5 Basic Yet Fancy Add-ons for Your Blog @TwoOs+More Today!

So, you have a blog, but there's a little something missing? Jealous of all the cool kids and their buttons and add-ons? You've come to the right place!

Sarah @TwoOs+More just had her third sweet little boy, so to give her a *little* extra time to welcome him to the O family, she's having me over today to talk about some basic/fancy upgrades for your blogs!  Head on over to check it out!

We're also linked up w/ Hallie @Moxie Wife for Five Favorites today!

Liebster? I don't even know 'er!

Alternate title: I won! I won! I won!

SO, while I was shamelessly plugging away for someone to award me a Lobster the other day, Julia already had! Thank you, Julia, I am humbled and honored, truly, truly. (and. let's face it, this girl needs more humility!)

I've been seeing several Liebster/Lobster winners over the past week or so, but I had to clarify the rules for myself. So, I Googled it. This post makes it seem pretty complicated, but this one says all you have to do is accept it and pass it on, you make up the rest. Sounds like my kind of prize!

SO...without further ado (too late!)...drum-roll please...

Julia answered and then asked the following questions:

Where do you live and why do you live there now?

I live on Black Sheep Farm, in northeast Ohio. I live here now because this is where we are building up our family. We live in a 100+ year old farmhouse on land that's been in Steven's family for...8 generations now, or, at least since 1832. Kind of a big deal. 

What are you currently watching or reading?

Hmmm....does pining after the next season of Sherlock count?  We also blitzed through all four seasons of Downton Abbey this spring. I haven't been much of a reader lately, which is sad to me, but I am crawling through The Fellowship of the Ring again. The last really meaningful read I had was The Glass Castle, but I already told you about that. Oh! I just remembered! Steven got Unbroken on our Audible account. He says I will really like it. I don't know, because it's sure to have some horrific war drama that I'm not positive my wired mom/nurse-self can handle, but I'm willing to try it out. Maybe.

How many pairs of shoes do you own?

Own vs. wear is a distinction that Sarah highlighted, and I will go with. I have 7-8 pairs of footwear that I wear. I like to have footwear for specific activities. Leo always asks if I'm going to work when I put on my clonky-Dansko clogs. I suppose I own the boyos shoes too. They have 3 pairs each in whatever is their current size (sneakers/church shoes/boots). 

Are you a good dancer?

I can rock the amateur-type-in-home-dance-party, and I was a ballerina once. As in, for one season, at age..5 (?). I played a guppy in a production of The Little Mermaid. My sister got to be an oyster. Her job was way more glamorous, believe me.  

Who usually drives, you or your husband?

Steven, because he is the best driver, and I am the best co-pilot. I was trained in this prestigious vocation by riding shotgun for my brand-new-driver sister at the tender age of 15. I can call lane changes and feed a hungry charioteer french fries like nobody's business. 

What is your favorite holiday, and how do you celebrate it?

I really really love Easter. The Easter Vigil is one of my favorite services to go to.

Which is correct, left or right?

Left. Always left. Although, not that it matters around here. I give you Exhibit A:

Do you have any scars?

At first I was going to say no, or maybe tell you about the (pretty much faded) minuscule scar on my right index finger from shutting a pocket knife on it while carving a stick at the age of...old enough to know not to do that. And then I was like...OH yeah....there was that one other, *lee-tle* scar...AKA C-section delivery of my firstborn son. So, yes, scar, check. (I'm tellin' you, don't have kids! *wink*). 

What's the most famous thing you've ever done?

Ummm....nothing. Seriously, nothing yet. You'll have to wait for my children to grow up to be amazing inventors of something really awesome, or everyday saints, or champion of all-the-things, and then everyone can say, "she's his mother!", and the crowd will cheer. That will be my fame. 

And, because I can, I nominate Marie (who should always get a prize!), Jamie (who will have fun answers!) and Christina (whose answers I can't even guess!) for the prestigious Liebster award! 

Questions to answer:
-Who is your favorite saint and why?

-What is your least favorite food, and the last time you ate it?

-Who is your alter literary/film ego?

-If you had to make a living teaching something, what would you teach?
-What is one thing you have learned recently that surprised you?

