The Kid is a huge fan of soccer. He loves to watch the game as well as play it. So when we learned that his soccer coach was organizing a skill-building clinic this spring, we didn't hesitate to register the Kid.

For me, though, soccer would be a much more pleasant experience if it had better parking. Our town's soccer fields are notorious for being horrible places to park. The location of this clinic is not the winner of the Worse Soccer-Field Parking Lot Ever (that prize goes to the one that has a single entrance with a long road that dead-ends at the end of the 4-pitch field. You can park on one side of the road, but there's an unfenced creek on the other side.) The field we're using this spring, I'd say, is the runner-up. There is NO parking lot; you must parallel park on the street, but only one side of the street is available for parking. When there are 50 kids per clinic session, and sessions are consecutive, parking is a nightmare.

I've developed a strategy to deal with the problem:  I drop the Kid off, then park somewhere else in the neighborhood until the group that's finishing up has gone. Then I go back around the block and get a decent parking space. And I parallel-park the minivan.

I can do this, because before I bought the van I took it to a one-way street in a nearby small town, where parallel parking is a way of life. I made sure I could park that van on that street. I wasn't going to buy the van if I couldn't do that.

Last weekend, I'd just snagged a good parking space and settled the van in when the car in front of my pulled away. I was about to drive up into that space--where I'd have a better view of the Kid as he played--when another car came along, apparently relying on the same strategy I do.

It was the dad of one of the players on the Kid's team. He has a nice new muscle car. All the fifth-grade boys drool over it. Truth be told, so do I.

He tried three times to park that muscle car in front of my minivan before he finally managed it. Embarrassed, he got out of the car and came over to my van to say hello--he knew I'd seen him. "I've never had to parallel-park this before," he told me. "Figures that the first time I try, I'd have to do it in front of someone I know."

Maybe I should let him know about my test-drive strategy before he buys his next new car.

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The local Boy Scout leaders are well-known for their cooking skills. When the Scout troop camps, no one eats hot dogs roasted over an open fire. They get beef stew, spaghetti and meatballs, and various other interesting meals, all cooked on (or in) the campfire. At summer camp, they participate in (and often win) Iron Camp Chef competitions, and they have the oversized iron skillet to prove it. And now that the Kid has become a Boy Scout, he's getting in on the fun of outdoor cooking.

He came home from his Scout meeting last week with a shopping list. The 5 boys in his group put together a menu and chipped in for the groceries. So I bought what was on the list, and only what was on the list.

Appetizer:  Buffalo Wings (1 per person)

Main Dish:  Pancakes and bacon

Dessert:  "Dirt" pudding made with chocolate pudding, Oreos, gummy worms and whipped cream

They did not ask me to buy any butter, syrup, plates or utensils. Can you guess that a bunch of 11-year-olds planned this meal?

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I had a half-day substitute-teaching gig this morning, after which I headed to the supermarket to pick up a few things on my shopping list that can't wait until tomorrow (namely, light cream for my coffee and my kids' new favorite fruit:  "Jazz" apples.) As I left the parking lot with my back seat full of perishables, my cell phone rang and I zipped into another parking lot to answer the phone.

It was Son1, who's packing his college apartment and heading home today. "Is there anyway that someone can come over here with a car? I'm not packing things as well as I thought I would and I can't fit them all in my car."

First I suggested that he drive home in his (small) car and pick up my minivan and head back to school. But he has to be out of there by 6 tonight and the place has to be clean. There was no time for him to make an extra trip.

Driving home to change out of my Teacher Clothes and put away the perishables cost me half an hour, and I was worried that I might not get home in time to meet the Kid at the bus stop. He is old enough to be home alone for short periods, so I left him a note and headed to Philadelphia. I even got to the university without much incident after successfully navigating the North Philadelphia gridlock in front of the sketchy Crab Shack, then (illegally) parked in front of the campus apartments to load his stuff.

He was sending home the entire contents of a kitchen for 4:  dishes, glassware, pots and pans, and small appliances. Most of it was bundled into grocery-store plastic shopping bags. Some of it wasn't necessarily clean.

I cringed as he and his roommates tossed the stuff into the back of the van, just telling them to make sure to pack it so that things wouldn't come loose, projectile-style, if I had to make a sudden stop in city traffic.

