Every post is better with a puppy picture...

Friday got past me before I had the chance to write this. So it’s a day late- but perfect for some weekend reading. (Besides, I was waiting for a particular blogger to post her Peanut Butter Cookies recipe *pokes Type A Mommy*).

How was your week? Between planning for our upcoming vacation, work, and time with my family, I’ve been busy. I’m looking forward to the time off while we’re up in Alex Bay. Today is Mark’s Birthday, and I still need to make a carrot cake with orange cream cheese frosting (all from scratch. Move over, Betty Crocker), figure out an alternate treat for my step-mom (who is coming over tomorrow to help celebrate, but doesn’t like carrot cake) and try to clean the house. It is also the local Italian Festival today, and we are all spending the evening hanging out with some friends of ours. Busy, busy, busy. But that’s the way I like it.

Onto this week’s round-up. I didn’t get as much time for browsing, and I know I didn’t bookmark all of the great posts I found, so it’s a little skimpy this time.

Mommy Blogging

8 Useful Tips for Building Your Mommy Blog into a Business- From the ProBlogger archives. Don’t be shy about turning your mommy blog into a business- follow these tips to maximize your earnings.

Life as a Mom

What Was, What Isn’t- The path of a mom, taking her away from alcoholism and into her new life. Very moving. From All & Sundry.

Loves Company- Another All & Sundry post. Moms love to share horror stories. As they say, misery loves company. And what better way to share than through mom bonding?

Is There a Wrong Age for Becoming a Mom?- Ageism in Motherhood. If you can be too young to have a child, doesn’t that mean that there comes a point when you are also too old? The Guilty Parent takes a look at what might be a controversial issue. But the writer makes a lot of good points.

A Short Interlude- Parenting: “Mom, you’re being a pain in the ask.” A post about good parenting, “do as I say, not as I do”, and trying to do better.

Yummy Things To Eat

Martha’s Peanut Butter Surprise Cookies: From Type A Mommy. I’ve heard them called a lot of things, but these peanut butter cookies, with peanut butter cups (or Hershey’s kisses) on top, are still my favorites.

Articles I Loved

Mom-Tested: Best Sun Safety Gear for Babies and Toddlers- Summertime is finally here. Sunscreen, sunglasses, hats… What does your child really need to keep safe this summer?

Random Funnies

Casting the Simpsons- Momlogic explores casting choices for an hypothetical live-action Simpsons’s movie, including Reese Witherspoon as Lisa and Johnny Depp as Auto. Which I could totally see.

Good Health *New Category*

Sugar Stacks- How much sugar is in everyday foods? Did you know that a serving of Nesquik Chocolate Milk as the same amount of sugar in it as a serving of Sobe juices? Or that, ounce for ounce, coca-cola and Langers Apple Juice have the same amount of sugar? Scary.

Next weekend is Father’s Day, and I’ll be looking for any special posts about your dads, husbands, or any other special men in your lives. Enjoy your Weekend!

Happy Friday!

Wow, this past week has just flown by. We went to see a parade, and I switched up the look of Writer Mom at Home. Of course, this put me a bit behind with work, so I’ll be working all day today.

I can’t wait for the weekend. We are going to a local fair on Saturday, then I get to spend the next two days working. Do you have any special plans?

There was a lot of great new stuff on the web this week. My search for blog posts to feature has introduced me to a lot of great bloggers. Here’s the new Weekly Round-up:

Mommy Blogging

Fitting Blogging into Your Life Without Losing Your Mind, Relationships, and Waistline- Meant for new bloggers, but useful for everyone, I think. How to find a balance. This is part of the Essential Advice for New Bloggers series by Absolutely Bananas.

Creative Writing Prompts for Parenting Blogs- From About.com. A whole bunch of ideas for the days when there is just nothing good to write about.

Life as A Mom

More Passive-Aggressive Letters… With Love- Modern Mom, over at How to Survive Life in the Suburbs, has a bone to pick. Can you relate? I sure can (especially with the over-stuffing of the reusable grocery bags. Just because they are bigger, it doesn’t mean they can, or should, hold more.)

