Third Time’s the Charm!

Christina at Home With My Tots has nominated me for my third Liebster Award!  Wanna know what the Liebster Award is all about?  Check out my first award for the full story!  Thanks so much for the nomination, Christina!  Clearly we’re kindred spirits (just look at our blogs!)!

Award Rules

1. Send blog love back to the blog that nominated you and link back to them.
2. Nominate 5 - 11 new bloggers who have 200 or less followers.
3. Answer the questions posted for you by your nominator.
4. Share 11 random facts about yourself.
5. Decide on 11 questions to ask your nominees to answer.
6. Contact your nominees and let them know that you have nominated them for the award after you have posted yours.

11 Random Facts About Me

1.  I love peppermint candy.  I buy enough candy canes after every Christmas (when they go to clearance pricing) to last through the year.

2.  Baby Girl wore my wedding dress when she got married.  I actually didn’t care all that much for the dress when I wore it, but it was perfect on her!

3.  If I watch TV when I’m tired, no matter how much I want to see the show I’m watching, it’s almost guaranteed I’ll fall asleep.  DH has spent almost as much time telling me how shows end as I have watching TV!

4.  We have a bean bag chair that’s big enough for two adults to cuddle together in and filled with memory foam chunks!  It’s so comfy!

5. My son, Buddy, peed on my foot earlier this evening while I was chatting on Facebook with Ginger from The Wild and Wonderful World of Gingerssnaps.  And then a little while after that he peed on his Tonka Truck dump truck!  Potty training isn't going so well.

6.  My chickens lay brown and blue eggs.  I love the range of blues the eggs are and that some of the brown ones have freckles!

7.  I love the feeling of getting my toenails trimmed when they have grown out long.  (I’m a freak and I know it.)

8.  My favorite adult mixed beverage is a Dirty Vodka Martini, preferably with blue cheese stuffed olives as a garnish.

9.  My favorite ice cream flavor is Breyer’s Rocky Road.  It’s deliciously awesome!

10.  I miss the sound of the whipoorwill as the stars come out and the lightning bugs rise out of the damp grass.

11.  I feel true regret when I think that Buddy may never know what it’s like to run barefoot through that same damp grass, jumping to catch fireflies to keep in a jar by his bedside.

11 Questions from Christina

1. What is your favorite TV show?  Any of the Law & Order franchise.

2. Have you ever traveled to another country?  I’ve been to France, England, Belgium, Spain and Canada.

3. Name something you love about yourself?  I love my hands; they’re my Dad’s hands.

4. What is your favorite color?  Blue

5. Who is your favorite President?  I don’t really get into politics, so if I had to pick a favorite president I’d pick Lincoln.

6. What is your favorite type of food?  I love vegetables.  So much that I could actually be a vegetarian if I didn’t enjoy eating meat so much!

7. Do you believe in ghosts?  I’m not certain; but I think they probably exist.

8. If you had only one day left to live and you knew about it what would you do?  Spend the day having fun with DH and my kids.

9. What is your favorite sport?  I’m not really into sports, but I occasionally enjoy watching football.

10. Do you fold your pizza in half, keep it flat or eat it with a fork and knife?  If it’s too hot to hold, I eat it with a fork.  If the slices are hugs, I fold them in half.  Otherwise, I keep it flat.

11. What is the craziest thing you have ever done?  Deciding to have a baby at 37 feels pretty crazy.  (I’ve done waaay crazier, but I’m not sharing it here!)

My Liebster Nominees

Comfytown Chronicles

Gaijin Cracker

Life with RA is a Pain

La Vida de BlondieChell

I'm No HumDrum-Mum

It's Why You Like Me...

The Brewer's Wife

My Questions for the Nominees
1.  When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
2.  What’s your favorite piece of clothing?
3.  What was your first car?
4.  If you could have any meal delivered to you, what would you order?
5.  What’s your dream car?
6.  If you could take a vacation anywhere in the world, where would you go?
7.  What’s the best place you’ve ever travelled to?
8.  What’s your best feature?
9.  If you could see any musician, living or dead, in concert, who would you see?
10.  What’s your favorite movie?
11.  If you could invite 3 people to dinner, living or dead, who would you invite?

