What post will you choose?

No, wait. Getting toddlers to eat . . . their food. Riiight. (Note: cannibalism is frowned upon in most societies.)

We’ve talked about getting children to eat their vegetables before, but sometimes it’s tough to get my 2-year-old to eat . . . anything.

What’s your best advice?

More WFMW

1. What is his name?
Ryan.

2. How long have you been married?
Going on four years.

3. How long did you date?
Well, let’s see. . . . from the day we met to the day we married was 325 days. Our first date was 256 days before our wedding. We were engaged (with ring) for 94 days.

And today is the first anniversary of our first kiss! It’s true. Our first kiss was 144 days before our wedding.

4. How old his he?
29. Seriously.

5. Who eats more?
Usually Ryan. Sometimes Hayden, if it’s macaroni and tuna, especially .

6. Who said I love you first?
I did. Grumble. I contend, however, that he felt it first but was afraid to say it. We had only been dating for a few days, so he has an excuse.

7. Who is smarter?
I’m smart enough not to answer that question. He would say me, but I think we have the same college GPA. Good enough?

8. Who does the laundry?
In fits and starts. Lately it’s been me, but at times it’s been mostly him.

9. Who does the dishes?
Ryan washes the dishes, I unload the dishwasher. But we’ve just arrived at this arrangement. Here’s hoping it lasts.

10. Who sleeps on the right side of bed?
We both do. The “right” side of the bed? Sitting at the head of the bed, facing the foot of the bed, I’m on the right. Standing at the foot of the bed, facing the bed, he’s on the right.

11. Who pays the bills?
Autopay, mostly.

12. Who cooks dinner?
Usually me unless I’m feeling lazy or not so good.

13. Who is more stubborn?
Dunno. Maybe me?

14. Who proposed?
Ryan, of course.

16. Who has more siblings?
Ryan—he’s fourth of five, I’m first of four.

17. Who drives when you are together?
Usually Ryan, though I’ll do it if I feel like it, if he’s too tired, or if I know the way and don’t feel like navigating.

18. Who has more friends?
Real people: I would say he does. “Imaginary” Internet people (no, not you, you’re real): probably me.

19. Who wears the pants?
Most days, we both wear pants. But neither of us wore pants for our wedding:

My middle name is Rebecca. I’m named after my great-grandmother on my dad’s side (well, we think her legal name was just Becca, but anyway). I really like my middle name.

Now I’m supposed to come up with adjectives to describe myself based on each letter of my middle name. I can’t remember the last time I tried to do one of these writing exercises.

R – Random. I have a tendency to suddenly jump from topic to topic in conversation. And sometimes I just don’t have the patience to go back and explain my train of thought.
E – Excited. When I first get into a project, I’m super enthusiastic! Sometimes that enthusiasm wanes long before I’m done. Sometimes I manage to finish it anyway.
B – Blogger. In case you hadn’t noticed.
E – Eclectic. Like most people, I have wide-ranging tastes in television shows, music and hobbies. I don’t think my tastes are particularly diverse, but they’re an interesting combination.
C – Crazy. Before I met my husband, one of my criteria for a spouse was that he would be willing to dance to music being played by Brookstone in the airport. (It was “Twist ‘n’ Shout.” Come on, if there’s ever a case for public dancing, that’s it!) I don’t know if Ryan would really do that, though.
C – Clever. Speaking of Ryan, he submitted that one.
A – Assiduous. Dutiful. Workaholic. Committed. Should be committed?

I’m supposed to tag someone for each letter of my name, but I don’t think I even know bloggers with all those letters. So join in in the comments! I love names!

I’ve also received the Nice Matters Award from SingForHim @ RealLife (who was featured on ProBlogger this week!) and Jennifer @ The Life of a School Bus Driver. Thank you ladies!

