I'm changing again

If you notice things changing on a seemingly random basis, it's just me trying out some different templates to see what I like.  I don't like the dynamic templates Blogger has because my sidebar disappears, along with most of my gadgets.  But I don't particularly like any of the other standard templates either.  I found this one on another site, but I'm going to keep looking - I can't change the background to anything but white.  TOO MUCH WHITE!  If anyone knows of any good blogskin sites out there, let me know.

Sharing the love

We had a wonderful trip to Williamsburg and I actually managed to forget about my problems for a couple of days and just enjoy life. It's SOOOO nice to have my dear Hubby back home. I wish he didn't have to leave again in a few weeks. :(

I had a nice surprise in my inbox this morning - an award from the always gracious eMom at Chrysalis.

This award is created by Crystal at Memoirs of a Mommy in honor of Noah and the donor of this sweet little heart who ENCOURAGES us to SHARE THE LOVE. The rules for this award are to pass it along to some people whose blogs you love. They make you laugh, smile, leave encouraging comments on your blog. You would like to share some love with them because they have uplifted, inspired, encouraged or prayed for you. Please include this paragraph with the link to Memoirs of a Mommy so that everyone know where this award originated.

Thanks so much, eMom - you totally made my Monday morning!

And now to pass it on:

• Cheeky
• Karmyn
• TKW
• Jen
• and Jody

I always do a little happy dance in my chair when I see a comment from any of these lovely ladies. Thanks for being such great blog buddies!

Millennial Post!

IT's MY 1000th POST!!!!!

To celebrate, I'm going to send a wonderful prize package to some lucky person who comments here today. A prize package valued at no less than $1, LOL. Seriously, though, it will be something nice.

All you have to do is go back in my archives, anywhere you want, find a post you like, and tell me where you found it and what you liked about it. Bingo, your name goes in the drawing.

You see, I have to take the kids to the dentist today, and after paying the bill I'm going to need some nice cheery comments to come home to. So join in, even if you don't usually comment, and you could very well win!!

Have a good weekend!

I'm off to a homeschool convention today and tomorrow! Have a great weekend, and I'll see you Monday!

Out of the office

Jana is out of the office until Friday. If you would like to leave a message, please wait for the beep.

BEEP!

900!

Fake Quote of the Day:

"Nine hundred isn't so much." -C. Ripken

That's right, this is my 900th post. Don't worry, I'm not going to list 900 things about myself. I never even did 100 things about myself. I figure if anyone's that interested in me, they can go back to day one and start reading. Eventually, they will cull at least 100 interesting facts about me from my archives.

So, who watched the boys last night? Why do they call them boys? Is it in deference to those under 18, or is it because they call the female group girls? Anyway... I still have my two favorites, both named David - Hernandez and Archuleta. But a surprise contender has emerged - the other David, David Cook! He did a version of Lionel Richie's "Hello" that was absolutely amazing. David A. and David H., on the other hand, weren't as good. So I cast my vote for David C. this week. I'll be shocked if all three David's don't enter the Top 12.

As for the other guys, I'm betting it will be Luke's turn to go home, but I'm not sure who the other will be. Jason Castro was awesome, so it better not be him. It might be Chikezie (Oh, please let it be Chikezie). I doubt it will be Danny or Michael. Hmm, I'm forgetting one. Maybe he'll go home, since I can't even remember who he is!

And did you watch "New Amsterdam"?? Wow. More on that later.

Good morning!

Tomorrow marks my 900th post! I just passed my 3rd blogiversary, as well, so that's roughly 300 posts per year. Not bad, for rambling aimlessly about nothing. Then again, look how long Seinfeld was on.

I should be at co-op right now, but my oldest son is running a temperature, so we're staying home today. Yesterday I couldn't talk for most of the afternoon. Imagine trying to control four boys with no voice. It doesn't work really well. At least I got some rest.

