Bloggy lo-o-o-ove!

I feel like this is kind of a self-serving post. And, yet, I continue. But, really, it's not all about me. Just partly.

From February 1st to Valentine's Day, Happy to be at Home is encouraging everyone (yep, including you) to Spread Some Bloggy Love! They've created a fabulous list of 14 things - one for each day - to give a little something back to the blogs you enjoy.

Since some of you (yes, more than one!) are new to the whole blog world, before I get to the Actual List, I'm gonna break it down (yo). Try out at least a couple of these things over the next couple weeks.



To sum up:

• If you like it, share it! Email a friend, link to it, social bookmark it, tweet it, etc.
  
• If you've been quiet, speak up! Leave a comment (here's how) and/or email the blog's author.
• If you haven't, click it! Visit the blog's sponsors/ads or author's shop. Here that would be Bold Avenue.
• If you're in a rut, explore! Most blogs link to other blogs. My list of "A Few Great Blogs" is on the right, past the "Little Stuff Being Said."
• If you keep coming back, subscribe! You can sign up to receive my blog via email or RSS. Pretty much any blog will have a subscribe link somewhere.

Ok, for the bloggers and pro blog readers out there, can ya handle it?!! Here is the Actual List:

1. Comment, comment, comment! Stop by your favorite blogs and leave a comment on one or two posts.
2. Subscribe. If you don’t already, subscribe via RSS, e-mail, or follow the blog on blogger.
3. Social bookmarking. Choose a great post or two on your favorite blogs and bookmark them using StumbleUpon, Kirtsy, Digg, Del.icio.us, or any of the other social bookmarking sites out there.
4. Tweet. If you have a Twitter account, send out a few tweets with links to your favorite bloggers.
5. Click through an ad or visit a site sponsor.
6. Send a thank you email. Let your favorite bloggers know just how much you appreciate the dedication and hard work they put into their blogs.
7. Mark your favorite blogs as a favorite in Technorati.
8. Read through the archives. Then comment on a post or two that’s new to you.
9. Write a post on your blog and share links to some of your favorite bloggers.
10. Visit some of the blogs in your favorite blogger’s blogroll and let them know how you found their link.
11. Nominate your favorites for blog awards or a BlogHer of the Week post.
12. Find some new favorites. Spend some time exploring new blogs found through memes or carnivals.
13. Grab a button. If your favorite bloggers have a button for their site, grab it and put it in your sidebar.
14. When or if your favorite blogger hosts a Mr. Linky, do your best to participate.

Thanks to @summerm for tweeting a link to Profitable Mommy Blogging's post, which is how I heard about Spread Some Bloggy Love!

****

Button from Happy to Be at Home.

BBT basics

Unlike the whole saliva microscope thing, I was aware of the BBT (basal body temperature) method of monitoring your cycle before I read that natural-fertility-info.com article.


If you're not familiar with it, here's the basic science behind the idea: the first part of your monthly cycle your body temperature is generally lower than it is the second half. (I'm talking to women here, in case there are any confused guys out there.) Once you ovulate, it spikes up and stays over a certain level until you're on your period. Ergo, if you keep a chart with your daily temperature, you'll know when you ovulated. Over time, you'll probably start to see some patterns.

Justmommies.com has more in-depth articles on how to chart your BBT, as well as fertility charting in general.

They also have downloadable chart, which is pretty good. But since I haven't found the perfect BBT chart yet, I'm working on making my own template. If it turns out as awesome as I think it will, I'll post it here.

****

Photo by me.

Why does everyone have to be so mushy?

Here's the perfect gift for anyone who says "Iew! Gross!" when people kiss. (Just in case you missed this on the New on the Avenue blog.)

Yes, it comes in grown-up sizes too.

CPSIA response

I didn't really expect a response when I emailed my senators about the CPSIA. Especially not one in my mailbox.

But there it was, on official U.S. Senate stationery, a response from Jon Kyl. It said:

Thank you for your email letting me know of your concerns about the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (H.R. 4040).

