P2P

As You May Have Expected…

So, I did it. CW’s new Life Unexpected that premieres tonight at 9 has a new fan site. It really looks good and I have high hopes for it. For a short version, it’s about a girl that spent her life in the foster care system and then reunites with her birth mother and father and all the drama that ensues from that. Come check it out!

Monday Mentions

• I read this post and thought man, I wish it was Monday so I could post this right away!  And hey look, it’s Monday!  So go read this post.  And I really shouldn’t need to post this because you’re all reading Billy’s blog by now, right?!
• These ornaments are so cute.  I feel like playing Bingo when I see them!  Did you know I like playing Bingo?  I really do.  One time at band camp I went to a “real” Bingo place with a friend.  I didn’t win anything but my friend had won $500 there once.
• I loved this post.  As I commented there, God has brought the theme of obedience to me so many times.  Feelings don’t matter…obedience does!  And sometimes, it makes miracles happen!
• Bill Cosby is on Twitter. I have it marked to follow him this Friday!
• I think this scarf is pretty.
• This post made me laugh.
• As a devoted fangirl of many things, it made me all sorts of happy inside to see another fangirl meet whom she fangirls over (that was probably all sorts of grammatically incorrect).  Seriously, I almost cried.
• And lastly, have you subscribed to our Friday Night Lights podcast yet? And you still have 9 more days to catch up!
• Oh and I just saw this…new New Moon clip!

Lexi-isms in Bitstrips

Ok, so my friend Denise pointed me to Bitstrips, a site to create your own characters and comic strips.  The only thing I could think of to do was pull out some Lexi-isms.  Not all of them fit the length/format of a strip but this one I thought would do.  Seems to be more funny to me in the blog post but it’s really cute seeing us in comic strip form!

Meeting Mr. Wrong: The Romantic Misadventures of a Southern Belle Review

Reading Stephanie Snowe’s book Meeting Mr. Wrong: The Romantic Misadventures of a Southern Belle has been on my to-do list since it came out.  I started following her on her blog several months before it came out and I knew I’d enjoy it.  And enjoy it I did.  I finished it in two nights.  And I laughed out loud on more occasions than I can count.  And not just a “heh” but a lay-on-your-bed-and-kick-your-heels-into-the-mattress-type of laugh.  In some cases, it was a drop-your-jaw-cover-your-mouth kind of shock of her “misadventures” which I think should have been more aptly named Dating Disasters.  I had no clue people act like that. 

The book initially reads like a collection of short stories, each chapter providing a misadventure of its own.  Towards the end of the book it begins widening the angle and you see what else was going on in her life at the time.  Neither misadventure nor disaster seems to cover THAT part.  The book ultimately culminates to the email where she meets her future husband.  My understanding is the next book is more about their relationship.  But this book?  Oh my word at the funny.  You don’t have to know Stephanie or her blog to enjoy this book.  If you’d like a good laugh and probably a little more appreciation for your dating or married life, definitely check it out.

You can read the first few chapters here.  And when you realize how funny it is, I’ll do you a favor and give you the link to Amazon.  I would give away my copy but I intend to shove it in the hands of those around me

Disclaimer: I was neither paid nor asked to write this review.  I just really enjoyed it!  But yes, the link is an affiliate link

Monday Mentions

• I’ve seen this up and down the Internet, but I love these Family Rules.
• This was a great reminder to pray for my children’s future spouses.  And yes, that sounds funny.
• I love, love, loved this story of a family that Said Yes to something crazy.
• Back in my post about Crazy Love I mentioned a video I had watched and couldn’t remember the name.  Well, here it is.
• For some reason it made  me a little sad to see Geocities go.  I don’t know if I ever had a site there but I do remember when every single personal site was hosted there.
• I really love these Pumpkin Families.  Let’s see if I can get it together and do one this year.  The girls would love them!
• Megan Joy recently sang in Salt Lake.  People, including me at times, gave her a hard time during Idol this year but I really do enjoy her voice sometimes.

Monday Mentions

• I know I said it before, but I highly recommend Crazy Love by Francis Chan.  My relationship with this book has a story on its own.  I plan to tell it soon.

• And now that I’ve mentioned Francis Chan,  he’ll be speaking at Verge Conference in Austin, Texas in February .  And oh, did you know that’s where Friday Night Lights is filmed?  I feel a road trip brewing.

• Allison Iraheta debuted her single today.  I think it’s so perfect for her.  Unfortunately I don’t like Kris Allen’s enough to buy it   It’s just too much of the same thing.  Sorry, Kris!

• I watched the only existing video of Anne Frank several times.  I just love seeing the old film footage knowing that was actual life, not a movie.  I would love to see more of that.

