And the winner is...

For any of you who were wondering how I figured the winner (I'm sure none of you are, but I'm going to post this anyway) this is my tiny little program that picked it. It's Java if you cared. it took me a whole 45 seconds to write (if that). The problem was getting time to actually sit down and do it.

public class random
{
  public static void main(String args[])
  {
    Random random = new Random();
    System.out.println(random.nextInt(37));
  }
}

And irony of ironies, guess which comment won? The one from my Uncle Roger asking not to be included in the contest:

"(cough *no thanks* uncough)

 But that's really nice of you."

I found that pretty amusing. So I ran the thing again and it picked Erin whom I have yet to notify, but I know she'll be happy when I send her the email. Congrats Erin! I'll make sure to post a picture when I get the thing done and before I mail it. Now, the question is whether she'll want her last name, or the first name of one of the kids done...

**But, if you would like a crocheted name for yourself, email me. They are for sale too!

oh, yeah
somebody did win the contest. I just don't know who yet. I'll get right on that. Hopefully tomorrow, I can squeeze it in there somewhere.

You like me, You really like me!

OK, so I've had a couple people wondering where the heck I've been, and I just have to say that it feels good. I don't really have a lot of friends, and I like keeping in touch with people through the blog. It's, um, homey or something. (Gosh, I'm so eloquent) Plus, no one used to notice I was missing if I went 4 or 5 days without posting. Anyway. I'm still here. Just as busy as a whore in church - No wait, that's something else - as a one legged man in an ass-kicking contest.

I probably just offended all of my faithful one-legged men and whore readers. Um, sorry you guys. You know I didn't mean anything by it

No, I haven't been sleeping all this time. In fact, I'd have to say that I've been sleeping precious little of it. Anya seems to have decided that that one blissful night was just too good for me and might have given me some rather high expectations, so she's bound and determined to dash my hopes to the ground and break them into little tiny shards that she can pick up and shove up my nose in the middle of the night just to make sure I'm paying attention (or maybe I should cut her fingernails). Anyway. Sleep has deserted me and left me with a tiny little (25 pound) monster. You'd think I could take her. I'm much bigger. But alas, I'm no match for her. I've come to accept it. sort of.

Things I've been doing in my copious awake time:

1. Checking into Lasik surgery. Nope. Maybe next year. Crap. And also the doctors office I talked to are great big assholes and wasted my time. Fuckers. (I'm harboring a little resentment here. I really wanted surgery this year, and since I can't have it, I've blaming them because it's convenient.) Pig Fuckers!
2. Went to a nice dinner at the home of one of Rob's co-workers. Soup, salad, prime rib, and the works. Delicious. And a very nice time away from the monsters (Yes that's plural. I'm getting there) The hosts were nice too, if a little nutty.
3. Said "Ally do it NOW!" approximately 534,246,761 times a day. The little shit has decided that she's got better things to do than actually to listen to anything Rob or I have to tell her. Luckily she thinks that "I'm going to beat her" means that we're going to race.  She might run even faster if she knew what we really meant.
4. Didn't have to pay for a babysitter for above night out, because my friend Amy (Not the Amy that comments here sometimes, although that would be cool, 'cause that would mean we worked together instead of living 1000 miles apart and not ever having met) knew all the answers to a radio show contest, but she isn't qualified to win, because she is a contest junkie, and there's a limit on how many prizes you can win per month. So she had me call in instead, and I won her husband 2 tickets to the Cubs on Monday night. So bonus free babysitting.
5. Got so little sleep that we both called in sick to work on Monday and took the kids to day care. Scratch that. He called in sick. I used a personal day. We weren't sick. I did the right thing. I didn't lie. Did you hear that karma!??!! Then why, oh why did you give me a killer migraine 5 hours later? huh? You got the wrong person! Uncle Fucker!

Now I've probably offended any aunts who read this. Not that fucking uncles is bad, per se. Only if they happen to be your uncles, you see. If they're your husbands, if all good, even if they happen to be someone's uncle. Better?

