Moms

Friday, December 4th, 2009 at 02:38pm

I am passionate about what I do, and I commit my heart and soul to it.  It takes up a huge amount of my energy, but I love doing it.  Every single person I help, every person I engage with is special to me. And most of the time, 99% of the time, it is worth everything I put into it.  But sometimes, very occasionally, it sucks the life right out of me.I've had a revolting we[...]

Friday, December 4th, 2009 at 02:30pm

I haven't really been cooking since Thanksgiving for a couple of reasons. The first is that I've been swamped with work (which is a really good thing for our Little...

Friday, December 4th, 2009 at 12:52pm

Something mesmerizing. I watched this whole movie, all seven minutes of it, and was not bored one bit. This makes me just want to paint…or move to Japan. Either one. Or both! Spied via Loobyloo

Tags: Eye Spy

Friday, December 4th, 2009 at 12:28pm

Time to announce the winners of the Xbox giveaway, and I have been told that I have to announce them as "Potential Winners" due to paperwork and whatnot. Without further ado, congratulations to: Comment #1961, pwillow1 Comment #792, snaves Comment #3956, joni l Comment #241, blender Comment #5755, Sugar Mama May your holidays be filled with virtual car crashes and hours lost to unlocking[...]

Tags: Daily

Friday, December 4th, 2009 at 12:14pm

Hey, is it a bit annoying when bloggers mention arbitrary, mostly meaningless awards they could win?  I suspect it is, in fact I am pretty sure it is, but I have shrapnels of irritating competitiveness left over from when I was an awkward, gangly, sprinty nerd who was OK at everything but good at nothing.Long story short, I am totally flattered to have been nominated for a Canadian blog award[...]

Friday, December 4th, 2009 at 12:07pm

Just a few quick things: As you read this, we’re actually on the way to Indianapolis! We all have fresh haircuts, and my mom has given me one of those huge plastic cups from Starbucks. In other words, as these very words travel from your eyes to your brain, I’m most likely sitting in the passenger seat nursing a very large shaken iced tea lemonade and listening to The Squeakque[...]

Tags: Daily, Out on the Town, Giving Stuff Away

Friday, December 4th, 2009 at 12:06pm

December 4 Book. What book – fiction or non – touched you? Where were you when you read it? Have you bought and given away multiple copies? Looking back over the year, I have read many books. Some were for work while others were more for personal pleasure and/or growth. It’s difficult to pick [...]

Tags: reviews, Affiliates, #best09, Finding Balance: From the Inside Out

Friday, December 4th, 2009 at 11:59am

Me: "Jon. Punkin just proves that we need a really small dog." Jon: "NO NO NO NO NO NO." Me: "But—" Jon: "NO NO NO NO NO NO." Me: "But she—" Jon: "NOOOOOOOOO." Me: "Just hold her. HOLD HER." Jon: "..... SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" click image above to see the photo on dooce.comby dooce in Daily Chuck© Armstr[...]

Tags: Daily Chuck

Friday, December 4th, 2009 at 11:58am

Tags: Tis the Season, party party, diary illos

Friday, December 4th, 2009 at 11:55am

I woke up this morning with, no exaggeration, about 270 things on my list "to do". So, of course, after I dropped the kids off at school, I got busy.No, tell the truth, Carmen.Ok, I took a nap. And then I did something that was definitely not on that list of things "to do" - I wrote our Christmas letter.So, I wanna know two things. No, wait, three. 1 - Do you write a Christma[...]

Tags: I&#039, m Thinking of Something - But What?

Friday, December 4th, 2009 at 11:24am

Last night at the King's English holiday party I got to meet many, many wonderful people including Sister Dottie S. Dixon (on the left) and Pat Bagley (on the right), they who revised and updated and illustrated The Mormon Kama Sutra: "An Instant LDS classic when it first came on to the scene in the early '70s, it was a boon to a generation of newlyweds grappling with the concept of[...]