Just about everyone that I’ve ever contacted in the blogosphere has been nothing but nice, so it’s hard to choose just three people to pass this award on to. But the people who’ve gone out of their way to help me is a little less hard:

1. Michelle @ scribbit. She was one of my very first blogging friends and fans; which was really exciting!

2. Jen @ Semantically Driven. She helped me with one of my first tutorials by writing instructions for switching to full feeds in TypePad.
3. Kailani @ Island Life. The Carnival of Family Life was one of the first ways I received traffic and comments on my blog, and Kailani always tries to mention my latest pet project

So thank you, ladies, for always being so nice to me.

Edited to add: Deb, Mom of 3, also kindly named me as a nice blogger!

What websites do you check out almost everyday?

• The usual housekeeping: Gmail, Google Reader, usually Facebook. Oh, and Google.
• Blog stats: Google Analytics, HitTail, FeedBurner, Google Webmaster Central, MyBlogLog stats, Technorati stats
• Work: Marketing Pilgrim (aka “work”), Search Engine Land, Search Engine Guide, Search Engine Journal, Search Engine Watch, SE Roundtable, ProBlogger, ChrisG, Google Blogoscoped, Daily Blog Tips, SEOmoz, and probably 20 more, but I’m sure you’re getting bored now.
• “Personal”: Get Rich Slowly, Parent Hacks, MommyZabs, scribbit, Miscellaneous Adventures of an Australian Mum, eMoms at Home (though this might count as work), Homestar Runner (usually when Hayden’s tired of me being on the computer, and I hold him and show it to him).

What websites do you check out (at least) weekly? These may be ones that I subscribe to, but I’m pretty sure I click through to less than 5x/week.

• Work: SEO Book, Successful Blog, Lorelle on WordPress.
• “Personal”: Like a clear blue sky, Rocks in my Dryer, ~ The Art of Life ~, Leezy Lindsey, Knitting Daily.

What websites do you check out (at least) monthly?

• Work: Business Week (usually).
• “Personal”: The Year of Living Gramatically (SPOGG), Knitty, Mormanity, MySpace to see if any of my high school friends have resurfaced.

What blog do you consider essential reading?
It’s a toss up. Either Marketing Pilgrim or MamaBlogga.

NO! I’m kidding. Of course. If I couldn’t read any other blog, I’d read…. ….. I’d lose my job, actually. Y’know, I have more than 150 subscriptions (which publish up to 24 stories a day!), and though many of them are solely for work, I’m hard pressed to choose among them.

I choose you, Pikachu!
Now I’m supposed to tag three (preferably five) people.

Here’s the honest to goodness truth: I hate tagging people. I hate to choose among my friends. So tag amongst yourself. Er, volunteer to be tagged in the comments!

1. I love writing. Wait, had you already guessed that? When I was in college, I went in to declare my second major and my advisor gave me this “Are you an idiot?” look. (What? Linguistics and American Studies both lead to very lucrative careers, Mrs. Humanities Advisor.) She asked me what I wanted to do. (Like at least 75% of the female student body at that school, I was really shooting for motherhood.) I told her I wanted to be a writer. She gave me a “No, really, are you an idiot?” look and told me I should take a career explorations course.

   GUESS WHO’S WRITING PROFESSIONALLY NOW, LADY. Pfft. She advises Humanities students; obviously no one in that department is realistically looking for a job.

2. I have trouble letting go of the past. See the very long story for #1. I spend probably at least an hour every day just reliving the past—reviewing, digesting, analyzing.
3. I like to have a lot of balls in the air at once, but I am easily stressed and frustrated. Probably a side effect of overachieving in school—seven classes a day, two-three after school activities a week for four years will get you into the habit of “I need to be working on five things at once.” I’m afraid Hayden will inherit my poor coping skills, and I’m constantly taking his toddlerhood tantrums as signs of that.
4. I like “murder shows” and old music. Like the Beatles and the Monkees (I actually own every episode of The Monkees), and CSI: and Law & Order.
5. I graduated from college with two majors and two minors. I wasn’t kidding when I said overachiever (although there were a lot of cross-counted classes in there).
6. I’ll have been married for three years on Saturday. I’ve got my gift—do you have yours, my love?
7. I have the same birthday as my boss. It rules. We rule. Only I’m younger. I think I forgot to tell you all how old I am. I’m 24 (that can be 7B).
8. I have never seen Titanic or read Harry Potter. Titanic is a matter of principle—it came out in when I was in high school and I just didn’t want to do what everyone else was doing. Harry Potter is a touch of that (although I’ve seen all the movies—yes, I’ve already seen #5), and also a touch of laziness.
9. Oh, I’m done?