-What is one name you would never give a child, and why? AND top three names you would consider

-What is the most inspiring book you have read?

-What did you want to be when you "grew up" (as asked to your 2nd grade self)?

*AND* if you wished you would have won a special award, let me know. It's just about my favorite thing to give things to people, and I take bribes easily. 

Tattoos & Turtles

Just in case anyone was wondering how on top of all things crafty and seasonal this Momma is...I bought some Valentine cards for the boys to decorate. On Valentine's Day. We have been coloring paper and envelopes to wrap them up into, and we even mailed 3 out yesterday! Wow!

source (+me)

The Valentines we bought are fancy Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle ones with messages like:

so awesome I will threaten you with my swords!

no way you are touching this Valentine!

The Valentines come with little (not even 1" square) temporary tattoos with similar pictures (no words on the tattoos). Of course, most of the tattoos are being used for us, rather than being placed in the little "A TATTOO FOR YOU" slots on the cards...but that's the point, right?

Leo needs re-fresher tattoos every day, as soon as the old ones wear off, and (of course), if you give a mouse a cookie, Daniel is going to want one too.

They even got their Mom to get one!

I added the arrow so you can see the tattoo.
I had to put it on my arm (instead of the back of my hand, like the boyos) so it wouldn't show on nurse visits.
Somehow I think my patients might see Ninja Turtle body art as less than convincing of my medical abilities...;)

I would add a picture here of Leo & Daniel with their tats, but they refused to be captured by the paparazzi. Le sigh.

Meanwhile, Kelly @This A'int the Lyceum (that awesome mom who's running 5Ks to raise money to support charites for SMA) wrote a post the other day about gathering sponsorships in order to attend the Edel Gathering, a retreat for moms put together by the famous Jen of Conversion Diary and Hallie of Moxie Wife.

Anyways, in her post, Kelly flaunts a brand new "tattoo" she got of Hallie/Moxie wife, basically right on her chest. It was epic. I'd put the picture here, but my blog is rated G+. (kidding...really kidding!)

SO, I commented to Kelly that the tattoo was *the* best, and she wrote back to me that "for the right price" The Hopeful Starfish COULD CLAIM HER RIGHT BICEP!!! I dropped everything immediately to work on the design. Here's what I have so far:

just Peachy ;)

I just can't wait for all the fame and fortune to kick in...meanwhile... 

...it occurs to me that some folks may not know the story behind my blog's title...so, don't hold your breath, but I think I'll write something about it soon. 

Also coming soon:
1.Vampires and Vonnegut and 

2.How to Make a Toy Library & Stop Cleaning up After Your Kids

"Most" Posts of 2013

Whelp...I kind of jumped the gun on the Top 10 Posts of 2013 thing (--since *when* am I ever ahead of schedule?!), and it got switched to something cooler, so take a look!

{Post with the most clicks}

Don't Have Kids. Unless you've been living under a rock the past week, if you read my blog, you've seen this one. I am so flattered that y'all liked it so well. One of my favorite things is learning something from an unexpected place, or re-thinking something that seems trivial into more solid thoughts.

{Post with the most comments}
...It was actually the same as above...so I picked a runner up...

What's on Your Bookshelf? This was a fun link-up post with pictures of our bookshelves.  I listen to books more often now than read them....but books with pages are still my favorites :)








{Post with the best picture}

I should probably have picked this one of my boyos AND Sr. Agnes Therese AND baby sheep AND Benedict Cumberbatch, but The One About the Snake was too good to skip...there was a SNAKE!  Kudos to my dear siblings for getting me through that one. I'll tell you, blood is thicker than that snake--and he was fat!





{Post that was Hardest to Write}

It was definitely hardest to write Common Ground: Macklemore's 'Same Love',  but a catchy tune got stuck in my head and got me thinking about the "other" side on one of those "hot-button" issues...







{Post that was my Personal Favorite}

Sometimes I'm trying to have a new perspective on something, most of the time I'm being silly, but this post was just straight up from my heart, however corny that sounds. Fear & Loving was putting in words and sharing with you some ground-breaking vulnerability and honesty. I'm a pretty private person, so catch it while you can, folks!






So, there you go, Round #2 of the 2013 wrap-up.  Here's lookin' at you kid for another stupendous year to come.

