can say is... Run, baby run.

I only planted two Roma tomato plants and one cherry tomato plant this year. Having had overflowing bounty in years past, I've learned to plant conservatively. And, yet, I've still got tomatoes coming out of my ears.

None of our pepper plants did well this year. I think we got two puny jalenos and a few little banana peppers. Even the zucchini didn't grow (yes, zucchini didn't grow!), but I think it may have been a victim of the zealous pumpkin vines that took over 3/4 of the garden by mid-July.

One thing I don't remember planting is watermelon. But, we found three watermelons hiding among the pumpkins. I may have planted them -- June was a long time ago and a certain 3-year-old pulled all the plant markers out the day after I sunk them in the soil, so I really am not sure what seeds we sowed.

Back to the tomatoes.

I've canned more than 25 jars of salsa -- which should be plenty enough to get us through another succesful Steelers season and SuperBowl.

And, yet, there are still buckets of tomatoes to deal with.

Though I'm hardly kitchen-savvy, I recently made up a meal I call bruschetta -- though I suspect the original involves oil.

Start with a "Freschetta" pizza crust (at WalMart in the prepared foods area near the deli). If you can't find that, I'm sure any sort of prepared pizza shell would work (Boboli is always good).

Sprinkle generously with minced onion, salt, garlic, low-fat parmesan cheese and basil. Top spices with diced tomatoes ( and olives & onion if you're so inclined). Cover tomatoes with fat-free mozzarella cheese and bake in the oven until the cheese melts.

I've been making these in the toaster oven on personal-size pizza crusts and they're really tasty (and they're putting a dent in the tomato bucket). They're also a healthy dinner -- weighing in at about 450 calories for the entire bruschetta.

I also like to eat a big bowl of diced tomatoes with some bow-tie pasta (add some basil and onion, too) tossed with fat-free Italian dressing.

Got tomatoes coming out of your ears? How are you using them? Post below!

My husband called me at the office at the end of yesterday inquiring whether I had sent clothes to the babysitter for the 3-year-old. I said, "No, I dressed her. I always dress her on the days she goes to Kaye's (our Tuesday sitter)" and he said, "uh, well, no she's in her pajamas and Kaye said she couldn't find her clothes."

Then it hit me.

I FORGOT TO DRESS MY CHILD.

I dropped her off at the sitter in her Dora P.J.'s and slippers.

Nice. Just hand me my Mother-of-the-Year award now.

In my defense, I drop them off in P.J.'s at my Mom's on the other three days I'm in the office. But, of course, I always take their clothes.

So, babsitter Kaye who was in the morning crush to get her three older kids off to school while I was dropping mine off, thought maybe she lost the clothes and was looking around for them all day. I had to call & tell her that, no...I'm the crazy one.

When I called, she told me that they ended up having a P.J. day because her younger daughter insisted on staying her P.J.s like Lauren. Then, when my older daughter was dropped off in the afternoon, she insisted on changing into her P.J.s (which she happened to have in her backpack since she had slept over at grandmas).

Am I losing you here? Kids coming, kids going, kids sleeping over grandmas, one at the sitter, one at preschoool until noon ....

Ugh..it's no wonder I can't keep up. I don't even want to think about figuring out next years schedule with one in K and one in still in Preschool.

Next thing you know I'll be showing up at work in my P.J.s

I felt the first tell-tale signs of a cold on Tuesday afternoon. My throat was feeling dry and scratchy, my head beginning to poud -- I knew what was coming.

I'm rarely sick. Not counting my maternity leaves, I've had only 2 sick days in the 10 years I've worked at the paper. I've always attributed it to my healthy lifestyle and a body that's primed to fight infection quickly and efficiently. But, every once in a while, I succumb to the common cold.

On Tuesday, I felt this cold was going to be one that would take me down. So, I stopped at Giant Eagle on my way home to see if I could pick up some Airborn -- the new product that claims to reduce the length of a cold if you take it at the first sign of illness.

I've never taken it before, but figured it couldn't hurt.

I ended up buying the store brand Airborn product (10 tablets for $5) because I'm way too cheap to fork over an additional $2 for name brand no matter how sick I am.

The bottom line: I think it worked.

I shook up a bottle (it's an Effervescent, so you need to disolve the tablet in water) and drank it before the preschool board meeting that night.

The next day, the cold hit -- just as I knew it would. I soldiered through with some cold pills. Last night, I went to bed and expected to wake up with a big stuffy nose and sore throat and...

nothing.

In fact, it feels now like I'm at the tail end of the cold. And, it's only been two days.

Not bad.

Was it the Airborne or was this just a more mild cold than I thought? Was it all in my head? I don't know, but I think it was worth chugging a bottle of this yucky stuff (like flat, powdery OJ) anyway. And, I plan to use it in the future.

More info can be found here:
http://www.airbornehealth.com/

Let me know if it has (or hasn't) worked for you.

