Q and A

I filled out an online interview about my blog. If you would like to read it, you can find it here.

They asked me some questions that I thought were pretty interesting. It got me thinking about some past blogs that I have done. It also reminded me that my blog will be 2 years old this Summer.

I am trying to decide what I want to do for my blogs 2nd anniversary. If you have any ideas, you should let me know! I considered changing my layout, which I normally do annually, but I decided that I like this one way too much to change. What else can I do? How can I throw a birthday party for my blog?

Special Music Discount on Easter!

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Madacy Entertainment. All opinions are 100% mine.

Hey internet friends! I have just learned about a great deal going on for Easter only! On April 4th, that is this weekend, Amazon.com is going to offer a huge discount on a kids album called Ultimate Countdown Kids Collection: 200 Sing-A-Long Favorites. You'll be able to download this entire digital album for only $3.99 instead of the regular $11.99!

I've mentioned before about how much I love singalongs! Caleb and I have so much fun singing and dancing together. I can tell that he really cherishes this time, and its something special that we share. There are some great traditional singalongs on this CD, but they are all songs that I have on no other album! Its exciting to me because I have literally hundreds of singalong songs.

Some of the songs that I am thrilled to have on this download are Baby Bumblebee, Alouette, and Home on the Range. These are songs that I have sung to Caleb, and even played on my guitar, but he hasn't ever heard most of them any other way. He once heard Alouette on a cartoon and gasped with delight! He was astounded that they knew mommy's song!

I can't wait to singalong and dance to these songs with Caleb. I'm also going to put them on my iPod so that he can listen to them in the car. If you've been reading my other posts then you probably know that we are planning a trip to California in a few weeks. I think this album would be perfect for entertaining my 2 year old son while we are on the plane. I hope the other passengers don't mind hearing him sing along!

Word World

My son has started watching a show on PBS called Word World. Its a cute little edutainment show that teaches kids letters and some phonics as well. There are several animal creatures on the show like a bear, an ant, bugs and a sheep. Caleb's favorite characters are the duck and the frog.

What makes these characters so special is that they are made up of the letters that make up their names. They run around a world where nearly everything is made up of their letters. So, the duck sleeps in a nest that is made out of the letters N, E, S, and T. The frog lives in a log that is made of an L, an O, and a G.

The animals solve problems by creating things out of letters. They select the letters, sound out the word, and then when the letters are smashed together, they form into the item. Nearly everything in the cartoon is formed this way, even their food.

Caleb is really taking to his letters because of this show. He calls out the letters and repeats the sounds. He especially loves the songs, which are frequently about phonetics. There is a song about how S & T go together to make a sound. There is another episode where the shark character is mistaken as a suh-hark because the duck doesn't know that S & H make a special sound together.

I have lots of toys for Caleb that are supposed to help him learn letters and sounds, but he wasn't really that into them until after he saw Word World. I think the show just kind of brought everything together for him. Now, when he sees letters that he recognized, he yells them out. When he sees letters that he doesn't recognize, he just hollers, "L-M-O-P!" It is truly adorable!

Rebirth of a Blog

This just in.

My blog, Mamapotamus has just been resurrected. Fortunately, when I stopped using it, I kept all the code because I think it's super cute.

Mamapotamus is about my weight loss adventures. I will track my exercise and my diet. I will basically be posting my calories consumed vs. my calories burned. I am going to use this blog to track my weight loss progress, and also to talk about different methods for weight loss.

I am currently trying to talk my friend Chelsea into guest blogging. She is using MetaFast right now. I think that her experience with this diet would be a great source of information for my readers. I would like to cover as much of the weight loss industry as I can, while focusing on my own calorie counting adventure.

I hope Chels is on board.

Open Carry Article

I have more exciting news everyone! I have been published again on Associated Content. I was paid $2.00 for this article about the open carry controversy.

