My First Award - Woohoo

I'm totally doing the happy dance because the other day I was considered an Excellent Blog by Another Piece of the Puzzle. I swore to myself that I didn't care about any of those awards floating around the blogosphere, but I guess that's because I hadn't received one. Duh.

Considering that I only post on a quality vs quantity motto, I'm always delighted when I see new subscribers or when someone says "Good job." Everyone needs a pat on the back at some point, right? The Excellent Award originated over at The Mommy Project to spread those kudos around.

I'm supposed to award it to 10 other blogs that I consider worthy. That just seems so hard to do because I read several blogs and find many to be worth reading. I am more a fan of acknowledging excellent posts because everyone has good blogging days and bad ones. Although I'm currently behind on my reading, I typically add my favorite posts to "My Overflowing Google Reader" widget in the next column over.

But since we're supposed to pay it forward, I will award this to a few of the blogs that I subscribe to. The following are in a variety of categories so hopefully everyone will find something to their liking!
Bent Objects - Quirky, artsy and hilarious. Terry brings inanimate objects (like circus peanuts) to life. You have to see it to understand. Wait! Go AFTER you read my other award recipients.
PB&J in a Bowl - Always good for a mom-blog laugh.
Bakerella - Her creativity is unbelievable. The Cupcake Pops that she created were so awesome that they landed her on the Martha Stewart show. I was reading her blog when she originally posted those pops - I feel so privileged to be able to say "I knew her before she was famous!"
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Tips - If you're into photos, want to learn how to better your digital album or just want to clean up your photos before printing them, be sure to check this out. He has a few blogs (for a few different applications) so you should be able to find one that meets your niche.
Blogger Buster - Helpful hints for all levels of blogger. Tips on how to improve your blog from the inside out.

Once again, these are excellent blogs but be sure to check out my Google Reader for many others that I think are worthy! If I listed them all, this post would go on and on and on....

Off to the Restaurant Bathroom. Again.

While we were out to lunch yesterday, Miss M announced "I need to use the potty."

Sigh. Even if we use the one at home right before we leave, she needs to use the one at the restaurant. This has been going on for quite a while. Sometimes she genuinely needs to go while other times she just comments on the decor.

But a few months ago when we were traveling and it kept happening over and over - and she wasn't actually going - I asked her if she wasn't feeling well or if she just wanted to see the bathroom. She answered honestly, "I just like to see it."

So yesterday at lunch when she just wanted to see the bathroom, I was a bit miffed. She used the restroom at home not 10 minutes earlier. My MIL is visiting from out of town and I was pulled away from the conversation for Miss M's sightseeing trip. Can't really second guess a child's request for a bathroom break, so off we went. When we returned to the table, I grumbled "She just wanted to see the bathroom."

DH responded "Don't complain. Maybe she's going to be a famous bathroom designer some day."

Following a brief pause, he continued "...or a senator."

If I Build It, You Will Come?

I'm terrible about procrastinating. It's one of those bad habits that I acknowledge but have never been able to overcome.

Ever since we moved back to Iowa, I've talked about wanting a garden but just haven't followed through. Last fall, DH and I talked about it in great depth - about all the things I would plant and how nice it would be to have fresh vegetables. Plus, what a great experience it would be for the girls.

So winter rolled around and we discussed the things I could plant and whether I wanted to start from seed or not. Anyone that knows me will agree that I'm GREAT at TALKING about things.

As spring approached, we talked (yes, I'm using the T word again) about when the best time to plant would be. We checked out plants and flowers at Lowes and WalMart to help me make up my mind.

For my April birthday, both DH and my MIL bought me gardening books... including a "Gardening for Dummies" since my green thumb is a beautiful shade of brown.

Then about three weeks ago, I told DH that I wanted to make a trip to Lowes to get the things to make the raised garden beds. When we arrived, he asked "Okay, where's your list?" I replied "I don't have one." Need I say that we left empty-handed?

Last week, he asked "When are you going to admit that you aren't going to get around to putting a garden in this year like you said?" I grumbled and said "Why can't we?" He said "Because you haven't even researched anything. You could get all the information you need in just a few hours. I don't want to be out there pulling weeds in YOUR garden." Realizing his point, I said "No, I planned to do all that." I honestly thought that he was doing all the building stuff and I would do the maintenance. He would have been happy to help if I asked or needed it, but he knew this was something that I wanted to really be able to call my own. Frustrated and completely serious he said "Oh, I get it. If I build it, you will come?"

