LDD's Weekly Recap: May 13th - 19th

It's Sunday, and here at Learning Domestic Discipline that means it's Weekly Recap time!  We had an exciting week with yet another new feature and download for readers to enjoy.  This time the download isn't something to read - it's something to listen to!  Let's get you all up to speed with the latest happenings here at LDD.

Mailbag Monday: Week 7 - Working though difficult HoH emotions, getting in a "submissive state of mind", and leaving marks after spankings are all topics addressed in this week's round of Mailbag Monday questions - perhaps the most challenging set of questions to date.  

Introducing the Learning Domestic Discipline Podcast Series! - We do our best to embarrass ourselves in a 45 minute downloadable podcast that covers the LDD definition of domestic discipline, the pros and cons to living the lifestyle, and much more.  It's our first ever podcast, so we welcome any and all feedback that will help us in improving future podcasts!

Five Things Friday: Middle of the Month Edition - A milestone for Chelsea, two upcoming months full of holidays and celebrations, and a Pinterest site that will strike your funny bone in this week's Five Things Friday post.

• Two locations are pulling away in the LDD Retreat voting.  It's going to be close at the final tally, so you better come vote and vote often for the location you want! (Voting ends on June 1st, 2013)
• The June LDD Newletter will be sent out on Friday, June 7th.  You can subscribe to the mailing list here. (Subscription to the monthly LDD Newsletter is free)
• Under two weeks left to purchase LDD eBooks at promotional rates!  Stop on by and find the right package for you!  (Promos end June 1st, 2013)

Thanks for all of your readership and support!  We're marching on full steam ahead into next week, and we hope you'll be there with us!

LDD's Weekly Recap: April 29th - May 5th (with a new free download!)

  We kicked off the month of May with a brand new free download!  The LDD Domestic Discipline Punishment Journal example and template are now available to download for free by clicking here.  If there's anything else you missed this week, we'll get you all up to speed with the latest LDD content.

Mailbag Monday: Week 5 - We answered questions about the best way to bring DD into an established relationship, whether or not DD can be effective without spankings involved, and we addressed a question about punishing children in this week's edition of Mailbag Monday.

Domestic Discipline Punishment Journals - In our latest free LDD download series, we explain what domestic discipline journals are and Chelsea goes into detail about a recent punishment in the downloadable journal example and template file.

Five Things Friday: Birthday Celebration Edition! - Two spankings, a long lost spanking implement found, and a year old blogland post that every wife wanting DD should read.  Oh, and let us not forget, Chelsea's birthday was Friday as well!  Kool & the Gang came to the party, and we all brought our good times, and our laughter too!

• The LDD Springtime Promos offer TWO exciting new products!  Check out what's new! (Promos end on June 1st, 2013)
• Our 2nd Learning Domestic Discipline newsletter was sent out this past Friday with an exciting announcement. Learning Domestic Discipline will be offering podcasts beginning soon! Stay tuned for more information.
• Voting for the first ever domestic discipline retreat location is underway. Where do you want the LDD Retreat to be held? Click here to vote!

See you all next week!  Have a great week everyone! :)

The Learning Domestic Discipline Five Things Series: Spring Fever Edition!

Can y'all believe today is officially the first day of Spring? This year is already flying by.

If you're new to The 5 Things Series, here's how it works:

Write about 2 domestic discipline related things

Write about 1 personal thing

Link one other DD blog

Link one website of the week (either DD or non-DD..doesn’t matter)

• Our new posting schedule starts the first week of April. If you haven't seen it yet, you can read all about it (and find out how to get involved) by clicking HERE. As part of the new posting schedule, The 5 Things series will be a regular rotation (every other Friday starting the second week of April!).
• March is Q&A Month in Blogland! We do Q&A's a little different here at Learning Domestic Discipline. If you have a question that you'd like answered, feel free to send it in! Your question will be featured (anonymously) as part of our Mailbag Monday series!
• Random Personal Facts Time: We haven't done a Five Things post in awhile, or really any type of personal post, so here's some random tidbits to catch you up on what's been going on in our lives:
  
