Category Archives: About Blogs

If I worked at Google search, I’d think I was the only normal person in the world.

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According to my stats, these are phrases that people typed into search engines (like Google) and were then directed to my blog.  I’m a little confused about what’s going on in people’s minds.

what lipstick to use to conceive boy

shriveling kidney ultrasound

shock treatment lullaby

keyboard chastity

lindt truffles are unhealthy

my mommy’s going to jail

play games for hate mothers

rhyming diaper advertisments

diaper pee final exam

i totally ignore my appearance

diapers during electro shock

urinary tract infection comics

And I’m a little more confused about what this says about my blog.  Maybe I’m a little more dysfunctional than I thought.

If you have a stats program, what are some of your favorite queries that have landed on your blog?  And if you don’t, what kind of Google search terms do you think would direct people to your posts?

Etc., Etc., Etc….

Posted in About Blogs, Diapers, Divinity by

Today feels like a day of miscellaneous business.  I’ll try to be efficient as I cover it all.

  • 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.

Christmas wake-up call

Posted in About Blogs, Divinity by

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.

Technology is not the enemy.

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I think the computer age gets a bad rap from people who call themselves “old fashioned” or more personal and sentimental.  I just spent about four days without the internet and, let me tell you, it felt like you old fashioned people would feel if you found out that the Pony Express was on vacation.  With no offense meant to the lovely little warm place I call my home, I felt like I was totally disconnected from the “real world.”* I couldn’t buy tickets to the Christmas play.  I couldn’t book our let-praises-shout-forth-Matt-is-finally-graduating-from-law-school-vacation-celebration reservations.  I couldn’t even look up the phone numbers I needed so I could do it all by phone.  Matt told me to put together emergency kits for the car due to our “Blizzard Warning,” but I couldn’t do a 30-second online research project about what items should be included.  And give me a break, it’s not like I’m going to pack up the kids and go to the library and sort through a card catalog to find an article in a magazine from 1987 about car kits.  (So I just resorted to chocolate, latin music CDs and warm socks– I figure if I’m going to freeze to death on the side of the freeway, I might as well be with the things I love.)  (I’m kidding.  I’m more responsible than that.  I got a blanket and flares.  And once I can get out of my driveway again, I’ll buy some chocolate.)

I’m rambling.  Sorry.

Anyway, my point is:  The internet is good.  Very good.  And it’s not even impersonal.  I mean look at you (a person) reading my blog right now.  And when you (again, a person) comment on my blog, it’s a tidbit of personal interaction that most likely would not exist in my otherwise scraping-oatmeal-off-the-table-and-forcing-antibiotics-down-screaming-throats-and-drying-wet-gloves-by-the-fire kind of day.  It brings unanticipated and pleasant human contact into my day.  Some of my friends that live inside this computer are:

  1. people I met and knew once, but not as well as I would have liked to and yet this virtual world has reunited us and built our friendship stronger,
  2. people with whom I’ve emailed and even phone-called for advice or to share a funny thought, and I consider them real friends even though we’ve never even laid eyes on each other,
  3. other people I’ve never met at all, but feel like if we met up at any given moment at the Cheesecake Factory, we could sit there together for hours laughing and talking (and consuming cheesecake unabashedly) as if we’ve known each other for ages, and
  4. really creepy lurker people who pull up my blog daily just like to look at my profile picture longingly (because who doesn’t fantasize about being a stay-at-home mom with three children who give them adventures like this?  Okay, I admit it, there are some unhealthy sides to virtual networking.  If you happen to belong to this category, please don’t let me know because I’d like to continue sleeping well at night.)

And I do like getting a nice, handwritten note in the mail now and then, but I don’t think email is impersonal unless the author writes impersonally. Grant entered the technology age this week and wrote his very first email.

Hi granpa I am haveing so much fun with granma I miss you this is my frst leter on the compooter you are my favrit granpa from Grant

I think it’s among the top 10 cutest things I’ve seen in my life.  And he was overjoyed when the very next day there was a note back from Grandpa.  So I like technology.  A lot.  And I’d cancel my gym membership, dental cleanings, and insurance on my car before I’d cancel my Internet.  Because I’m such a people person, of course.

(*Disclaimer:  with all due respect to this great talk by Elder Bednar, ” Things As They Really Are,” I know that what matters most is not virtual.  What’s real is what’s important, but I do love getting to know the real people behind the virtual friendships I’ve found through blogging.)

Post-Its

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Let’s spread some bloggy love, shall we?

Post-it Award

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:

Post-it Award

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.