The weather turned warm yesterday. I hope it goes back to cold and stays there a while before spring. Winter is entirely too short here. But it's better than in Louisiana, where we had about two weeks of winter and a little ice could shut down the whole city. There are some things I miss about Shreveport, but that's not one of them. Now, the food... oh, the food! How I'd love to go eat at some of those restaurants again. Hubby and I have talked about taking an eating tour of the south sometime, just going from restaurant to restaurant and taking in the local delicacies. Mmm!

Okay, was this post rambling enough for you? I'm going to go relax before the boys wake up.

Okay, get cooking!

Head on over to Jana Cooks! Next week's shopping list will be up later, and then starting Sunday I will post the recipes that go with it. If you know anyone who's been wanting to eat healthier but didn't know where to start, send them over, too. The more the merrier!

Food, glorious food

I've been toying with the idea of starting a food blog. Hey, stop that hysterical laughter. I cook. I cook almost every meal, as a matter of fact. Sometimes my kids even like it. Here are my reasons for thinking about this:

• It will keep me on track with my own eating. I do better if I plan out every meal.
• It will be a good place to keep my favorite recipes and menus.
• It will be easy to send people there when they ask about my diet.
• It might help someone else who wants to eat healthy find some inspiration.

I would probably post menus and shopping lists the week before, and then recipes on the day I cook them. Anyone following along would only need to eat what I eat to lose weight.

So what do you think? Should I put the effort in? Or is this another crackpot idea from the same brain that brought you this blog?

Nice matters!

I just received a lovely award from the very sweet eMom at Chrysalis. Thank you so much!

"This award is for those bloggers who are nice people; good blog friends and those who inspire good feelings and inspiration. Also for those who are a positive influence on our blogging world. Once you've been awarded please pass it on to 7 others who you feel are deserving of this award."

Now to pass it on to seven others! Probably all my picks have already gotten it, but I'm going to hand it out anyway! Excuse the excessive use of the word 'nice' - it's part of the award.

1. Cheeky, who is just one of the nicest people I have "met" online. Love you, girlfriend!
2. Tracy, a.k.a Tee, is the only blogger I've met in real life (who I didn't already know), and is just as sweet and nice in real life as on her blog.
3. Mary Anne, a.k.a. CameraDawktor. She hasn't been around much lately, but when she is, she always has a kind word to say.
4. Blest, a dear friend who gave me the encouragement to keep plugging away at this weight loss thing. I would have given up after 20 pounds if not for her, and she knows it.
5. And while I'm at it, all the ladies at One Weigh or Another. No one there ever has anything nasty to say to anyone else. They are the most encouraging group of people I've ever been around.
6. Jean-Luc, who should be totally snobby because he's such a brilliant blogger, but who is always so nice and leaves such encouraging comments. Plus he's English, so automatically he gets bonus points. ;)
7. And finally, I'm sending this one right back to eMom! Thanks for thinking of me!

I answer your questions

On Monday, I asked you to ask me any questions you wanted. And today I shall answer them.

Hubby asked, "Why?" The answer to that is, as always, because I said so.

Cheeky wanted to know, "Is you is or is you ain't gonna be my one state away neighbor?????"
The answer to that is still up in the air. As far as I know, they haven't gotten back to us with an offer. And it would have to be a pretty spectacular one for us to go to all the trouble of moving.

Karmyn had several questions: What is your favorite time of the day and why?
If I'm awake, I love the early morning, when it's cool, a light mist still hangs in the air, and the boys are still asleep. Unfortunately, I'm usually up too late at night to get up early!
What is your favorite subject to teach to your kids?
I really love teaching science, but I hate doing experiments. I have a bad track record with experiments. Apparently, the laws of physics work differently in my house. At least, that's my story.
What is your favorite way to pamper yourself?
I like to curl up with a good book and a hot cup of strong, black coffee. If I'm away from home, going out to eat is my favorite treat, especially if I can get good seafood (and I'm from Maryland, so I mean good seafood).