I got home in plenty of time to meet my younger son at the bus, and right now I'm avoiding the mess that's in the back of the van--most of which needs to be placed right in the dishwasher. Once it's clean, I will find proper boxes and pack the kitchen right.

And for the next three months Son1 will get to listen to my lectures about proper planning, cleaning and packing. You'd think that with as much Tetris as my son has played, he'd be better at packing by now.

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My daughter is hooked on an old movie. Her English class read The Great Gatsby this semester, and watched the nearly-40-year-old Robert Redford version of the movie. Apparently it's on Netflix, so she can watch it at anytime, which means that when I least expect it, I'll hear a brass band playing "Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue."

She can't wait to see the movie that premieres Friday, and has been begging me to take her (which may or may not mean that she expects me to pay for her ticket.) I haven't read the book since high school, but I have to admit that I'm curious to see how they adapt it to the big screen.

I'll also enjoy looking at the costumes and jewelry. I'm no fashionista, but I am intrigued by period costumes, and the Jazz Age featured some really unique fashions.

Looking for some authentic vintage fashion pieces from the Jazz Age or your favorite old-movie era? Check out C.Madeleine's, where you can save 10% on vintage goodies with coupon code CYBER2011! I saw a few items from my growing-up decades (hey, what do you mean those are now considered vintage?! Pass the concealer.)

Reason Number 873,429 why I prefer online shopping to brick-and-mortar stores:  you can't lose your car in the parking lot.

I didn't actually lose the car today when the Kid and I went to Target to pick up a few grocery items. I remembered, to my credit, that I had driven my husband's car instead of my minivan. I also remembered the general area where I'd parked my husband's car.

He has a small black four-door sedan that looks like every other small black four-door sedan out there and as I headed toward the car in the parking lot, I wondered why the keyfob button wasn't making the lights blink.

Then I saw the shopping bag in the front passenger seat from a store I've never even heard of, much less shopped in.

It wasn't my husband's car. It was the same make, but not the same model--I'd almost inadvertently upgraded that small black four-door sedan.

The right small black car was parked exactly one row away.

Oops.

We've got lots of coupons for Target, and you won't have to worry about parking-lot issues of any kind. Save yourself from that awkward moment when you approach the wrong car in the parking lot, and let the delivery folks bring your purchases right to your door.

Use coupon code CONVERSE on your $35 purchase of Converse One Star apparel and footwear at Target and you'll get a free gift!

I planted my herb garden today.

This is the third year I've put in an herb garden, and I'm pretty proud that I haven't managed to entirely kill it yet. There's thyme in there from the first summer, and I'm hoping last summer's rosemary plant revives itself. The mix of plants is a little different each year. This time I went heavy on the flat-leaf parsley and cilantro, since I use a lot of that in cooking. I also added a nice bunch of basil.

I avoid the issue of having to weed my little garden by planting it in an old red wagon. It's just the right size for a small herb garden, and it's parked just outside the door, so when I'm getting ready to cook, I just have to head outside with a bowl for the herbs I pick.

This morning I picked up my new plants and some potting soil at the store and I was eager to get to work when I got home.

Then I spent half an hour that I'll never get back looking high and low for the garden tools. There was no trowel to be found anywhere. I don't know who used it last, but it's gone. I wound up using an old tablespoon and a hatchet to dig up my old plants so I could transplant them.

Don't judge.

On my wish list:  some new garden tools and a nice basket to keep them in.

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I have 3 kids, so it's hardly surprising that I drive a minivan. It comes in handy when I have to haul a lot of things for the school play or a Scout event. And as a vertically-challenged individual, I kind of like being up high when I drive.

I'll admit, though, that minivans are boring.

A few weeks ago a friend of mine who's on the road constantly as part of her job had to have work done on her Prius after highway debris ruined the radiator and headlights. Enterprise picked her up in a sweet rental vehicle:  a black Dodge Challenger with shiny wheels and plenty of attitude.

I was jealous. My minivan doesn't have any attitude at all. It's a rolling billboard for my kids' schools, and that's about it.

