August 10, 2007

Life is like…

Life is like a roller coaster - you never know when you’re gonna be upside down or puking.

OK, so I am no Forrest Gump in the world of quotable quotes.

We have husband’s car back! The forest fatah won’t stop us, because we are pure of heart (and have rental coverage - lol). Of course NOTHING is ever easy in MartiWorld, so retrieving Neonica (Husband’s nickname for his car) was a long days journey into night.

We returned the PT Cruiser (which I loved - I want one SO bad it makes me tingle - lol) and paid the piper. I did get some cool Geico schwag: key rings, cup insulators and bumper stickers imprinted with the cave men and the cute little lizard.

Then we walked across half a mile of asphalt like a cat on a hot tin roof. We inspected the car and it was all together again. We were prepared for the great escape. We plopped into the internal inferno of the Neon and with what we thought was a final wave, turned the key. It gave us a raspberry (that sound you make when you stick your tongue between your lips and blow, which is not nearly as nice as Lauren Bacall’s husky whisper, “You know how to whistle don’t you? Just put your lips together and blow”). It would not start.

I marched back across the parking lot like Patton. I was all over that technician like Quentin Tarentino on a cinematic metaphor.

They brought a big battery charger out on a (not hello) dolly, and re-charged the battery, then pulled the car back into the shop. We retreated to the big chill of the waiting room as 12 angry men tried to figure out WTF the blonde could have done to the car that was obviously running when they drove it to the parking lot. I think they decided to call in the exorcist. Whatever they did, they got it running.

Sort of.

We drove out to pick up the wizard of oz and when he got in the car, none of the dash lights worked. Not even the radio display would light up. Back to the future we went, with Husband muttering, “And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my automobile! And, you will know my name is The Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee!”

It wasn’t pretty.

:)

But all is not rotten in Denmark (or Missouri). Liz Strauss has stirred up a brouhaha worthy of the Witches of Eastwick with her post about women bloggers.

Yours truly and many other fabulous females are on the list, go check it out!

  • 45 Things by Anita Bruzzese
  • Ask Dr. Kirk
  • The Artsy Asylum by Susan Reynolds
  • Back in Skinny Jeans by Stephanie Quilao
  • BlogWrite for CEOs Debbie Weil
  • Biz Growth News by Krishna De
  • Brain Based Biz by Dr. Robyn McMaster
  • Brain Based Business by Dr. Ellen Weber
  • Brand Sizzle Anne Simons
  • Branding & Marketing Chris Brown
  • Brazen Careerist by Penelope Trunk
  • Build a Solo Practice, LLC by Susan Cartier Liebel
  • Christine Kane by Christine Kane
  • CK’s Blog CK (Christina Kerley)
  • Communication Overtones Kami Huyse
  • Conscious Business by Anne Libby
  • Conversation Agent Valeria Maltoni
  • Corporate PR Elizabeth Albrycht
  • Customers Rock! Becky Carroll
  • CustServ by Meikah David
  • Creative Curio by Lauren Marie
  • Debbie Millman by Debbie Millman
  • Deborah Schultz by Deborah Schultz
  • Deborah Woehr by Deborah Woehr
  • Designers Who Blog by Cat Morley
  • Design Your Writing Life by Lisa Gates
  • Diva Marketing Blog Toby Bloomberg
  • Do It Myself Blog by Glenda Watson Hyatt
  • Dooce by Heather B. Armstrong
  • Email Marketing Best Practices Tamara Gielen
  • Enter the Laughter by Marti Lawrence
  • Escape Blog by Melissa Petri
  • Escape from Cubicle Nation by Pamela Slim
  • eSoup by Sharon Sarmiento
  • Essential Keystrokes by Char
  • Every Dot Connects by Connie Reece
  • Fish Creek House by GP
  • Flooring The Consumer CB Whittemore
  • Forrester’s Marketing Blog Shar, Charlene, Chloe, Christine Elana, Laura and Lisa
  • Franke James by Franke James
  • Get Fresh Minds by Katie Konrath
  • Great Presentations Mean Business by Laura Athavale Fitton
  • Hey Marci by Marci Alboher
  • Get Shouty by Katie Chatfield
  • ifelse by Phu Ly
  • Inspired Business Growth by Wendy Piersall
  • J.T. O’Donnell Career Insights by J.T. O’Donnell
  • Joyful, Jubilant Learning by Rosa Say
  • Kinetic Ideas Wendy Maynard
  • Learned on Women by Andrea Learned
  • Lindsay Pollak by Lindsay Polla
  • Liz Strauss at Successful Blog by Liz Strauss
  • Lorelle on WordPress by Lorelle VanFossen
  • Making Life Work for You by April Groves
  • Manage to Change by Ann Michael
  • Management Craft by Lisa Haneberg
  • Marketing Roadmaps Susan Getgood
  • Moda di Magno by Lori Magno
  • Modite by Rebecca Thorman
  • Narrative Assets by Karen Hegman
  • Presto Vivace Blog Alice Marshall
  • Productivity Goal by Carolyn Manning
  • Small Biz Survival by Becky McCray
  • The Brand Dame by Lyn Chamberlin
  • Spare Change Nedra Kline Weinreich
  • Talk It Up Heidi Miller
  • Tech Kitten by Trisha Miller
  • The Copywriting Maven Roberta Rosenberg
  • The Blog Angel by Claire Raikes
  • The Engaging Brand by Anna Farmery
  • The Floozy Blog by Kate Coote
  • The Kiss Business Too by Karin H.
  • The Origin of Brands Laura Ries
  • The Parody by Sasha Manuel
  • The Podcast Sisters by Krishna De, Anna Farmery and Heather Gorringe
  • Water Cooler Wisdom by Alexandra Levit
  • Wealth Strategy Secrets by Nicola Cairncross
  • What’s Next Blog B L Ochman
  • That’s What She Said by Julie Elgar
  • Ypulse by Anastasia Goodstein
  • Now the list seems to be filling out nicely. What women bloggers can you add?

