Change of address

Growing up I moved a lot. I am familiar with trepidation, angst, fear, and whatever else the roller coaster of moving can bring.

But, I survived and I have a feeling my moving days are not over. In fact we moved this weekend.

Except, the move wasn't filled with cardboard boxes and bubble wrap. It involved over three years worth of entries, images, and pieces of code. And as most moves go, it also involved some hand holding from a dear friend who helped me accomplish that goal.

I am giving you Crumley Blog, our new family blog. We still have to update the wallpaper, add on to the pages, and switch out three years worth of permalinks, but I think it is safe to start having visitors.

So, stop by sometime soon. Update your feed readers, your bookmarks, and whatever else you need to remember where we are now.

Our top Flickr Picture

(alternate title: This might be only interesting to me.)

I am a big flickr fan. I love it mainly as an easy way to organize and share our pictures. There is a flickr community that I really haven't spent a ton of time getting to know, but every once in a while I'll add pictures to groups or pool in an effort to share.

Yesterday the flickr blog announced the release of flickr stats. Since we have a pro account I went ahead and activated our stats.

Today my friends and I were talking about our stats and someone said she had no exciting stats to report. I replied I was happy I had no exciting stats. I was worried I would find out that someone had linked to pictures of our son in an unfavorable manner or someone else was using our photos and profiting from them somehow.

Fortunately nothing of that nature surfaced, so I was happy.

Then we started looking at the other stats, like how many views certain pictures got. And so, ladies and gentlemen, I offer to you the most viewed picture from The Crumley Family's flickr photostream (as of today):

Number One:

I find it funny that it is a diagram, not a photo, but it is a project that got picked up by various internet outlets like Make and a Squidoo Lens.

And just because I wanted you to see it again, here is

Number Two:

Glad a picture of our kid is near the top. I loved this project and might do another one someday.

Not broken

Working on something, if it looks wonky then come back later.

Epazz

When I was a working stiff, our company had the benefit of staying connected via the intranet. It was an in-house creation that needed a lot of help to be truly beneficial to employees. They were working on it, but had a ways to go.

They could have used Epazz, a intranet software that allows integration with backend systems, powerful collaboration, and improved communication. Right now they have a free 30 day trial available, when you contact them directly.

Dog tags from Quick Trophies

A while back I was given the option to review a company and receive a dog tag in return. I was interested because I like the option of dog tags for identification. We already had one dog tag we got Fuller when he was little, but I knew another one wouldn't be a bad idea.

The website, Quicktropy.com, was very easy to use. They focus on all kinds of activities, from football to ballet. They even have items for cricket. I think the programming of the site could use some work. I am used to clicking on the picture and going straight to the category instead of having to pick from a drop down list- especially if the drop down list only has one item.

I picked the football themed dog tag, which makes sense as we are football fans and grooming a tiny football player. I liked that I could put whatever I wanted on the tag (3 lines max).

However, I think it would only be worth it to buy dog tags from Quick Trophies in bulk. The reason is this one dog tag would have cost me almost $9, with shipping. The dog tag we already had was engraved in Wal-Mart, for about $2. I also think the Wal-Mart dog tag looks better, with bigger letters and a much more noticeable engraving. The Quick Trophies dog tag looks printed at first glance, but after running my fingernail over the letters I could tell it was engraved. It just looks a bit wimpy next to the other dog tag.

Overall, I would suggest using Quick Trophies if you were ordering in bulk. And they have plenty of activities to choose from, so you are not just stuck with sports only. They have academic too.

Protecting the future

Linux System... Baracuda Networks... Open Invention Network... this all used to sound like greek to me. But in the years I have been online, then working at the help desk and now I'm into blogging, well I have a better understanding of what they are.

Linux (usually symbolized by a cute Penguin) is free and open source. This operating system is often equated (by me) with people who are interested in DIY computing. Building things to make their technologically better and then giving it to the rest of the tech community to either use or build on.

Open Invention Network (OIN) is a network designed to help protect Linux. OIN collects patents and helps keep the "Linux ecosystem" thriving and growing.

