That's what my mother always told me to do if I ever found myself the center of attention.
So I'm trying to be all cool and stuff but the truth is, I'm as giddy as a school girl! I got home from work, made dinner, beat my 17 year old with a spatula (trust me; he deserved it) and plopped down in front of the computer hoping somebody noticed my little corner of the blogosphere and what do I find? People! Lots of people! People I know and love and people I've never met in my life! All coming to say nice things to me and welcome me to the family.
I'm overwhelmed and I have this man to thank for it. He devoted an ENTIRE POST to my little blog! Harvey, you are absolutely the sweetest! Thank you so much for being so naughty...so funny...so encouraging...so wonderful! It really was your prompting that pushed me over the edge!
And Tammi! YOU DID IT TOO!!! YOU ARE AWESOME! Thank you! Sissy, thank you so much for your encouraging words. I really appreciate it. I had both your blogs bookmarked and am so happy to be cyber-sisters with you! So now that we're sisters, LET'S GO SHOPPING! Haha!
And to all my dear friends who left kind words and funny comments, thanks for making me feel so special! You're the greatest! And because I love you so much I've decided to write about you. :-D You're all just too much a part of my life to leave out so expect to be talked about in the near future. ( I also figured that's a good way to keep you reading. HA! My mama didn't raise no dummy!)
And Harvey, just as soon as I figure out how to blogroll the Bad Example Family, I will be happy to do it! :-P
No doubt, you will hear a lot about my kids as they are the center of my universe. My youngest, Nathaniel aka Natie aka Nate-dawg never ceases to keep me laughing. He's Calvin minus Hobbes. Last Thursday, he calls me at work and says,
"Mom, I lost a tooth!"
"Really? I didn't know one was loose."
"It wasn't, but I needed the cash."
:-0
So I get home from work to see my precious cherub composing the following letter:
Dear , toothfairy
I need some extra money. about $1.50 wuld be good. I wuld like that in advance with my other teeth. And besides, YOU OWE ME!
Thank you,
Nate
After Wonderfully Wise Mother advises him that the Tooth Fairy doesn't take kindly to threats, he came up with this:
Dear, tooth fairy
I need some extra money. I wuld like that in advance for my other teeth.
Thank you
your, friend
Now you would think with a request like that, there would be NO way the Tooth Fairy would oversleep and forget to pony up, but she did. :-( So the Tooth Fairy had to sneak into Crazy Nate's bedroom while he was watching cartoons and lay down some green ($3.00 to be exact) only how was she going to cover up her minor mistake of forgetting? HA! Easy! She was going to hide it! So Very Sneaky Tooth Fairy left a very nice note for what she soon discovers is Very Disgusted with Tooth Fairy Nate.
"Here's your money. I hid it." TF
Very Disgusted With Tooth Fairy Nate soon became Very Happy With Tooth Fairy Because She ROCKS Nate!
P.S. We really need to work on punctuation, don't we?
I mentioned my love of words and so I thought I would share some fun ones from time to time.
A friend and I used to send each other outrageously unusable words and our task was to try and work them into a conversation that day without looking like a total idiot. We'd use words like "miasma"and "galactophagous" so I suppose I have no right to complain about the weird looks I got. (I know I was supposed to link you to the definition of those words, but get used to it because I plan on being a lazy blogger.) :-P
Anyway, today's Word O' the Day is a personal favorite:
quiddity ~ n. The essence of something; literally, its whatness.
"The quiddity of that book could be described as irreverent with a touch of playfulness thrown in."
Cool, huh!
Now go use it! :-)~
So yeah...i did it. And the world has Harvey and a few others to thank (or blame) for it.
I've been a blog addict for about 2 years now, so it's a little odd that the thought never occurred to me until quite recently to start my own. (Shut up, Jerry...you know I never listen to you! haha)
I realize that for every blogger there's a different reason for starting a blog so I had to ask myself , "Why?"
There are several reasons, the first being: I love words. I like the idea of finding the exact word to perfectly communicate what's in my head. When I'm speaking, the thoughts are firing so quickly, that it seems my mouth is moving before even I know what's going to come out. (And can I just add that that hasn't always worked in my favor!) When I write, I can pick and choose each word until I find the one that works. Also-- and maybe I'm just one of those repressed females who "plays dumb"-- but I find that when i use an uncommon word when speaking, I get the oddest looks from people--as though they think i'm trying to impress them. But when I write, nobody questions a well-placed, slightly intimidating word that forces you to pull out the ol' dictionary. Maybe it's because when you're reading, you don't have to fake the fact that you have no friggin clue as to what was just said.
Another reason I decided to do it is because I have things to say. I'm a teacher at heart. Whenever I learn something I want to share it with as many people as i can. I love knowing that I've imparted something that could actually help someone be it a life skill, a lesson learned (usually) the hard way, or just the chance to serve as a warning of what "not to do" in a particular situation.
What makes this time in my life feel like the right time to do it is because I finally feel like I've earned the right to be heard. I turned 40 this past year and while that's not old, it certainly is deserving of respect. 40 years is a long time to do ANYTHING and that includes living! If someone said, "I been a sellin' shoes fer pert' near 40 years now." you'd probably trust his opinion over the 17 year old working at Payless Shoes as to what makes a shoe a quality shoe.
Next reason? I'm funny. I know I'm funny. My whole family is funny. And we have the ability to make even the most mundane things funny. It comes from my dad's side of the family. He grew up in New York City during the 30's and 40's and they were poor poor poor. My dad didn't have his own bed until he joined the army but that's not what I grew up hearing about. I grew up hearing stories like the one about the neighbor in the basement apartment who my dad and the other little street-rats would lay in wait for and then pelt with snowballs as "The Mole's" head emerged from the underworld. The story would be funny if I stopped right there but it gets fricking hysterical when my dad tells about learning that The Mole turned out to be a hitman for the mob. Lovely. So yeah....I'm gonna tell you stories about my kids and life and silly little things that amuse me. I hope you laugh. I know I will.
I guess the last reason I decided to start a blog is because I like people and I especially like meeting new people. I used to be horribly shy but in the family I grew up in, you learned to speak up pretty early on or get left behind. My dad and brothers teased me mercilessly and I would always get my feelings hurt, so I remember well the first time I lobbed a verbal zinger back at my dad. I was probably 12 or so. The room became deathly silent for about 3 seconds but in that short span, a new me was born. I learned to become friendly and outgoing and, yes, a wee bit sarcastic as a result. And for that, I am eternally grateful.
So here we go, kids! Who knows where it will take us but I'm up for surprises!