6. Made the decision that everything (except what Anya can use in the future) goes in the garage sale soon. Our neighborhood has one every spring, and this year we're selling off massive loads of crap. Um, I mean good quality stuff. Really. There's a lot of really nice things in there, because I'm a sucker for cute little dresses, and they never get worn except to pictures, because I'm a dirty heathen and don't go to church.

Now I've... aw screw it. The dirty heathens can just go fuck themselves too. I've got enough to worry about. :)

So Rob and I have decided that the possibility of having more kids is remote enough that it's not worth saving all the 20 or so tote-fuls of stuff we've got in the attic. This makes me very sad, and I've got a post brewing on it too, but it's still kind of a sore subject for me. I had kind of thought there would be another, but it just doesn't look like the circumstances are going to allow it. So anyway, sad. But, that decision created a butt-load of work to do. So we dragged everything out of the attic, sorted by size, taped the outfits together and organized for the upcoming sale. It took forever thanks to that bitch Karma. (I'm still bitter about that too. I'd better get something good coming my way soon) but we've got all the clothes sorted. Next comes the toys. Hooray. I love throwing crap away. And it's even better if I'm not really throwing it away, but have the chance to make some money on it. get crap out of my house and get money for it? Woot! Yes, I'm a capitalist pig. oink.

(And I know that didn't offend anynoe, because us capitalistic pigs are too busy drooling over the prospect of money to be offended)

7. Got a project to do at work. It's a small project, and I have to share it with Amy, because we started there at the same time, and have been without work for the same amount otf time, and it wouldn't be fair to give it to me alone, blah blah blah. So anyway, we have to share it which means it will take about twice as long to do since we have to check in with each other on stupid little shit just to keep from duplicating work and stepping on toes. I'm not all that great at working in a group, so this may take some real effort to avoid actually offending her. Because I DO like her. I just like to work by myself.
8. Turned in my last homework assignment 4 days late, because I got too lazy to bother with it. I explained that when I submitted it and took the blame entirely upon myself. My teacher thought it was refreshing that I made no excuse and excused me the late penalty. Pretty awesome. I doubt she'll be that forgiving this time though. I really need to finish last weeks assignment. But now I've got this project to do at work and stuff... Procrastination is a fine art. You've got to practice to be any good at it. You know, whenever you get around to it that is.
9. Am working on weaning Anya. She's taking milk now, and I'm just about ready to start leaving the pump at home. Yippe! I really hate that thing. The nursing, I'm going to miss a little, but really? I'm over it.

And that's it. Well, not really, but that is the Readers Digest Condensed Version. My god, who knows how long the long story would have been. Good thing I shortened it. That's why I haven't been emailing, blogging, etc. I'll be back soon. Promise. You couldn't get rid of me that easily

Oh how I've missed you!
Sleep! Glorious, heavenly REM sleep? Oh where have you been this last year? Oh nevermind that. You came back to visit me last night and rejuvenated me. After having you I can forgive anything. You lift my spirits. I am almost giddy with excitement. Do I dare to dream that you will be back again tonight? Maybe I'm getting ahead of myself. I should just be grateful to have had your presence for one night, but I am greedy. I want more. I revel in the blissful quiet. I'm like an addict. After that first little taste of it, I yearn for more. i'm addicted to you REM sleep! Please don't leave me now.

one more thing

I'm registered for blogHer. Yay. a little mini-vacation. um sort of. I'm taking at least Darra and the kids with me and maybe my mom and nieces, but I get to talk to adults and meet some of my internet friends (Except Erin. crap. if you could get here, you (and your then 2 week old little Lucy) could totally stay with me) So YAY!

oh, and also

Last night I wouldn't let her sleep in the tent her dad bought for her. I read her stories in it, then made her go downstairs to her room for bed. She told me "I don't want to." I told her that it was bedtime anyway, and she came back with "I don't want you. I want Daddy." Then this morning, I woke her up and she said the same thing when I started to get her dressed. This kid is developing some serious attitude. We've got to nip this in the bud.

