Blog Crush

I have a blog crush: The Mrs. at Trying Our Best.

I love the way she writes. She's witty and her posts crack me up! Her boys say the darndest things and do the funniest things and she tackles it all with a sense of humor that I hope I have as Lil' Mootz gets older. (Her number of body fluid stories alone is enough to give me the shakes right now.) She's the wife of a Marine and quite frankly, Marines and their families scare me. However, she has yet to write "YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH!" on her blog or in a comment to one of my posts, so she's earned my respect rather than making me feel as if she'll beat the s**t out of me if I don't give it to her. (Yes, that is the general impression I get from Marines and their families.)

I googled "Blog crush" to see what the rest of the blogosphere had to say about this and there's quite a lot. Having a blog crush seems like a pretty common thing, so I'm glad to join the ranks of crushers.

Sizzle over at Sizzle Says was good enough to spell out what a blog crush actually is:

A) You can’t wait to read what they post next.
B) You want to be friends with them.
C) You think they are the cat’s meow. Meow!
D) You might find them attractive- physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, whatever floats your boat.
E) If you met them in person, blushing might occur.

If you have to really think hard about who your blog crush is, you probably don’t have one.

(Sizzle also named December 15, "Reveal Your Blog Crush" Day, but I missed last year's boat and I don't feel like waiting for this year's December.)

And just a side note: I do generally adore and admire most all of the blog authors who's blogs I read.

(City Name) T-Shirts

You know those t-shirts you can get just about anywhere and they have the name of the city you are in and a picture relating to that city? Like "Philadelphia" with the Liberty Bell or "Orlando" with Mickey Mouse? Yeah, those...we all have at least one even if we don't wear it in public.

Well, I was in my local Rite-Aid picking up a prescription for Lil' Mootz, (ear infection - ugh! Will this child never be well again?! Damn you, Daycare!) when I saw a t-shirt with the town name and a picture of a clown fish (aka Nemo from Finding Nemo).

Let me clarify...this town is no where near an ocean. In fact, it is in a valley. They don't even have an aquarium where you can view clown fish. Actually, there isn't even a pet shop in this town in which to possibly buy clown fish. The closest body of water is a river. There are bodies in the river, but no clown fish.

Are You Ready For This? 'Cause I'm Not...

Lil' Mootz is teething! His first little tooth peeped through over night. It's his bottom left front tooth and the right one isn't far behind.

I didn't get my first tooth until I was nine months old, but Stonewall got his when he was four months old, so I blame this entirely on him.

Lil' Mootz wouldn't let me get a picture of his new tooth, but we got one of his mohawk!



Happy four months old, my little rockstar!

Things That Make You Go Hmmm: Men In Their Underwear

We had some excitement in our neck of the woods on Friday. Actually, it was my parents' neck of the woods... Police got a call about a suspicious person wandering the area and when police stopped to talk to the man, the man fired three shots at the policeman. Needless to say, that didn't go over to well and a three hour manhunt ensued. At one point, the man tried to break into a house to escape, only to discover the house belonged to a retired state trooper who started chasing him also. (It apparently was not his day.)

I say "my parents' neck of the woods" because at one point their driveway was the command post as over two dozen officers and a state police helicopter were looking for the man. After about three hours the man was finally caught and arrested... wearing just his underwear.

Apparently, the man took off his clothes to avoid being detected by police during the chase.

Maybe I'm missing something here because I am all whacked out on cold medicine right now, but - dude, you thought you would be more inconspicuous in nothing but your underwear?

Tying Up A Few Loose Ends...

Thank you everyone for your well wishes on my last post. I'm still not feeling so hot, but the Doc said it was just a virus and so he couldn't give me anything for it. I'm taking some over the counter stuff, but pretty much the best medicine is time. I'm just hoping that Lil' Mootz doesn't get it because with how awful and achy I'm feeling, I can't even imagine how his poor little body will handle it.

Also, I wanted to thank everyone for your comments on this post and this one. Everything everyone said really meant a lot to me and I really appreciate your thoughts.

Some Of You Are Not Going To Be Happy...

I'm sick...and I'm going to the Doctor's office...in my PJ bottoms.

