1. A family of mosquitoes or some other biting type of bug has moved into my house. I blame last weekend’s unseasonably warm temperatures that caused us to turn off the A/C and open the windows. And the lotsa rain we’ve had this month. Although it doesn’t really matter. The fact is these bugs are apparently here for a long-term visit, and a bug’s gotta eat, ya know?

2. Annalyn went cuh-razy with the walking last night! My parents were here (for what they call “Baby Night”), and that kiddo just walked herself all over the house. I was relieved, because we’ve been practicing her walking – even with the ears – mainly in her bedroom. And I was starting to worry that she would only be able to walk in there (on carpet, as opposed to the hardwoods in the rest of the house). Turns out I didn’t need to worry about that. Nope, but I might need to start worrying about her reaching sharp objects, running away from me and locking herself in the bathroom. This is what we’ve been waiting for, right?

3. As part of a whole social media plan (very exciting!) at work, I am helping create a new blog for my company. And by “create,” I am talking choosing graphics, picking out colors and writing [shudder] code. My manager and I both have a rudimentary understanding of blog design. But since our IT guy does not know how to or want to (we’re not quite sure which one it is) design a company blog, we’re pretty much on our own. Sure, Google is there for me, always willing to listen and offer some advice. But my goodness, it takes me forever and a day, plus fourteen rounds of trial and error, to make one little change. And it is Giving. Me. A Headache.

4. You all said that you like my movie reviews, and I have to admit: I am way behind! I’ve seen so many movies in the past couple of months and haven’t told you about any of them! So I started making a list earlier this week; I didn’t want you to miss out on any of my opinions, you know. I realized I have nine movies to talk about. And being, um, persnickety like I am, I just can’t handle an odd number like that. Just feels unfinished or something. So, yes, I will be renting a movie tomorrow night, for the express purpose of blogging about it. I’m not sure if that’s amazing dedication . . . or just a little bit sad.

5. And because my last comment would otherwise be, “Does anyone else want to buy Proactiv every time they see the commercials? Or is that just me?” I thought I’d use a Plinky.com prompt. Here’s my deep question for the day: What is your favorite cereal? Mine’s Golden Grahams. Always name brand; never store brand. Yummmm . . .

Yesterday at work, I decided to listen to some tunes on Pandora. I was a little tired of my Kathy Mattea and Bobby Brown stations, so I picked my Pink station.

So sue me. I enjoy angry rocker chick music.

But I started noticing that Pink has quite the mouth. Apparently listening to a Pink song on the radio is like watching a Judd Apatow movie on TBS.

You know, all nice and censored cleaned up.

Once I started noticing the profanity, I couldn’t help but notice it in the other songs. That Avril Lavigne? She needs to watch her mouth, too!

Anyway, my reaction to these songs – that I’ve listened to many a time – made me laugh, as I remembered a conversation I had many years ago.

I don’t remember exactly what the context was, but my cousins were discussing something in front of me and assumed either I didn’t understand or was not old enough to hear such things.

So I said to them, my cousins and childhood heroes who happened to be 5, 6 and 8 years older than me, “I do ride the bus, you know.”

Because seriously, who didn’t learn something their parents wished they hadn’t on the school bus?

What? That was just my bus?

Well, anyway, my cousins thought that was sooo funny. They laughed and laughed. Or maybe they just laughed and my burning ears heard an echo that wasn’t there. Either way, they thought my bravado was hilarious. And though I don’t remember anything more, I’m pretty sure they waited to finish their conversation until I wasn’t around.

I guess I need to either listen to more uplifting music or remember that I shouldn’t be shocked so easily.

After all, I did ride the bus, you know.

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On another note, Monday night was one more for the books with Annalyn. And by “for the books,” I mean awful, horrible, no good, when is bedtime, I wanna run away from home. As a matter of fact, I gave myself a timeout at one point! But last night was the polar opposite of Monday’s tantrum-filled evening. We spent our precious time together reading, playing, giggling and walking.

