some advice that no one asked for

I have a few nuggets of wisdon that I thought I'd share. I know, no one asked, but they've helped me, so I'm passing it on. Plus, I've done a lot of stupid things lately (like colliding mirrors with a parked truck) so I wanted to show off my amazing smartness.

1. Coupons. Diapers and wipes coupons are great. I use Pampers. It seems like the wipes coupons are always $1.00 off and Cruisers $1.50. Then the EasyUps are $2.00 off. This makes sense because the cost goes up in that order. However, I have discovered that Walmart is the place to use coupons. Particularly a Super-Walmart. They get so much business that they lose no money by accepting expired coupons. They can still redeem them. The cashiers very rarely even check the dates. Plus, and this is very important, it doesn't matter what coupon you give them, as long as it's for the right brand. It's all checked by the computer. They scan a Pampers coupon, the computer checks the purchases to see if a (any) Pampers product was bought. That means you can use the $2.00 coupons on wipes. It also means that you can use as many coupons as products. If you have a buy one get one free Kandoo (pampers) soap, you can use 2 coupons, becuase you have 2 products. Go collect coupons. Save money. The only people who lose in this deal are Pampers, and I figure they aren't really losing, becuase I'm just using a coupon someone else didn't bother to redeem. Plus, I'm still buying their diapers. Everybody wins.
2. Oven safety. Long ago, Rob and I had a baby. This was a new thing. We had to get used to lots of new things. One of those was being careful while preheating the oven. I used to turn the oven on and go downstairs to pee or something. Rob didn't even always know the oven was on. But that was okay, because he's an adult (sort of).  Babies are stupid, though. They don't know ovens can be hot. So Rob and I adopted a rule. If one of us turns the oven on, the oven light goes on with it. EVERY time the oven is hot, the light is on. It doesn't get turned off until after the oven is cool. That way everybody knows at all times to keep the baby away from the hot oven, even if you didn't turn it on yourself. One pleasant side effect of this practice is that Ally now knows that the light means stay away. This wasn't the intended purpose, but it is great. The other day, a ball rolled toward the oven while it was on, and she started walking toward it, and saw the light on and stopped. It's one of the smartest child-proofing things we've ever done.