As April draws to a close...

I rejoice at the end of my writing class. Since September I've been teaching three high school boys in an attempt to get them ready for college.
One of them doubled his scores on the essay portion of his SAT and another tested into English 101 so their parents felt it was money well spent. Boo-yah!

This last Thursday was Bring your Brat to Work day and Mr. Logo took Thing Two.
Here you see the two of them at about 6:00 preparing to leave for the day.
Thing Two returned with a bag full of toys and a head full of propaganda. Clearly it was a successful venture.

Next, and I apologize to those who lack any interest in the next item, feel free to skip it, see, Susie, they do NOT match, at least, not exactly :P

LASTLY,

some of you may recall that this month was also the chosen battlefield for the self proclaimed Mr. Fabulous and I to fight it out for the title of TRIVIA CHAMPION.

The current scoreboard reflects that I have only a two point lead at this point. I was a little worried he would not be able to put up enough of a fight for me to maintain interest for a whole month but he managed to pull himself together and even edged into the lead for a moment or two. In thanks for his fine efforts to be a worthy opponent I am going to add his unusual little blog, Pointless Drivel, to my links, because I am a giver, it's what I do.

The winner of this little contest will receive a $25 gift from the loser and of course, bragging rights (from what I can tell, Mr. Fab thinks he was born with an unlimited supply of those, but be that as it may...) and it all comes down today, Monday, April 30th, 2007.

No pressure or anything, Fab :D

How my Saturday went

Stayed in bed till 9:30, yay!

Spent 3 hours doing laundry.
Spent 3 hours getting to, watching, and returning from little league baseball.
Spent 3 hours mowing my lawn.

You envy me, don't you?

Flash Fiction

Late at night, fingers stroke, caressing a forbidden love. Silence is so important, critical. If heard, if he discovers them together like this, at this hour he will be so annoyed. She smiled, enjoying the stolen moments. Then she froze as she heard, "Will you please turn off that bloody computer and come to bed!"

Stuff

Did I mention the Things won their pinewood derby contests? Thing One got first in design for his age and Thing Two got second in design for his. Yay!

Next you see a little treasure that somehow ended up in the kitchen window sill. It's a lollipop stick one of my Things left there for reasons that defy understanding. Mr. Logo was bothered enough to mention it but not enough to pick it up himself.

NOW to the good stuff :D
I bought a pen, its a really lovely feeling pen that loves me and I love it. We are very happy together, thank you.

Next we have a Build Your Own Stonehenge kit I purchased in Seattle this weekend.
I love it as well.
I bought this for Mr. Logo while we were at Archie McPhee's . This is Bob.
Mr. Logo got to decorate the office himself and took it to work today. His coworkers are quite jealous.
I also bought him an apron, can you dig it?
Thing One got a chicken chucker.
Thing Two got a Chuck a Duck. They both seem to like them.
While we are talking about stuff we like...
These two items are very popular with me right now.
One is a kumquat-lime hand lotion and the other
is Altoid dark chocolate covered cinnamon mints.
Mmmmm, yummy stuff that makes life a little more better.

Late breaking realization, OMG!

I totally forgot it's Ariella's birthday!

In honor of the special occasion we are giving her the day off,

again,

still,

more.

And in keeping with blog tradition, for her online birthday gift here is the man of her dreams, her heart throb,

The Golden Boy.

My weekend

Last Friday I headed to town to spend some quality time with my Susie Q.

We were only two blocks from Pike Place and had a great time there.

We played cards, and Yatzee, and Trivial Pursuit, of course!

This is me talking to Mr. Ratburn.

We also went to some of the other Seattle area attractions.

And of course, we had to stop by a bar, just for a few minutes. There ya go, Sar, finally, a pic of me with a bitchpop!

55 Flash Fiction

The car weaved slightly to the left and accelerated as the distracted driver gestured wildly to the unseen caller on his cell phone. Though the intended recipient of these emphatic hand signals could not enjoy them, a motorcyclist attempting to change lanes very nearly had an impressive encounter because of them. Shut up and DRIVE!!

