Sign Me Up

Yes...Yes... Yes... (Whispered urgently over a
microphone)

That's right girls, push harder...

Yes...Yes...Yes (A little louder this time)

That's it ladies...Push it...push it...so close

Keep it up!

Feel goods right?

Well, that certainly caught my attention.

And I'm not the only one.

Every single man in sight instantly turned their head toward the sound. There was even one man who stopped half way through lifting a weight to listen, which is actually kind of impressive.

I am a fan of working out, but somebody was clearly having a better time than I was (way, way better by the sound of it).

The source of the commotion?

A spin class.

I always thought spinning sounded boring, but I might have to give it try after all.

My "Home" Cooking

Does something count as "home-cooked" if it is cooked in your home?

I wish it were that easy, but I willing to bet there needs to be more involved than then simply turning on the oven and sticking something inside.

I'd really like to take credit for cooking dinner, but I'm not sure heating a frozen lasagna really counts. (Or it might be frozen chicken, pizza or frozen fish....you see the trend here.)

I am generally pretty good about planning meals and purchasing all the necessary supplies. Dinner usually makes it on the table about the time my husband walks through the door, but I'm not sure that what I do can honestly be called "cooking dinner".

For the record, I am capable of cooking "real" dinners. I'm just not capable of doing it regularly during the week with the help of my toddler.

I know...I'm not exactly making Betty Cooker proud.

(And now you know why there will never be recipes posted on this blog.)

My Secret Theme Song

I've decided to take a swing at the Sprite's Keeper's Spin Cycle again this week. The topic this week is "songs"

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I have a secret.

It's actually been one of my secret weapons since high school.

I have a secret theme song.

And it rocks.

This is little tune has helped me fake my way through some pretty tough times.

I swear that Tom Petty's "I won't back down" has magical proprieties.

I love Tom Petty in general. I own way, way too many of his CDs. So I certainly don't want to take away from his other songs, but something about "I won't back down" speaks to me.

I know I'm lame, but it is my personal anthem.

I also know it's a bit overly dramatic, especially if you actually read the lyrics, but it works for me. (In my defense, I developed this habit when I was a teenager and disproportionate drama was pretty much my standard operating mode.)

Like a sound track in a movie, "I won't back down" plays in the back of mind whenever I am in a situation I just need to gut my way through.

Tom has helped me through countless workouts.

When I got dumped in high school, Tom held my hand though it.

Tom stayed by my side through finals week in college when I typically became an unpleasant twitching ball of caffeinated anxiety.

When I had to brief a 4 star admiral (and I was so nervous I was shaking), all I could hear was Tom Petty. (Which is a lot better than only hearing your beating heart.)

So am I the only one?

Does anybody else have a secret song?

What are the songs that get you through your day?

(I love you Tom Petty...call me.)

Thank You Mother Nature

Dear Mother Nature,

I just wanted to drop a quick note and say thank you.

Specifically, thank you for making toddlers need more sleep than adults.

This is a fact I've been taking for granted, but no longer. This morning, it dawned on me just how important and wonderful it is that my son sleeps more than I do.

There are a lot of other things I should probably say thank you for, but giving me a few hours of peace daily is the best gift I have ever gotten.

The roads around me are covered with ice and I'm currently trapped alone in my house with my toddler (the husband is away on business travel). The fact that my son needs a little more sleep than I do significantly increases the odds that everyone will survive the day.

I'm sure there is a well known biological reason for toddlers sleeping more, but I know what is really going on here. Clearly, it's really just one mother looking out for another.

And I appreciate it.

Sincerely,
Me

Beautiful Woman

I'm reading a book right now called "An Incomplete Education" (3,684 things you should have learned, but probably didn't)

I just got to the chapter on Art History, which is definitely something I didn't learn about in school. I've seen pictures of most famous paintings, but I had never really thought too hard about them.

Looking at the paintings of women done by all the master painters (Titan, Peter Paul Ruebens, etc) has been surprisingly interesting. I really enjoy seeing women through the eyes of these painters.

