8/30 Kick Ass Blog

My friend Nancie nominated me for a Kick Ass Blog award. So here it is:



And I have to nominate five others. I nominate my brother Joe, my niece Kelly, my niece Beth, my brother Jeff, my nephew Adam, my nephew Eric, my niece Jenna, my daughter Beata, and my son Rob. Think that's enough? I nominated more than five because I didn't want to leave any family members out. And I can guarantee none of them will post it.

I love them anyway.

1/25 Let's talk about something silly

Since it's my lunchtime I'll accept my friend Monk's challenge to blog this meme:

How long have you been blogging?

Since December of 2004 and there have been very few days that I've missed.

What inspired you to start a blog and who are your mentors?

No real blogging mentors, although I do admire people who stick to it. It's not easy.

What inspired me to start blogging was that I'd always written travelogues for my family and friends. When I went to New Zealand, Australia, and Okinawa I'd email everyone about the fun I was having. By the time I moved to the UK for five months, blogging had been developed and this was a much easier way to communicate to my family/friends.

After I returned to the states my blog became a lot more boring, hence the title of this blog.


Are you trying to make money online, or just doing it for fun?

For fun.


What 3 things do you love about being online?

Basically I've met so many great people. In 1995 I joined an online writers' community and have met many of those folks face to face. They've become dear friends and it's all because of being online.

What 3 things do you struggle with online?

The hardest thing is to remember that this is a public forum. And also that people can (and do) misinterpret what one says. When anyone has criticized me about being boring or self-centered, I just say, "Stop reading it." It's my blog and I'll write about what I want.

I kept diaries for many years. In some ways, this has replaced it. In others, no--I can't write my innermost thoughts. But my blog has helped me keep so many memories alive for myself. That's a really good thing.

I tag my niece Kelly, my daughter-in-law Beata, my son Rob, and my brother Joe. Will they respond? Maybe Kelly will.

1/8 Quick note over lunch

What about you? (Got this from my niece Kelly's blog.)

72%How Addicted to Blogging Are You?

12/15 Google Reader

I meant to talk about this last week. My friend, Dave, mentioned how much he likes Google Reader, so I subscribed. It's a way to organize all the blogs you read. It tells me when they are updated. That way I don't have to go to Rob's blog every day to see if he posted, when we all know he does it once or twice a year. (This year he made a liar out of me and posted three times, I think.) Anyway, now I can subscribe to more blogs and other things, and it doesn't take any time at all to keep up with them.

12/15 No more anonymous

No more anonymous comments for me! I turned on the new Blogger feature where anyone with an "Open ID" blog ID (from Blogger, AOL, Wordpress, etc.) can leave a comment. And anyone with a Google or Yahoo ID can leave one too. So if you have a blog identity anywhere, or you have a gmail address you can leave a comment.

Please don't let this stop you from leaving a comment. It's quite easy to register. This is one way I can stop spam comments without having folks go through the confirmation process of trying to figure out what the heck those letters and numbers are.

I've been wrapping presents to take to NC and to Quincy. And also a few to take to a gift exchange at Caroline's tomorrow night.

Soon I need to get the dogs out for their walks, but right now they're both sleeping, so maybe it would be a good idea for me to lie down too!

12/7 I've been absent

Sorry for the scarcity of blog entries, but I've been working late every night. It just seems there aren't enough hours in the day. And when I am finally finished working, I play with the dogs. They miss me. And I sure miss them. Wednesday night they had to stay at Pampered Pets because I couldn't get there before closing. So last night I made sure I picked them up and brought them home before going back to work.

These pictures are of my dining room and kitchen. The table isn't my regular one but the one I put up when people are coming over to play cards. Rob put up the shelf which contains some of my lovely items from Okinawa, including two beautiful tea sets from Rob and Beata.

10/29 Me and the dogs

I never say I am the dog's "mom." Never. It kind of makes me shiver when people say that too much about their animals. Yet, yesterday when both my dogs posted I found out that they see me as their mom. Didn't know that before.

So I guess I'm their Mom. Hope Rob and Jill aren't going to be jealous.

