It's Good To Have Bloggy Friends

Dawn so graciously gave me this wonderful award for being a good bloggy friend to her. She makes it easy! This one really means a lot to me, since she only gave it to two people. I feel *special* now. Thanks, Dawn!

I don't think I can limit my award giving to just two, but I will try to limit myself to just a few of the many great bloggy friends I have made in just a few short months. My apologies to those of you who don't see your name here -- chances are if you are reading my blog, I am thinking of you, too.

Secret Agent Mama -- we met on Cre8Buzz and she has stood by me through and through -- even when I don't comment on her blog for days at a time (sorry!!) 'cause she's cool like that.

Cathy @ Mine -- we have seen each other through our brutal elimination diets and watched each other's boys get bigger. Cathy also keeps me going with her frequent commenting.

Jennifer @ Playgroups Are No Place for Children -- Jennifer has been a great blog friend and supporter of mine, and I truly appreciate her presence here on my blog and in the blogosphere in general. She's like the Community Liaison of Mommy Bloggers.

Cate @ Monkeys & Marbles -- Cate also has a preemie and is always willing to chat when I bother her on google talk. She makes me yearn to visit Canada.

And finally, B-to-the-E-dizzle @ The Egel Nest -- holdin' it down for the Dad's ain't easy, and he's managed to work us Moms into his good graces. He is an awesome commenter and blog friend, and often says what I dare not.

Of course, I would like to send this right back at ya, Dawn.

I <3 all of you totally. Wish we lived closer IRL!!

Cheers, everyone!

Blogging About Awards, 'Cause I Got Nothin'

I had a fabulous post planned for you today, but it's fabulousness is just not ready to unleash itself upon y'all.

Luckily, I received two awards this week! Woot for me!

First, the fab Anglophile Football Fanatic gave me this super cute award:

Is it supposed to mean amazing or amusing? I think amazing, since there's a "z" in it. Anyway, I am going to bestow this award upon:

Nap Warden

The Egel Nest

The Great Walls of Baltimore

Then, the incredible Nap Warden gave me this super sweet award:

I think these blogs rock the crib:

Secret Agent Mama

Anglophile Football Fanatic

Monkeys & Marbles

Poot & Cubby

The Binky Bitch

The Queen of Shake-Shake

I love getting awards, they make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. I hope my recipients feel the same way!

Thanks NW and AFF!!

(I know some people don't necessarily "do" awards, but I wanted to show ya some love all the same. I won't be offended if you don't put them up or acknowledge them on your blog -- a comment here would be nice though!)

More Random Facts About VDog

My dear friend Anglophile Football Fanatic gave me and award and tagged me for this meme:

8 things I'm passionate about:
1. Little Man
2. The Warrior
3. CrackerDog Sasha
4. My friends
5. Food
6. Chocolate
7. Sleep (a hot commodity around here)
8. Recycling

8 things I want to do before I die:
1. Visit Spain
2. Visit England and Ireland
3. Go back to Amsterdam and visit the Van Gogh museum and the Henieken factory
4. Sky dive (though I probably never will, Warrior won't have it, and I can't blame him)
5. Bungee jump (see above)
6. Write a book, either memoir or fictional novel
7. Show Warrior the South West, including the Grand Canyon
8. Write a better screen play than the one I wrote in College

8 things I say often:
1. Totally
2. Ehbeh (Oh Boy drawled out)
3. What a jabroni!
4. I mean, seriously
5. Cracker!
6. Crackah ass crackah!!
7. E-BOLI (a version of #2)
8. Housejob!

8 Books I’ve read recently (or am still reading):
You mean there's time for reading when you're a SAHM???
1. Penelope Leach, Your Baby & Child
2. Ann Douglas, The Ultimate Sleep Solution
3. Dr. Sears, The Baby Book (hate the guilt, am generally anti-Sears, but I end up being a lot like the parents he wants people to be)
4. The American Academy of Pediatrics, Your Child 0-Age 5 (my Ped. follows the AAP guidelines pretty strictly, so it's nice to know where she's coming from)

That's all I got.