Clearly, these were men who thought healthy, natural women were beautiful.

I had never really looked at the facial expressions in the paintings before.

All the ladies look calm, content and completely confident (half of them, look collected while completely naked).

The bodies of the woman themselves are so different from what is considered ideal in our modern culture. By today's standards the women would at best be considered plus size models and at worst would probably hate every inch of themselves when they looked in the mirror.

But these women are beautiful.

They were beautiful hundreds of years ago and they are still beautiful today.

I'm all for staying fit and eating (at least reasonable) healthy, but there is definitely a line that gets crossed.

When did our image of beauty distort into obsessive dieting and size 2 behinds? Or for that matter, when did it become attractive (at least to some) to get basketball size implants and injected lips?

I really believe that healthy and natural is beautiful.

We all need to bring back some sanity when it comes to our expectations for our bodies.

Selling Mom Out

I'm not sure if I'm alone on this one, but my son constantly sells me out.

He doesn't even use sentences yet, but he still manages to tell everyone about the worst aspects of my parenting. This would okay, but somehow none of the good stuff ever gets mentioned.

It doesn't matter how many nutritious, healthy meals I attempt to feed him. The only dinner item he repeatedly shouts is "Pizza". Put a grandmother on speaker phone and he'll talk about pizza nonstop (even if he hasn't actually eaten any pizza in days).

I try to feed him fruits and vegetables all the time, but he barely registers their existence and certainly doesn't talk about them.

But give the kid one cookie and he learns and constantly repeats the word.

Why can't he say "apple" or "carrot" on occasion (preferably in front of my mother in law)?

And if telling the world that all he eats is crap isn't bad enough, he also constantly talks about television.

I do let him watch television, but not that much (I swear).

He never mentions all the hours we spent reading, color, or just plain playing. He doesn't even say the word park yet. He gets excited if you mention going to the park to play, but he doesn't actually ask for it by name.

However, Barney and Elmo are major conversational topics in our house.

I hate to admit it, but Barney was actually one of his first words. Long before he was watching television on a daily basis he would talk about Barney. I'm honestly not sure how this even happened.

He can also spot an Elmo from 100 meters and joyfully shouts his name whenever he sees him (which is pretty much all the time since the world is surprisingly Elmo infested.)

The most recent Elmo sighting was in church this weekend. Another toddler had an Elmo doll several rows away and my little guy saw it and started yelling Elmo in the middle of the service.

Seriously, kid can you give mom a break here?

Can you at least talk about something remotely healthy once in awhile?

I'm afraid you're giving me a terrible reputation with the rest of the family.

State of the Blog Address

Before I get started I just wanted to say thanks for all the nice comments yesterday. Thursday did indeed go smoothly and life is back on track.
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I love Google Analytics.

(If you have a blog and have no idea what I'm talking about, you should click the link above. It's pretty cool stuff.)

I love knowing how many visitors are coming by and where they come from. I just love blog visitors in general.

I'm pretty nosey, I guess that's why I like blogging so much. I'm always curious about other blogs so I thought I would share some of the magic behind the curtain here at Interstitial Life (in case anybody else is a little nosey too).

First the basics. This is my 90th post. I created this blog on October 6, 2008. I got my first comment from CrabbyAnn on October 24. (I think this is when the blog addiction fully took hold.)

I have had 351 unique visitors. When I'm posting daily, I average about 30 visitors a day.

I'd like to get that number up into the three digits by the end of the year. I'm not sure why exactly other than I like having goals, especially goals with numbers in them.

I've had visitors from the US (my home country), Canada, India, Australia, France, Spain and the United Kingdom. I'm not sure if anybody else cares, but I really think the global aspect of blogging is awesome. What a great way to break down cultural stereotypes and get to actually know each other a little better.

One of my favorite things about Analytics is that it shows you what search terms have led people to your blog.

My personal favorites include "girls in sweatpants sexy" and "fat booty blogspot". Shockingly, neither of those visitors stuck around very long. Apparently, my post on hearing fat bottom girl at the gym wasn't what they were really looking for.

