Happy Monday to All!

You know, Monday's come and go! I found the old nursery rhyme about the children of the days. I thought it might be interesting to see how folks think they match up to this little nursery rhyme.

Monday's Child (Nursery Rhyme)
Author: Unknown
Monday's child is fair of face,
Tuesday's child is full of grace,
Wednesday's child is full of woe,
Thursday's child has far to go,
Friday's child is loving and giving,
Saturday's child must work for a living,
But the child that's born on the Sabbath day,
Is fair and wise and good and gay.

Can't remember what day you were born on... This Site will give you the day!

I was born on a Monday. Well, I have no grace... and I'm pretty positive so I knew I wasn't a Tuesday or Wednesday. And who wants to be a Saturday?

This time last year...

I made the decision to review every letter of the alphabet of the entrants for the NaBloPoMo event. This year, I think I won't try that again! Instead. I think I'll just randomly surf through the great blogs participating and just share my favorites for that day.

So stay tuned and I'll bring you some of the blogging highlights from Nablopomo! And maybe share some of my lovely designs that I've made in photoshop... why? Because I'm always goofing off in photoshop these days and am a bit addicted to it! :)

I've still got it! Oh Yah!

I may have been out of the game but I haven't lost it all yet! I took the What's Your Blog IQ quiz and got the following:

"Blogs are nothing new to you – you've weathered your share of blogstorms and maybe even started a couple yourself. You may remember reading "weblogs" in 1997, when Jorn Barger started "logging the web" in Robot Wisdom. Since then, the "blogosphere," the total of blog-related websites, has exploded. As a blog guru, you've probably encountered blog novelties out such as the milblog, a soldier's military chronicle. "Dark blogs" are no mystery to you either – you might even be a member of these hidden, invitation-only websites."

To Nano or Not To Nano, That is the Question.

So... it's been WEEKS since I've blogged and the last couple of weeks I find myself thinking more and more about it. Here it is the first day of Nablopomo AND nanowrimo and I find myself wondering if I have it in my to give both of them a whirl.

I think I can do it. Well, I hope I can do it... I should say. I do know one thing. I've missed being in the blogosphere and the nablopomo is just the thing to get me back in the groove!

Parting is such sweet sorrow.

Dear Fellow Nablopomo’ers,

Today we say “adios”. The journey of the last 30 days ends as we reach our destination. Some of us will part ways and never cross paths again. Some of us have widened our network to include many more of our new friends. Some of us have found true gems that will permanently join the favorite list and a glorious friendship will last well into the future.

The Nablopomo was wildly successful for its first annual event, over 2,000 blogs participated. People from across the world joined. With the randomizer and the reviews the web tightened around the participants, creating a special little club. We were the members and only we had the secret decoder rings. We shared our troubles, from fear of miscarriage to injury and illness. We shared our joys, from pregnancy to weddings, love and more. We shared nonsensical ramblings and silly nothings. We shared humor and entertainment. Universally, we shared the passion for blogging.

There are those who blog and those who do not. Trying to explain the joy and the need to blog to a non-blogger is futile. I’m sure many of us experienced that when we panicked and said, “oh no, I can’t miss my blog post today!” and others looked at us as if we were from another planet. What drives us to blog? Do bloggers share some inner need that is only met by blogging? Have we set aside the chains that bind us in our cave and ventured into a world of our own creation? We have embraced the shadows and turned them into our own expressions.

Blogging is: liberating, satisfying, fulfilling, entertaining, educational, cathartic, rebellious, political, stimulating, reactionary, the list goes on.

Blogging allows us to be part of something bigger than ourselves, and at the same time, gives us the ultimate ability to retain our individuality. A blog is a reflection of what you want to share and you control your own presence.

When blogging, a friend is only a click away. I have gained many new friends during the Nablopomo and Fussy has my greatest thanks for creating and supporting this event. I’m not sure what she was expecting, but it was something fun! In the dwindling light we share the lingering questions like: how much traffic will I lose? What will happen to the randomizer? What will Fussy think of next?

