This weekend brought me a couple of unique photo ops, for sure. I wanted to try my hand at photographing goldfish, since I was “goldfish sitting”, and the goldfish I sat on (heh!) was actually gold. He’s a squirmy little sucker, and it took a while to figure out exposure settings. While I was scanning through the photos I managed to get that weren’t an orange blur, this one stuck out.

I asked Chickeymonkey this morning how many fish are in the photo. She said “one” – and upon prodding, finally counted three. Did you see them all when you first looked?

We spent our Labor Day at the zoo. It was SO hot, and the critters were really lazing around. The Giraffe’s seemed to be in their element, though, these three struck a pose for me that I couldn’t resist. The tallest did the splits and grabbed up a nice big chunk of grass, and the other two saw an opportunity for a free meal they didn’t have to work for so they stuck their necks out to eat off of the grasses that were trailing down into their reach.

It was a three day weekend, for sure.

How was yours?

Here are a few bee facts to get you started:

1. Honey bees are responsible for pollinating one-third of all the foods we eat, including many of our favorite fruits, nuts and vegetables.

2. Alarmingly, more than 25 percent of the Western honey bee population has disappeared over the last several winters, threatening our food supply and our way of life.

3. Many of the honey bee deaths are being attributed to a mysterious threat called Colony Collapse Disorder, which causes bees to suddenly leave their hive and die. Unfortunately, not much is known about this new threat.

4. Researchers are working to find a solution to Colony Collapse Disorder, but there are ways that we can all help the honey bees today. Learn more about bees and what you can do to help at helpthehoneybees.com.

Go on and create your own cute little bee to share with friends! The website alone is beeeee-autiful!

I received this e-mail forward (urgh, yes, I know) – for some unknown reason I actually read it. And then laughed. And then thought – I should post this – just in case someone hasn’t seen it a million times already – because I haven’t even seen it once yet!

Enjoy!

Man’s first Mistake

On the first day, God created the dog and said:

‘Sit all day by the door of your house and bark at anyone who comes in or walks past. For this, I will give you a life span of twenty years.’

The dog said: ‘That’s a long time to be barking. How about only ten years and I’ll give you back the other ten?’

So God agreed.

**********

On the second day, God created the monkey and said:

‘Entertain people, do tricks, and make them laugh. For this, I’ll give you a twenty-year life span.’

The monkey said: ‘Monkey tricks for twenty years? That’s a pretty long time to perform. How about I give you back ten like the Dog did?’

And God agreed.

**********

On the third day, God created the cow and said:

‘You must go into the field with the farmer all day long and suffer under the sun, have calves and give milk to support the farmer’s family. For this, I will give you a life span of sixty years.’

The cow said: ‘That’s kind of a tough life you want me to live for sixty years. How about twenty and I’ll give back the other forty?’

And God agreed again.

**********

On the fourth day, God created man and said:

‘Eat, sleep, play, marry and enjoy your life. For this, I’ll give you twenty years.’

But man said: ‘Only twenty years? Could you possibly give me my twenty, the forty the cow gave back, the ten the monkey gave back, and the ten the dog gave back; that makes eighty, okay?’

‘Okay,’ said God, ‘You asked for it.’

So that is why for our first twenty years we eat, sleep, play and enjoy ourselves. For the next forty years we slave in the sun to support our family. For the next ten years we do monkey tricks to entertain the grandchildren. And for the last ten years we sit on the front porch and bark at everyone.

Life has now been explained to you.

There is no need to thank me for this valuable information. I’m doing it as a public service.

I’ve added a new feature to my blog, Bits n’ Blurbs. You’ll see these little guys floating around between my posts now – these are things that I want to mention but they’re little bitty and sometimes blurbish, so they really don’t warrant a big old fancy post. They’ll be totally random ‘tweeners to keep you all current on what I’m up to. B)

I have been neglect in paying it forward, so today I shall pay it forward AND backward, and then round and round. By the time I’m done, you’ll have so many places to go you won’t know which one to add to your feed reader first!