I actually feel a little bad about the person searching for "hallmark Christmas tree spreader set that lights up" who ended up on my blog. I'm assuming they stumbled on the "In Hiding-Part 2 " post where I was less than excited to receive just such a spreader set for Christmas. If only they had left a comment, maybe we could have worked a deal.

So there you go. A little peek of the behind the scenes action.

I have really enjoyed this whole blog experiment a lot more than I thought I would. I think I needed the connection to the adult world more than I even realized.

When Life Attacks

(I stole the title from the comic strip Baby Blues, but it seemed very appropriate.)

Yesterday was one of THOSE days.

The day started out nice and normal. Things were going according to plan when all of a sudden the day got a serious attitude. What had been a nice docile day turned into rabid son of a gun of a day.

By 8 pm last night the fires were out and the worst was over, but it was a impressively crappy day. The whole thing just caught me completely unprepared. Who knew Wednesday could be so sneaky?

I don't want to go into about the details, partly because I don't like airing all my dirty laundry (just the fun bits) and partly because it would probably be boring as heck to read.

I will say that everyone is fine and life should resume as normal today.

But I'm a bit drained.

I'm really hoping for a nice boring Thursday.

On tap for today is a lovely, unexciting schedule of playgroup this morning, working during the little mans nap, errands this afternoon (including the pet store which is always a favorite), cooking tacos for dinner and hanging out with the husband tonight.

It might not be a rocking exciting life, but I like it.

The goal for today is no excitement whatsoever beyond hysterical giggles and the usual one year antics.

I hope you all have a nice normal Thursday with only the good kind of drama as well.

The Day After

Yesterday was the big day here in the DC area.

Obama is officially the President.

I feel a little lame about it, but I didn't go see any of the festivities in person.

I keep hearing stories about people traveling thousands of miles to watch this historical event. I live about 15 miles from the action and I choose to watch it on television.

I was definitely interested in the inauguration, but the logistics were a little intimidating.

All bridges into DC were closed. From Virgina that pretty much means the only way into the city is using the metro system. The metro system tried to accommodate the crowds by running rush hour schedules all day yesterday starting from 4 am, but the trains were still massively over packed

The list of prohibitive items was pretty restrictive in most areas. As a parent of a toddler, no strollers and no backpacks is pretty much a deal breaker.

Also, it stayed below freezing all day yesterday.

Heading into DC yesterday certainly wouldn't have been easy and it might not have been "fun" to stand in the cold for hours, but it would have been a good story to tell the grandchildren.

I don't regret not going given the realities of the situation, but I would have been there if it had been a little bit easier to pull off.

Now that the deed is done, I just hope people aren't disappointed. It's been good to see the country energized again.

Go Steelers!

I'm not really a sports fan.

I am much more interested in Super Bowl commercials than the actual football game.

When it comes to professional sports in general, I don't really care who wins or what games are being played.

Before I met my husband, I didn't even know what professional sport was in season most of the time.

Now, I know all kinds of sports stuff. I think I learned through osmosis and subliminal messages from hearing ESPN in the background.

Despite my best attempts, I can now hold a relatively coherent conversation about sports. This skill came in pretty handy when I worked in an office that was ninety percent male.

That said, I still don't really care.

But I do care that my husband cares.

He is a big Pittsburgh fan. He even cheers for the Pirates (who pretty much suck).

So as you can imagine, he loves the Steelers (who are actually in the playoffs).

So I'll be cheering for the Steelers tonight.

Not because I care about football, but because I am a big fan of a happy husband.

Go Black and Gold.

Boys, don't let me down.

Save the Sea Kittens?

This post is definitely not going to improve my karma.

(But it is so worth it.)

PETA (People for ethical treatment of animals) has a new campaign. They want to rename fish and call them... sea kittens.

Apparently, PETA is under the impression that people will stop fishing if fish had a cuter name that highlighted their cuddly, adorable nature.

I am not making this up.

