Come On Bloggers

Where are you bloggers? Only six people have entered the Giveaway, get your butts in gear! Just to jog your memory, the winner will be receiving:

• A brand new custom header for your blog
• A brand new custom button that matches your new header
• All of this will be done for you by Jennisa at Once Upon a Blog.
• You'll get to bypass her long waiting list and get started on your custom designs!

The Rules

1. Create a link to this post on your blog (just click the Create A Link Button at the bottom of the post) and tell us one way (or as many as you want) blogging has changed your life. If it hasn't, you can write about that, too. I'm interested in all opinions.
   
2. If you want, it's not required (oh, please do it!), in addition to the post you can also leave me a comment about how blogging changed your life, and I will put your name in twice for the giveaway.
   
3. The giveaway will end on Sunday, June 14, 2009 at 11:59pm EST and I will post the winner on Monday morning,
   
4. That's it!

Show Us Where You Live Friday - The Bathrooms

Today we're showing/touring all of the bathrooms in the house. Since I only have 1.5, it won't take you very long. When I first moved in here the bathrooms were in terrible shape. Everything was brown and yellow, which I'm told was all the "rage" during the 60's and 70's. I've done A LOT of work on them, but there are a few more things I still need to do before I'll be really pleased.

The main bathroom. Or as I like to call it, the only bathroom with a shower/tub.

I took Spencer's potty off of the toilet for this picture, oops.

What I love most about my bathroom is the shower curtain rod- it's curved and gives you a lot more room to move. The shower head is one that conserves water, but still has good pressure.




I love pigs and I try to put little ones in very room. Most are very inconspicuous, but I still like having them there. See, he just blends right in! Funny story, but not; when I was in the 7th grade I convinced myself that my parents were going to get me a potbellied pig for my 13th birthday. It didn't matter that they repeatedly told me pigs would fly before they ever bought me one. I did NOT think it was funny when they gave me a stuffed animal pig with a bow around it's neck and a card that read "The Only Pig You'll Ever Get, Love, Mom and Dad." Talk about teenage, angsty drama!

This is the half bathroom, or as I like to call it, the W.C.

Please note the toilet seat lock. Yet somehow Spencer still managed to open it up far enough to put my keys in there!

My two little piggies and a basket of sample toiletries for any guests to use. I bought that basket for 25 cents when I was in Peru, and it's one of the best made baskets I've ever seen.

That's the end of my bathroom tour, I wish I had some more cool things to show ya'll, but my house was built in 1962, so I just have to work with what I've got!

Other Links

Bonus

The Office

The Nursery - Spencer's Room

So You Think You Can Dance - Results Show Recap

Tonight is the first results show for SYTYCD, season five. One guy and one girl will be going home at the end of the episode. (They don't have to be partners). Cat is wearing another gorgeous dress and she calls for the dancers to come on stage for their group performance- to Boom Boom Pow, by the Black Eyed Peas. It's like a futuristic urban zombie/mob scene, although it really gets to showcase a lot of the dancers very nicely.

They show some behind the scenes footage of the dancers' first week of rehearsals with their new partners. Cat says that in order for it to work, they have to follow a few rules: (which, of course, no one does)

1. Respect each others boundaries
   
2. Communication is essential
3. It's important to feel comfortable with your partner
4. Have shared interests
5. It takes hard work and perspiration

Cat brings out the first three couples, and each one gets their own video montage of last night's highlights. I have to say, I really didn't except any of these pairs to be in the bottom three.

• Kayla & Maks - Safe
  
• Evan & Randi - Safe
• Jeanine & Phillip - Safe

It was a fake out! No one from their group has to dance for their life, they're all safe and ecstatic. Thank goodness, because for a minute there I was having some serious self-doubt about my "judging" capabilities!

Four more couples come onto the stage, to me it's obvious who's going to be performing their solos .

• Caitlin & Jason - Safe
• Ade & Melissa - Safe
• Kupono & Ashley - Safe
• Tony & Paris - Dancing for their lives.

And I was right. Adam tells them that while he's not surprised they're in the bottom three, he wanted them to know that his Twitter has been bombarded with Tweeters professing their love and support for the two of them. But he thinks it has more to do with the charming personalities than it does with the actual dancing.

The last three couples come out, two of which will going into the bottom three.