• I loved this post and the idea of a family tree.

• I fully intend to try this crockpot lasagna, this hummus recipe and this granola bar recipe.

• I really love this idea of making your master bedroom more like a B&B.

• I’ve been using some new software.  First, Jing is great for screencaps. Audio Hijack has been awesome for recording Skype conversations on my Mac among other input sources, Switch has been a great audio file converter (they have some other great software too).  I also hear Audacity is great for both Mac and Windows as an alternate but I haven’t tried it yet.

   

• I’m very much enjoying the Scrabble app on my iPhone to pass time instead of Twitter.

   

• And lastly, lets end with some Dilbert gold.  I cracked up laughing when reading it at my ILs yesterday, Heather called me yesterday just to see if I’d seen it and now I’m seeing Mashable has highlighted it.

Twitter: I miss you, Facebook: not so much

I’m on the 5th day of my 40 day fast of Twitter and Facebook.   Facebook was becoming something I used less and less so I’m not missing it too much.  Twitter, however, I miss a lot.  Or at least I do sometimes.

Sometimes, I enjoy the increased time and freedom away from it. I don’t feel like I have to keep up so I don’t miss something.  I don’t feel pressure to start a show at its showtime so I can tweet and read relevant responses.  My family doesn’t miss me being glued to my phone .  I don’t either.

But there are things I miss.  I miss sharing great links.  I miss sharing funny things my kids say.  I miss venting.  I miss reading about current events.  I miss tweeting about current events.  Most of all I miss finding out about everyone’s day.  I don’t care what people say, you can find find friends on Twitter and you can keep up with friendships there.  And I miss it.

Back on the flip side, the point of it is working.  I’ve spent more time studying God’s word and in study materials this week than I have in a long time.  It’s been good.  I’ll be thinking through how to balance it all in 35 days.  But I’m not going to pretend I don’t miss it.  Cause I do.

Linkage

It might make you cry

God can heal a marriage

i care.

In her shoes

It will make you laugh

She loves the British accent too

It may involve pee and an office

Something good to do

Buy a cool t-shirt to support adoption

Something to listen to

Listen to the What If.. series they started at church

Listen to Crosspoint’s new series Religion Lies

Something to read

Crazy Love by Francis Chan..also go join me in the book club

Posted in blog stuff | 50081 Comment »http://www.sabennett.com/wp/?p=5008Linkage2009-09-17+14%3A37%3A59Amy

Make Your Own Font

A Blog Bites the Dust

Beware, I’m on a bit of a soap box in this one.

So I did it.  I sold my Melr*se Pl*ce blog (it’s not a bad word, just don’t want search engines picking it up).  I sold it to an online friend and I know it will be well taken care of.  But yesterday when I took it out of my stat site, it honestly made me choke up a bit.  It was like giving a well cared for treasure away.  I guess I’ve put more effort and energy into it than I thought.

The thing is once the ads came out recently, they were too racy for me. It’s in very poor taste considering it’s on a network geared toward teenage girls.  “Tuesdays are the new Hump Day” or “Menage A TUES” are just examples.  Have fun explaining that one to your 13 year old.  The main character is “try-sexual” because she’ll try anything with anyone and another character is literally a prostitute on the side.  The latest ad says “Lauren’s on call and it’s not at the hospital”.  Hopefully the ads are going a bit over the edge and the show will handle the subjects more appropriately.  But I doubt it. 

I’m no saint when it comes to TV watching but I guess I just didn’t feel comfortable being a part of the promotion of that. I do put a lot of effort into my blogs and since it’s not something I feel 100% about, I just can’t justify the time and effort.  The thing is I’m giving up a source of blog income as it was finally making a profit after about 6 months and I expect it only to go up, way up, in fact.  I still can’t say it didn’t hurt a bit to give it up.  But I know deep down I’m doing the right thing for me.

Sooo…I have some time to blog about something else now…watch out!

BlogHop ‘09 #bloghop09

I just returned from vacation literally hours ago but I couldn’t NOT participate in BlogHop 09. BusyDad begged me to go to BlogHer (ok, he did mention once or twice I should go. work with me, here) but I went back and forth and then when I finally pushed the button to go, it was all sold out. So a few minutes without BusyDad and all the other great bloggers and hundreds of dollars saved later, here I am on BlogHop 09. I can’t wait to find new blogging friends! And now, what you came here for…a little about me…

I’m 31 years old (just as of last week).  I have two girls Emma (6) and Lexi (4).  I have a wonderful husband of 11 years (in a few weeks) that is a State Trooper for South Carolina, where we live.  I work from home part-time as a computer programmer for a large bank.  That’s the basics I guess.  Other fun stuff:

• I love and started this blog over 7 years ago.
• I’m addicted to Twitter.  Follow me @amyjbennett.  I usually follow back.
• I love my iPhone.  I am on it constantly.  Just a few minutes ago I downloaded a Period Tracker app.  Yep, there’s an app for that.
• I finished writing my first book last month.  My sister still hasn’t read it.  My husband says he probably won’t ever read it.  Three people have read it all and liked it ok.  One is my mother though, so I’m not sure if she counts.
• I’m a Christian.  I try to live it and sometimes you’ll see me blog about it.
• I love TV.  During the fall I have 9 or 10 shows I watch.  There are a few I blog about. Here are my favorites: One Tree Hill, American Idol, Grey’s Anatomy, LOST, Bachelorette/Bachelor, Gossip Girl.  I used to watch House, Desperate Housewives, Private Practice, 24 and Survivor but I had to cut back.
• I own 3 other entertainment blogs.  One Tree Hill Blog, I Heart Danny Gokey and Melrose Place Blog.  They take a lot of time but I love them.
• We live near both our parents and spend a lot of time with them.  Read: I let them cook for us as much as possible

That probably covers most of me. I hope you found something to connect with and I can’t wait to HOP over to your blog.  Leave a comment and I’ll come find you!

DisneyFamily.com Travel Kit Giveaway WINNER

Thank you to all that entered!  The winner of the DisneyFamily.com Travel Kit Giveaway is

Dawn on Jun 29, 2009

Our favorite vacation spot is Gatlinburg TN in the Smokey Mountains.

Congratulations, Dawn!

Link Round-Up

Here are a few things that I’ve been liking lately:

Aaron Ivey, formerly of SPUR58 (which I saw at youth camp a few years back) has a new album out as of yesterday.  It’s amazing.  Go buy it now.  It went to #1 on the Christian chart today in iTunes.

Michael Johns (whose site is run by a great friend), a former American Idol contestant also has a new album out this week.  He really should have been born in the 70s.  I don’t puffy heart every song but there are a few really great songs on there.  There were enough songs that I puffy-hearted to buy the whole album.

ListenToYouTube.com is a great site to turn any YouTube video to an MP3.  Before you think I’m pirating songs, I’m NOT.  I paid good money for the albums above on iTunes.

Picnik.com allows you to edit pictures online.

Jing lets you take a screen capture and upload it online.  Very simple if you’ve ever tried to do it the old Alt-Print Screen way.  If that doesn’t make sense to you, just skip this one.

MinistrySoFabulous.com Another Amy over there.  I always look forward to her posts even though we are not in the same place in life at all except that we minister to students.

AwkwardFamilyPhotos.com My newest daily laugh.

CardboardLove.com Pretty sure I’ve blogged about it before.  I know I’ve twittered about it before but it just makes me happy.  I pretend Scott would do this every day.

This one comes with an R rating for language but MonsterApathy.com is really funny to me.

That should keep you busy.  Enjoy

DisneyFamily.com Travel Kit Giveaway

Emma and Lexi have already learned the art of “Are we there yet?” on a trip.  And it usually starts about five miles away from the house.   I’m really excited to be a part of MomGenerations.com and DisneyFamily.com to give away an “On the Road With Family.com” kit to one lucky reader! The kit promises to keep children comfortably entertained during car or plane trips this summer and will put an end to the dreaded “Are we there yet?” question.  Hallelujah!

The travel kit includes a plush kid size travel pillow, a copy of Dr. Seuss’s There’s a Map in My Lap, a travel game kit, notepad and pen and adorable tote bag (a $30 value).

Also, make sure to visit DisneyFamily.com Travel to help with all your vacation planning needs as the site provides a unique resource for parents providing a combination of expert reviews, parent recommendations, and age-appropriate points of interest for family-friendly destinations on any budget.

One of the many great features on the site is a list of “Cities on a Shoestring” where parents can find inexpensive or free activities to do in cities around the country. The site also includes tips for hassle free air travel, videos of popular family destinations, and safety travel tips.

To win, please share your favorite family vacation destination spot in a comment; a winner will be chosen at random.

For an bonus entry tweet the following text:

Win a Disney Travel Kit for kids from @amyjbennett at http://www.sabennett.com/wp/?p=4515

The contest will run until Wednesday July 1st.  Good luck!

Melrose Place Blog

When my blogging slows down, especially during a One Tree Hill hiatus, please be assured I am off in some Internet corner creating another web site.  Please call me with urgency and convince me to STOP WHAT I’M DOING.

In this case, no one stopped me in time.  I’m getting a head start on the new Melrose Place remake.  The casting isn’t even complete yet but it’s much easier to do a few posts than try to catch up last minute.