This is a direct quote from the PETA website:

And we're going to start by retiring the old name for good. When your name can
also be used as a verb that means driving a hook through your head, it's time for a serious image makeover. And who could possibly want to put a hook through
a sea kitten?

You have to check out the PETA website for yourself- Save the Sea Kittens.

Seriously, go there right now. It is worth your time.

-There are stories about sea kittens illustrating how smart and loving fish really are under their slimy scales. My favorite is call Summa Cum Laude. It's about a smart fish named Tony. He is ironically fed to a "precocious" child who eats "one mercury filled sea kitten too many" and falls to the bottom of his class. It's a very up lifting read.

-You can also create your own sea kitten, meaning you can play dress-up paper doll style with a cartoon fish. Mine had elephant ears and a fu man choo.

-There are shirts for sale and electronic banners you can download (which I considered, but deemed a little too much for this post).

-And if you are so motivated, you can even electronically participate in a petition to the US Fish and Wildlife Service. Over four thousand takers so far.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go put the farm puppy in the fridge to defrost for dinner.

What if...

The topic for this week's spin cycle at Sprite's Keeper is "What if".

This is the first time I've played this particular bloggy game, but I thought "What if" was a great prompt for a post.

So here go, my "spin"....

I am not usually a big "What if" person.

I occasionally struggle to make up my mind, but once I've made a decision I generally stick with it without looking back.

I never even changed my major in college.

But for some reason, the one thing I found myself what if-ing a is the decision to quit full time work when my son was born.

Not to say that I wish things were different. Most of the time, I love staying home with my son.

I also believe my family benefits as a whole, myself included. I can't imagine how stressed we would be if both adults were working 12 hours a day (and I would be gone about 12 hours a day if I still had my old job).

I'm sure there are plenty of women who can balance a full time career and being a mom, but I'm not one of them. At least, I know I couldn't balance the particular job I had with a young child.

(For the record, the husband offered to stay home, but I decided I really wanted to be the one home.)

I LOVED my full time job. There just wasn't room in my life for another love. For me, something had to give. Working (very) part time from home seems to be right thing, at least for right now.

But still...

I wonder about the other life I could have lead.

You know..

The life where I wear killer power suits, spend my day kicking butt, and making big bucks (as opposed to wearing jeans, wiping butt and being paid primarily in sticky kisses).

I hope 15 years from now, when I'm doing God only knows what, I don't have any regrets about jumping off the career ladder.

I also hope I'm pass the point of wondering "what if" and am completely comfortable with my choice.

Puke-O-Rama

My son is sick.

I feel terrible for him. There is nothing sadder than a sick toddler.

Everything was going along smoothly until dinner last night. Then all hell pretty much broke loose.

My poor little guy had several new sets of clothes and my husband and I each did one costume change.

You know your are mom when you have to choose between getting puked on or letting the carpet take the full brunt and you decided that it's easier to wash clothes.

Finally, once we had the little man settled down for the night (for the first time) we went into our bedroom and discovered one of the @#%$ing cats had puked on the bed. I mean really, a puking kid wasn't enough?

It is probably all my fault. I did every piece of laundry in the house yesterday afternoon. Empty hampers are way too much temptation for fate.

My son woke up several things last night, but there has been no throwing up since about 8 last night so hopefully the worst is over.

Nobody got much sleep, but I am at least mobile now that I've had a frivolously long shower and a cup of tea. The plan for today is to take it easy and let him watch way too much TV.

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(I'm sorry for the unfortunate lead in, but here is the link as promised.)

Chef E decided to play the 7 facts game and even changed the rules a little bit. - Go check it out here.

If anybody else wants to play - let me know and I'll link you up.

Meme: 7 Facts about Me

I was tagged by Jam Jar Boogie to do a Meme and share 7 strange personal habits or obsessions. Clearly there isn't enough incriminating evidence out me already on the Internet so I must add more.

So here goes-

1. I love picking out a new day planner. I love getting new pens, especially in different colors. I love grid paper. I love, love, love beautiful, brand new office supplies.

