NewBaby
I've been meaning to share a great new site with you for a week or so now and can't believe it has taken me this long! (Actually, I can... I am still unpacking boxes and assembling furniture.) NewBaby.com was unveiled at the beginning of the month and is an excellent source of information for new mothers. And it isn't just for babies. It has information starting with pregnancy all the way through 4 years old, and a special section for moms. However, what sets this site apart from BabyCenter.com or any of the other parenting sites is it's focus on videos. Maria Bailey, one of the founding moms, really wanted to create a place on the web for parents to share videos with those relatives too far away to experience our children in person. She wrote on her first blog post for NewBaby.com: Just think, now you can record your baby's first word on your webcam, upload it to your Newbaby Video Gallery and share it with your partner, grandparents or distant family members. Can you imagine recording your 1st grader's thoughts on the first day of school and having them when he graduates from high school? It's now possible and you don't have to transfer tapes to disks or worry that the VCR is plugged in. I think this site will be more than just parents sharing their babies' first steps though. I found an article about reducing sugar in our kids' diets, fitting in fitness, and planning a birthday party (hmmm, wonder why THAT is on my mind?!). Disclaimer: I was not paid or reimbursed in any way for talking about NewBaby.com. But, I am excited about the site and even more excited that my blog is being featured on their home page! Thanks Heidi! Labels: blog
For the month of July, they are giving away something new everyday. But you have to register to be entered.
Almost Done
Thanks for your patience with me as I all but abandon my blog for the last 2 weeks. I wanted to give you a quick update and let you know I only have 1 task to complete for my professional teacher certification. I will start writing it up tomorrow and hopefully will have it finished and ready to submit by the end of the school day. I'll try to come back and post some pictures and stories over the weekend as time permits. Love ya! Thanks for hanging in there with me... Labels: blog
Busy
Sorry I haven't been very verbose lately... school lets out in less than 2 weeks and I have a mountain of paperwork and documentation to complete.
I'll be back soon... I promise!
One Million Blogs
I am not sure how many blogs there are in the world. One source said that there are as many as 70,000,000. Whether or not those are active, who knows? But I do know that someone has started an interesting wiki to try and collect links to at least 1,000,000 of those blogs. Labels: blog
I did my part to help by adding both of my blogs to the list. This blog, Family Musings, is number 1511. My other blog, EatingItUp, is number 1512.
If you keep a blog, join the social experiment and head over to add it yourself. Scroll all the way down to the bottom and click, "Add your blog to the list."
Comment Love
When I read this I Should Be Folding Laundry, I knew it was something I wanted to share with my readers. It describes how I feel some days when I pour my ideas into a post and then find nothing coming back to me. It is hard to have a conversation if I am the only one talking. There are some of you who comment regularly (thanks Mom!) and others who I know visit, but never say a word. I don't want anyone to be guilting into commenting (unless that works, then by all means, feel guilty:) ), but I do appreciate feedback on my various musings. Heck, if you know me in real life, it should be easier to talk to me here because I can't interrupt you! (I'm working on that by the way.) Labels: blog"Can you imagine wanting to share a story, a thought or a belief with forty people and preparing what you had to say, choosing the right words and nervously approaching them and then saying what you had to say, you say it just as you planned and you wait for the response and the person you are talking to listens to you, looks at you and just walks away. Without a smile, a frown - no reaction. They just walk away."
I have decided that I am going to be a better commenter myself. First, I will try to reply to every comment left (either via e-mail or in a follow-up comment or post). Second, I will try to take one day each week to comment on all of the other blogs that I read. That way I can spread the comment love around myself!
If you have the time, I recommend you head over to I Should be Folding Laundry to read her post, as well as Fried Okra's blog reaction to it.
The Thrill of Motherhood
Even though my photo wasn't selected as a finalist, I don't feel bad at all. After viewing those who were chosen, I know it had to be a miserable task to narrow down the field from 408 submissions to only 20 finalists.