Baracuda Networks (they do email, web security like a Spam Filter and firewall technology) has become a licensee of OIN. This furthers the campaign for protection of intellectual property in the open source community.

How does this affect me, the parent blogger who like to type words on the page? Well, the folks who use their minds and programming skills to better the technological community are able to help better my online world. They can create and build programs and communities that will help me teach my son in the ways of the technological future. And with Baracuda Networks using their web securities to help protect the growth coming from open source users, that technological future will be there.

I am NOT junk

Ok people... if you know me and expect to get email from me, please, please, please add my email address to your address books or check your spam filters. I know spam filters, virus and popup blockers are getting better and better these days, but email from ME is not spam.

I have had several people recently tell me they didn't get my emails and I can only guess that email from alicia AT crumley DOT org is going to spam. Please, please, please check or add me to your address books.

Thanks.

Ford Blue Oval Scholars logo contest

Growing up, my family supported the Ford Motor Company by buying Ford cars. My dad is a Ford man (he remembers his family's first new car- a 1956 Robin's Egg Blue Ford, a 312 with a 2-barrel carburetor) and drives a Ford Ranger. My father-in-law drives a Ford Expedition.

Which is why I perked up at the announcement that Ford is running a contest. The Ford Motor Company sponsors a scholarship program called the Ford Blue Oval Scholars. And a space is being carved out of the internet for the scholarship winners to network and share ideas, job offers, and help each other excel in their community programs.

The contest is a logo design contest, to replace the one to the left. Prizes for winning are a copy of Adobe Creative 3 Suite 3 Design Premium, $300 for design software of choice, and $50 music download card.

I know several designers and artistic types read this blog, so maybe you might want to try your hand at designing something? The rules and guidelines are on the website and the deadline for submission is November 1st. Let me know if you win!

ePerks

My mom is in Florida, but her house is in Ohio... waiting to sell.

I am really praying hard my parent's house sells quickly because I really don't like the idea of my mom in Ohio and my dad in Texas. I haven't bothered to ask her how the house is doing since she is busy doting on a new grandbaby and all. But I do wonder how it is going.

Maybe my parents should have signed up for a real estate agent via ePERKS.com. They could get cash back- up to 17% cash back if they use one of the realtors in the Dayton, Ohio area- when their house sells.

I just hope the house is sold quickly. Then my mom can start ruling the roost in Texas.

Skype outage

Ever since my sister moved to Georgia, we have been getting lots of use out of Skype. She decided to use it as her primary phone since she was having problems getting a land line. The added benefit of her seeing Fuller via webcam is fun too. (Damon and I joked that we could get her to babysit Fuller via Skype.)

Well, this afternoon I tried to connect to Skype and it just kept spinning and spinning. I asked some online friends if they had the same problem and my friend Julie pointed me to Tech Crunch's article. I just found Skype's heartbeat, so I plan on checking there for more information in the future.

Memory Walk Donation Page

I have been mucking around on the Alzheimer's Association Memory Walk page all morning. I finally got it to where I am ok with it... so you can go and donate now if you like.

I decided since I have just over a month and I will be traveling twice during that time, I would not try to form a team, just register individually. And I am going to keep my sights at raising $500. (Anything over that is just ducky!)

Thanks in advance for any donations. And now I really must go clean the kitchen, again.

Taken by Fuller

One of the indoor activities we have embarked on today is letting Fuller take pictures. It is mainly because today is the last day to submit pictures for the A Little Perspective contest and I wanted to see if I could get Fuller to take pictures of anything other than his fingers.

The camera he gets to use is Austina's old Nikon Coolpix 2500. The lens filps in for storage and can flip around to the back so you can see yourself in the LCD screen for great self-portraits. Or in Fuller's case, pictures of his fingers.

He has been having great fun pressing the buttons and maxing out the memory.

Here are a few I am considering:

There'll be some changes made

I've been a little frustrated with our family's little corner of the internet here... one problem is that since it is hosted and set up by Chattablogs, it is stuck in retro, running Movable Type version 2.6. Because it is a free license and all licenses of MT now cost something, Terrablogs won't be upgrading anytime soon.

