FeeFiFoto Blog

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Moving Day

I mentioned I was moving.  I've been considering this for a long time. One small reason is that WordPress offers more bells and whistles and I like that.  But there's a much more important reason.

When I began blogging it was at the suggestion of my marketing coaches, who pointed out to me that blogging would be a good way to get my web site's name noticed without having to spend so much money wrestling with Google Adwords.  They designed this lovely blog for me to match the theme of my web site, FeeFiFoto, named the blog, and had everything up and running for me to play with.  And play I did.

I blogged like crazy for months, promoting the site, trying to work a mention of FeeFiFoto into every post.  Much of my writing pertained to gift giving for Christmas, Valentine's Day, Mother's and Father's Day, birthdays and anniversaries.  I flogged the site, promoted the site, held giveaways from the site, wrote endlessly about calendars, Christmas ornaments, mugs and handbags decorated with your favorite photos.

I also wrote about other things, about my kids and my parents, our travels, our home, our varmints, our environmental issues, and our frequently self-inflicted personal injuries resulting from (usually) my carelessness, inattention, or, to put it nicely, lack of nimbleness.

In other words -- I'm no ballerina, nor do I pretend to be one.  Nor a gymnast.  Nor a tightrope walker.  Nor a brain surgeon.  Nor a savant who can carve a grain of rice into an exact replica of the Cathedral of Notre Dame.

To be brief -- I suffer from a deficit of dexterity.

And I wrote about it.  I wrote about forgetting to renew my passport, getting stuck in the mud, spending a night in a foreign emergency room, being sent flying by gamboling dogs, spacing out for an entire semester thanks to another student's lack of sartorial imagination, and falling in a muddy hole in the yard in the middle of the night.

I made up my own words, like existentiallier, awesomest, decibility, snackage, overwhelmedness, bragworthy, lawyerliness, slapstically, escapage, and last but not least, klutzing.

KLUTZING.  It was a go-to theme in my writing and I discovered that writing about klutzing (especially my own) was much more fun and interesting, and had a lot more potential, than writing about personalized photo gifts.  So I wrote about klutzing, and the environment, and food, and school, and planning a Bar Mitzvah, and books, and whatever happened to be at the ends of my fingertips.

But the original name and purpose of the FeeFiFoto Blog taunted me.  I much preferred writing about my daily stuff and felt less inspired writing about the gift site.  As I wrote more personal stories and less about FeeFiFoto, I wanted the name, design and theme of my blog to reflect what the blog was really about.  A re-urling didn't make sense, so I created a new blog.  Actually, I created a number of new blogs, reserving name after name until I could decide what was just right, what would roll off the tongue as glibly as The Bloggess or Do0ce or I am Bossy.  Here were some of my options:

1. Klutzingfordummies (clever but trite)
2. Klutzabelle (would have to be spelled regularly)
3. Klutzable (meh)
4. Klutzcess (obscure)
5. Klutzography (sounds like a high school class)
6. Klutzographer (see above)
7. Klutzophilia (negative)
8. Klutzophiliac (ditto)
9. Klutzing (not bad)
10. Klutzingattiffanys (clever but esoteric, and who knew if Tiffany might sue me)
11. Klutzipedia (derivative)
12. Klutzology (see number 5)

And the winner is...

Number 13 -- Klutz Capacitor!!!

I bought the address, transferred some of my favorite posts from here (but not all -- I'm still working on that), gave myself a crash course in WordPressing, acquired a new banner (with four choices of background color!  Wow!), and for a while posted on both blogs.  And for a while after that I posted on neither blog, because I felt caught in between the old and the new.

So, it's time to commit.  Klutz Capacitor is still in progress, but there's a roof, four walls and working bathrooms.  Paint and carpet can come later, but for now the site is livable.

So let's move in.  Here's the address: http://klutzcapacitor.com/.

Drop in any time.

While The Kids Are Away...

I'm occasionally guest posting at Cupcake's blog.