    - - -
    My apologies to darling Chase, who is a wonderful blogger. He tagged me for a meme, but I have a massive amount of editing facing me and I don’t have the time (or nearly as interesting of a story as he does!) so I must decline.
    I send him the very best wishes though, and appreciate the thought!

    Happy Friday to one and all!

    Categories: Family, Humor, Blogging, Memes, cars

    April 25, 2007

    WW #20 - When implants go bad

    Grandma in denial

    .
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    Click here for larger view and more pictures of this grandma in denial - if you dare! LOL!

    The Wordless Wednesday Blogroll

    You don’t need to be a participant to comment!
    For information on joining the fun, and the getting the blogroll code, please go here.

    PLEASE NOTE:
    This is a NEW world headquarters for Wordless Wednesday!


    Categories: Wordless-Wednesday, Humor, Memes

    April 19, 2007

    Doublethink

    Thinking Blogger Award

    Ya know those days when you say, “What did I do to deserve this?”

    I’m having a good one. Really. (Crowd gasps, the weak-of-heart faint dead away.)

    I was selected by not one, but TWO fabulous blogging buddies to receive a, “Thinking Blogger Award”.

    In the spirit of giving and receiving, I would like to thank the two friends who nominated me. (*cough*yourcheckisinthemail*cough*) LOL

    The participation rules are simple:

    1. If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think,
    2. Link to this post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme,
    3. Optional: Proudly display the ‘Thinking Blogger Award’ with a link to the post that you wrote.

    So of course I gotta tell ya, that Amy over at Amy’s Musings is the finest anti-soccer, not-a-mommyblogger blogging mother. She always speaks with a true voice. She always makes me smile. She graciously designs this blog for me, along with coding Jedi, Joefish of Feast of Crumbs (You gotta love a guy who can use dog poop as a child-rearing tool - LOL) Amy is always patient with me when I get some hair-brained idea to add something to the sidebar and throw the whole thing into chaos. She listens to me when I rant in long obscenity-filled e-mails. She is a helluva good friend.

    Karen Lee Field of Scribe’s Writing Desk also tagged me. She’s a terrific writer and blogger. She is an Australian fantasy writer of children’s chapter books. She has a quiet dignity and grace that I envy. Her posts are always thoughtful and filled with great information about writing.

