Blog Etiquette 101 - How Do You Approach Blogworld?

Am pondering on blogiquette. How do you view it? If someone comments on your blog, do you respond? I do sometimes, and sometimes think "Oh I must come back and address that..." and then forget.

I guess with the blogs I follow I view it a little like conversation. If it strikes a chord, I'll join in and comment, if it strikes home I may well do my own post here and link back. I just adore how many different worlds we all come from, it makes for far more interesting blog relations and a greater learning experience. Taking the time to walk in another's life shoes. And whilst I simply love finding new blogs, the bigger my list grows the more I find the title/intro which shows up on my reading list has to really grab my interest for me to open it up (just a tip peoples).

I also must admit to wondering about the new followers who NEVER comment. Is it because they are shy, nervous or is it just a lack of interest in what is posted here? I always have a look at the info they post, will go read their blogs if linked in their about me, and of course follow IF they strike a chord.

What about you? What is your take on blogworld? I promise I'll answer this time, lol.

Followers, Followers, Where Art Thou Followers? Flog Yo Blog Friday!

Yeah, yeah. You know the drill.

Go to MummyTime , read the rules

Then follow ME you silly fools

Cause I'm stuck on 99

True followers for all time!

Trying hard to reach the ton

But no-one seems to join my fun.

So come on in, I'm not that bad

I am not stupid, just sometimes MAD!

And seriously you must admit

That sometimes we all need a Bitch

To fight for us, take on another

And what better choice than THE Madmother.

Mwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha...

Awards - Blog Love Even when I am a Bad Madmother...

Still on the housekeeping, bad, bad me trail... I have a *few* awards that I have been remiss in accepting, acknowledging, passing on.

Bad Madmother, bad, bad, naughty Madmother!

And as usual, I will probably forget some... Really, I am not worthy and as such a slackarse maybe you should consider me an ungrateful wench to whom no awards nor meme's be passed.

So working back again from latest to oldest I will start with this one:

The gorgeous kakka @ The Half Full Glass saw fit to bestow The Sunshine Award to me a little while ago (thanks sweets).

 I apparently need to list a few things that make me happy. Let's see. My two boys. Oh, my two boys, and of course my two boys.

Yes, they are a *little older, bigger, maybe even wiser now than here.

My wonderful husband, Big Boy, who I still love deeply even nearly twenty years down the track, who won't let me post photos. Honestly, he is such a tolerant, supportive man and I am blessed to be growing old with him.

My beautiful mother, Wise Woman, about whom I will be doing a post over the weekend, continuing my fuzzy five family posts of which I only completed three.

The wonderous part of the world in which we reside.

The incredible generousity of spirit of the women in my life, on the web, and in person and those who are flowing between both.


And as for passing it on - I was going to follow my previous post and bestow it freely on those willing to accept, but I have to give it to one person in particular.


Ro, over at Get Over It... I Did. A newish friend, and one whose posts make me laugh, cry, and wish I had her talent with the written word (envy is the term methinks). I felt like I knew her immediately. You know, that loud *click* you sometimes get upon meeting someone, and you just know you are going to be friends. Her blog is one I read and go: "Hell, yeah. That's what I meant to say!"

This wonderful woman rang me last night. She was concerned because of the tone of my blog posts of late. Now, I have a confession, one I made to her last night.

Whilst the previous week or so prior to this one, had been hellish in ASDland, this week was bad for another reason. My lack of sleep. It is still linked into Boy 1 somewhat, as it was due to him suffering nightmares and coming down to me seven nights in a row. I don't normally mind, but find I do not go back to sleep usually. So from anywhere onwards of 2am, I was awake. I finally put my foot down (as it was obvious he was playing on it and happy to be in my bed), but that night Boy 2 suffered the same. Not his fault, and as he so rarely has the issue, there was no way I was telling him to go back to his own bed.  So night eight was a no catch up night. By this time it was Wednesday of last week. The next two nights, well, I had lost the ability to sleep.


No sleep = no cope. No Blog. No rationality.

But, it was a wonderful surprise when the phone rang last night and a bemused, confused Big Boy hands it over going: "It's Ro, from Melbourne?"

As sleep deprived as I was it was a fantastic surprise! And (I think) the start of a really good friendship. We talked, it felt as though we HAD known each other for years.

And last night I slept the sleep of the dead. All the nights of insomnia gone, *poof*. And I put it down to you Ro. Your lovely generous heart, reaching out to a stranger, taking a risk and extending the hand of friendship and empathy.

I cannot write this as well as you would, but thank you my friend. It meant a lot. And so The Sunshine Award goes to you.


Awwww, hell. Now I've spoilt my bad girl reputation, haven't I?

A Catch Up, Excuses, and Some Housekeeping

It seems I tend to do this a lot. Apologise, I mean. At times one of the wheels fall off this household cart, and as I run alongside holding the axle off the ground I lose my Blojo somewhere along the way. The last couple of weeks this has happened yet again. And so my blog sorta gathers dust for a while. So *cue whining grovelling background music*,

I'm sorry.

