Australian author JJ Cooper did a fun interview with me — you can read my answers to his five questions here. You may learn a few little-known facts about me over there. I’m including this as a part of my “hundred things” that I can never quite finish! After two years of blogging, I’m only listed about 30.

Please go vote for Heather Wilder. She’s one of the youth featured in my book and she’s a finalist for the Energizer Keep Going Hall of Fame. She could win $10,000 for her service efforts. You can vote once per day through July 25.

I’ll be hosting the Carnival of Education next week. Please read my announcement explaining the theme. This week’s carnival is published at Learn Me Good.

And remember you have until 5 PM CST to enter the Spitfire book giveaway.

Have a great weekend!

UPDATE: Thank you all for your excellent input. It helped me tremendously to hear the varying opinions, as well as your very specific rationale for your choices. If you’re interested in seeing the photo I chose, please check out my “About” page.

I’d love your help choosing my self-portrait.

With my impending book release, I figured it was time to publish an updated portrait of myself, and I’d like you to help me decide which one to use on my “About” page. You’ll notice I was unable to locate the “crows-feet removal tool”.

My Canon is in each of the photos because it’s actually taking the pictures. I can probably crop it out, though if you think that would look better, so please share your thoughts. Don’t forget to vote, by clicking one of the radio buttons below the photos. Thanks for visiting!

If you have an opinion about the camera staying or leaving, here are the photos with the camera cropped out:

For more Wordless Wednesday, please visit here or here.

It’s Sponge Bob and Barbies.

It’s pajamas past noon.

It’s joyful.

It’s messy.

It’s an experiment.

Each moment’s results can reflect complete failure… or irrefutable success.

Or they can be inconclusive.

It’s learning something every day.

How do you define motherhood?

This photo is a part of the 5 Minutes for Mom Mother’s Day contest. They’ve teamed up with Eggbeaters to give away $1,000!

For More Wordless Wednesday, please go here or here.

978-1-57482-254-0

So many months of writing.

So many interviews, phone calls, emails and research articles.

So long waiting between edits.

So much moving on with the rest of life, that has nothing to do with being an author.

So many people not knowing anything about this side of myself.

And finally, my book has an ISBN number.

It seems like such a simple thing - an almost unnoticed line on the third page of a stack of 167 papers. Right between verbiage about “all rights reserved” and publisher contact information — and editor and book design credits. Two long lines of numbers and dashes I’d normally find on the back cover of a book I’ve purchased on Amazon.

I never cared about them until now.

After three weeks of intense editing on my manuscript, of skilled direction by my editor — of rethinking and researching — I’m this much closer to becoming a published author. The ISBN is tangible evidence that this life-list goal will happen.

So I celebrate the ISBN.

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Friday will be my birthday.

I’ll be older than I was in the other photos I posted here and here. Much. Older.

While this isn’t a milestone birthday, I’m definitely starting to feel my age, and look it as well. I guess that’s just the way it is. It’s also the reason I’m always behind the camera, rather than in front of it, these days.

So when we were ice skating last month, my husband thought he’d do me a favor by grabbing the Canon from my chair before I had a chance to do so. Sweet guy.

What’s funny is he really did think he was doing the right thing. The honorable thing. He thought, “I should really get Kelly in a picture with the kids. Wouldn’t that be nice?”

To answer this question for all you husbands out there that really mean well, but are generally clueless, this would not be nice. This would hardly even be human. And your photos will never see even the dim light of day, unless you happen to capture a moment when your wife is looking especially ravishing — or if, by chance, she decides to post this mortifying photo on the Internet, because she’s, well, crazy.

This, for instance, would not be the kind of portrait you should capture:
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