I like the part of the meme where I get to talk about myself. But . . . I don’t like the part where I have to tag people. I’ve got two: Brooke and like a clear blue sky. I’d love to see either of you come up with eight things that I don’t already know about you. Other than boring things like, “Today I got up at 8:52 and ate a soda cracker.” Anybody else want to talk about themselves? Volunteer to be tagged in the comments!

1. He has graven me upon the palms of His hands; my walls are continually before Him (Isa. 49:16).
2. I can do all things through Christ and then enabling power of His atonement—and more than once this week, I’ve had to pray just to make it out of bed in the morning.
3. He was tempted in all points like as I am—He knows what I’m going through (but, y’know, without the whole sinning part; Heb 4:15).
4. He is the great mediator, the intercessor, the only one who can reconcile my soul with God’s justice.
5. He is the light, the life and the way, the perfect exemplar.

So, there are some rules about tagging five more people, but I’m not always sure that my blogging friends want to discuss their beliefs (and not every personal blog is the right forum for that kind of discussion).  Instead, feel free to share your five things (or one thing) in the comments or in your own post (just let me know about it).

Thanks!

Wondering if you should participate? I recommend it! Here’s why

1. It’s fun. Really, it is.
2. It’s challenging to fit into a topic, even though it’s really general.
3. You don’t have to think of a topic for once. Aren’t you glad I made your life a little easier.
4. It brings you visitors. I saw my traffic increase by 46% that week. See the redux to see how many visitors I sent out last time.
5. It brings you comments. Almost 60% more comments. Again, see the redux for details.
6. It’ll make me happy. I know that’s your ultimate goal in life
7. It’s a great way to find cool new blogs. I know I found a bunch last time around.
8. It’s a great way for people to find your cool blog. Maybe they’ll even subscribe!
9. It’s a great way to make new friends in the blogosphere. And we all need more of those, don’t we?
10. It’s a free link that says whatever you want. And let me tell you, those free links are hard to come by!
11. It can improve your search engine ranking. Pick a good phrase in your title and you can really see some traffic. The free links from me (and others!) can help.
12. It improves your Technorati authority and ranking. Every link from a new blog moves you up the totem pole. One little a href at a time.
13. There’s a prize. Nominal, yes, but fun, too. And no pressure—the prize winner is chosen totally at random, so everyone has an equal chance of winning!

Hope to see your entry next week!

One word meme
1. Where is your cell phone? floor
2. Relationship? check
3. Your hair? messy
4. Work? rewriting
5. Your sister? three!
6. Your favorite thing? family
7. Your dream last night? none
8. Your favorite drink? tough…
9. Your dream car? Volvo?
10. The room you’re in? living
11. Your shoes? barefoot
12. Your fears? imperfection
13. What do you want to be in 10 years? home
14. Who did you hang out with this weekend? SMX
15. What are you not good at? outgoing-ness
16. Muffin? Please!
17. One of your wish list items? time
18. Where you grew up? Durham
19. Last thing you did? ‘nuggle
20. What are you wearing? blue
21. What aren’t you wearing? shoes
22. Your pet? outside?
23. Your computer? desktop
24. Your life? awing.
25. Your mood? good
26. Missing? many
27. What are you thinking about right now? TV
28. Your car? new!
29. Your kitchen? brown
30. Your summer? travel
31. Your favorite color? blue
32. Last time you laughed? afternoon
33. Last time you cried? Tuesday
34. School? heart
35. Love? forever

How about this for tags: if you’d rather do this meme than the last one, feel free!