  • Our son is now officially 20 months old, and so smart.I feel like we talk about that in every entry, but it's true. He really is our entire world. His latest phrase is "ready, set, go!". Yeah. He's perfect.
  • If you've never been spanked with a tilt-wand, let me just tell you. They hurt! Like, really hurt. Like, really hurt way worse than I ever thought they would. Thankfully, I only got a few (about 2 or 3..) swats with one (because our wooden cane mysteriously got lost in our move last month. Whoops.) but the tilt wand is fully something I expect to avoid in the future.
  • We're getting ready for summer vacation time! We have 1 trip booked for this spring, and are hoping to take a Hawaii vacation in late summer or early fall, schedule permitting. This is, by far, my favorite time of year.
  • We've been loving our new neighborhood, and city. I was a little stressed last month about how this move, to a whole new location, would go, but it's been great. We love our new house, and surroundings. The best part is there's a lake nearby (with parks surrounding it, open fields, miles of walking trails, etc.) and we pretty much live there on the weekends.
  • We're excited it's March Madness time! We live in a huge "basketball capital" with major basketball schools like NC State, Duke, and UNC all near us. So, basketball is huge here. As my husband put it the other day, this is one of his favorite times of the year.
  • I actually asked for a maintenance spanking recently. All my friends probably think I'm crazy, but really, it helps with stress. I still don't think I'm ready to make it a regular part of DD for us (and thankfully, my husband isn't either) but they do help with stress from time to time.
• This is a fantastic post by another domestic discipline "blogland" member, Callie from About Us in Oz. It's called Submission vs. Fear and is not only thought provoking, but extremely well written. Awesome work Callie!
• If you're ever in need of something that will make you smile, restore your faith in humanity, and make you feel good this post does just that. It's called 26 Moments That Restored Our Faith in Humanity (with pictures). Needless to say, it's worth reading/looking at. In a world full of crime news, sad stories, and war, this post is what every person needs to read.

Happy Spring, everyone!

-Clint & Chelsea

5 Things: It Has Been Awhile

*NOTE*: You can also read this entry on our new site by clicking here!*

Awhile back I started The Five Things series. It’s since been picked up (and modified) by a few other bloggers and those are really fun to read.  I haven’t meant to totally abandon this idea though- life (and other Learning Domestic Discipline things!) just got really hectic. But, I vow to make more of an effort.

If you’re new to The Five Things series, here’s how it works:

• Write about 2 domestic discipline related things
• Write about 1 personal thing
• Link one other DD blog
• and link one website of the week (either DD or non-DD.. doesn't matter)

Those are my 5 things “rules” but a several people have adapted them to fit their own blogs and it’s awesome! If you want to join in the fun, send me an email at contact {at} learningdd.com (or use the Contact Us page) with your blog link so I can check it out. Eventually, when The DD Wives Club is up your 5 Things category will be added to that.

Usually the entire entry isn't this personal but that’s ok. Alright so let’s get started..

1. I hit my 3-month challenge mark on February 1st. And while that’s super exciting and great-unfortunately I have to restart this month. Apparently the stresses of moving (and everything else like unpacking our new house, chasing around a super active little boy, and more) have gotten to me and so now I’m getting spanked (tonight actually. Wish me luck everyone, because I’m totally dreading it). By the way, I highly don’t recommend launching a book promotion on the same day that you move into your new house at the same time that you have numerous people (TV, internet, etc. companies) setting everything up, while unpacking, while chasing your son, while trying to find time to go to the grocery store, while having your phone ring off the hook, etc. Let’s just say this past week has been chaotic. We haven’t even lived in our new place a week yet (in fact, it will be one week tomorrow!!) and I’m so ready for things to settle down. I guess, in the middle of the chaos, my behavior fell off track. It’s a bummer that our implements didn’t get lost in the move, huh? But that’s the beauty of domestic discipline- get punished, slate is wiped clean, and we all move on.  
2. Our DD Anniversary is in 2 days! Several years ago my husband and I embarked down the road of domestic discipline and haven’t looked back. It has done amazing things for our marriage, and it’s crazy to think how fast time flies. I’m still not sure yet what we will do to celebrate our DD-versary (or whatever the correct term for that is) but it’s exciting nonetheless. 
3. Our son is a genius. No, seriously, he is. He has learned so many words in the past few weeks it’s not even funny. He can say Target (because that’s one of my favorite stores so, obviously, I had to teach him how to say that), kitchen, hold me, and snack- those are his latest words for the week.  I’m a pretty proud mom. 
4. This one isn’t technically a DD-blog link, but have any of you read The Excellent Wife by Martha Peace? I’ve heard from several people that it’s a great book and it’s on my Kindle (along with like 70 other unread books that I really need to get to at some point or another) but I haven’t gotten too far into it yet. In the upcoming weeks I’m planning on putting together a resource page for books that are helpful to DD wives (such as The Submissive Wife and The Excellent Wife). If anyone has any to add please let me know! Also, if you want to join in our book discussion on the forums, feel free! We would love to have you. 
5. Raspberry Chocolate Chip Pancakes are totally not the healthiest thing in the world, but tell me that these don’t look amazing for Valentines Day? 

