Showing and teaching compassion

I'm a selfish creature by nature. Especially at the end of a long day. Who cares about your problems when my shoes are cutting into the back of my feet, our son (J) didn't want to get in the car seat when I picked him up from daycare, and the dogs won't stop barking as soon as I step in the door?? Just leave me alone!

But that’s not the "me" I want the hubby, J, or the dogs to endure every evening. With a dozen-or-so things all going on at once, I'm learning to take a deep breath, step back, and see life from their point of view, i.e., showing compassion.

Speaking of giveaways

Counting down to our 10,000 pageviews giveaway, I'm posting about two giveaways I entered today and the pretty awesome entry form they both used. I've entered my share of blog giveaways, and most of them allow you multiple entries by posting separate comments saying you did such and such - e.g., like them on FB, like the giveaway sponsor on FB, follow on Twitter, etc. The blogger then uses random number generator or other tool, to randomly select among the comments. I was considering doing the same but then I (easily) entered two giveaways -- you should enter them too because they're great prizes and easy to enter!

Questions on Disqus

Hope you had a great weekend, whether or not it was a 3-day.

Thanks to everyone who chimed in about commenting systems. It seems that bloggers are frustrated with "default" commenting systems. I've made the switch to Disqus, and someone at Disqus actually posted a response to my post! That's more than I can say for the silent Blogger (boo!).

Also, a Google search led me to adding a Facebook comment box on your blog. But I don't particularly like it because I don't want readers to have to sign-in using Facebook to comment.

In case you didn't "Subscribe by email" or "RSS" to the comments, here's what Tyler Hayes from Disqus had to say (emphases added):

Since the topic is fresh, I wanted to pop in and mention that we do offer some more granular notification options though they may not be obvious at first. As you mentioned there is a "Subscribe by email" link at the bottom of any Disqus comments area which will allow you to — logged-in to Disqus or not — effectively listen in on the conversation without having to comment.

However, for registered Disqus users, by default any time you comment on a thread you'll receive email notifications of only replies to your comments (and also @mentions of you, e.g., Lisa Ng). This can be changed in the Notifications tab at http://disqus.com to enable notifications for all new comments on threads on which you comment, rather than just replies, too.

If we can ever lend a hand with anything, or if you just have any thoughts or feedback, don't hesitate to reach out to us at http://disqus.com/support.

Commenting systems

I've dedicated the past 2 Fridays to "Reader Appreciation" posts. But I think I'm going to move to once-a-month of such posts. I think it's a great way to sum up the month and appreciate you without overdoing it.

Is that ok? Will you still feel the love? Because I've felt the love this week. It's been the most commented-on week since I started this blog! Thanks, friends!

Hey, we're about 500 pageviews short of 10,000! I am soooo super excited. I have the perfect way to celebrate too -- it involves you and a gift card giveaway...but we'll all have to wait until 10,000 pageviews. Follow along on the right sidebar! We're not cheating because the counter doesn't count my own pageviews ;).

This may be a heavy post for Friday afternoon, but it's been on my mind for a while!

On to my rants on commenting systems…

Puppy love, literally

When we first started thinking about getting a second dog, the hubby and I first considered rescuing a young adult dog. Unfortunately, most people give up older dogs (so sad and age-ist!). Since Coco (our first dog) was only 2, and we really wanted a play companion for her, we kept looking and waiting.

We found Delaware Puppy Rescue, but unfortunately they had restrictions about families adopting a puppy when there's a child less than 7-yrs at home. They had good reason. Both child and puppy are in their early stages of development. Neither is mature enough to understand restraint. Their past experience with young families is that puppies are returned :(.

Going against DPR's valid concern, we got a puppy from a breeder anyways. We named his Jasper. Our son (J) was a little over 1-yr at the time.