No Explaination as to Why He's Pink

I wanted to get all Christmas crafty on y'all today but I ran out of time. And daylight with which to take decent pictures. And Scotch tape. This is a Scotch tape heavy craft and I couldn't be in the middle of some photo presentation to y'all and run out. Plus I had to take B to the dentist so he could get some fillings done and he spent most of the waiting time acting as if I were to accompany him to the gallows. He did fine though - got two fillings finished and all he's got left is another filling and a molar that's gone bad that's got to be pulled. Date of execution His next appointment is scheduled for December 19th. Hope that crater left by the pulled tooth is healed enough for him to manage his Christmas dinner.

So since we'll have to wait until tomorrow for paper and scissors and Scotch tape fun (it kills me how B calls it "sticky tape") let's shift gears and talk about good writing.

Christina, gave me a lovely treat by passing on to me this little award:



And here's the idea behind it:

Those people given this award to are encouraged to post it on their own blogs; list three things they believe are necessary for good, powerful writing; and then pass the award on to the five blogs they want to honour, who in turn pass it on to five others, etc., etc. Let's send a roar through the blogsphere! The image at the top right can be copied and pasted onto other blogs. Also, a small size of the award for sidebars can be found over at the writing circle site.

I've had a blog for over 3 years now and I've read a lot of other blogs during that time. The ones that I believe contain good, powerful writing have some things in common:

1. An honest voice. And when I say an honest voice I mean it's a voice that's real and we can recognize. The powerful ones tend to be blogs that can not only make you laugh but can touch you deeply as well because honest interactions do that.

2. The ordinary can be made to sound extraordinary. It doesn't matter if you've just climbed Mt. Everest before lunch - if how you tell me the tale isn't done in an interesting way, I won't care. Conversely you can tell me about a trip to the grocery store and I'll hang on every word if you tell me the story in a different, interesting way.

3. Regardless of whether it's a novel or a blog, the ones with great writing make me wish I could hang out with the author.

And now to pass it on. Here are five blogs I read whose authors fit those three things I just mentioned:

Southern Muslimah is a lady who had made me both laugh and cry with her writing. Read her regularly and you'll soon see her big, generous heart.

I've been digging on Hilda for a good many years now, even before she started writing at The Mind Wobbles. She's fascinating and has such a full, happy life.

The Dictator Princess can take something as simple as a taxi ride or her love of Carmex and turn it into grand entertainment. And her travel tips? I follow them and they work!

Maria at Third Floor with Water View can move me with her words. Her voice is so honest. If I could only get her to write more often!

The Geek Inside makes geekdom look good. Mostly because Sari can take the ins and outs of daily life and make them something you look forward to hearing about. I'm not a mom but if I were, I would hope I could do it like she does.

I really do wish I could hang out with the five ladies. Lunch is on me!

Just in Case Santa's Watching

While I was busy telling the tale of my trip home to Mississippi I missed out on tags and blog awards so this is the weekend where I play catch-up. Two memes down, one award to go!

Carol, being as she's a lovely, sweet lady and a deserved recipient of this award in her own right, has bestowed upon me the Nice Matters Award. She likes me! She really, really likes me!



And being as I'm so danged nice and all it's my turn to pass this award on to others that are pretty nice themselves.

Sari of The Geek Inside: Sari is just crazy nice. Want to know how nice? When I said to a group of mutual friends that sock monkeys freak me out, Sari sent me my first sock monkey. And she's sent me clothes for my big sock monkey, Lottie. I am a sock monkey lover because of Sari!

Kitty of Joie de Kitty: Sugar looks up to her to see how sweet it should be. She's wicked nice and wicked smart to boot.

Katy of Thoughts of a Titan: Katy has always been so friendly to me. She's been a reader of mine for years and I think she's just lovely. And her son is so cute you could eat him up.

Marsha of Family Adventures: Marsha is another longtime reader of mine who has always had the kindest, most supportive things to say to me. She's like having a personal cheerleader.

Know what? All of my readers are nice. That's why you're here.

