This is what I love about blogging....

I can be in my own little suburban world with my own thoughts and feelings about the world, not really keeping up with the "stuff" going on in the world. But then I visit a blog like Philly Transplant where Sparky Duck's Thursday Thirteen just blew me away with the words to Pink's song and Pink's Video There are others out there who feel the way I do. What has happened to the idea that we are a democracy where we are governed by the people? This president just isn't one of us. Born with a silver spoon, coddled through prep schools and colleges, called National Guard serving his country when he basically skipped out through most of it and had all his failing businesses, and yet surround him with smart, rich neo-cons, he is now our president. Do we really elect the best person possible for president? Or are we electing the richest? (Or is the richest buying the election?)

Here's another blog that makes me think every week, Buck Naked Politics. This week it was the 13 differences between American and British Political Systems. Can you just imagine our president having to answer questions without a script? How about that voting system?

I love to smile and laugh through Thursday Thirteen (Thanks BohoRap for the introduction to the Urban Dictionary...) and I like to see that I am not alone in my domestic survival. However, I do love learning that others are out there being politically active and engaging others in political discussions. We can hate the war and support our troops, One Gal's Musings has a great post from July about Operation Shoebox and this is something that I plan on doing this month. I also plan to pay more attention to the candidates coming through NH and to listen with my brain and not my emotions.

I worry about a war that is putting our troops in danger. I worry that healthcare costs will cripple our country. I wonder who is paying for the ads that are linking 9/11 to the war in Iraq. I wonder who will be Karl Rove's next marionette. What do you worry or wonder about?

Nice Matters Award

What a nice surprise to find out that I was given an award by the Gal over at One Gal's Musings. Gal writes often and she claims that I make her laugh...she is a diehard Cubs fan and has dead on humorous observations on her blog. Plus it helps that politically we are soul sisters. Someday, I will get out to Chicago to visit another friend and perhaps I will meet the Gal and go to a ball game.

"This award is for those bloggers who are nice people; good blog friends and those who inspire good feelings and inspiration. Also for those who are a positive influence on our blogging world. Once you've been awarded please pass it on to 7 others who you feel are deserving of this award."

Just today I was thinking about how much I enjoy blogging. It's so much fun to write the Thursday Thirteens and then to go off and read others'. From the Thursday Thirteens, I have quite a few bloggers that I read frequently, (Thank God for Google Reader!!) Then I thought there are a few bloggers that I would love to meet and hang out with in person, only because through their blogs it's easy for me to make a connection with them.

It's hard to come up with just seven, but here are seven bloggers that I would like to pass the Nice Matters Award. The first three are bloggers that have helped me with my blog and came by just enough in the beginning to make me feel that there were people out there reading my blog!

1. Shelly at This Eclectic Life: One of the first bloggers that I made a connection with, she has made so many friends through blogging and has a great project going, Share a Square to have as many bloggers as possible crochet a square, or two, or three to make afghans for children with cancer next summer. I would love to hang out with Shelly, crochet and then hit up some coffee shops with her. But I just don't know about that Texas weather....so Shelly, you can come up here anytime.
2. Tea at Teatime Ramblings: Another one of the first bloggers that I connected with, our kids are similar in ages, she's crafty and we have the same interests in books. I have said this before, but Tea seems like such a sweet person that I just wish she lived closer so we could have a cup of tea, talk about books and knit or crochet. Right now she has a contest where you just have to post a banner and you are entered in for a drawing for 5 hand knitted dishcloths. I may have a bag of cotton yarn ready to make some of these myself, but where is the time?
3. Janet at Life in Westcliffe was one of the bloggers that Shelly and hooked up with through BlogU, we were all learning how to play with our templates. Even now when I have a question about changes, Janet is someone that has been a great resource for me. It was her suggestion to for me to use a picture I had posted for this banner. I would love to sit outside at her cabin and watch the wild life with her, it seems so peaceful.
   
4. Jessica at This Life Rantastic: Boy, she's one rocking chick, and as snarky as she can be in her observations of life, she is a supportive blogger. Her blogs make me smile! And the world needs more smiles....Now if we can only figure out how to get her to the Technorati A-list....
5. Harlekwin at Boho Rap: A newer blogger, but boy talk about creative! She gets this award b/c she is so personable in her comments and writing. Her blog is beautiful and she did it all....but here's the best part, if you were to ask her how she did something...she takes the time to share. Now I just got to figure out how to meet her and work in her shop for just a week...
   