So earlier this week, I sat at the computer and (rather than blog) researched what it would take to build a raised garden. I found out that redwood is the best wood, but douglas or cedar are less expensive alternatives. Untreated wood because there's concern about leaching of the treatment chemicals. Quality topsoil or potting soil along with compost. I took notes about lumber sizes and the size of screws (not nails) to buy. My list went on and on. When I thought I had a complete list, I proudly marched into his office and said "Okay, I've done my research. Is it too late to put in the garden?"

Come to find out, he had researched it all months ago. All this time - on all those trips - he knew exactly what we needed. He was just waiting for me to be invested in the project. I'm so glad he did that because now I'm proud and excited about the fact that we're about to plant veggies in my new garden. Time to go get back to work!

Aveeno Giveaway - Winner

Well, considering that my feedburner subscriber count went up by 5 overnight, I'm guessing that people are anxiously awaiting the announcement of who won the Aveeno Positively Ageless Firming Night Cream giveaway.

To select a winner, I numbered the comments (not the Mr. Linky) from top to bottom then used Random.org to pick the winner.

And the winner is.... #2!!!

(Scrolling down to see who that is.)

Hil'Lesha!!!

Congrats Hil'Lesha on your new Aveeno Positively Ageless Firming Night Cream. Hope you like it!

Thanks to everyone for participating. Be sure to stop by Aveeno's site to request your own free sample! Thanks, also, to BzzAgent for allowing me to participate in the campaign for this great product!

Note: I printed the file as a .pdf instead of getting a screen capture. For anyone interested, I would be happy to email you the screen capture of the winning number. I'm not able to upload the photo to blogger in .pdf as I had originally thought when I did it! Live and learn... I'll know better for next time.

Edible Gold - The Morel Mushroom

Can you see it?! No? Look really close. It's hiding, but it's there. There are a lot of things that I couldn't do in Los Angeles and morel hunting is one of them. Oh, how I missed it.

If you don't know what a morel is then check out a few of these morel sites. Although the taste is fabulous, the actual hunt...and find... is what makes this mushroom such a treasure for me.

Since we moved back, I've been trying to schedule a morel hunting trip with my parents. The window of opportunity is very small and is extremely dependent on the weather. Last year, that little window was open while we were out of town. But this year was perfect and the girls are old enough to be able to do the trek with us.
We headed out to a wooded area in Muscatine County praying that nobody else beat us to it. At first, the girls were skeptical. After that 30 seconds passed, we were good to go and Miss M could frequently be heard telling the rest of us to hurry up. She's a natural-born hiker.

Once we found our first patch, we were all filled with excitement. My mom called the girls over to start looking and picking. Then I arrived on scene and found even more. DH trailed behind me and found ones that I had missed. Those sneaky little things hide when they see you coming. Miss K did a great job because she was lowest to the ground. She was actually finding them on her own without us hinting at an area to look. Miss M was doing just as well.

We ended up with about two and a half pounds of morels for this outing. We enjoyed several for dinner then froze the rest. I'm sure the girls will be just as excited for next year's hunt as I usually am!

OMG That's a Mini Wiener

Mini Wienermobile, that is. This is a family-friendly blog for Pete's sake... what did you think I was referring to? So make sure you gather up all the kids to check out these pictures.

Oscar Mayer's Wienermobile was making some stops at the local Hy-Vee grocery stores this past weekend. DH and the kids had been Mother's Day shopping on Friday and saw it as they were driving around, but didn't stop to get a closeup look at it. When we read in the paper that it was supposed to be at the store closest to our house, I insisted that we go. Why? Because I hadn't seen it yet. And I didn't have pictures of the kids with it.

So when we arrived at the store, we didn't see it. DH said "I thought you said it would be here." Well that's what the paper said. As we pulled into the parking lot, we finally caught a glimpse of it. Well sort of. I was like "OMG, it's tiny!" We joked that it was the Little Smokies version of the Wienermobile. It was actually a mini-version of the Wienermobile built on a Mini Cooper. Considering the basket of coupons for Oscar Mayer's new Mini Hot Dogs, I guess it all made sense.

It was actually really cute and the girls thought it was neat. DH and I knew that it wasn't THE Wienermobile, so we talked to the Oscar Mayer rep and found out that it would be at another location near our house on Sunday.

So guess what we did after going out to lunch for Mother's Day. Yup. We headed to the other Hy-Vee.


Glad we did, because it was worth the extra trip. My first time up close to the Wienermobile made me feel like a kid.



And the trip wouldn't be complete without the trademark Wiener Whistle that they hand out to kids of all ages.

It was a fun experience and I hope the girls remember it for years to come. What better way to spend Mother's Day?