How do we spend an unseasonably warm 70-degree weekend in the early part of February?

The cats sunbathe:

The kid “starts his garden”. (His dad is going to love that hole.)

We listen to the windchimes:

When checking my email I don’t normally check my Spam folder with great detail. I have enough confidence in Google that if something is in the Spam folder, it’s usually junk 99.9% of the time. However, while checking my folder this past week I found an interesting email SCREAMING my blog name in the subject line. Curiosity got the better of me and I had to take a look. I was amused. I wondered if it was a joke. Then I felt as if I needed to “warn the masses”, so to speak.

This email was from a company that I won’t give the decency of a link to on my blog. It was an email to inform me that if I wanted to purchase the dot com version of my domain name, that it was for sale. Because the dot com was the most recognizable web address on the internet. It sounded more official. It was more professional. Reasons after reasons of why I HAD to have the dot com behind my domain name instead of dot net, which is what I use.

To backtrack, I made a conscious decision about my domain name. I knew the dot com version was available, but I chose to go with readwritemom.com I knew that it was entirely possible that someone could buy the dot com version of Mommy Cracked and if I wanted to prevent that all I had to do was buy it. I did not, and was and still am ok with that decision.

And that email I got? It wanted to offer me the chance to buy the dot com version of Mommy Cracked for the low, low price of $997. Apparently they snapped it up and felt like $997 would be a bargain to me. *snort*

TO BE CLEAR: What this company did is NOT illegal in any way. Individuals and companies buy and sell domain names every single day. There’s money to be made there. HOWEVER, it has raised a red flag in my head that perhaps these companies and/or individuals are now out trolling the blogosphere for unsuspecting bloggers, snapping up their blog names in domain form and making them panic because they no longer have the option of having their blog name in a dot com or dot net form unless they are willing to fork over big bucks. Perhaps I may be a little paranoid, but I find it uncanny that they knew how to contact me (hmm…been casing out the blog, have we?) and that I received that email with such an obscene buying price.

So, all paranoia aside, let me encourage you to purchase your domain name for your blog if that is something you plan to do, and especially if you have a business tied to that blog. Also? If it irks you that someone might be able to purchase the dot com, dot net, or dot biz version of your blog name, buy them all. This is not a groundbreaking piece of advice, but just a reminder and a warning to those who are new to blogging.

CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED
As a new mom, I couldn’t wait for all of E.B.’s “firsts” and one of them was being able to start him on solid foods when it was age appropriate. E.B. was a Gerber baby just like his mom was and I knew it was a brand that was dedicated to offering infants and toddlers the most nutritionally delicious first foods and snacks.

Did you know:
French fries are the most commonly consumed vegetable by toddlers age 15-24 months?
Or that soda is being served to infants as young as 8 months?

These are just some of the findings from Gerber’s Feeding Infants and Toddlers Study (FITS), a groundbreaking study of the dietary patterns and nutrient intakes of 3,000 infants and toddlers from 4-24 months. The study revealed inappropriate foods entering the diet at a shockingly young age and that as many as 25% of children did not consume a single fruit or vegetable serving on a given day.

Gerber is dedicated to improving the nutrition and eating habits of your growing children from birth to preschool through the Start Healthy, Stay Healthy campaign. To create your own Start Healthy Stay Healthy pledge, go to http://www.gerber.com/Pledge/Default.aspx and don’t forget to check out the Start Healthy, Stay Healthy YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/startstayhealthy! To enter, leave a comment telling me how you pledge to keep your child nutritionally healthy, and you’ll be entered to win a Gerber diaper bag filled with a recipe tin and teddy bear!

Giveaway will close on February 22, 2009 at 11 PM Central.

I remember back in my elementary school days looking forward to Christmas and Valentine’s Day. Those were the only occasions in which we were allowed to have parties at school and we couldn’t wait to be able to let loose and have a sugary food- crazy good time with our classmates, within reason of course. I’m almost postive we drove our teachers to the brink on those two days out of the school year and they probably anticipated it with about as much excitment as one does a root canal.

I just finished addressing 14 little Valentines for E.B.’s school party. I’m sure this process will be one he will want to take over when he is able to write, assuming little boys like doing that sort of thing. I remember agonizing over my school Valentines to give to my classmates. I couldn’t give the boys anything too mushy and I always had a red heart shaped sucker for my good friends. It was serious business, y’all.

And secretly? I had fun doing E.B.’s cards tonight. How often do you get to do that sort of thing again as an adult? Not often, I’m thinking. I also made sure to not give the boys a mushy one and make sure the girls got a cute one. Because, you know, their parents will be reading them since they can’t and we don’t want to send any mixed messages.

The winner of the Dove Self Esteem Fund Giveaway is Helena Batt-Vesey of Giveaways Galore!

Congratulations! I have sent an email to you.

There’s a new blog on the block for anyone who needs support and information on having a child with Sensory Processing Disorder. The SPD Life opened this week and Stephanie and Michelle invite you to come check them out. They’ve also featured an interview with me and our story of EB’s diagnosis and treatment of SPD. I hope you will stop in and visit them!