Linky Love

Marsha and I have been reading each other's blogs for...what? A year and a half? Two years? I can't really remember because I've read so much about her family and her life that it seems like I've always known her. Funny how blogs - any steady online connection, really - can forge such lovely friendships.

Anyway, Marsha has nominated me for a little award:



Marsha likes how I write and in turn I want to reward and give a little linky love to some folks I read regularly and who have recently written stuff that I dug the mostest. My Blogroll is full of great people who write fun, interesting, amusing, thought provoking blogs and I urge you to not just check out these folks listed here but the others on my Blogroll.

~ You knew Poppy would make the list, didn't you? Well Poppy is a good friend of mine. And Poppy does write in a way that combines the most frustrating parts of life with the most joyous and liberally sprinkles in the humor. And this recent post she wrote about seeing Wilco in concert is classic Poppy. I know the connection she has with music and this post made me feel it for myself.

~ The Muslim world is currently celebrating Ramadan and UmmFarouq has written a blog entry about fasting during Ramadan and its effect on her spirituality. It was a pleasure for me to read and I told her so. Another thing I love about blogging is the ability to hear voices of those we may not normally come across, be they people living far from us or people who have a culture that doesn't normally come into contact with our own, and we learn about how they see the world. Differing cultures don't seem so strange when we know those who live in those cultures.

~ Know what I love about Lisa? She's a work in progress. She's not afraid to say she's striving to be a better person and her honesty, I believe, helps her readers to want to become better as well. She can also tell a very funny story as this blog entry can attest.

~ This is why I wish I lived next door to Belinda. The conversations in her home between her and her husband or her and her daughter or all three together break me up no end.

~ Carol love to take pictures and her blog always has plenty of them. Pictures of her home, her pets, her unbelievably gorgeous children - she's always got great stuff to see. Currently Carol is visiting Germany right now and if this doesn't make you want to hop on a plane to Germany, likely nothing will.

~ The Big Finn has a life that many would envy. He lives in Switzerland, he travels a lot, he has an amazing ability to find the best food and beverages no matter where he goes (or at least he makes it look like he knows what he's doing) and in general thoroughly enjoys his life. This post is proof that he's been living in Europe for quite a few years. Europeans walking to get somewhere? Completely normal. In America? Who's the freak with the doughnut out there?

These are some very recent posts that I particularly enjoyed but I enjoy all of the folks that are on my regular blog reading list. Give them a visit and get to know some other enjoyable writers.

Pink and Bald

Part of what I love about blogging and the online world in general is the opportunity to get to know folks you otherwise would never know existed. Marsha is one of those friends. She's a longtime reader of mine who used to live in Japan and now she's a new transplant to my home state of Mississippi - unfortunately it's the opposite side of the state from my hometown. I've loved getting to know her better over the time we've been reading each other's blogs and so it was a real treat to find that she had nominated me for a Thoughtful Blogger Award. Believe me, she's the real thoughtful one.

Want to know how the whole Thoughtful Blogger Award thing works? Read about it here to find out the rules for nominations and for the other awards you can give to others who are touching people from around the world with their blogs.

I should be nominating five other people for awards but today I just want to present two.

Remember Boob-Ha-Ha? The online auction to raise funds for the Breast Cancer 3-Day with all proceeds going to support the Susan G. Komen Foundation? It was a rousing success!

It was promised that if Boob-Ha-Ha raised $1000 the Poppy would dye her hair bright pink. And if Wendy, the one participating in the Breast Cancer 3-Day, raised a total of $5000 she'd shave her head. Now that's a commitment to a cause. That's putting yourself out there.

Well what do you know. Boob-Ha-Ha raised well over $2000 and Wendy has reached her goal of $5000. Someone's gonna go pink and someone's gonna go smooth. I couldn't be prouder of them.

And because I think both Poppy and Wendy are so terrific for all their efforts to raise funds so that a cure for breast cancer can be found I'm nominating them for a Charity Blogger Award. I want everyone who reads their blogs to know of their hard work and their generous hearts.