Interview Questions and an easy guessing game

OK, I finally wrote questions for that interview meme and I am posting them here for you.

-----------------

Arm

1. If you were given the job of writing the new law book on cell phone usage what would be the top offenses?

2. Laura Mallory has been convicted of stupidity. What should be her sentence?

3. You can choose any role in any play. Who will you play and why?

4. How is that Nora Jones book going?

5. What exactly were those Egan-inspired techniques you used on Mr. Arm to get that new MAC?

------------------
Blue

1. You are making your own list of seven deadly sins. What's on the list?

2. Back in February you threw me a GREAT birthday party. Tell us for next January, what is an ideal birthday celebration for you?

3. What is your favorite spa treatment to receive and which do you most like to give?

4. Here, have a cinnamon roll, now tell me, how is that cholesterol doing?

5. I love your Blogging Without Obligation button. Why do you think so many of us bloggers feel the need to apologize for being busy?

----------------------------
Lime

1. You get to re-order the phone book (alphabetical listings are like, soooo done). How will you list people?

2. You can either have a motorcycle or a trip to Trinadad for two weeks. Which do you choose and why?

3. However in the world did you, of all people end up with such smartmouthed kids, hmm? Did you evidence this trait in your youth as well? Well, duh! Tell us some new stories!

4. You get an open ended trip around the world, where will you stop?

5. What do you think are the main differences of online friends and 3-D ones?

-----------------------------
Damasta

1. How is it going with the March of Dimes?

2. If money and time are no object where would you like to go on your honeymoon?

3. Fav BNL song of the moment?

4. Bought any new shoes lately?

5. How is the integration of fiance, friends and family going?

----------------------------
Cathy

1. For the year I lived in Greece, although I mostly loved it, I found some of the things there drove me NUT! In some way Greece is incredibly backward, how do you handle that?

2. How is your consumerism doing? Having you been involved in a treatment plan at all?

3. You started blogging to remember you, find you, or reinvigorate you, is it working?

4. Since everyone else had a go, I want to know your take. Describe your blog.

5. Did your friend actually tell off her whiny/bossy boyfriend?

--------------------------

As a special bonus, since she is new to the blog world I decided to do an extra set of questions for Jules so you can all get to know her a bit better.

Jules

1. What is your favorite thing about living in Florida after the Northeast?

2. We haven't had much time to get to know you so help us out. What are 5 things all your friends should know about you.

3.What movies or books rate as your all-time favorites?

4. You mentioned your first kiss guy ended up on the most wanted list. Any other bad boys we should know about?

5. With your baby still being so young, are you getting any sleep at ALL?

-----------------------------------------

Thing One, who is a terrible shoe thief, had borrowed my shoes for years to pop outside. Now, finally, I can steal his, mwah hah hah!

Our photographer

Also, our fine feathered friends have returned en mass to the feeders and bird bath.

A stolen meme, don't remember where I found it.

1.What time did you get up this morning?
6:00 I had to get to a thing (yawn)

2. Diamonds or pearls?
Can I just have the equivalent amount in motorcycle accessories?
Trips to exotic locales?
Cash??

3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema?
The Last Mimzy

4. What is your favorite TV show?
Mythbusters

5. What did you have for breakfast?
Tea and a cheese tortilla

6. What is your middle name?
Diane, this is also the name I used in Italy, it’s easier to pronounce

7. Favorite cuisine?
Thai, and Italian, and Mexican, and Indian.

8. What foods do you dislike?
Squooshy stuff, bleck

9. What is your favorite flavor of ice cream?
That is very mood specific, sometimes flavors with chocolate, or peanut butter, or almonds, or caramel, or…whatever,
But vanilla is always a good place to start.

10. What is your favorite CD at the moment?
Regina Spektor~ Fidelity

11. What kind of car do you drive?
I don’t actually drive a car. I man the helm of a mom-mobile and I ride a V Star :D

12. Favorite sandwich?
Homemade pannini with lots of STUFF, mmmmm

13. What characteristic do you despise?
Stupidity

14. Favorite item of clothing?
Polar fleece jacket

15. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go?
Kuala Lumpur is the most fun to say, I also would list Peru and Paris

16. What color is your bathroom?
The one I’ve decorated is blue with fishes, the monstrosity I haven’t gotten to yet retains shades of pale pinkishness which repulses me.

