A few days ago, my son had his second birthday, and we celebrated it quietly at home. He got to choose what to have for supper – all he wanted was macaroni and cheese and peaches, so we called an audible and also had ultra-lean hamburgers, too – and he received three gifts, most notably of which was a very large box of Lego Duplos (which he’s starting to really get into). He and I built a giant castle using every Lego block he has on the floor in the living room – and then we quickly played “Godzilla Enters Tokyo” and the blocks went flying! He couldn’t have been happier – a wonderful and simple birthday for a nice little boy.

1 Year Ago Today: 10 Things We’ve Done to Regain Financial Control This is a really spectacular article, reminding me a lot of my own financial armageddon. This person went through a financial meltdown, figured out what to do, and dug himself and his family out of it, and here’s exactly how he did it. Some of the considerations were quite interesting – this one’s definitely worth reading. (@ gather little by little)

What To Do About the Rising Cost of Bread If you enjoyed my article the other day about making your own loaf, but aren’t quite sure you want to make the leap, this is a great article for you. Some nice tips on saving cash on bread. (@ wise bread)

7 Ways Procrastination Has Cost Me Money If this isn’t a great encouragement to kick the procrastination habit, I don’t know what is – it kicks you squarely in the wallet. (@ lazy man and money)

The Simple Dollar Retro: Guilty Money: How Much Do You Have To Spend Frivolously Before You Feel Guilty About It? I thought this one generated some very interesting discussion.