Sometimes Heather and I worry that we are making assumptions about our readers’ lifestyles that aren’t true. We assume everyone lives in a place like we live, where you can walk to a dry cleaner, corner markets, and to some pretty great destinations if you are willing to push a stroller for 15 or 20 minutes.

I’m guessing she thinks my location is better than hers (we live 1.6 miles apart), but this morning as my family and I had breakfast in Heather’s ‘hood, we were saying that they scored a pretty great location. And, according to WalkScore.com, her house is actually more walkable than ours.

Check out the site. It might make you appreciate some close by businesses you never thought to frequent. Or perhaps you’ll consider walking some places you usually drive.

I recently received an invitation to become a founding member of thredUP kids and want to share the link with you guys.

Heather and I are big proponents of the adult clothing swap, and have brought kids clothes to our swaps, but never had enough focus on kids to organize that piece of it. At our swaps, it’s usually just a big pile of hand-me-downs that the women who are moms can go through when they are done outfitting themselves. So I was intrigued when thredUp, an online facilitator of clothing swaps announced they are launching a kids channel.

thredUP kids is a new site that combines aspects of Netflix, eBay, and even StubHub to allow you to exchange your kids clothing online, swapping with strangers.  The website, launching in just a few weeks, aims to make clothing your child easier.  Sign-up here for a chance to swap your first box for free (a $20 value.):

Here’s how the thredUP kids “community” works:

1) Sorta like Netflix, thredUP members browse and choose boxes of clothes they’d like to receive. For example, a box of snow clothes for a 2 year old, or maybe just an assortment for a 12-month old.

2) Similar to eBay, you build and upload virtual boxes of clothes (10 + items/box) that are available for selection. No pictures, no detailed descriptions, just a simple overview of a box of gently worn items (e.g. “Size 3T, Boys, Pants & Jeans, Gap, Target & Old Navy).

3) Then like StubHub, thredUP enables and manages exchanges. The website facilitates exact matches and ensures quality.They don’t take possession of the clothing, as thredUP is strictly peer-to-peer. You’ll pay online for the swap and they send you empty boxes to ship off your items.  Zero trips to the post office.

You can also set up circles of friends with whom you want to swap – in case the stranger thing is not for you.

Note: thredUP also allows parents to just sell or buy on the site, as they recognize not everyone is a swapper.

I personally have access to several excellent second-hand children’s stores where I save tons of money buying gently used clothes.  If you don’t, perhaps you will be an avid user of thredUp.  What do you think of the idea?

Hey you. Have you heard about bTrendie? Shhh, not so loud.

bTrendie was launched by a group of parents who love great sales but hate generic, mass-produced clothes that all look the same.

Don’t know what I mean? I was at a birthday party last weekend in which my sons had the same shirts as 4 of the other boys. FOUR!

They host sales on high-end clothes, accessories, and gear so you can pay Target prices and get better quality — more unique — stuff. They typically feature a few products at a time, and when they’re gone, they’re gone.

To get you started, they’re featuring Olive Juice Clothing on Monday through Wed – at 50% off. Totally cute and totally affordable. Trust me, I’m cheap.

The site is free to use. The only trick is that you need an invitation, like a secret handshake for parents in the know. Register with bTrendie.com and you’ll be notified of the sales and deals you care about.

If you register via our affiliate link by January 31, you will be entered to win a relaxing rookie mom spa package, specially designed for those who are either sleep deprived or time impoverished, from do not disturb.

The kit includes some natural lotions, potions, and booties you can heat up in the microwave. The winner will be chosen among folks who register using our invitation link and notified by bTrendie.

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Final words: As we said above, bTrendie is an affiliate of Rookie Moms so if you join on our link, we get a little something. AND right now, if you refer a friend and they make a purchase, you get $10 credit on your next purchase. Just make sure they don’t buy what you buy, because AWKWARD!

We marketers often talk about “trusted brands.” Everyone wants to be a trusted brand so that consumers will buy from them for the rest of their lives, adopting whatever new product the brand launches.

Each consumer is unique and we formulate our own reactions, some emotional and some logical, to the product choices we face every day. For example, I cannot tell you why a Ford is not on the list of car brands I would shop from. It’s just not a brand I identify with. I am a Honda/VW girl, and one day, if budget allows, perhaps I will own a Volvo.

Of course, the second my baby started eating real food, I faced a whole new set of brand choices that probably subconciously translate in my head to “What kind of mom am I?” Am I an organic-only mom? Do I buy Earth’s Best or Gerber? Do I use Johnson’s baby shampoo? Do I use Pampers wipes or just paper towels that I wet with warm thermos water that I keep on the changing table (that one lasted about two days).

To me, some large companies, like Proctor and Gamble, Kraft, and Quaker are places I mostly associate with where people get jobs after business school. This means I never lose sight of their motives – profitability. Surely they would tell me their motives are customer satisfaction and product excellence, but I think I’m going to be tough to convince.

We have to trust these brands, however, because modern life requires that we move fast, work at a desk, answer 50 emails every day and watch American Idol twice a week. We can’t make 100% of our food and baby care products ourselves. But what’s in this stuff?

