My Blog List: A Case Study, part III - food and pics!

What about food?  Everyone loves food, right?  I certainly do, but don't always love to MAKE said food.  Here are some people with some excellent ideas.  Pancakes ARE my favorite food, in case you didn't know, so I'm pretty sure these from LJ would give me lots to love!  Don't these yums from LB look good?  R always has fancy, fance stuff like this - I love R's recap of how her hubby "helped" in the kitchen!  And of course R+V has like the most amazing recipes ever.  Here are just a few of my favs: mmmm applesauce bars, haystacks are ALWAYS good!, oh, ok and some cranberry-orange bread for a little nondesert selection!  I have to admit, I'm definitely not as adventurous as B - but then again, I also don't have a hubby who hunts!

And who doesn't like a good picture now and then?  Check out the C's babies.  Could they BE any cuter?  What about this sweet one of PC?  How about this series from LJ?  oh, and these too - (I chided her for being a bit mean to poor AJ until I saw him recently after this.  The kid has a big head.  End of story!)  Here's one from LB (awww, look how little MB is!)  These are absolutely adorable too!  Here's B's sweet little guy, B!  And I don't just enjoy my friends' babes.  While they are the best, these from R of her cat cracked me up!        

My Blog List: A Case Study, part II (kiddos and crafts!)

There are definitely some common themes from my bloggy friends, so here are a few of my favorite things:

I LOVE, love, LOVE reading about what kiddos are saying.  B-isms and more!, L-isms oh and this one too!, R-isms and this one !!- I could've picked a bunch more from him too!!, K-isms - well - they just make my day!

Another very common theme is CRAFTS!  My friends, family, and well, some companies are SO DARN crafty.  I am jealous.  I do love me some craft time, but I am not a very good sewer at all, despite all of my Mom's countless lessons and help in that area.  Check out these examples, from LB and LB again! (scroll down a little on that one for the crafty part, but don't miss the cute pics on the way!), JG and JG --JG, I was looking for your fabric cube and couldn't find it!, DV , and of course LJ  in all her craftiness! - this post is of LJ's bedroom, but she has done lots of crafty things with it - LOVE the colors! and I would be remiss if I didn't add LJ's mom CM in on this one.  MVJ has her own version of this adorable coat.  We get comments daily.  It is so stinkin' cute!

My Blog List: A Case Study

I was reading through my friends' and families' blogs lately and thought about how some are so similar, some so different, what I take from each one, etc. and thought I would share some thoughts.

First of all - who ARE these people and why do I read their blogs?

In order from how they appear right at this VERY second (2/29 7:40 pm):

Brown Family - LB teaches 8th grade science at the same school as me. Though I rarely run into her at school, when I do she is so kind, friendly and sweet. I think if we worked closer we would be good work friends!

Rhubarb & Venison - Oddly enough this is probably the person I've known the longest from this list. Our dads (her step-dad) were good buddies and we often went camping in the summers. Then we didn't see each other for quite some time and then she caught a ride home with me from college once or twice and we reconnected a bit. It's been so fun to read her updates and see her beautiful baby boy!

Cake Wrecks - my SIL LJ got me hooked on this one. HIlarious. If you haven't checked it out, do.

Truth of Ruth - my SIL LJ's sister. She is my age and strangely enough, both our moms AND dads worked together.

Hochhalter Happenings - Mr. RH and I went to school together (4th grade on) - we even went to prom together! (as friends!) I met Mrs. TH's Mom randomly at a friend's wedding (JJ and I didn't know pretty much anyone else at the reception and ended up sitting next to TH's mom. I met up with TH's mom later at a teaching convention. So random! TH and I have never met each other, but I have connected so easily with her through her blog. RH and TH's daughter KH is just a little bit older than MVJ so I LOVE finding out ahead of time what I need to be watching out for! We seem to be similar and I think for some reason that if we met we would hit it off!

Modern-Day Jan e - the blog that started it all for me! This is my dear SIL, LJ (our hubbies are brothers). She is awesome. I talk about her family a lot on here; it is SO awesome to live about an hour apart. We love AJ, LJ, LJ2 (not same first name!), BJ and little (big) AJ!