I share your concerns and was one of just three Senators to vote against it.

So only three senators voted against it, and one of them was from my state. And takes the time to respond to people. Pretty sweet, huh?!

7 random facts about Stephanie

Heather tagged me, so it's my turn to share with you...

SEVEN RANDOM THINGS ABOUT ME!

1. My brownie girl scout troop was on the Wallace & Ladmo Show.
2. I don't understand why people make oatmeal raisin cookies when they could make oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. Or even oatmeal cranberry cookies.
   
3. My hubby and I don't remember for sure when we first met. Maybe it was at our friends' house. But we wouldn't swear to it in court or anything.
   
4. I came up with Every Life Writes a Poem when I was driving one day.
   
5. Unless you count my semester abroad, I've always lived in the Phoenix (AZ) area, and yet...
   
6. The first time I left the U.S. was when I went to Spain.
7. It usually takes me longer to write short blog posts than long ones.

Here's who I am tagging:

• Megan at SortaCrunchy (a break from The Big Project!)
• Summer at Loving my 2 kids
• Ian and/or Christine at Aqua Vitae (are you each going to do one? combine efforts? just one of you answer? work it out amongst yourselves! :) )

Palms' last stand

There is only one place in Arizona where palm trees really belong.

Palm Canyon in the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge is only "natural habitat" for palm trees in the state (although there's no shortage of human-planted ones). This has intrigued the Hubs for years, and he's been wanting to see it for himself. In fact, we'd planned to go on the way home from our California trip last May, but we ran out of time.


Then, a few weeks ago, he and my dad got to conspiring, and a date was set. I guess they figured it was a good time for a road trip out there since it's not hot, and gas is still under $2 a gallon.


So Dad, Mom, the Hubs and I set off Monday morning. (I dropped a pretty big hint, didn't I?)


We drove west for a couple hours until we got to Quartzite. We kept driving.


At the Kofa Refuge, there's a dirt road that goes all the way to the base of these massive rocks, which jut up out of the dessert to form the canyon.


It's a short hike back - about half a mile - to where you can view the palms.


You would probably miss them, tucked between protective walls of rock, but there's a very helpful sign that points them out.

We did see a few families with kids make the trip. Although it wasn't strenuous, bringing a backpack carrier for little ones is a good idea. (We saw one dad with a pretty elaborate one, in case his four-year-old got worn out.)

There are plenty of rocks to sit on and enjoy the view of the majestic canyon and the funny little clump of palm trees clinging to one side of it.


Most people come, take a quick snapshot and leave. But I think it's worth sitting a spell if you can. It's not a "lost world" experience (we didn't see a single dinosaur, even though the Hubs was on the lookout). It is a beautiful place to sit and watch the sun and shadow slowly make their way across the rocks.


After the hike, we made some sandwiches and munched at the trail head. We were glad we brought our own chairs, since we didn't see any picnic tables...anywhere.


It was a fun little trip, and we found out that they do allow camping in Kofa. So we may be back to explore further later on.

We all start again

Did you watch it? (Or listen?) Did you see history change? What will you tell your children (or what did you tell them) about yesterday?

It only happens every four years, and there's still time (every media outlet will be rehashing things for days to come. Or there's YouTube. Or podcasts.) to watch/listen and take this opportunity to talk about history or the democratic process.


You know how I love fresh starts. And Inauguration Day is a much-less-arbitrary new beginning than New Year's Day. So I'm hoping for the best for the next four years, but one great thing about the democratic process is that if we don't like something, we can speak up.

In the meantime, a ran across a few fabulous posts yesterday that I just had to share:

• What does the Inauguration mean to you? by Janice Croze at 5 Minutes for Mom offers a great perspective and invites additional comments and links.
• She also posted Praying to the One in Charge…
• observations on inauguration day is a delightfully conversational post by Marla Taviano.
• Chanelle of making food. eating food. marked the day with simply stated thoughts and the beautiful photo above.

******

Photo by iamchanelle. Used by permission.