I Have A Wee Small Favor To Ask

17 June 2011 by

Hey y’all –

I’m about to start working on an article for HomeLife magazine about setting online boundaries, especially when it comes to sharing information about kids. I know that some of you blog, some of you don’t – but I’m guessing that almost everybody uses social media (like Facebook) in some form or fashion.

So. Here’s what I’d like to know. If you’re willing to answer, of course. And you don’t have to answer all the questions, so feel free to pick and choose. This is super informal.

1. If you’re a blogger, do you ever post pictures of your kids on Facebook that you would never post on your blog? Why or why not?

2. Do you ever think about how your child(ren) might feel before you share an anecdote about them or a picture of them? Do you think about how they might feel when they’re older?

3. Is there an age at which you feel like your kids’ stories aren’t yours to share anymore? At least not without their permission?

4. Have you ever had an experience that made you reconsider whether or not it’s safe to share information about your kids or pictures of your kids online?

5. Do you have any general guidelines that you adhere to in terms of sharing information about your kids or pictures of your kids online? Or are you totally laid-back about it? What works for you?

I may end up using some of your comments in the article (I’ll only use your first name), so if you’re not okay with that, you might not want to comment on this post. Just FYI. Also, it would be great if you’d just talk about your personal experience with your family (as opposed to stuff you’ve seen other people share on Facebook or blogs).

Thanks in advance, y’all – and thanks, also, for your great Father’s Day suggestions. The boy and I went shopping a little while ago, and we actually bought two of the things that y’all suggested.

THE INTERNET IS A WONDER.

Love,
Me

Filed Under: Rambling

A Completely Hypothetical Situation

17 June 2011 by

So.

Let’s say that you have a friend who, hypothetically, has not yet reached any firm and final plans in regards to what her child(ren) might give to his/her/their father on Father’s Day.

HYPOTHETICALLY.

And let’s say that your friend asked you for some gift suggestions that don’t involve gift cards and that also don’t involve spending more than, say, $50.

And let’s also say – purely for the sake of narrative, of course – that your friend and her child(ren) have driven themselves to distraction trying to think of a gift that would be meaningful and also practical for a man who loves to be outside, especially if it involves yard work, camping or hiking (but notsomuch with the hunting or fishing). The man might also enjoy reading mysteries and keeping up with tech news (especially about Macs). He might even enjoy listening to worship music as well as playing the occasional Xbox game, but it’s difficult to say much more than that since, of course, I don’t actually know this man of which we speak.

I mean, he is fictional, after all.

So.

What advice would you offer in this TOTALLY MAKE-BELIEVE scenario?

I’m just curious, of course.

OF COURSE.

Filed Under: Rambling

Linky Dinky Doo

16 June 2011 by

My friend Elise – who, for the record, is one of my favorite people IN THE UNIVERSE – is staying with us tonight, so I haven’t written a “real” blog post because I’ve been way too busy holding my sides while I laugh until I hurt. Her boys are here, too, and it’s been so fun to hang out and visit and enjoy all the aforementioned laughing. We just love ’em all to pieces.

Anyway, I do have a few links I want to share, and I’ll be back with the regular mediocrity sometime tomorrow. Also on my agenda for tomorrow? A fresh round of highlights and a haircut. Because I don’t mind saying that my hair is BROKE DOWN right now and in dire need of professional help.

Oh! Before I forget: I LOVED your suggestions for TV marathons. I don’t know when I’ve felt more inspired in terms of my TV marathon planning. So thank you, Internet, for being so very helpful.

All righty. Links.

– The Samsung Power Foam Sweepstakes is still up and running. The prize? A $100 Best Buy gift card.

– Sweet Marla Taviano has written an e-book called The Husband’s Guide To Getting Lucky: Six Simple Steps to Great Sex With Your Wife. It’s only $4.99, and you can download a PDF or buy a copy formatted for Kindle, Nook or iPad. Full disclosure: I haven’t read the whole book yet, but what I have read is honest, frank and challenging. For more information about the e-book, just look here.

– A couple of weeks ago I made Ina Garten’s Scalloped Tomatoes as a side dish. THEY ARE DELICIOUS. So fresh and summer-y and good.

