For any of you that follow me on Twitter (http://twitter.com/muzbeecrazy), you may remember earlier today I said that I was throwing myself a pity party.  This one started because someone left a negative comment on my money saving tip vlog that is posted on You Tube.  I know I shouldn’t care but I do.  It took everything I had not to respond to the person but my husband and his friend that was visiting at the time talked me out of it.  So now I’ll just stew over it for a little bit.

But as I was reading through my Google Reader today, I noticed that my good friend Kim sent me a blog award.  Kim bestowed upon me The Lemonade Award.  The award goes to blogs that show great attitude and gratitude.  I’m touched that she sent it to me and with that successfully ended my pity party.  After all, I must continue on with a great attitude or I wouldn’t be worthy of the award!!  Thank you, Kim!!

Not too long I ago, I told you all I was a finalist in a money saving tip contest for Wal-Mart.  I had asked my readers to find my video on You Tube and vote for me.  Well, let me just thank all of you who went and voted because I just found out that I am one of the WINNERS!  I was one of the top ten videos and as a result we won a year’s supply of groceries from Wal-Mart!!

I am so excited! Thank you all so very much!

My hubby got home last night from Las Vegas safe and sound.  However, he and his brother volunteered to be bumped from their flight and were actually picked when the time came.  So instead of his flight landing at 5:30 in the evening it was landing at about 10:00 at night.  I don’t want to go into details but I was not a happy camper about the whole situation.  He walked in the door about 12:30 last night and I pretended to be fast asleep.  But that didn’t last long because I wanted to know the details of the trip and everything; so I swallowed my anger and talked to him.  I guess the good part is he now has a free round trip ticket to anywhere in the 48 states good for one year.  So maybe he and I could get away and only have to purchase one ticket.  I don’t want to leave the kids like that but I’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Anyway, today at work my husband came into the office.  No he didn’t need an x-ray, he was coming to see me and bearing a gift.  “What was the gift?” you ask.

This awesome plum colored Nikon Coolpix s210 camera.  For those of you just joining us, my children broke our camera a few weeks ago and I haven’t been able to post pictures on my blog without stealing them from family.

The great part of this story was that he had planned to buy this for me with his winnings from the blackjack tables. The Las Vegas airport has a Best Buy Express where you can buy electronics and such in a vending machine fashion.  The person using the machine before them apparently broke the machine unintentionally.  Whatever he was trying to buy stuck to another item and after that the machine needed repair, I guess.  That person was…

That’s right.  Steven Baldwin who my husband and B-I-L spoke with and said he was super nice! Everytime I am in NYC I am always looking for celebrities. I never see any. But my husband meets Steven Baldwin and sits near Senator Biden on the the way home as well as the guy that portrays Benjamin Franklin dressed in his costume. Pretty cool for a return flight home, huh?

So anyway, my husband went to Best Buy today and purchased the camera for me.  Then of course I felt bad for being so mad at him for getting bumped.  Did he plan it that way?  I don’t know.

So I have been practicing with the camera tonight.  Here are just a couple shots.

Of course I have to get one with the man who bought it for me!

Here’s my Lexi girl enjoying the nice evening. Pardon the crazy eyes. They aren’t really that freaky looking!

Well, I ranted enough on my last post (I’m not linking to it because it’s right below this one!) and someone in Hawaii took pity on me!  Thank you!

I looked at my Google Analytics map this morning and there was little Hawaii IN GREEN!!  So thanks for the pity hit - I’m not too proud to call it what it is!

There has been a lot of talk between my friends and family about my needing an intervention in regards to blogging.  If you notice that I have stopped posting I think it’s safe to assume that they all got together and I’m off in a facility somewhere.  Don’t worry, if that does happen, I can promise you I’d fall off the wagon!!

Thanks again Hawaii!

One of the awesome tools we have been using since I started my blog is Google Analytics.  Google Analytics lets you see how your site is doing as far as daily visitors, page hits, the average time spent on your site, etc.

There are two aspects of it that I faithfully check everyday.  One is the number of visits/visitors I get daily.  For example, on July 29th I had 166 visitors.  I want you to keep in mind that this was the last day of my giveaway.  On July 30th (my giveaway is now over) I had 40 visitors.  I’m sure tomorrow when I check it, I will have had about 8 visitors for today.  It’s cool - I don’t feel used or anything!

Getting over myself and moving on, the other part of Google Analytics that I’m obsessed with checking is the map.  The map lets you know what states people have come from and how many visits are from that state.  It actually even gives you the world map.  Here’s a little shout out to my reader in Greece.  I don’t know who you are but keep coming back, baby, and thanks for reading!!

Anyway, mostly because of my giveaway, my map has really lit up. Any state that has not yet accessed my blog would be white.  All the others are different shades of green depending on how many times they have come over. Allow me to show you:

All that’s missing is HAWAII and I will have all 50 states!  What does it mean if/when I get Hawaii?  Not a thing my friends.  It’s just piece of mind for me that I have all 50 states on my Google Analytics map.  So come on Hawaii!  I’m not asking any of you to be my friend for life! I just want you to come on over, take a look around, maybe leave a comment.  If you don’t like what you see, fine, you don’t have to come back.  Just light up my Hawaii on my little map and I will be one happy blogger!

Even my sister and her husband, who blog like once a month, have Hawaii on their map!  What gives!?  Since she is my sister, I might as well plug her blog.  Check her and her hubby out at Maple Syrup Conglomerate.

And Hawaii, help a blogger out and stop on by.  Thanks!!

The kids BROKE our camera!!  They were fighting over whose turn it was to take pictures and they dropped it!  I went to take a picture of Kiki’s new cast and it wouldn’t work.  It’s upsetting because it was a very nice camera given to my husband as a gift from his parents.

I have never been the greatest with taking pictures.  And pictures on a digital camera…forget it.  They sit on that card forever.  But now that I’ve been blogging, I have been snapping shots left and right.  I don’t want to miss out on any potential blog fodder.  Whether it be in the allergist’s office or in the emergency room with a broken arm, the camera and I have found a new love for one another.  And now it’s BROKEN!

I ran down to borrow a camera from my neighbor because I have to get a picture of Kiki’s new cast.  I HAVE to do a follow-up on her broken arm saga.  My readers demand it!! If you see reality, would you send it back to me please!?

Anyway, I borrowed the camera and got the shot.  Thank you, Jo-Lynne.

The cast extends above her elbow because her fracture is more of her forearm then her wrist.  And did you notice the swimsuit?  We spent an extra $40 and got her a waterproof cast.  She already tried it out today and it is amazing.  How far we have come!  It beats the trash bags and most importantly, her summer is not lost! YEAH!!!

So this will be on for the next 4 weeks and at that time the doctor will make the decision to let her go cast-free or place a shorter cast on for a couple more weeks.  If only replacing our camera were this easy!!