There. Now, I have some catching up to do. Will start with the last first and over the weekend ( a long one here in Queensland), I will endeavour to backtrack and claw my way through the awards, meme's and other broken post promises.

The wonderful E. over at Whining at The World   has tagged me. It goes like this:

What I want you to do is repost your very first blog post. I want to see how things are different now, if you write differently, if you write about the same topic, if you did a “hi this is why I’m blogging” sort of post or if you just got straight into it.



Then I want you to tag five people to do the same.

As you may or may not know, I now have four blogs, and I also contribute to a fifth. But this one was the first, and has remained, my main blog. Eclectic at its best, total chaos at its worst.

My first blog post was due to a tragic loss by a web friend. It was nearly a year and a massive 270 posts (this blog only) ago. It is quite long so please bear with me.

Saturday July 4, 2009

And so it begins

After having utilised a MySpace page for many moons for my intermittent blogging escapades, I have finally taken the bull by the horns and started a real blog. Inspired by the honesty and beauty of others I have read, I must admit I am a little lost and worried about not making the grade.But the tragedies and sadness from the last few days have once again shown me how frail life is, and how we must grab our dreams and run with them, for who knows what tomorrow brings.

My Mother once told me "you are too involved in others' lives. You need to take a step back and not care so deeply, for it only leads to pain." For a wonderful, nurtering woman she certainly came out with some doozies. But I am who I am. I do not know if my losses along the way shaped my nature, though by the age the first tragedy hit I would have thought my core traits were already in place.


I remember from a young age feeling wounded by friends, and sometimes even a sense of betrayal when the bitchiness of little girl packs hit. I recall taking it to heart, and running home crying to Mum. Maybe this is why she feels the way she does? I know it breaks my heart when my children falter and fall. But I cannot change this need to enmesh myself in friend's lives, to bond or link myself to them. How can I not when it is what I ask of others?

The loss of my only sibling in my mid-teenage years means I rely on my friends, and in return, would do almost anything to help if they call. I cannot remain a fringe-dweller, inanely making the right noises whilst not truly interacting or listening to their tales. I do freely give my emotions, allow myself to become involved, to try and help if I can, or just listen with an open mind, if that is what they need.

It is also why my heart breaks when bad things happen to good people. There are people you come across on this internet pathway who reach in and grab hold of you. Even if you have not met in the flesh, you can feel how wonderful, and refreshingly nice they are, even over the web. It is why their pain creates a deep sadness inside, though you could walk past them in the street and never recognise one another.

And now, after I have been reminded that life is too short by a tragic loss to one of these wonderful web friends, my blog takes its first, tentative steps into being.

RIP Xavier, for one so little you have left a very big footprint.

Now I know I am meant to tag five others, but I have made a decision with future meme's and awards. It may be seen as a cop out, but I think most of those I would tag already have been, and to be honest I do not have the energy to trawl through to find those I follow and read who have not. I guess what I am trying to say is I am passing this meme on to all who read this and wish to join in. Take it and run with it with my blessing!

Nothing

I have nothing. Blog block big time.

Dilemmas, dilemmas...

A very quick one as it is a glorious day and we are off on an adventure!

I am debating whether to swap to a domain name, ie a .com instead of blogspot.com, but am wondering how to manage all four blogs. I guess you can create separate pages in the domain to host each one? But how is it transferred over?

And since Lori mentioned it, do you keep your comments upon changeover?

Oh, and what is going on with Blog This? If you say you are going to announce the winners of a challenge then please do it! Four days later, new challenge started and no winners from the last one? Always seems to happen when I'm in the top few. Starting to feel like a tall poppy, and remembering why I stopped entering. Challenges are meant to make you feel good, not bad.

*Sigh* Yes, it does make me snarky.

Tiggers Love to Bounce!

Look familiar? Well, I did warn you waaaay back here about my manic Tigger tendencies, but I probably wasn't clear. I sometimes (not all the time, which is why I am not diagnosed as ADHD) bounce from one brainstorm to another to another, ideas leaping so damn fast that none come to fruition. And so I am with blogs. I leap from cooking to fashion to writing to derby to autism to quirky to angst to laughter blogs... And like the blog whore I am, my interest waxes and wanes, fading almost as quickly as it is sparked.

This is probably why my blog is full of random nothings amongst deeply personal revelations. I SHOULD pick a theme. The most successful of blogs stick to a motif. But do I want to prosper under those conditions? Or is my blog more of a personal therapy experience? The latter, methinks.

But I know it is not a lot of people's cup of tea.

Oh, and whilst I am on a bloggy binge whinge: Why do I not appear in blog lists on the pages of some of those who I know follow me? Hmmm?

Is it a NOCD thing?

Go on, do tell...

Thank You, and Things I should have Done Before...

Painkillers kicked in, I can sit for a while now so I'll catch up with a few things I have been slack about doing.

Firstly, a big

for all the comments in response to my sooky-la-la last post. I am not a good sick person, or injured as the case is at the moment, and do not cope well with stopping. And right now, stop I must if I wish this to mend quickly.

