On April 21, Julien’s Auctions kicks off the Icons of Music auction, benefiting Music Rising, a charity that replaces instruments lost in Hurricane Katrina.

The auction features 196 rock-related items, including a record sleeve signed by Bob Dylan, a pair of great pants that belonged to Jimi Hendrix and a saxophone signed by Bill Clinton that he’ll personalize for you.

Be prepared, most of the items are pretty pricey, as you would expect, but to own a piece of music history? It just might be worth the investment.

Texas legislator proposes $500 to stop abortions.

A Texas legislator has proposed that pregnant women considering abortion be offered $500 not to end their pregnancies. I am not sure what I think of this, but when I read it I immediately thought I should blog about it.

Republican State Sen. Dan Patrick, who also is a conservative radio talk show host, said “If this incentive would give pause and change the mind of 5 percent of those woman, that’s 3,000 lives. That’s almost as many people as we’ve lost in Iraq,” Patrick said.

Here’s what one opponent is saying…

Heather Paffe, political director of Planned Parenthood of Texas, said Patrick’s proposal “is very cynical and insulting to women and their families.” “It’s insulting to think women would make that kind of decision so easily,” she said.”

While I can understand what the State Senator is trying to do, I can’t imagine that this sort of offer would be enough of an incentive to get a woman to change her mind about termination.

I was reading the NY Times this morning (I woke up early and couldn’t fall back a sleep) and stumbled upon this article: Poor Behavior Is Linked to Time in Day Care.

As a mother that has had the opportunity to both send her children to daycare and to have the benefits of a relative caring for them during the day, I was kind of surprised by the results of the study. My oldest had really benefited from daycare. It had taught him how to play well with others, how to share, how to use the potty(!!!) – I had seen nothing but positive results.

For the study researchers tracked more than 1,300 children in various arrangements, including children that stayed home with a parent, relative or nanny and those attending day care centers. Once the children moved on to school, the study depended on the teachers to report on child behaviors.

The study….

“…found that keeping a preschooler in a day care center for a year or more increased the likelihood that the child would become disruptive in class — and that the effect persisted through the sixth grade.

The effect was slight, and well within the normal range for healthy children, the researchers found. And as expected, parents’ guidance and their genes had by far the strongest influence on how children behaved.

But the finding held up regardless of the child’s sex or family income, and regardless of the quality of the day care center. With more than two million American preschoolers attending day care, the increased disruptiveness very likely contributes to the load on teachers who must manage large classrooms, the authors argue.

On the positive side, they also found that time spent in high-quality day care centers was correlated with higher vocabulary scores through elementary school.”

What are your thoughts on this? Do your children attend daycare, stay at home or with a family member? How has your experience been?

I can’t believe it. I actually won something. I belong to The Mom Blogs and as part of their grand opening celebration they were giving away fun “bags o gifts.” I about fell over when I logged on today and saw that MommyBits had been selected as a winner.

I feel like Richard Smiley from SNL: “I’m good enough, I’m nice enough, and gosh darn it… I AM a winner!”