I have expressed my love of the clubmom bloggers here before. And I was really greatful for all the help ya’ll gave me when I wanted to win the t-shirt from Normal Mom Rebecca. Well, I never told you about the other clubmom blogger contest I won.

Melissa, of Under Construction Daily, writes the DIY/ crafter/ sometimes home improver blog. She is funny and has great resources. I love that she sews and uses her daughter’s stuffed teddy bear as the model.

In July Melissa held a readers contest during the week that she was off attending funerals. The only requirement was that we left her comments on her entries during that week. Each day she drew a winner from that comment pool with the promise of a homemade something from her own hands.

Imagine my surprise when 1) I won something and 2) it appeared in my mailbox this afternoon! The pretty tea towel was embroderied by Melissa’s hands and isn’t it cute? She told me the prizes were random, but it works out perfectly because I love strawberries.

Thanks Melissa! You write a great blog and now I am listening to the Craftsanity podcast too!

My parents recently made the switch to a VoIP (voice over IP) phone so that they could bundle their internet/ cable/ phone services together and save money.

We are always looking for ways to save money and I have looked at the VoIP option. There is a Vonage-Forum has a good support site that offers news, reviews, and information about the Vonage option for VoIP. I think I’ll be taking a closer look.

I went to the big thrift store a few days ago, looking for some sneakers for Fuller. I needed a size 7 and I came up with a few choices. We prefer velcro, so that narrowed it down. One of the pairs had a generic football player on the sides, which I thought was cute, so those shoes came home with me.

I discovered later that the shoes have those LEDs on the side so when the child wearing them stepped down, the sides lit up.

When we attempted to put them on Fuller’s feet we found out something very disappointing. The shoes did not fit! They were too narrow.

It is still summery weather, so Fuller is primarily going barefoot or wearing his sandals. And since we haven’t put the shoes away or in the goodwill box, Fuller has a new toy. He goes around the house slamming the shoes down so the lights on the shoe flash… and he is so happy!

For $1.79, that’s a decent toy.

If you have been paying attention, I have been overdoing the blogging to raise money for a new digital camera. I’ve been doing lots of research on various digital photography sites and I recommend digital camera reviews, a site that offers reviews and price comparison tools.

I checked their review of the Kodak P880 and was impressed with the quality of the review and obvious personal touches they gave to the review- they used their own pictures of the camera, not Kodak’s, and plenty of real life examples.

Fuller still has his awful diaper rash, but he has moved on to add the following symptoms:
~ runny nose
~ coughing
~ sneezing
~ slight fever

I want to think he might be teething, since that is usually what those symptoms all equalled before, but he isn’t drooling. Do two year molars come in without drooling? I tried to look in his mouth, but couldn’t really decipher what I was looking at, other than teeth.

Well, regardless of the cause, he seems to have a cold. And last night, he and I cuddled and sang for a good thirty minutes. He would pause his singing to press his forehead to my mouth and in return I would give him a sweet kiss on the noggin.

This morning, I have a sore throat and stuffy nose. I wonder why?

Parenting can be hazardous to your health.

So my I was looking over my pay per post possibilities and saw something near and dear to McMom?s heart.

She’s a bit of a neat freak — AND she dislikes watering the yard and things actually growing in the yard. She has enjoyed the watering systems our yards have had in the Arizona climate, but nowhere else she has lived have those systems been standard. In my parent’s home in Ohio the former owners had put in a system of soaker hoses - that didn’t work. So when my dad left for Iraq last year, my mom had the job of keeping everything alive during the pretty dry and hot summer.

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Parenting is hard. It can be a two steps forward, one step back kind of dance and while you are dancing you often feel inadequate, dizzy, and unsure of what to do, think, or expect.

From about the age of three weeks I stopped reading those emails from good-natured parenting websites telling me what my three week old should be accomplishing now. Instead I just got down on the floor and watched what Fuller was actually doing.

Everyday we are thrilled as Fuller does? well, anything. Just watch the cute way he eats his goldfish crackers. It is so cute when he repeats the words ?shoes, side, shoes, side? to indicate his desire to put on his shoes and go outside. We love the way his eyes roll to the side as if to communicate, ?yeah, sure, you think that now.? And of course I love watching him dance and march around the house. It all endears him to our hearts even more.

Which is why I was shocked when my inner mommy reared up and yelled, ?That?s ridiculous!? when I was listening to my Manic Mommies podcast. (It was all inside my head, so no one on the bus turned to see what the fuss was.)

One of the Mommies, I think Erin, was talking about how she had her son evaluated by Early Intervention Services because her son was 20 months old and only saying six words. She was worried because he never spontaneously speaks.

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A few days ago I mentioned introducing internet safety to kids, and I got two great comments (thanks Sarah! Thanks Jeannette!).

Well, I may hate the internet blocking software at work (I miss my blog!) but I do think in general it is a good idea. And since they are blocking new sites every single day it must be working very well!

Ok, sarcasm aside, I do think that web filters are a good idea, especially in the home where there are young kids. But because of my experience at work, I know that filters can be very annoying. So, what might be a good idea is web filtering and web tracking software.

tracking software can record email, IM, follow the web sites visited, keystrokes, files downloaded, applications launched, etc. I know we have it at work and I think that it isn?t a bad idea for the home either.

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Scott tagged me a few days ago and it took me some time to think this through but here are my answers for One book:

One book that?

?changed my life?
I am going to have to say Are you there God? It?s Me Margaret by Judy Blume. Please don?t laugh. But that book? well it opened up a whole new world of possibility to me. Let?s leave it at that.

?I?ve read more than once?
There are quite a few on this list, but the one that springs to mind is another Judy Blume book, ?Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself. I think I identified with this young girl not just because she had an overactive imagination but she imagined things that weren?t quite right and it was ok.

Also, if I can’t get my hands on italian food, I read Love and Pasta by Joe Varga.

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I went to a wedding shower a few weeks ago and I realized that it was time for me to have another shower too. We’ve been married for almost eight great years (next April) and when we had our showers we got awesome stuff, but stuff doesn’t last forever.

Our towels are getting thin, I want new sheets (when we registered we had a double bed, now we have a queen), and we have suspicions that our bread maker is starting to fail. I had to replace the iron we got when I dropped the old one on the floor and broke it.

We got a great under the cabinet can opener, and while it still works, it has a piece missing. I’m afraid that without that piece we might lose an entire can of canned corn or worse.

I really like the One Touch Can Opener. I have seen it in use at friends’ homes and I like how it doesn’t leave any sharp edges. Plus, I think the top of the can makes a great lid if we don’t use all the contents.

So, first up on my 8 years of marriage shower registry: a new can opener. Second: a new vacuum.