6. Paulie at Paulie's Postcards: Paulie is a newer blogger that I met in round about way through a Teacher forum that I lurk on. Paulie's comments are helpful when I make changes and I am inspired by the photos that she takes on her walks. Talk about finding the good,beauty in anything.
   
7. Susan at West of Mars: Susan has one of the more unique blogs on the Thursday Thirteen, she has written a book, Trevor's Song about a rock band and I was thrown off at first not knowing what the blog was about. Soon I was able to pick up on it and Sue's comments are always positive in her responses at her blog and on others' comments.

#21 Thursday Thirteen, 13 Favorite Thursday Thirteens

For the anniversary of the Thursday Thirteen, I came up with a few of my favorites. This was not an easy thing to do! I love hopping around the blogosphere on Wednesday evenings and Thursdays where I read so many posts about ordinary people with a love for writing and sharing. I love that from linking to one, I can keep going and learning about so much. There is such an extreme in politics, religion and family life out there and you know what, there's something for everyone out there. Here is my list in no apparent order.

1. I love Thursday Thirteens where the bloggers share their creations and I have the following two sites bookmarked for Thursday Thirteen Headers, Title Deleted, Thursday 13 Return of the headers and Teatime Ramblings Headers

2. This is one I want to do someday, 13 things I will never say to my kids Tea has such a nice demeanor, that I can just see her alter ego saying these things to her children with a gleam in her ey.

3. I am till in awe of Vader's Mom, Thirteen Food from the 2006 Texas State Fair, from Fried coke to Fried Mac 'n Cheese, this is truly a list of everything fried. We just aren't that creative with our food here in New England.

4. Through blogging I have learned that I am not the only one who does stupid things. Reading blogs like This Eclectic Life: I Should have Known better with her Thirteen Life lessons and all with humor of course from dogs relieving themselves on her head smelling of vinegar to clothing disasters is a good indicator that I am not alone!

5. As you can see by my sidebar, I am joining in the Share a Square and Thorne last week shared 13 different granny square patterns with pictures. Besides the squares, I enjoy Thorne's site and the Sirens Song blog where she blogs with other women about:Bitchy politics, culture critiques, manners, morals & random thoughts served with hot chicken soup & a loaded .45 caliber handgun in the apron pocket.* Just my kind of blog reading!

6. I like lists where you learn and since I have been known to enjoy wine, I bookmarked these two lists to look at before my next wine tasting event. From Pistols, Passion and Potions : Wine Tasting Terms and 13 ways to develop your Wine Palette . I may have to write them down on my wrist to be able to remember them, but at least I might be able to look and act knowledgeable before my 4th, 5th or 6th glass.

7. A lot of bloggers write musical Thursday Thirteens. Last week over at Dog's Eye View, L^2 had a list of songs that she called the 13 Possible Theme songs of her Life . A playlist was included where you could hear the songs on her blog, which made this very cool! I liked that the songs that I didn't know, I was able to hear them while reading the list. ( L^2 knows her music, even if she doesn't like Love Shack, go figure! )

8. My own favorite Thursday Thirteen is the Thirteen Places you would never find me. Think of the worst job ever for yourself, a fun and easy list for me since I can get motion sickness walking down stairs with bifocals...

The following are Five Thursday Thirteen Bloggers that I have not gotten around to sharing some Link Love. Link Love was started by Shelly at This Eclectic Life and I have fallen behind in sharing some of the sites that I have found through Thursday Thirteen where I go back for more.
9. Cooking by the Seat of my Pants- Need some Recipes? Great Template and organization. 13 Quotes From my Culinary Idols.

10. The Hidden Side of a Leaf - At lost for reading material? Dewey has it all! I missed this one about Calvin and Hobbes, our family's all time favorite comic strip.

11.Books, Lists and Life- Yep, more books, and a gorgeous template. Here is Lisa's TT about her new blog with questions about blog templates.

12.The Daily Cat Chase- I love her template, clean with a nice Winnie the Pooh Theme. This Thirteen list is about Thirteen things she would like to learn.

13. A Spot of Tea has a twist on the Thursday Thirteen, she writes Thankful Thursday Thirteens, that's a nice way to write about your week!

