Nope, you’re not seeing things.  My YNTR list is back this week!  And, bonus for you, it includes two weeks of linky goodness. I still maintain that I may not be doing this list every week.  But I will when I can and when it’s not going to cause me an undue amount of grief to put it together.   And, as it would happen, this week the grief has not been caused.  It’s a mellow Saturday morning around these parts, Liam is watching “Ratatouille” on cable and Kile is snoring in his recliner.  All is right with the world.

This first post is something I could relate to.  Should I go Mac and never come back? from Mandajuice is much like a similar post I wrote not that long ago.  And, just like myself, she finds herself wooed by the seductive iPhone and repelled by a crappy PC.  I’ll be interested to see what she picks, especially since I’m 99.9% sure I’m going to get a MacBook when the time comes.

And in the “Long-Awaited” category, we have Ezra from amalah . com.   I literally felt my heart swell when I saw this sweet picture and the details on the birth.  She is officially the mom of two boys!  I can’t wait to see how the weeks and months ahead are for her and her family.  Congratulations, Storchs!

I can DEFINITELY relate to The Hot Fuss™* and Me from temporarily me.  In fact, I may have thought these very words myself on more than one occasion in the last week or so.  Or the last month or so.  Or the last six months or so.  Sometimes, a bad mood just gets ahold of you and you can’t shake it.  And sometimes, your kid wants to be superglued to your side.  And when the two meet?  Well… that’s when you get a post like this.

And I know you’re probably sick of me talking about it already, but Her New Hobby from Confessions of a Pioneer Woman made me cackle a little bit because The Power of the iPhone can grip ANYBODY, even housewives who live out in the country. And the text messages from her daughter were just too darned funny. I think someone likes “Napoleon Dynamite”!

On the flip side, we have My Grandpa: October 5, 1921- October 14, 2008 from Joy Unexpected. This was a touching and sad post about her grandfather who passed away this last week. It’s been a long time since all of my grandparents passed, but I could keenly feel her loss through her words. I hope she finds peace, now that her grandfather has found his. My sympathies to her and her family.

Being a Reno citizen as well, I can appreciate Fall Where? from EmilyPie. I love her summation of the season here in our town, and how schizophrenic they often tend to be. However, I do disagree with her assessment of summer and the need for air conditioning (I am sure I would perish without it). I love winter, always have, always will. But yes. Fall is like a week long around here. I could do with some more fall, to be honest.

This post gets filed under the “ZOMG” category. ZOMG! Twilight Soundtrack Playlist Just Released! from MamaPop shares with us the fantabulous news of the new “Twilight” movie soundtrack. Can you believe I already have some of these songs on my iTunes? BEFORE this list was released? Oh, I’m a hardcore fan, ya’ll. And you can bet I’ll have the rest of these songs when the soundtrack is released. I cannot WAIT to hear the one recorded by Robert Pattinson.

Enough is Enough from Queen of Spain Blog is a post about the turn in tone the political race has taken lately. And I wish I could say in the intervening days since she first posted this that the voices of hate have toned down but I really don’t think they have. I think they may have gotten worse. But I definitely share her feelings and hope that people settle the heck down. And lets find some decency in all of this, please? Aren’t we better than this? Please tell me that we are.

Lastly, we have My Husband is Not My Keeper, also from temporarily me. This spoke to me because I have often had these very same feelings. Being a stay at home mom, and not having any of my own income, I often feel like my voice is dimmed somewhat. I think that’s pretty common. And it’s as much my fault as any one else’s. But all the time, this is an impassioned, important post. You should all read it.

So there we go.  Another week’s list in the hopper.  This should be enough to keep you out of trouble this weekend.  As for me, we have a baby costume to find and a pumpkin to pick out (nope, we don’t have that yet either).  Should be fun!  Happy Weekend, ya’ll.

Do you know how RARE it is to have something on your parents that you can guilt them about?  At least around these parts, it’s pretty hard.  Mostly because it seems our parents are professionals at making us feel guilty without having any backsplash on them.

BUT NO MORE.  Because the next time one of us does something to cause them to try to guilt us, all we’ll have to do is say, “Oh yeah?  Remember when you forgot LIAM’S SECOND BIRTHDAY??”

It’s like “Sixteen Candles” all over again.  Although, admittedly, it would have been a lot more traumatic for Liam if he had been sixteen years old and not two.  As it was, I don’t even think he really understood that it was his birthday yesterday and if he did, exactly what having a birthday entails.

BUT STILL.

What are the chances that BOTH sets of grandparents will forget a birthday at the same time?  I feel like it’s the start of some “Twilight Zone” episode or something.  We called both sets last night just to make sure someone wasn’t languishing in a hospital somewhere (hey, it’s happened before).  And both sets were suitably shamed by their indescretion.  No real good excuses, just forgot.  AWESOME.

Meanwhile, let’s have a look at some of the pictures from our low-key festivitiies last night.  It was just the five of us, and we tried to do all things that Liam enjoyed.  We went to dinner at McDonald’s where he scored his very own Happy Meal (but Harry accidentally drank his chocolate milk), came home to open presents and then finished off with cupcakes and ice cream.  Liam had a great time.  Especially with the ginormous rubber “Go, Diego, Go” ball that “Evie picked out for him”.  LAUGHED HIS FOOL HEAD OFF.  And he really enjoyed the cupcake (almost didn’t wait to blow out the candles to take a bite) and got a kick out of spooning his own ice cream.  Messy?  Yes.  But worth it.

What are all these toys?  For me?  NO WAY.

Mmmm…  chocolate.

Bad sign: He had the wild look in his eyes BEFORE he ate the cupcake.

We had to actually prevent him from faceplanting in the cupcakes and start monching.

All in all, a good time was had.  And today he gets to play with all the toys, so you know, less time spent pestering me!  Yay!