2008 in review: Blogland and beyond
Hey. Still grateful here.
Just a little more than a year ago, we decided at the last minute to go to Norway for the holidays. My husband’s grandmother was gravely ill, and we hoped to see her one more time. (She died just a few days before we got there.)
I put out a desperate call to a bunch of blogfriends, asking if they would be willing to guest post in my absence. I was humbled with the response. I had guest posts for almost every day I was away.
So I’m still grateful.
For …
For …
Linda Jones for letting me blog at You’ve Got Your Hands Full.
Linda also gave me free rein to redesign the blog, which I did over my crazy summer. I had some hits and misses. A photographer promised the use of an image then wouldn’t return e-mails or telephone calls. So I scrambled for a suitable replacement, and I got something even better. I called on someone I knew, Kristine Freed.
With the help of Kristine and Sherilyn Brinker of Brinker-Freed Photographyand new mother-of-twins Kerrin Laari and her 5-week-old babies, Elise and Ian, I had a fabulous image to use on the blog.
None of it would have happened, though, without Jo-Lynne at DCR Design. She made the header and buttons, arranged and rearranged everything and even called me to give me a crash course in making my own changes. (Though I’m still fairly hopeless in that department.) I would have made a big announcement on the blog by now, but I’m having technical difficulties with Typepad, and I haven’t been able to sign on. As soon as I get it figured out, though, I’ll get something posted.
For …
For …
Citizen of the Month for a great experience, The Interview Experiment, and meeting two new blogfriends at A Juicy Life (now Notre Vie Juteuse since she moved to France) and The Would-Be Writers Guild.
For …
For …
Bob for his review of Final Salute.
For …
For …
- Everyone who stopped by to read and/or comment.
Happy New Year.
Posted by Becky @
3:46 pm |
Weird things happen in my dreams
I was reading a blog post (in my dream) by Sarah about us hanging out with Patrick Swayze. In Tampa. And she had pictures. (They were good.)
As we were reading her blog post, we were also hanging out with other celebrity boys. (I can’t remember who now.) We were headed out the door when my telephone rang. We all stopped and listened. It was Teddy Kennedy saying to my answering machine, “Hi, Becky. It’s Edward. Blah-blah-blah-de-blah.”
I was all, let’s get outta here, hurry! And I was relieved he didn’t have my cell number.
What’s more disturbing?
1) That I still had an answering machine?
or
2) That Teddy Kennedy was leaving a message on it?
or
3) That Teddy Kennedy apparently knew where I lived?
Posted by Becky @
7:51 pm |
Weird things happen on Twitter
So I was on Twitter, and I said I didn’t watch The Today Show, and I said something not terribly flattering about Ann Curry. Before the end of the night? The Today Show was following me on Twitter. Do you think they really care what I have to say … or are they just pulling an Abraham Lincoln on me?
Posted by Becky @
10:04 pm |
Why do I sense Oprah is on Obama’s short list?
Because — as Eric Deggans reported — Sanjay Gupta is apparently being considered for Surgeon General. You know. Of the United States.
And Leon Panetta? Really?
Posted by Becky @
9:24 pm |
We’ll take a cup o’ kindness yet, for auld lang syne
I’ve heard so many people say about last year, “Good riddance!” and “Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.” Yeah, 2008 sucked in many ways. Even so, I’m … grateful.
Don’t worry. I’m not going permanently smarmy. I have plenty of complaints and pessimism to last the rest of the year. But for now, I’m grateful.
In a year where losses piled on losses, I have so much. I have a wonderful husband who still loves me after all these years. I have three beautiful children. I live closer to the rest of my family than I ever have before. I have shelter, warmth, companionship and love.
Wishing you all of this and more … happy New Year.
Posted by Becky @
8:48 pm |
Verizon buys Alltel
Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
Do you know what this means?
Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
Wait. Does that mean I can get my ringtones back?
Oh, never mind.
Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
Posted by Becky @
9:10 pm |
All the king’s horses and all the king’s men
Does twice make a trend?
Gov. Bill Richardson withdraws from commerce secretary nomination … blah, blah, blah … pay-to-play.