It's hard to find the newer Thursday Thirteeners, don't you find yourself going back to the same bloggers? My challenge every week is to try to go to at least 3 new blogs. How do you all do it?Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

#4 Link Love

Shelly over at This Eclectic Life began a little Link Love for Thursday Thirteen participants who spend a little bit more time on blogs visited during Thursday Thirteen. I usually read more than just the lists to see if it's a blog that I may go back and read for other posts beyond the 13. I realize now that I will never have enough time to read all these blogs every day. Having the blogs listed on my blog does give me a quick and easy reference to link back to these blogs. Link Love provides me the opportunity to highlight the Thursday Thirteeners
that caught my eye for the week. If you like this idea and want to participate, GO FOR IT, the world needs more love. Read more about Link Love, at This Eclectic Life.com

• Title Deleted for Security Reasons : Once again, the title of the blog intrigued me. Laughing Muse has one of the most original blogs going with a sci-fi theme. This week there were 13 headers available for Thursday Thirteen that she designed herself. She is also trying to win "Help me Blog for a Year" and if you check out her site, throw a vote her way. She has cats and knows her way around the web design since she has been operating a web site since 1995.
  
  
• The Screaming Pages: (title is catchy...) A Canadian blogger who is an Instructional Designer, don't know what that is? I didn't either and after her 13 list of jobs that she wanted when she was growing up, she wrote a post about Instructional design. She's a very good writer with a very cool template.
  
  
• Vader's Mom: Vader is a beautiful black lab and his Mom loves to blog. She writes about all kinds of subjects. I have to say though, that her Thursday Thirteen from two weeks ago is one of the most memorable that I have read. The list was about all the food available at the Texas State Fair, to this Weight Watcher blogger from the Northeast, the list was just mind boggling to me. ( I can't link directly to the list, but it is her #6 TT and it was the first week in April)
  
  
• Snarkypants: No list this past week, but two weeks ago, she wrote about, 13 things I like and don't like about blogging. Reading further into her blog, she and I share a lot of common interests, politics, music and books. Love her byline: A clean house is the sign of a broken computer and of course, we all know what snarky means.....
  
  
• TinaLina time: A middle school teacher from Florida who is able to write about her school day in a lighthearted what the heck were they thinking style instead of whining about her job. It's refreshing! Her thirteen list this week was about songs that make you smile which was fun to read. The latest post, Snooty Middle School girls was about her conversations with two rebel young ladies in her class, been there, done that, but she handled it well. Oh, and she enjoys stuff on cats, so it's a blog that I like to visit.

There's my LINK LOVE list for the week of April 9th, enjoy!

Thinking Blogger Award

Shelly from This Eclectic Life has tagged me for the Thinking Blogger Award. There are rules that go along with the award:
1. If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to blogs that make you think,
2. Link to this post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme, ( click on the thinking blogger award)
3. Optional: Proudly display the 'Thinking Blogger Award' with a link to the post that you wrote (here is an alternative silver version if gold doesn't fit your blog).

Thinking, thinking, the blogs that make me think, not just smile! Ummm, this is a tough one, since I like to think that we all blog for different reasons. I blog to share my thoughts, my musings, and my intent is to keep an online journal of what is going on in my life. Reading other blogs, I am looking to see what is going on around this world. What's important to others, or what is the minutiae in their lives that makes it to their blogs. There is a lot of sharing that goes on, recipes, family stories, traditions and talented writing beyond the Thursday 13s and other Memes. So in random order, here are the blogs that share information which causes me to think. These are all repeats from my Links to love, except for Di's, but all worth mentioning again.

1. JonTillman's Web site has links to political stories and insight into the British Culture as an American living in England.
2. Di's Book Blog, I am a voracious reader and enjoy going to blogs that write about books. I may not always comment at Di's, but I do read her blog to see what she is reading, and what can I say, she enjoys Pat Conroy books!
3. Tea Time Ramblings, another reader and a knitter, but also someone who shares her religion in a non- in your face way. Her blog makes me think about my religious upbringing and lack of religion in my life. She is a cyber friend that I would enjoy hanging out with, just knitting and chatting.
4. Wacky Mommy.org, a mom with a healthy perspective to life. WM writes about her family with humor, honesty and style. She makes me think that I need to lighten up and enjoy my family more.

