And the Oscar (award competition button) goes to...

...Saddle Mountain Rider at Middle of the Road!

She somehow managed to predict 13 of the 24 categories correctly!

I have to toot my own horn, a little.  I got 12 right.  In case you missed it, it was a great show last night.  I really enjoyed Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin, along with all the people who gave Meryl Streep a hard time.  It's obvious she has quite a sense of humor!

If you are looking for a complete list of winners, you can find it here.

Congrats SMR, your $5 Starbucks card is in the mail, and your "Winner!" button will be delivered via email!

And thank you, everyone, who entered my first blog competition.  It was a huge success!

-Grace's Mom

Cup O' Love!

Awww, my Starbucks loves me as much as I love it!

Oscar Awards Competition!!

Okay, I am going to take on hosting my very first blog competition!!  This should be...interesting.  I mentioned wanting to do this in a previous blog, and I have decided to go for it.

So here goes!

Listed below are the nominations for the 2010 Academy Awards.  Your challenge is to post a blog where you make your selections for who you think will win each award.  The person who makes the most correct guesses (and tells me that he/she is competing) will win...drum roll please...a $5 Starbucks Gift Card!!

And as if that weren't enough, the winner will also get the privelege of posting this beautiful, hand-crafted award button on his/her blog!

Nice, huh?  I made it all by myself.

Simply leave me a comment directing me to the blog posting where you have picked your winners, or email them to me (BeingGracesMom@gmail.com) before Sunday March 7th, 5 p.m. PT (8 p.m. ET) and you will be entered in the competition!  After the awards I will add up everyone's scores and announce a winner.

So make your best picks!  Do your research!  Or take a shot in the dark!  Whatever you have to do to get in on the fun!

Here are the nominees:

BEST PICTURE

"Avatar"
"The Blind Side"
"District 9"
"An Education"
"The Hurt Locker"
"Inglourious Basterds"
"Precious"
"A Serious Man"
"Up"
"Up in the Air"


ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Penelope Cruz, "Nine"
Vera Farmiga, "Up in the Air"
Maggie Gyllenhaal, "Crazy Heart"
Anna Kendrick, "Up in the Air"
Mo'Nique, "Precious"


ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Matt Damon, "Invictus"
Woody Harrelson, "The Messenger"
Christopher Plummer, "The Last Station"
Stanley Tucci, "The Lovely Bones"
Christopher Waltz, "Inglourious Basterds"


ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Sandra Bulllock, "The Blind Side"
Helen Mirren, "The Last Station"
Carey Mulligan, "An Education"
Gabourey Sidibe, "Precious"
Meryl Streep, "Julie and Julia"


ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Jeff Bridges, "Crazy Heart"
George Clooney, "Up in the Air"
Colin Firth, "A Single Man"
Morgan Freeman, "Invictus"
Jeremy Renner, "The Hurt Locker"


DIRECTOR
James Cameron, "Avatar"
Katherine Bigelow, "The Hurt Locker"
Quentin Tarantino, "Inglourious Basterds"
Lee Daniels, "Precious"
Jason Reitman, "Up in the Air"


ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell, "District 9"
Nick Hornby, "An Education"
Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony RochE, "In the Loop"
Geoffrey Fletcher, "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire"
Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner, "Up in the Air"


ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Mark Boal, "The Hurt Locker";
Quentin Tarantino, "Inglourious Basterds"
Alessandro Camon and Oren Moverman, "The Messenger";
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, "A Serious Man"
Bob Peterson, Pete Docter, Tom McCarthy, "Up"


ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
"Coraline"
"Fantastic Mr. Fox"
"The Princess and the Frog"
"The Secret of Kells"
"Up"


FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
"Ajami," Israel
"El Secreto de Sus Ojos," Argentina
"The Milk of Sorrow," Peru
"Un Prophete," France
"The White Ribbon," Germany


ART DIRECTION
"Avatar"
"The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus"
"Nine"
"Sherlock Holmes"
"The Young Victoria"


CINEMATOGRAPHY
"Avatar"
"Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince"
"The Hurt Locker"
"Inglourious Basterds"
"The White Ribbon"


SOUND MIXING
"Avatar"
"The Hurt Locker"
"Inglourious Basterds"
"Star Trek"
"Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen"


SOUND EDITING
"Avatar"
"The Hurt Locker"
"Inglourious Basterds"
"Star Trek"
"Up"