Writing articles like this one for Associated Content are allowing me to make money working from home. I haven't made enough to quit my day job, but blogging from home has helped me earn a little extra money on the side. Just a little extra income is helping my family and I am doing it blogging from home. Its my dream to work from home only and be able to be a stay at home mom.

At this point it isn't a realization, but I can see it on the horizon.

Me Likey

I just learned about a new way to earn money on my blog. It's called MyLikes. The reason that I think it is worth a try is because you get to choose the advertisers that are on your blog. You create a banner filled with links to things you actually like! Then those things are posted to your twitter, facebook, or blog; you make the choice.

MyLikes is a CPC program where the advertiser pays you every time someone clicks on the link that you post. It works similarly to Google adsense, from what I can tell. The beauty is, as I mentioned before, you get to choose the ads that are displayed on your site. I like to have this control. It means that I know there won't be any weirdos advertising on my blog through MyLikes.

Right now I am testing MyLikes on Twitter. It seems really easy to use and I look forward to finding out more about how it works. I promise to write a post letting everyone know how it all worked out.

How Sweet

My husband just said the sweetest thing to me! He leaned over to kiss me, stopped, and said,

Your skin looks great!"

I thought that it was so nice to hear that I forgot to be upset that he sounded shocked. I have been trying to take better care of my skin for about the last 8 months. I have been using Mary Kay time wise 3 in 1 facial cleaner and moisturizer. I just use it to wash my face in the morning and sometimes I remember to do it at night too.

I have also been going all weekend without wearing any make up. I don't know if that makes a difference, but I had the feeling that my face needed a break. It probably mainly helps because I don't sleep with my make up on if I never put it on to begin with.

Anyway I guess it paid off because after 8 months my husband noticed. That's pretty quick for him.

Welcome Spring

Here are a few photos that say to me: "Spring has sprung!"

This is Caleb on the prowl for dandelions. He would rather pick tulips, but we are trying to protect those at least until they open all the way.

This is a soon-to-be Daddy bird in my mom's front yard. He was singing so pretty to the other birds to stay away from his love nest.

Here is the same Daddy bird with the Mama bird diving in.

Here is Mama bird checking me out. Isn't she cute? These trees are impossibly high. I'm hoping the nest will be low enough that I will be able to take some shots of it for the blog.

This is Pony Boy napping in the flower bed. Definitely a Springtime activity.

Can't Get Enough

I had to unplug my computer and net extender so that I could charge my phone. It seems like I never have enough outlets where I need them. Here are a few other things that it seems like I never have enough of.

Money

No matter how much I make, I always need more. I think it's because everyone wants a piece of my pie.

Time in the Day

Even now I should be sleeping.

Gasoline

My tank hasn't been more than a quarter full in over a month, it seems like.

Socks

The darn dryer is eating all the left socks. I've got one of every kind, but I can't make a pair.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

If I Ran SocialSpark

So, I was reading this article on DragonBlogger.com about what he would personally change about the IZEA services. First off, I should say that DragonBlogger has been a huge help to me this month; my first month writing sponsored posts. His articles have helped me to know what to expect from, how to use, and where to find sites that will connect me with sponsors. When I saw a "spark" opportunity listed by him, I knew I wanted to take it.

As I mentioned, writing sponsored posts is a new thing for me. As I thought about what I would change, my first thought was DragonBlogger's first thought as well. I want to get paid faster! When I write posts for Blogvertise.com (which I learned about from DraggonBlogger, by the way) I get paid right away. When I write for AssociatedContent I get paid right away. When I write a paid post for Blogvertise, I supposedly get paid 30 days after the post is approved. I wouldn't know, since I haven't been writing for them for more than 30 days.

My experience with SocialSpark is a little limited since I am still new. I have only done 3 paid posts with them so far, the rest have all been free posts in exchange for links or free services. I should probably mention that I don't think I would have any paid post opportunities at all if I hadn't followed the instructions in this article written by - guess who - DragonBlogger. I started taking "Spark" Opportunities, which are the non paid ones I mentioned, because he said that it would help me gain an active presence. Looks like it worked. I'm making more money than I thought I would be, I would just like to see my paycheck sooner.