• Vitolio & Asuka - Dancing for their lives
  
• Janette & Brandon - Safe
  
• Jonathan & Karla - Dancing for their lives

I don't think Jonathan & Karla really deserve to be in the bottom three, but I doubt either of them will be going home tonight. The competition was just so good last night, it's hard to decide who should be dancing for the judges.

During every results episode, they're going to feature different dances and dancers from around the world. Tonight we're watching two dancers, who's names I'll never be able pronounce or spell correctly, doing a Tango to Tanguera, by Luis Bravo's Forever Tango. They are fierce!

Paris is up first, dancing to It Doesn't Hurt by Kate Thompson. She's wearing another tutu type skirt. It seems like a fine performance to me, although it's not very remarkable in anyway, but it was a pretty solo to watch.

Tony dances next, to Early in the Morning by The Gap Band, and he's wearing a comical outfit- bright red pants pulled up really high, a bow tie, and black and white socks pulled up over his pants. He's certainly not trying to break out of the dancing niche he's been cast into. It's a fun routine, the girls seemed to eat it up!

The next solo is done by Asuka, she's dancing to Did Ya, by BoA, in a black bra, teeny white cami, and a short poufy black skirt. Generally it's hard for ballroom dancers to perform solos and make it fun to watch. I found her wardrobe choice to be very distracting, but I liked her routine- she showed a lot more personality tonight.

Vitolio performs next, dancing to We Belong Together, by Gavin DeGraw. He's shirtless and in black pants. I really like him, he's such a good dancer with a great personality. I like his routine, I don't think he's going home, but it wasn't a great performance. Hopefully the judges will think the way I do.

Dancing to Natural Woman, by Aretha Franklin, is Karla, wearing a cute black mini dress. She has a little bobble, balance check during an extension, but otherwise it was a good routine and performance.

And last to dance for his life, is Jonathan, to Krazy by Pitbull featuring Lil Jon. He starts off with a tumbling sequence and then shimmies across the floor. Does anyone know what his preferred style of dancing is? From his routine it would appear to be ballroom, but I didn't think he was a ballroom dancer.

While the judges are deciding who they're going to send home, Sean Kingston performs Fire Burnin' On the Dance Floor. I always give some extra cool points to artists who sing live rather than lip snyching, and he definitely earned his points! He sounded really good and he was moving all over that stage, which is a difficult thing to accomplish at the same time.

The girls come out first.

• Karla - Safe. Nigel gives her the first spot, he thought her solo was fine, but warned her about just performing the steps instead of dancing the routine.
  
• Asuka - Safe - Nigel wants to give her a chance to grow, even though he acknowledges that it will difficult as a ballroom dancer.
  
• Paris - Going Home.

Next are the boys.

• Vitolio - Safe
• Jonathan - Safe
• Tony - Going Home. I feel bad for him, those damn montages always get to me! He looks kinda cute actually. I guess there weren't enough tween girls voting last night.

The first eliminations are over. I'm not surprised that Tony and Paris were the first to leave, but I didn't think it would be them, I thought Asuka and Vitolio were going to get the boot. Wouldn't it really stink to make it that far and then be sent home during the first week? Yes, it would.

That's all folks. At least until next Wednesday, that it is!

So You Think You Can Dance - The Top 20 Recap

Tonight starts the REAL competition on SYTYCD. Just in case there are some newbies out there, here's what happens. The dancers are paired up, randomly (so they say) and are assigned to a choreographer who teaches them their routine. Every Wednesday is a performance night and every Thursday is an elimination night. America votes, determining which couples are going to be in the bottom three. Those six dancers will each have to dance for their life, performing a solo for the judges, and then they'll choose who's going home - but it's always one male and one female dancer. The judges have no authority in determining which dancers will be in the bottom three, that's all decided by the voters.

The night starts off with the Cat Deeley and is followed by the introduction routines, which are just super short little ditties that don't really tell you anything about the dancer. The guest judge tonight is Adam Shankman. Let's get started! First up is Phillip and Jeanine.

Phillip Chbeeb & Jeanine Mason - Hip-Hop - Choreographed by Napoleon & Tabitha D'Umo, Mad, by Ne-Yo.