    For blogging, writing, and life coaching there is all-round smart cookie, Liz Strauss of Successful Blogger. Nobody is as thoughtful and knowledgeable about blogging. I try not to miss Tuesday Open Mic Night, where bloggers gather for fabulous conversation, through hundreds of comments in a few short hours. Also check out SOBCon A fabulous event coming up for, “Taking Your Blogging to the Next Level”.

    If you are interested in books or writing, check out Grumpy Old Bookman and literary agent Nathan Bransford for intelligent and wickedly funny insights.

    For scathing and hilarious political commentary, I read Tony’s Kansas City. Tony profiles himself as, “Local artist/crackpot“.
    Even though we live out in the sticks, Kansas City is “my town”. I love its rich history of corruption, and nobody covers the happenings and modern-day debauchery like Tony.

    For travel, there is no one finer than Lazy Blogger. LZ Blogger is a serious misnomer when you read the fascinating posts about his travels.

    If you’re looking for some great recipes, I love The Queer Chef. Chase hails from the Philippines and currently lives in Norway. He is a charming and talented web designer and film student, in addition to offering heavenly delights for you. And cute as a button!

    For business, there is nobody smarter than Seth Godin. Author of multiple best-selling business books and founder of Squidoo. His blog is filled with witty and insightful remarks, and he has a heart of gold, making sure that Squidoo offers every user the opportunity to donate the earnings from their lenses (free webpages) to a charity of their choice. We’ve given over $25,000!
    He exemplifies what Web 2.0 is all about - innovation and communication.

    Need a laugh? I know some funny people! For essays, there are the Mikes -
    Michael Wicinski of The A.B.B.
    And
    Mike Cook at A Twist of Humor

    And if you want jokes, visit Hoss over at Old Horsetail Snake

    Or Miss Cellania

    Or It Occurred to Me

    Well, I overdid it again. That’s my style - LOL! I love every blog in my blogroll, and it was so hard to try to narrow it down. And I simply have to get a plug in for Groovy Old Lady who has a review of my book, Queen Klutz: The Misadventures of a Very Clumsy Woman. I’m almost afraid to tell you this, but it seems the bad luck rubbed off on her! As soon as it arrived, she got hit with the noreaster storm, had her power go out, slipped on the steps and had all of the electronics in her house go crazy.

    I have that effect everywhere I go - LOL!

    Best wishes to all of you for a wonderful day!

    **********************************
    UPDATE FRIDAY APRIL 20, 2007

    Over at Squidoo, a lens (webpage) is selected each day to be honored as “Lens of the Day”. Yesterday this notice was sent out:

    You know how it goes… you stumble across a lens here, a lens there, and you start noticing that they’re all by the same person. You think to yourself, wow, that person is really on the ball.

    Then you’re on some other cool site, like CafePress or Blurb or Facebook, and you see a page… and wait a minute… there’s that person again!

    Well, that’s how I’ve felt about Marti Lawrence and Kimberly Dawn Wells for months. They’re everywhere! And they always have great ideas and a kind word to share about their fellow lensmasters.

    So it’s no small wonder they became Citizen Squids a few months back.

    What DOES surprise me, though, is that I’ve never featured either of them for Lens of the Day. Gasp!

    I mean, if you want to browse and discover and get ideas for a vast range of lens layouts and topics, just spend some time on these ladies’ lenses.

    But I’ll let them tell you about their interests in their own words:

    http://www.squidoo.com/marti/

    http://www.squidoo.com/kimberlydawnwells/
    A huge thanks to Marti and Kimberly for their great work, for mentoring so many newbies, and for doing both with a smile.

    Woo-hoo! LOL! Happy Friday, everyone!

    Categories: Friends, Humor, Blogging, Memes

    April 18, 2007

    W W # 19 In Memoriam

    The Wordless Wednesday Blogroll

    You don’t need to be a participant to comment!
    For information on joining the fun, and the getting the blogroll code, please go here.

    PLEASE NOTE:
    This is a NEW world headquarters for Wordless Wednesday!


    Categories: Wordless-Wednesday, Memes

    January 17, 2007

    WW 17 - Ice Storm

    ice-needles-fade

    Ice Coated Pine Needles

    The Wordless Wednesday Blogroll

    You don’t need to be a participant to comment!
    For information on joining the fun, and the getting the blogroll code, please go here.


    Categories: Wordless-Wednesday, Humor, Memes

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