We own crumley.org, but it just points to here. It is hosted through the kindness of my husband's business, but managing it can be a pain or inconvenience because I can't manage it myself. I have to get Damon to remember to ask Ed or something.

I recently looked into hosting options, thinking maybe we should just pay to have crumley.org hosted somewhere else. But when you have free versus any money, well free wins out, right? (Ok, not always, but in this category of our family budget, free has always won out.)

Well, that is where free web hosting comes in. But free doesn't mean I would just go with anyone. I have my primary email through crumley.org, so I want to make sure I will have POP3 email. I want one step install, so that I don't have to get too technical. And yet, have 24/7 support for when I do need help. I want web based FTP, because I don't know how to do anything else. And I want a pretty high up time. I don't want a host that goes down a lot.

That is why it is really neat that Easy CGI is currently offering 1 year free for web hosting. They guarantee 99.9% uptime, 24/7 tech support, web traffic reports (I get addicted to those), and one step install to a lot of applications (I don't know if Wordpress is one of those, but I think it should be).

We may be thanking Damon's office for their web hospitality soon, and moving to something I can actually work. And when that happens, well, you may see some changes around here.

Dinner plans

I have a new blog crush. Her name is Ree and she writes about her life and family at Confessions of a Pioneer Woman. They have a working cattle ranch and they keep wild mustangs for the government. Her daughters, ages 10 and 8, get to drive Ford f250s.

I think one of the reasons I like her blog is the photographs. She takes great pictures and I think they represent their lives very well.

Ree also has a cooking blog where she shares her recipes for feeding her family on the working ranch. Tonight we are going to have Marlboro Man's Sandwich.

Time to go chop the onions!

Your Amazon.com Order is Being Prepared for Shipping

I finished reading Harry Potter on Saturday night. Damon picked up the book on Sunday and is currently pages away from finishing. And when he gets done, I plan on sending him this link. (Warning, it inadvertently contains a spoiler.)

Dell Laptop for $499

I saw over on Lynn Terry's blog that today Dell is selling laptops for $499. That sounds pretty good to me, too bad I already have one. But I know some folks recently who said that they want one (Dad? Albert?). It is one day only, and that day would be today.

I guess with back to school only a few weeks away, the electronic companies are going to be putting everything from laptops to viewsonic monitors to Texas Instrument calculators on sale. The Best Buy and Circuit City circulars are going to be fun to look at for the next month or so.

D'oh!

We never got a family photo while we were at The Lake. So this one from the Simpsons avatar creator will have to do. Damon did this yesterday and it made me giggle. He even made one for Auburn Elvis.

There was a competition to determine which Springfield the movie premiere will be held. Springfield, TN was in the running, so we hope that they won. (I only learned about it last night on the local news, but the voting ended at 11:59 pm last night.)

Atlantis safe on earth

Julie posted this on her blog and I love watching it. Atlantis coming safely to earth gives me this feel good vibe that is on par with how emotional I get when there is a parade.

Vote Not Martha!

A few days ago, I asked for help for a friend. Well, she still needs help! Voting goes on until June 29th, so you can go back and vote for her everyday! Please help her out, she really, really wants to win.

Just go to Ben Spark's site, vote for Not Martha and that is all. Thanks!

Help a friend

My friend Retta is in the running to win an at home soda maker. To enter, she wrote an entry about why she should win. Now she is a finalist and she needs votes to win, so if you go to Ben Spark's site, you can vote for "Not Martha" to help her out! (No registration necessary, just vote for Not Martha!)

Pretty please? (She says if she wins and you are ever in Newport News, she will make you a soda.)

PPP Direct

Pay Per Post has put yet another twist in the blogging road.

The same model that PayPerPost launched last June is still in effect: bloggers log into the system and see a list of opportunities available for them to take and then write about in a certain time frame. But now PayPerPost has added another avenue that bloggers can take if they want to write sponsored content: PPP Direct.

Bloggers can add a badge or link to their site for advertisers to see (similar to the one on my sidebar). Then an advertiser visiting a blog can click the link and ask that specific blogger to write a sponsored post for their site/ company/ or product.

