My BFF, who is Haitian would recommend some aged Bharbancourt. She loves the duty-free.

However, the eneloops are of the low-discharge variety, I believe. They'll sit in your drawer charged forever. I am in the process of replacing all my rechargeables with eneloop. They're fabulous. I also have a fancy schmancy recharger which gives me, like, battery geek data. I know. I didn't know there were battery geeks, but now I is one!

Also, buy the LED Maglite. I have had wimpy LED lights before, but the Maglite LED is brighter than some other incandescent flashlights. I get people all the time going, whoa, is that really LED? It's kinda embarrassing when we're herding a group of treehouse kids through the woods and I'm trying to convince them to walk in the dark and they're all whiny and then I sigh and break out the Maglite. Boom, daylight. No subtlety.

LEDs and other solid state lighting are the future. They can last practically forever and use just a trickle of electricity.

I'm waiting for the cost of the E26 LED bulbs to go down.

Ugh, our downstairs neighbor wants to come up and talk to the kids about how noisy they are. Apparently they were making so much noise he was banging on the ceiling. By running from room to room, at noon on a Sunday. We try to curtail really wild stuff and really early mornings, but, you know, small children, old house with wood floors. (The neighbors are a childless 30ish couple, and he in particular is a very finicky guy, the sort of guy who is obsessed with the cleanliness of his car. They have not been very friendly. We figured since we go to bed at 8:30 we had to be better neighbors than the 3 20-somthing single dudes who lived here before us!)

Me, too, Ginger. Though at the rate I'm going through CFLs (which is to say, slow) by the time I use up the ones I have i may just splurge on fancy LED bulbs. Assuming I have income at that point.

Good lord, flea. I'm pretty sure noon any day of the week is fair game for any kind of noise.

LEDs and other solid state lighting are the future. They can last practically forever and use just a trickle of electricity.

A lot of buoys and lighthouses are going LED now, as well. They come bundled with a little solar panel and they don't need as much maintenance. The down side is that the light doesn't throw as far, but the benefit seems to outweigh the costs.

Ugh, flea, that's awkward. I see their point, but kids are allowed to be kids, especially in their own home. I can see making an effort not to run maybe early in the morning. But during the day, I don't think you owe them anything.

Also, he can talk to you, but I don't see any reason to subject your kids to that.

All the coverage of Superbowl snacks is making me want nachos or cheese dip or pizza. Something I don't have and don't need, anyway.