These nominees are fabulous, amazing, just-getting-started bloggers you should check out and follow!  While you're there visiting, leave a kind word or two in their comment section - us bloggers LOVE getting feedback!

And finally, a quick word to my nominees - Ladies, I know the Liebster Award is a LOT of work.  If you don't have time or desire to go through the hassle, feel free to simply accept graciously and smile like the fabulous ladies you are!  Thanks for doing what you do and sharing your stories with us!!

Awards, Awards, Awards!!

Last month I was nominated for three blogging awards!  I sincerely appreciate the encouragement and recognition!  Lately I’ve found it hard to keep up with blogging and life for a variety of reasons.  It might be easy to just stop altogether if not for the encouragement of friends and peers.  THANK YOU!

Ginger at The Wild and Wonderful World of Gingerssnaps has nominated me for two awards!  The Beautiful Mama Blog Award and The Epically Awesome Award of Epic Awesomeness!  Thanks so much, Ginger, for encouraging me to start blogging, sharing your knowledge with me to keep me going, cheering me on at every turn, and including me in every opportunity that comes your way.  It’s genuinely appreciated!

Award Rules

1. Tell three things about yourself.

2. Award to other deserving bloggers.

Three things about me:

1.  I have a weakness for Oreos dipped in milk.

2.  I’ve found the exact amount of time that I need to dip my Oreo in milk for it to be perfect!  I count to 15; the cookie doesn’t fall apart but it melts in your mouth!

3.  I don’t really care for chocolate.  I’ll eat it occasionally, but I don’t crave it like many women do.

My nominees for the Beautiful Mama Blog Award

1.  Sarah at Journeys of the Zoo

2.  Camille at A Sorta Fairytale

3.  Lindsay at You are the Roots

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Award Rules

1. Display award logo

2. Link back to the person who nominated you

3. State 10 things about you

4. Nominate 10 other bloggers

Ten things about me:

1.  I have a permanent divot in my left hand middle finger cuticle from getting my finger crushed under a crowbar while helping my parents tear down a deck when I was in elementary school.

2.  I can remember choking on the dirt when I decided to eat a potato straight from the garden like an apple.  I loved to eat raw potato as a kid.

3.  When I was little I had dirty-blondish hair that would get bleached out by the sun in the summertime.  Now my hair is pretty much dark brown (though I’m beginning to see signs that it may soon be gray!)

4.  I currently have VERY pink fingernails – they look like cotton candy.  I don’t care for pink at all, but Influenster sent me a Sunkissed Vox Box with “Sailor’s Delight” pink nail polish in it and in the interest of a truthful review, I’m wearing it!

5.  My favorite flower of all time is long stem yellow roses because I can remember my Dad bringing my mom a long, thin box full of them when we still lived with him.

6.  I’m currently working my way through Grey’s Anatomy from the very beginning of the series on Netflix because somewhere around the third or fourth season my life just got too busy to watch it anymore.

7.  I started watching Private Practice for the same reason.

8.  For years I didn’t sleep under the covers of the bed…years and years and years.  Dh and I once went for a weekend getaway with friends and they thought we were fighting when they came back to the hotel because I was sleeping under my own blanket on top of the comforter.  Nope, I’m just a freak!

9.  Monkey Man weighed 9 1/2 lbs when he was born.  I did it without an epidural.

10.  When I was little I would sometimes eat cauliflower dipped in margarine (straight out of the tub) and then salted.

My nominees for the Epically Awesome Award of Awesomeness

1.  Teresa at Nanahood

2.  Courtney at Marriage with a Baby Carriage

3.  Joy at Comfytown Chronicles

4.  Judy at Pursuit of a Functional Home

5.  Jules at My Mom's a Whack Job

6.  Tracy at Momaical

7.  Anita at The Wine Chronicles

8.  Melissa at Home on Deranged

9.  Patricia at Kisses and Croissants

10.  Sarah at The Sadder But Wiser Girl

All of these nominees are fabulous, amazing bloggers you should check out and follow!  While you're there visiting, leave a kind word or two in their comment section - us bloggers LOVE getting feedback!