Linking up with Sarah from 

Amongst Lovely Things for "Most" Posts of 2013

Picture This!

I first saw this idea from Bonnie over @ A Knotted Life, and she got it from Jennifer @ Conversion Diary: 13 photos that tell you everything you need to know about me and my blog. ...with links to the best stuff. Fun! :O) 

1.

Chocolate really is all we want most of the time.
And world peace. 

 2.

But there is yet time for reflection.
And we do find blessings. 

 3.

My life's basic philosophy.
Unless it is possible to live in the moment with cookies.
Which I try to do as much as possible. ;)

 4.

Noise with dirt on. Yup.
Being a mom to these two little guys is...an adventure? 

Dullsville? Going too quickly?
D. All of the above.

5.

But there should always be time to read. 

6.

Being a nurse has it's ups and downs; 

it definitely gives me pause for thought though!

 7.

Pathetic. Some days...

 8.

Mostly I just talk about these guys.

9.

Unless I'm just joining in the silly stuff...

 10.

And sometimes we have things to say about farm life.
{Say/whine...same difference.}

11.

We try to be funny around here sometimes ;)

 12.

This guy means serious thoughts a-coming!

 13.

Lately I've been thinking about our little family: wondering what the little guys will be like when they get older...wondering what I'll be like when I get older...and praying for what lies on the road ahead. 

“If it's half as good as the half we've known, here's Hail! to the rest of the road.” 
― Sheldon Vanauken, A Severe Mercy

{FF} Momma Said...

Joining Hallie for Five Favorites.

Make sure to pop back over there for the actual bloggers ;)

***

So, yes, this is a "mommy blog" blogging about other mommy blogs who blogged about being moms...

source

For {Five Favorites} this week, I'm going to take a look at some awesome posts from other bloggers on the blessedness (::wink:wink::) of Motherhood. So, with as much ado as possible, and in no particular order, here we go!

1. 

Sarah @ Two Os + more with
Letting the Sweet Moments Trump the Not So Sweet
Sarah has a very light-hearted and informative blog that always has plenty of variety (I love the pics and the "Out of the Mouth of Dom" in her weekly updates). This post is one of her more serious ones, however, and she tells it straight. Being a mom is pretty bittersweet...and sometimes you just gotta let go of the poopy moments and bask in the sweet ones.

2.

Grace @ Camp Patton with Natural Family Seat of Our Pants

Anyone who's read this blog for 2.5 seconds recognizes that I am a Camp Patton fan. Grace has a dry sense of humor and keeps it honest and snarky about life with 3 under 3. This post highlights some good thoughts about NFP.  I'm planning to enlighten you all with my deeper thoughts on the subject at some future date, and I'll probably link this up again. What I like about it is that it highlights the fact that NFP is different for every couple, and our judgy-mc-judge-thoughts about other families should take the high road. God has different plans for each family...unique, wonderful plans.

3.

Kendra @ Catholic All Year with So You Guys are DONE, Right?
Kendra's blog is one that I've just started checking out (I think Sarah sent me there?). She's a Catholic home-schooling mom of seven kids...and a great resource for mom stuff. I agreed with absolutely everything she had to say about disciplining kids in this post. The post above, however, is a nice perspective on larger families. When people start telling you at 2 kids that you've got your hands full...it's nice to know what you might say ;). Her thoughts on families don't quite mesh with mine, so perhaps that's why I like to read her thoughts. The stigma that families with more than 3 kids have something wrong, or obviously were mistaken, or whatever need to be broken down. Children are beautiful gifts, and some people are called to have plenty of them :0). 

4.

Haley @ Carrots for Michaelmus
with Trying Not to be the "Just Wait" Mom
Haley is another blog that Sarah sent me to :D. She's got great thoughts and reflections (and has chickens too!). This particular post was great, because it wasn't quite what I expected. I thought Haley was going to tell us not to be impatient with the day-to-day motherhood blah stuff (which is a good thing to think!), but instead she went one better. This post teaches us "older" (ha-ha!) moms not to hurry the "younger" ones along. As someone who feels like an *expertista* on most everything after running through it twice, I needed this one. 

5.