This might sound a little familiar if you are informed in the ways of the sponsored blogging world. The closest paid blogging models I can think of are Review Me and Sponsored Reviews, both companies that I have signed up for and earned money through.

With Review Me, I signed up and my blog became part of a list of blogs that advertisers could sift through. Advertisers would then be able to pick the blogs they wanted to review their products or sites, all from one location.

On Sponsored Reviews I still have to log into the system and then submit a bid for how much I would write a sponsored post for. Then the advertiser will accept or decline my bid.

PPP Direct requires that the advertisers somehow find you and click on the badge on your blog. Then the advertiser will fill out a form on PPP's site with the information (keywords, URL, etc) that will get emailed to me. I can accept, negotiate, or decline the request.

Three different ways to help me monetize my blog. Which leads me to the actual numbers part. With Review Me, I was told my blog was worth $60 (this is recalculated every month). They take a 50% cut, which means that I would get $30 per review. On Sponsored Reviews I tell an advertiser how they would be charged (up to $50) and SR takes 35% giving me the rest.

PPPDirect is different. I tell an advertiser I want $X to write a sponsored post and I will get $X when I complete the assignment. The advertiser then pays PPPDirect my fee plus an additional 10% (5% of that goes to PayPal fees). This is significantly less than the other models.

Why not just let advertisers approach me directly? Well, going through any of those companies has a certain amount of security attached to it. These are proven companies, who have dealt with thousands of bloggers. I would trust a request I get through them before I really trust an advertiser contacting me directly. As a bonus, PPPDirect pays immediately. The other models pay in two weeks or at the first of the month.

I have really enjoyed my time with sponsored posts and have learned a lot. The blogosphere is changing quickly and I am looking forward to the direction that PPP Direct will take me next.

And the winner is...

Sorry it took so long to get the video up. I had to leave the house and it wasn't done uploading.

Thanks to everyone who commented yesterday. The Alice in Wonderland shot won by a landslide, and I think it is through the power of suggestion that it is my favorite one too.

I hope to have more of these quick giveaways in the future.

Thursday's Theme: Spin and giveaway

Tracey at Picture This has started a new feature: Thursday's Theme. This week, the theme is spin. I took the word as the action and after digging through my shots from last week, I found quite a few.

These are my top two favorites. One is from our Sunday church picnic and the other was captured at the recent Alice in Wonderland exhibit at the Creative Discovery Museum.

Which is your favorite? Let me know and for every comment left here, you will be entered into a random drawing for a $10 iTunes certificate! Contest ends at 7 am tomorrow, Eastern Time Zone.

add the police to my life's playlist

This summer the Police are coming back together to tour the world starting on Sunday in Vancouver and ending in November in Tornoto. In between they will hit the USA, Paris, and Manchester.

To help promote the tour and bring up memories of first dates, proms, and breaking up, Universal Music Group is releasing a new 2-CD Police Set. The Police CD has 28 classic tracks and a vintage pull out poster for the fans.

This would be cool to have to add to my Police collection. Which consists of no police cds at all.

The band got together the year after I was born and took a never-ending sabbatical before I became a desirable demographic for the record companies. Yet they are so ingrained in the culture that I somehow know their songs. I find them enjoyable and think I should have some of their songs in my CD shelves.

Now in the days of MP3 players, you pick and choose your music to play in your earbuds. There isn't a great chance you are going to hear those favorite songs on the radio everyday. You decide your life's own soundtrack. If a certain song is playing while you have a special time with someone or finish that last term paper, or even while you just hang out at the mall, it is probably because you picked that song for your playlist.

Universal Music Group has teamed up with PayPerPost to give away a limited number of this Police CD. I think I would like to win one of those CDs so that I can add these songs to my life's playlist.