Tags: Daily Photo

Friday, December 4th, 2009 at 10:04am

We put the tree up yesterday and Ivy only pulled it down twice. (Not bad, right?) It's our second year with a pre-lit tree and you can probably imagine my disappointment when I plugged it in and it didn't light up. That's what I was afraid of. Apparently if you push the "on" button, though, it will light up. :) Gray is okay with Chazz Star now. He just keeps his dista[...]

Tags: christmas, Christmas Change

Friday, December 4th, 2009 at 09:58am

Susan's Finds-- Cool iPhone app to keep kids entertained: Waiting in line sucks. Waiting in line with kids -- a whole NEW kind of suck. If you have an iPhone or iPod Touch, here's a new app that might help pass the time: StoryPlease! It's their stories, your voice, anywhere, anytime.-- Up for some Etsy window shopping? CharmingPeople is a cute shop you might want to peruse for holid[...]

Friday, December 4th, 2009 at 09:57am

Maybe we parents of gifted children should not be so surprised when our high ability children drop out of school. After all, many of us have memories of their earliest days of formal education, those days when we packed our bright, eager learners off to school only to have them return unhappy at best, miserable and depressed at worst.I remember passing off my copy of Genius Denied, a book that roc[...]

Friday, December 4th, 2009 at 09:56am

Our local paper published a story about Anissa a few days ago. I only just found out about it today. Reading it is just another reminder of how much she and her family have been through over the years. Honestly, I don’t get it. I don’t understand why these  good people suffer have to suffer so much. I know there’s some cosmic order to the universe, some might eve[...]

Tags: personal, thoughts, I Haz Them, Anissa Mayhew, Commentary

Friday, December 4th, 2009 at 09:56am

Our local paper published a story about Anissa a few days ago. I only just found out about it today. Reading it is just another reminder of how much she and her family have been through over the years. Honestly, I don’t get it. I don’t understand why these  good people suffer have to suffer so much. I know there’s some cosmic order to the universe, some might eve[...]

Tags: personal, thoughts, I Haz Them, Anissa Mayhew

Friday, December 4th, 2009 at 09:45am

Earlier this fall, The Mayor threw a fit about getting dressed in the morning.[No different that the fits he threw about getting dressed in more recent mornings.]On this particular day, The Mayor's had been invited to go to the local high school Homecoming football game with one of his friends and the friend's parents.The Mayor was beyond excited about the opportunity to stay up late and[...]

Tags: Grace In Small Things, The Mayor, Flashback Fridays, Life is a Story

Friday, December 4th, 2009 at 07:10am

By Mindy Sterba, Parenteeng Survivor They say (Whoever they are) that it will snow today....in Houston. I greet this news with one raised eyebrow. They (same they as before) also say that it snowed last year. I am approaching my...

Friday, December 4th, 2009 at 05:16am

I know this has been done before, but… There are plenty of Australian Women Bloggers out there in the blogosphere and what better way to bring everyone together than a list? Technorati has recently undergone a huge makover, meaning that rankings have changed as well as Authority. In order to do this list, I used Technorati and Alexa ranks to work out who sits where. Formula: 3X Australia[...]

Tags: Odds and Ends

Friday, December 4th, 2009 at 05:00am

On the fourth day of Christmas, my true love Trenches Sarah gave to me:Four calling birds brand new wheels!From the website:  Tapping into America's love of cars and the massive car-customizing movement, RIDEMAKERZ® offers kidz from 6 to 106 the opportunity to customize and "trick out" their very own RIDE. Want to win a $100 gift card to RIDEMAKERZ&reg[...]

Friday, December 4th, 2009 at 03:54am

I've been asked to be the spokesperson for Upromise World MasterCard for Bank of America. It's not something I'm doing on this site. I'm going to blog on their Facebook page and do some interviews where I talk about mom blogging and Upromise and Mastercard. I am NOT being paid to write what I am writing right now. I am being paid to do the media interviews and t[...]