2. On a related note, I also love using my day planner. I will add things to my to do list that I already did, just so I can cross them out. I plan out our menu for the week every Sunday and I grocery shop on Monday afternoon every week.

I am a routine kind of a girl (pretty much to the point of it becoming a fault). I am not very flexible and having a kid has only made it worse, but I'm working on it. I'm told that admitting you have a problem is the first step.

3. I really love tea. I don't drink coffee and I don't even own a coffee maker, but I have 9 types of tea in my cupboard. Maybe I was meant to be British?

4. I'm not a big potty mouth these days, but I develop a form of tourettes around my super religious friends. I had a few very religious coworkers (like date a girl for 9 months and never kiss her religious) and I just couldn't help stop the wave of inappropriate remarks whenever I was near them. The harder I tried not to swear or tell dirty jokes, the worst it got. (Thanks to TMI for reminder me of this fact with a recent post.)

5. I love to read. I average about 2 books a week. Most of the time I am reading a couple of books at the same time. The usual combo is a non-friction book and a light fluffy novel so that I can bounce between learning something and just being entertained.

I also love the library. It is glorious to pick up any book I want and take it home for free. the library makes me feel much better about paying taxes.

6. My car is a 6 speed manual. I love driving a stick because I can pretend I'm a race car driver (which I do all the time.)

7. I also just plain love my car, even if it is a 6 year old Nissan Sentra. It's dirty and the backseat is covered in goldfish crumbs, but I think it's the coolest car in the world. We've been through a lot together. I'm not a person who usually loves "things", but my car has a special place in my heart.

So there you go. A little randomness for your Tuesday morning.

I don't want to tag anybody specifically because I don't know who is in the mood for a meme, but if you want to do it - please feel free. I love getting a little peak into how other people work.

If you want to play, leave me a comment with your info and I'll link to you and let people know to check you out.

Have a great day.

Like Father, Like Son

Note his choice of "reading" material.

My son has officially hit the copy cat stage. He is starting to mimic everything, especially everything dad does.

I trying to use this situation to to my advantage. He now "helps" with the housework and thinks its the best time ever.

(Please don't judge me too harshly for the ugly brown chair. It's one of the bachelor artifacts that survived the great merge when we got married.)

Turning 29 (for the first time)

I always planned to turn 29 and then quit having birthdays for at least the next ten years.

Now that the big day is here, I realize there are a few logistical problems with that plan.

First, I had a kid at 27. Eventually, people will do the math and realize I probably didn't have him when I was 12. As he gets older, I guess I will also have to admit to getting older as well.

Second, I can probably pass for 29 for a couple more years, but not a heck of a lot longer (I think aging process as been significantly accelerated by the whole parenting experience).

I'm starting to get gray hairs at an alarming rate. For awhile, I was able to lie to myself and believe they were just "blonder" than the rest of my brownish hair, but that can only go on for so long.

I had to face the fact that while I will most likely become blonder in the future, this feat will require the use of chemicals and not spontaneously occur because of wishful thinking.

Additionally, my face is starting to look its age. I used to get carded for R rated movies in college, but it's been quite awhile since I've been carded for anything.

So on that note, happy 29th birthday to me.

I think I'll hang out here for awhile and then park myself at 35 for the next 10 years.

10 Reasons Why Blogs are Cooler than the News

Each of the following headlines was on the front page of the MSN Business section yesterday afternoon.

These are presented in no particular order because, frankly, I'm not smart enough to even pretend I understand this mess enough to rank them in any sort of meaningful order.

I'm not usually one to choose the ostrich approach to problems, but in this case there isn't much I can do other than pinch my pennies (which is already being done).

So I think I'm done reading the business news for awhile.

