Today they linked to my other blog, Blogging Basics 101. And they put up a screenshot of my header. And then I died.

I tried to explain to my husband how big a deal this is, but I started laughing so hard I couldn’t finish. So he said, “BOOM!” and I wheezed, “More like BOOM! to the power of Chuck Norris!” and died again.

A few minutes later he brought me a beer and said, “I’m sorry I don’t really know what it means for you to be linked on Mashable, but I get that it’s a big deal and I’m really proud of you.” Then I died one more time because I love my husband and he is completely awesome. If he didn’t tolerate my crazy blogging and support me trying to make money from it, I wouldn’t even have Blogging Basics 101 and it wouldn’t be on Mashable RIGHT NOW.

1. Lose the hat and towel draped over the kid’s head – what are you hiding under there?
2. Pictures with food on the face are cute on grandma’s refrigerator, but not so much for judges.
3. Cranky faces are only for family members!
4. Have your camera ready at all times and take tons of pictures—don’t edit yourself as you go along.

To enter the contest: Parents Magazine Cover Contest (3 mos – 2 yrs) and Parents Magazine Cover Contest (2 – 6 yrs). The two winners will appear on the dual cover of the November 2009 issue.

Next up is a contest for military families called Laptops for Flat Tops. AllAmericanDircet.com is hosting an essay contest which will award one laptop with an embedded Webcam (for the family) and an additional Webcam (for the soldier) to two families who have an immediate family member serving in any branch of the U.S. military overseas. Winning families will be announced bimonthly through the end of 2009. Laptops for Flattops, invites participants to submit a 400 word essay that explains why their family deserves to win, and how a laptop can improve their lives and communication with their loved one serving overseas. Families must be able to verify their loved one’s military enlistment.

HP and Dara Torres would like to hear how you have utilized technology to simplify your life, in about 200 words and with a photo submission.  Submission is easy and, along with your contribution to the Moms for Simplicity photo mosaic, you are automatically entered to win a technology makeover from HP worth $5000!

Beginning May 8^th–for 48 hours only–you can download a free copy of the new, award winning book, The Mother’s Guide to Self Renewal: How to Reclaim, Rejuvenate and Re-Balance Your Life by Renee Trudeau, a nationally recognized career/life balance coach (a $20 value).

Featured extensively in national media and described as “The best book on balance,” by women’s health guru Dr. Joan Borysenko, author of Inner Peace for Busy Women, this book has helped thousands of women and can help you:

• reconnect with who you are and nurture yourself

• manage your energy and practice saying “no”

• tap into the Transformative Power of Self-Care

Finally, I was asked to submit some video to be included in a Wisk video about why HE washing machines rock the house. You can see me being my smart-aleck self in the second video (several other bloggers make appearances too!) talking about how I like to make my kids do the laundry now.

OK! I burned a new feed and this one looks like it may work! You should be able to use any of the links on the sidebar or the orange button in the header. Or you can plug this into your feed reader and subscribe that way: http://feeds2.feedburner.com/ DontTryThisAtHome

Thank you so much for your patience and loyalty my friends. I can’t believe you’d actually make the trek over here manually, but I’m so flattered and pleased that you do! Wow.

New URL: http://www.donttryit.com

New feed: http://feeds2.feedburner.com/feedburner/ntxx

Please update your links and your feeds. To update your feeds, simply go to your feedreader (e.g., Bloglines or Google Reader) and delete your entry for Don't Try This at Home. Then re-add my new feed by clicking on the link above. Easy-peasy. And you won't miss another snarky comment or hilarious annecdote (or annecdon't, as it were).

I slightly dinged, then broke, then exploded my blog. Yeah. I’m the author of Blogging Basics 101 and I SCREWED UP MY BLOG TO THE POINT IT WOULDN’T WORK. That could go two ways: You love me because I’m human OR you completely lose faith in me. I’m going to go with the former and sing to myself.

I took some chances trying to teach myself some WordPress code and ended up breaking Don’t Try This at Home. After some e-mails to friends (Hi, Lisa! Hey, Mrs. Flinger!), I started e-mailing my server people at DreamHost. They answered everything for me and I was able to start over, completely from scratch tonight. And you know what? I’m so glad I broke my blog. I really got to get in and learn some things. I highly recommend it. Beware the frustration though. I also highly recommend a few bottles of wine in stand-by mode.

So the blog is back up and you can see it. I still have to finish importing my stuff to WordPress from Typepad, fix whatever permalinks aren’t working, format the sidebars and whatnot. BUT IT’S WORKING Y’ALL AND I DID THAT!