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Only 4 days left!

Easter fun and troubles

So, I got this phone call on Thursday from Rob's mom. "Katie, have you got the girls Easter candy yet? Because I just realized that I bought way too much, so you don't need to buy any, ok?" um, ok. I had planned on being a mean Mommy and only getting the girls toys this year, because we still have Halloween candy left. but, since we all know how I feel about candy, I wasn't about to turn it down. Love me some chocolate.

She wasn't kidding. Way too much. She didn't even bring me all of it, but wow. I've got to pull some out of Ally's basket, because she'll never decide what kind to pick if she has that many to choose form. Thanks Darra! That means I'll get to eat a bunch of it too. yum.

So Anyway, Saturday during nap, we put all the candy in plastic eggs (for hiding the next day) and gathered all the stuff we had bought for the kids. Then I realized that we would need some BIG easter baskets, so I had to dump one of the baskets that regularly holds some of Ally's toys and requisition it for the job. (See flickr.) There were bubbles, books, sand buckets, chalk, fingerpaints, stuffed stuff (mostly rabbits), this weird little chick that chirps when you hold it, and more. Ally was thrilled. Anya's basket, of course, had a ball in it. She loves balls of every kind. Most of the stuff I got for them was carefully picked out by them at Dollar General a couple days before. not a surprise, but guaranteed to be wanted. What was my point? oh yeah, Big baskets!

Sunday, we started the day off with some candy. Just a piece or 2, and it wasn't really a big deal. We went to Grandma's house and dyed eggs. And then some peeps were eaten. Ally and Marley went outside afterward and hid and found for quite a while. It was very cold, but they didn't seem to mind. My uncle Steve went with them. The kids took turns with him hiding and them finding and vice versa. Everytime they hid them, he'd come out and say something like "I wonder where they could be" and one of them would run to an egg and yell "I found one!" well, duh. you just hid it there 30 seconds ago. LOL Very funny! They played outside until there hands were about frozen. Ally ate practically nothing at lunch. She played with her cousins and had a great time. Anya was busy chasing the dogs around if they came inside. And just generally wandering around. She actually managed to get an entire plastic Easter egg in her mouth, so we had to outlaw them. She has a big mouth! Ally utterly failed to have a nap. instead, she went for a walk with Rob and his mom out in the "deep, deep woods" (which was mostly empty field, I think.)

I learned to make the crocheted names myself, and we took a 4 generations picture and had to leave. Ally had some more candy before we left. (Does anyone see where this is going?) She asked for another peice when we got home. I gave her one and told her it was the last one until she had a good supper. She asked me again, and I repeated myself. lather, rinse, repeat. I told her to stop asking. If she asked again before she had eaten a good supper, I would throw away a peice of candy. So she asked me. And I threw one away. She was shocked. I explained myself and reminded her that she doesn't get treats when she doesn't listen. blah, blah blah.

So, then for supper she eats her chicken, but not her corn. Said her tummy was full. I warned her that she didn't have a good supper. We talked about it and she wanted down anyway. 10 seconds later, what does she ask me? You guessed it. So I threw away another piece of candy. It broke her heart. She started bawling. Ran over to the couch and threw herself down crying. Oh my god. So I explained again why it happened and that she needs to listen when we tell her things. Then I had to go put Anya to bed, and Rob talked to her about it for a while. Since he's not the one who did it, she listened to him a little more and I think understood. She calmed down at least. We made sure she went to bed early that night.

Some people that I have told about this seem outraged and think that I've lost my temper. (which I didn't. I told her the cnosequences and when she didn't listen, I followed through with them calmly) Others told me I was being a good mom. I don't know which is true, but I think it was the right thing to do. I know that it made me feel like shit. I hope that I won't have to do it again.

*And Darra, I'm not blaming you for this at all. I only mentioned your part in bringing it because I thought the phone call was funny. I'm actually really really enjoying the chocolate. It was the holiday and the mood that Ally's been in lately, and the no nap. Please don't misunderstand.