5 Things: The New Site Edition

Feels like forever since I've done one of these. It's long overdue, for sure. :) 

1: Lots of updates to our new site! Judging by our traffic numbers it seems everyone (and then some!) has already seen our new site. Pretty awesome, right? We love it, and we're glad that you all do too. The feedback has been overwhelming awesome. We're glad you all were as excited as we were! Here's a look at what is new on the site this week: 

• We have a new blog feature! The blog feature is similar to our current blogs (except merged together) and all our blog entries are already on there, and ready to go. We wanted an easier to read method, rather than our past articles feature, and we think we have found a great solution. In the future, all blog entries will only be posted on the new site, but for now, we'll be posting them in both spots (our blogspot blogs, and our new site). 
• We are working on creating a blogroll! We're looking forward to having everyones blogs on our blog roll. Stay tuned for more information as we finish ironing out the details! 
• You can now leave comments on our blog entries on the new site. All blogs, on the new site, now have a comment feature. Note that the name and email fields are optional so you can still remain anonymous when you comment if you choose to do so. 
• My husband wrote a new post entitled Spanking Multiple Times Per Day. You can read it by clicking here. 

2: We're working on some exciting features coming soon! Our site is constantly evolving. Here's a look at what is coming in the weeks and months to come:

• All comments that our previously on our blogs will be transferred over to the new blog ASAP. We're hoping to have that done this week, but with the volume of comments we have it takes some time. 
• We're creating a new comment organization system that we are hoping to have done within the next week or two as well. This will allow you to sort comments by category. 
• Our HOH Headquarters and The DD Wives Club will be launching this spring. We're excited about creating a special spot for both roles of the DD structure to be able to interact with each other, and to provide resources specifically for each role.
• A  mobile version of both our Learning Domestic Discipline site, and our Learning Domestic Discipline blog site will be available within the next month.  

3: An update on us: Honestly, I feel like so much has been going on lately between getting ready for the holidays, the new site, and more, that I never have time to write a "personal blog entry" anymore. Hopefully that changes soon. In the meantime, here's some quick updates on us. :)

• Our son turned 17 months old this past week! It's crazy how fast he is growing up. I'm so blessed to have such an amazing son. He's getting smarter by the day. He is learning numbers (and can count to 6) and new words each day. And, he still loves dancing. :) 
• We finally had a date night! I think I've been asking Clint for one for like months now, but our schedule just never seemed to allow it. We were both really looking forward to it, and it was a lot of fun. We went out to dinner, and watched a movie (you know, the standard date night stuff) but it was much needed. It was great to take a break from all this site stuff for a night. 
• My Christmas shopping is like, hmm....maybe 40% done? Yeah, I need to get on that. It's in the plan for this week.

4: An awesome new DD blog: Written by Heather (who, by the way, has an adorable Wordpress layout that I absolutely love), her DD blog is just starting out, but it's great so far. It's definitely worth adding to your blogroll, if you haven't already. 

5: The Connecticut Tragedy: For the final link this week, I'm linking this well put together resource page for how you can help the victims of, honestly, one of the most horrific tragedies I've ever heard of- the shooting in Connecticut. Click here for a list of resources to help the victims. 

As a mother, I cannot imagine what the parents of the victims are feeling, yet alone their families, friends, and all that loved them. This is one of the worst things I've ever heard, and our heart, thoughts, prayers, and hugs go out to the victims, their families, and everyone in Newtown, Connecticut who is struggling to comprehend one of the worst tragedies this country has ever seen. God Bless Sandy Hook Elementary, the families, the victims, and the first responders. 

 

Also, on Tuesday December 18th, there will be a Blogger Day of Silence in remembrance for all the victims in the Sandy Hook tragedy. If you're interested in participating, you can find out more information by clicking here.

