Blogging From A to Z Challenge

It’s almost time for the annual A to Z Blogging Challenge. You can read more (and sign up!) here. If you’re not familiar, it involves blogging almost every day during the month of April, following the alphabet. Sundays are the day off. On April 1^st you write a blog post that somehow pertains (starts with, about, etc) the letter A, and move through the alphabet during the month, but skip Sundays.


The A to Z Challenge is a lot of fun. It’s a great way to connect with other bloggers, as well as a great way to get into the habit of regular blogging. If you’ve never done it, I encourage you to give it a try. Yes, it’s time consuming, but it’s enjoyable.

You have the option of sticking with a theme, or going random. I’ve gone random every year I’ve participated, but this year, I’m going with a theme. I thought it might be fun to try something a little different, and I’ve come up with a theme I really like. The theme reveal for everyone doing one is on March 21^st. Some people come up with some really interesting themes.

So what about you? Are you planning to sign up for the A to Z Challenge? Will you be doing a theme?

Happy Hump Day - The Panda Bear Edition

I’m slowly getting back to a regular blogging schedule, so I thought this would be a good time to brig back the Happy Hump Day posts.

This week has been awful so far. It has been cold and rainy, and a week where I’ve wished I had gone to school for just about anything other than what I’m currently doing. It’s the kind of week that needs a really, really good Happy Hump Day post. So, I give you panda bears.

I’ve been obsessed with panda bears for about as long as I can remember. I’m not sure how or when it all started, but as a child my room was covered in panda bear everything. I watched any and every panda bear documentary I could find, and generally drove people insane sharing random panda bear facts. I also decided my life wouldn’t be complete until I saw panda bears live.

I finally got to see pandas live in 2012 when we went to Atlanta for our anniversary and went to Zoo Atlanta. I spent hours at the panda bear area, and Nick patiently put up with it. And now my panda bear obsession is probably a little more extreme than it was before.

I’ve also recently discovered that my dream job does actually exist; being a panda nanny is a real job. Not that it’s a job I’ll ever have, but it’s nice to know it’s out there. A girl can dream.

So what about you? What’s your dream job?

Just in case you need a little more panda bear cuteness to help you make it through the week here’s a link to Zoo Atlanta’s Panda Cam.

 

Half Full Or Half Empty?

Nick and I typically agree on most things. I think our personalities are pretty similar, and we’re usually basically on the same page about most things. Except when it comes to putting gas in the car. I don’t think we could be more opposite than we are about gassing up the car.

I’m pretty sure Nick could quite happily spend the rest of his life driving from gas station to gas station. He never really lets it get below half a tank, and starts talking about the need to fill the car up when it gets down to three quarters of a tank. He never lets the gas light come on.

I’m the exact opposite. I hate putting gas in the car, and don’t usually do it until the gas light comes on. Because we live so close to work, I can actually drive for a couple of days with the gas light on if I’m not planning to go anywhere else. Yes, I have done that. The only exceptions are if I’m planning to make a long drive, and when I go to South Carolina. I always fill the car up in South Carolina because gas is so much cheaper there.

We almost always take my car whenever we go anywhere together. Nick’s car may be full of gas, but it’s also usually full of junk. Mine is usually clean. We also have to take mine if we’re taking the dogs anywhere because Nick’s is a little two door, and just doesn’t have room for two big dogs.

I don’t like driving Nick’s car (I will never understand why anyone wants a two door car), and it’s a pain for him to move all of his fire department stuff over to mine if we do switch cars, so we almost never switch cars. He drives his, I drive mine, and we take mine when we’re together. That’s usually when mine gets filled up with gas, because in all honesty, Nick puts gas in my car a lot more often than I do. 

Nick has mostly given up on trying to convince me to put gas in the car more often, and I try to make sure the gas light isn’t on if he’s going to be driving mine. It’s the closest we’ve come to a compromise.

We took my car Friday night when we were out running errands and going to dinner. While we were sitting in traffic Nick made the comment that someone’s car was out of gas. I started looking around for the person stranded on the side of the road, but couldn’t find them. It turned out that he was talking about me. The gas gage was between a quarter of a tank and the light coming on. For me that meant there was plenty of gas to go to dinner, and stop on the way back. For Nick that meant stopping at the nearest gas station.

So what about you? Do you see a half tank of gas as half full or half empty?

Emma really doesn't have anything to do with putting gas in the car or not, but she's in the car, so perfect opportunity to share a cute Emma picture.

Snow Pictures & A Catch-Up Post

I seem to be sticking to a pattern of posting about once a month, so here’s the latest catch-up post, and some pictures of Duke playing in the snow.

We had a major snow storm (along with pretty much the entire east coast) on January 22^nd. Our total snow accumulation was just under a foot. We also had extremely low temperatures, and crazy high winds. Nick and Duke loved it. Emma and I didn’t venture off of the screened in porch. I actually ended up not going outside for five days straight. I really don’t like snow! So of course I’m hoping that’s it for us for snow this winter. Come on spring!

I’ve changed the comment settings on the blog to require approval for comments on anything that’s more than 14 days old. The spam on the older posts was just getting out of control. Have any of you run into that problem? Any suggestions for solving it?

If you haven’t seen the movie Inside Out yet, I highly recommend watching it. We rented it from Redbox a few weeks ago and both absolutely loved it. There was a lot more to it than either one of us were expecting, but it still leaves you with the nice happy feeling that you expect from a cartoon.

Emma is still holding her own. She has been eating fairly well over the weekend, and has been a little more active and playful. There are definitely some bad days, but for now the good days seem to outnumber the bad ones.

So what about you? Have you had any snow? How are things going for you?