Bonnie @ A Knotted Life with Nine Months of Doing it Wrong
Bonnie is a mother of six with good perspectives and solid experience. I feel like I'm reading advice from an older sister or aunt at times with her :0). Her thoughts in this post totally clicked with me. Just before going in to deliver her newest baby, she reflects on the backwards way she has been praying for the last several months. She had prayers of fear. I've realized a lot lately that I pray in much the same way (and I'm trying to become better!). My prayer is often fear-based, as in: "Please don't let x-y-z happen to us!!!". These are the moments of growth...the stretching times when we realize why God made motherhood such a well-trodden path in this life.

>>Bonus Blog Reel<<

Check out the following blog superstars for more great Mom tips:

Kelly @ This Aint the Lyceum

Jen @ Conversion Diary

Hallie @ Moxie Wife

Dwija @ House Unseen 

Jessica @ Housewife Spice

{7QT} Completely Random Edition

aka Business as Usual

{linking it up with Jen for day #5 of the blog thing and the 7QT}

(day late and dollar short as usual too...)

1. Blessed Mother, hear our prayer, keep those people in your care.
We learned this prayer in first grade, from Sr. Patricia Williams, and she had us pray it whenever we heard a siren go by on Congress Street outside. To this day, when I hear sirens, I pray this prayer. I've started to teach Leo to pray when he hear sirens or see an ambulance. His cosmology has some room for growth, though...he'll say things like "they're going to see Jesus now?". Umm...there's time to iron that one out!

2. Divisions of labor.
After getting annoyed that I have to feed the chickens all the dang time (gol-ly...it takes 15 minutes or less to feed all the animals that we have...::whine whine whine::), I've decided to suck it up and take it on as just something that I do. Steve can still handle the building of 2-story buildings in the back yard, and the car mechanic stuff, and the washing the dishes when I've ignored them long enough and the mowing the lawn and fixing everything etc. etc. etc.

3. Email update.
So, in writing an email to a friend of mine today, I realized that it sounded like a blog. Or maybe my blogging sounds like emails? Maybe all of my writing just sounds the same?--witty and clever and snarky and informative etc., right? ;)

4.Pageviews

After reading here (pg. 14...but I'm not a stalker...) that Grace of Camp Patton fame gets 190K+ pageviews PER MONTH, I pretty much melted away into the blogger unknown-dome forever. I think this amazingly witty, clever, informative blog has gotten 2,847 pageviews TOTAL (not that I check very often or anything) since it's inception two summers ago. Which leads me to...

5. Kiss the being famous goodbye.
I don't share enough of my life for this blog to get anywhere, right? I'm never going to give you as much info and details as Grace and Jen and Kelly give me...so, sorry, not too sorry, I guess I'll stick to my 17 followers and hope to amuse them once in a while ;).

6.Yup, I'm a nurse...So, I get calls from friends/family (ok...maybe 5 calls ever in my nurse career so far...but still!), and they say, "So, since you're a nurse...". Should I tap into this as a source for future blogs? "The top ten things everyone ought to know about antibiotics"? Mostly my advice would be: drink more water, get some rest, call your mom. So...we'll see. Also, I already give myself enough nurse stress (<<wow. read that link!) over my *actual* patients, I don't really need to give myself more of that. Now, bossing people around, however...that would be right up my ally. 

This is a picture of a nurse I found online.
It is here because there are no other pictures in this blog, and that is sad.
You probably stopped reading 3 takes ago because
there were no pictures to break up the monotony.

7. Elaborate bedtimes.
Currently, Daniel is (*knock wood*) pretty easy to get to sleep. Leo requires bath-time, 2 stories, 3 prayers and 2 versions of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" and then *maybe* he'll be satisfied enough to stay in bed *and* be quiet for a little while.  What do you guys have to do?

Be sure to head back over to Jen's for more actual 7QTs.

Tune in next time to hear Larry sing..."Everybody's got a waterbuffalo, your's is fast, but mine is slow..."

5 Things Tag

Being enormously flattered to have been “tagged” by Sarah over at Two O’s Plus More--where she blogs tons of creative ideas about teaching and feeding her two (super-cute) boyos and bringing the faith into their lives--here I am with my...