Annalyn hadn’t walked in quite a few days, preferring to hold our hands while she walks around or regressing back to her old standby, crawling.

Last night, though, she dug her cat ears from last year’s Halloween costume out of the closet, put them on and got busy walking.

It turns out she was just missing her walking ears.

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Don’t forget to enter the giveaway for Rain on Me by Holley Gerth!

Some of you also mentioned enjoying my photos. And since I aim to please…

A couple weeks ago, I had some time to kill in the Detroit airport, and I decided to write a survey. It was so much fun that I can guarantee I’ll do it again.

Maybe I’ll take a survey of what TV shows to watch this fall . . . or what Christmas presents to buy . . . or how to cut my hair . . . oh, the possibilities are endless.

Until all of our survey dreams come true, though, I thought I’d share the results from this first one.

1. Only about half of you (47%) subscribe to this blog. Ahem. If you would like to subscribe – which means every new post from Giving Up on Perfect automatically shows up in your Feed Reader or in your e-mail – just click that orange button over on the right. Easy peasy.
2. Out of the 44 people who took my survey, 14% were first-time readers. Umm . . . you all must really like surveys! Which is cool with me. I’m a big fan of the survey, too. Oh, did I already mention that?
3. Almost half of you know me in real life, with a whopping 7% claiming that I make you read my blog. Honestly, I’m not sure who’s saying such things, because Mark and Smitty don’t even read every day . . .
4. Speaking of reading frequency, 42% of survey respondents (now doesn’t that sound official?) read this blog every day. Thank you.
5. As I suspected, most of my readers are women. Three men did take the quiz, though. I hope you’ll comment on this post and tell me who you are. But since I don’t see that happening, I’m going to guess that at least one of those guys is my brother. And maybe my friend Jeremy of the Cheez-It fame.
6. The ages were all across the board, although a solid 50% are somewhere in their thirties. I’m not sure if that counts anyone who is perpetually 39. The free survey software may not be that sophisticated.
7. Interestingly, the posts that you all most enjoy are rambling accounts of my daily life. I’m not so sure why, but I’m making an effort here to ramble more. For you, my readers. The sacrifices I make . . .
8. Also in the running for top topics: memories and stories (good thing, as I do love to reminisce), my always valuable opinions on pop culture (another good thing, as I will not be turning off the TV anytime soon) and parenting.
9. The less-loved topics – and yes, I know the survey forced you to answer, even though you didn’t want to because you love me – were book reviews, food and domestic life. Hmmm. Well, I can cut back on book reviews and spare you the details of my housecleaning routine (ha!). But people, you need to know this: food and I have a close relationship, and we will probably not be parting anytime soon.
10. Finally, half of you prefer me to respond to comments in the comment section. And boy, have I been letting you down! I will try to get better at this, but even if I don’t respond to your comment, I promise I still appreciate it.

Now, about those essay questions. You all just made my day. Seriously, you do know this was an anonymous survey, right? I can’t give anyone credit for saying nice things or making sweet comments or telling me how wonderful I am. You know this?

And yet you did it anyway.

As a thank you, I’m going to give one lucky reader a signed copy of Holley Gerth’s devotional, Rain on Me. I met Holley at Blissdom and we clicked immediately. Now I’m getting the chance to know her better as we work on (in)courage together, and I just love this girl. You will, too!

To enter this giveaway, leave a comment telling me something you’d like me to write about on this blog. It can be a story, a list or the answer to any question you’d like to ask. Comments will be closed on Saturday, and then I’ll randomly select a winner.

If you’re lucky, I might even answer your questions or write about the stories you request. At least that would keep me from doing those annoying carnivals so often, right, Survey Taker #15?

Oh, calm down. You know I kid.

But this post will be linked to Top Ten Tuesday and What I Learned This Week. (See? Ask me some questions!)