Just for a day, I'd like to drive around in a car that's a little less shy and retiring. Even something with a name that has some personality would be good.

If I were judging vehicles on names alone, I'd want to drive one of these:

• Rogue (Nissan)
• Avenger (Dodge)
• FCX Clarity (Honda)
• Soul (Kia)
• Escape (Ford)

Skip the letters and numbers. It's all in the name, as far as I'm concerned.

You can rent a car through Enterprise for the weekend and spend as little as $9.99 per day!

Despite high temperatures in the low 50s this weekend, Sunday afternoon at my house featured this scene:

That's Eleven, getting into the pool first--before any of his friends. He went in, but he didn't stay in long. The water was 55 degrees.

Fahrenheit.

It's April. We live in New Jersey. Monday morning there was frost on the lawn. But the pool is open.

This morning my husband was complaining that the trees are dumping all their pollen in the pool, and it's clogging up the filter. Well, it is April, after all. Some areas of the country had measurable snowfalls yesterday, and he's grumpy because there's pollen in the pool.

Personally, I think April is a little early for me to have to start picking up wet beach towels from all over the house and back porch. And we all still need to go swimsuit shopping! South Beach Swimsuits gives new customers $10 off orders of $100 or more with coupon code 0410new.

Sometimes getting rid of telemarketers is as easy as having an unpronounceable name.

I should know. My last name is a real winner, heavy on consonants from the last third of the alphabet. More than once, a cold-caller has been stopped cold by my name and actually just hung up the phone.

This morning I joined the ranks of people who have been treated to calls from India in which the caller purports to be from the Windows Service Center. My cousin, an IT specialist at a university, fielded one of these calls last week, and we'd talked about it a little bit. I decided to press the issue a little bit, since I was sure I had a scammer on my hands. Or, at least, my phone.

So "Steven" told me that my computer was downloading harmful files. First I asked him how I could call him back in case the call got disconnected. He rattled off a string of numbers, which I wrote down and immediately Googled while he talked to me some more. (Shocker--the numbers were nowhere in the USA.)

I sat there Googling Windows Service Center while "Steven" told me that if I would just turn on my computer and enter the license key he was going to tell me, he could fix things.

My computer was already on, but I didn't let "Steven" know that. The guy was just getting to the good part:  hackers were misusing my computer--even as we spoke on the phone! I asked "Steven" where he was located, and suddenly the call was switched to "David."

Clearly "Steven" couldn't take the pressure. "David" started to turn on the hard sell. At one point, he told me that he was "having something that would make me understand." I hung up.

"David" wasn't going to take no for an answer. He called me back and pretended we'd gotten disconnected. I played along. "David" tightened the thumbscrews, informing me that if I did not follow his instructions, he was going to take away my Windows license.

I wasn't scared.

I asked him for the phone number at his office, and he spouted off a few numbers before giving up and hanging up on me.

Now that's more like it.

(Public Service Announcement:  Microsoft is NOT going to call you with a trouble report. Ever. Don't give out your information to these guys.)

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When it comes to cooking, I'm kind of a geek. So when I needed to purchase some items in bulk for an upcoming school event, I welcomed the chance to explore the local restaurant-supply store.

While I stuck to the shopping list for the event, I wasn't above browsing in the name of research. I know I'll be going back to stock my own kitchen and pantry.

The store had everything a baker or cook could want:  huge sacks of flour, sugar and rice; giant cans of spaghetti-sauce ingredients, and spices in generously-sized jars.

I'll admit, I was tempted by one thing:  the enormous jug of sprinkles.

Eleven is a big fan of sprinkles. He likes them on everything from cookies to ice cream to pancakes, yogurt and even oatmeal!

But 3 pounds of sprinkles is a LOT of sprinkles. Frankly, I was kind of afraid that if I brought a container of sprinkles that big into my house, the Kid would start eating them with a spoon. So, for now, the sprinkles stayed on the shelf.

Planning a big event? A restaurant-supply store is a great way to save on food, paper goods and cooking supplies! And if there's going to be cake, check out this deal from Wasserstrom Restaurant Company:  save up to 52% on select cake-decorating supplies! Prices already reflect this discount, and this offer is good through April 24, 2013--no coupon code required.