10/28 Cookie here

Don't know why Quincy got to go first. I'm the oldest. She's six months younger than I am and just because she picked me out at the Humane Society she thinks she's the boss of me. Mom says she has a hard time taking pictures of me because I'm always too close to her. I love her so much and know that she needs me to be close all the time. She and Quincy saved my life and so I want her to know I'm there for her.

Here's about me:

1. I am sweet. Really, really sweet. When you meet me I am shy and my tail is between my legs, but it's wagging while it's there. I like people and I like other dogs.

2. For someone so sweet it might surprise you that I chew up everything I can. Mom keeps me in a crate while she's gone because once I ate through an electric cord and she doesn't want me to get hurt. Isn't she the best?

3. I like the crate so much that I sleep there at night. The door is open so sometimes I jump on the bed with Mom and lick her nose while she's sleeping. She says, "Oooh, gross," but she laughs and hugs me. So I think she really likes it.

4. I had a rough life before I came here to live forever. It's too hard to talk about but I'm what they call a "stray." I lived out in the woods and was really hungry. I eat like a little piggy Mom says. But I've gained weight and now I'm beautiful again.

5. Quincy is white and I'm a beautiful chocolate brown with red glints. They say I'm a chocolate lab mix, but no one (except me) knows what I'm mixed with. I've heard Irish Setter, pointer, Weimereiner, and more. But I'm not telling. I just look like a miniature chocolate lab. And I'm special.

6. They named me Cookie at the Humane Society. Mom didn't like it at first, but decided to keep it because I'm smart and already knew my name. Now she loves my name because she loves me.

7. I love wrestling with Quincy. She is so much fun and loves to play with me. I let her think she's the boss, just because it doesn't matter.

8. I wish I could meet the rest of my family. Mom says almost everyone has a dog. It must be a wonderful family, Rob and Beata have three dogs. And Mom said they saved all three. Wow. Jill saved her dog Sadie too. I know they'd love me if they could meet me.

Guess I'm talking a lot. That's because Quincy is taking a nap and I can finally get some attention.

This is a picture of me trying to find a new place to dig. I didn't know Mom was so close. She's very tricky and stops me from digging. I still love her.


I know Quincy tagged most of the family dogs but I'm tagging Kirby, Bailey, Storm, Maggie, and Ellie's brother whose name I can't remember.

They don't have blogs but they could talk to me in the comment section. Wish I could meet them. It's good to have a family.

10/28 Quincy here

A friend of Mom's--Carolyn from Texas--had her Siberian Husky Shelby post a blog. So Mom decided I should do this. Here are the rules:

1. Link to your tagger and post these rules.
2. List eight (8) random facts about yourself.
3. Tag eight dogs at the end of your post and list their names (linking to them).
4. Let them know they’ve been tagged by leaving them a comment on their blogs.

My random facts:

1. My name is Quincy. Mom named me that because she's homesick for her hometown of Quincy. It's kind of a silly name but I answer to it. She got me when I was eight weeks old. I was beautiful.

2. I love my Mom but she's a pushover most of the time. She tells people she's the boss but we know who really is.

3. I have the softest fur ever. It's true. Just ask me.

4. I'm probably the whitest yellow lab you've ever seen. It makes it more fun to roll in the mud. That's my favorite thing about our yard. There's lots of muddy spaces. Mom pretends to be mad, but I just jump right into the bathtub and that makes her laugh.

5. I know how to behave, but sometimes choose not to do so. I love playing with toys and have chewed up every toy Mom bought me. Except for one--Mom said she's going to buy lots of them so I can have one wherever I go. (Oh, Cookie chewed up the seatbelts in the backseat. She's bad.)

6. I'm 8 1/2 months old and 68 pounds. Mom doesn't like to weigh a lot, but I do. It's fun growing bigger and bigger. Mom calls me Marmaduke sometimes because I look like the Great Dane in the comics.

7. I was glad when we adopted Cookie. She's okay, because she knows I'm the boss. I like wrestling with her.

8. I have a "pelvic bladder" which means I have to go to the bathroom a lot. Mom doesn't get mad that I wake her up in the middle of the night. That's one of the reasons I love her.

I have to tag eight dogs---here they are: Sadie, Bobby, Bella, Chilli, Rocky, Max, Ellie, and Cookie. (Don't feel left out--the rest of the family dogs will be tagged in Cookie's blog.)