17. Favorite brand of clothing?
Um, I don’t really have one.

18. Where would you retire to?
After mowing for two days I think one of those 55 and over communities where underpaid workers do all the yard work and maintenance sounds really good.

19. Favorite time of day?
Evenings usually

20. What was your most memorable birthday?
Well, there was the uncelebrated 16th birthday, that stands out. My honey threw me a princess party for 35, that was fun. When I turned 32 he took me to Venice though, that might be the best.

21. Where were you born?
In a hospital, on a military base, on an island, in Washington.

22. Favorite sport to watch?
Tennis or golf, oddly enough. I hear good things about roller derby though.

23. What fabric detergent do you use?
I dunno, it’s a blue bottle.

24. When is your birthday?
In February, when all the coolest kids were born.

25. Are you a morning person or a night person?
I am a child of the night, a princess of the darkness, just ask my sister, she will confirm gleefully.

26. What is your shoe size?
Anywhere from an 8 ½ to a 9 ½ depending on brand

27. What did you want to be when you were little?
Bigger

28. What are you doing today?
Lobbying for world peace and sanctions against Luxembourg

29. Who is your favorite actor?
John Cusack is right up there but I don't know if I have a clear favorite.

30. Who is your favorite author?
Douglas Adams probably, if I had to pick only one of ALL time

31. What is your favorite landscape?
The Titan’s Goblet

32. Favorite place visited?
London had some great points, as did Venice. Rome has some great features but maybe Sorrento would be my favorite.

33. If you could have lunch with anyone, who would it be?
My gramma

34. Greatest accomplishment?
I helped a robin back into its nest once.

35. Greatest regret?
I should have had a V-8

36. Favorite slogan?
Better living through chemistry

37. Favorite day of the week?
My fav would usually be Saturday but right now with baseball games, forget it

38. What do you do when you are bored?
Find something to do or something to think about. Boredom is laziness of the mind.

39. Favorite sound?
Water; raindrops, waterfalls, ocean surf, everything except my skylights leaking and thankfully I don’t have to worry about that sound anymore.

Ack!

Attack of the stuff!
I am composing questions for those who requested.


55 Flash (non) Fiction

The mountain of laundry loomed and the phone wouldn’t stop ringing.
Library books were overdue and the lawn again needed mowing.
Family members made demands, both the sane ones and the crazy.
She paused, gazing out the window. The children had climbed onto the roof of the garage and were playing with sharp garden implements.

Recently I decided, once again, to favor Mr. Fabulous with a little of my attention and he responded by asking me the following five questions:


1. Recently you accepted my challenge to a month-long trivia competition. Are we to surmise from this that you have suffered yet another relapse in your battle against Narcissistic Personality Disorder, or are you back on the blow?

My favorite amateur psychologist has diagnosed me with a mild case of Oppositional Defiance Disorder, but that's about it. In light of the fact that I am providing you with more than a little competition I think perhaps the challenger should look to his own mental health.

2. Going on the assumption that you have been a redhead your whole life (cough cough) what assumptions, if any, do you find people make about redheaded women?

Yes, I HAVE been a redhead my whole life, thank you very much.

I spent my childhood being redheaded curly haired, left-handed, and skinny as a rail so I got comfortable pretty early on with being different.

Perhaps the early hazing redheads typically endure causes certain behavior patterns, who knows.
Some of the assumptions people tend to make about redheaded women;
We are…
bad tempered, jealous, hardheaded, argumentative, sun-sensitive, independent, sassy, smart, and passionate (also interestingly enough, recent research shows that redheaded women have higher pain tolerance than most but require more anesthetic).
I will admit that a couple of those redheaded stereotypes do actually fit me pretty well.
For your reading pleasure I will now include a couple redhead quotes and jokes.