There’s Probably a Hallmark Card for This- Do you work on your relationship with your husband, or is your marriage on autopilot? A reminder from Novelle360 to not take the special man in your life for granted.

Say What?- Kids say the darnedest things. Check out this post about the conversational quirks posted by Sissy of My Kids Might be Martians.

The Joys of Co-Sleeping- Becca is a co-sleeping baby.. err. Toddler.  I really enjoyed this post on how wonderful co-sleeping is, for both moms and babies.

HeadShot- Discovering water guns for the first time. I wonder what this little trigger does?

How to Keep Your House Clean Enough to Avoid Humiliation when Company Comes Over- I suck at house work. I hate to clean. Seems like I’m not the only one. Thrifty Southern Mama has tips just for us slacker housewives.

Yummy Things to Eat

Double Chocolate Mocha Trifle- Brownie pieces, White chocolate pudding, and toffee bits. Anyone else drooling yet?

Articles I Loved

Clever Solutions for Bad Habits- Can speaking with a fake French accent make your child more polite? An article from parenting magazine. Great solutions for all sorts of toddler behaviors. Becca is to young for some of these, but as soon as she’s older, I plan on pulling this article back out and putting it to good use.

Random, but Hilarious

Longmire Does Romance Novels- My first introduction to the World of Longmire. Check out these twisted romance book covers. (I actually have a couple of these books.)

Any great posts that I missed? Please leave a link below, and I’ll be sure to check it out!

A Brand New Idea from Writer Mom at Home

A lot of professional blog niches have weekly round-ups, where some of the best blog posts from around the web are gathered up and posted on one blog. I have never seen this done in mommy blogging. But I think it would be a great idea. So, starting this week, I will be posting some of the most interesting, relevant, or just plain fun posts from (or about) mommy bloggers that I can find.

This week, it’s a little dry, because I only decided yesterday to go ahead with this. So some of this stuff might be from before this week. Next week will be a little more current. I want to break the posts down into categories, but I’m not sure what categories I want quite yet. This whole thing is a work in progress, and it’ll take a couple weeks to work out the bugs. Are there any categories that you would like to see?

Mommy Blogging

Five Reasons Why Mom Blogs are the Blogs to Watch- From Problogger. Mommy blogs rule. We all know that. But it looks like the rest of the world is starting to catch on.

Professional Mommy Blogging- My guest post over on Type A Mommy. Want to build traffic and improve your rank with search engines? Want to know why you should do this? Check out this post. (Shameless self promotion, I know. But I really think I did a good job on this one.)

Life as a Mom

A Bad Batch of Antibiotics?- A case of pink eye turns into a bad case of diarrhea, thanks to a bad batch of medication. Has this happened to anyone else?

10 Reasons I’m not Losing Weight- Everywhere you look, someone is telling you why you can’t get those stubborn pounds off. ModernMom discusses the real reasons moms aren’t losing weight. I’ll give you a hint- It might have to do with the sleep we aren’t getting, and the chocolate we have saved away for emergency purposes.

Yummy Things to Eat

Double Chocolate Banana Bread- Can’t wait to try this recipe from Rachel vs. “The Kitchen.” Rachel always has super yummy recipes on her site, and I usually want to try them all, but this one really stood out.

Easy Barbecue Chicken Fajitas- A cool twist on a favorite, from Type A Mommy. I think this would be perfect for summer get-togethers. And for toppings? I would probably pile on some cheddar cheese and bacon.

Articles
How to Monitor Your Fertility Cycle- A little more shameless self-promotion. One of my new eHow articles.

How to Boost Your Fertility- Yup. This one is mine, too. Can you tell where my mind has been?

Treatment for Bug Bites and Stings- From Parents.com. It’s that time of year again. Learn how to avoid getting bit (or stung) and what to do when nature attacks. Great advice. I would add, though, that a really effective way to combat swelling and easily remove a bee stinger is to put mud over where your child was stung. When it dries, the stinger should come right out.

Okay, that’s what I have for this week. I’m sure there are a lot of really great mom-blogs out there that I haven’t found yet. Have a favorite? Leave a link in the comments section, and I’ll check it out. Have a great weekend!