ORIGINAL SCORE
"Avatar," James Horner
"Fantastic Mr. Fox," Alexandre Desplat
"The Hurt Locker," Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders
"Sherlock Holmes," Hans Zimmer
"Up," Michael Giacchino


ORIGINAL SONG
"Almost There" from "The Princess and the Frog" Randy Newman
"Down in New Orleans" from "The Princess and the Frog," Randy Newman
"Loin de Paname" from "Paris 36," Reinhardt Wagner and Frank Thomas
"Take It All" from "Nine," Maury Yeston
"The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart)" from "Crazy Heart," Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett


COSTUME
"Bright Star"
"Coco Before Chanel"
"The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus"
"Nine"
"The Young Victoria"


DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
"Burma VJ"
"The Cove"
"Food, Inc"
"The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers"
"Which Way Home"


DOCUMENTARY (SHORT SUBJECT)
"China's Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province"
"The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner"
"The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant"
"Music by Prudence"
"Rabbit a la Berlin"


FILM EDITING
"Avatar"
"District 9"
"The Hurt Locker"
"Inglourious Basterds"
"Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire"


MAKE-UP
"Il Divo"
"Star Trek"
"The Young Victoria"


ANIMATED SHORT FILM
"French Roast"
"Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty"
"The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte)"
"Logorama"
"A Matter of Loaf and Death"

LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM
"The Door"
"Instead of Abracadabra"
"Kavi"
"Miracle Fish"
"The New Tenants"


VISUAL EFFECTS
"Avatar"
"District 9"
"Star Trek"

 
 
Okay, there you have it!  Good luck everyone!  To see my official picks, read this post.

Momspotting

This is one of the best meme questionaires I have ever seen, so I just have to take part!

A little background:  I somehow happened upon the very entertaining blog VodkaMom, and she was taking part in this meme.  Apparently, a site called BlogHer.com is doing a little research on parenting in the digital age.  They have several moms enlisted to tweet about digital parenting.  It's a pretty interesting concept.  If I used Twitter more, I would be very fascinated to follow these tweets.  If you are interested in checking them out, just look for the hashtag #momspotting.  Or, read the blog here.

Anyway, BlogHer wants to know how normal, everyday moms use technology to interact with her family.  This meme is another way of looking for trends. 

Therefore, I feel it is my civic duty to educate BlogHer on how I use the digital age to raise my daughter.  Here we go!

1. Which expensive electronic device do you most often let your older children abuse?

My child is 13 1/2 months old...but that does not stop me from giving her my new blackberry when ever she wants it.  She also has free access to my old blackberry which I keep charged for her.



2. How many take-out restaurant numbers do you have programmed into your phone?

Two.  One for a teriyaki place that always takes a long time, another for one of my favorite mexican restaurants.

3. How many hours of television do you so totally not let your kids watch a week?

I encourage my daughter to watch TV!  She's not interested yet.  But I can't wait for the day that she will sit still for 20 minutes, totally engrossed in a program and I can organize under the sink, clean the china cabinet, or do some other project that I don't really want Grace's help with...but right now she is way more interested in helping me with everything.

4. Do you think people who say “we don’t watch television” at playdates but really mean “we just watch DVDs” are lying liars from Liarville?

You betcha.


5. How many miles have you driven with your child and not one device of electronic entertainment in a single car trip?

None.


6. What’s your record for calls to the pediatrician or Ask-a-Nurse in a single day?

Two.  But I also have some close friends and family who are nurses, so I have called each of them in a single day...and maybe sent a follow-up email after that.


7. What’s the sexiest thing your husband/partner could text you after a hard day?

Babe, I got you a massage appointment after work and they will have Starbucks coffee waiting for you.  Dinner is in the oven and Grace has had a bath.  See you at home!


8. What’s your favorite iPad joke?

I haven't heard any iPad jokes...I feel like the joke is on me!


9. What’s the dumbest parenting tool, gear, gadget or device you ever bought?

My husband bought a bottle sterilyzer and melted all of our bottles into one giant, plastic heap.


10. How many years will it take for your child to become more tech-savvy than you?

About 2 more years.  She already re-programs the TV and we can't figure out what she's done, and she pulls up screens on the computer that we have never seen before.  Baby Genius, I'm telling you.

Tuesday Full of Grace

So what was this great, wonderful thing I got to do today?!

Spend the entire day with my daughter, of course!

Monday, I just decided that I needed a Mommy-Grace Day, so I asked my boss for Tuesday off and being the wonderful person that she is, she agreed.  I didn't have to work at my second job today, I just had club volleyball practice this evening.  It really was a perfect day!