The pain in my throat is preventing me from putting on real pants. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

Everybody Knows That Smokin' Aint't Allowed In School

Lil' Mootz and I made a trip to Babies R Us this afternoon to buy one of those jumping gym seat things for him along with a few other odds and ends. We had finished up and were walking to the car when I saw this woman getting a cart from the cart return. As she turned back to go to her car with her cart she put a cigarette in her mouth and lit it up.

I was just like, "Are you serious? In the parking lot of a store for babies and young children?"

She then proceded to get her baby out of her car and head towards the store entrance. Right before she went in she tossed her half-smoked cigarette, still lit, onto the sidewalk.

Way to set that fine example for your child, Mommy.

News From Iraq

Stonewall and I have been able to talk on Skype quite frequently lately. We don't always get to talk for very long, but it's always good to hear his voice and see his (digitalized) face. Plus, I love that he gets to see Lil' Mootz in real-time rather than just pictures. I think we're getting to a point where Lil' Mootz recognizes Stonewall's voice even if he doesn't know yet that Stonewall is his Daddy. Lil' Mootz smiles and baby talks to Stonewall, so I'm really pleased by that and I know Stonewall is beyond thrilled that his voice is recognized. A few more months though and Lil' Mootz will know who is Daddy is.

I am very very proud of Stonewall because he had a Wall Street Journal quote of the day the other week. I wish I could post the quote and article, but I can't because the article gives more personal information than what Stonewall wants posted on this blog. Long story short though, Stonewall and several Soldiers in his unit worked with an Iraq Army (IA) logistics platoon on training on how to move their own convoys and do their own logistics. Stonewall and another American Soldier were both quoted as saying how successful the training went, how motivated the IA is and how it was a great way to build a relationship between the Armies. From what Stonewall tells me, both sides of that relationship were incredibly pleased with how things went.

I just don't understand why stories like this aren't used more in the media. The public gripes and gripes and gripes that American Soldiers in Iraq is nothing but bad, yet when there's a story that proves we are doing some amazingly good things over there, the media ignores it. Yet, they'll give front page coverage to the Obama's choice of first dog.

PETA Protests The Chicken Dance

PETA is protesting the Chicken Dance. Yes, that's right - the Chicken Dance. NASCAR fans at the Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday are being asked to help set a record for the Guinness Book of World Records for the largest Group Chicken Dance. The record setting event is being sponsored by Kentucky Fried Chicken. PETA is protesting the event because they say KFC is cruel to their chickens.

I'm so NOT for the cruelty of animals, but it's the CHICKEN DANCE. There are no actual chickens involved, PETA! (Well, aside from the guy dressed up in a giant chicken costume, but I'm pretty sure the only thing being harmed here is the man's ego.)

Since you're apparently confused PETA (and the red paint fumes will do that to you), the Chicken Dance is not a dance being done by real chickens. See, the chicken dance is just humans flapping their hands and arms, in what most call, a chicken-like fashion. Now before you start claiming emotional distress to chickens, it's important to remember that the Chicken Dance is all in good fun. It's really more of a tribute to chickens that there is a dance named after them. Kind of like a comedy Roast.

I mean, look at the Foxtrot. I don't claim to be a dance expert, but I have never seen a fox trot in that manner. To call that dance a Foxtrot is just plain confusing and weird. Harmful to the foxes? No, but I think the Chicken Dance is more complimentary to the chickens than the Foxtrot is to the fox.

So, for those of you that donate money to PETA, this is what your hard earned money is being used for - to protest the Chicken Dance. To protest a dance in which PEOPLE dance around like chickens.

And in other news...
Tostitos is holding a Salsa dance competition, but they are confused as to why competitors are actually people. Officials in Philadelphia are investigating a city-wide power outage they claim occured after the high school prom played the Electric Slide. And it is now being recommended that if you perform The Running Man between the hours of sunset to sunrise you wear reflective clothing.

Lt. Dan...Ice Cream!

Every morning I put the pups downstairs in their kennel. I give them a Pupperoni and a cookie (a dog biscuit, but cookie sounds much tastier), mainly as a bribe to go into their kennel, but also because I like to spoil them with treats. Pippy, my Pomeranian, takes both with much enthusiasm because she is actually a little piggy with fur. Sarge, the Chihuahua, on the other hand is a bit more snobbish. He practically swallows the Pupperoni whole, but when it comes to the cookie, he won't even come to take it out of my hand. I have to toss it at his feet and then he will sniff it, look at me as if to say, "Are you serious?" before he turns his nose up in disdain. What dog doesn't like their doggie cookies?!