So stay tuned and see happens next.

• Don't Try This at Home URL: http://www.donttryit.com or http://donttryit.com  Before the move to WP, the domain name (donttryit.com) was just re-routing you to a TypePad address. If you look up in your address bar and see typepad.com anywhere, you're in the wrong place. Ditto if you can't see a banner. (They finally fixed the banner.) My new site has a different look to it, but it's still me. Same snarky comments and sparse posting.
• Feed for your RSS Reader: http://feeds2.feedburner.com/feedburner/ntxx  Most feed readers have a place where you can click a button or link to add a new feed. Please just delete your old DTT@H feed and add the new one. Thanks!

Update:

This afternoon while I was checking my e-mail I saw that I had a message directly from Pepsi:

Melanie,
I saw your tweet and I just wanted to make sure I responded personally.

We agree this creative is totally inappropriate; we apologize and please know it won’t run again.

My best friend committed suicide and this is a topic very close to my heart. My deepest apologies.

Feel free to follow-up via twitter to me – @boughb or Huw – @huwgilbert.
Thanks,
Bonin

B. Bonin Bough
Director, Social and Emerging Media
PepsiCo
700 Anderson Hill Road
Purchase, NY 10577
bonin.bough@pepsico.com

I don’t know if Mr. Bough was personally responsible for this (I doubt it considering his experience with suicide–my condolences are with anyone who has had suicide touch their lives–) or just left to clean up the mess. I appreciate that Pepsi is reaching out to bloggers and Twitterers to at least let us know we’re being heard. I’m even more appreciative that the campaign is not being run any more.

Original post:
I’m pretty laid back. I laugh at inappropriate things. I say
inappropriate things sometimes. I certainly *think* inappropriate
things a lot. I also know inappropriate when I see it and Pepsi’s new
ad campaign, featuring "one very, very, very lonely calorie" committing suicide, crosses the line of inappropriate into the abyss.

Just a few weeks ago we saw a Motrin ad that inaccurately portrayed
babywearing and that community was up in arms. They blogged, twittered,
and generally raised a fuss (rightfully so). The ad was eventually
taken down. Moms control about .80 of every dollar, you see, and if
they’re angry they won’t buy your product. Moms have power in the
marketplace. They’re an important demographic. That particular Motrin
ad was marketed to moms and it backfired. You would have thought Pepsi
would have paid attention.

Who exactly is this ad targeted to? If it’s teens, do we really want
to showcase suicide as the viable option to feeling lonely? What teen
doesn’t feel a little emo now and then? Or maybe the target audience is
those who want to lose a little weight by drinking the one-calorie
soda? Because they definitely are the people that should see suicide as
an out, especially if they’re anorexic.

My outrage at the Pepsi ad isn’t about being politically incorrect
(I’m usually the first in line to say suck it up). There are some
things that really are inappropriate. I would say using suicide
to promote your low-cal drink is right up there. Of course, they do say
the calorie is "very, very, very" lonely so I suppose that means the
only out is suicide. If the poor little calorie was only "very, very"
or even "very" lonely, he would just need some heavy-duty counseling.

Was the purpose of these ads to separate Pepsi from Coca-Cola as the
edgier choice? Or was the purpose to create buzz and be mentioned
on as many late-night TV shows as possible before ultimately pulling a
campaign they new would never fly? My opinion is that the shock value
of these ads is not something that would persuade me to buy this
product. In fact, it’s had the opposite effect. Pepsi has been my drink
of choice as long as I can remember (that is, when I drink soda; those
who know me know I’m a tea drinker usually). I even really like Pepsi
Max. I haven’t bought a Pepsi or Pepsi Max in quite a while. I’m not
apt to do so any time soon.

In many of the comments about this ad campaign I see people
suggesting Pepsi was bold enough to push the envelope. Others state we
need to quit whining about it and volunteer for a hotline. Still others
actually thought the ads were funny in a macabre way. To me that just
illustrates how far we’ve lowered the bar on what’s acceptable in this
country.

And it’s doing nothing to help my productivity.

In other news, Happy Veteran’s Day! Go hug a veteran and thank them for their service.

It is absolutely beyond me why you can’t play nicely. TypePad, you completely screwed my permalinks when I migrated to WordPress. WordPress, really? You can’t figure out the permalinks and want to show a 404 every time someone clicks a link? WTH?

You can both #suckit.

Sincerely (annoyed),
Melanie