First, Daddy brought Grace into our room at about 8a when she woke up and wanted her bottle.  It's always more fun to wake up to my baby girl than to an alarm!

Daddy left for work, and Grace and I talked about what we wanted to do today.  Our day.

We plunked Grace in the bath tub and she soaked for about 20 minutes.  That girl loves her baths!

If I had all these toys in my bath, I might stay in there for 20 mintues too!

Then we got all dressed in our Tuesday finest and raced out the door for our first destination:  Starbucks.

I'd forgotten how hard it was to get a non-blurry picture of a 13 month old baby!

We don't have a Starbucks in my town.  The closest one is about 15 minutes away in a neighboring town.  I don't go there all that often, it's out of my way.  My usual one is closer to work, about 35 minutes from home.

Anywho, the baristas really took up with Grace, and got a big kick out of watching her walk all around Starbucks.  Grace had a short sugar-free vanilla steamer and a butter croissant.  Mommy had a grande nonfat caramel macchiatto and a butter croissant.

Delicious.

We found a short table that Grace could stand at, but she wasn't really having that.  Mommy was sitting in a comfy chair, so Grace wanted to sit in a comfy chair.  She ate her croissant and drank her "coffee" just like Mommy does!  If only she had a little blackberry constantly in her hand...then she would REALLY be my shadow!

Sitting in a big-girl chair, waiting for Mommy to hand her another piece of croissant.

We ended up having to purchase this weird fruit-drink thing they have at Starbucks because Grace found them and carried one around and around, dropping it occasionally and really putting some wear and tear on the packaging.  Small price to pay for such a perfect little girl on her first Starbucks outing!

Actually, this is not Grace's first time in a Starbucks - one time she went to work with me and therefore she went to Starbucks with me, but this is the first time I have ordered something for her.

Then, since Poppy (Grace's grandpa) works right down the road from Starbucks, we decided to pop in to see him.  Poppy works at a very large motorcycle shop.  The other day, Nana told me that Grace has started to call Poppy "Bop-po."  As we were walking in to the shop, she started to whisper, "Bop po.  Bop po.  Bop po."  I still find it hard to believe that my little girl is using the right words in the right context.  Most of the time I think it is either a fluke or coincidence.  But really?  This was QUITE the coincidence if it was one!

Just as we walked in, Poppy told me he was having a computer problem and snatched up Grace to go show her off.  I headed to his office to start working on his picture dilemma.  My father is quite cute when it comes to computers...until recently he didn't know how to send an email to more than one person at a time.  He would get a funny forward, and whoever was his favorite that day would get an email from him!

I didn't get any pictures of Grace at the motorcycle shop, but I do have a few from last May when we went to visit Poppy on Nana's birthday.

May 2009

We left the motorcycle shop and headed back to our town, but we had to stop at the school district office to pick up a Relay for Life Online Chair Handbook.  That's right, you are reading the blog of the new Relay for Life Online Chair!!  I am very excited to be getting involved in this program.  But I'll leave that for another blog.

In the twenty minute drive from the motorcycle shop to the district office, Grace took a power nap.  I knew it was only a matter of minutes before she would need the real deal.  I had a few more things I wanted to do, but I reminded myself that this day was about Grace, and pushing her to her limit was not something I wanted to do today!

So home we came, and Grace proceeded to take a three hour nap!  And lose a pony tail holder.  And completely drench her blanket in sweat.  Yet another way that she is like me!  We are hot sleepers.

She woke up and I made us some lunch - she got left over risotto and some french bread - my baby girl loves her carbs!  I made teriyaki chicken and couscous.  This was my first time eating couscous, and it did not go over well.  It tasted like play-doh to me.  I tossed it before my husband could come home and make a big deal out of how bad it was.  It's not like I messed up the recipe, it just had a rotten flavor.

After dinner Grace helped me finish up a couple of cleaning projects and she made a few "calls."  She LOVES phones, and she took mine and walked down the hall, holding it to her ear with her shoulder, saying, "Eh?  Huh?  Oh.  Uh oh.  Eh?"  And so on.  I couldn't take a picture of it because she had my phone!

She wants to be a blogger, just like her mom!

I did, however, snap this final shot of Grace playing with her dad when he got home.  I am so blessed to have such a happy little girl - she is so easy, and I wish I had more days like this to spend with her, but I know that it's because I don't that I am able to cherish every minute like I was today.

Yay!  Daddy's home!  Time to wrestle.

-Grace's Mom