How Much Soda (Or Pop, If You're From Chicago) Do You Drink Every Day? (GIVEAWAY)

I write about environmental issues often.  I think about them every day.  We try to buy fresh foods and avoid unnecessary packaging.  We use canvas shopping bags.  We clean and freshen our home and laundry with diluted vinegar.  We recycle.  We compost.  We plant trees and beneficial plants and shun herbicides (although a touch of Roundup can be helpful in maintaining a safe distance from poison ivy).  I receive and pay bills online.  I turn lights off, air conditioners up and furnaces down, and we supplement with fans and blankets.

I'm always on the lookout for loopholes to close in the environmental protection category.  For instance, I tried to get a beekeeper to install hives on our property but we have too much shade, which would have caused the bees to leave the scene of the hive and relocate. 

 
The only bees we can accommodate are Spelling Bees

I next explored solar panels but again with the shade already; the installer said he might be able to put them in if I took down some trees but that suggestion generated a sandstorm of flabbergasted cognitive dissonance in my mind, so we'll have no solar panels unless the specific trees blocking the sun's rays fall down on their own.

In my continuing crusade to cut costs and waste, I bought a SodaStream Soda Maker.  Seriously.

Here's a baby photo of the little darling

As a kid I was an Extreme Soda Drinker.  I sipped Pepsi through a hollow stick of chocolate licorice and sampled root beer as if it were wine.  I made cream soda ice cubes so my drink wouldn't get watered down.  I lived a perpetually sugared and caffeinated life, and had little trouble staying awake.

Once I grew up, though, I couldn't get past the 12 teaspoons of sugar thing, and artificial sweeteners give me a headache.  As an adult I've learned to love sparkly water, and so do my kids.  While our favorites are Pellegrino (expensive) and Voss (SERIOUSLY expensive), we mostly buy Mendota because the cans fit neatly in the drawers of our refrigerator and normally don't shatter if you drop them.  Still -- gee whiz -- we went through the stuff like it was... water.  Every day we'd open at least six cans, which adds up to buying several twelve packs at a time, schlepping them home, and crushing and recycling the empties.  At $4.39 a twelve pack, not including tax, we spent about $800 a year to have our noses tickled by CO₂ bubbles.

Eight. hundred. dollars. on. water. I'm hyperventilating as I write this. I need some water.

So when I saw a SodaStream Soda Maker online I said to myself: "Who was that masked man?  I didn't even get to thank him."  "Hey!  If we make our own sparkly water -- why, we might even save a few pennies!  And carry less home from the supermarket!  And not have to retrieve escaped cans from beneath the accelerator and brake pedals.  And have more room in the refrigerator for leftovers, cold cuts and batteries!  And produce less trash!  And have something new to be supercilious about!"

Our kit came with bottles specially designed to fit the soda maker, the soda maker itself, flavorings, and a refillable canister of CO₂.  It's so preposterously simple: attach the filled water bottle to the spout and press the button.  The more gas you give it, the larger and more abundant the bubbles.  When the carbon dioxide bottle is empty, you send it back to the company, at their cost, for a replacement.  We keep two bottles on hand so we're never without one because, seriously, we use the SodaStream every. single. day.  Now that I've convinced the kids that eleventy pumps of CO₂ will just cause your eyeballs to bug out distressingly when you drink the water, we actually are saving money.

I've seen the SodaStream at various housewares stores and I think every home should have one, but you needn't pull out the checkbook quite yet because I'M GIVING ONE AWAY.  The set contains one SodaStream soda maker (the Fizz Starter Kit, which, according to SodaStream, features "Patented Fizz Chip^TM Technology to monitor gas and fizz levels"), and one bottle of carbon dioxide gas, all of which costs $149.99 on the SodaStream site.  

But wait!  There's more!  