A new website – GoodGuide.com – is one place to start. If you are choosing between brands A and B, search there to see which has better ratings in terms of contents of the product AND ethics of the company. And, there’s an iPhone app so you can get the info while you’re actually making your decision at the shelf.

What products did you start questioning when you became a parent?

Stephanie did it. She set out to make 365 (gluten free!) meals with her crock part in 2008 for her New Year’s Resolution. Dang. And I thought I liked lists and challenges.

I asked her for her favorite favorites of the year and this is what she told me:

I don’t really have favorites, but here are a few that went over really well with readers, and a few that are just neat, “I didn’t know you could do that with a crockpot!”

• Autumn Sausage Casserole
• Pasta Fagioli
• Super easy crock pot lasagna
• John McCain’s ribs
• Jamaican pumpkin soup
• Tamales
• Yogurt (wow! in a crock pot?!)
• Glycerin soap with molds (ok, I guess its not all food)

But if you need more ideas of what to do with your crock pot, go check out crockpot365.blogspot.com. It’s complete with photos, steps, and true stories of how the meal experiment went over.

Related Rookie Mom activity: # 377 Declare Crock Pot Night (see, I just thought once a week was enough)

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Updated October 20, 2009. Great news! Stephanie’s new book Make it Fast, Cook it Slow is now available! I hope to review it soon.

Whitney has a heart of gold — she’s my BFF so I can say this in bold. When we started getting freebies from PR companies, it was her idea to start a spin-off site BloggersGiveBack to encourage everyone to help others less fortunate.

With so many products being sent to bloggers for “review”, I want to encourage donation of goods that we don’t really need to folks who DO really need them.

Just knowing Whit encourages me to not be such a selfish bitch. She inspires me to give back to the community. When I asked her on Saturday, “should I give this toy to a needy child or keep it for Milo?” — she knew just what to say to me to make sure it went to the right hands. Not judgy or anything, she asked, “Does Milo have enough toys?” so I grabbed the box of goodies and brought it to the party for the toy drive. We have enough to share.

So, with her inspiration, here are some of the ways my family is trying to give back this season:

Essentials
Now, I am a cheapskate so I really like to get free undies and socks. But I know that the Women’s Daytime Drop-In Center needs them more. And I was proud to provide the kids in the community with the unopened Hanes tighty whities I had been saving for Milo (and when Milo comes of underwear age, I can buy him more or *gasp* hand him down some of Holden’s). I also brought them several hospital blankets (that I had been hoarding), packages of unopened diapers and wipes, and some cozy toddler clothes. My good friends at Cafe Cacao are hosting the drop off so I enjoyed a morning mocha for my trouble.

Food
Whitney and the kids’ preschool were both hosting food drives this year, so I made sure to fill both collection bins with as many healthy and non-perishable foods as possible. I like to tell Holden what we’re doing and let him put the items in the bin, but I’m not sure he’s really getting it.

Money
Donating to charities is down this year. It’s a crappy year in the economy and job losses are creeping toward an all-time high. According to the good folks at NPR Marketplace, all kinds of charitable donations are down in a recession, but especially ones to the arts. Alec and I want to give back, so we chose 3 different places to give $$ before the year is out. If you’re looking for someone to throw money at, might I suggest some of our favorites:

• Cancer research in the name of Jen Linn. Our friend Dave and his wife have been battling her cancer and it is back again. This totally sucks! Read her story and give what you can. Cancer killed my dad 10 years ago, so if you’re not moved by a woman in her thirties fighting for her life, there’s that.
• NPR. Since working in the City and commuting nearly every day, I’ve been listening to more and more NPR. I’m getting totally smart despite myself and it’s time to give back. Totally tax deductible if you don’t choose a gift.
• Youth Speaks. Since donating to the arts is down right now, then donate to the arts is what we’re gonna do. The Youth Speaks program is an amazing poetry-slam-get-the-kids-writing-and-speaking-out kinda thing. Alec and I went to a few of their events a year ago and loved it! We’ve been meaning to support them ever since but have been lazy.

Toys
Our good friend Karen hosted a kick-ass Depression themed holiday party with a silent little toy drop happening in the front room. She made her donation to “Toys for Tots” and impressed everyone with the volume and quality. Whitney and I were proud to donate Nana Star and Moon Baby along with their accompanying books. These toys are super cute and have a great backstory. I hope they make someone’s Christmas morning brighter.

How are you making sure to give back this holiday season? If you don’t have *stuff* are you giving your *time*?

Make sure to stop by bloggersgiveback for some warm fuzzies and inspiration.

Every year, I send out cards that say “Happy Holidays” and it’s not just because I tend to celebrate both Hanukkah and Christmas. I like the big winter holidays (I haven’t really met Kwanzaa yet but I suspect we’d get along great) but the problem is that I don’t usually get around to mailing my cards until New Years so it seems safer to cast a wide net around the season.

But this year, my wide net might just include Thanksgiving because I already received my cards and they are just waiting to be sent out. The photo cards from minted.com look fantastic (if I do say so myself, I did pick the picture and kinda the design). As satisfied as I am with the cards themselves, I was most impressed with the service.

