New review blog

So, I finally did it. I started a review blog. Of course I just got it up and running, so there is not too much happening there yet. But I will be working on it.

I just posted my first review there AND I have a cool DVD to give away right now too. We got a preview copy of Marley & Me. We loved it. It's available in stores today. And I have two copies on my new blog to give away. Go check it out now! Thanks.

Well, Don't Wait Too Long

What is that supposed to mean? "Well, don't wait too long?"

That is what someone told me last night. She had asked if we planned to have more children. I told her "Yes, someday". She laughed and said "Well, don't wait too long." I didn't respond.

What can I say to something like that?

I don't even really know how to respond to "Do you plan to have more children?" This isn't the first person to ask. I usually respond the same way.

If I was a snarky person, I'd just start saying things like "Well, we'd love more children, but some people don't get pregnant as easily as others." or "We'd love more, can you snap your fingers and make me pregnant?". Or something equally as good.

But that's not me. What also is not me is revealing all the details of my life. I don't typically tell people that we're trying to get pregnant. In fact the only people that know are you, my lovely blog readers, and my sister, Rachel. That's it. I just don't feel like this is something I want everyone to know.

Most people that know us pretty well, know that it took us a while to get pregnant with Zachariah (this lady who I spoke of earlier probably didn't know that). But we didn't really tell people that we were trying then either.

What do you think? Is this something I should be more candid about? Or should I just develop a better answer for nosy people? Suggestions?

Lucky Me

Well, if this didn't lift my spirits, I don't know what will.

Thanks by the way to EVERYONE who commented on my last post. I am feeling a bit better about things, and I'm so thankful to have friends here how genuinely care about me. Thank you!

So I have won four (4!) prizes from bloggers in the last few weeks! Woo Hoo! I'm won a little something for everyone in my house.

Today I won a Freestyle watch for Matt from The Funky Monkey. He chose this one in black.

Thursday I won a Dunebug's Sand Truck Playset from Sprig Toys and from Babies Gotta Have It for Zachariah. I think this will be a good Easter gift if it comes before then.

2 weeks ago I won a milk storage magnet, courtesy of the authors of The Milk Memos and The Motherwear Breastfeeding Blog.

And a week or so ago I won a Yoplait gift pack from Mom Knows It All. It had a Yoplait Yogurt reusable insulated bag (which is SUPER at the grocery store), a coupon for free Yoplait yogurt, a reusable water bottle (that I also LOVE), and a little notepad too.

Guess I'm on a role. I'm glad that I'm able to host some giveaways here, so that I can at least pass the love along a little bit. And Thank You to everyone who I won from! I love it!

I'm a little hum drum

Here I am, blogging from McDonald's PlayPlace. The best place to blog right? Not really (I had a photo of my "happy" face, but I can't get it to load). There are toddlers running around everywhere. I just figured if I had to take Zachariah here, I may as well do something while I'm here (and we're only here thanks to a gift card that Zachariah got in the mail from my aunt for his birthday). Besides, I really wanted to get a new blog post up today.



I feel a bit neglectful. I've been copping out on real blog posts and using giveaways to fill the space. Well, I had the giveaways to do anyway, so why not. But still, I have no intention of turning this blog into a giveaway blog. I am entertaining the idea of starting a separate review/giveaway blog, but I'll let you know if/when that happens.



I've had a rough week. There is no one particular thing that makes me say this. Just several little things that make me feel blah emotionally. That and I have a cold. We all know that doesn't make anyone feel their best.



Things have felt rather "funny" (for lack of a better word to describe it) to me at work (my tutoring job) lately. Just a lot of things that felt like they added up this week. I don't think I really want to work there anymore. But for other reasons I will continue on for now.



I normally try not to let things get to me. But this week has been different somehow. I guess it just happens every now and then. I'm hoping it will improve.

I have been having thoughts about wanting to quit my job, so then I can just be a full time stay at home mom. That's basically what I consider myself, since I'm only away to work 2 hours a day 4 days a week AND my son comes with me. But it sure is not the same. I think I'm worn out and tired of it. I have to get Zachariah up from his nap most days in the middle of the afternoon. Then he's a bear the rest of the day. I can't make my family dinner most nights, because I'm not home when I should be preparing it. Matt's a great cook, but he's getting tired of that too...I can tell. And mostly I'd just like the freedom to do a little more when we want to do it. Right now I'm pretty set to going to tutor at the same time each day. Then there's the whole question of our summer tutoring schedule, and that gets really crazy.