SodaStream has also provided ten bottles of soda flavorings:

• Cranberry-raspberry, enough to make 12 liters
• Green Tea Pomegranate Peach, 12 liters
• Cola, 6 liters
• Black Currant and Pear, 6 liters
• Root Beer, 12 liters
• Ginger Ale, 12 liters
• Diet Lemon-Lime, 12 liters
• Diet Cola, 12 liters
• Diet Pink Grapefruit, 12 liters, and
• Energy Drink, 12 liters

The combined cost of all these flavorings, if you bought them from SodaStream, would be $70.

So there you are.  A free soda maker.  Free flavorings.  Save money.  Generate less trash.  See?  Everybody wins!

Here are the rules:

You may enter this giveaway until midnight on July 13.  I will draw a name at random the morning of July 14.

You may enter your name in the pool up to four times by doing any or all of the following (no duplicates, please):

• Leave a comment on this post and make sure you supply a valid email address.  Any entries lacking an email address will be discarded.
• Tweet this giveaway and provide the URL to that tweet in another comment on this post.
• Blog about this giveaway and leave the URL to your blog post in yet another comment here.
• Become a follower of my blog (please please) and leave me a comment to that effect.
• That's it: four comments equal four entries 
• The winner will be selected at random, and I will notify you by e-mail. You'll have 72 hours to get in touch with me, or I'll have to draw a new winner. 

Disclosure: This post was not sponsored by SodaStream.  I am not being compensated for writing about their product.  I merely got in touch with them to let them know I was preparing to write about the soda maker we've enjoyed for two years, and they graciously sent me a new machine and a full kit of accessories, which I am passing along to one of my readers.

It's All About me, Isn't It?

I've been featured on someone else's blog, Musings of a Sarcastic Mind.  Look here.  This is such a surprise.  I'm humbled and grateful.  I'd like to thank my manager, my manicurist, my psychic, my high colonic therapist, my kindergarten teacher... HEY!  Turn that music OFF!  I'm not finished thanking yet.

Reader Participation: Here's Your Chance To Place Your Thumbprint On My Blog

To all my readers, past, present, future, intermittent, occasional, and anyone who stumbled here while searching for: "I forgot"; "holes in tee shirts"; "Lumpy Rutherford"; "chicken carrier"; "dancing chicken jokesday"; "existential brownies"; "how to grow moss over dead weeds," and many other peculiar and, quite frankly, frightening concepts:

I'm planning on improving and renovating my blog and I need some advice so please do your best to answer the following questions and any other applicable questions that spring to mind:

1. What has been your experience in changing and updating your blog?
2. Is there any format that seems to work best?
3. Is there any reason for me not to stay with Typepad?
4. Is there any reason I shouldn't go with Wordpress?
5. Why DID the Howells bring along so much luggage for a three-hour cruise?

Okay, Pumpkins?  Thanks ever so.

Blogsite Analytics, Anyone?

Who uses what?  And why?  Spill it, because it all looks like math to me.

Favorites Of 2010

Recapping some of my favorite posts of 2010, because I'm not Allie Brosh* and no one else will do it for me

A List Of My Favorite Posts From 2010
Which Should Carry Exactly As Much Weight As
When The Waitress Confides Her Favorite Menu Items
But It's My Blog So If You Don't Like It Get Your Own Blog

In January, there was the time I bargained for that dress.  Remember when I bargained for the dress?  It's a cute dress.  In fact, I'm wearing it right now.  I'm a bit concerned that if I don't praise the dress while wearing it, it might rise up and throttle me as I doze with my face pressed into the keyboard and unintentionally type hgyhygggggggggggggg: In This Economy, Retailers Are Smart To Bargain.

In February, the car broke down due to an electrical malfunction which had absolutely nothing to do with my leaving the lights on, which I did because the warning dinger didn't ding because there was an electrical malfunction (see above): Is There Ever A Convenient Time For The Car To Break Down? (Hint: there isn't).

In March, the entire airport broke down, which again was not my fault and furthermore had nothing to do with electrical malfunctions or electricity of any kind.  Except maybe lightning: Weather Disruptions Worked In Lindsay Vonn's Favor...