Once I started to look through the list, there was one photo that made me stop, bringing tears to my eyes. It perfectly captures the thrill of motherhood. I remember that first moment and wish I could relive it just to experience the euphoria of meeting my baby girl for the first time. In that moment it is not possible to articulate how wonderful, thrilled, and yes, exhausted you are. But this picture comes pretty darn close.
Please, go look at this picture, then click over to 5 Minutes for Mom to vote for Bill, Miss and Brood.
She has a chance to win $1000!
Hubby Meme
I found this fun relationship meme at It Is Naptime. She didn't tag me or anything, but I thought I'd share the answers with the world. Because I KNOW the world cares. :) If you feel up to it, post your answers on your blog and leave a comment letting me know you did it too.
How long have you been together? We started dating in June 1997, so that means almost 11 years.
How long did you date? Date? What is that? Is there where the boy goes to the girl’s house and hangs out on the couch and eats the dinner that the girl’s mom cooks? We didn’t date. We courted.
How old is he? 30
Who said "I love you first"? I did. I was impatient to tell him. To his credit, he told me he already knew he loved me but just hadn’t found the chance to say it yet.
Who's taller? He is.
Who is smarter? We are both smarter in different areas. I’m smarter about people and he is smarter about book stuff.
Who does the laundry?
We both do. He does the stuff with the machines and I fold it.
Who does the dishes? We both do. Depends on how busy we are.
Who sleeps on the right side of the bed?
We both sleep on the right side. He’s on the right side for him and I’m on the right side for me.
Who pays the bills? We both work so both of us. Though I do the bookkeeping.
Who mows the lawn? Mark the lawn guy.
Who cooks dinner? We both do. Depends on how busy we are.
Who is more stubborn? Me.
Who kissed who first? He kissed me first. That’s a good story, maybe he can tell it someday. He is the better story teller.
Who asked who out? He asked me out, well, not out, because we never really went out. If we ever went anywhere, it was to the mall, and I drove because that was better than riding his motorcycle every where. Actually, he did ask me on our first date. We went to Disney World.
Who proposed? He proposed.
Who is more sensitive? Me.
RSS Day
I was all set to give my readers a different kind of recipe... one that provided all the ingredients and how-to for utilizing RSS feeds to their best advantage. Then, I woke up today and read Abraham Piper's easy-peasy explanation in my Google Reader account. I really can't say it any better than he does. Go check it out then come back and subscribe to my feed in your new Reader account! Labels: blog
Happy Birthday to Family Musings
Today marks 1 year from the date of my very first blog post ever. I am not really sure I expected to get this into blogging when I made that post. I never knew that I would know about things like RSS and memes. And I certainly wouldn't have been so inspired to keep on blogging if it hadn't been for my beloved Google Reader. Since I am not lucky enough to live in Charm City and have Duff personally design my cake, I thought I'd just share one or two of my favorite Charm City Cakes with you. If I had it my way, they would all be filled with chocolate cake and a yummy fruit and cream filling. They've Gone Bananas! I couldn't pass up a cake with a moon on it! And stars too. There's a good story behind this one, but Angela will have to tell you. I wonder what my blog would look like memorialized by the artists at Charm City? Don't forget to leave a birthday comment. I want to meet my lurkers! Google Analytics says there are about 30-50 of you on any given day.
I'm not going to be be greedy and ask for a lot of fancy, schmancy presents for my blogging birthday, instead, would you just leave a comment and say something nice about me or my blog. If you can't think of anything nice to say about those things, then, well, just say something. 