I feel like Forrest Gump as Lt. Dan dumps the ice cream cone into the bedpan.

An Apology For My Part In This

I just want to apologize to everyone for my part in the army spouse drama that sprouted up on another's blog because I know we have many of the same readers. I never meant to create so much turmoil when I left a comment on this other blog. I just had an opinion and I posted it. I'm sorry that I didn't let it drop after my first comment and continued to add fuel to the fire. Believe me, I've learned my lesson from this experience (which was a first for me in the blog world) and hopefully, in the future, I will recognize similar situations and avoid them.

I really appreciate my husband's comment that he posted on this other blog. He, in fact, did not wholly support my argument, and after reading his comment, I do see where I was wrong on some things that I said. I am glad to know this information because when I do debate (respectfully), I like to be able to make well-informed arguments.

Furthermore, I want to apologize to Stonewall and the other blogger's husband. I read both of your comments in their entirety and you're both right. I'm sorry if I in any way discredited my husband or insulted her husband. That was never my intention. You both serve and sacrifice for your country in a way that deserves nothing but my utmost respect and support and the respect and support of all others.

Once again, I'm sorry. I hope none of our readers hold any ill-will against either of us and continue to read and comment on both our blogs.

A Blog First - Blocking A Reader

For the first time (and hopefully the last) I've had to block a reader from my blog! I never thought that day would come. However, when she emailed me saying she couldn't respect my opinions because, in a nut shell, she didn't agree with them because they were different from hers and then proceeded to tell me that the Army base Stonewall works out of when he's at home doesn't actually exist and he couldn't possibly serve as a "Weekend Warrior" (I hate that term, but it's the best way to help describe his situation) in one ANG unit and also serve with ADSW orders in another ANG unit and so I must have no idea how the Army works...well, I figured it was time to cut my loses.

I was going to post about what her and I were going back and forth on for the past few days, but after talking to Stonewall he made me realize with an analogy of the ammo for a M16, 9mm, and a shitter, I should just move on because basically she's trying to convince everyone the world is flat. Some might fall in line behind her, but most realize she is incorrect and uninformed. And he's right. I know he is and that's why, I'm letting it go. "Pick your battles, babe," he tells me.

(But for the record, Stonewall does agree with my POV and he did tell me where I had my facts wrong because if I'm going debate with someone about the Military, you better believe he tells me to keep my facts straight and when I don't he's been known to lecture me for no less than 15 minutes with the correct information(that's what you get with a History & Education Major and Officer all rolled into one). Also, for the record, I did send a final email to the other blogger apologizing for certain inappropriate comments I made. I don't like to be mean and/or rude...just right. I also apologized to Stonewall for making those inappropriate comments to her because I know by making those comments, I was letting him down as well.)

My soldier sure is one smart cookie and certainly knows how to help me when I'm flummoxed by a situation and unsure on how to proceed. Thanks, my hubby!

Cash For Comments Update - Sorry, My Bad!

Hmmm....okay, I think maybe, based on Mrs. G.I. Joe's comment to my last poast, that I was unclear on where to put comments. I meant for the comments to be left on the original Cash for Comments post and on one other "reminder" Cash for Comments post. On those 2 posts only 14 comments were left.

However, I'm thinking that maybe everyone thought I meant to just leave a comment on my blog in general and that would count towards the donation pot. And so, I'm actually super proud of all my readers because since I posted the original Cash for Comments, I have had more comments than ever! In fact, you have all left an awesome 196 comments since the original post, so we did in fact, meet the $150 limit! Thank you so much all my lovely readers for helping me meet our maximum donation!

I'm so proud of you all and I'm sorry for my earlier rant.

(Thank you, Mrs. G.I. Joe for pointing that out.)

Cash For Comments Winner!

And the winner of Cash for Comments is: *drumroll*



Patrice over at Not A Girl, Not Yet A Woman! Patrice asked that a donation be made to CARD-V - Center Against Rape and Domestic Violence. CARD-V provides services and support to those affected by sexual and domestic violence. CARD-V also provides education and leadership within the community to change the societal conditions that cultivate these forms of violence. Stonewall and I are very happy to make a donation to CARD-V in Patrice's honor.