In April, we touched on the colors of travel (hint: there's lots of blue): Blue Is The Color Of Heaven

In May, I had some advice for the varmint population in our yard on how to appear less blockheaded: Letters of Advice.

In June, Robespierre became a Bar Mitzvah.  I wrote a lot about the subject (you try throwing a Bar Mitzvah without raving even while sleeping); here is one of my favorite posts on the subject: Superhero Or Super Villain -- Choose Wisely.

In July, I Shot An Elephant In My Pajamas, which degenerated into an existential discussion of grammar. With this post I received one of my favorite comments of all time from Ivan Toblog: Written, your statement would have to say something like, "Don't use that spoon. I killed a fly with it."

In August, I did some reading: More Of What I've Been Reading Lately.

In September, some of us got stuck in the mud.  Fortunately, we got out and lived to tell the tale: Sorry We Weren't In Touch Last Weekend. We Were Swamped.

In October, I discussed why cell phones rock: Why I LOOOOVE My Cell Phone.

In November, I unveiled my FeeFiFoto Fundraising program: Need To Raise Money For Your Organization? Here's My Proposal.

In December, I remembered that I forgot to have the sprinklers turned off before the first freeze: My Mistake.

*Of Hyperbole and a Half.  Last year I compared myself to Dooce but I don't like Dooce and never have, so I'm happy to be able to compare myself (heh) to someone I admire instead.

Do you have a favorite 2010 post?  Of mine?

Hey Fan Base

I know you've missed me -- I can feel the vibrations of your missing me all the way through my wireless internet connection.  I'll provide something substantial soon, I swear, on a stack of my mother's bibles.  It's just that...

I've been out of town, and

The bowl games have been on, and

My new glasses give me headaches, and

I was abducted by chickens, and

Everything was on super sale at the outlet mall, and

My dog ate it, and

My shoes were pinching my feet, and

We were out of hot water, and

The remote fell under the couch, and

I couldn't find anything to wear that looked good on me, and

The sun was in my eyes, and

I didn't understand the assignment, and

My checking account was overdrawn, and

I took a wrong turn, and

The bus was late, and

The blue ones were all sold out, and

My alarm didn't go off, and

Something else.

What's your excuse?

 

Meet My New (Best?) Friend

Meet Suddie, (one of) the cutest and bestest Tibetan Terriers on the planet.  She lives in Central Illinois, where she presumably makes good use of the typical TT snowshoe paws and heavy, hairy coat.  We met across a crowded room internet when she landed in my parallel universe blog, which I haven't updated or even visited in umpteen and a half years, except for when I sneak in the back door to plagiarize my own work and post it here, thus making it appear as if I've been writing when actually I've been doing crossword puzzles or taking naps.

Suddie found me, which proves that not all Tibetan Terriers have pretend noses, as I've always suspected since concluding that Miss Puppy couldn't find a piece of cheese on the floor unless it hit her in the face on the way down; either that or she disdains picking up food from the floor, since she scatters her chow all around her bowl and then cries when it's empty instead of picking up the kibble from the floor.

Here's a link to Suddie's blog, and here are the ground rules for visiting:

1. Check in and take a look at the stack of puppies on the right side of the home page
2. Squeee as desired
3. Agree that Tibetan Terriers are the yummiest, sweetest, funniest, cuddliest and yes, bestest dogs on the planet
4. Repeat as necessary

What If...

If Linda were reading this, she'd probably leave me a comment.

If Jay were reading this, he'd definitely leave me a comment.

If Marlene were reading this, she might give me a thumbs up on Facebook.

If Elise were reading this, she might laugh.

If Daisy were reading this, she'd probably give it two paws up.

If Rachel were reading this, she'd probably wonder if there was a better way to spend her free time.

If Bennett were reading this, he'd most likely be embarrassed.

If Rita were reading this, she'd probably say something profound.

If Izzy were reading this, she'd probably copy it.

