June 2009

Top Ten {Tuesday}

by oh amanda on June 30, 2009

in me

top-ten-tuesday

Now that the fam isn’t visiting, VBS is over and I have a week of no responsibilities, I’ve been online a little more. And looking at stuff I want to look at just for fun. So, here’s a few gems I’ve found this week. These are the:

Top Ten Internet-ish Things I’m Excited About

1. MckLinky. OMG. A Mr. Linky alternative. I tweeted about how I wished someone would do this weeks ago. The internet-gods are listening! I’m using it today…let’s see how it works, ok? (Thanks Lisa!)

2. I caved. I finally started subscribing to SimpleMom. Well. It’s because I need some simplicity in my life. I have finally realized that housekeeping is not anywhere on my top ten gifts or talents. And I need some help. She has some clean-looking downloads. And I really agree with a lot of what she says. So, yeah, I’m a simplemom-ite.

3. Impress Your Kids. We’re re-launching IYK with it’s own domain next week! I’m so excited. I took an unintentional bloggy hiatus from it. And I’ve missed it! I’ve got some new ideas for it and I can’t wait to share them with you.

4. GoogleReader. I told you in my bloggy manifesto that I cleaned out my feedreader. Well, what I didn’t tell you is that I acutally had TWO feedreaders…a bloglines and a googlereader. Both filled to the brim. Now I’ve just been using GoogleReader. And I like it. If I finally figure it all out, I might do a tutorial on it because I looked everywhere online for one and couldn’t find one that really explained anything.

5. Survivor: The Blogosphere. My friend Sarah is having a blogging conference retreat in North Carolina. I just asked my sisterchicks if they’d like to go. It sounds so fun—blogging info (including great speakers like Maria Bailey), the mountains of NC and some spa action! Plus we’ve been talking about a sisterchick blog for awhile…whad’ya think?

picture-7

6. Misty’s SENSEsational Swap! I haven’t done a swap in forever and when I saw Misty’s I had to join! It’s based on the five senses and it’s a family swap–meaning Lydia and I will make/find/buy stuff for another family. I think the swap is closed now, but you’ll want to head over to Misty‘s anyway–because she’s just lovely.

7. Pushing Daisies final three episodes are online! Well, only the final-final episode is on hulu or fancast. But you can buy them on itunes. We’ve already watched one of them. I tried not to cry too hard during it. It was delicious as usual. I think I’ll do a three episode recap after I’ve watched them all.

via applebed's flickr

8. MomTV I haven’t vlogged in forever. And now MomTV is up and I haven’t even done ONE thing with it. I’d love to do a live show. How fun would that be? Have you watched one yet? You can watch the speaker live, then chat while they are talking AND you can be live on your webcam, too. Cool, huh? I want to do one. Now, if only I could think of something worthwhile to talk about…

9. OK, fine. Impress Your Kids’ new domain. You can have a sneak peek…and subscribe to the feed.

10. Your Top Ten list for today. (see below!)

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OK, let’s see it! What’s YOUR Top Ten today? Post a list on your blog, link it up here on the MCKlinky and start commenting & visiting away!

{ 8 comments }

Growing Up

by oh amanda on June 29, 2009

in motherhood

Yesterday we had lunch at a Chinese restaurant. While Lydia was eating her fried rice and sipping egg drop soup, she suddenly looked grown up to me. I don’t know if it was because her hair was cute or because she doesn’t need any help eating or because she literally got taller the night before. But she was just more grown up!

Les has been telling her that every time she grows up he is going to give her a spanking. She thinks it is hilarious. And she loves to announce to us, “I think I grew last night!”

Later that day she said was washing her hands and apparently felt taller because she said, “I think I grew up!” She stepped out of the bathroom and said, “Now I can be a Mommy!” And I wish you could have seen her face—she was so serious. As if nothing could be more exciting. As if that was her main goal in life. I said, “Lydia, you will be a great Mommy.” And she must have seen the wistfulness in my eyes because she looked at me seriously and said, “Mommy, will you be sad when I grow up?” I grabbed her in my arms and said, “Oh, Lydia! I will be happy and sad. There is nothing more exciting to me than seeing you grow up. But I’ll be sad because I can’t kiss your neck anymore.” And here I kissed her neck till she screamed with laughter.

Then she said, “But you can still kiss my neck! And I can live here. My daughters can live in my room. And, uhm…I can live downstairs.” She went on to discuss how it would be when she grew up and lived in my house. If only!