I'd really like to know how to qualify for more opps. I'm sure someone out there knows the secret, but I wish the details were easier to find. So far all that I can manage to find is that I need to work on making my blog more popular. There has to be more to it than that, right? Well, don't ask me because I can't seem to find an answer on the site.

Another thing that I would change, speaking from my limited experience, is that I would make it easier to find personal support. Initially, my blog was approved. After taking only a couple of opps, I was sent an email telling me that my blog was no longer approved because it appeared to be only for sponsored content. I scoured the page for a way to contact a real person to make my argument. Eventually, I submitted a trouble ticket explaining that only 4 out of 150 posts on my blog had been sponsored. Submitting the ticket worked. The next day there was an email waiting for me saying that my blog was re-approved. Since then things have been running smoothly, but this little hiccup stressed me out for a minute there!

Lastly, I find the site hard to navigate. Sometimes I come to a section of the site and I don't know how I got there. Then when I leave, I can't find out how to get back. I feel like I am pretty intuitive. I mastered the BlackBerry Bold 9000 with ease, so a website should be a snap. I can work a Windows Mobile device, so that means that I can think like a computer and that I have robot dreams. I don't think that a site layout should stump me the way that the SocialSpark site does. It looks pretty though, I do enjoy that.

Oh, one more teeny tiny thing. My profile picture is all stretched out. I don't like that very much.

Waste to Energy for Earth Day

This is a sponsored post. Please see my disclosure

Earth Day is turning 40! April 22, 2010 will mark the 40th time that the US will celebrate Earth Day. For as long as I can remember the Earth Day mantra has been: "Reduce, reuse, recycle." In grade school, that meant reusing soda bottles as bird feeders, but now I know that things are being reused on a much grander scale.

People have been looking for sorces of alternative energy since before the recent hike in oil prices. Remember the car that ran on chicken waste? Waste to energy is not a new concept, the guys at http://www.nviro.com have been doing it since 1993. They turn sludgy wastewater to energy via a complex process that lets them do tons of it all at once. The result is renewable energy! People aren't going to stop making waste, after all.

The N-Viro process allows them to make different types of products. not only can they can make top soil for agricultural purposes. They can make opportunity fuels, clean coal, alternative energy, and more. They take organic waste, which I am pretty sure means doody, and they transform it into something useable and beneficial.

Waste to energy is not widely used, but it seems to me that it has a great opportunity to be an afforable alternative energy sorce compared to fossil fuels. Its a renewable energy and so I hope that means that it would lead to lower energy costs.

I'm glad that I could write this post in regards to something that I didn't even knew existed. These kinds of clean coal and renewable energy sources are just the kind of thing that are gaining a lot of popularity these days. It seems like everyone wants to help do their part to go green and alternative energy is a great way to do that.

Life is Cruel

I'm watching a recording of the new Discovery Channel show, "Life". I really love shows like this. There are so many beautiful things in nature and in places far, far away that I will probably never see. These shows bring those scenes into my livingroom.

I took film studies all through High School. The hardest thing I ever did was film nature. All I wanted was a shot of a fish jumping out of the water, and a great blue heron flying over a pond. I saw it several times every day, but catching it on film was a totally different situation. I marvel that the things that these camera men are able to capture.

I just watched a Komodo Dragon hunt a water buffalo. The dragon bit the buffalo, and it took the poor thing 3 weeks before it decided to lie down and die. Then, it was ripped apart by several komodo dragons. I used to think that those things were cute! Now I see them as horrible monsters with big stinking teeth and slobber.