The minted.com website shows a variety of attractive designs for photo cards to choose from. After ordering, each uploaded photo and card style are then finessed by a real live designer for maximum aesthetic appeal. Not only that, but when Rick mailed me a proof, and I didn’t like the result (sort of a “what was I thinking with that combo?” kind of situation) he offered me some choices of styles that would work better with my chosen photo. And he was right.

I was very pleased with the professionalism and SERVICE. Rick and friends made it super (duper schmuper) easy to get a high quality card in minimal time. Thank so much for that! Because other than stamps, what I don’t have is time.

Now all I need to do is find my addresses and buy some stamps and I could shock everyone on my New Year’s Card list this year.

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I was given the chance to order these cards for free for sharing my opinions from the Parent Bloggers and Minted. And I would have paid for them.

I’m not usually into posting about deals and discounts, but a few good ones have come my way recently:

• Smith & Hawken – Use WEBP263 to save 25% through Sunday, November 9
• Sephora – Use FF2008 to save 20% through Saturday, November 8
• Gymboree – shop through this link to save 30% on everything through November 9.

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

Fleurville diaper bags are on sale for half off through Regent’s Secret now through September 7th. Get the $54 Utility Handbag for $27 or the crazy-doesn’t-look-like-a-diaper-bag G Luxe for $99 instead of $198.

You can be the favorite giver at the baby shower by chucking our book (and a lovey or THREE) inside your favorite diaper bag. New mom? Get a huge one. Veteran mom? Get a tiny one!

Regent’s Secret has deep discounts on designer items (and once in a while baby items) one at a time. I bought a pair of Joe’s jeans for $65 earlier this year. They frequently have fancy shirts, dresses, and bags too but I’m a non-shopper so I manage to avoid most of the deals.

If you’re interested leave a comment and I’ll send you an invitation to their invitation-only site.

The other day I took the Savvy Source preschool quiz and came away with some great tips. I haven’t even navigated my way to the end where I get all the recommendations of activities to try with my kid. Simply answering the questions showed me how many skills my preschooler is developing and how many I don’t even recognize as skills.

My child provides feasible answers to “What would happen if…” questions.

I had to confess that I didn’t know the answer to this question, so I put it to the test, and now it’s one of my favorite activities to do with him.

“Julian, what would happen if our car got a flat tire?”
“We have to take it to the mechanic and he would fix it and then we will go back on the fweeway!”

“Julian, what if we run out of milk?”
“Then you will go to the store and get some more and I will eat Life cereal.”

“Julian, what will happen if we get to school and there are no teachers there?”
“Then you will read me some books, and then we will hear voices, and it will be a teacher!”

It has been fun to hear what he comes up with to these open ended questions, and we’ve turned it into a game we can do in the car or at dinner.

“Julian, what if we go to the zoo and a zebra gets in our car?”
“What if Grandma Jackie makes pumpkin pie and puts in on her head?”

Next, item inspired by the Savvy Quiz was this one:

My child can tell in his/her own words what happened in stories or parts of stories and can predict what will happen next in stories.

Here, I’ve determined that Julian does not have this skill. I asked him what happens in some of his favorite books and he says “I don’t know” even though he has the whole book memorized and can answer comprehension questions during the book. “So one day, Officer Buckle gets a police dog. What happens next?” “I don’t know.” Ok, something to work on.

Take the Savvy Source quiz and see what you think. Warning, the quiz is very long. You’ll need about 10 minutes.
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I did this quiz because the Parent Bloggers Network asked me to. See what other Parent Bloggers thought.

Angie, from BabyCheapskate and Freepeats is now Angie of BlogCoach. And when she does something, she really does it! Just looking at the home page of BlogCoach.org (let alone all the invariable clicking and reading), I feel like I really learned some good stuff. I tell you this because its a great new resource for bloggers, young and old new and experienced.

At BlogCoach, you’ll find helpful, informative articles about blogging, blogging resources, and a friendly community full of plain-talking bloggers and web publishers eager to help you grow your blog.

I was honored that Angie wanted to interview me for this new project. We “talked” about the ins and outs of working with a blog partner and turning blog topics into a book (among other things). Stop over and check out the interview with me about rookie moms. Tell her I said hi.

And I dare you not to learn something new.

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If you have preschoolers or pre-preschoolers, you probably already know about SavvySource as the best place to do some research and find preschool reviews. Well, now it’s also one of the best places to find out what to do with your 2-6 year old when they’re not in school.

SavvySource just launched the Being Savvy City Sites as an amazing reference for parents in 20 different metro areas. We have been furtively and feverishly writing for Being Savvy: East Bay at eastbay.savvysource.com. Please have a read or just stop by when you need fresh ideas for fun stuff to do.

Here are some of our favorite recent posts, but there’s already more than a dozen to list, so go see for yourself. Have a click, get comfortable, and make an action plan:

99 things you must do in the East Bay before your child grows up
Discovering the wilderness of the urban jungle
How to cultivate the tiniest green thumb in Berkeley

… and many many (many!) more. If you don’t live in the East Bay, there are 19 other blogger city experts covering other areas around the country.