5 Things Week 6 - Catch Up Edition

I'm still working on getting back "into the swing of things" since I've gotten sick, had surgery, all that extra crappy stuff. Sorry for the delay. I'm hoping to return to "regular blogging" soon (within the next week or so) but for now this is the best I can do.

1: A Nice Break: This past week we decided to take a spur of the moment trip (I love those!) to South Carolina. Not only do I totally love South Carolina, but it was great to get away for a bit, distract my brain from thinking about the pain (both physically and emotionally) and just relax! We had a great time. I don't know what it is about seeing palm trees that always makes me so excited. It really, really helped. 

2: A Challenge Update!: The challenge is still going strong. I'm about to hit month 3 on October 10th! My husband and I were just talking yesterday about the reward for the third month and I have to say, I'm definitely excited. I'm also excited about how many people are taking the challenge with me! It's awesome to be able to get, and give, encouragement. 

3: Writing Lines: Thankfully I haven't had to do this in awhile (although I got threatened this past week!) but I'm telling you that writing lines has got to be one of the worst DD punishments there is (aside from spanking, of course). Anyone agree? Seriously. So. Boring.

4: My husband is back to blogging! : So, I know I said I wouldn't link his blog every week (and I haven't been!) but lately I haven't read any DD blogs (aside from his!) so I don't have any to link. Plus, I think his new entry is great, and gives a lot of updates as far as our new site, and more! You can check it out here: http://learningdd.blogspot.com/2012/10/it-feels-good-to-be-back.html

5: These are SO good. Probably not the healthiest, but I'm telling you, they're awesome. They're called S'mores Cookies (or S'mores bars) and I think they're one of my husbands new favorite desserts (and super easy to make!)

For the recipe, click here.

 A couple of quick notes:

1. The malware issue that some of you were reporting on my husbands blog has been fixed!!
2. I know I'm way behind on emails (yet again). Please be patient. Honestly, at this rate, it could be months before I get to yours. :(

I hope you all have a great week. I'm looking forward to getting back to blogging like normal again! For now though, these weekly 5 Things updates will have to do.

xoxo
-Chelsea   

 

5 Things- Week 5 - Back to Blogging!

Hi everyone!

It's been forever since I wrote a blog. I have to admit, being back to blogging feels really good. I've missed everyone!! I figured I'd start back with a 5 Things entry, just to fill everyone in a little, then get back to regular blogging next week. 

1: Thank you for your thoughts and prayers! One day when I'm a little stronger (both emotionally, and physically) I may write about what happened. For now though, I just want to thank everyone for the outpouring of support given by our family, friends, Blogland, and more. My husband and I both greatly appreciate everyones support. To make a long story short (without a lot of details), I was hospitalized for 5 days, and had 2 surgeries during that time. Needless to say, the recovery process has been long, but I'm excited and really looking forward to getting back to normal. :) 

2: Month 2 is DONE! Last week the second month of my challenge was completed! My husband had an awesome day planned as a reward, and we had a lot of fun. It was just what I needed. :) As some of you may remember, I had a setback last month so getting month 2 done was like a weight off my shoulders. Here's to month 3 of the No Spanking Challenge! Want to take the challenge with me? You should! You don't have to go a full year (although that would be awesome), you can start with smaller goals like 1 month, 3 months, etc. Trust me, it's fun. 

3: We've got big website changes in the works! Have you checked out our new site yet? If not, click here! As you'll see, right now it's under construction but at least we now have a target date of when it will be completed! It's going to be really exciting when it's all done. Way more organized, more like a website vs. a blog, networks, forums, chat, personals, and so much more. But for now go check out the progress we've made. :) We're really excited about the new site launch and hope you are as well.  

4: Blondie's Blog: This past week, one of my blogging friends Blondie put up this post about a new book series that she says is better than 50 Shades of Grey. I haven't read the new series yet (called The Sweet Series) but maybe I'll give it a try. Thanks for the recommendation, Blondie! 

5: I'm totally making this! Hopefully this week, and then I will take pictures for the blog.What is it,you ask?

  

That. It's an "I Love You Because..." dry erase board. Since I feel like I'm always leaving "I love you" notes all around the house for my husband, this board will make things much more organized, and cute! The tutorial for it is here, if you want to make one too! 