If Rowena were reading this, she'd probably let me know she'd read it.

If Leslie were reading this, she might have something to say.

If Evan were reading this, she might call me.

If Leesa were reading this, she'd definitely have some witty comment.

If Juliya were reading this, she'd probably like it.

If Henry were reading this, I'd be surprised.

What if you were reading this?

Summer Doldrums: I'm Drowning In The Internet

Maybe I really have finally reached the end of the internet and it's time to turn off the computer and go outside.  I've lost track of how many times I've encountered the following:

Baby laughs uproariously as Sheltie runs in circles.

Unicorn Spam is the new Other White Meat.

Holding the new iPhone¹ lefthanded² causes it to drop calls.

BP spills coffee and can't figure out how to clean it up.

Kittehs play World Cup Soccer.

Hello Kitty motor oil.

Vuvuzelas³ are loud and annoying.

Bionic British cat gets faux paws.

Photos can be pretty.

Paper can be cut and folded into shapes.

Dogs can be funny.

America's Got Talent.

Britain's Got Talent.

Vuvuzelas are still loud and annoying.

Combining Coke Zero and Mentos⁴ can provide an afternoon's entertainment and require an evening's showering.

Keanu Reeves is sad.

Justin Bieber⁵ is still out there.

Lindsey Lohan is still in trouble.

Lady Gaga dresses weird and sometimes falls off her shoes.

Vampires

Werewolves

Zombies

Someone pitched a no hitter.

Vuvuzelas are a leading cause of depression, ED and childhood obesity.

What I haven't seen too much about lately:

Poison ivy

Bananas

Olivia DeHavilland⁶

Chatroulette

StumbleUpon

Snow

Christmas

____________________________________________________

Spellcheck⁷ suggested the following:

¹Siphon

²Shorthanded

³Vulvanizes, Vulgarizes

⁴Pimentos

⁵Bilberry

⁶Vaudevillian, Philanderer

⁷Spellbound 

What is the origin of this poignant self-loathing, Spellcheck?

What have you heard enough of?

Not That I'm Complaining...

...but does anyone have any idea what makes my readership bounce from 28 to 50 to 34 to 68 in the span of a few days?  Does my fascinatingness change with the weather?

In other news -- Bar Mitzvah was successfully achieved a week ago; more news coming soonish.  You'll notice that the Ferrari countdown has disappeared from the blog and I don't have the fortitude to post one for the Cupcake yet, so downcounting has been suspended for the moment.  Tomorrow morning the perpetrator and his young accomplice head out for four to eight weeks of camp, depending on gender and age.  The dog and I will be all alone.

All alone.

Suspended For Inactivity

You know how department stores will call you if someone tries to use your credit card after it's been idle for a certain amount of time to make sure the Terminix man wasn't snooping through your desk drawers while ostensibly treating your house for weasels or carpenter ants?

You know how some gift cards expire if you don't use them before a certain date because the stores are counting on your forgetting the cards so they get to keep your money without having to surrender services or merchandise in exchange?

That reminds me -- I'd better schedule that pedicure soon...

Well, guess what?  BlogHer just sent me a plaintive note wondering where I've been and politely withdrawing my advertising until I post again.  But really, I have an excuse.  It might not be a good one but it's an excuse:

The bus was late.

No, that was yesterday.  Hold on...

The dog ate my blog.

No... no -- not that she wouldn't try, but she's actually been on good behavior lately, if you ignore the recently shredded purple Ugg*.

Bar Mitzvah. 

Yeah, that's the ticket.  This Bar Mitzvah has had me busier than a one-armed man trying to paddle a canoe in a straight line. I've been busier than a termite in a sawmill.  I've been busier than a one-armed man trying to pitch a tent in a wind storm.

Hellooo?  Anyone out there?  I know you're there -- I can hear you breathing.