I know I’m not a big blog. I don’t count up my inbound links or think Alexa (or whatever) has any bearing on the reason I blog or the awesome people I’ve met. I honestly don’t really care about all that. What I do care about is whether or not you all come back, because if you don’t – that means I’m a dork. Maybe a neglectful dork, and most likely a boring dork. In the spirit of knocking out the former, I give you a full on comprehensive payback of the wonderfulness that is you guys, those of you who find my blog dork-free. I thank you, from the bottom of my heart and the deepest darkest archives of this place that is my blog. For making it what it is, for making me feel special, and for letting me share this gift I’ve been blessed with in an honest non-braggy sort of way. I’m glad you’re here.

{{insert warm fuzzies, mushy gushy stuff and hugs here}}

Without further adieu, here’s just about everybody I’ve come to know. If I missed you, you are hereby granted one virtual smack upside the head (for me, not you) and also a free pass to my contact form to write me up a well deserved keyboard lashing.

Kim awarded me this lovely flowery “You Make My Day” award. It’s very springy, so of course I was tickled about that, but even more tickled that Kim just happened across my blog not too long ago. I’m delighted to make her day, since she’s such a chipper chick herself. That’s flattering all by itself. Now I’m supposed to pass this on to 5 people, but I may go over. I’m sure you’ll forgive me, right?

I’m giving this one to: D, Mert, Robin, Caren, Friglet, Geekwif, Angel, Ladybug, Pamibe, SleepingMommy, NappyGirl, and YellowRose.

SleepingMommy awarded me this beautiful Bloggers of the World award that Colin created.

I’m going to pass this on to the bloggers who make me feel more worldly for knowing them. Whether they live in another country or just a different part of this one, at some point I’ve felt like “man, there’s a lot out there that I haven’t experienced” at least once, thanks to these people:

Kailani, MiscMum, Dylan, WhyMommy, Lolo, Susan, Lesley, Kim, Sharon, Sheila, JAM, Audrey, Carmi, Michele and David .
Pam seems to think my blog is Excellent. (The check is in the mail.) Seriously. From a woman who says what she thinks with no apologies for being real. First, I’m going to give this right back to her, second, I’m gonna poke her with a pointy stick for trying to be sneaky about it, and third, I’m going to give this one to some, but not all, of the excellent people I read. Obviously I only hang out with excellent people, since I’m rated “E” for Excellent and we attract those most like ourselves, right?

Here are some excellent people you might not know yet: InterstellarLass, Thumper, Laura, Marisa, Shelly, Heather @ Swordgirl, WhyRUStalkingME, Heather @ Nurseblogger, Crazy MomCat, Mrs. Flinger, Nancy, Kevin and WackyMommy.

Although I find it slightly odd and mildly uncomfortable to be kissed by a girl, it happened and I have to get over it. Robin says “The Mwah! Award is a sweet kiss given to say thank you for friendships and comments in the blogosphere. Apparently it was started by Jenn in Holland.” so with that said, I’m going to have to give a big fat wet one to my long-time friends and top commentors (who actually have blogs).

Virtual kisses to Erikie, Nancy, Kimberle/MommaK, Lisa and Sue.
Tinkerbell forwarded this great compliment and it’s about dang time I pay it forward, too. I have a serious blogroll, folks – and I don’t want anyone to go without knowing that you’re on it, and I read you as often as possible (and sometimes, as often as you slackers update your blogs! haha! ::nudges Raehan::). Some of you might not even know you’re ON my blogroll, so nyah-nyah – now you do.

Jo, Lindsey, The Rock Chick, Darren, DeeJay, Janet, Bitsy, Marshamlow (which, btw, sounds like marshmallow in my head), Christine, June, Melissa, Lulu, Jennifer, Kerflop, Lisa @ Lisa’s Chaos, Forrest, All Adither, Alicia, Emila, MeeAugraphie, Apocalyps, LifeCruiser and Renee.