It appears the technical folks have worked all the blog bugs out (knock on wood) and, on behalf of all the ETN bloggers, it's good to be back. It's been frustrating for all of us. We've worked hard to gain blog readers -- last thing we want to do is lose you due to technical problems.

We've got big news at Casa Cass.

Well, it's not really big news, it's kind of small actually. And furry. And cuddly.

It's all Maxwell's fault. Maxwell is a cute, innocent-looking tow-headed kid in Kelly's 5-day preschool class. Little Maxwell brought his hamster for show-and-tell last week and, well, it's all I was told about for three days straight.

I'm not even kidding.

Kelly begged, pleaded, cried and whined for her own pet 24/7. It was the first thing out of her mouth in the morning as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and the last thing she asked when we tucked her in bed at night.

I told her we had two cats. She wasn't buying that. "Those are YOUR pets. I want my own" she said.

I offered to buy her a fish. No deal. She wanted something furry and cute. Can't cuddle a fish.

I stalled. "Daddy & I will talk about it."

Truth is, she got us at just the right time. I was the one who had taken them to Buzz 'n B's earlier in the week "just to look around." And, we have all been missing our labrador, Cassie, who died a few months ago.

I always had hamsters when I was growing up, but my husband thought we should get a Guinea pig. After doing some research, I was sold.

The best selling points -- for me -- were:
* They are extremely social and crave interaction and attention.
* They learn to recognize their owners and show affection by communicating through whistles. They have been known to whistle a hello when owners return or when they hear the refrigerator door open.
* They are awake 20 hours out of every day and they do not run on those annoying -- and ALWAYS squeaky -- hamster wheels.
* They are content to stay in their cage -- even if some preschooler leaves the top wide open. They're not good climbers and most don't have the energy or ability to jump very high.
* They are gentle and rarely bite.
* They are content to sit on your lap and snuggle for hours on end (perfect for 5-year-olds who insist on holding them for hours on end).
* They're vegetarians (ah...someone else in the house who like vegetables besides me).

So, we took a family trip to Buzz 'n B's on Saturday night and came home with Oreo -- a totally adorable 10-week-old black and white female Guinea pig who quickly wriggled her way into all of our hearts.

You may have gotten an e-mail like this before, but this one is different -- at the bottom you can see that people have been adding their own "you know you're from Erie when" lines. Hilarious!

YOU KNOW YOU'RE FROM ERIE WHEN...

* The words 'to be' are not used in sentence structure, e.g. "the car needs washed or the grass needs mowed"
* Been bar-hopping downtown, visited 10 bars and never left 1 block
* Know what a davenport is
* You think going to North East is a long drive
* You know that North East is in the Northwest corner of the state
* "Pop" has everything to do with beverages and nothing to do with your Dad.
* You have three choices - Browns, Bills or Steelers that's it.
* It's completely normal to see people you've known since kindergarten every weekend
* Perch is on the menu
* If it's not a Smith dog, I don't want it.
* You think greek sauce and pepperoni balls are available everywhere
* Pizza and wings are your favorite meal - whether at home or eating out
* You keep an ice scraper in your car for 10 months out of the year, because you just never know
* You've heard "it's a horse apiece" and know what it means
* You find drive-through beer distributors in your neighborhood
* You find zero degrees "a bit chilly"
* Peach jam refers to traffic problems
* You see people wearing hunting clothes at social events
* You know several people who have hit deer more than once
* You can drive 65 mph through two feet of snow during a raging blizzard without flinching
* You carry jumper cables in your car and your girlfriend knows how to use them
* Driving is better in the winter because the potholes are filled with snow
* You measure distance in hours
* You often switch from "heat" to "A/C" in the same day and back again
* Otters are a hockey team and the Seawolves play baseball
* When choosing a pumpkin for Halloween, you often have to dig through snow to find one
* Every time you hear "Carol of the Bells" you start singing "Star Mobile Home, Star Mobile Home..."
* You know all the lyrics to the "Brandel Painting" jingle
* Getting dressed up means putting on something OTHER than sweatpants (or at least the ones without the holes)
* "80s hair" isn't a thing of the past
* It wouldn't be summer with an ice cream cone from Sara's
* Your weekend plans include a stag and drag and a diaper party
* You've ever bought a beer for a quarter
* A Register is something that heat comes out of.
* You've been to a "Save-An-Eye" game.
* You remember the Pop Man at Jerry Uht Park
* You wear shorts when it's the least bit warm No Matter What because you never know when you'll get to do it again
* You consider walking around the Millcreek Mall a totally viable option for a date
* You know what ox roast is
* You have a pool table in your basement and you are on a bowling league
* You know what sponge candy is
* When you eat out, you get a side of ranch dressing for your french fries
* You get these jokes and probably have a few of your own...

What would you add? Post a comment, or send your addition to me (heather.cass@timesnews.com) & I'll post the comments (I've heard from some readers that they've tried to comments and are "forbidden" -- so much for having all the blog bugs worked out, eh?)