Here are the track listings:

Disc: 1
1. Fallout
2. Can't Stand Losing You
3. Next to You
4. Roxanne
5. Truth Hits Everybody
6. Hole in My Life
7. So Lonely
8. Message in a Bottle
9. Reggatta de Blanc
10. Bring on the Night
11. Walking on the Moon
12. Don't Stand So Close to Me
13. Driven to Tears
14. Canary in a Coalmine

Disc: 2
1. Do Do Do de da da Da
2. Voices Inside My Head
3. Invisible Sun
4. Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic
5. Spirits in the Material World
6. Demolition Man
7. Every Breath You Take
8. Synchronicity I
9. Wrapped Around Your Finger
10. Walking in Your Footsteps
11. Synchronicity II
12. King of Pain
13. Murder by Numbers
14. Tea in the Sahara

VA Joe

My mom has had some visits from good friends recently. They have been assisting her in getting ready for their upcoming move to Texas. As I mentioned before, my dad got miraculously promoted to Lt. Colonel and soon after he gets back from Afghanistan they will be putting their house on the market and moving to Texas. I will also have to stop calling him Major Dad. I guess I'll still with McDad.

Anyway, my mom's friends have been helping her keep to her tasks in getting ready for the move. Which is why I will probably get into trouble when I show her this website. Because she won't be sticking to her tasks, she will hanging out at VA Joe.

VAJoe.com is a website devoted to the military community. Active, retired, and dependent- if you are in any branch of the military you will find this site useful.

There is information about the GI Bill and Veteran's Benefits. There are very active Mlitary forums, with discussion ranging from military families to the chaplains (I gotta show that to my dad), and non-military fun like pop-culture and sports. The website has a place for Military Jokes, with a comedy contest every month.

Members who join and make 12 forum posts get a free VAJoe t-shirt, which makes me want to sign up right now. (Hey, I think ex-brats are allowed too.)

I am a big supporter of the military, and I think that I can be a big supporter of the VAJoe site too.

Thunderbird are go

I ditched Outlook yesterday for Thunderbird. Very easy to set up and a clean interface. Now I need to get all my filters set up and I should be good to go.

Since I really like to have my calendar I added Lightening to the set up, so I need to move everything over.

I'm feeling a little rebellious.

Win on Tuesday

HDTV!

PayPerPost, the gang who help bloggers earn money through sponsored posts, are trying to sweeten their relationship with the posties by offering special prizes. In April, every Tuesday they gave away a thousand dollars. And this month they have passed out a Play Station, an Apple TV, and by the end of the month some lucky postie will be the owner of a new HDTV.

PayPerPost has created a blog network of talented bloggers who are willing help spread the word about products or websites that they would probably interact with anyway. This way they just get paid for it. Tomorrow, posties who are quick enough to grab the opportunities will earn Slingbox, Nintendo Wii, Yamaha Surround Sound System or a Logitech universal remote. (Personally I would like a Wii.)

Each Tuesday, the giveaways are sponosred by one of the PPP advertisers. This month, PPP teamed up with Bid4Prizes, a low bid auction site that lets members win anything from HDTVs to Starbucks $500 cards.

It sure makes Tuesday more interesting. I mean, besides the fun that Fuller offers me every second of the day. That's the best part of every day for me.

Everyone's an Expert on Something

I truly believe everyone's an expert on something - even if that something's just "your life", you're technically THE expert.

Unlike many of you, I'm an expert in lots of things. In fact, I'm always looking for something that will make me better than everyone else (I'm so vain, I probably think this blog is about me). Recently, I've found another subject I'm an expert on: the batusi.

Apparently, I'm not only AN expert on the batusi... I may well be THE expert on the batusi. How can I make this claim? One word: Wikipedia.

You see, about a month ago, I was watching ABC's Dancing with the Stars (yes, I'm the lone straight guy who watches that show) and witnessed Apolo Anton Ohno dancing a jive routine that included his version of John Travolta's dance from Pulp Fiction. A dance that incorporated the batusi move. I immediately jumped on the computer and went to add the sighting into the Wikipedia batusi entry.

You see, several times in the past, I've gone to Wikipedia with what I thought was unique information, only to find it already posted months (or even years) earlier.

Well, the batusi entry I stumbled upon had numerous omissions and very little photographic proof of alleged batusi sightings. Oh yes, another area where I could be the best at something. Sweet!