1. How bad is economy? IRS feels sorry for you

2. Late loan payments hit a record high

3. Is this stock market rally for real? (Five reasons to be cautious about wading back into the market)

4. Horrid holiday sales capped by dismal Dec. (Even Wal-Mart's December sales results are disappointing)

5. Billionaire kills himself over financial crisis

6. Waterford seeks bankruptcy protection (250 year-old maker of classic china falls victim to global recession)

7. Toyota to suspend car production in Japan (11-day stoppage called as automaker grapples with low demand)

8. Small retailers struggle with recession, weather

9. Pending home sales plunge to record low (Slumping stocks, economy made buyers put purchases on hold)

10. Obama: Pass stimulus or recession lasts ‘years’ (President-elect warns the downturn could become ‘dramatically worse’)

Weird Science

The 2009 Awards for Weird Science are in.

If you're feeling a bit dorky today (as I usually am) - check them out.

Highlights include a 2.700 year old pot stash (it had indeed lost its effectiveness if you're curious) and a see-through fish (for use in cancer studies).

And hey - look at that. I'm so on top of my weird science game that I already wrote about one of the winners (not sure that's a good sign). You can check out my previous post if you're curious about how scientists are working to create a mind reading machine.

Fat Bottomed Girl At the Gym

I was at the gym recently and the song "Fat Bottom Girls" by Queen was played over the main speakers.

This was the second time I'd heard it there in the last month. The first time I assumed it was just a radio station, but this time I listened a little more closely.

Apparently, there is a Gold's Gym broadcast station. (I generally listen to my own music so I hadn't noticed before).

Which I'm guessing means that somebody somewhere made a playlist and selected "Fat Bottom Girls"... to play at the gym.

Does that seem odd to anybody else?

Not to imply I don't enjoy the song because I do as long as I don't think too hard or listen to the lyrics.

I am a girl with some junk in the trunk. It doesn't really matter how many miles I put in on the treadmill, I will always have a bit of bubble butt. Actually, working out seems to make my issue even bigger.

So I'm cool with listening to a little booty worship at the gym (it just really amuses me).

As a matter of fact, I'd like to suggest a few songs for their playlist-

Shake Your Booty-KC and the Sunshine Band

Honky Tonk Badonkadonk - Trace Adkins (for the country fans out there)

Thong Song - Sisqo

Shoop- Salt N Pepa (a little love for the men)

and (of course)

Baby Got Back - Sir Mix-A-Lot

(I was thinking of adding "I'm too Sexy", but there are enough people at the gym who think they are too sexy for their shirts already. Keep your clothes on people. And no, a sports bra doesn't really count as a shirt in my book.)

Breastfeeding vs. Facebook

Did you hear about Facebook removing pictures of women breastfeeding?

I just heard about it. (I know, I'm a little slow on the uptake sometimes.)

Check out this article if you're interested in learning more - Facebook Won't Budge on Breastfeeding Photos.

The basic issue is that Facebook removed photos of mothers breastfeeding because they were deemed “obscene, pornographic or sexually explicit". According to the article, Facebook removes all photos showing a nipple, in any context, if reported.

Folks are fighting back by changing their profile pictures to show a mother breast feeding (and even in a few odd cases a man breast feeding - love that photo shop). Petitions are being signed. Folks are even protesting at the Facebook headquarters.

I'm not quite sure what to make of it all.

This might be over-sharing, but it seems relevant background. I nursed my son for about a year. I was, however, not one of those women who felt comfortable just pulling out a boob in public. I used a nursing cover and tried to find a nice out of the way place to nurse.

I've seen lots of women nurse uncovered in public without any discomfort and I'm fine with it. Heck, I think I even admire it a little bit, but it's just not for me.

I like to keep the ta-tas under wrap.

I'm all for breastfeeding, but I am not enthusiastic about pictures of myself breastfeeding being posted on the Internet. (For the record, I'm also okay with formula is that works better in your life.)

I wouldn't be offended if I saw pictures of women breastfeeding, but I guess I don't really understand the impulse to post the pictures online.

No photos of me breastfeeding even exist (to the best of my knowledge).

Facebook was pretty dumb to piss off the hard core nursing network.

I ran into a few ladies who felt very,very strongly about nursing while I was pregnant and I found it intimidating (to put it as politely as possible). It was my first real taste of how judgemental the mommy wars can get.