Monster in the House

There has been a monster living at our house lately. It leaves a green wet trail where ever it goes. Everything it touches is left covered in slobber.  It peirces the eardrums of all who attempt to thwart it. It is teething. We call her Anya. Or sometimes "that one". As in "I'll deal with this one if you can just shut that one up for a minute"

But last week the monster started to fade. She started playing with toys again without the now-normal screaming. We are now able to be seperated for more than 5 seconds occassionally. She has a tooth. It poked through last week finally. I attempted to take a picture of the tooth, but instead got the monster. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's a piece from the Mr Potato Head alien set

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And don't forget to enter the contest!

ughh

I feel like shit. Well, mostly it's gone away, but I still feel like I've felt like shit for 4 days which is also a bad feeling. Thursday, I started to get sick. Many many bathroom trips later, I realized it wasn't jsut the brats I had for supper. Friday I came to work, but my mind was completely out to lunch. (Not that that is a problem at my job). Nasty. When I got home, I collapsed on the floor in the living room, and just let life go on around me until I was neded. Ally was so cute. "Do you have a tummy ache Mommy? My tummy hurts too" not that I noticed at the time. I was just wishing she would get off me, so that she wouldn't get whatever bug I had picked up. I am not looking forward to her having it if it comes. Saturday and Sunday, I mostly felt better, but still had numerous trips to the bathroom.  was able to finally have something besides crackers and Sprite (My husband was so kind. He even ran out to the gas station to get me some soda at like 9:00 Friday night to help make me feel better. he had offered to do it earlier and I declined, because I didn't want to be left alone with the kids awake. i figured he'd be annoyed that I wanted him to go out that late, but he didn't say a word and ran right out for me. Sometimes I love that man!) at lunch Saturday. And I felt pretty good Sunday at Easter at grandmas house. Mostly better in fact. Just a little weak still. But when my stomach started dealing with lunch, it got bad again. not terrible, but enough to make me sure eating wasn't the best idea I'd had all day. I lost 5.5 pounds in 4 days. Yuck. So if you've been wondering where I am, that's it. I've probably been reading you're blogs/emails and stuff, but not really in the frame of mind to have anything interesting to say about them. It's better, and I'm sure I'll return to my scintillating self again soon. And when I do, I have lots of good things to say about Easter. It was great fun. I love watching the kids play with family. and I didn't feel to bad to enjoy it by then eaither. But, then we had the candy whining start. grr.

~ cya later

Blog contest

Hey, there's this thing going on. Someone's trying to give away money (1/2 of what he raises, so really, he's just trying to make some money) to pay people to blog for a year. He's trying to raise $80,000 which is pretty farfetched. But even if he doesn't make it, he's giving half of what he's got. That's currrently over $600. To win, you have to have the most votes. I'm horribly behind, but am registered anyway. My chances of winning are pretty bad, and it's entirely possible that this is all a bunch of crap anyway, but I'm going to ask all of you to go over there and vote for me anyway. you can do it once a day, so go back tomorrow and do it to. Please?

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And don't forget to enter the contest!

another one

I'm on a roll with the scrapbooking.

http://ktjrdn.photosite.com/scrapbook2007/PumpkinGrin.html

Everybody's got one...

I need your opinion. You know I had one of Ally's friends over a month or so ago, right? It never even occured to me that I might have done something wrong until I overheard a conversation the other day. Not about me, but I'm in the same situation. I didn't mention something to Maggie's mom which she might have wanted to know before letting her kid come over.

We own guns. Rob and I each have one. They are kept in our bedroom in  2 lockboxes which are keypad and key locked. The keys are not kept within reach of children. They are not loaded with a magazine, but the magazines are full and also kept locked in the box. I haven't even touched mine since I was in my first trimester with Anya (I used to get paranoid that I heard something when Rob was gone overnight working. I'd load it and wander around the house with it before I could go back to sleep. Preganancy paranoia). At some point I'm sure we'll talk about it to the kids, but we haven't yet.  