When I realized that my love for Lydia grew with her, I was no longer sad that she was growing up. In fact, I look forward to Lydia and Asa growing up because I know I will know and love them more than I do now. But every now and then I get a little glance of life without a sweet little girl reaching up to give me a kiss or pretend it’s my birthday by giving me her toys wrapped up in blankets. I’ll miss hearing, “Moooooommmmmmyyyy!” first think in the morning. And I’ll miss, “But why? WHY? Why, Mommy?”

But. I will get to sleep late. So, there is that.

{ 6 comments }

A Review & A Giveaway: The Vanishing Sculptor by Donita K Paul

by oh amanda on June 26, 2009

in me,review

A review? A giveaway? What happened to your bloggy manifesto, Amanda? Well, I already had about 4 or 5 things to review sitting on my virtual desk when I wrote my manifesto. But regardless I would have accepted this book because I LOVE IT.

A few years ago I picked up Donita K Paul‘s first book, DragonSpell. It is a young adult Christian fantasy novel. Didn’t know those existed, did you? I read it because I wanted to find some books the older kids in our children’s ministry in Birmingham would like. Little did I know I’d be glued to every single page! It’s kind of a Lord of the Rings quest meets Harry Potter’s funny names meets Narnia’s Christian allegories.

The setting is an other world full of singing, healing, telepathic dragons. There are seven races of people–including dog-like, dwarf-like and elf-like. It would take me too long to explain but with names like emerlindians and trumanhofers you know it’s going to be fun!

So, when Donita K Paul’s new book, The Vanishing Sculptor came across my inbox, I was psyched stoked excited. This one is a stand-alone novel set several hundred years before the DragonSpell books. The official recap says,

Return to the world of the dragon keepers, where the fate of three missing statues will determine the fate of the world. Tipper, a young emerlindian woman, has been responsible for the upkeep of her family’s estate since her sculptor father disappeared several years ago. To make ends meet, she’s been forced to sell off the artwork he left behind. When at last her father returns, accompanied by two strangers from a distant land, Tipper discovers that her actions have unbalanced the foundation of her world, as well as her father’s life, and she must act quickly to undo the threat. But how can she save her father and the world on her own? The task is too huge for one person, so she gathers the help of some unlikely companions—including her guardian, the giant parrot Beccaroon, the wizard Fenworth, and his librarian Librettowit—and sets out on a quest, eventually witnessing the loving care and miraculous resources of Wulder.

I’m about 115 pages in. I’ve been reading it every day after VBS and keep wishing Asa wouldn’t crawl on my back so I could finish it! So, wanna read it? It’s so popular it’s not on PaperBackSwap.com. You might be able to hit up your local library, bookstore or amazon OR YOU COULD WIN IT HERE! For some reason I didn’t get a book to giveaway. BUT I contacted Waterbrook and hopefully they’ll send me a second copy. If not, you can still win my very gently read copy. Just leave me a comment here and I’ll pick a winner by Monday! (Don’t worry, I’ll have it finished by Monday!) Waterbook is sending Mary Carolyn her very own book! Congrats Mary-Carolyn! (Which means I’m keepin’ mine!)

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Someone Save Me From Elementary School

June 25, 2009 me

It’s day 4 of Vacation Bible School. The preschool kids are doing Crocodile Dock (you’ve probably seen the signs near you, it’s a popular one!) and the elementary aged kids are doing a Performing Arts Camp. At the Performing Arts Camp, they take classes like Prop Building, Guitar, Choir, Solo, Drama, etc. (There are some [...]

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Retro Photo: Speculation

June 24, 2009 wordless wednesday

My great-great-grandmother wrote on the back of this picture. According to her they are in West Branch, Michigan. And the people are: Agda, Henry, Dara, Ed, Dad (my great-great-grandfather), Arvid, Uno (?), Melvin (?), Henry Jr. The questions marks are hers. This is an interesting one to me. First of all, Agda. She’s the one [...]

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Top Ten Creative Wedding Ideas & Traditions

June 22, 2009 me

I used to work at a bridal shoe salon. That’s right I said SHOE salon. We had 100′s of styles of wedding shoes. Isn’t that fun? We also sold accessories like flower girl baskets, gloves and earrings. I guess I got bit by the wedding bug there because I ADORE wedding stuff. I could look [...]

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It’s Monday

June 22, 2009 me

We had a beautiful Father’s Day. Well, besides the vomiting. We ate lunch at The Horseradish Grill in Buckhead. Which is divine. I had shrimp and grits. I think I licked the plate in about 3 minutes. Delicious. Then we went to the pool (where Lydia ALMOST let us let go of her) and Asa [...]

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