It has been my pleasure to participate in this event. I have greatly enjoyed visiting my fellow Nablopomo’ers.

Cheers to you my friends. May the season be joyful, your readers many, and your satisfaction great.

I’ll be seeing you,

Nablopomo Fools

If you haven't visited Crushing Krisis you should do so... right now!

Zee End.

And here we are... at zee end. *sniff*

There are 9. Yes, only 9 blogs. I'm not quite sure what to do. The S's were over 200 - the W's over 100...

3 are male bloggers
4 are female bloggers
2 I have no idea... We'll call them the ITS

They all count as personal/family blogs.

3 of them are out. The Z's are dedicated bloggers!

Zanshin has some nice little posts. One of them he wonders if his traffic will continue to remain as high as it has been during November. We all wonder that, I'm sure.

Zazan in the Moonlight has a catchy title and is searching for ITS path to a better future... Its is thinking of computers. Good luck!

My favorite Z blog is the Zero Boss. I loved the Wal-Mart post... and the contraceptive... and even the wiggles... and I HATE the wiggles. He's wery, wery clever that Zero.

Zinereem is starting to talk about diet and exercise... yup, I guess it's that time of year again. He mentions 1,500 calories in a day... Wow, I eat WAY too many calories. So many that I just can't tell you. Let's just say that it's about dieting time for me too!

Zoot is a riot!! Donut necklaces... it's got to be a first. Hahaha :)

Wow... that was the fastest it has taken me to review a category!

My sleeping pose!

Wow... these online quizzes will just tell you everything! I love em... I'm really going through the W blogs. I promise. You can thank Waking Jonas for this little distraction!

Find your own pose!

What's in a name? A deeper look at the S - by request.

I had received a request to consider why there were so many S blogs in the Nablopomo 'blog post every day in a month' competition and then to list my favorites.

First, let's consider why the S's have the most blog names. I think S is a perfectly good letter... but I've not really thought about what makes one letter more common than another. I did some looking around today and one site said that more English words begin with S than any other. I tried to look for a secondary source to support that, but I couldn't find one. We'll just say it's right. Then I stumbled upon a sight that discusses cryptograms and ranks the percentage of letter frequency and then I found this site that has a bunch of letter frequency statistics.

I would guess that S is just a very popular letter.

Now then, for my favorites. The list is over 200 blogs, let me tell you... it's hard to just pick a favorite blog name. The first thing I did was weed the list down to about 91 blogs. I dropped those blog names that didn't really catch my interest and have fairly uninteresting blog names. Then I went through the lists and tried to weed it down again, ended up with 60 blogs. Then I went to each blog and checked to make sure they were still in the Nablopomo competition (this is all prompted by the nablopomo after all and only those dedicated bloggers get the count).

I looked at the name: Did the title grab my attention? Did it make me want to click and see what the blog was about? Your title is the only way you get my click today. I was only looking at those blogs that the titles interested me enough to get my click. Without a blog description or previous knowledge of what you write about - your title is the only thing marketing your blog and drawing in your readers.

Once I entered: I considered the look and feel of the blog and how interesting I thought it was. Nice colors? Images or graphics? The layout - was it easy to navigate and a pleasure to surf through?

Now that I've enjoyed the atmosphere, how's the steak: I reviewed the content (how interesting were your posts?). Did you have a long history of blog activity? Did you get some chuckles out of me? Did you keep my interest to click through and scan many of your posts or even read posts in your archives?

What's the entertainment or side-show for the evening: I looked at your addons, widgets, and gadgets. Do you have things I can look at? Click through? Play or do something? Do you have some blog tools that I like and would want to use on my own?

So... here we go. THE TOP TEN. The winner's of Rashenbo's favorite S blog titles:

Say It, Don't Spray It

scripturient

Sex Ed in Higher Ed - OUT

(Update: I missed that she missed a post!)