And finally, a quick word to my nominees - Ladies, I know these awards are a LOT of work.  If you don't have time or desire to go through the hassle, feel free to simply accept graciously and smile like the fabulous ladies you are!  Thanks for doing what you do and sharing your stories with us!!

Co-Hosting Tattler Thursday #7

Today I'm co-hosting a blog hop created by one of my long-time friends:  Ginger at the Wild and Wonderful World of Gingerssnaps!  Check out this fun hop and link up your blog and social media!

Be sure to invite your friends over, too!

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Hiya Snappers! Welcome back for week #7 of the Tattler Thursday Blog Hop! It's time to tattle and hop! It's a share your crazy, gross, hilarious, in-the-trenches parenthood stories, kind of blog hop! I love funny kid stories and I want to hear yours! Just leave a comment with your story, post not required! So think of your funniest, wackiest or favorite kid stories, leave a comment  with your story/tattle, follow your Host and Co-Hostesses, visit and discover other blogs, and have fun!

Remember the easiest way to get a follow back is to like/follow other pages and leave a comment! So hop around, tell your friends and share, share, share! This is a hop designed for you to have fun and share! Happy Tattling!

Co-Hosting Tattler Thursday #6

Today I'm co-hosting a blog hop created by one of my long-time friends:  Ginger at the Wild and Wonderful World of Gingerssnaps!  Check out this fun hop and link up your blog and social media!

Be sure to invite your friends over, too! 

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Hiya Snappers! Welcome back for week #6 of the Tattler Thursday Blog Hop! It's time to tattle and hop! It's a share your crazy, gross, hilarious, in-the-trenches parenthood stories, kind of blog hop! I love funny kid stories and I want to hear yours! You just have to leave a comment with your story, post not required! So think of your funniest, wackiest or favorite kid stories, leave a comment  with your story/tattle, follow your Host and Co-Hostesses, visit and discover other blogs, and have fun! Remember the easiest way to get a follow back is to like/follow other pages and leave a comment! So hop around, tell your friends and share, share, share! This is a hop designed for you to have fun and share! Happy Tattling!

Chicken Popsicles

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NO!  Not like that – OH MY!  Popsicles for chickens!  It’s summer and everyone else gets popsicles, why not make some for your feathered friends, too?

Recently our flock has changed a bit.  I gave Quasimodo (the rooster) and two hens to one of DH’s friends.  Quasimodo started out as a gentleman, never daring to challenge me when I tended to the chickens; until March.  In March, Quasimodo just randomly started flying feet first into our legs when we’d go into the chicken enclosure.  At first it was funny.  Then it was frustrating because he just kept coming and coming at you.  Then it appeared as if one of his spurs was growing out, though I’m not a rooster expert, and his leaps were getting higher and higher.  I had to carry a little rake with me into the enclosure every time I went in.  I dreaded going in there.  And I couldn't let Little Man anywhere near the chickens for fear he'd get hurt.  So, I gave Mr. Meanie Hunchback and two of my biggest hens to DH’s friend and I’ve never been happier!

Quasi just before he attacked me a few months ago...
when his antics were still funny.

Now that I can go out there and take care of anything the hens need without fear, I’ve been trying to think of ways to help them deal with the intense, record-breaking heat we’re having.  At my request, DH brought the kiddie pool out of the barn and I set it up for the girls again this year.  I had another cool idea while I was out there setting it up…

Last summer and fall, shortly after I became a stay-at-home-mom, I made Little Man tons of baby food purees from fresh in-season veggies.  I made more than Little Man could possibly consume (it was just so easy and satisfying to make him fresh food)!  When I made it all, I froze it in ice cube trays and stored the frozen pureed cubes in gallon freezer bags.  Even though Little Man refused to eat any more pureed food months and months ago, I hadn’t been able to bring myself to throw out the remaining cubes.  So there they sat, in the bottom of my freezer.  Until a couple days ago when genius struck!

Pureed and frozen carrots, sweet potatoes, butternut squash

and green beans make a cool summer snack for the ladies!