Did I miss you? Let me know. Feel free to pay it forward yourself – DO let someone know you think they’re awesome, surely it’ll brighten their day as much as you all brighten mine!

Like every good girl on the planet, I have a special place in my heart, and closet, for shoes. There’s a shoe for every mood, and every occasion. Some shoes can cross over, most can’t. I have a couple pair of mules – slip-on’s, we call them, of the backless kind. I like them, because as much as I love shoes, I am lazy about them. With these, there’s no bending involved, you just step in and go. Perfect! I’ll take two pair -one dressy, one casual. Oh but wait – I forgot – one in sneakers, too!

For months, I’ve been on the search for the perfect pair of mule tennis shoes. At last, they’re mine! The only problem? They’re white. OHHH how I hate white. It’s so, so – so absent of color! Bah!

White and I only get along in small doses, when surrounded by color. So herein lies my problem. How am I going to color these shoes?

By the way, these were the bargain of the year at just $5 – so I could NOT say no to these well padded 1980’s reminiscent sneakers.

Back to the problem. They’re white. What can I paint them with that won’t bleed onto my socks or fade – Sharpies? Food coloring? Clothing dye? (None of which I have on hand. Honestly.) – and more importantly, what color do I want them?

As luck would have it, my wonderful hubby had just cooked dinner. Teriyaki chicken. Mmmm. And you know, I thought to myself, teryaki stains clothing. Yes, it does. And yes, I did.

LifeCruiser ever so graciously nominated me for somethin’ in the 2008 Bloggies. Normally disappointed with all blog type awards, I don’t really care either which way – since nobody seemed, until now, to realize that there are ART BLOGS out here in the blogosphere that have been ever present for years. There are crafters and self-representing artists and folks trying to make a living and gain exposure and just share their work online.

This year. This year they’ve done it. The 2008 Bloggies have added my category – so I’m BEGGIN’ ya, go nominate me. Really. I’ll send you a box full of snoggles if you do. Check it out, the category is “Best Art or Craft Weblog”

You should also nominate your other favorite bloggers, because they deserve the recognition. Someone has to click on those links and go there to check ’em out, and that just might be the one click that blogger needs to really get the recognition they deserve. So go. Do it. Be cool. Everyone else is doing it. Not that you should cave to peer pressure all the time, you know, ’cause that’s really just crazy and not very smart. Just this one time. Just for me. Grazie.

Man you’d think I just fell right off the face of the earth. Some of you might actually wish that to happen. Well, fooey on you people, I say! Fooey!

I made up a new word the other night. I took the girls out shopping and we passed a local news station on the way to the store. I looked over and saw they were setting up the newscast right out front with the camera and the lights and I hollered “FRONNNNK!” and told the girls I should have fronked the horn at them, and we would have been on the news. Or at least our fronk would have been on the news. Chickeymonkey swiftly informed me that “Fronk is not a word.” Uh. Why not? Didn’t I just say it? Didn’t I define it, too? Why can’t fronk be a word? And most importantly,

She was silent in the back seat and had no answer to my questions. Catybug was on my side. Fronk sounds cool. (Go ahead, try it – like a goose sounding honk, it’s called a Fronk. Because I said so.) Chickeymonkey was pretty upset at that point, and started yelling at Catybug that IT IS NOT A WORD. To which I, the mom, because I am mature and growing my kids up right, replied:

And of course you know what her reply was.

As it turns out, she was just more irritated with Catybug for getting on board so much faster and really having fun with it. She told me in secret that it’s okay if I say it, it’s just NOT okay when Catybug does. Well, that’s no fun, people. I think EVERYONE should be fronkity-fronking whenever they feel like it. So go ahead and fronk if you wanna, you have my full permission and blessing. Chickeymonkey will get over it.

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