I wonder how it effected the camera guys who were filming the scene. They had to follow the poor, suffering water buffalo every day. It is their job to catch nature in the act, whether that is a snake egg hatching, or a water buffalo with a festering wound struggling to stay alive. They had to sit there, day after day, watching this creature try to live when it realy had no hope. They watched as it neared death and giant lizards came from all around to stalk it and wait for it's death.

I think it would be such and exciting job, but I don't think I could handle that.

Curious Dream

I dreamed that my friend from NYC moved back to Seattle. She reopened her worm farm (which she never actually had to begin with). I was getting ready to drive 3 hours to get some of her top of the line worms so I could start my own worm farm.

The first thing that I thought was, "I gotta lay off the midnight snacking!" Then I realized that dreaming about worms beats dreaming about being at work. I had dreamt about working the 3 previous nights.

I hate it when I dream about working. It's like being there without getting paid. I already feel like I am there all day. It's way too much to be there when I sleep.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Gimme a Kissimmee

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Kissimmee Tourism. All opinions are 100% mine.

When I was in middle school, my best friend had a shirt that read, "Gimme a Kissimmee" on the front and, "Somebody in Kissimmee Loves Me" on the back. That was about 15 years ago, and that was the time when I decided that I wanted to visit Kissimmee, FL for myself. I still haven't gone, but plans are in the works as we speak.

The parents of a friend of a friend own a vacation home in Orlando, which is very near to Kissimmee. My friend, Jen, thinks that will be able to get us a good deal on it! We are planning on going in a big group, so that will cut down on the costs as well. Oh, and who do I mean by "we"? Why, the whole family, of course!

When Caleb was born I told everyone that I wanted to bring him to Disney World for his 5th birthday and that everyone was invited. Where is Disney World? Right next to Kissimmee, where else? There's Disney World, SeaWorld, Universal Studios, and Medivel Times, just to name a few of the awseome things we are going to be doing!

I'm sure my dad will want to play a round of golf. Caleb's birthday is in December, but Kissimmee will be warm, unlike Washington state. My dad isn't object to playing golf in the cold. It was snowing like crazy the day Caleb was born, and my dad finished his golf game before he came to the hospital. In Kissimmee, he won't have to bundle up; he can soak up the sun at The Royal St. Cloud or the Harmony Golf Preserve. Nothing but top notch courses for my daddy, he's been spoiled by the local country club.

While there are so many family oriented things to do in Kissimmee, Shawn and I are going to try to sneak away for just one afternoon and evening to be alone together. We are going to go shopping and then out to a nice dinner. I love hanging out with the "townies", and so I think we are going to go to the Kissimmee Steak House. They've been in business for over 25 years and they are family owned. I just love to support businesses like that.

Did I mention that its just a few hours to get to Mississippi where my family lives? My mom's side is from the gulf coast, and you can drive there in a day from Kissimmee. We will wrap up our family vacation by seeing our extended family. They don't get to see Caleb much, and he is growing so fast. I know that they are all excited for our visit as well. I have started saving a secret stash for this trip, and I know it will be a time to cherish with family and friends.

My 2nd Article Published

I've been published again! This is my 2nd article and I am so excited. It's about the tusk of a Columbian Mammoth that was found in a nearby town called Ridgefield, Wa. Please check it out here and let me know what you think!

I've really been enjoying writing for Associated Content. I can write about whatever I want and they pay me for it. I think its a great way to get free experience as a writer. One of my coworkers is going to be signing up soon. She says she wants to practice writing again to prepare herself to go back to school. I think that is a great idea! Practicing will definitely make her better at writing. It will freshen up her skills, and she will get paid for submitting her content! Super smart.

If you want to give it a try, you can click on the associated content button on my side bar that says, "join submit earn".

Gardening!!

I didn't plant my strawberries this weekend! I'm resolving to do it today! I am hoping that I will be lucky like a friend of mine. She made a hanging basket and a little robin came and made a nest in it! How cute! I'd love to have a picture of little blue eggs next to my bright red strawberries!