Chickens like vegetables!  They probably don’t care if they’re pureed.  And it’s HOT!  So, I dug out all the veggie puree cubes and shared them with the girls!  They enjoyed thoroughly, though they were being camera-shy when I tried to catch them in the act or eating their treat!  The girls enjoyed it so much, I'm thinking I may have to make them some more!

Fortunately, chickens enjoy eating their food off the ground!

What's the weirdest thing you've fed your pet?  What's your pet's favorite snack?

Co-Hosting Tattler Thursday #5

Hiya Snappers! Welcome back for week #5 of the Tattler Thursday Blog Hop! It's time to tattle and hop! It's a share your crazy, gross, hilarious, in-the-trenches parenthood stories, kind of blog hop! I love funny kid stories and I want to hear yours! You just have to leave a comment with your story, post not required! So think of your funniest, wackiest or favorite kid stories, leave a comment  with your story/tattle, follow your Host and Co-Hostesses, visit and discover other blogs, and have fun! Remember the easiest way to get a follow back is to like/follow other pages and leave a comment! So hop around, tell your friends and share, share, share! This is a hop designed for you to have fun and share! Happy Tattling!

Co-Hosting Tattler Thursday Blog Hop #4

Today I'm co-hosting a blog hop created by one of my long-time friends:  Ginger at the Wild and Wonderful World of Gingerssnaps!  Check out this fun hop and link up your blog and social media!

Be sure to invite your friends over, too! 

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Welcome to the Tattler Thursday Blog Hop! Thanks to everyone who participated for a successful third week of the 'Hop! I just love you guys! So it's week #4, did you bring your crazy kid story? It's a share your crazy, gross, hilarious, in-the-trenches parenthood stories, kind of blog hop! I love funny kid stories and I want to hear yours! So think of your funniest, wackiest or favorite kid stories, leave a comment  with your story/tattle, follow your Host and Co-Hostesses, visit and discover other blogs, and have fun! Remember the easiest way to get a follow back is to like/follow other pages and leave a comment! So hop around, tell your friends and share, share, share! This is a hop designed for you to have fun and share! Happy Tattling!

And P.S. Please, Please, Please follow your host and co-hostesses! We do this for free, and fun, so don't be a bloghole and not follow!  Leave a comment with a funny kid story! Also looking for future Co-Hosts(no cost associated and it's super easy just ask! Also a great way to gain new followers and make new bloggie friends)! Send me an email @ gingerssnaps32@gmail.com if your interested! Thanks guys and dolls! Muah! Wink!

I Didn’t Fall Off the Face of the Earth!!

Have you missed me?  Been wondering if I was still alive?  It’s been nearly three weeks since I posted anything other than a blog hop or contest opportunity here!  (BTW…Have you entered to win the Gourmet Brownies yet?  Get over there as soon as you’re done reading here!)

Good news – I’m still here!  Turns out that the decision to attempt to blog every day for two months in a row was a bad idea for me.  Blogging became a chore – one I dreaded.  And the more I felt obligated, the more I put off writing.  AND, the less this blogging thing felt like something I wanted to do.

 

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So, I stopped the Blog Every Day in May Challenge mid-stride.  Oh well.  I’m trying to take it easy on myself and learn from this experience rather than do what I would normally do – tell myself that “I’m a failure”, “I’ve always been a failure”, and that “this is just one more example I can look back on as proof”.  I don’t really like that mean voice inside that tells me all that bad stuff about myself; it’s far too easy to believe it.  That voice isn’t nice – ever.  And it needs to be quiet so I can hear the whispers, teeny tiny as they are most of the time, of the voice that tells me, “you’ve got this”, “you’re loved”, “you’re just fine”, “you can do it”, and more.  I need to get that little whisper of a voice an amplifier.  And I need to slow down and be still so that I can hear those whispers often enough that I begin to believe them!  I’m trying…

 

(Source)

Guess what!  I’m another year older.  A few weeks ago I turned 39…it wasn’t easy for me.  For whatever reason, the realization that in just a few hundred more days I’ll be 40 years old seemed to just creep up on me, surprise me and then sit on my chest like a ton of bricks (black bricks)!  Now that the b-day is over and 39 is settling in, 40 doesn’t seem so bad.  But for a few weeks there, I was struggling.