"While the rest of the species is descended from apes, redheads are descended from cats."-Mark Twain

"If you want trouble, find yourself a redhead."-unknown

"Of course, part of the problem with redheads is that there aren't enough of them. They make up just two percent of the population. So they're pretty extraordinary. Redheads are too numerous to be ignored, too rare to be accepted." ~Grant McCracken

"You'd find it easier to be bad than good if you had red hair," said Anne reproachfully. "People who haven't red hair don't know what trouble is." -Anne to Marilla in Anne of Green Gables

"All throughout history, from Reuben to Robbins, redheads have been recognized as a rare breed. Blondes may have more fun, brunettes may be brainier, but when it comes down to raw energy, creativity, and personality ... you just can't beat a redhead well, you can, but beware ... she'll probably beat you back!" -Redheads Unlimited

Herr God, Herr Lucifer
Beware
Beware.
Out of the ash
I rise with my red hair
And I eat men like air.
-Sylvia Plath

Only two things are necessary to keep a redhead happy; one is to let her think she is having her own way, and the other is to let her have it. ~ unknown

Q: What's safer: a redhead or a piranha?

A: The piranha. They only attack in schools.

Q: What do you call a Redhead with an attitude?

A: Normal

Q: How do you get a redhead to argue with you?

A: Say something

Q: How do you know when your redhead has forgiven you?

A: She stops washing your clothes in the toilet bowl

Q: How do you know when a redhead has been using a computer?

A: There's a hammer embedded in the monitor

Q: How do you know when you've satisfied a redhead?

A: She unties you.

Q: Why aren't there any more redhead jokes?

A: Someone told them to a redhead.

Here endeth the lesson.

3. In a steel cage death match who wins, you or Gawpo?

Well, I think if Gawpo and I were in a steel cage death match we would be laughing so hard at each other's costumes there wouldn't be much fighting going on, we would mostly be rolling around laughing our asses off. However, if at some point we could pull ourselves together... Mr. Gawpo feels confident I could whup him but I bet he could put up a pretty good fight.

4. You live in Washington State, which I often mock. When I think of Washington I think of cold, rainy suicide weather. I am sure there is more to the state than that. What do you like best about living where you do?

OK, the weather is something I like to dramatize as being worse than it is, keeps the Californians at bay, doncha know. In all actuality Seattle gets less annual rainfall than New York, Atlanta, or Houston and most cities in Florida. We have what’s called Marine West Coast weather, basically, incredibly mild. Seattle’s hottest ever temp was 100 degrees and it’s never been recorded below 0. Average winter temps are between 36-46 F and average summer temps are about 75 F. That will be plenty about the weather, yes?
Seattle is a diverse and beautiful city. I love going to the art museum, which is currently being expanded and should be AMAZING when they are done. There is the Seattle Symphony, the various art and music scenes which are thriving and fabulous. Going to Pike Place, or walking through Pioneer Square (mmmmm, Elliot Bay Book Co.) is always a wonderful way to pass some time. Then there is Ballard and Fremont, I love visiting those neighborhoods! The city itself is pretty dang great but THEN you have the whole state. I will admit I’ve a prejudice to the western side of the state. We have two mountain ranges which are gloriously beautiful. We have the Puget Sound and the coast which is important to me as I love living near the sea. For flat-out green gorgeous, natural beauty Washington is hard to beat.
I’ve lived in Maryland, Florida, Greece and Italy, none of those places appealed to me more than the Northwest does. Nice places to visit, in some cases even for a couple years, but I would rather live here.

5. Do you think bloggers are different than other people, in that they seem to have more problems with insomnia, depression, etc. or do you think that because we are bloggers we are just more honest about our issues?

