I’m now only $500 $400 $300 away from my goal! You have one more day if you want to donate to my bail and I’ll spotlight your site! I’m going to continue doing these spotlights for awhile since I found so many I had forgotten in my spam folder, so feel free to jump in!

Amy’s Bad Groove

Amy and I have been blogfriends forever. Or so it seems. We most often maintain contact at her flickr photos because for some reason I’m better at commenting on photos than on blogs. (And why isn’t the stuff in my purse as cool as the stuff in hers?). Amy wrote an interesting entry this week about a break-in in her neighborhood committed by someone several people noticed as being out-of-place. Nobody said or did anything about the stranger even though their guts said something was not right. It’s an unfortunate situation because none of us want to be judgmental - but, as Amy said - take heed!

But on a lighter note - she wrote another entry about holding a conversation focusing on Warrant lyrics. I found this incredibly hysterical and was singing “Heave” for a solid day after I read it.

(J: “Yes, you may stop- just as soon as I finish my slice of CHERRY PIE & put away my lotto ticket that will make me DIRTY, ROTTEN, FILTHY, STINKING RICH.”)

Randomness by Stacey

Stacey is a blogger that lives in the lovely city of New Orleans, LA. She and I have had a bit of contact since Katrina as she has done a lot of work with volunteer groups in that area. She also found out that the new Fox series K-Ville will be filming in her neighborhood. She’s a total rockstar, you know.

I hope the show does well because it is providing so many local people with jobs right now, including a friend and she doesn’t need to lose a job right now.

So watch it when it comes on please. Give it a chance. It will help us here in NOLA.

Like I need my arm twisted to watch TV, but if you insist! She also has an unhealthy love for Pumpkin Spice Lattees like I do. This is the best time of year because you can get them anywhere. I cry when they are replaced on menus across the city with stupid Christmas flavors. Can you get one for me, Stacey?

Bethiclaus

Beth and I go so far back I did her design! But we also met in Chicago and I think I followed her to almost every panel she attended. I’m stalker-ish like that. Beth looks at the Britney Spears failure a lot like I do:

Because, while I may have told my mother that the purpose of this televisual experience was to see just how far the downward spiral had descended, in my heart I was hoping that Britney would be triumphant in her return.

When she turned around and smiled, I thought for a moment that everything was going to be alright. I thought I saw a mischievous gleam in her eye.

I was, sadly, hallucinating.

I hear you, Beth. I was hoping for the water cooler the next morning to be full of SHE’S BACK! exclamations. Sigh. Beth also had a rough day awhile back when she got in a car wreck. Lucky for her, she has an adorable radical feminist at home to make her smile.

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If you want to be spotlighted, feel free to donate to my bail and forward me the receipt. I’m only $500 $400 $300 away from my goal - every little bit helps!! I’m getting arrested THURSDAY - so now’s the time to donate!

Guess what? I’m now only $500 $400 away from my goal! You have two more days if you want to donate to my bail and I’ll spotlight your site! I’m going to continue doing these spotlights for awhile since I found so many I had forgotten in my spam folder, so feel free to jump in!

Now - for the spotlights!

One of Three

Laura won me over when I found her entry with my favorite title: School Supplies.

I had fun and The Kid wasn’t too embarrassed by my swooning in the folder aisle.

That’s important, Laura. That we not embarrass our children with our love of school supplies. I’ve found it’s best to avoid drooling over the post-its too. I also love how she describes living in the “good” school district where most of the familes are affluent.

We, on the other hand, live on the skeezy outskirts, in a very mellow, working-class neighborhood. So, Lefty & I stand out a bit amongst the well-pressed and dressed group of parents. Our battered Trooper sits uncomfortably next to the huge and oh, so shiny SUV’s in the school parking lot.

I know EXACTLY how you feel. Except mines a battered Sentra with no a/c and manual roll-down windows.

Busy Busy Mommy

Kel definitely has a URL that describes her life, that’s for sure. Just her about section makes me need a nap. Seriously. I’m going to go take a nap now, I’ll be back…

Ok. Better. First of all, she homeschools her children and I immediately know that her kids a having way more fun learning than mine are. The photos alone are evidence of that, but her description of those photos says a lot as well:

Just a few pics from our school day. We ended our study on the planet Mercury today by making salt dough models. Also a pic of the kids with their sheet for their state book, we are learning all the states and capitals and doing a color sheet to add to a book when we are all done. A snap shot of Braden putting his spelling words for the week on the washer.