Here’s what’s been happening around these parts since I got out of that funk!

We’ve been cleaning up a lot of stuff and organizing in and around our house.  A couple weeks ago, DH took a trailer full of trash to the landfill and discovered a pile of play set pieces that had just been dumped off!  Thankfully he dragged them home, I searched around on Google, and we assembled this super-cool play set for Little Man!  I was amazed that all the pieces were there and that someone had just thrown away a play set in practically new condition (it retails for over $500)!!  SCORE!

We went camping over Memorial Day weekend to celebrate Baby Girl’s 22nd birthday!  DH, Little Man, The Cuddler and I camped out Friday night and Saturday night; Baby Girl , Wrench and a couple of their friends cam and joined the fun Saturday.

This is what Little Man looks like waking up at 5:37am on a Saturday morning!  Notice how bright it already is?  Yeah…the moon was full and bright all night and then the sun had the gall to rise at practically 5am!  Makes for a looooong day!

Check out that bed-head!!

I just love watching Little Man play in the dirt…and he’s such a boy!  He loves to get dirty!

As Saturday morning passed by, I could tell Little Man was getting tired under the hot sun.  He came and got his sippy cup of milk from me and disappeared into the RV as I was sitting just outside appreciating the sun on my face!  A minute or two later, this is what I discovered – a very asleep Little Man in the dog bed!  We’re pretty sure Little Man thinks he’s a dog, too!

Wrench brought his family’s ATVs out with them and we got a chance to take Little Man on his first trail ride.  We putted around a few trails and before we knew it, Little Man had fallen asleep riding with DH (he’s asleep in the photo below)!  He gave DH and I a bit of a scare because we never imagined a baby could fall asleep on an ATV.  Little Man can!

When we came home from camping, it was obvious that the weather at our house hadn’t been as nice as it was where we camped.  Little Man’s play houses had been blown away!  One house was in pieces strewn about – some pieces were as far away as the neighbor’s driveway (which required flying over a waist high fence)!  The second house you can see in the photo below – had blown from the “X”, crashed into a fence post and broke the post, and then landed on it’s side in the middle of the field in front of our house!  Needless to say, the play equipment has been relocated to a less-windy area of our property!

Did I mention Little Man likes to play in the dirt?  This is his face when we arrived home from camping!

On Memorial Day, Little Man did the doggie-bed naptime thing again!  DH has asked him if he’s a boy or a dog – he thought for a minute and replied “Dog!”

For the summer, I’m providing daycare for “Miss A” – a 3-year-old little princess who lives further up the mountain from us.  She and Little Man enjoy spending time together and annoying each other!  I love having her around, but can’t park my hiney in front of the computer to write while she’s here.  And she doesn’t nap, either!

Last weekend DH’s sister and her husband, SIL and BIL, arrived in our area for a visit!  They had never met Little Man or seen our house out here in Colorado.  It’s been lots of fun having them around – we have been busy!  Sunday (the day after SIL and BIL arrived) – SIL, DH, Little Man and I drove about an hour away from our home to visit a former Florida neighbor of ours at the ranch he stays at out here.  We got to check out the ranch and view the local mountains from a much different angle!

This little snake was slithering across the walkway while DH was watching Little Man.  According to DH, Little Man stepped right over him!  (NOTE how tiny he really is – those are pine needles he’s laying on!)

I got to help Little Man discover pine cones!  He was amazed briefly.

The view from the top of the hill – the afternoon was overcast and the mountains are hard to see in the background (SIL has an awesome camera and took this shot as well as the one of Little Man below).

In the few days since SIL and BIL arrived, it feels like we’ve been going non-stop.  The first few days they stayed in a local hotel, but for the last couple nights they’ve been staying with us.  It’s been great to have time to visit and for Little Man to get a chance to meet his Aunt and Uncle.  We have a couple more days to visit and then they’ll be headed back to the East Coast.  I’ll be posting more regularly after they leave.

In the meantime, check out the Gourmet Brownie Giveaway and stop back in tomorrow (or after midnight EST tonight) to link up for the Tattler Thursday Blog Hop #4!!

Until next time…