So, help feed my ego. If you should happen have a batusi sighting, please let me know so I can keep my self-proclaimed title as the world's foremost expert on the batusi.

A Mother's Day Giveaway: Who wants a Wallhog?

I am very fortunate to have an awesome mother who has raised me well and continues to be a really good friend to me. I enjoyed my time with my mother back in April, because I was able to have her take care of me a little bit. I appreciate how adventurous she is and that she doesn't give up easily.

In honor of Mother's Day, which is coming up next Sunday, I am hosting a contest.

The nice folks at Wallhogs have offered to give away a 48 inch removable vinyl wallhog to the winner of the contest. Ever since I wrote about them last month, I have been wanting to get my hands on one. But instead, someone who enters this contest will get one. Aren't you lucky?

The contest: I would like you to leave a comment on this entry with your favorite story about your mother. If you are a mother, you can opt to leave a comment on your favorite mothering moment. Please limit the comments to under 200 words.

Only comments left on this entry will qualify. Please leave a valid email address so we can contact you. If you do not have a URL, just put in http://crumley.org

All entries are due by 11:59 pm (EST), Friday, May 11th.

On Sunday, May 13th, a special judge (not me or Damon) will pick his or her favorite entry and that person will be named the winner of a Wallhog.

If you want to spread the word about this contest, feel free to host the image above or below on your own server, and point people to this entry. The comments have to be on this entry to qualify.

The perks of being a mom

There are a lot of perks that come with being a Mom, especially the ones that come up in May when the Mother of all days is here- Mother's Day. Suddenly the world is sweeter (chocolates and ice cream), shinier (jewelry), and there is less to do (please, sit back and put your feet up! Today is your day!).

And then there are contests and give aways like the one at Five Minutes for Mom. If you head on over there, you can enter to win an iPod Nano, or a Mei Tai Baby Carrier, or a book on the total Mom makeover.

I'm so thrilled to be a mom right now.

Parenting Teens... not me, but a review

Over at my Parenting Sites 411 blog I had to write a blurb for the about section. I was almost a month late getting it done because I just had a hard time with the wording. Then this morning I took a swig of coffee and my "about" spewed from my finger tips. I wish it was always that easy.

I also wonder about my topics over on that blog. Since I am the parent of a toddler, the "hot topics" of my blog are skewed toward the toddler crowd, but that isn't the intent of my blog at all. I want it to be about all aspects of parenting, from infants to teenagers.

That is why Parenting Teens is a great site for me to discover. experience I have with parenting teens is being the teenager to a parent, I rely heavily on internet sites for that kind of information.

The Parenting Teen site covers topics from teen health, teen education, parenting teen tips, and sections on troubled teens. I like that the site covers book and has articles from different perspectives of parents.

The topic of troubled teens seems to fill a lot of the content of the site, as a major focus of many parents. The forums seem a bit empty, but I am sure there are plenty of people out there looking for help that don't know they can find some support online.

Parenting Teens - Teen Help for Troubled Teens, seems to be a site that is ready for more participation and full of information.

Blogger's Choice Awards

June is the month that PayPerPost is hosting their conference on blogging (aka Postiecon). It is a conference that is open to all bloggers, not just those that are on the payperpost payroll.

As part of their festivities, they have put together the Blogger's Choice Awards. Again, it is open to all blogs, not just those that participate in PPP fun. The awards will be presented during Postiecon.

The way it works is that you register at the site and nominate any blog in the blogosphere that you want. There are many, many categories from from "Best Animal Blog" to "Worst Blog of All Time" (a category I think they could have done without). Mixed up in the middle are categories like "Hottest Mommy Blogger" (no, I am not nominated) and "Best Parenting Blog" (why yes, I have been nominated for that).

The Daily Fuller Fix has been nominated for "Best Photography Blog" which would be cool to win (and is an example of a blog that doesn't participate in payperpost, which I want to re-emphasize that any blog can be nominated and voted for).

This mommy blogger really enjoys her place in the blogging community. I hope that the competition goes well and that feelings don't get hurt. And I hope that those of you who go to Postiecon really enjoy your time there.