It's Not All Flowers and Sausages  - I used to read this one all the time, but to be honest, I don't read it very often any more. I found the blog in an Instructor magazine . The gal used to be a teacher, but now has taken a leave, basically to write a book about her teaching experiences. She's a funny lady!

A Scrappy Good Time - I LOVE crafty blogs. I'm a big scrapbooker/stamper, so I enjoy this one. Want a random fact? The author's husband and I were in classes together - I believe TEAM for our elementary education degrees.

Bluebird's Classroom - another one I used to read all the time, but have slowed down. This is a middle school teacher teaching in the south somewhere (Kentucky? That's where I picture her.)  Another one I found in the Instructor Magazine.

Oh My Crafts! - this is where I got my beloved cricut . They have good deals. They also have some very good craft ideas!

The life of a new mama. - JG is my friend CJ's sister. We met mostly when we were in CJ's wedding together. She is such a sweet lady - so outgoing and friendly. She always made me feel very welcome in the A family! Her daughter is just a few months younger than MVJ and her hubby and my hubby have lots in common, including painting, oh yeah, and their first name!

The Life of LC and NC - I have to give my BIL CPJ credit for this one. We met the C's through him and have just had so much fun whenever we've gotten the chance to hang out with them. IC is such a beautiful, full of life little girl. We can't wait to meet little sister PC! Fun fact: LC lent me ALL of her maternity clothes and I can NEVER thank her enough!

Think Christian - *sigh* another one that I haven't read in awhile. I found this one on my own searching around. MOST of the things I agree with spot on. It's a good one - and I like taking the poll (oh, and changing the color of the background - fun!)

The Family VerDouw - BV and I went to school together, like RH, from 4th grade on. His wife, DV, and I were at UND at the same time - and she lived in the residence hall I was an RA in. I enjoy hearing about BV's sleep walking escapades. Seriously, I laughed until I cried at the last one. Their daughter is a year and a few months older than MVJ, so I definitely find out what I'm possibly in for reading their blog!

David Jeffrey Meberg - Another SIL LJ connection! This is LJ's SIL JM. LJ, JM and I were all pregnant at the same time (over Thanksgiving we took a belly pic)! Beautiful, kind woman with a supercute kid (I wonder if you can guess his name!) and another on the way!

an advice blog -- Ask my mom - this is a joint venture between my SIL LC and her daughter (my niece!) MH. The last post, entitled How to prepare for a new baby?! came just before her daughter (my great niece!) LKH was born. We just visited and found how SIMILAR MVJ and LKH are. So sweet! I hope they get to know each other well as they grow.

SPOT LIGHTS: brief messages of Light - this is a blog put out by our Pastor, PK. He's a great guy and we learn so much from him. He's also the Pastor who married us!

E! Online - The Soup - I love The Soup on TV. JM CRACKS me up!! But, for some reason, even though their blog is updated, it doesn't show updates on my blog roll, so I forget about it way down at the bottom of the list.

The Nichols Family Blog - You can see that this is on TN's top list of things to do!  : )  Well, as the wife and mother of four kiddos, you can cut her some slack.  Oh yeah, and she's a successful photographer as well.  She took MVJ's brand new baby pictures and they are simply precious.  I can never thank her enough for that.  She's also become a good friend through SIL LJ.  I love it when LJ has a party and invites us both!!

Jake PC Panama - this is my cousin JW and about his stint with Peace Corps - in Panama. Very interesting!

Time Waster

Don't do it. Don't you dare do it. Unless you have a LOT of time on your hands, don't go to sporcle.com. TAF and MF got us hooked when we visited them in MN. You'll waste lots of time, trust me. JJ and I just tried to remember all the books of the New Testament (missed three - darn!) and Old Testament (missed an embarrasing amount... those minor prophets... yeeks!), the monopoly board (missed eight pieces... and we only got ONE railroad... jeez!), and parts to the game of clue (only missed ONE room!). Ok, try them if you dare! Oh, and just so you know, spelling counts, and you don't have to hit enter after each entry.

Have fun! : )