Can I just say how much I love Tabitha and Napoleon?!! Because I really do, not only are they great choreographers, but they're a super cute couple, too. Jeanine is really nervous because her background is in ballet, and this type of dancing- especially since she's partnered with the Phillip, is out of her comfort range. I love how all of their routines tell a story.

Okay, so they're really good together- I had to rewind their routine, because I was rapt by it the first go round! Maybe it's because they're the first dancers on the first night, but I think they've really set the bar pretty high. They remind me of Mark and Chelsie's in their Bleeding Love routine from last year.

Adam thinks that Jeanine did a wonderful job, and she was able to hold her own. He says that Phillip is fantastic and he's a really excellent partner. All of the judges agree, Mary even does her scream. Phillip already has a following, but we don't know much about Jeanine, so I'm glad that they're partnered together. 1-888-TEMPO-01

Vitolio Jeune & Asuka Kondoh - Broadway - Tyce Diorio - Hot Honey Rag, from CHICAGO, by BP Studio Musicians. The premise is they're making their own silent film, where Vitolio is the director and Asuka is the actress.

Vitolio's mother died while giving birth to his sister and his grandmother had to put them in an orphanage. Growing up, he felt like he was worthless because he had no parents. These stories always get to me! But it doesn't matter, because I think he's adorable, although I'm not all that impressed by Asuka. His moves are much cleaner, you can tell when they are are supposed to be stacatto and when they're supposed to more fluid (legato, if you will). But I guess that the judges don't agree with me, they're more concerned with the duo's lack of personality in their performance.

For the type of routine that it is, I don't think they were all that bad. There wasn't a lot of room for inserting their personality, and that's what the judges didn't like. Adam recognizes that it was a character performance piece, and that's why it may have seemed a bit artificial- but he thinks it was a solid performance. Mary said she was disappointed, they danced a safe, "nice" routine. Nigel said the problem wasn't with the dancing, their lines were fine, but their personality failed to come through- they needed to put their own energy into it and they didnt. TEMPO02

Jonathan Platero & Karla Garcia - Cha-Cha - Tony Meredith - Poker Face, by Lady Gaga.

What a fun routine, the music selection really helps at making it audience friendly, but the choreography is great! I'm usually not very into ballroom routines, but this one really impressed me. Adam gives it is his seal of approval, but said that Jonathan needed to work on his flexibility in his hips. Mary gives a gutteral, rough scream, that breaks into a full blown one. She said she likes her Cha-Cha rough, and like Lady Gaga says, if it's not rough, it's not fun, and that was a whole lot of rough and whole lot of fun. Nigel said they're another couple who's fairly unknown to the audience, and they've just "exploded" onto the stage and onto our tonight. Well the reason they're not on our radar is because you, Nigel Lythgoe, didn't air any of their audition footage until tonight!

But he's also right, I had no clue who either of them where, but now I really know who they are. They seem like they're going to be a good pair, they had nice chemistry and their styles complemented each other. TEMPO03

Evan Kasprzak & Randi Strong-Evans - Jazz - Tyce Diorio - I Only Have Eyes For You, by Jamie Cullum. Tyce wants them to have a connection, it's an intimate and sensuous love story. Randi is married in real life, and that causes both of them to fret just a bit. This routine is one of Tyce's best, at least in my opinion.

My first thought when seeing them dance together is that they're probably not the best suited partners, they're almost the same height. I love Evan, and I am rootin' for him all the way. He really proved he was more than just a Broadway dancer, he was wonderful! I thought Randi was good too, but I think she needs a different partner in order for us to really appreciate her dancing.

Mary said that both of them were at the end of her list when the Vegas round ended, but SCREAM, she thinks they will be around for a long time, and that Evan did his brother proud! Nigel says they were fantastic, and he thinks they're a couple that people will remember and talk about- America will pick up the telephone for them! TEMPO04

Tony Bellisimo & Paris Torres - Hip-Hop - Napoleon & Tabitha - Let The Beat Rock (Boys Noize Megamix) by The Black Eyed Peas. They're wearing futuristic black and red leather outfits.

Paris was in car accident that caused her leg to become permantly numb from the knee down. Tony was jock growing up, but he always liked dancing. He finally chose to pursue it after turning down a chance to play college lacrosse, and that's what he's be doing ever since. Tony is usually a comedic popper, locker, hip hop dancer, but this routine requires him to be fierce. They do some pretty cool moves, and I think Paris is really stepping it up. Tony isn't as bad as I thought he was going to be, but I'd still prefer to have Ryan Kasprzak in his place!