Tags: Work, Blog Posts, Miscellaneous Blogs, spokesperson, upromise, Work from home

Friday, December 4th, 2009 at 03:42am

The Search for the Monster Mess Maker is On! When faced with an incredible mess made by one of my kids, my tendency has been to reach for the camera…before the broom. Obviously, I am not the only one who does this because Babyganics is announcing a photo contest to display your baby/toddler’s biggest messes and get rewarded for it. From December 4 to 25,  BabyGanics will[...]

Tags: motherhood, Parenting, BabyGanics, photo - Rhett, plain old mom stuff, Monster Mess Maker Contest

Friday, December 4th, 2009 at 02:16am

So much happened in 2009 I know when I wrote last years post I could have never imagined what all would happen. This summer so much happened. I evolved, and somehow the city did move me. Some of the best times of my entire life. Shortly after the birth of our second child, I jetted off for four [...]

Tags: About Me

Friday, December 4th, 2009 at 01:50am

Earlier this week I wrote about the police being called on a breastfeeding mom in a Michigan Target store. Mary Martinez and her husband Jose were shopping in a Harper Woods, Mich., Target store, where Mary was nursing her 4-week-old baby girl in the electronics section. They were told by a Target security guard that breastfeeding in public is “against the law” and told they h[...]

Tags: activism, Breastfeeding, breast-feeding, discrimination, legislation, Michigan

Friday, December 4th, 2009 at 01:48am

I just had some really exciting news come in today! Remember when I gave away an HP Envy 13 laptop last week? (Yes, you do because you entered, I know!) Well, as a part of the promotion to get the word out about the HP Envy 13 and how great of a Christmas present it would make someone, there was an internal contest going on with the 7 blogs giving away the laptop. The blog that generated the gr[...]

Tags: Contests and Events, Accessories

Friday, December 4th, 2009 at 01:01am

you are small in stature with a giant personality your size never stops you from expecting the most and after all, tiny is only temporary (much to my dismay) your are revving and racing through days and months and years every day that finds you meets its match there is no morning afternoon or evening that you can’t climb and leap from into the starry sky you soar landing in your bed with[...]

Tags: Toddler, Parenting, The Boy, play, Energy, growing

Friday, December 4th, 2009 at 12:57am

Demining vehicle in Bang Melay, Cambodia It's no secret that mines dot rural Cambodia. You see evidence of it everywhere, from the children and adults who are missing limbs to the "Danger!! Mines!!" t-shirts that many tourists buy. Did you ever stop to think what the impact of the land mines might be to a child? Open fields aren't a place to play, they're [...]

Friday, December 4th, 2009 at 12:28am

A brand new mom for a second time, Chelsea is willing to let her long hair go…for now.  She is willing to sacrifice her gorgeous long hair, that she’s patiently been growing out, for the best interest of her new role as mom of 2.  She’s not willing to give up her chic look just because she’s a new mom again.  Chelsea proudly calls herself a &a[...]

Tags: Hair

Friday, December 4th, 2009 at 12:01am

A few weeks ago, Elisa B. invited Calvin and I over to hang out with the puppies.  Just before we arrived, she baked homemade banana bread since she had an overstock of bananas.  What a treat for our noses and bellies.  There’s hardly any sugar and extra oily gunk.  It’s sensational, and I highly urge you to try it! ———&#[...]

Tags: Health Happy Round-Up, recipes, banana bread recipe, healthy recipes

Thursday, December 3rd, 2009 at 02:39pm

Kaila has always played with cars, partly due to her Father who loves cars. We reviewed a pink one car form Automoblox a little over a year ago and Kaila loves being able to take it apart. The new Mini A9-S/X9-X/M9 3-pack is really great because you can now mix and match the cars. I [...]

Tags: Uncategorized, toys, cars, 2009 Christmas Gift Guide, great gift idea