We've made sure the kids are on the straight and narrow. We've cleaned more things around the house than our backs and knees can handle.

We've cooked and baked, done the laundry. We've answered questions from the children when we've thought that if they asked one more, our heads would explode.

We've comforted the dog who is spooked by a cell phone and unclogged the powder room sink.

We've applied -- and been rejected -- for jobs, and we've eaten -- again -- too much chocolate, leading to contemplating yet another diet.

So, forgive us mothers and wives when we ask, every once in a while, in a quiet, sneaky moment in our heads: What's in it for me?

Try this: Think gift. Dream about what you would buy for yourself if you had, say, a virtual $100, and could shop the Web for like an hour while everyone else was doing the housework.

What would you buy?

I head right for the pretty sites, often kitchen stuff that budget reasons and/or guilt (there's always something practical to spend on, like food) prevent me from buying. I log on to marthastewart.com and click on "shop."

The Harvest Cupcake Boxes are on sale! $9.99. So cute! Also cute: the Printed Pie Pan, $19.99, with kitschy pictures of pumpkin pie ingredients and a recipe. At Macy's.

Next up, williams-sonoma.com: Apple and Pumpkin Pocket Pie Molds, $17.99 for a set of two. Kewl.

Speaking of pies, W-S also has Fall Forest Pie Cutters, $18, and the Emile Henry Artisan Ruffled Pie Dish, $44. Ohohoh! Too cute, too beautiful, and if these aren't in your budget, just enjoy the video on how to make li'l basil and oak leaf pie crusts, and the one on how Emile Henry bakeware is made, in Burgundy, France. (The bakeware "deefuzes" the heat in baking, says the patrician video host. Make a clafouti and see, he says. I made one for my husband when we were dating. He ate the whole thing.)

Let's go over to target.com and click on dinnerware. I'm loving the square plates and mugs that have been showing up at all sorts of retailers. Tar-jay has the Whittier Collection, $24.99 to $59.99 -- white, squarish, lovely dishes. "I can break glasses like it's my job," writes one reviewer, "but these have proven durable."

Somehow, in my daydream-y browsing, I went horribly off the path and found the Roast Turkey Hat at centurynovelty.com/detail_211_092-144.html.

Go fish

Meet Bob Wholey at Wholey's in the Strip District from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday; he'll dispense advice and collect donations for Children's Hospital.

Moving on

Yes, it's time to think about the holidays since Sunday is Nov. 1, and the end of Daylight Savings Time until spring. I hate that. But food events abound, even in the dark. From 6 to 8 p.m. next Thursday, Whole Foods Market, East Liberty, hosts a sampling of Thanksgiving foods, from free-range turkey to pumpkin pie.

The Chautauqua-Lake Erie Wine Trail's Harvest Wine Weekends run from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Nov. 7-8 and 14-15. $35 for the weekend or $30 for Sundays only, cover a sampling of food and wine at 21 wineries. chautauquawinetrail.org, or 1-877-326-6561.

Want a sweet Thanksgiving? Sample honey hived everywhere from Hawaii to New England from 6 to 8 p.m. Nov. 13 at EDGE Studio, 5411 Penn Ave., Garfield, with Slow Food Pittsburgh. Finish with cheese and mead. $25 members, $30 nonmembers. RSVP to vredpath@aol.com.

If you're cooking/baking for the holidays, the Butterball Turkey Talk-Line opens Monday to ... talk turkey. 1-800-Butterball. FedEx offers shipping tips at fedex.com/us/holiday.

Anne Byrn, the "Cake Doctor," will be at In The Kitchen, Penn Avenue, Strip District, from noon to 2 p.m. Nov. 6 to sign her "Cake Mix Doctor Returns" cookbook. First 24 people to buy a signed copy get a gift from OXO. Samplings also will be had (see Rebecca Sodergren's story on the good Doctor on Page E-1).

The Pittsburgh Area Jewish Committee will hold a Turkish-Jewish cooking class from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Nov. 8. RSVP to pajc@pacj.net or call 412-605-0816. The group will hold its 9th Friendship Dinner at 6:30 p.m. at the Sheraton Station Square Hotel. RSVP to activities@tccpittsburgh.org by Sunday.

Host a bake sale in November or December benefitting pediatric cancer research. Actress Joan Cusack is the face for this effort by Cookies for Kids Cancer and Glad Products Co. Glad will match all funds up to $100,000. Go to cookiesforkidscancer.org for details.

The Pittsburgh Whiskey and Fine Spirits Festival will be held 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Nov. 13 at the Heinz Field West Club Lounge, sponsored by the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board. It will benefit the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Tickets are $85 at pittsburghwhiskeyfestival.com or $95 at the door.

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