In other news..

I've got an awesome story to tell ya'll. It'll be posted up on the blog early this week. 

And for everyone who wrote into a popular talk show about us, let's just say it worked! We're in the very early stages, but something big is in the works!

Have an awesome Sunday, everyone. And, thank you for your prayers. It really means a lot.

-Chelsea 

Missed the previous weeks? 

Check out 5 Things Week 1 here

Week 2 is here

Week 3 is here

Week 4 is here

 

5 Things - Week 4

Sorry I've been kind of slow on blogging this week. It's been one of those weeks where things have been so busy, I haven't been feeling great, and life is just hectic. I appreciate ya'll being patient. :-) 

 

1: We bought a house! And it's a super awesome house, too. We're so excited. Some of you may remember, on week 2 of the 5 things post, I was explaining how we decided to buy a house for a few years while our new home is being built. Well, finally, we picked one out (we had it narrowed down to 2, and it was a hard choice) and it all became official this past week- now we just have to wait for closing, and start the super fun process of moving. We're really excited. 

2: The 24th came and went. For most people, the 24th of each month probably means nothing. But, for me, it means a lot. Well, it used to at least. The 24th of each month used to symbolize the day that I was able to cross another month off my 1 year no spanking challenge. But, ever since last months setback, now the 10th is the magical day. I'd be lying though if I said that I wasn't majorly disappointed yesterday. I tried not to let it show, but finally broke down at like 3 AM. I really think that I put too much pressure on myself. :( I just want to complete this challenge so bad. 

3: Diapers and DD?? Does anyone understand what this is all about? For some reason, the past few weeks, the number of emails I've gotten, comments I've read, and blog posts I've seen have focused on this crazy "DD trend" about diapering your wife if she acts like a toddler. I don't understand it at all although I will say that I haven't really tried to because it just seems so odd to me. Has anyone else noticed this new "trend"? What do you think- anyone else think it's really....out there...or is it just me?

4: My Bottom Smarts- If you haven't checked out Bonnie's blog, My Bottom Smarts, I'll fill you in. She does this thing called Sunday Brunch every weekend with a new question, and it's pretty interesting. I linked her this week because the question is an age old DD question about spanking over or under the clothes. The responses should be pretty interesting, I think.  

5: This isn't a website link, but I still wanted to share. It fits with DD perfectly. 

..and here's something to think about.. 

Have an awesome rest of your weekend, everybody!

-Chelsea   

5 Things - Week 3

I can't believe it's Sunday already, that this year is over halfway done, or that it's almost fall. This year is just going by way too fast.

I hope everyone has had an awesome weekend. We spent a bunch of time together as a family, watched some preseason football, did a little shopping, and just relaxed! It felt so good, seeing as how we've been so busy lately.

 

 1: It's FINALLY football season: (Almost). I know most of you probably are like "ugh, football season means I'm going to lose my husband to ESPN and the NFL Network for the next few months" . But, for us it's super exciting. We LOVE football. I'm not a huge fan of preseason football (because the talented, and good players are usually out of the game by like the first 30 minutes...) If you're a football fan, who are your favorite teams? We're giant Texas Longhorn fans (because that's where I went to college, and grad school..and thankfully my husband loved them before we even met!) and for NFL we like the Denver Broncos. :-) 

2: We heard another couple talking about DD at a restaurant! It was the weirdest thing. Clint and I went out to dinner with a group of people the other night. Since we had a pretty large party, they sat us in this special area of the restaurant where there was another really large party (like 20 people..). So, we sat down, ordered our food, were talking to the people we went with, etc. when all the sudden we here this lady at the other table talking (extremely loud....) to the group she was with saying "remember that time you spanked mom..." and then her voice got quieter, and we didn't hear the rest, but Clint and I immediately looked at each other like "what the hell". A few minutes later, the ladies husband said "well that last time I spanked you for..." and then his voice got quieter too. Everyone in our group was like "what the heck is going on at that table" and Clint and I were just thinking to ourselves wow, another potential DD couple! It was crazy!

3: Implement Guide Part 2 is up! Finally. Sorry for the delay, everyone. So, that completes the implement guide. :-) I might do another guide in the future (once I find another topic...I'm all open to ideas!). I'm also just about caught up on comments- yippee!!

