Allie Potts's Blog, page 31

Megan Cyrulewski on Dancing in Puddles

A few weeks ago I was nominated for the Very Inspiring Blogger Award and I looked to see who other the nominees were. I was not surprised to see that one of these was Megan Cyrulewski. Since her blog launched, Megan has routinely supported authors by featuring numerous author interviews on her site. I was fortune enough to be included in that list. This Saturday, August 2nd, Megan will be releasing her own first book, a memoir, entitled Who Am I?: How My Daughter Taught Me to Let Go and Live...

Parting with an old friend

I remember the day I picked out my stroller. I was so overwhelmed with the number of options out there and had a difficult time staying focused on my need versus want list with all those little kicks in my stomach. I finally selected one of those stroller systems which includes a car carrier that clicks and locks into place. It was easy to push, and could fold down with a single twist of a hand.

This last feature proved to be particularly beneficial to me as my husband went into business for h...

Once stung, twice equipped with repellent

Meet Mr. Yellow Jacket (129 of 365) (EXPLORED!) (Photo credit: rimblas)

When I was a teenager, I was attacked by a swarm of ground hornets while hiking with a group of friends. I never even saw their nest. Someone ahead of memust have inadvertently stepped where he or she shouldn’t have and by the time they had flown to the surface in a rage I was the closest target.

A very short time later, areas of my body had swollen up like baseballs. I found my way on anexpress routeto the emergency room.

I...

Fake it until you make it

We took a quick road trip over the weekend. The boys demanded a movie within seconds of the engine starting. We have a pile of DVDs ready for just such an emergency however we’ve played them so many times now that the hubby and I can repeat the dialogue by heart. Therefore we weren’t exactly thrilled to fire up the player. We told them they were going to have to wait until we reached the interstate.

We have two sets of headphones that go along with the entertainment system so that backseat pas...

Being wrong is a matter of perspective

The first day of Kindergarten came and went. I asked my son what he liked best about the day. Was it his classmates? Was it his teacher? Was it a particular story or activity? His answer was “the bus!”

In my grown-up mind, I don’t view the school bus as all that exciting. I have several memories of being jostled to and fro during my childhood rides, wedged into seats covered in cracked pleather. The same seats which were either freezing cold or scalding and sticky depending on the time of year...

What’s in your garden?

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Definitely not my garden. Garden “butchart gardens”, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

When my husband and I decided to start landscaping our yard, we decided that we wanted to include a garden in our plans. I thought to myself how nice it would be to have rows of flower beds. My husband, having grown up in a more rural setting, wanted to plant things like corn and other vegetables.

We wanted the same thing in theory, but had completely different ideas as to h...

Life is not a spectator sport

photo taken by Nandakumar Subramaniam

My youngest son waslate with all of his motor development milestones: crawling, sitting upright, even rolling over. When he was late walking, we just assumed he just wasn’t ready and was taking his time. It was par for the course with him. We joked that he was a lazy bum.We were concerned, but not worried.

During one of his pediatric check-ups, around the one year old mark, I repeated that same joke in the doctor’s hearing. Unlike me, he didn’t find it near...

Celebrating the storm and letting go

From his vantage point high above the earth in the International Space Station, Astronaut Ed Lu captured this broad view of Hurricane Isabel. The image, ISS007-E-14750, was taken with a 50 mm lens on a digital camera. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

We experienced our first hurricane of the season on Thursday. It brought high winds, rain, and a bit of flooding on the coast, but was for the most part a non-event. North Carolina is no stranger to this sort of weather and it takes more than a category...

What is bad news today might just be the best news tomorrow

When my husband I decided to purchase our house, our lives were quite different from what they are today. I was only starting out in my career, he hadn’t yet caught the entrepreneurial bug and our only child was of the furry four-footed variety. At the time we enjoyed movies played at wall shaking volumes, hosting get togethers, playing pool, and brewing our own beer. Ah, the good old days…

Cover (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

All we wanted was a house located half way between our places of employme...

Care to solve a puzzle?

On the very last day of our recent beach trip, a large thunderstorm forced us back into the house several hours earlier than we would have liked. The rental unit was equipped with enough bedrooms to accommodate everyone at night provided everyone doubled up in a room, but during the day it was a wee bit cramped, especially with four small children on the loose. We had to find something to do, and find it fast.

Luckily my mom and sister remembered the puzzle we had packed away for just this sor...