Alvin and the Chipmunks

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Alvin and the Chipmunks. All opinions are 100% mine.

As I have blogged about before, I have been taking Caleb to the movies a lot lately. I was so bummed that we missed Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel when it was in the theater. I heard on the radio today that it will be on DVD, Blu-Ray, and digital download on the 30th of this month. I'm really excited for him to see it. Caleb loves squirrels and chipmunks and all things fuzzy. Plus, since its something that I enjoyed as a child, I think we will both have fun watching it.

Also, the DVD is coming out as a double pack that has a bonus disc. Caleb loves to dance and sing, and I think that he will really enjoy the additional music and the singalongs!! I used to love singalongs when I was his age. My parents had tons of VHS and Vinyl singalongs for us when we were kids. I loved the Alvin and the Chipmunks Christmas singalong; it was one of my favorites.

I like to have movie night with Caleb where we snuggle in my bed with popcorn while he watches his movies, but since this one has the additional disc, we will be able to sing and dance along out in the living room the next day as well! They also have a website where you can "munk yourself". I think he would get a kick out of that, too since he has just started playing games on the computer. You can find More Munk Mayhem at fox family flicks as well.

I'm excited about this DVD release, and if you are too, you can buy it now. Please leave a comment if you do, and let me know how you like it!

Why I'm Not Getting Rosetta Stone

I've been looking into Rosetta Stone over the last couple of days. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I want to learn how to speak Vietnamese. After doing a little bit of research I have decided not to go with the Rosetta Stone program.

The reason is because Rosetta Stone only teaches Northern Vietnamese dialect. My grandma is from the North and so that is what she speaks, but my father grew up in the South, so he speaks both. Most Vietnamese in the US speak Southern dialect. So, I guess I could use the Rosetta Stone system if I wanted to be able to only talk to half of the people I know. I found some podcasts online, which are informative and free. I feel like I would do very well pursuing them, but again, they are mainly Northern dialect, they only touch on Southern style.

I have been searching in my area for Vietnamese classes and I found one in Portland, OR. I emailed them last night to ask if they teach Northern or Southern dialect. I received their reply this morning. They have teachers from both! They use the same text book, which is no real surprise since the words are spelled the same, just pronounced differently.

A 12 week course, with one class a week is about half the price of the Rosetta Stone software. I am going to save up all of my blogging money to get classes! If I feel like they are working well, then I am going to check out some of the classes they have for toddlers. That's right! They have Vietnamese classes just for toddlers! I'm sure that if I enroll Caleb, he will learn faster than I do! He will probably be teaching me at home!

tạm biệt!

House Shopping

Brought to you by Scottsdale Real Estate

My parents are looking for a new house. Wait, no. Hold on, yes. Maybe? Okay, I think its safe to say that they are toying with the idea. One day my mom is trying to look for new homes on the internet and asking me if I know any real estate agents. The next day she is saying that she will never move out of her ever shrinking ranch style home. I used to think that the wavering depended on whether or not my grandmother was coming to live with them. Now I'm not sure what makes them change their mind from day to day.

Sometimes they say its the market. Sometimes they say its their age. Sometimes, I'm not sure exactly what they are saying. I think that the reason they can't make a decision on whether or not to decide is because they just can't find what they are looking for. I think the reason they can't find what they are looking for is because they don't even know where to start looking. The internet is such a big place that finding something specific can be like looking for a needle in a haystack.

I wish that Vancouver had a site like this Scottsdale Real Estate website. Google rated it as a top site to find a home in AZ. Its supposed to be really easy to use. The problem with my parent's situation is that they are looking for something very specific.

If my grandmother comes to live with them, she will need her own private space, but she will also need to be very near to them in case she needs help. She will need a master bedroom and bathroom on the lower level. There will have to be a very clear divide from her part of the house and the rest because my parents have dogs that she doesn't want in her area. She will also need lots of room for all over her furniture that she plans on bringing with her.