4: Love, Honor, and Obey Him : I didn't link this post to a specific entry, like I've done in weeks past, but this blog is definitely one to follow as Becky develops it in the weeks, months, and years to come. I've been fortunate enough to get to know Becky (and her adorable family!) over the past few weeks, and she's a lot like me. I encourage everyone to read her blog, comment, and make her feel welcome in Blogland! 

5: This is a genius idea, everyone. I can't take the credit for it (I found it on Pinterest) but I think it's a great idea, and something almost everyone could benefit from. So, here's how it works.

On your wedding day (if you aren't married), your anniversary, or another special day, you and your loved one write letters to each other (explaining why you fell in love with the person, whatever else you want to say...you get the idea) and then take a bottle of wine, a gift card to somewhere you love...something that you guys enjoy, and put the letters and the object in a box, and seal it up (then, place the box somewhere out of sight, like underneath your bed). Then, on your first big fight (or, really any heated argument), take time to yourselves and calm down, then open the box together and read the letters, drink the wine, make the dessert, watch the movie (whatever you put in there) and it will help you remember why the two of you fell in love in the first place. 

See, genius idea. :-) 

Also: Happy Wedding Day to Ash!! She is getting married in just a few days (Wednesday) and Clint and I are so happy for her. Congratulations and best wishes, Ash! We hope your day is perfect.   

 

5 Things - Week 2 (The "Lots of Big Changes" Edition)

If you're confused what this is all about, read the first entry here! 

I have to admit, I'm liking this "5 Things" blog idea because it gives me a chance to put things that, ordinarily, I would have made into separate, short, blog entries all in one spot. 

 1: We're buying a house! Custom building a home is a very long, stressful, drawn out process. Originally we were planning on renting a home while it was being built. However, with some new opportunities coming up for my husband at work which require us to be quite a distance away from where our rental house was originally planned for, we have just decided to buy then probably resell in a couple of years when our home is done being built. Needless to say, we're excited. We found the perfect neighborhood (with like the worlds coolest pool..our son is going to absolutely love it) so now it's just a matter of finding a house. We have it narrowed down to 4 that we love, so we're going this week to hopefully pick out the final one and start the ever so fun homebuying process (that I hate). Wish us luck! 

2: We have BIG changes coming soon! After a whole lot of thinking, planning, and more, we have decided to launch our own website. The site concept is still in the works, somewhat, but here's the general idea: both my husbands blog, and mine, will be housed in one spot (two separate tabs). Also on our new site will be the network, personals site, bookstore (that will feature our new books, that we're in the process of writing, videos, and more), DD forums by area (to meet people local, or in the general section of the country/world as you), and a lot more, all in a more easier to read and navigate format. Needless to say, we are extremely excited about it. It's a lot of work, and money, but we're extremely anxious to get this up in rolling in the late fall of 2012. Stay tuned, everyone! For now, we just have a basic landing page up, but you can go ahead and bookmark the site now, if you want. The URL is http://www.learningdd.com 

3: Implements Guide Part 2 will be up early next week. Sorry for the brief delay between the 2 entries- those guides take a lot of time to write. In case you missed part 1, you can check it out here. 

4: "Interview with Bonnie" - Bonnie writes the blog Bottom Smarts which has long been known as sort of a "spanking intersection" for people. It's got tons of links to every type of blog relating to spanking imaginable and is worth checking out. Recently, this blogger interviewed Bonnie, and it was pretty interesting- you should check it out!

5: Mozzarella Stuffed Homemade Meatballs. Unfortunately, I don't have a link, but I posted the recipe below. Trust me folks, these things are amazing. I'm making them today, actually. :-) 

Mozzarella Stuffed Homemade Meatballs

• 1 lb of lean ground beef (as lean as you can get- preferably like 95/5 or 97/3)  
• 1/2 cup of bread crumbs (either Italian or Panko)
• 1 tablespoon of worcestershire sauce 
• 1 teaspoon of salt 
• 1 teaspoon of ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon of minced garlic
• 1/3 cup diced white onion
• 1 1/2 tablespoons of olive oil
• 1/4 cup of milk
• 1/2 teaspoon of garlic salt
• 1 tablespoon of Italian seasoning
• 1/2 cup of fresh Romano cheese (grated) (you can also use parmesan) 
• 10 mozzarella balls (you have to use fresh mozzarella, in order for this to be out of this world good. You can find it at places like Whole Foods)