I saw this info. posted on a parenting message board yesterday. Kids can earn 10 free tokens for Chuck E. Cheese by completing the reward charts here: http://chuckecheese.com/html/rewards_cal.html.

Note in the small type it says you must purchase a food item to get the free tokens.

Better yet, make up your own reward chart -- based on whatever it is you're struggling with (whining, dressing themselves, bathing themselves, etc.) and spring for the tokens yourself (and skip the unhealthy food).

Winter's coming, parents. And the zoo is closing again. Chuck E. Cheese is going to look pretty good come February.

The shorter days and cooler weather bring with it one of the few things I like about winter -- more carpet time with the kids. Instead of bounding outdoors after dinner (most of the time we ate outdoors, too), fall and winter evenings are spent in the living room playing board games, turning up the stereo and dancing around, playing dodge ball with giant beachballs (parents on one floor, kids on the other ...yes, we let our kids throw balls in the house -- heck, we start it half the time).

Last night we played a rousing game of hide-and-seek which is nothing short of hilarious when you're playing with preschoolers who keep losing track when they're counting and can't stifle giggles when they're hiding. We had as much fun as they did. Shrieking, laughing, yelling, running through the house chasing each other.

Seems there's never time for hide-and-seek or Chutes & Ladders in the summer -- we're busy doing all the outdoor stuff we miss all winter (splashing in the pool, swinging on the swingset, taking walks in the creek out back). We rarely get the kids in the house before 9 p.m.

Now, there's time for games after dinner and an earlier bedtime (8 p.m.) which is a nice break for all of us.

When was the last time you played a board game with a kid?
Some of our favorites are: Chutes & Ladders, Don't Spill the Beans, Whack-A-Mole, Busy Bugs, Fisher Price's Matching Middles, Memory, Go Fish, CandyLand, Hi Ho Cherry O and Cooties.

What are you child's favorite board games (be sure to tell us what age group it's best for)? Post your response below.

Just cashed in on a screamin' deal I read about on the BabyCenter Bargain Bulletin Board. I'm not a big makeup person, but even I couldn't resist stocking up at these prices. Here's the original post -- along with a link to the site:

Bloomingdales in launching a new line of makeup. Right now everything is a $1!!!

If you spend over $30 you can use the coupon code "shipit" and you get free shipping, but good luck spending over $30!

http://www.eyeslipsface.com/defaultflash.asp

Happy shopping!

I'm having a bad hair day. Yesterday was a bad hair day. Tomorrow doesn't look good either.

I've decided to try and grow my hair out long again. I do this every few years. Then, I get sick of it, cut it all off & pledge never to bother with long hair again.

Every time I grow it out I somehow think it's going to come in different, i.e. thick, lush and Goddess-gorgeous.

Every time I'm dissapointed when I get my same old thin, dirty-blonde, cowlick-filled mane.

Right now, I'm in that transition period (otherwise known as the make or break period) where my hair just looks shaggy and unkempt. It's still too short to put it back or put any cute hair accessories or clips in.

So I'm stuck looking like I needed a haircut four weeks ago.

Because, well, I needed a haircut four weeks ago.

I'm still trying to figure out exactly how it happened, but I've become a real football fan. And, it's not just NFL anymore. I've been following H.S. and watching College too.

Last weekend, we decided to take the girls to the Seneca/Corry game (we live in the Wattsburg school district)on Friday night. It was the first High school game I think I ever actually watched. I went to lots of H.S. games when I was in H.S., but I didn't see much when I was smoking cigarettes in the dugouts behind the field with my girlfriends or making out with some stupid boy under the bleachers.

But, I digress....

Point is I had no idea what I was missing out on. H.S. football is as exciting as pro football and I found myself jumping up, cheering, wincing and vowing to go buy a cow bell. My husband looked at me like I was insane. The girls thought it was fun, too. But, they were more into all the extras -- the band, the fans, the cheerleaders, the big blue foam fingers they gave out, the Skittles I bought them to get through the second half.

Saturday was a rainy, yucky day, so I decided to do the girls' closets (you know switch over from summer to winter clothes, weed out the stuff that doesn't fit). I figured I may as well drag the portable TV along and watch the Penn State game. And, then, later that night, Notre Dame was playing (and, ladies, the quartback alone is worth becoming a Fighting Irish fan). So, I couldn't miss that.

Sunday, of course, was the big Steelers/Bengels game. We watched that at the in-laws with a bunch of freinds and family.

I almost watched Monday night football until it occured to me that my entire weekend had revolved around football and that maybe I had a problem. A full-blown pigskin addiction.

Now, tonight Seneca -- the county's only unbeaten team -- is playing my alma mater -- Harbor Creek -- and I'm jonesin' for some football.

I'm armed with a big foam finger and a cow bell and I will not be hanging out in the dugouts or under the bleachers tonight.

Nope, tonight, it's all about the game.

Go blue!