1. General Conference Blog-sharing Activity/Contest
2. Comment Prize Giveaway
3. Post-It Awards

General Conference Blog-sharing Activity/Contest

It’s been a long time since I participated in a meme (don’t worry, I had to look it up once, too–it’s basically some kind of questionnaire that you can fill out and pass along to others).  I thought it would be fun to have an extra reason to pay careful attention at Conference.  Here are the meme questions:

General Conference Highlights, October 2010:

1.  Who were your three favorite speakers?

2.  Favorite talk?

3.  Favorite hymn sung during Conference?

4.  Who wore the best tie?

5.  Do you think conference had a “theme”?

6.  Share a few of your favorite quotes (paraphrasing is fine).

7.  Something that made you smile during conference.

8.  Any evidence that your children paid attention?

9.  If you had to give a talk in General Conference (don’t faint, this is hypothetical), what do you think you’d speak about?

10.  What are some of your post-conference goals?

On Monday morning, I’ll post my own answers here on this blog and you can post your answers on your blog.  (You can cut and paste the questions and just fill in the blanks with your answers.)  Then just leave a link to your post in the comments on Monday’s post here.  That way I (and other readers) can check out what you had to say.   And you can invite your readers to do the same thing so you can find out their conference highlights.

Also, on my Monday post, I’ll post a General Conference trivia quiz.  Whoever has the most points will be entered into a drawing for a prize!  (Not sure what yet, but something cool.  Oooh, I know.  How about President Monson’s new biography?)  Monday will be a fun day.

Comment Prize Giveaway

Now, any of you who have a blog know that blog comments are like little Christmas presents.  They make you happy.  My little ol’ blog has been up and running here since last March and I just noticed in my stats recently that I’m eerily close to getting my 5,000th comment!  I know some people get that many comments in a week, but whatever.  I still felt like celebrating.  So whoever makes magical comment number 5,000 will win another prize.  I’ll figure out what after I peruse your blog and think of something fun.  Just wanted to do something to say thanks to my fantastic readers for giving me so many little comment-gifts over the last couple years.

Post-It Awards

Here are some of my recent favorite September posts from BlogLand.  Several of them are from the the September Celebration of Family from Cocoa and Jocelyn‘s blogs.  Enjoy!

What is Real from Chocolate on my Cranium , written by Misfit Cygnet

Eternal Families from Chocolate on my Cranium, written by Allison Kimball

On Women and Men: Can’t We Just Get Along from Mormon Mommy Blogs, written by Braden Bell

Stage Two from Tatro Family

Presence from Mommy Snark

Peace of Mind for Fifty-Eight Cents from Write Stuff

We are where we are for a reason from THE MEANEST MOM

Love from Sweet & Simple Truths of the Gospel

Making Service A Way of Life For Your Family from We Talk of Christ, We Rejoice In Christ, written by Misty

Warnings and Forewarnings In The Family Proclamation from We Talk of Christ, We Rejoice In Christ, written by Susan

Lucy from Rabbit in the Headlights

I wanted to make sure that you knew about this little month-long festival going on over at Chocolate on my Cranium (click on the button):

This month marks the 15th anniversary of “The Family:  A Proclamation to the World,” which is even more powerful now than the day it was announced.  It’s a benchmark of truth and doctrine.

“Why do we have this proclamation on the family now? Because the family is under attack. All across the world families are falling apart. The place to begin to improve society is in the home. Children do, for the most part, what they are taught. We are trying to make the world better by making the family stronger” ~ President Gordon B. Hinckley

Anyway, there are bucketloads of posts going on over there about different points of the proclamation, as well as blog hops and giveaways galore.  You’ll definitely want to spend some time there this month.  (And if you’re still on the fence about it, okay, I’ll tell you.  I’m guest posting there next week.  At least show up that day.)

_____________

And in case you’re looking for more good stuff to read, I also wanted to honor some of my favorite posts in the last little while (and by little while, I really mean all summer.  It’s been a little busy around here. Give me a break.)  Let’s hand out a few Post-It Awards, shall we?

Winners –or anyone else who cares– click on the award for more info.

Posts that somehow inspired me, listed by post first, then the name of the blog:

For This Child I Prayed from I’m (Not) Crazy Mommy

Passing the Bridge of Sighs from Blog Segullah by Annie

Presence in Mothering from Mormon Mommy Blogs by InkMom (ooh, that’s two!)

learning every day from Hughes News

What I learned about being a mother by watching my husband be father. from You’re Pretty too.

