The post Wordless Wednesday: Bloggy Makeover appeared first on Updates from Ryder Family Farm.

Teeni awarded me the Honest Scrap Award sometime ago. The idea is that I am supposed to tell you ten honest things about me and then tag seven victims/ friends to do the same on their own blog.

So, my 10 honest things are:
1. I have a very tiny tattoo that my little brother gave me one thanksgiving. It is the smallest one in history I think!
2. I’ve only ever lived in 2 states, Arizona and now Indiana.
3. I am the oldest and have 2 younger brothers.
4. My mom had me, waited 5 years, had my brother, waited 5 more years then had my youngest brother. How is that for perfect spacing?
5. I died my hair green in 6th grade to win a contest. I love contests!
6. N and I were legally married (on Halloween 2009) but we plan to have a wedding in Arizona once Tater is born.
7. I have a nice mole type freckle in my left armpit, so does my mom. We share many of the same freckle markings. Strange huh? This armpit freckle/ mole is hard to shave around without cutting the darn thing off, luckily since my mom has one too she showed me the shaving tricks at a young age so I am good. 8. Speaking of shaving, I wasn’t allowed to shave my legs until I was in middle school and I had some long ass blond leg hairs that everyone teased me about. Heidi do you remember this?
9. I am an organ donor and have told N that being buried in a burlap sack under an unmarked tree 100% natural is fine by me.
10. In reality I’ll probably be cremated though since unmarked graves are illegal and all. Cremation is fine by me.

The 7 people I am tagging are:

1. Krystal @ Tapthatmom’s Blog
2. Becky @ Girl Scout Dropout
3. Ree @ Hotfessional
4. Maiden53
5. Karen @ Fab Grandma
6. Donna B. @ Opining Online
7. Mitzi @ Magnolia

Janelle from Junk Food 4 The Soul gave me the Zombie Chicken Award! (she got it from Delmer) This award is described as being given to:

“The blogger who receives this award believes in the Tao of the Zombie Chicken – excellence, grace and persistence in all situations, even in the midst of a zombie apocalypse. These amazing bloggers regularly produce content so remarkable that their readers would brave a raving pack of zombie chickens just to be able to read their inspiring words. As a recipient of this world-renowned award, you now have the task of passing it on to at least 5 other worthy bloggers. Do not risk the wrath of the zombie chickens by choosing unwisely or not choosing at all…”

Well, what an honor to receive this award. My favorite thing about it is how the description makes me laugh! So, lets see I would pass this on to:

1. Witchypoo @ Psychicgeek
2. Megan @ Femme Reflections
3. Heidi @ This is my life
4. Veronica @ Someday We Will Sleep
5. Hyphen Mama @ Mommy Needs 5 Minutes

The post Some awards to pass on and some linky love appeared first on Updates from Ryder Family Farm.

Then back in March I saw another really fun blog post idea written by Meagan Francis that I just knew I would copy, a mad-lib birth announcement.

I thought It would be fun to combine the two really great ideas and do a birth announcement here on the blog, mad-lib style but for added fun and reader involvement I want to let you come up with the mad-lib in the same way Teeni did her story game.

Now if this doesn’t seem like fun to you then you’ve got to go and lick click those links I posted above. Both ideas are genius and combining them is just going to be that much better!

So, to participate just leave a comment below saying you want to be included. Be sure to use a valid email address okay? I’ll be replying to you with the specifics soon!

So just to recap: You get to write the mad-lib sentences, N and I will fill in all Tater’s birth details and the we will post the end result here on the blog. It will also end up being a super cute (and unique) thing for me to print out and put in Tater’s baby book as a keepsake. Yay!

Also, here is my 33rd week and 1 day belly vlog:

The post Mad-lib birth announcement game & vlog. Join the fun! appeared first on Updates from Ryder Family Farm.

In January I called for readers to delurk and post at least one comment so I would know they were there. Here are the new faces that emerged. Check them out you may love them!

