girlymama

grab some tissues and pull up a chair

I encourage you to pop over to my in-real-life friend Kelly's blog this week. They are in China picking up their new little girl and it is just the most precious, sweet thing to read!!

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Gracie: Ellie, You are NOT a TEENAGER!
Ellie: Not yet.

Hold me.

thank you. so very much.

I cannot thank all of you enough for the comments, prayers and emails you have sent over the past few days. I cannot tell you how encouraging they were, how helpful they were as we made decisions about what to do, how much they meant to me. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

So here's the update:
1. I am beyond impressed with Ellie's school. Within 24 hours of the bullying incident, we spoke with her teacher as well as the principal (and getting hold of the principal the first week of school is a minor miracle in itself). The bus drivers have been informed, as well as the school counselor. The bully has been reprimanded and made to apologize to Ellie. All of this was done with tremendous discretion on the part of the teacher which I greatly appreciated (I worried about Ellie being called a tattle-tale). I can't even tell you what it meant to have the principal call me and immediately say "I will handle this. I will take care of Ellie." It brought tears to my eyes.
Ellie came off the bus today with a huge smile on her face and turned to wave a huge goodbye to her friends.  (It was me who was crying this time.)
This is probably not the end of this, but we're felling much more confident about the whole situation. All I can say is I am soooo thankful that we got involved.

2. My husband got back yesterday after two weeks of traveling and, after such a stressful and draining week, we are running away from home.  We're trading in some of Husband's hotel points and heading to Baltimore tomorrow. We're going to enjoy the Inner Harbor, visit the Aquarium, and just be together. Sounds like the perfect happy birthday to me!!

3. For all my family who read this...

my uncle was featured in a video on Nascar.com!

4. And let me leave you with a few good reads:
These are just fascinating: What the World Eats and What the World Eats, Part II.
This is an interesting read as well: The High Price of Cheap Food. Warning - you may want to turn vegetarian after reading this one.

5. I'm out. Be back on Monday-ish.

a few must reads...

What Makes a Man Sexy? I could not possibly agree with this more!!

Last week a Bible Study, my friend made these AMAZING homemade cinnamon buns. Which I begged her to post the recipe on her blog, so that I could share it with you guys!
Wait, give me a minute... I'm remembering... yummmmmmmmmmmmmm

If you are feeling crafty and you know anyone having a baby soon, this is a great tutorial - baby closet dividers!! How adorable are these????

Jo-Lynne has a great post this week called The Best and Worst Baby Products. Even if you're not on the market for any baby items, its fun to readher reasons why she hates Diaper Genies with a passion.

I have a review over at Reviewings this week. Check it out!

important somethings you needs to know

Here's one of the reasons I've been MIA all week. There will be an official launch soon, but enjoy the preview!

Beth at I Should Be Folding Laundry has a GREAT POST about how important it is to COMMENT on BLOGS. This means you! Seriously - I get like 400 hits a day and like 10 comments. You know who you are, Lurkers. I know who lots of you are. And you know that I know who you are. So start commenting, dang it.

If you are trying to lose weight - or even maintain your current weight - do not, under ANY circumstances whatsoever, visit this amazing blog I just discovered. Otherwise, go nuts and don't drool all over your keyboard, since that may cause some technical problems.

And a big shout out and thanks to George W. for the $1800 tax rebate that arrived in our bank account this morning. Woo-HOO!!

linky love

I was given this very nice award from Jenny at Chased By Children like three weeks ago. And I am just now getting around to posting about it. Maybe I should be winning a giant "L" for "Lazy!"

So now I will share the love with.....
Mel over at A Box of Chocolates - She is not only a mom, but somehow has the energy to be an elementary school teacher at the same time. Seriously. She deserves a box of chocolates. Or two.
And Misty at Rainy Day in May. Because she is a great writer. And she's fun. And she has bravely just decided to start homeschooling her daughter.

Scientists have finally decided that "Pregnancy does cause memory loss." See? See!?!?! Its not just in my head!

Michelle over at Scribbit is giving away a brand new Evenflo car seat this weekend! Go enter! And send it to me when you win!

If you haven't been reading BooMama and Rocks in my Dryer this week, you are truly missing out. They are both blogging from Uganda, where they are on a trip with Compassion. Go read this. And especially this - this one made me cry.

link love

WantNot.net - love this site!! - has this post about how much money to spend on groceries. And it has a great link to an article in the Wall Street Journal about buying organic - what's worth it and what's not. I know that's something I'm always internally debating. (Although, being pregnant, my internal debates are more like "organic cheetos or regular cheetos? Humm....")
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I really, really hope that Starbucks really does this! Wouldn't that be awesome!?!??! $1 coffee with free refills at Starbucks? I may never drink water (or sleep) again!!!
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And I think we can all relate to this post by Mir at Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda.

linky love

I sent The Shakespeare Insult Kit out to my family this week and we have been trading insults ever since:
"You beslubbering fen-sucked clack-dish!"
"Whatever, you reeky fat-kidneyed clot-pole!!"
Its quite fun. Try it.

Beth at I Should Be Folding Laundryhad an exciting announcement. Funny blog posts are sure to follow.

Christie over at These are a few of my favorite things has shared her brilliant system for organizing her kids routines!

And - I almost forgot this one - BooMama posted a new brownie recipe for "Symphany Brownies" in this post, ironically about overeating. Recipe goes like this:
"You prepare your favorite brownie mix, pour half of it in the baking dish, top with Hershey’s Symphony Bars with Almonds and Toffee, pour the other half of the brownie mixture on top of the candy bars, and bake according to package directions. Then eat, praise Jesus, and repeat."
I made this for Bible Study on Wednesday and every single person there was raving - raving - about these brownies and asking for the recipe. Oh, my stars, I will never make ordinary brownies ever again. But its got me thinking... what else could I crumble into the centers of my brownies?