The vast variety of people blogging and the incredibly different styles of bloggers make this question a difficult one to answer well. There is not even a consistency about liking to write or doing it well. So you can’t even classify all bloggers as writers per se. I hesitate therefore to say that bloggers are more issue ridden than any other group of people which numbers in the millions. I do think the blanket of anonymity leads many people to share more online than they would tell their neighbors or acquaintances. There is a unique environment here of intimacy and distance and the order in which you get to know someone is reversed. There is no body language to get in the way, no preconceptions based on how they walk, or pronounce their vowels, how straight their teeth are or if they don’t make good eye contact. You are reading their thoughts and ideas, their experiences or what amuses them. You have a direct pipeline straight into their psyche without having to do the “Hi, my name is Jane. How do you do?” dance. The first time someone looks at my blog they have access to over a year’s worth of daily minutiae from my life and what I’ve felt was worth writing about. They are therefore going to know some things about me that my neighbor, a fellow-PTA mom, or maybe even a pretty good friend won’t know. Even my husband has read things on my blog and said to me, “I didn’t know that.” Not that it was a huge emotional revelation, just that in a preponderance of babble there is bound to be a smattering of content even though I am not someone who blogs extensively about my incredibly rich and complex inner life :p

Now, if you want me to ask you 5 interview questions make sure you mention that in the comment section and hurry. I will interview the first 5 who request it. You would then answer the questions I compose for you on YOUR blog and you can proceed to interview your commenters.

Do you see what I live with?!?!

My beloved, the quintessential Type A personality, has a tendency to obsess on what I consider to be the minor things in life. Things like, keeping cabinet and closet doors closed all the way at all times, having the milk jug situated squarely on the shelf in the refridgerator, and various little things like that.
I consider it my responsibility to help him interface with life in a more realistic manner.
Now, from when we first began sharing a domicile there has been significant improvement. He no longer arranges all the canned foods like that guy in Sleeping With the Enemy and he does not insist on having all flat surfaces completely cleared at all times.
He thinks he has made great strides in improving my lacksidasical approach to matters and it's true I usually manage to remember to close the cupboard doors and little things like that.
There are times though, he really get annoyed with the strangest things. Our room is divided into HIS side, MY side and the center is the DMZ (demessified zone). If things start piling up there he yells, "Encroachment!"
Well, at some point recently a pencil ended up on the floor on my side of the room. Mr. Logo began keeping track of how long it was going to sit there. At day six he could hold his peace no longer and threatened to blog about it. Just to show the STRESS and STRAIN he endures having to live with me. In order to faciliate his sainthood I decided to let the pencil remain.
Today I needed to vacuum our room though, and you can't really vacuum with a pencil right there, so I picked it up, carefully vacuumed the whole area and gently returned the pencil to its resting place.
You know, if that vein on the side of his forehead that gets all bulgy ever really does blow I am going to feel a little bad about that.

ALSO...

Last year a friend of mine came home from a concert and started quizzing me about various little things, primarily scientific in nature, and then giggling like mad at my answers. Finally I asked what was so funny and she told me that she and her husband had heard a song and it made them think of me.

I responding by not writing anymore flash fiction about quantum physics :p
No, really, I thought the comparision incredibly flattering and very amusing and wanted to hear it, especially after I'd read the lyrics.
Now Youtube has come to my rescue.






Hots for the Smarts!
I like a girl in satin who talks dirty in Latin
A girl who's flirty when she quotes Krishnamurti
If she likes to be goosed while researching for Proust
Then I'll know she's my kind of creature
Among her delectables, her intellectables
Must be her sexiest feature
I've got the hots for the smarts
Hots for the smarts
IQ off the charts
Give me brains over hearts
I've got the hots for the smarts
I want a girl from Mensa with a furrowed brow
When the tenses get denser, she gets it - and how!
I need a polymath called Cindy or Kath
Who likes her Plato not too platonic
An autodidact who can add and subtract
While sipping her Tolstoy and tonic
I've got the hots for the smarts
Hots for the smartsIQ right off the charts
Give me brains over hearts
I've got the hots for the smarts
I want a girl with a feel -getting obscure here-
for Faraday's Wheel
A girl who'll drool for Fleming's Left Hand Rule
Some men like pin-ups of girls who do chin-ups
Like Xena The Warrior Princess
But I'll take to dinner my Nobel Prize winner
With plutonium stains down her dress
I've got the hots for the smarts
Hots for the smarts
IQ off the charts
Give me brains over (you know the rest)
Got hots I want a girl who knows loadsa Kierkegaard and Spinoza
A girl who plays chess humming "Porgy and Bess"
Now she must be able from her logarithmic table
To find all those decimal places
What do I care, she's nothing to wear
When her teeth are imprisoned in braces
I've got the hots for the smarts
Hots for the smarts
IQ off the charts
Give me brains over hearts
I've got the hots for the s-- there might be more
I want a girl with a brain goes on forever- the size of Siberia
With a haughty disdain of all things inferior
Now I don't want some learner with a Bunsen burner
She must be the finished article
Who sees our attraction as a chemical reaction
And charm as merely a particle
I've got the hots for the smarts
Hots for the smarts
IQ off the charts
Give me brains over hearts
I've got the hots for the s-- could there be more?)
I want a Ph.D. who reads Linear B
Who applies her lotion with a Brownian motion
Now some men may favour a girl who's a raver,
A tease, or a saucy young minx
But I'll get undressed with the girl I'm impressed with
Who's tunneling under the Sphinx
I've got the hots for the smarts
The hots for the smarts
IQ off the charts
Give me brains over hearts oh please
I've got the hots for the smarts
I've got the hots for the smarts.
--------------------------------