And, as if the Bar Mitzvah weren't enough, I was in charge of Teacher and Staff Appreciation gifts for the month of May at Cupcake's school and I chose to give 77 people each two 750 ml bottles of Pellegrino  sparkling water, which adds up to 156 bottles in thirteen 30-pound cases of twelve; each bottle had a ribbon and a mushy note tied around its neck, which took a month to accomplish, and then I had to deliver the bottles around a school comprising six three-story buildings equipped with precisely zero elevators, which is why the next time I tackle Teacher Appreciation the gift will entail an unsharpened pencil or a handful of feathers for each teacher although why they'd want feathers I don't know but it's enough already with shlepping 390 pounds of water.

So anyway BlogHer: I'm reallyreally sorry I've been ignoring you but it's nothing personal and thanks for your kind note of suspension which I totally deserved and I promise that I'll be more reliable as soon as this Bar Mitzvah has been accomplished and the kids sent off to camp exactly a week later, and while I have your attention can you do something about getting William Shatner to host Saturday Night Live?  Thanks.

*Spell Check suggested egg or fuggy and I don't know what fuggy means but I think it might be my new favorite word.

A Sheepish Open Letter To Bossy

Bossy's on the move again.  She's leaving today for the commencement of her (No) Book Tour and, since I missed her visit last time because it fell on the first night of Passover and besides I'm way too shy and awkward to hang out with perfectly fine strangers in a perfectly fine restaurant for one perfectly fine night and have a perfectly fine time --

I had a point here... what was it...?

Oh yes.

This time around I offered Bossy a place to stay for the night when she visits my city.  And she accepted!  I think.

But here's the thing:

Bossy, I am the boringest, yawningest person from the dullest, tediousest family on the planet (except we yell sometimes, but who doesn't), so if you have gotten a better, more interesting, more appealing, funner offer from someone in my area, please don't think my feelings will be hurt if you accept it.  I'd absolutely love to meet you so count me in for dinner although I'll probably freak out from self consciousness and stay in my car and turn around and spend the evening at Target instead of hanging out with you and all the other cool bloggers in town.

Bossy, if you'd like to stay with us, we'd be delighted to have you as our guest.  You can have your own room and your own bathroom and your own shower.  My son will barbecue every meal for you, even your breakfast oatmeal, should you desire.  Nevertheless, I can't promise we won't bore you to tears.

Consider yourself warned.

Windy's Travels

For anyone who's been wondering about the whereabouts and welfare of Kathy's Windy, fret no more because I think we found her.  We just ran into her on a trip to Israel, where she's been hanging out at a military memorial.  She sends her love and reminds everyone that cacti are ouchy.

Okay, Okay -- I Promise I'll Write Something

In the meantime, cuddle up with the Shiba Inu Puppy Cam: Streaming Video by Ustream.TV Our next door neighbor had an escape artist Shiba Inu.  That dog was like a cockroach -- she could squeeze through any space large enough to accommodate her head.  She'd dart through the fence, over the fence, under the fence, around the fence -- every preposition related to a fence that you could imagine.  They spent more time chasing her than anything else.  Her luck finally ran out though when she ran out one time too many and into traffic.

These Shiba Inus are too tiny to run away, so enjoy.

Have you been having a tough time writing too?

Wow - My Blog Is Relatively Self Sustaining

Apparently some goofballs check in here even if I have nothing to say.

Some of you might have missed me, while others are probably like "Fee who?"  I can't blame you since I've been incommunicado so long it's a wonder I remembered how to gain access to my own blog.  I promise I'll have something of substance to contribute to the information overload very soon; for now I'll just burden you with my list of excuses for not writing.