Adam says they did a good job, but he felt their outfits were distracting. He also said they both need more rebound after their stops, some of them were kinda mushy. Mary said it won't be a memorable routine/performance and the audience wanted Tony to prove he was a serious dancer, but what they just did wasn't very good. Nigel agrees with Mary, he said that there's room to grow this season, and Tony needs a lot of growth. He felt they were both just doing steps, that it wasn't real, and it didn't feel real. TEMPO05

Jason Glover & Caitlin Kinney - Bollywood - Nakul Dev Mahaja- Jai Ho - Slumdog Millionaire Soundtrack.

Everyone remembers Caitlin from the audition rounds, but I don't ever remember seeing Jason- he lucked out getting Caitlin as his partner. Bollywood is so fun and I love to watch it, which probably influences my impression of them, but I thought they did a great job. They incorporated some of Caitlin's gymnastic moves into the routine, and Jason was excellent! I thought he really out-danced Caitlin, he was just ON.

Adam agrees with me about Jason, and says that he's going to be a force of nature on this competition. Mary is glad that Bollywood has come to Hollywood! She liked Caitlin's handstand and leg work, but Jason gets the scream because he he just has that charismatic appeal. Nigel said they "brought it!" and it was a beautiful routine that was beautifully danced. TEMPO06

Brandon Bryant & Janette Manrara- Foxtrot - Louis Van Amstel - Come Fly With Me, by Michael Buble. I think they're an odd pairing, but hopefully it won't be an issue. Janette is a ballroom dancer, so she looks right at home. Brandon looks pretty dapper himself! You can really see his strength and power on display during a lot of the lifts. I guess I was wrong, they look pretty good together.

Adam jokes about how America is probably sad that Brandon is dancing with clothes on, but it seems to be working for him- he was great! Some of the judges had thought Brandon would have a difficult time bring his personality into his dancing (and making sure it was a likeable personality), but he had no problem with it tonight!

Mary said Janette was channeling Ginger Rogers and that anyone who can't see the immense talent that Brandon has is C-R-A-Z-Y!! Nigel said that Janette has a very impressive, graceful carriage and Brandon needed to work a little on dancing within in a frame, but that it was "a wonderful routine. TEMPO07

Kupono Aweau & Ashley Valero - Jazz - Wade Robson - Felt Mountain, by Goldfrapp.

Ashley has auditioned for SYTYCD every year, and every year she's been cut. If anything, I'm already impressed with her perseverance. Wade's routine has them being crash test dummies. They each have different personalities - Kupono's playing the dummy who's been blown up a million times and put back together, and Ashley is a brand new dummy who's intrigued by Kupono. Wade says the theme of the routine is living life like you've never been hurt. His routines are always a little cracked out, so I'm sure it's going to be a little odd.

They're actually dressed like crash test dummies, and looking very futuristic and odd. I don't really know very much about this style of dancing, so I don't know if it's good or not. I think Ashley looks a little too "ballet-y" but that could just be part of the routine/character.

Adam seems too agree with me too, he had a hard time discerning their dancing from their routine, but he thought they were great. Mary loved the routine's concept said they were marvelous and entertaining. Nigel says that Wade is such a genius, and you never know what he's going to come up with, but he always creates memorable and "talked-about" routines. He thinks that both Amanda and Kupono became their characters and kept him immersed in the Crash Test Dummy World. TEMPO08

Ade Obayomi & Melissa Sandvig - Contemporary - Mandy Moore - Right Here Waiting For You, by Richard Marx. Mandy says the routine is about that moment when you first fall in love. Melissa compares it to a dirty game of Twister, haha!

Melissa's background is in ballet and Ade's in in contemporary. He loves music and deejaying, and he hopes to one day become a sound engineer. Ade reminds me of Twitch Boss a little bit in this routine. I really think it's beautiful, they do some impressive moves, and they have great chemistry! This was one of my favorite routines tonight.