And finally, Beth asked, "What is your hardest day of the week, and why?"
Monday is usually the hardest, because the boys play all weekend and then we have to get back into the school routine again. There are some Mondays when we don't start school until 10 or 11 because we're all just dragging. But even worse than Mondays are Tuesdays after a 3 or 4 day weekend.

Thanks for all the questions, everyone! That was fun!

800!

I have reached my 800th post! All I can say is, I sure talk a lot. I never did a 100 things about me list, and by the time I got to 400 posts, I knew I'd never be able to think of 400 things about me to write down. Besides, pretty much anything you'd want to know about me is probably in this blog somewhere.

But just in case there's something you're just dying to know, I'm opening the floor to questions. What do you want to ask me? Anything at all, just ask. I will answer questions later this week. Come up with some good ones!

Can you read me now?

I've been told by no less than four different people recently that they have trouble with my blog coming up. It takes a really long time, or doesn't ever load at all. So in an effort to find and fix the problem, I have changed a few things around. First of all, the blog entries should load before the sidebar content now, so if Blogrolling is hung up, it should still let you read the latest entry. Second, I've deleted a lot of stuff that was hosted elsewhere and tried to stick to my own Photobucket account. And third, I took away the expandable boxes for the blogrolls I belong to, making the sidebar impossibly long, but also giving the computer less to think about before opening my page.

So, did you notice any difference in speed of loading? I'm still getting an error, but everything seems to load okay. Let me know what you think, and I'll keep tweaking.

Oh, and don't you just love this retro template? I changed it from the original somewhat, and will probably change it again, but I just love it!

Here's the deal

Individually, nobody's idea seemed totally right. But I am formulating some possible titles based on ideas y'all gave me (that's a little Southern speak left over from my years in Virginia and Louisiana). So here's what I'm going to do:

Later today, I will draw a name to win all of the fabulous prizes pictured below, plus some extra ones I didn't have a chance to post. If you gave me a name idea, I will put your name in the drawing twice. If you commented, I will give you one chance. Then I will draw a name at random and award said prizes to the winner.

Then sometime this week, I will have a poll with some names listed. If you would be so kind as to vote for the one you like best at that time, I will most likely go with the majority. And yes, Hubby, I will have a choice for keeping the same name I've always had. Turns out he likes Going Places. And I would lose about 20 hits a week by changing the name, so I guess he has a point!

And the new name is...

...still undecided. I gave until noon to get those ideas to me. Come on, people! I know you're a creative bunch out there. Where are those prize-winning ideas? I'm going to extend the deadline until this evening at 5 (that's Eastern time). And if I still don't see one I like, the winner will be decided by random drawing. So even if you think you have a lousy idea, or no idea at all, leave me a comment and I'll put you in the drawing. What do you have to lose? Nothing. C'mon, let's hear those ideas!

Help me and win stuff!

This is a sticky post! Scroll down for new posts from 8/20-8/23.

It's been two and a half years since I started this blog, and in all that time there's been something that's bothered me. The name. When I was filling out the form to start with, it asked for a name for the blog. I glanced next to me on the desk and saw a travel magazine called "Going Places" and I thought, yeah, that's a good name. But ever since then, I've been trying to come up with a better name. And I just haven't.

So I'm turning it over to you. Going Places is going away. But what will the new name be? I want something that reflects who I am, without being too wordy or cutesy (though I can at times be both wordy and cutesy). What I'm going to do is take suggestions, either in the comments or through email. I will take submissions from now until next Friday the 24th at noon. Then I will decide by the following Monday which new title I like the best. If you haven't been reading me very long, peruse some of the archives to get a feel for what I write about.

And what do you get for all your efforts? Well, I'm putting together a prize package. I know I'm going to put a couple of books in there. What I'll do is make this a sticky post and as I add prizes to the list, I'll put up pictures. I want to make it worth your while.