New Idea for Family Musings
I have been thinking recently about ways that I can turn the time I spend on-line into a money-making venture. Does that sound awful? It's just that, I have put a lot of work into this and think it might be worth something. I enjoy writing product reviews and have done a few already. I've even done a few movie reviews. All of those were written for the love of a particular product or for fun. And I've got several more in the pipeline... just need to find some time. While I was looking into ways to monetize this blog, I came across PayPerPost. This site offers opportunities for me to talk about other websites and services and get paid for it. After looking at the opportunities, I am not sure how many I will actually take advantage of. I mean, seriously, how many of you want to read about police gear or hot new sales leads. However, there are some services that I think I would enjoy personally, so I'll definitely be reviewing them to bring in some dough. I'll always be honest though and let you know if I am reviewing a site or service for a fee; that is the minimum expectation for word of mouth ethics. And if you know me by now, I'll be equally as honest about the product as well. I actually first came across this site because another blogger I read regularly used it. She had a tendency to post a bunch of PayPerPost blogs and then nothing for a while. I don't plan to do that though. I'll try to keep the paid posts down though since this is still a blog about my family. I hope no one minds. Thanks for helping me out! Labels: blog
Fix My Life 101
Devise a list of 5-10 courses you would take to fix your life. (from Janel Messenger at Pearls)
This is my class schedule:
Ta Da!
If you are reading this then you probably already know my exciting news (unless you use a reader like I do). Tell me, what do you think of it? Do you like it? I love it and want to give Mia at the Blog Cafe a super huge hug for being so generous is designing my blog for me. We've been working on it for a little over a month now and she was wonderfully receptive to my ideas and took the vague notions in my head and turned it into the blog design you now see in front of you. Labels: blog
In other news, I've been out of town recently so my posting has slowed down. I've got lots of things in my head screaming to get out and hope I have a chance to get them all down in writing before they mate up and morph into something completely different and foreign. Stay tuned...
Thanks again Mia!
200th Post Meme
It happened so fast I didn't even realize it. But on Sunday, I published my 200th post to this blog. I feel as if I just finished my 100th post. In honor of my 200th post, I am going to answer the questions below... sort of a 200th post blogland tradition. Thanks for playing along! Labels: blog
Do you like the look and content of your blog? I am not a big fan of my current look, but, drum roll please.... that will be changing soon! Stay tuned for the big announcement. As for the content, I am in a phase right now where I am trying to decide about that. I really blog for my family and to keep a record of my daughter's life. But, I also have a lot of ideas in my head and use this blog to share those ideas, as well as rant about whatever pops into my brain. Plus, since I spend so much time on blogs, I'd like to find a way to make money doing it.
Does your family know about your blog? Of course... it is a labor of love for them.
Can you tell your friends about your blog? I can and I do. This is a blessing and a curse. I have one friend that I haven't been spending as much time with as I used to so I felt like we weren't connecting. I mentioned this one day and she didn't understand. She knew exactly what was going on with us because she had been reading my blog.
Do you just read the blogs of those who comment on your blog? Um... I have 4-5 regular commenters and most of them don't have a blog. I do read lots of blogs though. As of right now, I have exactly 75 feeds in my Google Reader, and that is after I pared it down a bit this weekend. I really should spread some more of my own comment love. That would make me a better blog buddy.
Does your blog positively affect your mind? I believe so. It allows me to get thoughts out of my brain. I really do better when I can work my ideas out in writing. Blogging helps me to organize the random thoughts I have and to make coherent sense of them.
What does the number of visitors to your blog mean? I just checked Google Analytics, which I use to track my blog visitors and I have had 734 unique visitors to my blog in the last 30 days. Counting returning visitors, I have about 35 people who check out my blog on a daily basis. I sure wish some of them would stop and say hi! (hint, hint)
Do you imagine what other bloggers look like? Not really. Most of them post pictures of themselves so I don't have to imagine. All bloggers are beautiful people... blogging is a habit that is easy on the eyes. :)
Do you think that blogging has any real benefit? Beyond keeping me from going crazy? Beyond preventing my parents from moving in next door? Can you say, "hello Marie and Frank!"? Yeah... it's got benefits! The more pictures, the further away the family stays. (Just kidding mom and dad. Really, I am!)
Do you think that the blogosphere is a stand-alone community separated from the real world? From my perspective, absolutely not. I blog about very real world things and so do the bloggers that I read, especially my favorite frugal blogs (see below).