Brotherly love

It is good and it is pleasant when brothers live together in unity.
Sometimes that happens around here...and sometimes it doesn't.
Just moments ago Thing Two, in annoyance with his elder brother exclaimed,
"No, you crack addict, that's not how it goes!"

Easter bunnies featured below.

One of the things that I really noticed about

celebrating Passover with some Jewish friends is that every single thing they did had a purpose or meaning.
There was a rich symbolic element in everything from the table setting, food choices and even the games.

Christians, at least in this country, celebrate Easter with candy and eggs.
Brought to them, obviously, by a rabbit.
In keeping with this logic
I present to you the new and improved way to celebrate Easter...
HAPPY BUNNY!

Friday Flash 55 Word Fiction

Long ago and far away, Susie thought it would be fun for us to do flash fiction on Fridays, iffen we wanna.

This week, I wanna'd.

So I did.

I was traveling alone in a dark, humid summer night. The windows were wide open to the warm desert air and the blaring radio even drowned out the overworked complaints of the engine. No one believes me about what happened next but I swear it’s true. Few others have seen those demon eyes and lived.

...and now listen, little child, to the safety rail...

I have no idea if this is a legit sign or one somebody faked up for public amusement and I don't care.

I love it.

I want one of those for my yard.

THIS SIGN HAS SHARP EDGES

also, there are children playing.

But probably having an orange front door is enough zaniness for the neighbors at the moment.

ANYWAY,

I have stuff, you know all that stuff you need to do and you don't do because you have other stuff to do, or maybe just other stuff you'd rather do, or stuff you do because you'd rather do anything than the stuff you NEED to do?

Yeah, I have all that to take care of.

Not like an

just stuff, ya know?

You've probably noticed and I'm hit and miss getting around to your blogs due to lack of time and energy and whatnot.

I'm not disowning anyone, or disappearing.

I just may seem a bit...evenescent.

But you're not getting rid of me THAT easy.

Spring means green, green, green all over

The sun was warm but the wind was chill.
You know how it is with an April day
When the sun is out and the wind is still,
You're one month on in the middle of May.
But if you so much as dare to speak,
A cloud comes over the sunlit arch,
A wind comes off a frozen peak,
And you're two months back in the middle of March.
Robert Frost

Here are the Things enjoying a picnic lunch.

Ariella enjoying our dandelion patch before I get to it with the mower.

They are not quite suitable for snorting yet.

Hope to have them all mowed before that stage.

Lastly, my free upgrade phone!

In GREEN, of course.

I am trying to concentrate on the positive aspects of spring today for soon there will be much with the whining about tulip induced traffic to be endured when going to visit the Aged Ps and the joys of allergies in growing season.

This is the self proclaimed "Mr. Fabulous."

He foolishly issued a challenge to me in a daily trivia contest.

He fancies himself a rival, as opposed to the minor amusement he truly is.

He went so far as to proclaim me his nemesis, isn't that cute?

On the monthly score board you can track our progress. Well, to be more specific you can track MY progess. I am in 4th place.