Posted by Becky @
4:44 pm |
Put your pride on the shelf … just go to the Y.M.C.A.
January 3, 2009 | Stuff
I joined the Y the other day.
You know what that means. (Besides that I didn’t win a Wii Fit from Loser Moms.)
I’ll have to shave my legs.
There goes a layer of insulation.
Now, I wonder if I’ve unpacked my does-this-make-me-look-fat black, one-piece swimming suit.
Posted by Becky @
8:20 pm |
Here comes The Sun
Anyone read The Sun? (It’s “an independent, ad-free monthly magazine that for more than thirty years has used words and photographs to invoke the splendor and heartache of being human.”)
My favorite part is the “Readers Write” section. Not to disparage the “emerging and established artists” who write for the magazine, but “Readers Write” often packs a wallop. It sort of reminds me of Post Secrets thing.
Anyway.
The magazine comes up with a list of broad topics requiring non-fiction writing from readers, and the readers … they write.
On “Saying Yes” …
Right from the start I found it all too easy to accommodate my only son. He was well-behaved, got good grades, and smiled easily. I wanted him to be happy, no matter what it took. Even his potential pain was more than I could bear. (They really should come with instruction manuals.)
Over the years I said yes a lot — to speed skates, bmx bikes, the latest shoes, and the smelly hair product that rendered his beautiful curly hair straight so it would match everyone else’s at school. When he asked for a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle birthday cake, I got out the green food coloring and used white Chiclets for the turtle’s teeth.
That little boy with the easy smile is all grown up now. Every Wednesday I wait for my phone to ring. The calls come from a state correctional facility surrounded by tall fences topped with razor wire. When the automated operator asks if I will accept the collect call, I press 1 to say yes.
Erika Webb
DeLand, Florida
Posted by Becky @
10:33 pm |
How much is that doggie in the window?
I bought a pillow a while back for the dog’s bed and saved it for Christmas, when she “wouldn’t be chewing everything up.”
What was I thinking.
This is the dog who eats ice, snow, wood and rocks. Who devoured a new toy in 20 seconds flat … literally, poof! gone. Who inhales pig ears and rawhide bones. Who ate the bark off the amazing apple tree … will that kill the tree?
(Don’t worry. She eats plenty of real food. I’ll have to start collecting it in a semi-trailer at the farmer’s co-op soon. That’s how much real food she eats.)
Who chewed through a medium-thick vinyl-coated galvanized-steel tie-out cable.
(And, no, she’s not tied up 24/7. She hasn’t even been tied up since then because she’s always been good about staying in the back yard behind the house. Today? I found her on the edge of the highway.)
When I bought a heavy-duty cable a couple of weeks ago, the checkout guy said, “Wow. You must have a big dog.”
Well, yeah. She’s a big puppy, and she already chewed through one of these.
“One of these metal ones?!?”
Yup.
She’s already started working her way through the new one.
She’ll chew on it for extra measure even when she’s not attached to the end of it.
I give it, oh, three weeks tops before I run out of ways to keep her off the highway.
See that little Santa collar with the bells?
After I put that on her, I completely thought it would be in shreds the next morning, and I’d find her chewing on the metal bells. She apparently likes it, though.
Her new pillow? Not so much.
That’s after all the innards had been stuffed back inside. The reason she doesn’t hang out much in the living room? Because I don’t want my sofa to look like that. And, believe me, it would.
I’m reading this book, written by Paul Owens, The Original Dog Whisperer. (I didn’t realize there was more than one. Now I know.)
I’m really trying, y’all. But this is the reaction I get.
If that’s what she did when I tell her to “sit,” that would be great. But this is what I get when I tell her to “come.”
I watched Cesar Millan on Dog Whisperer recently.
Please tell me it’s not a bunch of smoke and mirrors. Please tell me he doesn’t spend three weeks training some dog and make it look like it takes him three minutes.
If either one of these whispering guys can teach me how to get my dog to do ANYTHING in three minutes (three days or, heck, even three weeks)? I’ll make him a turkey dinner.
Or, I don’t know. Maybe I need an exorcist.
Sigh.
Why didn’t I get a hamster?
Posted by Becky @
9:56 pm |