8 Songs I Could Listen to Over and Over (And do!)
1. Neil Diamond, Sweet Caroline
2. Dire Straights, Sultans of Swing
3. Rihanna, SOS
4. Dire Straights, Expresso Love
5. Britney Spears, I'm a Slave for You
6. Christina Aguilera, Beautiful
7. Beach Boys, Surfin' USA
8. 50 Cent, In Da Club

8 Things that Attract Me to My Best Friends:
1. They put up with me
2. They are intelligent
3. They tell me when I am being a jabroni
4. They drink margaritas with me
5. They think I'm like, totally fabulous
6. They are great with the Little Man
7. They have similar values
8. They tell me I am a great chef

That's about all I can handle right now. I will tell you about the fabulous award later. Little Man is doing MUCH better. His spirit is back almost 100%. He is still a bit more tired than usual, but he is definitely feeling better. Which means I am feeling better. Hopefully we'll have a full recovery soon, but the snot is still raging hard core. Poor cutie. He sounds like a snorting pig when he breathes.

My First Thursday Thirteen

You know it's getting bad when I'm resorting to new theme posts when we're only a week into NaBloPoMo.

I present to you a random list of stuff for my first outing:

1) I was awarded another Egel Award by the man himself, Bradley Egel. Whoopee!

I award it to:

ImpostorMom

ramblings from an a.d.d. "type b"

Tattoos & Drool

(I know there were more, I will add them later.)

2) Mr. Egel has a thought provoking post up today about the Presidential Election. Many opinions weighing in in the comments section. Check it out.

3) The number of nights in a row I have been up and down, up and down with the Little Man. Sometimes he manages to sleep only thirty minutes at a time. Blame him for my late post today.

4) I have joined a Moms & Babies Meet-up group, because, really, I don't have enough to do already. HA! #7 also joined the group, so that's awesome, and one other mom from my Mom's Group is in it, too. The other ladies I've met are super cool so far, so it will be nice to have people to see and places to go once it starts raining.

5) I'm having "one of those days" today. I'm just so unmotivated to do anything, and everything I do manage to do ends up turning out wrong. Is Friday here yet?

6) Did you know that Mighty Goods now has an offshoot called Mighty Junior? Yeah, me neither.

7) Have you ever read The Pioneer Woman Cooks? It is an absolutely beautiful blog -- her pictures are so delicious. (This link is specifically posted for the GranCracker.) Dawn introduced me to this blog.

8) How about the Fabulous Mrs. Fussypants? We don't have much in common, what with her being Christian, Southern, and Republican, but we ARE both fabulous and hilarious. (HA!) She is WAY more fabulous and hilarious, but I've got room to grow. Have you seen this post of hers? Pure safety genius.

9) Did you know that Earth's Best Infant "Whole Grain Wheat Semolina Pastina" is really just a creative way for you to spend more money on whole wheat couscous? You can thank me later. (Little Man didn't even like it.)

10) If you can't get the package open yourself, you shouldn't eat the cookies. (Damn Newman's Own Champion Chip Cookies! Dairy-free, though! Woot!)

11) #3 just complained to me that he's "been crashing hella early...was in bed at 8:20pm last night...slept till 9am." Oh, WHAAAA. Cry me a frickin' river.

12) "The Bro" (Warrior's brother) is here in Cali for training in a new techy thing. He got in on Sunday and will stay until next Sunday. He is staying with us and we are doin' it up like old times (his job transferred him & his family away from us four years ago). Little Man is still trying to figure it out.

13) We apparently need to get a "pipe spy" to see if we have tree roots growing in our sewer line. I don't even want to get into how we found this out. Heh.

So, totally random, right? Did you enjoy this randomness? Should I do it ever again? Or just post a picture of Little Man if this is the other option? LOL.

Thank you to all of you who have left comments here and on the Buzz, IMmed, Twittered or emailed wondering how Little Man is doing. His fever is back (not sure actually if it ever went away) and he is miserable, poor cutie. There will be a Haiku about snot tomorrow. I know you're looking forward to that. Heh.

Of course I will keep you updated as to his condition.

Eggcellent

Dear Nap Warden,

Thank you so much for kindly awarding me the Egel Nest Blog Award.

I can't believe you are blog friends with the creator of the award, Bradley Egel of The Egel Nest! How cool is that? You are one lucky Warden.

I am flattered you think my blog is "eggcellent." I try my best to put out a quality product, but you know, we all have our off days.

I wanted to let you know that I plan on handing out this award to a few blogs that I think are "eggcellent." My criteria for the award is: the writing has to be outstanding, interesting and free (for the most part) of grammatical and spelling errors (I was an English major, you know).

I think these ladies are fabulous bloggers, and highly deserving of the Egel Award:

Sara at Suburban Oblivion

Megan at Velveteen Mind

Andi at Poot and Cubby

Jennifer at Playgroups Are No Place For Children

Alex Elliot at Formula Fed & Flexible Parenting

I hope you agree.