My money is totally on the moms in this one. I'm not sure exactly how, but I think Facebook is going to pay a pound of flesh by the end of this battle.

What do you all think?

I am really curious to hear what other people think on this one.

Trip Down History Lane

The husband and I took the little guy to visit the National Museum of American History this weekend. It just reopened after being closed for renovation for a couple of years so we wanted to check it out.

I love the museums in DC. They almost make the traffic and high mortgage prices worth it.

View of the Washington monument from the steps in front of American history. I don't know what the deal is with the sculpture, but I've always liked it.

I asked the husband what his favorite exhibit was. The answer was...

Roberto Clemente's uniform.

He's a big Pittsburgh fan so this really didn't reveal any shocking insight into his personality.

The little guy also had an obvious (and predictable) favorite.

There is huge exhibit on the history of transportation, called American on the Move. Trains, planes, bus, motorcycles are everywhere.

If they added a singing purple dinosaur, I think it would be my son's version of heaven.

I highly recommend parents of small children hitting this one on the way out instead of the first thing.

The little guy spent most of the visit serenading the other visitors with his super loud choo-choo appreciation chant. Nothing like a couple of old trains to get my son all fired up.

Now on to the good stuff.

I love the ruby slippers.

There is something about a pair of magical, sparky red high heels that speaks to me.

I was a big Wizard of Oz fan growing up.

Speaking of growing up...

I was a bit surprised by the entire corner dedicated to the pill in the history of science exhibit. It is a really big area entirely reserved for educating museum goers in detail about the pill (the word sex is used repeatedly).

I had never really thought about the pill as a marvel of modern technology, but I guess it was kind of a big deal historically.

That said, I still find this exhibit freaking hilarious.

I know the picture didn't come out terribly well, but all those things in the case are different types of birth control pills. I wonder who came up with this idea?

Other random things-

Apparently, Lincoln logs were named after President Lincoln. They are supposed to resemble the type of house he grew up in. I had never made this connection.

Along with the ruby slippers, the museum also has an Kermit the frog and an Oscar the grouch on display.

The Obama have already been added to the list of Presidents and First ladies.

Also, on a practical note, there are a couple of cool exhibits with hands on stuff for kids.

All and all, we had a great time. I definitely learned some new stuff (especially about the pill).

I love this museum (although Natural History is still my favorite).

Awards - Spreading the Love

A Hoy mateys!

I've been given my first blog award, an A Hoy, by Jeanne at The Raisin Chronicles. Jeanne happens to write one of my new favorite blogs so I am very flattered.

In a random coincidence I also got my second blog award, a You Are Truly Beautiful Award, this weekend from Andrea at My Chihuahua Bites!

Okay, now this is just getting weird. Literally, while I was typing this post I just got a third award, a TMI "Sexy Mama".

Is this what bloggers do now that Christmas is over? I'm pretty new to this so I'm still learning the rules.

I guess giving awards to each other could be a pretty fun way to pass the time. I like being told I'm beautiful and sexy as much as the next girl.

Plus -I'm not sure what happens if you break the award chain, but I don't need 7 years of bad bloggy luck so... stand by for some shameless linking.

Award Number 1-

The rules of the A Hoy award state that you need to pass the award along to 5 other blogs and you can use any criteria you deem appropriate.

Choosing criteria is a tough one. The arena of possibilities is way too wide open. So I decided to do what people have been doing for an eternity...copy the professionals.

Best Comedic Performance -Anna Lefter, Life Just Keeps Getting Weider

Juiciest Dramatic performance - Belle at Fawty (She's been MIA for awhile, but I think she should be back in action soon. I heard some rumors about a fantastic vacation with her family.)

Most Supportive Blogger - Andrea at My Chihuahua Bites!

Best Up and Coming Blogger - CDB at fingers and Paws

Best Style - Vodka Mom at I Need a Martini Mom

(One of the other Rules is also that I have to post the rules).