Now...I must say I am pretty disappointed in some of you, dear readers. I did NOT ask you to donate money. I did NOT ask you to give more than the normal time you give to blog reading/commenting. All I asked was for you to leave a comment and for each comment you left I would add $1 to my donation pot. Only 10, (10 out of 50-60 readers per day!!) left comments. Of those 10 commenters, some of them left more than 1 comment/charity and so we had a total of $14 in the pot. Not very impressive, I'm afraid.

Well, this is my blog and my donation, so I'm breaking the rules. I said Stonewall and I would donate up to $150 (this was said in the hopes that there would be more than 150 commenters/charities, but apparently, I was being a bit too optimistic) and since Cash for Comments came from the spirit of wanting to donate more throughout the year, Stonewall and I donated the full $150 to CARD-V.

Hopefully, when I do this again (because I will), I'll have more participants! For those of you that did participate, I want to thank you all so much! You brought to my attention charities that I did not even know existed and I hope to be able to donate to all of them throughout the year. Thank you again!

*Update: I'm sorry! The rant in this post was completely unnecessary on my part...Read why here.

Things That Make You Go Hmmm: Mirena

Aside from abstinence for the next few months, I decided I wanted to give Mirena a try for the next few years for birth control. I was curious as to how Mirena worked because the commercial doesn't really explain it so much. I went to the women's doctor yesterday morning to have it inserted and while I was there they gave me a pamphlet about Mirena. It was the pamphlet that the company who makes Mirena writes up to give to all Mirena users. They also post the pamphlet on their website.

So, of course, I turn to the question: How does Mirena work? And the answer:

"It is not known exactly how Mirena works. [Blah, blah, blah] Most likely, these actions work together to prevent pregnancy."

Thank you, maker and distributor of Mirena, for that clarification.

Cash For Comments

I didn't forget about my donation! I was in the middle of writing the names out last night when Stonewall signed onto Skype!!!! He, of course, took precedent over the drawing. We spoke for over an hour (!!!!), so it was after midnight by the time we said good night and I wasn't in the mood to finish the drawing at that point. I'll draw a name and charity tonight, though! So if you haven't added a charity to the list, or you have, but you want to add another one, go comment. You have until tonight now to get your favorite non-profit in the running.

3 Month/Spring/Easter Photos

We had some 3 month/Spring/Easter pictures taken of Lil' Mootz the other weekend at Portrait Innovations. He was so good for the photographer and we got some great pictures! The first picture is the one I used on our Easter cards.

Lil' Mootz's Camo Day

It was Camo Day at daycare yesterday. The only camo pants I had were for 9 months, so they're a teeny bit too big for my Lil' Mootz. His little feet only go to the knees in the pants, so I had to do some major rolling up of the pant legs. But he still looks so cute in his little camo hat and, what I call, his XO shirt. They had a parade and he got to ride in a baby buggy with the other babies and you can see he got a little bit of sun on his nose and cheekies. (I gave them 50 SPF baby sunscreen to use, but I'm no so sure they did. Not cool.)

Writer's Workshop: My Smile

I found this Writer's Workshop from Mama's Losin' It and I do believe I am going to join in. I'm about a week behind, but that's okay.

The Prompts:

1.) Describe a moment when you realized you and your spouse were SO different.

2.) What is your role in the household?

3.) Write about how you felt when you discovered you were lied to.
(creativewritingprompts.com)

4.) Describe a hard time you gave a teacher...what would you say to them today?

5.) What is an unpleasant experience you had eating? Write a poem, paragraph, or something else about the experience.
(writingfix.com)

My choice: #5

When I was born I had enlarged adenoids and I could not breathe through my nose, so I had to breathe through my mouth. When you're a baby, your tongue presses against the roof of your mouth which widens your mouth as you grow. Since I had to breathe through my mouth, my tongue did not do this and my mouth never widened. I did have my adenoids removed when I was about three years old, but it was already too late and as I got older is became really apparent I had an open bite.