Blessings from Write Stuff

whirring and spinning from a*may*zing

parenting from Confessions of a cookie addict

What (I Think) Women Want: To Husbands from Mormon Mommy Blogs by Braden Bell

Outside perspective from Mommy Snark

Lasts from Overstuffed

BLIND BY CHOICE from Becoming LDS

Go visit them and leave a little comment there; I bet it would make them smile today.  I’m sure there were many more great posts, so don’t feel bad if you had a masterpiece you think I left off the list.  In fact, feel free to paste your favorite post from this summer in the comments.  I’d love to read it.  Really.  This list here is just simply a case of the days I was not too lazy to actually click the little star button in Google Reader.

You people rock.  Yes you do.  (I did not say that in an annoying voice.  Trust me.)

I haven’t been producing many quality posts lately, and I have no real reasons except that life has seemed a little busy.  And when life is busy, my brain goes a tiny bit frenzied and most of the stuff I have to say is barely comprehensible, much less inspirational.

Oh, I did start taking a Zumba class at my gym.  It’s an exercise class that’s kind of a cross between latin dancing (which I love, mostly because I really like latin music) and jazzercise (or whatever those dancy-type cardio workout classes are called).  Anyway, it’s kind of fun even though it makes muscles that I’ve never even met before cry out in pain for several days at a time.  And it’s also fun if you don’t consider the fact that I look like the biggest, most ridiculous, uncoordinated fool this side of the Tex-Mex border.  So really I’m not sure why I go back, but I do, and I even brown-nose the instructor and offer to burn her some CDs of latin music so I can relive my glory days of grad school when I owned more latin music CDs than most of the Costa Rican inhabitants combined, and then when I try to make said CDs I mourn the loss of the pile of music I carelessly sold in a garage sale 7 years ago because I started having children and thought I probably wouldn’t be teaching for a long time and what was I going to do with them?, all because I didn’t want to be on a Hoarders show on television for clinging to useless items from my past (see DeNae for an example of this), and YET … are you still there?  I’m working on the LONGEST run-on sentence in blog history … the sale of which ironically made me MORE of a hoarder because I’ve regretted it ever since.

{Deep breath.}  See?  Barely comprehensible.  I warned you.

And that is why I wanted to share with you some posts that I’ve come across in the last month or so where people had truly intelligent and inspirational things to say.  This kind of goes along with that whole cook a fish vs. teach people to fish thing, which actually doesn’t make any sense at all the way I just said it.  My point is that since I can’t give you anything worth reading, I’ll send you elsewhere.

• First of all, I wrote a letter to Nick Jr. about their website because I read this post by Liz about how they have links from Nickjr.com to totally inappropriate games.  I checked it out myself and sure enough, easy access for preschoolers to violent, sexual, and crass video games.  Jerks.  So I wrote them a letter through the site she linked to and also through their “Contact Us” part of the Nick Jr. site.  I hope you will too, if you feel so inclined.
• I really liked this post at Becoming LDS about keeping a family afloat above the sea of temptations and turmoil about us.  She made some great points that made me think about what I’m doing and what more I can do to keep my family spiritually safe.
• Helen is a lovely down-to-earth woman living Down Under.  She wrote a really great summary of a mom’s job description.  I love how she summarized the main points from the proclamation on the family and other counsel.
• Charette, who always writes beautifully, posted about how her ideas of motherhood have changed since her childhood days of playing with dolls.  In “Beyond Baby Tenderlove,” she captures so well how being a mom is so much more complex than what we expected, and yet, more wonderful.
• Lara wrote a post in response to an article her mom sent her about people who hate mommy bloggers.  She defends “Why It’s Hard” to be a mom and I liked her description.  (Plus I wrote practically a whole post in her comment thread.)
• Kind of along the same lines,  Shoebox Princess, a wise mother who has arrived at the kids actually graduating from high school stage of life, wrote this post giving young moms permission to lighten up a little bit.  She says it well.
• And, finally, my friend Becca wrote a 100-goals-to-accomplish-in-life list when she was younger. One of her goals was to learn beekeeping, so she did this year.  Yah, really.  Anyway, I loved how her post “All Hail the Queen” made a poignant comparison between bees and a mother’s role.  Check it out.  She’s delightful.

You probably noticed that these posts are very MOTHER-heavy.  Well, you may have also noticed that the tagline of my blog is: Finding Faith in Motherhood. It’s something I deeply believe in but have to be reminded of often.  I’m drawn to these posts that resonate with me about how important, how powerful, how hard, how rewarding, and how blessed is the role of  a mother.  If you drop by and browse any of the links I posted, leave these ladies a little comment love.  They deserve it.

And if you don’t, I might have to post videos of me in Zumba class.

