… and all I got was this lousy plague. Honestly, I spent the day with a group of small grubby children and came home sick as a dog. Who could’ve seen that coming?

Posts today will be brought to you from my deathbed. (Good thing I’m not melodramatic, or anything.)

Anyway! Today’s Amazon Gold Box Deal is a Scotch Thermal Laminator, which many of you may recognize from a deal we got a few years ago, at about this price ($17). This is a fantastic price, and would make a sweet teacher’s gift (particularly if your kids are in grade school).

I bought this laminator back then and gave it to my husband, because I’m romantic that way.

Nope, I’m still not here—this post brought to you through the miracle of future post scheduling. It’s magic!

I just wanted to give you a friendly little reminder that 11:00 (right now) is when the new boutiques go live at Rue La La, Fab.com, and One Kings Lane. Fab.com in particular has been knocking my socks off lately with the awesome items they’ve had. I may need to enter a 12-step program to admit my powerlessness over hipster playthings.

I’m still on a field trip and cannot get my fix until later. But you can go get yours right now. Enjoy!

Sadly, today “being a decent parent” wins out over “finding you deals all day.” I’ll be gone most of the day, on a Civil War field trip, which should be interesting because I’m a yankee in the south, you know, and I always snicker when someone refers to it as “the War of Northern Aggression.” I will try not to embarrass my kid too much today, but I make no promises.

While I’m gone, you’re going to want to keep an eye on the Amazon Lightning Deals. I know we’re all experiencing a big of Lightning Deal fatigue right about now, and I’ll also be the first to admit that I’ve seen them mess with the prices on several things (like, it normally sells for $30, but when the LD goes live, they say the regular price is $50 and look, now it’s just $29!), but I’ve also snapped up some incredible deals in the last few days. It just takes a bit of patience.

Also worth checking out is today’s Gold Box Deal, which is supposedly half off a variety of Melissa & Doug wooden toys. Now, a lot of them are not half off—check the “More Buying Options” column to see what items are being sold for elsewhere—but most are at least 30% off and a few are items that rarely go on sale. Again, you have to be kind of vigilant and do your research, but there are deals to be had.

I’ll be back later this afternoon.