• Krystal an old girlfriend from school and a close buddy now from http://www.tapthatmom.blogspot.com/
• Tiff writes over @ http://www.mythreeringcircus.com/
• Dumdad from http://wwwtheothersideofparis.blogspot.com/
• Karia fellow farm birthing mama writes over @ http://thejenkadventure.blogspot.com/
• Connie from http://devotedmama.blogspot.com/
  
• Megan an old high school peep blog @ http://altruisticintelligence.blogspot.com/
• Jenn @ http://jugglinglife.typepad.com/juggling_life/
• El Cartel from http://theverbalninja.com/

While I am giving some linky love I wanted to also call out the usual cast of characters, those are peeps who normally frequent this blog and often comment on every post. I heart (how do you make the heart sign anyway?) you and your friendship and subscribe to your blogs and visit them often!

• Girl Scout Dropout
• GreenPreferred.com
• Memarie Lane
• Mommy Needs 5 Minuites
• My Life as a Hotfessional
• Nucks Nook
• Psychicgeek
• Vaguetarian Tea Room

As soon as N and I are home from our ultrasound appointment and have a chance to draft up a post we’ll let you all know if we are having a boy or a girl. We’ll also let you know if we’ve been rejected by the mortgage company again or not. Send those positive thoughts our way.

Oh and if you think you might be interested in doing a guest post here while I am away this summer delivering Tater Tot shoot me an email, I need authors!

The post New readers/ commentors for the month of January 2009 appeared first on Updates from Ryder Family Farm.

Now here I am with more readers, subscribers and more confidence to share what is relevant to me. Sure I’ll still blog about domestic craziness or about poo when the mood strikes me but I’ve also written informative posts that have gained much clout on the search engines. It took several years to get here and I’ve still got some growing to do as a blogger which is why I am itching to attend the ’09 BlogHer Convention in Chicago so badly!

Obviously with a new baby on the way and a $10,000 cross country move behind us we don’t exactly have the extra cash to drop on travel and registration expenses for the lovely BlogHer conference. Even though little Tater Tot will be weeks old and we’ll be newly adjusting to parenthood N says I should do it if it’s that important to me and it is. I wanna attend BlogHer ’09!!

I found out that Mabel’s Lables is holding an ’09 BlogHer Contest to send one lucky blogger to the convention free. This is the perfect opportunity for me to find my way to the conference, yay! I’ll even bring N and little newborn Tater Tot along if you promise to not throw shoes at me for breastfeeding while I attend…

Now Mabel’s Lables wants to know what the rewards and benefits have been for me while participating in the blogging community.

Truthfully, I am having a hard time narrowing it down actually. Being a blogger is great because you get to contribute information and help others via your blogging, you can monetize your blog and make money writing, you can create a community of friends and partners via blog networking, you can share your opinion, learn the opinions of others… Gosh! There are way too many benefits to discuss in this one little post.

To me the most important thing I’ve gained as a blogger is also the simplest and mushiest thing… It’s the companionship and friendship that is created through networking, writing and following blogs. That is the most rewarding and beneficial thing in my eyes as a member of the blogging community.

I have a solid connection with about 60+ people who are regular readers or subscribers thanks to blogging. People from all over the world are touching my life and allowing me to touch theirs, it is such a powerful thing when you think about it. Not only does blogging fulfill the basic need for human connection but it is a fantastic way to learn and grow as a person too.

I mean I’ve been able to share in some really powerful journeys and life experiences thanks to my blogging buddies that I might not have been exposed to otherwise. We are talking breast cancer survivors, people with fertility issues, those who have just delivered a child, those who just lost a child, those who are psychic, those who are going through the same things as me, those leading lives I could never imagine and so much more.

Blogging has not only been a great benefit to me it has allowed me to give back to others by sharing my journey. I’ve also had the pleasure of sharing info and perspective on topics that not only are important to me but are also educational or beneficial to others.

My readers have allowed me to be honest and truthful during the good and bad times. This in turn has allowed my writing to reach others and comfort them in their times of need showing them they are not alone. I’ve also had the chance to contribute many honest product reviews and other resources to my readers though my blogging efforts.

Ive taken so much and I’ve also been able to give quite a bit though my involvement in blogging. It is the give and take of blog friendship and networking that has meant the most to me during my time in the blogging community which is another perfect reason to attend BlogHer ’09.

I wanna see all your lovely faces and meet you all instead of just chatting back and fourth via the internetz! So heres hoping I am choosen as a winner for this contest and that I’ll see you at BlogHer ’09.

The post I wanna go to BlogHer bad!!! appeared first on Updates from Ryder Family Farm.