Rules for Making an Award

1. Pick five blogs that you consider deserve this award based upon any criteria - for example, the quality of the commentary, wit, humour, artwork, overall design, value to you of the information being provided, and so on.

2. The awarding blogger should choose at least two blogs not on his or her own blogroll, the purpose being to encourage variety of reading matter, and to have the person making the award think about what they like to see and read.

3. Your five choices must be published in a dedicated post on your own blog. This post must contain the name of the author (which may be their logon name), and also a link to his or her blog to be visited by everyone. This post should contain brief details of what attracted you to the blog. Details may also be posted in the comments section of "What is a Hoy?"

4. In the same dedicated post, each winner has to show the award and acknowledge the blog that has given him or her the award.

5. Both those awarding and receiving A Hoy must show the link to A Hoy blog, so that everyone will know the origin of this award.

6. When publishing details of the blogs to which you have made your awards, these rules must be published for recipients to follow.

On to Award number 2-

I traced this one back to its origins and it's a pretty new Award created on 31 December by On Way to be a Healthier Bride. I'm pretty curious to see how fast one of these things travels around the blogosphere.

In order to fulfill my duty I will now pass it on to some beautiful blogging ladies I've come across-
The Raisin Chronicles
What's It's Like to Be Mie
Riding the Short Bus
Jen's Genuine Life

The Rules -

Find the beautiful ladies that you follow. Give them this award. Hopefully it'll truly mean something to each and everyone of you. Don't be shy to give it to the same person! Don't forget to tell them.

On to number 3-

The TMI "Sexy Mama" Award

I was among the first generation to receive this award, which is pretty cool. This was given to me by Chef E at TMI.

Here's my list-

Mother Bumper
Occasional boredom in an Otherwise Exciting Life
A Brand New Day with No Mistakes in it Yet
CrabbyAnne
Jules Of Denial

DISCLAIMER: My fingers are going numb from typing links. I know I forgot people, but the award part of my brain has completely shut down. I'm sorry if I forgot you. If I comment on your blog you can assume I think you're wonderful.

I promise I won't do this again any time soon.

Resolution

I'm usually a big fan of New Year's Resolutions, but I really struggled this year.

But please don't misunderstand me.

It's not that I don't have vices. I have lots of vices. I'm just pretty attached to the ones I have left.

Over the past 5 years I've given up a lot of my favorite bad habits. (I've also created some new ones such as my growing Internet addiction, but that's another post).

I quit swearing. (I decided it really wouldn't be cute to hear my toddler drop an F bomb.)

I pretty much quit drinking. (I got pregnant and then I got lame. Now one glass of wine results in me passing out on the couch at 9.)

I am no longer sedentary and slowly gaining weight. (I got scared straight when my father passed away a few years ago. He had a massive heart attack at age 59. It's also really hard to be a couch potato when you have a wild toddler to keep safe.)

I no longer torture the opposite sex. (I got married and now I focus my efforts on my one and only.)

I don't even waste nearly as much money. (The whole one income thing.)

I'm sure I'm a healthier person for these changes, but frankly I miss my bad behavior sometimes. The bottom line-I'm not ready to give up any more vices. (And no, I'm not going to tell what they are. Even a girl with a blog needs a few a secrets.)

So I've been struggling, but I think I finally came up with a resolution I can live with.

I'm going to attempt to be less dumb this year.

I'm going to try to actively fill some of the holes in my lopsided education. I've been slowly working on this since I quit my full time job, but I'd really like to crank it up a notch. There are still so many general knowledge things I don't know.

My plan is to do a little research and choose my reading material a little more carefully. My current method of choosing books is to grab whatever pink cover catches my eye while chasing my toddler through the library so I've got a lot of room for improvement. The research part will come into play whenever I come across something I don't know.

If I find a word I don't know, I'm going to look up the definition. If a news story talks about a country I'm not familiar with, I'm going to Google it.

So 2009 will be the year I try to feed my brain a little more and become a little less stupid (but I'm keeping my remaining bad habits, darn it).