1: Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a baking dish with olive oil

2: Combine all ingredients (except mozzarella balls, and olive oil) into a large bowl and stir to combine. (This step is basically just mixing everything together for the meatballs)

3: Time to form the mixture into meatballs! You want to take about 1/4 of a cup of ground beef at a time and roll it into a ball using your thumb to make an indent in the beef. Then, take a mozzarella ball and place it it in the middle, and cover with the remainder of the meat (you want to completely enclose the cheese)

4: Repeat until all of the meatballs have been made, then bake at 350 degrees for about 35-40 minutes. 

5: Serve with pasta and homemade sauce (seriously, if you haven't made homemade pasta sauce you need to start- it's incredible).

I'll take a picture after I make them today, and edit this entry, probably.

Also: Happy 1st Wedding Anniversary to Cate and Nate! And, congratulations on the birth of your beautiful baby girl. :-) We are SO happy for you both! 

Happy Birthday to one of my best friends, Mia. Mia and I met in college, went through grad school together, and pretty much spent every weekend together in our "college days". Mia, I love you like a sister. Happy Birthday! I can't wait to celebrate with you on our next Texas trip!   

If you have emailed me lately, I am about 4-6 weeks behind on emails. Yeah, that's fantastic huh? Sorry everyone. I promise I'm getting to them! 

Finally, Pooky did an awesome "spin off" of my 5 things post this week. Go check it out! It's really creative. You can read it here.

Have an AWESOME rest of your weekend, everyone! 

-Chelsea  

5 Things!

This new blog series is called Five Things. A friend of mine (Kristen, you're awesome) gave me this idea after seeing it around some non-DD blogs, and so I modified it a little. It will go up every Sunday. Enjoy. :)

How it works is you pick 1 personal thing, 2 DD things, 1 DD blog entry of the week, and 1 website of the week (personal, or DD related) to write something short about. 

So, here we go for the first ever edition of Five Things! 

1: We took a mini-vacation! I have this thing about planning vacations. I don't know why. My husband and I have always loved traveling, and that hasn't stopped since our son has been born. This past week we took a very spur of the moment (I literally booked the hotel rooms that morning!) trip, and it was much needed. We had a blast shopping, swimming, eating at some amazing restaurants (pretty sure I had the best burger of my life!) and going to the park. It was much needed. But, like any vacation, when it ends it's hard to come back to reality. In fact, our suitcase still isn't unpacked. That's on today's agenda, hopefully. 

2: Maintenance spankings have apparently returned. Go ahead and imagine my excitement. Trust me, it isn't much. Just  when I thought my husband had thrown the idea of maintenance spankings back into the bin labeled "not for us"..they reemerged. I'm trying to look at the bright side (these should help me prevent punishment spankings, and therefore complete my 1 year challenge, right??) but it's still hard. I've went awhile now without getting spanked (5 weeks! Jackpot!) and the thought of maintenance spankings reemerging from the past just makes me cringe. But, hey, like I said, there is a bright side here. I just need to keep remembering that.

3: Implements. I've decided to do an "Implements Guide" post. It'll be the next one posted here (I think I scheduled it to go up on Tuesday? I can't remember). I've already got quite a few FAQ's for it, but if you have any more implement questions you'd like to see included, feel free to send them over. This post will hopefully help a lot of people. That's the goal, at least. :-)

4: "My Inspiration To Be A Better HoH". Alright, I swear I won't link my husbands blog every week (although that's tempting!) but I really did love this post that my husband put up this past week. It's beyond sweet, but more than that I think it really shows the emotions that men also face in a DD marriage. It's just very well written all together. Maybe I'm a little biased, but I truly loved it. :-) 

5: Dart It Up! This site is Pinterest for guys. Since the whole world is already aware of my Pinterest obsession (or, they should be by now!) it's no wonder why I think this site is a genius idea. Now I should just convince my husband about how much fun this site will be for him! 

Also: I would like to say Happy Birthday to my friend Christina who had a birthday this past week. Her husband wrote an adorable blog entry for her in honor of it. Happy Birthday Christina! 

Also, Happy Anniversary to Liz and her husband who celebrated their 26th wedding anniversary this past week. That is absolutely awesome. Happy Anniversary guys!