Oh, and you can vote for me if you want to. ;-)

The best part of a carnival is the food!

It is that time again, time for another Postie Carnival.

This time the carnival is being hosted over at Retta's Thoughts Out of My Head blog and the theme is all about food. I submitted a post about our gingerbread house at Thanksgiving.

It was a great memory and I am really glad it worked out for us. And from the comments I have received on the entry, it seems that a lot of people don't get their gingerbread houses to work. Believe me, I know that frustration. We had many failures in the gingerbread arts in my past.

Anyway, pop on over there and check out the other entries. It might make you want a midnight snack, so be careful!

Self Portrait Sunday: A Day of Rest

I declare today a good day. First we got to church before it actually started, which is a feat we haven't accomplished in a few weeks. The service was great (Ray Clark preached), Sunday School went well, lunch was declared delicious (spaghetti and meat sauce), and we all took naps. Later we are going to the church Easter pancake dinner, where I am sure I will be cleaning syrup off Fuller at some point.

I have been enjoying the Self Portrait Sunday meme and I think it is because I am actually consistent in getting it posted. And I appreciate the excuse to turn the camera on myself. Not much to say about this one, it's just me, after lunch, before my nap. It has truly been a day of rest.

Self Portrait Sunday: Playground madness

I took a sponge bath of mineral spirits this evening. It wasn't pretty. I wasn't pretty.

The last day of the playground build was all about finishing touches and shellacking every inch of exposed wood. Since Damon worked so hard the last three days, he watched Fuller while I took foam brush in hand and helped with the ginormous task of shellacking.

I am not a very neat painter. Shellacking isn't that much different than painting and I ended up with a lot of it on me. Which leads me to the sponge bath of mineral spirits and sawdust to scrub the shellac off my hands, fingers, arms, and legs.

I took this picture near the end of the day. If you look closely you can see parts of the playground in the background. You can't see all the dirt, but trust me I was dirty, sweaty, and tired. But I was (and am) so happy that this playground was built and next week we can take Fuller to burn his energy off on the big slide and swings.

This experience was amazing, and I promise to tell you more about it later. I need to go to bed.

Self Portrait Sunday: I love allergy season

It is Sunday again, so time for another self portrait. I decided to be honest in my picture, let you see how I look and hopefully you will understand how I feel.

I had an awesome day yesterday, but by the end of the day I felt awful. Stuffy nose and sore throat were my prominent symptoms, so I took a sinus pill. And the pill kept me awake.

I slept about 3 hour last night. And when Fuller got up I realized there was no way I was going to function as a Sunday School teacher. So Damon took Fuller to church and I tried to sleep some more. I didn't really get a great nap.

So, this is me. Today, on Sunday.

No, it isn't pretty.

I'll be better tomorrow. Somehow I will suck it up and deal. We don't have Kindermusik tomorrow, so that will help. But I do have company coming over in the late afternoon, so let's deal.

Anniversary

I have no idea if you have been paying attention to my blogging habits lately, but I kind of slowed down there for a little while.

Last week was my one month anniversary of being a Stay at Home Mom and I was taking some time to take stock of what is going on. To be honest, I still don't have any idea what is going on. You know, the whole working mom balancing act was just too much for me. Now that I am at home I am much more relaxed but I still don't have anything that resembles an organized life.

I realized that I had a little bit of withdrawal to get through since leaving the cubicle farm. I was so used to being connected to the internet for 8 hours a day and changing to this kind of arrangement- laptop only during breakfast, nap time, and after bedtime- has been difficult. And focusing on the other stuff that needs to be done- laundry, food, cleaning, etc- has been an adjustment.

But I really want to blog, that much I am sure of. And since I started blogging for extra money I have really been in what I think is blogging overdrive.

In the blogging arena I have this blog, the Daily Fuller Fix, Chattanooga Is Home, and Parenting Sites 411. The last two I have contractual obligations for, so I am trying my best. And then there is this blog...

I am still looking at the Pay Per Post site everyday, but I just haven't been motivated to write for them these days. I am still making money blogging, but it just isn't as much through them these days.