I really do hope that my grandmother comes to live with my parents. Right now she lives on the East coast, and she has never even met my son. I would love to be closer to her, because I feel like I never really got the chance. She lives in MD, and we moved from MS when I was only 6. We lived in VA for 11 months when I was in middle school, and I got to see her more often then, but I was too self absorbed to take the opportunity to get to know her better.

As I've gotten older, I realize how important family is to me. I'm so glad that I had the chance to get to know my grandpa on my mom's side. I'm hoping that I will have the same opportunity with my dad's mom, if she comes to stay in our neck of the woods... if we can find a house she likes, that is.

Ready, Set, Garden

The sun is out and that has me thinking about gardening! I am really excited to start a vegetable garden this year. I plan on starting small. I often tend to "go big or go home" or rather; "go big, get bored, go home". I want to plant bell peppers, tomatoes, snow peas, and strawberries.

My mom saw some strawberries and snow peas while she was out today, and picked up some starters for me. I have some bell pepper seeds from a really tasty organic pepper that I ate last Summer. We are going to get some tomatoes in about 2 weeks, when it gets close to the right time to put them outside.

Mom also picked up some hanging baskets for me... isn't she sweet? I thought the strawberries would look so cute in the hanging baskets on the eave of our covered porch. We used to have a strawberry patch when I was growing up, and I never liked eating the ones that grew close to the ground. It seemed like there was always some kind of critter getting at them. From ants to squirrels, everyone wants a bite! Hopefully, hanging them will help keep them out of harms way.

Also, you may remember that my mom has a worm farm and so I am going to have a plethora of worm poop for my garden! If you're not aware, worms poop out amazing dirt for growing all kinds of plants. If you ask about it at your local nursery, you might want to call it "worm castings." Castings means poop. No matter how fancy you try to make it sounds, its worm poop.

Famous People

Tommy 2tone is in my work

I can tell its him because he's wearing his sunglasses inside.

Optimize Your Efforts

Brought to you by ROIanalytics.

One thing that I have learned from blogging is that even the most adorable websites can get overlooked. It doesn't matter how much effort you've put into your website, if people aren't able to find you, it might as well not even be online. Your appearance can be great, your product can be phenomenal, but if you aren't attracting attention from search engines, then you're not going to get traffic. Thankfully, there is a Long Island company that recognizes our need to drive traffic to our sites.

There is a recipe for a good website, and everything has to be in balance. Your content can be amazing, but if you aren't using the right keywords, people are going to overlook you. I've written before about SEO, which stands for Search Engine Optimization. RIOanalytics.com, a Long Island based oranization has the recipe card to your website's success. I've been gearing my blog toward SEO goals, and I have seen a huge surge in traffic. So, I can speak first-hand as to how much paying attention to all of the elements of SEO can improve your website and your business.

The nice thing about ROIanalytics.com is that they have been in business in Long Island, NY for many years. They have been helping to grow small and medium sized businesses in NY. Their expertise has also helped larger companies and companies in other countries as well. If They can help all of these other businesses reach their goals, why not mine? Why not yours?

I Want to Learn to Speak Vietnamese

I don't know why I didn't learn Vietnamese as a child. I wish I had been taught. My parents enrolled me in Vietnamese classes when I was in elementary school, but I didn't apply myself. The classes were expensive and because I wasn't taking them seriously, they didn't last long.

Now, I look back on that opportunity as wasted. I wish I would have studied harder. I don't want Caleb to look back and wish that I would have taught him Vietnamese. He has been watching Ni Hao, Kai Lan on Nickelodeon. I hear him over the baby monitor in the mornings practicing his Chinese in his room. He says "hello," "thank you," "dolphin," "red," and various other random words. I would love to hear him practicing Vietnamese that way.

I can't afford the Rosetta Stone series, although I am sure that its worth the price. I've found a few YouTube videos about learning Vietnamese and I've decided to try those out. I hope it works. I'll keep you updated.