Many people confuse an open bite with an over bite, so here is the difference:

Over bite:


Open bite:


Eating with an open bite is...well, it sucks. When you bite into a sandwich, all the insides get pulled out because you can't bite the whole way through the sandwich. You can't bite apart things like noodles and crackers because your front teeth don't come together enough. You have use your back teeth to take a bite of things like cookies and spaghetti. Also, and I think this was the worst, my lips don't naturally close because of the open bite. Have you even noticed how a baby's mouth doesn't really close? Their tops lips are like an upside down "U" and their little mouths are always formed into little "Os"? Well, that's what my lips are like. The top and bottom lip don't come together. Growing up with the open bite made it really hard to chew with my mouth shut. My mom was always telling me, "Chew with your mouth shut." And it was hard because I really had to concentrate because it didn't stay closed naturally.

The thing is, growing up I didn't really know anything different, so even though these things were annoying, I didn't how annoying they really were.

When I was 16, I was given the opportunity to have corrective surgery. Basically, they cut a rectangle of my jaw bone out right above my front teeth and then they pushed my front teeth up and back. I look like a black and blue swollen chipmunk for weeks. Luckily, I didn't have to have my jaw wired shut. However, I couldn't eat anything, but mush for weeks. My mom blended everything into a milkshake for me. My doctor tried to tell me that I should just blend up a cheeseburger and slurp away. Um, no. I stuck mainly to soups. Anyway, this was a pretty sucky eating situation as well.

I remember, that summer my mom was really into going to auctions and I went with her one day. I was still pretty swollen, but I had locked myself up in the house for weeks and I needed a bit of the world again. They had chicken noodle soup for sale and I got a Styrofoam bowl of it. The noodles were the thick flat noodles that are always overcooked at restaurants and places that make soup in bulk. I put a noodle on the plastic spoon and for the first time in my life, I bit half of the noodle off with my front teeth.

I started crying because I could bite through a noodle using my front teeth. It sounds so silly, but when for 16 years I had not been able to use my front teeth as nature intended, it was amazing to me to finally be able to.


Cheeee-ah-eeeese!

My Mom As Martha Stewart

I could have a separate blog just for my mom. She really is great blog inspiration. And she knows I only post about this stuff because I love her :)

Yesterday was Easter and we wanted to decorate Easter eggs, as you saw on my previous post. Granted, we are way past the Easter egg hunting phase (and Lil' Mootz is still to little), but decorating eggs is fun. My mom saw this idea, Silk-Dyed Easter Eggs, on Martha Stewart and decided we should give it a try.

When she told us that if we wrapped our eggs in silk ties and then boiled them it would transfer the design onto the egg, we were all game. So my mom found a bunch of old ties and we cut them up, wrapped them around our eggs and popped them into some boiling water. Obviously, the next question, "How long should we boil them for?"

My mom had forgotten to pay attention to that part of the show, so she got online to look it up. After a few minutes we hear,"Oh. Oops. We were supposed to wrap them in cotton before we put them in the water." Yeah, oops. I guess that would explain why the water turned purple from the tie dye.

Another minute or so..."Oh. Oops. We were supposed to add vinegar to the water."

Pause.

Me: "Are we even sure we're supposed to use eggs for this?"


The silk-dyed eggs are top row, first egg on the left and bottom row second and fourth egg from the left. Even though we deviated a bit from Martha's directions they still turned out pretty cool - eat your heart out, Martha. Well, two out of four silk-dyed eggs worked anyway. Turns out not all the ties were silk.

Happy Easter!

Lil' Mootz had his first experience painting Easter eggs this evening!









Lil' Mootz's egg is in the top row, second egg from the right. Such talent!

I WANT TO SPEND MONEY!!

It's almost April 15, tax day and the deadline to get your favorite charity in the running for my 2009 tax refund donation: Cash For Comments.

It's really really simple. Leave me a comment and tell me about your favorite charity/non-profit organization. On April 15, I will put all the organizations that you've told me about into a hat and then I will donate up to $150 to which ever name I pull out of a hat. The more comments I receive the more money I donate!! For every comment that you leave, I add $1 to the pot.

So hurry hurry! Help me spend our hard-earned money!

Pugapalooza Voting Has Begun!

If you haven't already head on over to Mrs. Jetplane's and vote for Miss LilyAnn in Pugapalooza!