Secondly, have been able to comment on some blogs this morning without issue, so maybe glitch is fixed? It was several different blogs yesterday, not just one, which is what worried me.


Thirdly, I have been truly remiss in accepting awards over the last few months. And so I will try and remedy that here now. I am going to limit my pass-on lists to six otherwise it could take forever.

The lovely Jen at jemikaan awarded me the Beautiful Blogger Award a couple of weeks back, and I have slackly not accepted formally, nor followed through with the following requirements.

Here are the rules:


1. Thank the person who gave you this award.


2. Share 7 things about yourself.


3. Pass the award along to 7-9-15- however many :p bloggers who you have recently discovered and who you think are fantastic!


4. Contact the bloggers you've picked and let them know about the award.

Also, somewhere in the fog of the last few months I was awarded the Circle of Friends Award.

 And I cannot find where. *Hangs head in shame* Yeah, you are all shaking your heads in disgust at my lack of appreciation, aren't you. That's okay. I'm pretty disappointed in myself too. Normally do not let things get this out of hand, but somehow I have. So if it was you who had the decency to award this to me, firstly my apologies. As it is not the first time I have done something similar I have no excuse. Please forgive me, if you can.


And, whilst trying to track the above award down, I also found that I had NEVER followed through from the said award from Mel at The Things I'd Tell You...

What can I say? There is a reason I dye my hair blonde you know!

Tackling the last first, because it is the easy way out, and because it is the oldest...

Everyone LOVES COMMENTS. It is a shame that more do no add there comment when they read, because we bloggers are usually putting some pretty personal stuff out there. I know it is our choice, but, even when the ticker is climbing, it is nice to know you are not talking in an empty room.
What is also sad is that the people I will pass this onto have probably already received it many times over. Because they are the same, constant, sharing, supportive people who comment on all the blogs they follow.

I bestow the supportive commenter award to:

• karen @ menopausal mumma
• jen @ jemikaan
• linda @ pink patent mary janes
• alex @ whoa-mumma
• elizabeth @ whining at the world
• melissa @ sugar coat it

To EVERY single person who comments on my blog realise I read, absorb, and appreciate EVERY time you leave a message. When things are truly bad it can be the one thing that lights up my day, and when things are good it is the icing on the cake which makes this hard-hearted old wench go all warm and fuzzy.

I am not going to bestow the circle of friends award until I can do it properly, so unless someone links me again, or else I track it down I will leave it gathering dust in the cupboard under the stairs with Harry.

And just to annoy you. This post is beginning to resemble Tolstoy's War and Peace, so I will come back with the Beautiful Blogger award in my next one.

Pure **Fluff** & A Happy Birthday!

Still struggling with my massive missive, who would have thought journaling the journey would be so time consuming?

I figured it was time for some lighthearted entertainment, a purely indulgent sense saturation post.

So here ya go:

"Mum, are you legless again?"

Now, is that sunrise or sunset? Damn those tequila slammers...

Off with the fairies...

And just for the lovely Melissa over @ Sugar Coat It as it is her birthday:

Happy Birthday Mel you sweet,

Hope your birthday's all you seek

But hide from Tubby where you sleep

Cause into your bed he will creep

And just to show I am not totally crass...

Sweets 'n flowers, what more could you want? Have a great day, blogalicious lady!

Blah, Blah, Blah - mumble, munble...

Just an update on our lives. Big Boy finally caught up to me this week, now he can stop all the toy boy comments for the next eight months. We spent the day together (bit of a rarity without the kids) indulging in some antique hunting therapy, then we went out to dinner as a family. The boys behaved themselves, very proud of them.

Boy 1 has levelled out for the moment. Might be the lull before the storm, but I'm enjoying it whilst it lasts (probably only until school Monday). I also am not feeling so desperate and hopeless thanks to the wonderful comments from the beautiful Kakka.

And this week it finally happened to me! I was dumped (Hi *Dana*) - lost a follower, but by this morning I had gained another so back to 68, lol.

And much love and thoughts and wishes to the gorgeous Jen at jemikaan as she loses a part of herself. Farewell to her tonsils, may their journey be swift, and her recovery as pain free as possible. Jen, these are for you:

And now as Big Boy's birthday celebrations continue, we are off for a family day of fun, frivolity and frolics! See ya!

Hear Ye, Hear Ye...

My follower list seems to have hit a road block. It was slowly but surely increasing but since it hit the sixties it has slowed to a snail pace.

Can someone tell me, how do you increase followers?

 I follow, I comment, I bitch, moan and whine. 

I have gratuitous flashers, nudity, profanity. Well, sort of anyway.

Hell, my randomness is quite unique in its own manic way...










I have cutesy photos, I reveal my inner thoughts to the masses.

So come on cool kids... let me in on the secret?

What The?

For some strange, bizarre reason my counter has frozen. Stopped dead on 2678. Since Friday night. Hmph. Not happy Jan!