So my question is this: Did I do something wrong when I didn't mention it to Sandy (Maggie's mom)? Should I have? I never even thought of it. It seems like something I'd want to know but I never think to ask either. I assume that if there are guns present they will be locked and inaccessible. Like ours are. Should I mention it for future playdates? How would I bring it up? It sounds awfully ominous bringing up guns when discussing a playdate. Is there a certain age when I should start paying more attention to it? What do you think?

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Don't forget to enter the contest!

I'm back

Ok, so I wasn't gone long. I didn't have much work to do actually. I had to write some documentation for some work I had done previously (oh and I forgot to write a program for a class I'm taking that was due last week. oops. So I had to get that done too) So now I won't have anything to do for another month or so, probably. i hat emy job

So I never got around to telling you how the weekend went. I did post pictures, so those of yuo who checked out Flickr know we had an Easter egg hunt. That was Saturday. Our subdivision has one every year. Ally had a good time. She's been looking forward to this since I told her about it. She asks me constantly "Is it Easter time yet?" So of course she had a good time. She picked up lots of eggs. She had a great time. She even decided on her own that she had found enuogh eggs and quit. Which was cool because we still have halloween candy left. We sure don't need a bunch more.

I figured Anya would right away pick up a couple eggs and wander aroud banging them together. I was wrong. Rob had to restrain her because she wanted to start before it was time to go.  He helped her and she actually put them in her basket and looked for more. Unilt her basket got more in it than ewre on the ground around it. Then she started pulling them out. But she had a great time wandering around. They reuse the eggs every year, but we kept 2, because she just didn't want to part with them. 

For those who checked out yoUTube, you know that we had Ally's first dance recital this weekend. it was a very informal one (Thank God) at a retirement center in town. She was on her best behavior. i think that was because a couple of her friends didn't show up. She's always more calm without them there. I think familiarity breeds exctement. Anyway, i was proud. She did good.

Sunday we went over to Rob's dad's house to visit. She got to play outside with her cousins for a long time. A good time was had. So that was the weekend. Not too exciting, but fun

In case you were wondering, Jill was right. The other day, we had both forgotten our anniversary. Duh.

In completely unrelated news, our microwave died this week. I'm so sad. I've had this microwave since my dad gave it to me about 7 years ago. It was huge. I liked it. Our new one is an interloper. The start button isn't where it should be and you have to push "cook time" in order to punch in a specific time or else it uses the express cook thingy-ma-bob. Grr. plus the clock is bright green, but kinda small, so from across the room, it just looks like a green blob. (Um, yeah, it also cost $100 bucks, because of course, we couldn't just get a small cheap one, oh no!) I miss my microwave.

Also, I'm going to blogher. I'm going to get to meet some of the people that I read everyday. I am not sure of the plans yet, but I'm getting ecited. I don't ever get to do fun things like that myself. yay. If you're going, we totally have to get together! Let me know

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Don't forget to enter the contest!

Work!

I have work to do! OMG, I'm not sure I know how to deal with this. It'll probably only keep me busy for a day or so, but work! I have work to do!

um, I better get busy doing it, huh?

Pictures galore

I have decided to get out of my scrapbook funk and do some more. I've started smoe pages and quit because I just wasn't feeling it. But I'm going to force myself. Check out my scrapbook link ->

I have some really cute videos of Anya dancing, but my firewall at work won't let me get to youTube. They figured people were spending too much time there instead of working or something so they blocked it. So now I have to try to remember to post them form home. So far it's not working, but I'm determined to do it tonight. I also have videos from Ally's first dance recital at a nursing home Saturday. she did great. very cute.

I got the Easter pictures back too. check them out (link under Ally's "Easter" and Anya's "11 months old" are the same) ->

I uploaded the Easter egg hunt pictures to Flickr too. Hunt is kind of a stretch of the imagination though. They basically just threw them on the ground and let the kids swarm on them. It's always great fun, and this time was no exception. Anya even picked them up and put them in her basket. I figured she'd just grab a couple and ignore the rest, but I was wrong. i ran back and forth between the kids taking pictures.