I guess Matt and I will have to discuss it some more. I know he understands my feelings on the matter. Honestly he's probably mentioned more times than I remember about me quitting in the last few months. His raise at work put us in a pretty good situation financially, but I love that we're going to have all our student loans paid off soon at the rate we're heading. And that's what my income (small though it is) is working towards. There is a possibility that Matt could get another step raise this year yet. If that happens, and depending on how much it is, we may be in a great position for me to leave my tutoring job. We'll just have to see.

I think I said more than I really wanted to about this whole thing, but I just had to get some of it off my chest.

Then there is the whole trying for a baby thing. I'm a bit frustrated that it isn't happening yet. I know it will in time (took us a while with Zachariah), but I was really hoping it would be easier this time. And Matt goes from not wanting more children (though he's willing to try for me) to wanting more than one more (yay!). I guess I can't fault him for having different feelings about it. I know he will be happy with another baby, and most times that's what he's telling me he wants right now.

I'm just tired of being patient.

OK, end venting. This is why I haven't had many real posts lately. I'm afraid all I'd do is whine, and I don't want to do that all the time. Hopefully next week will be a better week.

Fireman Sam DVD Winners

Here are the winners for the Fireman Sam DVDs!

#7 - Andria at Boy Crazy

#4 - Nicole at Our Hotrum Family Chronicles

Congrats to both of you. I will get those out ASAP. Thanks for entering.

I should get another giveaway posted today. (I still have a few left for all of you.)

Barney DVD Winners

I have two copies of the Barney: Once Upon a Dino Tale. Thanks for signing up. The winners are:

#2 -Karin

#3 - Emily at Live with David & Katy

Congrats to both of you. Karin, I will need your mailing address. I will send you an e-mail now too.

Please come back, I am having more giveaways here soon. And don't forget to sign up for the Fireman Sam giveaway going on now.

DVD Review & Giveaway: Barney

Released in January, the new Barney DVD Barney: One Upon A Dino Tale enters the enchanted world of fairy tales. Barney is a great story-teller and has a fantastic imagination. Some of Barney's friends come to play and they help him reenact some classic stories.

Some of the stories we see are The Fisherman and His Wife, Alice in Wonderland, The Lion and the Mouse. Baby Bop, BJ, and Riff get to act out Cinderella...this time with evil step-brothers. At the infamous ball, Barney comes along to teach them all the "Dino Dance".

They tell a story that we'd never heard before: The Emperor's Contest. I enjoyed hearing this Chinese fairy tale about finding the most honest person for the new Emperor.

And at the end they make up their own fairy tale. Baby Bop wants to be the princess. What little girl doesn't? So they tell a new story.

Zachariah loves Barney. And he really enjoys listening to tales. So this DVD was right up his alley.

*Buy It: You can get your own copy of Barney: Once Upon a Dino Tale in stores or online now. Amazon has it on sale right now for HALF-PRICE!

*Win it: I have 2 copies of Barney: Once Upon a Dino Tale to give away here. Who would like to win this for their kids?

To enter, tell me who in your house is/was a Barney fan. Zachariah is definitely our Barney fan. Matt & I neither one liked him. I know my sisters watched him for a while when they were young, but I was a little old for him by then.

Make sure that you include your e-mail address in the comments (if it's not linked to your log in, or I don't already have it). I will post winners here, and I will send you an e-mail too.

**To earn a second entry, post about this contest on your blog OR post about it on twitter. Then come back here and leave another comment telling me you did that.

The contest starts now and will end at 12:00 Noon on Monday, March 23rd.

Good luck! Please come back for more contests coming soon!

Bob the Builder DVD Winners

I had two copies of the Bob the Builder: Race to the Finish DVD. And I used random.org to draw the winning numbers. They are

#3 - Sarah at No Whey, Mama

#7 - Kara-Noel at Eli's Lids

Congrats to both of you! I need your name/address, so I can get these sent to you asap. (Sarah, I have yours already.)

The rest of you stay tuned, because I do have more giveaways coming soon. And I even have another Bob the Builder giveaway coming up in a while.

Zachariah's 3rd Birthday

All sorts of stuff

1. My sister took Zachariah for the day and overnight. She is on vacation this week but didn't have any plans. So she wanted to keep him overnight. This is the first time he's done that with her. Not because we won't leave him with her, but because they were in a one room apartment until this winter. Now they have a house (good thing too with a baby on the way), so he has a place to sleep there.

I know he'll have a blast with them. Rachel and Jared are always on the go and love to play with him. He just soaks it up when they are around. Plus they might go for supper at Buffalo Wild Wings tonight, which is one of his favorite places to go.

I am happy to have this afternoon (if only a few hours) to myself. And then Matt and I will have some time together tonight. I should be able to have the morning to myself too. I can't wait to not have someone wake me up in the morning. Ahh, a nice break. Some day I'll return the favor to her.