1. I thought my kids would NEVER go back to school, what with a snow day two days after winter break ended, and Robey's school's incomprehensible compulsion to give students EVERY. MONDAY. IN. JANUARY. OFF.  It's hard to write or concentrate with kids at home; if you don't believe me, you try it.  I'll send you some.
2. I've been having some work done on our house since mid-December, which has kept me busy inventing games like Endust-and-Pledge Skating to try to stay ahead of the dust.
3. Robey's Bar Mitzvah is less than six months away so my feet are getting closer to the fire.
4. I always start a new year by selling old stuff on eBay, starting this year with a vintage, mint condition Hermes silk scarf my mother gave me years ago (shhh -- don't tell her I'm selling it).
5. I've been helping Cupcake prepare for the spelling bee, studying something like 1800 words from 14 language sources (lederhosen?* gnathonic?* perestroika?)

*Spellcheck wanted leaseholder, spinsterhood, prognathous or pathogenic.  Funny -- these are (supposedly) actual dictionary words.

I'm back.  I think.

Are you back?  Are you sure?  How do you know?

My Own Top 12 List: Some Of My Best Posts (In My Opinion) From 2009

Recapping some of my favorite posts of 2009, because I'm not Dooce and no one else will do it for me

Because I'm all about laziness stealing ideas recycling, I'm copying Melissa's idea (Rock and Drool) which she copied from Scary Mommy, which she probably copied from me since I possibly had this idea first many years ago before there was even such thing as blogging so I'm calling my lawyer:

A List Of My Favorite Posts From 2009
Which Should Carry Exactly As Much Weight As
When The Waitress Confides Her Favorite Menu Items
But It's My Blog So If You Don't Like It Get Your Own Blog

January: My Trip to the Super Bowl, in which I see a halftime show consisting of the finals of the Punt, Pass and Kick competition, and discover that idiots with no sense of humor can be found anywhere

February: What is it about stories that originally starred Julie Andrews that confuses my daughter?, in which Cupcake thinks she recognizes Aretha Franklin

March: Strangers On a Train, in which a disgustingly hirsute stranger ruins my breakfast

April: Bobama, in which I jump on the bandwagon and admire the First Dog

May: Klutziness and Mud Pies, in which I land in the mud

June: First Day of Summer Vacation, in which we sleep late and spend the day relaxing. Or not.

July: Travel Crises, in which I contemplate the advisability of stuffing corks up my kid's nose

August: Bike Riding Without Tears, in which I teach my kid to ride a bike without my having to break a sweat

September: Cell Phones for Kids, in which my kid gets a cell phone that's cooler than mine

October: Halloween Field Trip to the Pumpkin Farm, in which the mud lands on me

November: Bar Mitzvah Planning and Save the Date Notices, in which I believe myself very clever

December: Book Exchange, in which I again believe myself quite clever

Is This New Or Have I Been Dozing Off Again?

Navigating BlogHer has just gotten easier.

A few weeks ago I emailed BlogHer to ask for an easy way to locate other BlogHer bloggers, since my scattered brain can't seem to cope with a Chinese-menu-sized list of blogs and whenever I explore I end up choosing sites with cool names that haven't been updated since April because apparently they used up all their creativity on cool names and have nothing left to devote to actual writing and then I get frustrated and disgusted and give up and go back to reading Daisy, Bossy, Cupcake and The Blogess. 

Their response was quick and clear: click to the BlogHer advertising page and select from the list of blogs in the column on the left.  So I tried it and found some impressive sites and I was all Lalalalala* and then I noticed... The Search Widget.

I didn't want to startle it by making any sudden moves so I tiptoed carefully and quietly around it and then I uploaded it here and gadzooks! not only does it provide short and constantly rotating lists of BlogHer bloggers, but one day last week it even featured mine!  That means it works!  And it found me!  And I'm popular!  Or something!

Do you have a pet widget?  Why or why not?

*Spellcheck suggested Balalaika, Lallygagged and Phenylalanine as alternatives for this word.  Really, Spellcheck?  Seriously?

__________________________________________________________________

In honor of Black Friday, Cyber Monday and, what the heck, Cyber Week, through December 5 Order Personalized Photo Ornaments from FeeFiFoto before midnight on December 5 and receive 20% off. Apply coupon code ORNAMENTS09 at checkout.

Offer Expires: December 5, 2009