Week # 2, Five New Links to Love

Here is my second edition of Five New Links to Love, started by Shelly at This Eclectic Life. The premise of the Five links is to find five blogs through reading Thursday 13 lists that have you reading beyond the 13. The following is a random list of five blogs that I go back and read more than just the 13 for that week.

The first is Shiloh Walker's Blog. Shiloh is a romance writer with a beautiful template on her blog. I used to joke about becoming a romance writer based on the number that I have read through the years, so Shilow is living my alternative life and doing a great job of it. I particularly liked her most recent post which was a rebuttal to an ignorant man's comment about women who read romance novels.

The next blog beckoned me with the name of the blog, Twisted Cinderella, Happily Ever After, and in her list of 13 had some soup recipes. We have a weight loss journey in common and I am a sucker for recipes!

A Little Piece of Me is written by Claire who is a student in England, and she has been teaching using the 13 lists to teach us some British Slang. Claire helped me a couple of weeks ago to figure out some code on my page, it was nice to make that connection through the 13 list. I love reading about life in England from a college student, since my son may be over there next year as a student. She has a great sense of humor and has a lot of fun pictures on her site. Plus, how many Beaver leaders do you know?

I found the next blog through a comment left on mine, Turning the Pages of Life. I like Gene's profile, "Just someone who thinks that people take life way too seriously at times. No, we can't laugh and joke all the time, but neither do we have to walk around depressed because we discovered a hangnail on our left big toe. Hey, lighten up a little, slow down a bit, try taking it easy for a change". I love the comic strip at the beginning of the blog. It's a lighthearted blog and he also has some great pictures for Wordless Wednesdays.

Wacky Mommy is a mom that I can identifiy with, her posts are funny, to the point when they need to be and she sounds like a fun person to hang around with. Her posts about her family life are funny and she has a witty style to her writing. The first list that I read was about all the reasons that she had to leave Portland, Oregon, 13 reasons why Portland is lousy but now that the move is more in the future, she came up with a list of the positives without sounding like she was stuck, Why I am Happy Where I Am. Plus, for someone who forgets to cook dinner, she does have some good recipes on her blog.

There's my five new links to love and share for the week! What finds have you come up with this past week?

Sagacious Saturday

sagacious |səˈgā sh əs| adjective having or showing keen mental discernment and good judgment; shrew

I am taking on Shelly's Challenge to comment and provide links to five blogs that I read during Thursday 13 that I will continue to go back and visit. Please read Shelly's post, she writes about making connections through blogging eloquently in her post " Thursday Thirteen Challenge: Link Love. This past week during the TT13, I did read a few of the posts that some of the Thirteeners had written and came up with a list in no particular order of five interesting blogs.

Jontillman.com
Blog written by a househusband who left the internet corporate life to live "the good life" in London. He is an excellent writer with a sense of thoughfulness in his posts. Today's post is on Illiteracy in America which struck a nerve with me, so I posted a comment. He writes on a variety of subjects and it is interesting to hear a perspective of America from someone living abroad. Plus, I am very, very envious of his blog, since it is professional looking and includes excerpts of posts with drop downs.

Palm Tree Fanatic
The name pulled me in and reading beyond the Thirteen, here's a mom who is busy like me and includes pictures of projects that she has done at home along with recipes. If you're a mom and can do all that, then I want your recipes! I have her bookmarked to go back and read about her life.

Teatime Ramblings
Teamouse linked to me through Amy's Random Thoughts and before I even got to Tea's blog, I was already reading another blog that she participates in about knitting. Tea is a reader and a knitter, since I am always on the lookout for another book or project, this is a blog that I plan on going back to.

Daisy Dexter Dobbs (The Dazed Delirious Dialogue of a Romantic Comedy Writer)
Her list this week was 13 Things to do before I die which in the beginning had contradictions. This lady is a a writer of romance, chick lit and women's fiction including erotic romance. Her posts are funny and life needs fun, so I have bookmarked her site to return for a smile. She is also a fellow Weight Watcher and says that all of her heroines wear double digit sizes!

Writer Cramps
Gattina is a German living in Belgium and is a cat lover. I just loving reading blogs outside of the states and she has great sense of humor. This past 13 list was original: 13 things I hear in my fitness club, and included some very funny pictures. She has 4 cats and I do love reading stories of cats to make sure that ours are indeed normal and not alien creatures.

There's my list, so go out and share the "link love"!