So, um click around and check out all the new stuff.

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Don't forget to enter the contest!

Email conversation between Rob and I this morning

>>> ROBERT SWANER 04/02/2007 7:55:09 AM >>>
friday april 13 or sat 14th. jeff planning have us over for dinner. any conflicts?

>>> KATIE SWANER 04/02/07 7:56 AM >>>
It seems like there was something the 13th but I can't remember...

Anyone know what it was we were forgetting on the 13th?

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Don't forget to enter the contest!

My name is Katie and I'm a recovering TV addict

They turned off our cable yesterday. Previously, our cable/internet bill was $86.26 a month. Without the cable, the internet bill will be $46. We're trying desperately to get our finances in order, and have been looking for ways to cut back where we can. The internet isn't really an option, but the TV? I can live without. I can't believe that's true. I was a tv-holic. I used to have shows I watched religiously almost every day of the week. I've watched Days of our Lives for probably 18 years. I love the TV.

That is, until I had kids. I'm not one of those crunchy earth-muffins that think the TV is the devil. In fact, I did enjoy it. (And it let me take showers by occasionally babysitting Ally, so I'm forever grateful.) But when you have a kid you run out of time for stuff like TV. I can't even remember the last time I got to watch an entire 30 minute sitcom without hearing "Mommy..." let alone an actual movie. With the addition of a second kid, my TV time went right out the window. I even quit watching DOOL back in the fall sometime. (And I still suffer from withdrawl - but I'm dealing) There just wasn't even enough time for me to watch it in fast-forward. Not if I want to play with the kids and do the dishes and laundry and vaccuum and eat and shower and stuff. I used to tape my shows and catch up on them after the kids went to bed. Eventually, most of the shows I watched went off the air. I never picked up new ones. I've only been watching random stuff and reruns lately, so I didn't think it would be too hard to give up.

I had to convince Rob. He used to hate the TV. Now, he sits down at night to relax and he's got the remote in hand. He gets watching a (stupid, boring) history channel special, and his ears tune out the rest of the family. It's annoying as hell. Especially since I can't do the same. It doesn't happen all the time, and I don't usually complain about it, but at $40 a month, it's worth doing something about. After looking at the budget over and over again, and with spring finally here, he's agreed. The TV is non-essential. Good-bye cable.

So for the last 3 weeks, I've been taping 3 or 4 hours of Ally's favorite cartoons a day. I now have 15 tapes full of various cartoons. She watches them over and over anyway, so I think those tapes will last us a while. plus, she's getting older, and can start to watch movies, and I've got plenty of Disney movies. I don't want our money-saving to deprive myself of showers, you know? although, maybe then I'd lose some weight haha.

Yesterday they turned it off, right on schedule. So after the kids went to bed last night, Rob and I had to find alternative entertainment. I think I'm going to like this after all....

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Don't forget to enter the contest!

Puppy

Ally has this game she likes to play. She's a puppy and I'm a Mommy puppy and we both wander around the living room woof-ing at each other. It's quite tame compared to some of her other favorite games (like hiding toys from Anya and screaming nonsense words in her loudest outside voice and putting things on top of other people's heads and poking people in the eye and such) so I endulge her and play it pretty often. Last night we both decided to woof at Anya a little bit. She was clearly enjoying it. And laughing her head off. Then, she looked around the room. I thought she might be looking for smoething, so I told her to go find me a puppy. She turned in most of a circle and then made a beeline straight for the stuffed animal pile and picked out a puppy and brough it back to me! this is the first time she has ever shown me that she knows what a puppy is. I was amazed.

She has also learned the sign for "more". Given her love of eating, I'm not surprised. We've been teaching her for a long time now, hoping to cut down n the screaming for food at supper. but, she doesn't have it quite right. Instead of putting her fingers together and touching both hands together (I'm pretty bad at describing the sign, but it's kinda like clapping, except with your fingers all gathered together) she just claps. there's a subtle difference between clapping and more, but it's all in the look on her face. and the number of times she claps. Plus, it's usually 1 or 2 claps followed quickly by some pounding on the table and screaming if you're not quick enough.