Slackermama

Solipsistic Scribbling

Somewhat Refined

Sozzled

space monkey pants

Spasmodic Blog

Stinky Mouse

Sarcastic FringeHead

I wonder if I should make a little button?

The runners up who caught my eye and who I really enjoyed visiting:

Sarcomical
SchnozzFest.com
Semantically driven
Sermon on the Mount of Laundry
Sex and Salt Lake City
Shadow Muse
Shootin' The Poop
Shutterfool
Slashboing
Snapshots Into Oblivion
Streaks on the China
Sunday School Rebel

I'm a dedicated reader!

Why can I NOT keep myself from getting distracted?

What Kind of Reader Are You? Your Result: Dedicated Reader You are always trying to find the time to get back to your book. You are convinced that the world would be a much better place if only everyone read more.
Literate Good Citizen
Book Snob
Obsessive-Compulsive Bookworm
Fad Reader
Non-Reader
What Kind of Reader Are You? Create Your Own Quiz

Sssss, not just a silly little sound

Because I love you... or perhaps because I'm neurotic, I'm back at the nablopomo list and today - I've hit those on the S list. There are 212 blogs that start with the letter S. I have visited all of them today. That's a lot, so I won't be giving you all the statistics right now, I'll just highlight some of the blogs that have stuck out to me and I'll follow up with another S post (I hope) and cover some more of the statistics you all seem to enjoy so much.

There were only a handful of blogs that started with a form of Sarah, like only 5 and I expected more for some reason. More started with a form of Super (including supa) - about 8 of them. At least 71 of the 212 blogs are out of the running. There are probably more, but some of you bloggers have blogs that are kind of hard to scroll through the history on... and I'm lazy! At least one blog was about rugby and one blog focused on the joy of shopping... And, look at this, a blog from the Mount of Laundry, you all know what I think of laundry blogging... but this blog, it's OK with me :)

The sabominator & co starts off the S list. It's a personal blog that has some nice posts. I almost thought she was out, but she showed a screen shot of her time and how can I not give her the point for that? Her formatting is off though and it shoves her sidebar down on the side. Sangey Dorje is a posting fool! 40 posts in November alone and they aren't one liners either. One of his posts includes a link to a yoga nap book that looks pretty interesting to me!

Some images of a few of the blogs I liked:

The layout of Sarae.net was nice and neat and I really enjoyed browsing through the posts and photos.

Sarah says has a nice layout and some very entertaining posts. Sarcomical has a lovely look and feel & I enjoyed the posts.

Say it, don't spray it! has a great little blog. Nice, neat, fun posts, lovely photos, clever title... nice. I like the Schnozzfest blog and love the nothing button in her side bar. I read an interesting post about internet access in public schools on Scribbit's site.

One of the quote's of the day has to come from scripturient with the statement: "I would have already shit out my spleen in terror." How's that for a visual?

Semicolonblog was a great find for me! The teacher lady has some nice posts over at sex ed in higher ed, and that title does tend to catch the eye. Shaken mama has a scare about her pregnancy and I hope all is well for her. An interesting blog about a student who talks about life and classes is she's so suburban. A blog with an intriguing post tidbit is on Kaybee's. Shooting the poop is a great mom blog. I really got a KICK out of sidekick Canada and I enjoyed visiting the silent "I".

For the folks that like crafts and arts, sky bell arts has an image on nearly each post and some of the art/crafts look pretty neat. I got a few chuckles from reading slacker mama and a slash boing has a post featuring the product we all know and love - SPAM.

Don't flamers and trolls make great post fodder? I had one anonymous visitor tell me I was a moron and the post wasn't even one of my silly ones. I'm just amused that they actually thought it was worth their time to drop an insult. Although, calling someone a moron ranks about a 1 on the 10 point flame chart, next time be more creative.

