"We forgot his mother's birthday!" Kathleen exclaims, admitting that this is not the first time she and her husband Gian have been forgetful about milestones. "What can we do to help us remember?"

In the age of technology, Kathleen and Gian no longer have an excuse, especially now that Rachael has done the work for them by finding these nifty Web sites, and offering her own tips wfor staying in the know and out of the doghouse.

Web sites that'll do the work for you:

• Yahoo.com offers a free membership to its e-mail service, which allows you to schedule all kinds of appointments with alarms sent to your Yahoo! Messenger account, mobile device or e-mail address.
• Birthdayalarm.com is a service that features e-mail or text-message reminders, a selection of e-cards, and an option to send flowers. This all-in-one service is free for e-mail reminders, and costs 50 cents for text message reminders.
• Bigdates.com will remind you of a birthday via a cell-phone text message or an e-mail with suggestions for cards and gifts. It's free for the first three months, than $5.95 a year after that.

• HappyBirthday.com assigns each member your own Web page so you can direct friends and family to input their birthdays, rather than having to collect the information yourself. The cost is free.

Rach's tips:

• Consolidate all birthdays you want to remember on a calendar and keep it on the fridge (or some other area you frequent a lot). Then sit down at the beginning of each month and write out cards for every birthday that month. Keep a stash of gift cards to stuff inside the cards.

• Tell a friend/spouse about your forgetfulness and have them remind you about birthdays.

• Always keep a stack of various cards for all occasions, as well as stamps, in a box at home so that they are on hand at all times.

• Get blank cards too in case other occasions arise.