– This past Christmas my friend Cynthia gave me a bottle of Philosophy face wash called (fancy name, huh?). I didn’t start using it until I’d finished using my previous cleanser, but Y’ALL. This stuff is so good. I normally have a hard time using anything that’s exfoliating because I have super-sensitive skin, but this cleanser is really gentle. I use it every day and am completely smitten with it. Such a fan, I am.

Hope y’all have a great Thursday!

Filed Under: Daily Awesome

It’s Sort Of Like Having One Of Those 26.2 Stickers On Your Car. Only Not.

15 June 2011 by

I totally remember the first TV show marathon I ever watched.

It was “The Real World.” Season 1. Eric and Julie flirted a lot. The whole cast was pretty much cute as a button, and with the exception of a few lively arguments, everybody behaved.

I quit watching “The Real World” somewhere around the second New York season (oh, it got REAL real about that time), but I never lost my love for the TV marathon. Give me back-to-back episodes of a TV show in which I am even remotely interested, and I will fire up the DVR lickety-split. Maybe it’s because I tend to err on the side of impatient, but I adore the option of watching episodes of a show one right after the other. IT MAKES ME SO HAPPY.

When D and I were first married, I was always on the look-out for a Law & Order marathon. Or a Road Rules marathon (remember Road Rules? I LOVED IT). There was even one time when the Biography Channel or A&E or somebody had a Columbo marathon, and I was ALL OVER IT. Nothing like a detective show from the 1970s to make a weekend extra special, you know?

After we bought our first house, I loved the home improvement shows on BBC America, and a marathon of Changing Rooms and/or Ground Force was always a treat. Then I discovered the joy of a House Hunters marathon – back in the days when they didn’t show the prices and the people looking for a house always picked the third one.

(That reminds me: I miss Suzanne Whang.)

(I also miss Michael Payne, the man who used to host Designing for the Sexes. I mean, do y’all remember how INCREDIBLY THRILLED he would be about ABSOLUTELY NOTHING? He was a delight.)

Our TV marathon habits haven’t changed much over the last few years. We’ve plowed through all the seasons of Friday Night Lights thanks to Netflix, and when we discovered the first season of Veronica Mars a few years ago, we would watch three or four episodes a night on DVD.

And listen. If I happen to catch a marathon of a cooking show? Like Top Chef or Chopped or The Next Food Network Star? Oh my word. THIS WORLD CANNOT CONTAIN MY JOY.

So all that to say: we love us a good TV show marathon in this house. And when I got home from Louisville and saw that I had fourteen (FOURTEEN!) episodes of Say Yes To The Dress on the DVR, I wanted to dance a little jig in a fitting room at Kleinfeld’s. Now granted, D isn’t the least bit interested in a TV show about wedding dresses, so I’m running this particular marathon alone. I’m not even halfway through all the episodes, but I’ve had the best time trying to pinpoint what kind of dress each bride is going to pick and being shocked by how much they’re willing to spend and seeing the expressions on their faces when they finally find “the one.”

It’s no Friday Night Lights, mind you, but it’ll do in a pinch.

So what about you? Any shows you’d recommend for a good marathon? Any shows you wouldn’t? Anything you’re hoping to catch sometime soon?

I’m all ears. Or eyes. Or ears and eyes. Or whatever is necessary in order to solidify some TV-watching goals.

Filed Under: TV Is My Friend

Even Yet More Deeply Still Than Before – Again

14 June 2011 by

So this past weekend in Louisville? At Deeper Still?

It was just the sweetest time.

I was going to write about it Sunday afternoon when I got home, but apparently I needed many uninterrupted hours to watch the Bulldogs in their final super regional baseball game and also nap. Then my two fellas returned from a little father-son weekend trip, and I had a fun time catching up with them and hearing all about their adventures. Today I just wanted to hang out at home and catch up on a few errands, but I haven’t really been in writing mode. However, I’ve definitely been in “Say Yes To The Dress” mode.

So there’s that.

