And your family.

And your friends.

And even cooking.

And free time.

You know what it makes you not miss? Take out.

But Shannon and I are closer than ever to finishing the TypePad for Dummies book. We turned in the final pages of our manuscript today! Next up is author review, but we’re thisclose to being finished. Oh my. FINISHED. What a word. Sometimes that word seemed so far away we thought we’d never experience it.

The book is already available for pre-order on Amazon, and if you don’t think it’s a rush to see your name in lights at Amazon, you need to check your pulse. That little page makes me giddy, and if you know me, giddy isn’t something I exhibit often.

The book itself will be out in February. And when it comes out, you can expect our book tour and signings to put poor Pioneer Woman to shame. Because, you know, everyone lines up for six hours to have their tech book signed.

(Update: Apparently I’m so out of practice with my blogging that a) I found a typo after I published and b) I didn’t include a title. Doh.)

Just a friendly heads-up. I know the women you’ll be working with and they are the bomb. I wish I could apply this year, but I have too many projects coming up and I just don’t have the time to commit. But if you do, you’ll get a training vacation in December and a whole lotta fun thereafter. Go for it!

I saw this headline: Mexico Replaces Customs Staff, Revamps Borders

And I considered what Bill & Eric would look like in uniform.

Today is May you say?
Hey, it’s my birthday!

Wait, is it my birthday
on Saturday?

I’ve been working with the likes of my very dear friend Shannon at Rocks In My Dryer, my other good friend Christine at The Home Team Wins, and some new friends I’m getting to know: Natasha at Tasha Does Tulsa, Trisha at Funky Food Allergies and TTownMoms.com, Melanie and Deedra at 918Moms.com, and Courtney at Homemaker Hero.

These ladies have come together and are working hard to make this the most amazing party Oklahoma bloggers have seen! We have swag bags from TTownMoms.com that have computer-related things; we have door prizes from local businesses like SONIC and Spiffy Spoonz! Here are the rest of the deets:

What: A meet-up for female Oklahoma bloggers. (Sorry, gents, this one’s limited to the ladies.) You don’t have to be a mommy blogger, you just need to blog, or Twitter, or maybe even read blogs?! This is primarily a blogger meet up, but hey. I know some of you fans are readers and lurkers and don’t blog yourselves. Want to meet your blog crush? C’mon! We’d love to meet you too!

When: May 7, 2009 from 6:30-9:30

Where: Tulsa! We aren’t advertising the site of the meet-up, though. If you can come to Tulsa on May 7 from 6:30-9:30, RSVP by sending me an e-mail (melanie.nelson AT bloggingbasics101.com) with OK Blogger Meet-Up in the subject line and let me know you’re planning to come, then I’ll send you more details. Please RSVP by May 1, 2009. We need a head count for the restaurant.

Cost: Right now, it’s $10.59/person. That will include pizza and soft drinks. Alcoholic beverages are on your own. Why the funky price? We’re using PayPal and they take .59 of every transaction.

We have limited seating so it’s first come, first served. However, we do have room for about 75 bloggers!

This blogger meet-up is part of the National Mom’s Night Out being hosted by Maria Bailey at BSM Media. You don’t have to be a mom or a mommy blogger to meet up with us, though! This party is all about meeting other Oklahoma women who share your passion: blogging!

In the comments let me know:

• If you are still getting my feed or have to come her to manually check things out.
• What browser you’re using.
• What feed reader you’re using.

Thanks!

Several weeks ago I received an e-mail from Max’s teachers asking for parent volunteers for the annual pig heart and lung dissection. My response? To immediately hit Respond and write I’M SO IN!!!

And it was worth it. I know some of you are squeamish with the blood and guts. I get that. I’m just completely fascinated by the science of it. Besides, when I took Zoology in high school, I only got to dissect a star fish and a fish. Boring. And stinky. Not fun at all.

The pig hearts and lungs? Very interesting and superiorly cool to star fish or a fish. Here’s Max blowing up the lung.

Both of my children love to visit museums. I do too. What’s weird is that we have two really fantastic museums here in Tulsa, but we never visit. We go to Claremore to visit the Will Rogers Museum (do you even know what an influencer that man was?) or we visit our friends in Dallas and go to museums there.

Sunday afternoon I made good on an old promise (what? there’s no expiration date!) and took Chilihead, Jr. to the Philbrook. She was absolutely beside herself. She couldn’t take everything in fast enough. When I asked her why she liked a particular piece of art she used descriptions like “texture” and “perspective”. Holy canoli.

Her favorite part of the Philbrook (and mine) were the gardens. Husband and I had our engagement pictures taken in those gardens 15 years ago.

We didn’t take the camera (a mistake we won’t make again), but at least I had my iPhone. Chilihead, Jr. took these photos.

Starting on March 12th, Rosetta Stone is inviting consumers to get into the St. Patrick’s Day spirit and brush up on their brogue by offering one week of free Rosetta Stone® Irish language tutorials online at their website www.rosettastone.com.

Rosetta Stone fully immerses users into the historical Irish language, recreating the instinctive language-learning experience with the help of vivid images and speech recognition technology. The easy-to-use platform allows users to learn Irish the same way they learned their first language and the program’s addictive quality helps users stay engaged and facilitates success.

Consumers can access the free Rosetta Stone Irish program trial by logging onto and www.rosettastone.com and clicking on the registration link (link will be live beginning March 12th).  Free access to the lessons will be available from March 12 – March 19, 2009.

I’ve always wondered what it would be like to learn a language from Rosetta Stone. I’m not even kidding. I’ve always thought, “If I had time or knew I was visiting another country, I would so buy Rosetta Stone, if I could afford it.” (I have no idea how much a Rosetta Stone course costs, btw.)

So, yeah. I’m pimping Rosetta Stone and I’m not getting a dime for it. But how cool will it be teaching our kids a little Irish Brogue? My kids are going to love this and I wanted to share so you could love it too.