She has also had me hyperventilating over someday having a teen girl and the hurdles we’ll have to cross. Man. I’m so glad I’m starting out with a boy. It’s not wonder with all of that going on, she sometimes gets overwhelmed. Kel? Trust me. You’re doing waaay more than I am and I’m stressing out 10 times as much. Hang in there - you’re doing beautifully.

Muirnait’s Musings

Muirnait and I have been blogfriends for awhile, hanging out mostly on flickr. Her blog is just as cool as a place, though, especially when I can read something that doesn’t make me feel so bad about my own really expensive paperweight. As well as not feeling so bad about also being one that cries with bad customer service:

So I’m out a very expensive laptop I’m not even done paying for?! And I’m cranky and upset that I was “that woman” on the phone for commenting on his English syntax (quote: “your sentence structure leaves much to be desired” which earned me a very bitter comment from the CSR.) But the worst part? Jerks made me cry!! (wanna beat them up for me? :P)

She also uses my favorite blogging tool in bulletpoints when discussing the desperation involved with doing dishes. Most importantly, she lives in that foreign land called “Canada” (have you heard of it? I think it’s somewhere near The Iraq) and got the opportunity to talk about that on XM Radio with the Chick Chat girls. Congrats, Heather. So, you don’t live in an igloo?

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If you want to be spotlighted, feel free to donate to my bail and forward me the receipt. I’m only $500 $400 away from my goal - every little bit helps!! I’m getting arrested THURSDAY - so now’s the time to donate!

No Pasa Nada - Heather B

I love Heather B for many reason - but mostly because she seemed happy to have me hug her at BlogHer. I tend to be an aggressive hugger and sometimes people shy away from my strong embrace. Not Heather. Or at least if she feared the hug, she hid it well. She also gives good panel, which I find to be an exemplary quality.

Heather recently decided that “Now” is a good time to paint her bedroom. I already knew that was a bad idea because I personally don’t believe in painting anything ever. And this is why:

Several weeks ago, I decided to embark on a little project called painting my bedroom. It should probably be more aptly named ‘a fantastic way for my head to meet the corner of a desk, over and over again’ because I about lost my damn mind. Patience is not a virtue and when a project requires roughly $200 in supplies and several coats of primer to get rid of the seizure inducing canary yellow color that the previous owner had put up, well then the mind; it is gone.

But one of the best Heather-Is-Like-Me entries was one she wrote about visiting Isabel and how she felt bad about being a vegetarian so she kept it to herself. Heather? I would have done the exact same thing. Except I eat meat. Hourly. But you know - still - same thing!

Isabel asked why I didn’t say anything. I drank the rest of the wine in my glass and said “Because I felt bad.” I’m an eternal people pleaser and she didn’t know and it all just sort of happened and god damn, those burgers were tasty and have you people ever had prosciutto wrapped asparagus?? Goes down like butter, baby.

House of H

Liz had the privilege of being around me and my hormonally moody self at BlogHer and was still nothing but fantastic the entire time. She’s funny and kind and hangs out with the coolest group of ladies in the world. I’m telling you - the next BlogHer? I want to be in their posse. They were so fun. Lucky for me, she writes entries like this that show me she knows exactly how those emotional moments are. I knew she wouldn’t judge me at all.

I mean, who wants to hear about how far into debt we are, how we’re bickering and fighting about the dumbest stuff, how I barely have the energy to actively play with my son because my mind is so occupied by Big Life Things, how the fear and uncertainty of our life, our family nearly crippled me.

I felt kinda like that in Chicago. My miscarriage was on my mind so much and I just felt like the best way to cope was to isolate myself. Luckily, she has that aforementioned awesome group of friends to fall back on. And she certainly knows how valuable that is.

Honestly, without all of your support, prayers, good vibes, and well wishes, I don’t think I could’ve gotten through this. It’s truly amazing–and so very touching–to be surrounded with such large arms to hold me in my time of crisis. I hope that none of you have to go through this, but please know that you’ll never be alone. My friendship is yours, eternally.

I’m glad things are looking up for you, Liz. Here’s to our next meeting being stress-free!