We really did have big fun in Louisville, and I’ll have you know that Melanie and I completely avoided bad Mexican food on this particular trip. I’d like to think that it’s because we’re growing in wisdom about our dining choices, but mainly it’s because we were at Freedom Hall most of the time and the options were fairly limited. And let’s face it: if there had been a sign over a concession stand that said, “Below Average Mexican Food Served Here,” we’d have pulled out our wallets, forked over some cash and enjoyed some astonishingly subpar beef-type product wrapped up in something pretending to be a tortilla and covered with an orange-y substance that was posing as cheese.

WE ARE POWERLESS TO RESIST IT.

Friday morning we both worked at the arena (we were there to do bloggy stuff and also to help with the event). I had high hopes that since Louisville is farther north than Birmingham it would be somewhat cooler, but unfortunately that was not the case at all. It was approximately 155 degrees early Friday afternoon, though certainly I could be overestimating. I’m sure it was much cooler in the shade – a breezy 132 degrees, perhaps. I do know for sure that when they opened the doors for Deeper Still late Friday afternoon, the place where I was standing in the concourse felt like someone had opened the doors of a hundred 400 degree ovens at the same time. It was warm.

Two big Friday night highlights were 1) getting to catch up with some bloggy friends before the event started and 2) getting to hear a new worship song that Travis has written with a friend of his. It’s called “The Word of God Has Spoken,” and I am of the opinion that it is absolutely incredible. I haven’t been able to get it out of my head since we sang it Friday night, and that is fine by me because I kind of like having it in my head all the time. You can hear it if you watch the Deeper Still video re-cap, and I think you’ll love it.

My third favorite thing about Friday night (and obviously I’m dealing with personal stuff here; Melanie and I will be dealing with the actual messages over the next week or so at AllAccess ) was that Angie and her friend Kelsey came up to our room about 10:30 Friday night, and y’all, I really can’t remember the last time I laughed that much. There was one point when everybody was laughing so hard that no one was making a sound, and IT MADE ME SO HAPPY. One of my favorite memories ever.

Saturday was chock-full-o-Deeper-Still-goodness. Beth Moore and Priscilla Shirer spoke Saturday (both were excellent, as always), and I would just like to say that the toned state of Priscilla’s arms is an inspiration to women everywhere (if you were there you TOTALLY know what I’m talking about). She has such a great sense of style and always looks so effortlessly beautiful, but I am here to tell you that her arms are a revelation. Clearly she has the Lord’s favor because 1) she’s a gifted, articulate teacher and 2) THOSE ARMS. Sweet mercy.

Saturday night Melanie and I had dinner with a bunch of sweet friends, and afterwards our buddy Paige and her friend Kristin came up to our room for LO, EVEN MORE LAUGHS. It was good times all the way around.

So now I’m home, and it’s exactly where I want and need to be. We have a wide open week in front of us – no VBS, no camps, no anything, really – and I’m tickled to pieces about that. I’m hoping to get some writing done for Ye Olde E-book this week, so I may be a little scarce around here. Or I may be here an obnoxious amount. There’s just not a bit of telling.

Hope y’all had a great weekend!

Filed Under: Faith

The Big Boo Cast, Episode 19

9 June 2011 by

bigboobuttonsm.jpg

Well, Melanie has a new modem, and that means we’re feeling a little giddy with podcast power right now. Because we can talk without being disconnected! And without error messages popping up on our computers! And without becoming so frustrated that we vow and declare that we will NEVER USE THE INTERNET AGAIN, EVER, AND WE MEAN IT.

This week we talk about our inability to use our soft voices, The Bachelorette (oh, we are not pleased), our real and imagined ailments, our trip to Louisville, Friday Night Lights, Melanie’s quest to find an aqua shirt and many other DEEPLY RIVETING topics. Like, for instance, THE HEAT.

And by the way, there was a section about mid-way through where we got sidetracked and I had to cut it out, but then I couldn’t figure out a good way to transition between the two sections, so I did what any media professional would do and simply inserted three very loud growling sounds. That’s a sure sign that you’re dealing with some quality production values, my friends. We like to keep it HIGH TECH around here.

You can click here to listen. Or here. Or you can subscribe on iTunes if you’re feeling particularly fancy.

Have a great Thursday, y’all!

Filed Under: Big Boo Cast
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