In the meantime, spread the word! The more suggestions I get, the better. Snag this button and tell people about it! Oh, and in the event I can't find a suggestion I like a lot, I will randomly draw a name to win anyway!

EDIT: Here are prizes #1 and 2, novels I have recently enjoyed, that I would like for someone else to enjoy!

Prize #3: This lovely autumn-themed candle holder, with candle.

I think, therefore I blog

TKW has honored me with the Thinking Bloggers Award. Apparently, I make her think, "Thank God I don't have any boys." But I'll take it, and thank you! Now in turn, I must name five blogs that make me think. Think about anything, not necessarily something deep or important. So here we go.

1. Jody - She makes me think about how precious my family is. Her husband had a stroke a while back, and he's only a couple years older than my husband. He recovered, but the whole situation just brought a new love and joy for life into their family. And by sharing that on her blog, she's given a gift to a lot of other families as well.

2. Steve Camp - Besides being one of my all-time favorite singers, Steve writes an amazing blog. I never fail to gain from the in-depth theological discussions over there. Many times, he says exactly what I've been thinking about a particular topic, only in a much more articulate way. If anybody wants to know what I believe and why, go read Steve's blog and you'll get the idea.

3. Mrs. Darling - I've followed her journey with her daughter, who has thrived since being taken out of public school to be homeschooled. That thrills me. But I also love how she shares honestly about every aspect of her life, from cooking and cleaning to what it means to be a friend. She is a very special blogger who I know wouldn't hesitate to invite me in for coffee if I ever showed up on her doorstep.

4. Grizzly Mama - Another PA homeschooler, Grizzly Mama is also very politically active, and since I happen to agree with her politics, I'm always interested in what she has to say. Also, every Friday she's been in the habit of sharing an Aesop's Fable. Those always make me think.

5. Ellen - I found Ellen's blog a couple of years ago because she had linked to mine, and I loved her instantly. She has a terrific sense of humor, she shares my passion for LOST, and most importantly, she eloquently expresses the feelings in her heart. I was upset when she quit blogging in December, and thrilled when she recently picked it up again. Add her to your must-read list and you'll never be disappointed.

So, the rules are, if I tagged you above, do the same post on your blog, linking back to this post. I'll have the graphic up later if you want to snag it for your sidebar.

Prizes! And ick.

Who doesn't like prizes? If you've noticed the Ultimate Blog Party banner in my sidebar, and wondered what it's all about, just click it! They explain the whole thing. But it starts tomorrow, so if you want a chance at those prizes, click now!

So... Hubby now has the ick and was blowing chunks all night. The toddler is still sick. He only throws up at night, all over his bed, at 3 a.m. During the day it comes out the other end. Oh, what a fun morning I've had!

But on the positive side, only one of us hasn't had it yet. And schoolwork is getting done. My novel is coming along. Oh, but my laptop has a trojan, which my software blocked but can't seem to delete. So I guess I still come out even.

Have a great day! Blog party tomorrow!

If you're here for the party, be sure to click through to my home page and read today's entry, whatever day it is!

Two years!

Yesterday marked two years since I started this little blog o' mine. It's gone through a lot of changes as I learned HTML and switched templates. I like this one, though. I think I'll stick with it a while. I've added things to my sidebar, and taken other things away. I've written about sad things and happy things and totally silly things. I've written 645 posts.

But more than that, I have "met" some wonderful people. There's an amazing community in blogging that non-bloggers don't see or understand. I love that. Some of my favorite bloggers and commenters have quit and I still miss them. But I truly appreciate all of you who come by here every day to see what I'm up to, even though you don't always comment (hint hint). Seeing the numbers go up in my little comments spaces makes my day.

So what do you get on the second blogiversary?

Pardon our dust

I've been going through old posts to put labels on them and such, and then I noticed they were all popping up on my Bloglines account as new posts. So if you see 25 or 30 "new" posts from here, just check the publish date to see if it's new or not. Of course, if you weren't reading this blog back then, you might want to check out those old posts anyway!