Do some political blogs scare you? Do you avoid them? I am not scared by political blogs, but I don't read them. I mostly scan CNN or World Magazine Online for my political news. I don't specifically avoid them, they just aren't something I am interested in reading during this phase of my life.
Do you think criticizing your blog is useful? Depends on who is doing the criticizing and how it is done. I am always open to helpful suggestions.
Have you ever thought what would happen to your blog if you died? Not until I read this question. Now I wonder... would Bruce know to print out all of my posts and publish them in a book for posterity? I hope all of my visitors would at least comment on my last post and tell the world how much they will miss me.
Which blogger has had the greatest impression on you? My blogging style has been most affected by Michelle at Scribbit, Meredith at Like Merchant Ships, Crystal at Biblical Womanhood and Money Saving Mom, and Janel at Pearls. My desire to blog though was influenced most by Erica at her family blog and Rachel at her family blog.
Which blogger do you think is the most similar to you? I have no flippin' idea!
Name a song you want to listen to. My Sharona... ever since Michelle posted about her new mini-van this morning I can't get it out of my head! Ugh! Thanks Michelle! I probably need to hear it to get over the rattling around in my brain.
Since I lifted this meme directly from OrgJunkie, I am going to extend the same two invitations she did:
My Favorite Blogs & Websites
For anyone who might be interested, here is a list of my favorite blogs and websites. I'll try to update it on a semi-frequent basis, and I might even try to keep it in alphabetical order! Labels: blog
Exotic Eating Experiment
Girl Talk
Gone With The Winds
Interceding for Our Children
Interesting Blog Posts
It's the Little Things
John's Spaces
Like Merchant Ships
Money Saving Mom
Multi-Tasking Moms
My Husband's Website
Blogging Around the World
Recently, I checked the Google Analytics report that tells me where people who view my blog come from. I was really surprised to see so many countries highlighted. It might be hard to see on the map below, but in the last month, I've had visitors from the US, Canada, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, Australia, Latvia, India, Spain, Serbia & Montenegro (hi Ionel) , the Cayman Islands (hi John), Croatia, Romania, Switzerland, Iceland, Kenya, Sweden, South Africa, Indonesia, the Philippines, Ireland, the United Arab Emirates, Iran (!!!!) and 22 other countries. Labels: blog
I think that is pretty cool. If you are visiting and live somewhere other than the US, please leave a comment and introduce yourself!
Word Cloud
I have a label cloud on the right side of my blog that lets you see what topics I discuss the most. But that is based on labels I assign to my own posts. Then, while playing around in blogland, I found this nifty word cloud, from Snapshirts.com, that scans every post to see which words come up most often. It is more objective than I am. From the looks of this, it appears I talk about my baby daughter Charlotte a lot! And for some reason my name comes up frequently. (I think that's because it is listed as the author of EVERY post.) The word mom comes up a lot... I wonder if I mostly refer to myself or to my own mother?
Thursday Thirteen - 2nd Edition
My blog hasn't even been around a year, but people do go looking for it on occasion. I'm not sure why anyone would want to read my little blog, but they go searching for me (or completely unrelated topics) and these are 13 of the best phrases they use to find me. Go read more Thursday Thirteen fun here! Labels: blog, lactivist, thursday 13, weight
Links I've Been Meaning to Share
Labels: blog
Contest Winner
As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, I won a prize giveaway in the Bloggy Giveaway carnival hosted by Shannon at Rocks in My Dryer. Today, I received my gift. It is a business card for moms. I can't remember who I won it from though. Maybe she reads my blog and will remind me?
Either way, I am so excited and can't wait to get some printed up, hopefully in full color. As an added bonus, it matches my new Vera Bradley hipster bag! The quality of the card doesn't look so great here and I deleted some info to protect myself from stalkers. But maybe if I meet you in person one day, you can receive the real thing!
My Other Blog
In case you forgot, I have another blog. Last night, I made a special post there about Charlotte and thought that my faithful readers (all 5 of you!) might like to see what she has been up to. Head on over to EatingItUp to check her out.
