Holy cow, it’s August! I think back to last August, that total TRAINWRECK that WASN’T and… well… SO much can happen in a year, can’t it? Wait, before I start waxing poetic, let’s just get to this week’s link list, shall we? It nearly rivals last week for sheer number of posts. Except there’s a definite THEME this week. And that theme? LIFE SUCKS. Or pretty close to it. See, I wasn’t the only one who has had a rough time of it. Maybe I was just drawn to posts where people were dealing with The Shit. I don’t know. I’ll let you decide, how about that?
- Cancer from Midwestern Mommy. I know how to start with a bang, don’t I? Probably the biggest news in the blogosphere this week was from Midwestern Mommy whose somewhat casual visit to Urgent Care for what she thought was a stomach bug ended up in her being admitted to the Oncology Ward at the hospital. SCARY AS HECK. And yet, I had to admire the (seeming) calmness with which she talked about it. All my thoughts and prayers are with her and her family.
- Little Pieces Everywhere from Swistle. I could identify with all of this, from the awkward social situation remembered in minute detail, the difficulty falling asleep and the angst over a clean house (or lack thereof). Shoot, can I just go ahead and put my name on this post and call it a day?
- Brave and If You’re Happy And You Know It from The Spohrs Are Multiplying. First, we have a post that is so sweet. I’ve been following the story of Jackie! with interest and the story of the “brave” t-shirt just warmed my heart and put a tear in my eye. The juxtaposition of the entire post really got to me. Then we have the second post from Heather and… well… Like I said in the beginning, I think I picked a lot of these posts for a reason. And I can tell you, I don’t want it to take nine months. Bravo to her for finding the road to wellness.
- Cloth Diaper Mamas’s Friday Giveaway from Cloth Diaper Mamas. Whew, a break from all that heavy stuff! Are you in the market for a (OMG CUTE) ring sling? You still have time, just hop on over to my Cloth Diaper Mamas blog and enter Brit’s giveaway. You have until Sunday night to comment to win!
- I’ll be your Huckleberry from Mamalogues. Dana wrote an entirely awesome post concerning the NY Times/HBM/VoxDay debacle that I urge you to go read. She writes it from the perspective of a Christian woman and I think it’s safe to say that she pretty much nailed it.
- Blog the Recession from Motherhood Uncensored. See, I’m not the only one who noticed that there’s a whole lot of suckiness in the blogosphere lately. Shoot, there’s a whole lot of suckiness in the WORLD right now. I have to applaud Kristen’s effort to try to bring something positive out of it and her “Blog the Recession” campaign includes some awesome blog bling (see mine in my sidebar?) and a promise to click through to the sites you read from your feed-reader and give them some much needed pageviews for their ads. I can do it. How about you? Head over to MU and get your own button and write a post spreading the word.
- 8 Useful Tips for Building Your Mommy Blog Into a Business from ProBlogger Blog Tips. Hot on the heels of BlogHer, comes this great post that gives some really good tips for growing your blog (and psst: they don’t JUST apply to mommy blogs!). There is some great advice here and while it’s only the tip of the iceberg, it’s a great place to start.
- what happy people look like from and so she blogs. Yep, I’m there with you girlfriend. I am pretty low on the friends numbers and most of the friends I do have live so far away that I’m LUCKY if I get to see them once a year. In the case of my best friend from high school it has been FOUR years. Maybe this is why the week or two after BlogHer is so hard for so many. We go from scads of wonderful friends to our lonely lives back home and it’s just such a LETDOWN.
- Power Blogging Tips: Comment on Blogs From Within Google Reader from Lorelle on WordPress. Wow, do I actually have something up on Lorelle? I’ve been using this Firefox Addon for months now and I don’t know how I lived without it. Basically, it allows me to visit sites, comment and read sites who truncate their feeds without leaving Google Reader. It is FANTASTIC.
- Dads and Daughters from Attack of the Redneck Mommy. I love this story of a daddy trying to protect his daughter’s honor (in his underwear no less) and her obvious love for him just shines through her teenage annoyance. Again, my thoughts and prayers are with her and her father as he undergoes a painful surgery and recovery.
- Dropping eggs and shoving fat kids from moosh in indy. I understand all too well what Casey feels like when it comes to having a second child. Well, maybe not all of it, but at least the frustration with “Why am I not pregnancy already??” The constant ticking of The Clock, everyone else getting pregnant and having babies and then getting pregnant AGAIN, all while you wait for just one positive pregnancy test… It is it’s own brand of agony, right there.
- Perceptions and personal responsibility from Poot and Cubby. Along the lines of my own post on this subject (but a lot more eloquently), she talks about some of the negative feelings that surround BlogHer and how at some point we have to take responsibility for our own feelings. Amen, sister.
- Because You Haven’t Really Arrived As A Feminist Until You’ve Bitched About Being Condescended To By The New York Times from Catherine @ MamaPop. Her Bad Mother cranks out a fist-pumping post regarding the recent article in the NYT about this year’s BlogHer. She also addresses a rather disdainful blog post or two from certain misogynists who believe that mommy bloggers don’t have anything interesting to talk about. Quite plainly, this is a serious MUST READ post.
- Hey little boy don’t press my buttons from Slackerpapa. What’s a little nepotism, huh? But I honestly did enjoy this post from My Dearest on his Very Own Blog. I enjoyed the wildlife aspect of the photos he took. It gave me a chuckle, which is desperately needed this week.
- The Blogging Justice League from Backpacking Dad. I gotta love the notion here. I hope the idea really catches on because I think we can use a Justice League (we certainly needed it this week!). And who better to champion it than our own Knight in Shining Armor than Backpacking Dad? It’s destiny, yo.
- Things That Just Need To Be Said from Dad Gone Mad. HA! When it comes to standing up for mommy bloggers, Danny does a mighty fine job too. And I loved his suggestions to the BlogHer peeps and the kicking to the curb of all the teen Disney stars. A-freakin-MEN. I have a feeling a post like this is in my future because it seems wonderfully soul-clearing.
- That’s Me In The Corner from Her Bad Mother. Shoot, here’s another post that I could written myself (except for the minor detail that I cannot even TRY to write this well). This is almost spot-on exactly how I felt at BlogHer this year. Who knew that she felt the same? Let it be known: BlogHer with a baby in tow is a big, hot, mess. Be advised.
- When in Doubt (or in Thyroid Hell) Post Pictures! from Joy Unexpected. I can definitely identify with Thyroid Hell. And I love the pictures she got from BlogHer. Makes me ache for a GOOD camera. And a weekend in the city sans children. And perhaps a McDonald’s cheeseburger.
- In which I pretend that I didn’t go to a blogging conference from Absolutely Bananas. Okay, this was the damn funniest post I read this week. The pictures along with the staunch denials of BlogHer were enough to make me snort my coffee. (In case you were wondering: That’s a god thing.)
- Quite Frankly, I’m sick of it from Mrs. Flinger. Mrs. Flinger fires off a post calling out the whiners (hey, much like I did!) and calls a spade a spade. Popularity, I’m afraid, is so often in the eye of the beholder. And a lot of people just need to realize that and get over it and MOVE ON. (I’m moving on, how about you?)
Whew!! Wow, that was another loooong list wasn’t it? I hope you didn’t have any other plans this weekend. As for me, I recently popped my first thyroid pill in FOUR MONTHS and am drinking a cup of coffee and starting to feel like something resembling a human being (well, minus the strange, crippling pain in my left hand. What’s the dealio??).
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