I mentioned a while back that they were going through growing pains. First they required all bloggers to disclose their paid posts (the ones through PPP- I have a disclosure policy on my side bar) and then they took steps to segment their bloggers. That segmentation has created some really high paying opportunities for bloggers who have high page ranks and low Alexa numbers. Someone out there with a blog that is ranked at a 6/10 by google could get $35 per post. (That's not me.) And since you can now take up to 3 opportunities per blog per day, that can add up pretty quickly.

I decided that since I am a stay at home mom, I really should be focusing on the home part and blogging less for PPP and not worrying about the money that I am not making. So I slowed down a little bit. Now that my mood is a bit lighter and I have been thinking hard about my goals and I feel a bit more organized.

This is going to work. I love being at home! (Now I need to go empty the dishwasher.)

I'm laughing a lot right now, thanks Mike

Mike, I am excited that your birthday is coming up very soon. Count those days!

But this just cracked me up.

Fred and Celeste are Proud to Announce the Birth of their Child, Alicia Sill McFarland, on November 9, 1976.

Unfortunately, Alicia Sill McFarland is the anti-christ.

Fred and Celeste are confused. So very confused..

What Did Your Birth Announcement Say? at QuizGalaxy.com

Seriously, a daughter of a PCA pastor as the anti-Christ? My mother told me I was awesome and the best baby ever! Whenever Fuller acts up, my mother tells me "Alicia, you were a good baby." I guess that means that Fuller gets his attitude from his father.

Mike, I hope you have a great birthday. I am putting it on my calendar right now!

Anyone can blog

Even a 107 year old great-great grandmother named Olive.

You should check her out.

http://www.allaboutolive.com.au/

Hi Carnies!

Today is another round of Postie Carnival and the theme is Animals, hosted by Marisa of Marisa's Dandelion Patch.

My submission is from last month, and I still wonder when Maple and Lively are going to get with the program and enjoy Fuller's existence. Today Damon, Fuller, and Maple tried to play ball, but Maple would only play with Damon. If Damon left, Maple would follow him, and Fuller would follow begging Maple to come back.

If you head over to the Carnival you can meet lots of other bloggers who had something to say on the topic of animals. Have fun!

Self Portrait Sunday: Family time

We had so much fun at the UTC Mocs basketball game last night. Before going to the game we had dinner at Pizza Hut. The pizza was good, once we got it. The first pizza that was ours was boxed up and sent to a carry out order. (Insert eye roll here.)

Once we got to the game, we were seated in the upper level. But because attendance is so low at the games, during one of the time outs they invited those of us in the upper level to come down and sit in the empty seats on the lower level.

Fuller did ok as a spectator. He really wanted to run around, which leads me to believe that when we go to the tournament we will be walking around the Georgia Dome a lot.

The game wasn't that great, but the atmosphere was fun. The band was loud and jumping, the cheeleaders were jumping and loud. Fuller got into some of the noise- yelling "ahhhhhhhhhhh" when the Mocs were on defense.

I love to people watch at the games. But it was so much fun to see my family having fun. Good times were had by all.

Remember! You can participate in Self Portrait Sunday! Just do it and leave a comment in today's entry on DigiCass.

Pain in the (_|_)

Lynn Terry has a fun post about blog spam. I keep getting spam for something called Tramadol. I thought it was another substance diet thing like Hoodia, but when I actually looked it up, it is a pain medication.

Really the pain is having to delete if from my email.

Bill Cosby has a dog

With all the celebrities entering drug rehab, alcohol rehab, personality, or even personality rehab, I thought this spoof was really funny.

Bill Cosby’s award winning Dandie Dinmont terrier, Hobergays Fineus Fogg has been on a self-destructive bender after losing the Westminster Kennel Club dog show Tuesday night. Known just as “Harry” to close friends and everyone else who thinks Hobergays Fineus Fogg sounds like a gay porn, the little dog has been partying big throughout NYC hotspots.

I showed a picture of Harry to my dog Lively and she was definitely impressed. It looks like Harry was robbed at that show.