You can not keep yourself from getting hungry when you visit the smitten kitchen... YUMMY. Space monkey pants just made me laugh - lol! Ooo streaks on china has a boxer in one of her pictures. Boxers are the best breed - eva! Supacoo also went on a road trip for vacation and I enjoyed Super Becks grace for mistakes post and how can you not read through a blog by someone called the Spaz Goddess? I liked the look and feel that superwonderultragirl has. Sweetisu has a nice little blog and as a cancer survivor, she captured my interest.

Phew, it was a lot of blogs to go through in one category and I don't think I did all the participants justice. I'll have to follow up with some more statistics or highlights for you to enjoy... and I can't forget to comment on the blog titles!

Home at last. Home at last!

We departed yesterday morning at approximately 10:00 am... we arrived home just a few moments ago. Yay! God bless safe road trips and cable internet! No more dial-up!!!! YAY!!

Signs you've been in the car too long:

1. Your butt is completely numb.
2. You can't get the kid song: "Down by the bay.... where the watermelon grow... " out of your head EVER
3. The atlas has become the most interesting thing you have to read in the car.
4. You can't remember what city you are in... let alone the state.
5. You get excited when the temperature on the gauge drops below 40 because you know you are getting closer to home.
6. The entire family spends five minutes discussing what the dog must have eaten to create such an atrocious odor.
7. You've stopped even attempting to eat healthy and dinner consists of twinkies, funyuns, and coffee.
8. No one gets to pee within 100 miles of the destination.


I am sooo glad to be home and tomorrow I can get down to some more serious blogging business :)

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

I hope all of you had a wonderful turkey day with friends and family around.

Cheers to you!

Happy Cooking Day

I know so many folks are doing a lot of cooking to prepare for the feast tomorrow. I really was going to get back online yesterday and edit the five things post. But, I was enjoying a crab, crawfish, and shrimp boil and even though I feel very wise when I consume a bottle of wine. I decided not to share that wisdom with you!

Cheers!

Five things about Moi

I've been tagged to share five things about myself.

1. In high school I was named "most unusual" for my senior year and year book. I'm still not sure if that was a compliment or not! I tend to have a unique sense of humor. I find most things funny. I don't like wasting my time on negativity and I prefer to spend my time being silly.

2. I love to read. I use it for my stress relief and to recharge myself. I was body slammed in elementary school. The injury knocked my spine out of alignment, injured a disc, and almost pinched a nerve enough to make me a quadriplegic. I was lucky and it was only my right arm that was paralyzed and after two months of physical therapy my arm was back to normal. Before my injury I led an active childhood - swimming and diving were my passions. After my injury I was unable to participate in any sports for at least a year. My mother handed me several books and it was during the year of inactivity that I truly became addicted to books.

3. I used to be a terrible procrastinator. Yes, I was TERRIBLE. I would put everything off until the last minute or never get around to it. A mother of one of my friends gave me an application to join the procrastinator's of America club... I never did get around to it. I was a fairly smart kid so I never really needed to study and I always just rushed to complete my assignments at the last minute. Once I entered the "real world" I couldn't function and be successful as a procrastinator... so now, I have to do everything right away. I've turned my greatest weakness into one of my strengths.

4. I have obsessive-compulsive tendencies. I frequently become obsessed with something and I'll spend hours of time researching, getting involved, sending emails, drafting up documents, etc... and then I'll lose interest. I can't tell you how many projects I've started and then just turned around and dropped. One of my funny little quirks is the way I run errands... it drives my husband crazy. I have to make a circle or square pattern when I run errands. I plot out all the places I have to go and I make sure that I hit each one in order. I can't make zig-zags and I can't go back. When we go strolling down a street of shops, I have to go up one and then cross and come down the other side - no criss-crossing. Also, when we pump gas, the amount has to stop on .00 or .50. My husband will just fill the tank and when the pump stops, he's done with it.

5. The greatest fear that I have is that I will develop cancer. Most specifically... I'm terrified of colon cancer. My family has a high risk of cancer and heart disease. Heart problems concern me, of course, so does my weight and the possibility of diabetes (something else that is super common in my family)... but cancer just down right terrifies me.