2. I know, I know, I need to get birthday pictures up here for you all to see. To be honest, I still haven't loaded any off my camera. Maybe I'll get to it since I have a little more "me" time right now.

3. My computer has been on the fritz again. Actually I think it's my fault. I dripped juice on it a week ago. Oops. We do have accidental coverage on our warranty, so I may have to take it in. Although, today it is acting fine. I'll wait a while and see what happens. It's just meant that I'm not online as much...which could be a good thing.

4. I am almost finished with my crocheted afghan for Matt. It has taken me quite a while, but it's looking nice. It's the best I could do for what he wanted, but it was a little more time consuming.

5. I'm also trying to finish a book, read a book for small group, and work on my growing/huge pile of magazines that I like to read.

6. We haven't done any more work on the bathroom. :( It needs to get done.

7. I've already started buying baby clothes for my to-be-niece/nephew. I found some clearance onesies/shoes at Old Navy, so I bought sizes for next winter. Eee! And she has her first ultrasound scheduled in about 2 weeks. She's already into her 2nd trimester...with NO morning/noon/night sickness. I'm very jealous.

8. I had to buy Zachariah some new jeans finally. He was still wearing 2 pairs of 18m ones from over a year ago. The waist on those was still cinched, but the legs were creeping up towards his ankles. I decided to get him 3T pants (with adjustable waists), because they were just a tiny bit bigger than the 2T's. I had to cinch them in REALLY far on the waist, but the length is perfect. I was really surprised. He's always been my tall skinny boy.

Shaun the Sheep DVD Winner

Thanks for reading the Shaun the Sheep DVD review and entering the giveaway. I have 3 copies to give to you. And I am now drawing the winners. They are:

#8 - Jana of Dress-Up & Diaper Changes

#2 - Kelsey of Midwest Mom

#3 - Carrie of The Q Collective

Congrats to all of you. I will need your mailing addresses, please. I'll get an e-mail out to you too. Thanks for entering.

For the rest of you...I have MORE DVDs to giveaway VERY soon!!

Does it ever end?

1. I think I have had a lot going on lately, but the truth is I'm focusing on too many things. I have several things happening at once, and then I don't finish any of them. Like, I want to devote more time to blogging, etc., but every time I think about it I find other things to do.

2. I really want to give my house a deep cleaning and soon. But see above note. I feel like if I start, I won't finish. Then it will be wasted time and energy. I need to start will small things that won't affect other things.

3. We had a great birthday weekend with Zachariah. I will share pictures once I get them loaded on here for you all to see. He's been begging for another party. Wait until next year, darling.

4. There were about 3 tornadoes that hit somewhere between where my parents live and where Matt's parents live on Sunday night. We had just left both places, and the storm was about 30 minutes behind us. Luckily only a few houses had damage. And our parents were all far enough from the path that they weren't effected, other than mine losing power for several hours. My old college friend got great photos of one tornado, it came down a few miles past her house.

5. The Horrible 3s have been just that for us so far...horrible. And it's only been a week. Lord help me.

6. I have a whole bunch of new DVD reviews to do, and the giveaway copies are coming. So look out, there will be TONS of chances to win this month.

7. Rachel (my sister) finally had her first OB appointment. She's already 10 weeks along, and that doesn't seem possible. Her due date is on or around October 4th for now. At her next appointment (probably in another month) they will do an ultrasound. I can't believe she hasn't even met the doctor yet. Crazy how they handle things there. I had already had 3 ultrasounds by the time I was that far along. Just a different doctor, I suppose. Anyway, I'm excited to hear about all the exciting updates.

Wallace & Gromit DVD Winners

Sorry so late. I had a feeling that I might get tied up and busy with all the party stuff this weekend. And that's what happened, so I am just now drawing winners for the Wallace & Gromit giveaway. But since I have 6 (six!) DVDs to give to you, my lovely readers, and there were 13 sign ups, your odds are good for winning. I will only allow you to win one, so if I draw your number twice (if your name is in the drawing twice) then I will redraw.

So the Wallace & Gromit DVD winners are.....

#9 - Shelly at Scenic Overlook

#8 - Kelli at Big Fat Secret

#7 - The Hotrum Family

#1 - Cherish at A Girl and Her Blog

#6 - Carrie (CAQuincy) at The Q Collective

#12 - Mary

Congrats to all of you. I will be e-mailing you later this morning. If I don't have your mailing address already, I will need that so I can mail the prize to you. I hope you all enjoy your DVDs.

There are more giveaways coming soon. Next, Shaun the Sheep.

Happy Birth Day, my son!

I can't believe it only takes 3 short years to get from this:

to this:

It's been a beautiful 3 years though, my son, and I can't wait to see what the next 3 will hold. (Just don't make them go by too quickly, please.)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ZACHARIAH!