He hasn't quite made it onto the score board, but that's OK, Fab honey, just keep trucking!

You can do it!!

On his little blog, the appropriately named Pointless Drivel, he made a couple TEENY, tiny errors about yours truly,

my domicile,

and my extended family.

That's alright though, accuracy is a heavy burden for the puerile and I wouldn't want to expect too much of him.

We have made a wager about which of us will score more points in the month of April and the prizes are still being discussed.

Any suggestions?

Tagged AGAIN?

Thinking Blogger Award

Evidently Dorky Dad REALLY liked the job I did on the meme I stole from him the other day, that “Seven songs I am listening to at the moment” once.
I am going to do another meme from him, but it’s totally legit this time, he tagged me with due process and everything. I even have witnesses.
This is what he said about me:
“Logophile. Logo is awesome. She rides a motorcycle. She has adorned her house with a flying *fish [sic]. She hangs out with large lava lamps and buys cheap shirts.”

*It’s a frog, a flying FROG*

I’m not sure what all that makes him think ABOUT but hey, he called me awesome so I am taking it.
I am distraught though. I am meant to only tag 5 people whose blogs make me think?
How is that humanly possible? As DD pointed out, there is an unbelievable depth to this world we inhabit together. How could I possibly make a list of thinking bloggers and not point out
Balou, who is artistic and musical and funny as all get out, or
Egan, who is quite possibly my favorite monkey boy in the entire blog world as well as an expectant father with a heart of at least semi-precious metal? Or
Jocelyn who has entertained and provoked thought as well as making me acutely self-conscious about my comma splices, inappropriate use of parens, conjunctions, and general laziness of language use while blogging. There is also

Annie, a new mommy from not too far away, who I recently discovered and

Nessa whose recent advice on interviews and resumes is a must read for job hunters and employers alike and whose art, drawn and written is quite amazing.

Blue relaxes me and

Amanda sings, and sleeps, and doesn't sleep, and feels and thinks and shares.

Dog Daze gives one insight into how dogs think and

Rusty gives us...his view on things.

Lily and Dorky Dad give me a view into life in Minnesota.

Diesel, Mr. Fab, and Dan never fail to amuse, and Pants is hysterical when she’s posting.

Seamus is always thought provoking…when he is around.

Mireille is incredibly thoughtful, and smells good as well.

G, and Al, and Neva of the greater New York area are always good for making one think, or at least snicker and when Sar is brawling there’s a lot to think about there.

There’s Gawpo, Chikken, and Just Tom, all three from Oregon.

Then there are some of my foreign blogs; Monika (Iceland), Kyahgirl (Canada), Damasta (Texas), Scaramouche Jones (Ireland) and Vera (Canada) and Weirsdo (Veryredstate). They give me insight into places I will never live and that is always a good think.

No list of bloggers would be completely without mentioning my hijacker pals who make me laugh and think, and touch my heart. Lime, Susie, Snavy, Breazy, Village Idiot, Thom, and BS are my oldest blogging buddies and our friendships started before that.
BUT,
If I have to narrow it down to 5, and ONLY 5 selections I would go with these.


Waking Ambrose~ Doug hosts a definition of the day free for all. The best fun is usually in the comment section. Weekends have been featuring the ongoing adventures of Diogenes. While my presence there has been infrequent of late it is one of my favorite thoughtful corners of the web (it’s a corner cuz Doug claims to be a square).

Candace~ This homeschooling, asskicking, cat loving writer, reader, and all around handy chick can be relied on to give you something fun to think about.

Grunt~ Wacky, wild, and always thought provoking, if only because of wondering, What the ****?

Actonbell~ One of the daughters of the amazing TLP. She shares book and film reviews and tells wonderful stories, in such a very refined manner too, thank you very much. If I ever grow up, I want to be more like Actonbell. Even her name is clever, sigh

Somewhere Joe~ What to say, what to say? Every word he writes takes me away and his photos are often the means of transport. Meditations shared, wry amusements observed, memories relived and thoughts provoked while you wait. He not only thinks; he makes thinking feel good.

There are my five, if you wish to pass the praise along choose five bloggers who make you think.