"Laissez les bons temps rouler"

"Let the good times roll!"
Happy Monday to you all. This week begins a holiday week and I hope many of you are able to take some time off. This week is a period of time when we are supposed to appreciate what we have and give thanks.

It's going to be a short post today because my sister-in-law has just arrived and I have a little nephew I haven't seen yet. I'm off to spoil him rotten.

One of the many things I am thankful for is my family.

On a side note, some more reviews have been completed.

Nightmare Memoir: A Book Review

Nightmare Memoir is a book by Claude Letulle and describes his four years as a prisoner of the Nazis during WWII. If there were ever a book to make me thankful of my life, this is surely one of them. Mr. Letulle lives in south Louisiana where my husband's family lives. The author, Mr. Letulle, was signing copies of his paperback book and several family members picked up a copy.

I saw it on the counter and decided to read it. The book is short but powerful. Mr. Letulle was a soldier for the French army. He was captured and spent four years as a prisoner. He worked on farms, mines, and in concentration camps. He shares his experiences in a way that moves the reader. I wanted to share just a few parts of this book with you.

Page 26:

Running through my mind continually were the possible tortures I might have to suffer once we reached Germany. I was absorbed in thought when a few guards came along and, faithful to their bestial habits, began to beat us. "Get up. Fast, fast!" they demanded. We had walked a few minutes when I felt a hand holding me by the collar. I turned around to face a guard, pointing his rifle at me. He told me to remove the bandages around my feet, and since disobeying him would mean death, I sat down on the wet ground and began to unravel the wrappings. I had hardly finished when another guard walked up with a piece of barbed wire in his hand. Before I imagined what he might have in mind, he beat my feet with the wire...

Claude struggled but managed to continue walking as the guards led the prisoners to a small town. In the town they packed dozens of men into cattle cars. They were packed so tightly they could not breathe and many men died and remained upright because there was no room.

While he worked in the concentration camp his job was to clean the torture room and he describes some of the atrocities he witnessed in the torture room.

Page 89:

"What are you going to do?" one [of the female attendants] asked the doctor. He replied, "I would like to see if repeated electrical charges to the testicles will sterilize him permanently. You will help me," he added, going to a closet. He returned with a wooden plank that held a generator and small electric motor.The generator had two long wires, each with a metal clip and spring. "Attach a clip to each testical," he said. The woman planted the attachments into the flesh. I watched her face, which contracted with pleasure. She was an image of the perfect sadist.

There are several tortures that Claude shares with the reader, but they are not appropriate to place in this venue.

Page 171
Claude remembers his role when the war between Germany and Russia became worse.

A truck drove the bodies to the pit we had dug and unloaded its cargo [dead Russian prisoners] as if it were dumping a load of stones. We were forced to go into the pit and line up the bodies, and it remains the most horrible experience I have had in my life. Some of their eyes were opened and seemed to be looking
at us reproachfully. In some cases, the skin had ruptured, leaking a putrid liquid as we walked over the bodies. I got out of the pit sick to my stomach and nearly out of my mind.

This book gave me chills to read. If you have any interest in the holocaust or what the Nazis did during WWII... this is definitely a book to pick up.

Human Kind at its Finest!

So, I stumbled across the Wacky Warning Label site and I had to laugh. One of the warning labels is on a hot glue gun or heat gun. The warning label says: "Do not use heat gun as a hair dryer".

I also found Loony Laws off the site... I just love finding these things. I also saw at the bookstore there is a new Darwin award book out... I may have to go pick it up. I love the Darwin Awards.

Oldie but a Goodie

I didn't give you any friday fun yesterday so I thought I'd toss up a video. It's one of my favorites!

A blog "head's up"

Crushing Krisis has a great post on some of the nablopomo participants. I really enjoyed reading it and visiting the blog! If you haven't stumbled across the site yet, here it is.