Cat Bath

I was feeling brave and I gave Darth Kittius a bath. It wasn't so bad, now that I know I can live through it. He hated it the whole time, but he only fought me for the first 60% and the last 10% of the time. The rest of the time he just sat in the tub plotting my demise. He's fluffy and clean now. I rate it an overall success.

You Deserve a Promotion

Brought to you by the awesome folks at Lowe Promotions

You know what I love? Swag. I really do love it. I enjoy networking and schmoozing. I love to come home with a big bag of free stuff. I'll take it all, ink pens, note pads, key chains, money clips... give it up! Just today I got a promotional notebook with fancy ink pen from Samsung.

If you have your own company or website that you want to promote, giving away free stuff is a great way to advertise. Traditional forms of advertising leave your potential customers with only an image in their mind. Branding an item leaves a longer lasting impression with people. Its taking your own logo and putting in the hands of your potential customers. Letting them walk around with it, pass it on to their friends, and see it on an item they can use everyday. Branding a T-shirt, hat, or umbrella is a great idea. It not only serves a purpose for someone, but it also will be free advertisement every time it is used!

If you're going to literally put your name on a product, you want to know that it is of high quality. If this is going to be the reason people remember your company name and logo, you want it to leave a good impression. That is why I would recommend Lowe Promotions for your Promotional Items. They have been in the business of branding items for over 2 decades. Check out their wide variety of available items by clicking the link above. Maybe you can send me some swag! Maybe I will make Just a Housebear swag! Let's trade!

My All Time Favorite Song

This is a requested post, but unpaid. See my disclosure

I can be pretty fickle when it comes to my favorite song. Sometimes I fall in love with something new, but the radio overplays it and by the end of its run, I can't stand it anymore. There are a couple of songs that stand out as being all time favorites for me. These are songs that I never get sick of; that I will love forever.

My very favortie song, that I could listen to all day and everyday is "Just Like Heaven" by The Cure. The lyrics of the 3rd verse are so beautiful.

Daylight licked me into shape, I must have been asleep for days
And moving lips, to speak her name, I opened up my eyes.
I found myself alone, alone, alone above a raging sea
That stole the only girl I loved, and drowned her deep inside of me."

If someone were to paint this song, I think it would be full of swirling blues and greys, and look very stormy, like the sea that is being talked about. I think that songs can very easily be translated into paintings because the evoke so much emotion. I think that paintins can do the same way. Art can make you feel, and that is the most beautiful thing about it.

Please visit this sponsor's link by clicking on the banner below.

My Mom is My Biggest Fan

I've been playing the guitar again lately. I can always tell if I have been slacking by how long my fingernails are. Also, if my fingertips get smooth and soft then I'm reminded to play more. Mikey has been playing the guitar as well and so I like to show him whenever I learn a new song.

I brought my guitar to my parents' house today to play a song for Mikey. Afterwards I played it for my mom as well. She was doing something in the kitchen and I didn't think she was paying much attention. After I finished she exclaimed, "You should be on American Idol!" I just blinked at her.

I am definitely not American Idol material. My mind immediately rewound to my preschool days when my mother would ooh and ahh over any scribbled piece of construction paper that I would hand over to her. I was a little annoyed. I was wishing that she would have given me a more realistic bit of feedback.

After I put Caleb to bed tonight, I paused in the hallway to look at the bathroom door. It's white, with a 2 1/2 foot tall blue person drawn on it in crayon. Caleb got a spank for drawing it, but I haven't washed it off yet. Shawn walked into the hall and stood next to me with his arms crossed looking at the door.



"That's a cute little guy he drew there," Shawn said.

"I know," I replied, "I haven't washed it off because I can't get a good picture of it with the camera."

"Its got hands and a face," he admired

"Its got eyes!" came an enthusiastic coo from behind us.

Caleb was standing there watching us adore him through his art work. It helped me understand a little bit better where my mom was coming from.