It. would. not. be. pretty.

p.s.  I just want to throw a virtual hug to all of you that:  have just had babies, even lost babies, had family in and out of the hospital, are going to the CBC, are fighting migraines, are praying for jobs, are preparing for your first triathlon, are the only not surgically-enhanced mother at your neighborhood pool, read this blog whether you comment or not, struggle with weight, are battling your insurance company, cleaned your house today!, are trying to figure out how to pay for house repairs, are moving, or are just going through the daily motions and wondering if anyone notices you.  I read your blogs and wish I could sit down and chat and let you know how normal you are (and how GOOD you are), but time and distance sometimes don’t allow for the kind of acknowledgment you deserve.  Wish I could offer more than a lame p.s. at the bottom of my post. 

Without further ado, the Post-It winners are (click on their names to see their celebrated post):

Molly and Lara both made the same coolest Valentines card idea ever.  Next year, post it BEFORE Valentine’s day so that those of us with a vaccum in our brain in the place where creativity should be will have an option besides the cards we bought at the store that say things like “Valentine, I’m racing to wish you a speedy Valentine’s Day.”

Sue has the world’s best giveaway going on:  a netbook laptop!  But her blog’s always worth reading anyway.

Speaking of the best, DeNae went public this week to prove that she has the sexiest legs in the blogosphere.  And she does.  She also tried to prove she has the messiest house.  *snort*  She doesn’t.

There are places in my house that make me want to run away (like my entryway and my laundry room).  Some people look at places in their house and get creative and industrious.  Poppy took an empty corner and created a kids’ desk area.  Julie managed to make a roomy and sleek laundry area.  Oh the jealousy.

Ramona ran a half-marathon and looked like a rock star doing it.  Inspiring.

Mary survived the dreadful task of weaning her children from the family bed.  It’s a good thing too, since they were about to start high school and all.  (She’s hilarious.  You’ll love her.)

Stacy wrote a great poem that any of us who are winter weary can relate to.  And to think that I probably only have about 3 months of winter left around here . . .  (sob).

And Terresa wrote one of the best posts I’ve ever read that captures both the joy and trial of parenthood.

Oh, and I can’t forget to congratulate Kristina on her new hernia.  Nice work, KP.

Congrats to all of these ladies who make the blogworld a great place to be.  (The “rules” for winners are here.)

One more thing to share:

Some music is just POWERFUL.  And if you can watch this video without feeling a swell in your heart, then you are cold and dead inside:

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!  I’m having a JAM party (Jane Austen Marathon)— it will be awesome.  Of COURSE you’re invited. 

• My blog has a new look because I just felt like shaking things up a little bit.  I did it a few days ago and no one’s said anything, so I’m wondering if it was more of a makeunder than a makeover.  Maybe I’ll start from scratch.

• I picked a winner for the poetry contest.  I know I said I’d pick a few and we’d all vote, but there were only a few entries (which were all fun and wonderful, by the way) and I just picked my favorite.   The winner is Charlotte of Memories for Later.  I loved her “Ode to the Snow Day” and it will soon be honored on my sidebar.  This lovely crown?  It’s ALL YOURS, Charlotte.  Congratulations! 

Snow Day.
Beloved of my childhood.
How I did yearn for thee then!
Praying for thy presence
With lazy days and snow to play.

Age hath unmasked thee,
O’ cruel day thou art!
Disruptor of Routine!
Deliverer of Cabin Fever!
Creator of Summer Makeup Days.

How I should dread thee,
And yet thy place of magic
Still holds sway,
And my heart flutters
At the thought of thee.

• Just wanted to let you know that I have a guest post up today over at Mormon Women.  It’s called “Obedience Buffet,” wherein I pontificate about my love of restaurants and tendency toward pick-and-choose in other areas of life.  Head on over to check out their site, and ring the comment bell if you feel so inclined. 

• Miss Wonder Woman gave me a Happiness Award, and asked me to list 10 things that make me happy.  So I did (click here). I’m supposed to tag 10 people, but I’m not feeling very rule-hardy right now, so I hereby bequeath this award to any of my readers who were born in July (because you must be cool).  If you choose to accept it, write your happy list on your blog and leave me a link so I can go read it.  Thanks, Wonder Woman!
• Okay, (deep breath) last thing.  It’s been a while since I’ve honored some of my favorite posts that I’ve tripped upon in the blogosphere.  So without further ado, the current Post-It award recipients …..  (click here if you’re a winner)

1. Annie Valentine blogs at Regarding Annie and she feels like a kindred blogger to me in many ways.  (I mean, her blog tagline says: “Sometimes I want to kick my man in the shin and sell my kids on eBay.”  *snort*).  She also writes a column in her local newspaper and I absolutely loved this post/article she wrote.  Made me look at the way I talk about people in a whole new way.
2. I always love That Girl over at Pensievity, but she wrote two posts recently about marriage (one crash course and one down-to-earth chuckle) that just reeked of right.  She’s a smart cookie, That Girl– all full of priorities, and cuteness, and wit and such.
3. In this post called “Death Doulas,” Terresa at The Chocolate Chip Waffle weaved a lovely tale of death and hope and wonder.  It’s quite beautiful.
4. I really loved this sweet, humble testimony, “God is There,” over at Mormon Women, too.
5. And finally, Momza wrote a guest post at Mormon Mommy Blogs called “Mothers Don’t Have to Be Everything to Everyone,” in which the title itself preaches a lovely sermon, but it was the last line of her post that hit me like a ton of bricks (the Holy- Ghost,-that-is-so-true kind of bricks.)