“5 Things”

Firstly,

1. I am an extraordinarily private person. I am very friendly and enjoy sharing things with folks, just not all folks, and definitely not everything! Well...except for cute pictures of my boyos. Like this one: 

   

   :0) *that face*

   This doesn’t usually present a problem for me, but does make me surprised by how very much people will share with the world!
2.  I struggle with keeping a “nurse” mentality about life. It is stressful to be a nurse. Attention to detail takes on a whole new meaning when someone’s life is at risk. The struggle is then that ordinary life can start feeling as though it has the same pressure...not a good idea!  Lately, I’ve been taking the advice of my always older, sometimes wiser, very pretty sister, who tells me to give myself a break. To me, this means more chocolate. Win-win for everyone, IMO.
3.  When I read home/garden magazines, I’m most often left with the thought, “people actually live in houses like that?”, and also, “where is their stuff?!”.  



Do they read those books?
Do they sit in those chairs?
Where are the stacks of bills and *important* papers?



Seriously.

4. I love memes. I had to give up iwastesomuchtime.com for pretty much ever. Not for Lent, for all time. (Well, mostly...I have looked at it once in a while...see #2). The name of the site says it all...>>click at your own risk!

   

   teeheehee.

   I do have Catholic Memes and Maine Memes on my Facebook feed, though. Gotta love laughs like them memes :0)
5. My best advice for moms/parents is: Do what works. (Of course, everything that I do works, so you should consult me...!) Seriously though, life is too short to try to meet everyone else’s standards for your own family.

Thanks to Sarah for tagging me! I don’t know who to tag now!  I would tag Laura Rydberg...and if you’re reading this, Laura, I don’t have your email, but would love to get in touch with you! (mine is katherine.s.friedman@g(oogl -e)mail-dot-com >>encrypted for safety ;)) 

 ...and then I would tag Simcha Fisher, because she is awesome, but...I don't think she knows I exist! Dilemmas, dilemmas... :0)

One-Liners

Prelude
Often I am struck with the Blogging-Muse...but only lightly; a Muse tap you could say.  I'll think of a topic, and think, wow, yea, that would make a great blog post.  But then I never get to it, or it would be too short once I thought it through, or...whatever!

So, drum-roll please, here it is ladies and gents: the One-Liner Blog!

Now, you mustn't just read through for your own amusement, you've got a job!  You have to vote on your favorite one OR the one that you would most like to see as an actual blog posting.  The winning one-liner gets graduated to official blog status in the next posting.  Ja?

Now, just in case you clicked here because you were looking for some actual one-liners, I have included a few here below courtesy of One Linerz' Top 100 List (**disclaimer: NOT rated G**).

9 - Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.

12 - We never really grow up, we only learn how to act in public.

14 - Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit; Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.

16 - Politicians and diapers have one thing in common. They should both be changed regularly, and for the same reason.

19 - The early bird might get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.

100 - Nostalgia isn't what it used to be.

OK, now the Offical One-Liner Blogs! (First Edition)

Folks, it's ante pasta, not anti pasta, it comes before, not against the noodles!

Things I found in the register-vent floor-grate courtesy of my son: 3 spoons, a pen and  a key chain.

Giving report at the end of shift is necessary for the psychological well-being of nurses.  Also bragging rights.


Why does "Stop, don't, come back!" translate into "As soon as I stop talking go right back to eating/touching that dangerous/disgusting object" in baby language?

There is something philosophical or theological to be said of the fact that mothers are often described as having their hands full.

I just was told, a little over 4 months after starting work at the nursing home, that there is an entire quality control task (read: useless paperwork invented by state inspectors) that I have never done.

Leo likes to help with the laundry.  He helps the folded ones onto the floor.


Often when I write on the back of family photos I act as though that particular photo were going to be the only one surviving the next great Ice Age, and thus I proceed to write down everything thereon.

Leo pushes his toy truck faster than you can run.  And makes truck noises whilst doing it.

Bramble the goat can hop her fence.

There are people in my Facebook news feed whom I don't know if I know.

I secretly (not anymore!) hope that one day a collection of all of the letters I write to people will become a published best-selling book.

"...because God's gifts put man's best dreams to shame." --Elizabeth Barrett Browning

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Now, don't forget to VOTE!