Thank you again, Ms. Warden. It is truly appreciated. I am so honored.

xoxo,
VDog
---------
I've decided to get all epistolary on yo' asses this week, since I'm already on a streak. Hope you enjoy.

Even! More! Awards!

ImpostorMom was kind of enough to bestow these TWO awards (TWO, PEOPLE!!) upon me at the same time. How awesome is that? I thankee kindly, me lady!


Since I received them together, I'm gonna hand them out together. Double the lurve, double the fun!

I deem these ladies lurved by me, and true Blogging Stars:

Cate at Monkeys and Marbles -- also a parent of a preemie; she has two boys and writes about what I'll be dealing with in a few short years. She is simply fabulous.

Angie at A Whole Lot of Nothing -- in a short amount of time, she has truly become a Blogging Star. And I <3 her.

Sheri at My Minivan Is Faster Than Yours -- Sheri has only been blogging since May 2007, but by writing hilarious posts and carpet bombing the mommyblogosphere with comments that beg you to click on her (blog) name, she has become a veritable Blogebrity. Sheri also has a preemie, Crusher, who was a 32 weeker just like the Little Man. I <3 her blog, and love to see how well Crusher is doing now that he's three years old -- I can only hope that Little Man does just as well.

Mishi at Secret Agent Mama -- Mishi is a long-time blogger and a new cre8Buzz friend. Her blog name is awesome (we love us some spy movies up in here) and she is just a cool chick overall.

Mom-Chatter -- she was able to redesign her blog, template and all, by herself. Which makes her a true Star in my mind. She's also my reality TV buddy, so I <3 her totally.

Dana at Life Turned Upside Down -- Dana is one sweet lady. She shows me lots of blog love, commenting frequently, and she has THE MOST hilarious "About Me" section EVER. Go check it out.

Megan at Velveteen Mind -- she writes beautifully, rallies the troops and is a good blog friend. She makes you think she's like, totally all intellectual and stuff, what with that thick book on her banner, but then she goes and says things like, "Let's whip 'em out." Which is why I <3 her blog.

Show these ladies some love and pay them a visit. Tell 'em VDog sent ya.

I've Got Something In My Pocket

MommyK over at The Great Walls of Baltimore has awarded me the You Make Me Smile Award. I am only too happy to accept. One of the reasons I blog is to make people smile, myself included, if only for a few minutes while you visit my site.
The following bloggers make ME smile:

Special K Toni -- her banner alone is enough to put a smile on my face.

ImposterMom -- Her son Boogie is a few days older than Little Man -- it's awesome to have another blogger in the same mommy place as I am (and we're almost the same age, too!). Her pictures of Boogie are too adorable!

The Nap Warden -- she has an awesome Superhero avatar and her son is The Little Man. What's not to love?

Mine -- my girl in elimination diet hell with me, she has two adorable little boys who make me smile. :)

FuseMoms -- Lyssa is a new cre8Buzz friend -- she contacted me because she calls her son "B-Dogg," so she thought we might be on the same wavelength. Her blog has a happy layout and color scheme, and her posts are hilarious.

Enjoy the bling ladies, and don't forget to hand it out to some of your favorite bloggers.

Stay Tuned...

I have awards to give out later! Maybe it'll be YOU!

We're off to Mom's Group this morning, so I will try to get these awards out this afternoon. Happy Thursday! (Survivor night, baby! Woohoo!)

My First Bling

*Now updated below 9.12.07*

Yes, it is true, I am now a blogger with an award. Oh. Muh. Gaw. I can barely contain my excitement.



The extremely awesome Jennifer over at Playgroups are No Place for Children bestowed me with my very first bling, the Nice Matters Award. I am so proud! And to think, I'm nice! (Well, most of the time I am, but there is that matter of the poor elderly neighbor lady. Oops. I'll try to clean up my act and live up to this award.)

My own favorite "nice" post thus far: Thankful

Now I get to bestow this on some other bloggers:

Cathy (Mine)

ImpostorMom

MamaK (MamaK NJ)

Andrea (SuperHeroJournal)

Angie (A Whole Lot of Nothing

Enjoy the lurve, ladies!

UPDATE:
I just found out the meaning and origin of this award, and now it just warms my heart. :)

I learned that, "This award will be awarded to those that are just nice people , good blog friends and those that inspire good feelings and inspiration! Those that care about others that are there to lend support or those that are just a positive influence in our blogging world!"

I also learned I am supposed to pass the award on to seven people, so now I add:

Glennia (The Silent "I")

The Redneck Mommy