Whew, that’s it.

And I love my readers, really I do.  This past week you’ve given some great advice, and said some of the sweetest things that really made me feel great.  So thank you.

I cried.  I love Christmas.

You can still jump in to our 12 days of Christmas challenge (better late than never, right?).  And if you’ve been participating, please share some of your experiences there.  Good things happen when we spread some kindness in one-woman-at-a-time bulk. 

And here are a couple Post-its to show off a few blog posts that have inspired me lately.

1.   Mommy J, who usually blogs over at Mommy Snark wrote this fantastic post as a feature over at MMB:  “I am mother.  That is enough.,“  which echoes so nicely what “Diapers and Divinity” really means to me.

2.  Heather of the EO wrote a post called “Ours” this week, and wow.  Just wow.  She captures so beautifully the shock and awe we feel when we become new mothers.

3.   My friend Molly, shared with me this post that her sister-in-law wrote for national adoption month.  I think it does a lovely job of highlighting the triumphs, challenges, and divine role of adoption.  I’ve often thought about how the Lord uses adoption into the Tribes of Israel in order to make his covenants and blessings available to all his children everywhere.  Parent-child adoption is a beautiful symbol of how this works and is recognized in God’s great plan of salvation.

4.   Another friend, Shantel, wrote this post recently, “Come Let Us Adore Him,”  about how she was able to overcome the Christmas blues and grasp the meaning of the season.  And when I say meaning, I mean some really cool insight into the symbols of the nativity and their relationship to doctrines of Christ.  It is awesome stuff.  A little long (like I’m one to talk), but if you stick it out, I promise you’ll feel enlightened.

Do you have any favorite posts you’ve read (or even written) lately?  Share them in the comments.

Here are some of my favorite posts recently.  I think they deserve your attention, and I think you deserve to read them.

Debbie at Suburb Sanity wrote this hilarious post that gave me a great idea about how to get out of doing laundry.  She is wise and witty, and finds a way to remind us that old-school values still have a place in this crazy, modern world.

Jana at The Meanest Mom has been one of my favorites since I first stuck my toe in blog waters a year ago.  I love her harmless sarcasm and the way she takes the common challenges of motherhood and makes them so darn easy to laugh at.  In this post, she explains the phenomenon of children’s organizational problems with unmatched snark and wit.  You’ll laugh.  I promise.

Melanie at Write Stuff has become one of the people on my “I’d love to meet in real life” list.  Her blog always feels like a conversation you’d have with a friend late at night while you laugh or analyze together and eat too many calories to count.  This post cracked me up because there was like a collective “Wha??” in the comment thread from all her readers, and I learned a few code words for sensitive topics that I never knew existed.  Just a hoot.

Another blogger I’ve loved since the early days of blogdom is Sue at Navel Gazing at Its Finest.  If you don’t read her already, you should start, but don’t drink liquids while you read.  Anyway, she wrote one of the funniest birth stories I’ve ever read.  Check it out.

And finally, I’ve learned how talented my friend Becca is as I’ve followed her blog, The Little Author That Could.  She recently wrote this post that so beautifully captured the depth and breadth of the simple moments of motherhood.  It’s really lovely.

So, congrats ladies.  Note to the winners:

There are no weird prize rules for this award.  You don’t have to do a viral tag  of 8 people or make a monumental display on your homepage about it (unless you want to).  Here’s all you do:

1.  Accept it.  You can do this in the tearful silence of your own computer desk or by writing an emotional acceptance speech in my comments.

2.  Pay attention in the next week or so to the posts that you read elsewhere and if you find a favorite (or two or three), then pass the award along to honor the blogger who wrote it.  You can either do a post like this where you announce it (and which I will probably continue to do on occasion), or you can email them and let them know or whatever.  You’re smarter than me; do what you want.

And as a random side note, I have an odd hobby where I plan fantasy vacations that I never take.  Seriously, ladies, I know how to find rocking travel deals.  Check this one out for example:  A 10-night Meditteranean cruise for $350.  Please someone take this trip so I don’t feel like I found it in vain.