She shows no signs of saying Mama or Dada, but if you ask her where someone is, she'll usually crane her neck looking around for them. Ally had so many ear problems, that she didn't talk until 15 months old. Not a single word. I wonder when Anya will start. When did your kids start talking?

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Don't forget to enter the contest!

Celebrating my 2nd anniversary blogging - A Contest

A little backstory:

I started blogging in a roundabout way. My uncle opened an MSN group to kinda keep in touch with the family (and friends), while he was in the navy. After I had Ally, I used it to post little updates now and again for those family members who we didn't get to see very often.

Then, in 2005, I was taking a class through our community college. One of the projects was to  create a website for a non-profit organization. It could be a fictional one or a real one, but if it was real, you had to do actual research and stuff, so I made one up instead. it had to be posted on the internet. My teacher gave us a list of some free web hosts. tripod was one of them. I did my project and went on with life. one day while mindlessly google-ing because I was bored at work, I ran across an interesting blog. Since I had nothing to do, I stopped and read for a while. Then, I followed some links. Eventually, I decided that I basically was treating Roger's group kinda like a blog with my updates posted there. I decided to check out the capabilities available for blogs with tripod, and found that I like it. I posted a lot more often, and everything was much easier for me to find and post.

For those of you that have wondered, that's how I came to be using tripod instead of something like blogger or typepad or something. You can thank my college instructor. I really didn't know much about other blogs then.

I copied all my old posts from the MSN group and posted them here. Then I started writing my posts here. That was on April 15, 2005. I've officially been blogging for almost 2 years (and over 700 posts). Somewhere along the way, the blog became less about updating family (although it still does that) and more about my life in general. Until very recently, I knew everyone that commented here. (And I loved them for it.) Lately, I have had more visitors from various other blogs, and have made some great friends (even if we have never met).

But, I have never had a contest. So to celebrate my second anniverary, I'm offering a prize.

First - the prize:

My mom makes these framed crocheted names. She sells them, but I'm giving one away. (I'm going to get the pattern from her and make them myself too. But since I am a terrible procrastinator, I can't guarantee that I'll make the one I'm giving away. It might come from her, although she hasn't been told about this yet. ) Typically, she crochets your last name and you get to choose the background color to match your decor. Or, you could pick your kid's first name and have it framed to match their room colors. I have my last name hanging over my entryway stairs.

Now - How to enter: For every comment you make between now and April 15th your name will be entered in a drawing. I'll number them and at the end, I'll let Java's ramdom number generator pick the winning number for me. (At least my programming skills will get used somewhere, since they don't give me anything to do at work. ha!) So as not to rule out the Safari users (grrr. stupid tripod servers!) emailed comments will count too (or you can use Firefox). 5 bonus entries will be given if you post on your own blog about how and/or why you started to blog. If you have already posted on the topic, you could write about whether your style has changed, or what blogging means to you. But to claim the entries, you have to send me the link to your story.

So that's it. Get writing

If for some reason, you don't wish to be entered, you can still comment. Just let me know to remove your name from the list (cough*Roger*cough)

If you'd like to buy one yourself, drop me an email. They are for sale, but I haven't gotten around to getting a website for my mom set up yet. The frame is included with the contest, but she typically doesn't like to ship them framed.

Silly cow

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Hey, that cow is acting like a bird! Silly cow. Cows don't drink from those. Those are for birds. heh heh. That cow was being silly Mommy!" - Ally

She was partly right. I never have seen another cow drinking a martini. Then she went on to tell me how "cows have milk in their BUTTS! Haha, in their butts, Mom!" When I told her about the udders, she laughed and said pigs have milk in their udders too. um, no honey, I don't think that's what they're called. I'm not up on anatomy of pigs, so I waffled around when she asked me what they are called and I finally called them teats. I'm waiting for the day care to call me about Ally talking about pigs tits. Any time now...