Adam tell them they get to see a lot of okay and a lot of good, but today, they got to see something special! Melissa is 29 years old, and Adam says that he knows she's only gotten better as she's gotten older. Mary gives them a shrieking SCREAM. She says that Melissa is spectacular and Ade is living up to her expectations of him- he is a Gentle Giant, A Powerhouse, A Mortal Among Gods. Okay, she didn't go that far, but she loves Ade. Nigel continues to praise them, compliments Mandy Moore on her great routine, which was reminiscent of a pas-de-deux, and tells them they'll be sticking around for a long time. TEMPO09

Maksim Kaptiannikov & Kayla Rodomski - Samba - Louis Van Amstel - Jum Bah Day, by House of Gypsies

Kayla has never done ballroom before, lucky for her, Maks is her partner. He's a lot of fun to watch, with his quick fancy footwork moving across the floor. I think Kayla is pretty good too, especially considering she's never done this type of dancing before. For some reason I keep comparing her to Chelsie Hightower from last year.

Adam says that Kayla is proof that God exists, because only He could have created a creature such as her. He also says that she only looked as good as she did because of Maks' ballroom skills. Mary puts them on the Hot Tamale Train. Nigel said that it had everything they look for in a routine and that Kayla is one of those dancers who can just do anything. Maks doesn't get the kind of effusive praise that Kayla got (Shocking!) and Nigel tells him he needs to work on making some of his moves a little bit sharper. I liked the routine and I thought they did an excellent job, but I don't think it was as good as the judges made it out to be. If they had done that dance in the beginning of the night, I'm pretty sure they judges' reactions would have been a little less Hot Tamale Train-esque. But that's my opinion! TEMPO10

I don't like to predict to who's going to be in the bottom three, it just makes me feel bad, so here are my Top 3 Couples for the night.

• Ade Obayomi & Melissa Sandvig - Contemporary Pas-de-Deux
  
• Phillip Chbeeb & Jeanine Mason - Hip Hop Routine to Ne-Yo
  
• Jason Glover & Caitlin Kinney - Bollywood
  

The Big 300 and a Giveaway!

When I made my 100th post I didn't know it, and not that it really would have mattered, because I'm pretty sure no one read it! By the time I got to my 200th post, I accidentally missed it because of a draft counting error and some faulty addition. (How sad is that?) So I've been eagerly awaiting the 3ooth time I share some snippet of my life with you.

Yesterday rolled around and it hit me, I was only one post away from 300: Blogger's Block! I began to have a little freak out about what in the world I could write about that was worthy of "commemoration." You'd of thought I was dealing with a real world crisis - like peace in the Middle East, rather then my little personal blog, that's how drama queenie I was acting!

When I woke up today, to Vivien Leigh's "take me outside I have to pee" kisses, I realized I knew what I wanted to write about- so here it is!

I began blogging for a few reasons:

1. I'm a terrible scrap-booker and I wanted to make sure that I didn't forget Spencer's little quirks, the cute and not so cute stories, and my thoughts and feelings about her life- our life- together.
   
2. It seemed like it would be therapeutic (and it was free) to write down all the things that were swirling in my head.
   
3. To update my best friend on my life when Spencer and I went to North Carolina for a few weeks this summer/fall.

I didn't have any regular readers for a long time -I didn't get my first comment until almost two months after I started this blog and I didn't start getting regular comments until a month after that. For a while I was just trying to find my footing, figure out what I wanted to write about and what was off limits. I didn't post a picture of Spencer until almost one month after my first post and I never used her actual name until November! By then I felt comfortable in the Blogosphere and I had stopped worrying and caring about people who I knew that might be reading it.

This is the first picture of Spencer I put up on here. Doesn't she look like such a baby?

At first, I was just writing our story, I didn't really try to get to know other bloggers, and I was still a little scared about putting my/our real life on display. For some reason, and I'm not sure what the impetus was, I started to do some blogosphere exploration and it was like I won the lottery. For the longest time after I had Spencer, I felt very alone, no one I knew had any kids and the majority of my friends weren't local. Whenever I'd talk to them, they would tell me about their exciting lives, dates, engagements, vacations, workplace drama etc., and all I had to offer was something like "Babies R Us had a great sale today and I got a really good deal on diapers!" L-A-M-E. But then I discovered so many moms who were dealing with the same issues. I found so many women who wished they were dealing with my issues. I found a support system that was chock full of inspiring people and more and more blogs that I HAD to read.

