It spread like a virus this week, or a wildfire.  Pick your cliche.  Like most bloggers, I couldn’t check my Instagram or Twitter stream without a message like “Just joined Vine!  I want to see what it’s all about.  Follow me!”  This would be followed by comments from other bloggers (myself included) saying something like, “OMG!  So addictive!”  Others, feeling out-of-the-loop would respond with a slightly panicked edge, “What’s Vine?”

Don’t worry.  We didn’t know what it was until this week either.  No one did.  Vine is a video sharing app owned by Twitter.  Vine let’s you take quick little 6 second videos that play on a loop, complete with sound.  You can stop and start the recording over the length.  Think of it as being able to make your own little in-camera edits. In the first week it made it to the top 10 free apps in the Apple App Store.

At first I thought, “Oh no!  I can’t handle any more social media in my life!”  Granted, my day is chock full of tweets, Facebook status updates and overexposed Instagram selfies.  But, I don’t utilize Pinterest like I should.  Don’t even get me started on Google+.  Do you hear my Klout score dropping?

For some reason I think Vine will work for me.  Maybe it’s because I do video all day in my job that I have an innate sense about video.  I’ve been meaning to get my vlog on around here, but I think after a full work day of dealing with video, I look forward to simply writing for my blog when I get home.  But, Vine works for me.  It’s fun.  It’s simple.  It’s less work than You Tube.

I know some people jumped ship early after somebody got all nasty.  I’m assuming it was Chat Roulette style, but I don’t really want to know.  I haven’t had anything offensive pop up on my feed, so I’m sticking with it.

Plus, I just really love Harry Potter and have always wanted moving pictures.  I feel like Vine is sort of wizard Instagram.

Blogger or not, are you doing Vine?  What do you think its value is?  (Get ready for the shameless plug.)  You can follow me.  I’m Somebodys Parent. (No apostrophe allowed on Vine.) 

Hey there!  I was a little quiet on the blog this week, but believe me when I say I had blogging on the brain.  I had been wanting a makeover for awhile.  Thanks to Sarah at One Starry Night, things are freshened up quite a bit.  She came up with this fabulous design that I hope all you darling readers like.

I’m working to stretch my writing and make my site even better.  I can’t do it without the help of people like Sarah.  Poor Kelly has the arduous task of being my blog host.  She is with the amazing Twenty 70 Hosting  and has to hear my Widget whines and HTML blunders.  Both Kelly and Sarah are so kind and patient with me and my Internet ineptitude.

Thank you with all my heart for reading my blog.  Please comment and email.  I always want to know what you’re thinking, good and bad.  It blows my mind sometimes that people read the words I write.  This blog has been an outlet, a community, a recorder and a soapbox.  Above all, it’s been a happy blessing.

If you don’t already read my friend Erin’s blog, you totally should.  She came up with a fun idea for a link up and I’m all about it.  Why?  Because it has to do with sparkly stickers.  Let’s face it, I love sparkly stickers about as much as my two-year-old loves them.

Her idea?  Parents should get gold stars for being awesome, or simply for doing things that aren’t terrible.  Agreed.

I think this is gold star worthy:

• My little potty-trainer said she needed to drop a deuce.  Yes!  We’ve been working on that.  I hurried her to the commode.  I helped her pull down her pants and a turd fell out and rolled on to the bathroom floor.  I did not groan and grimace.  Nope.  I plastered a shit eating grin on my face and said, “Uh oh!  That’s okay!  You got really close to the potty!”  I helped her do her business and cleaned up.  My little one then reminded me “You no eat poo poo, Mama!  Is yucky!”  I had my shit eating grin on for nothing.

Watching the Golden Globes tonight made me realize, it’s not the silly little starlets that are being celebrated these days.  Yes, cleavage and ass shaking by 19-year-old’s is still glorified.

But, those girls didn’t win awards.

It’s the women who are seasoned writers and comedians that are not only nominated for awards, but asked to host the show.  The women who took the honors weren’t slutty or too thin or too plastic.  The winners were women like Adele.  She wrote a beautiful song, won an award, and admitted she was a new mom getting tipsy on a night out.  Anne Hathaway acted her brains out and performed a role we’ve seen a thousand times in a way we’ve never seen before.

Yes, there were risque dresses that objectified the female form.  Yes, award shows are circle jerks for the rich and famous.  But, I have to believe there is hope for Hollywood when Tina Fey and Amy Poehler bring the house down with insightful, unique comedy.  Jodie Foster is honored for a body of work spanning decades of perfecting her craft, not her body spanning a centerfold.  Anne Hathaway paid homage to the generation of women before her with her salute to Sally Field.

My favorite moment of the whole night was on the red carpet before the show when Claire Danes told Ryan Seacrest about how her mother is babysitting her one-month-old and how she really hoped she didn’t leak on her dress.  I fell out laughing and ran to Twitter to tell my fellow mom bloggers about how Claire Danes was my new hero.

It’s honesty like that, that gives me pride as a working mother.  20 years ago you probably wouldn’t see a woman making boob leaking jokes before winning a best acting award.  I’m so glad to be a mother in this era.  Rock on, career mamas!

Yes, this is a resolution post.  It’s January 2nd for pete’s sake!  It was either write this blog post or go to the gym where I would have to wait an hour for an elliptical machine.  “Ain’t nobody got time for that!”  So let’s just go with it, shall we?

I heard it said recently that “goals not written down are just wishes.” So true!  Some of my goals for 2013 are very personal, others mundane.  I won’t bother you with them here, but I wrote them down elsewhere.  I’m not wishing 2013 away.  “Ain’t nobody got time for that!”  (Wait, I’m starting to think that reference too 2012.  You think?)

Anyway, I read a lot of blogs today about resolutions, or choosing a single word that describes a theme for the year 2013.  I’ve come up with my word.

Question

Yep, as in asking questions.  Instead of resolutions, I’m asking questions.  Everyday I will ask myself this series of questions.  I made most of them open ended.  For example, I’m not going to ask myself, “Did you eat healthy today?’  But, instead I will ask, “What healthy food choices did you make today.”  It forces me to think about my decisions.  Here is my list of daily questions for 2013.

• What did you thank God for in your prayers today?
• What did you do today to show Greyson and Charlotte you love and appreciate them?
• When did you pet the dog?
• What did you do at work that accomplished a task or showed leadership?
• What step did you take to make your blog better?
• How many blogs did you comment on today?
• What healthy foods did you eat?
• How did you get exercise today?
• What junk did you get out of your car?

Is this a good idea?  Do you think I can do it?  Should I add to this list?  What questions are you asking  yourself in 2013?