After awhile I started to get some regular readers and all of a sudden I realized, I have blog friends! Every day I would look forward to reading their latest update and hearing their thoughts and opinions on what I had written. On difficult days I could always count on them to put a smile on my face or just let me know that they were thinking about me. When I would look for fun things to do with Spencer, their blogs were always full of great ideas. Recipes, crafts, online shopping tips, support, prayers, and humor- those are just a few of the ways they've helped me out.

When I started this blog, I was a little, okay a lot, woe is me, poor Katie, life is so unfair. But then I started reading the stories of other bloggers and then I stumbled onto Nie. Life was unfair to her, unfair times 300 is more like it, and the more I read about her and her family, the more I realized how much more I could be doing as a mother. Through her blog I stumbled onto so many others and I found other women who felt the same way that I did. It's made me want to be a better mother, because I know it's possible, and Spencer deserves nothing less than my best.

It sounds so trite to say that blogging changed my life, but it did. Not in a "I'm a completely different person" kinda way, but it's made me want us to live a life that's blogworthy. Not that I didn't want to give Spencer the best life possible before I started blogging, because I did! It's just that it made me realize how lucky I am, what a GIFT I've been given, and how I can make our lives better.

My fellow bloggers, you have made me see a picture that's bigger than just my little world, and have repeatedly shown me how grateful I need to be. There are so many times I've burst into tears when reading about someone I don't know or have never heard of; their stories break my heart, and I find myself praying for complete strangers. I hug Spencer a little tighter because I'm so aware of how fragile she is, how quickly she's growing up, and how much I LOVE her.

I wish the world were a little smaller, just so that it would be easier to be real life friends with my bloggy buddies. When there's a baby shower, or a wedding, or a birthday party, anything that is celebratory- I feel sad that I can't be there. When someone needs a shoulder to cry on, I wish I could provide comfort in a way that didn't didn't involve typing. Maybe that's the beauty of blogging, the somewhat anonymity of it all that allows us to really be ourselves because we're geographically separated. But I still wish I could get in my car, drive to their house, and just hang out.

It's amazing how something so little can have such a large impact. When I started blogging I never anticipated that it would be anything more than an online scrapbook. When I started this blog, my faith was barely a whisper in the back of my head. And while I'm still trying to figure a lot of it out, I'm now trying to see how God works in everything rather than trying to convince myself that he's a part of nothing. My entire life is a work in progress, and I hope it will always be like that- I never want to stop trying to become a better person- the person I'm meant to be.

To celebrate my 300th post, I doing... a Giveaway!! But this isn't any ordinary giveaway- it's a bloggy one! Since the theme of this post is how blogging changed my life (for the better), I thought it would be appropriate to do a giveway that would improve and beautify your blog.

I am giving the winner:

• A brand new custom header for your blog
  
• A brand new custom blog button that will match your new header
• All of this will be done for you by Jennisa over at Once Upon a Blog, who did such a great job designing my layout!
• She's a very in demand blog designer, with a very long waiting list, but not for the winner!

If you already have a custom blog layout, it never hurts to have a new header to swap in and out, just to spice things up- so I hope that won't keep you from entering!

The rules are simple:

1. Create a link to this post on your blog (just click the Create A Link Button at the bottom of the post) and tell us how blogging has changed your life. If it hasn't, you can write about that, too. I'm interested in all opinions.
   
2. If you want, it's not required (oh, please do it!), you can also leave me a comment about how blogging changed your life, and I will put your name in twice for the giveaway. Gosh I'm nice!
3. The giveaway will end on Sunday, June 14, 2009 at 11:59pm EST and I will post the winner on Monday morning,
   
4. That's it!

I will write down the name of everyone who's eligible and have Spencer draw the lucky winner from a hat. Of course I will take a picture of this, I wouldn't want anyone to think that the selection process was fixed, haha! The last time I tried a giveaway I only had four people enter, and that just doesn't work- so I'm crossing my fingers that this one goes better. Hopefully I'll get to make some new bloggy friends and discover some new blogs, I think that would be great!

Finally, I really want to thank all of you who have made this experience so positive and memorable. I think I'm so lucky to have found all of your wonderful blogs and I'm grateful for your support and friendship!