Smoke Rings, Coffee Stains

Leslie is a writer with WAAAAY too many blogs on her plate. (And I thought I had a lot of blogs.) I’m going to focus on her personal one because that’s the one she usually links to when she comments here.

Leslie is as big of a fan of TV as I am. She recently wrote her Fall TV DVR Lineup and I’m glad I’m not the only one who is going to give The Big Ban Theory a try. Man, I miss sitcoms. I also feel the need to voice my opinion on a certain doubt she has on an upcoming show:

9 PM CW Supernatural - Another sci fi themed show we’re trying. We missed the first season last year for some reason, so now we’ll have to catch up to the plot. The jury is out on whether it will stay on DVR or not.

Leslie - that is one show that both my husband and I both like. I’m in it for the cute boys and he’s in it for the demons. It’s a win/win in my home. Leslie is also getting a new water filtration system and I am suddenly very grateful for my clean and dependable water source.

Our water is so nasty and mineral/metal heavy it is road cone orange and Drano blue, I shit you not. We have water overloaded with iron, copper, some other metals and minerals that don’t belong there, and MBTEs (contaminants from gasoline run off, no one knows from where - our whole neighborhood has these). We don’t have arsenic, and seem to have no bacteria, though they will do a second test before finalizing the job just to make sure.

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If you want to be spotlighted, feel free to donate to my bail and forward me the receipt. I’m only $500 away from my goal - every little bit helps!! I’m getting arrested THURSDAY - so now’s the time to donate!

I’m still trying to catch up on my Blogger Spotlights from the GREAT SPAM FIASCO of 2007 where almost all of them were swept into my Spam Folder. I get arrested on Thursday, there’s still time to post my bail! But for now - 2 more people who don’t want to see this pretty face behind bars.

Kristabella

Kristablla just won a Nice Matters Blog Award which she obviously deserves since she donated to my cause! She also looks like the kinda of person I totally need to be hanging out with if the pictures from this entry and this entry are any indication of the fun that could be had in her midst.

I’m sure all my internet friends are a little thankful they know me only through the computer. And not in person. Hell, I’m sure most of my friends right now wish they didn’t know me!

Hey! Not true! I want to come hang out and have my tongue turned purple by wine too!

She also recently got a new hairdo and of course realized she could finally answer the question of whether blondes or brunettes have more fun. The answer? Brunette.

I’ve noticed a lot more dudes checking me out. Like on the train, for instance. On my way down to the Bears game on Saturday, there was a guy I saw standing on the platform. Cute. Tall. Twelve. He was a good car length or more down the platform from me. And then crazy of all crazy, he ended up on MY car when the train finally came. And went in the same door. What ARE the odds?

And then Train Boy didn’t just follow me onto a train car, he full on stared at me. I’m not talking like make eye contact, look away. Full. On. Staring.

And I can’t say I didn’t like it. And thank jeebus for sunglasses, since I was staring right back

Suddenly I’m wanting to dye my hair…

Reed of It’s Just Radical

Reed and I know each other on a professional level because he writes for a blog on the network I work for as a “real job” during the 9-5 hours. He writes our American Idol site and does a fantastically brilliant job with it. I always feel like he’s spot on with everything he says. But he also has his own personal site which I have linked to before on my sidebar. Namely - the entry where he meets Mandy Moore.

I often times feel like when he is writing about not being able to “get in the groove lately” that he is writing about me. Man. I’ve been in a funk too and I would have totally gotten irritated about the crooked pictures. Of course, my life is boring unlike Reed’s:

Then there’s work. And comedy shows. And all the daily stuff that comes up, eating away at the few spare minutes I seem to have at the beginning of each day.”

Comedy shows? Yeah. Right there, in that sentence, he alreays shows his life is way more entertaining than mine. I totally want to use that sentence sometime, think I could pull it off?

Reed and I also share a lot of the same interests in TV and I was just as frustrated about not knowing the premiere date of Project Runway

I’ve read in a few places, including Wikipedia, that Oct. 24 is the expected premiere date. I’ve also read some nasty rumors on other blogs that the show will not be returning until December. What? Is Bravo trying to kill me? Apparently, because they don’t have anything to say about it on the official “Project Runway” site.

I know, Reed. They’re trying to kill me too.

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If you want to be spotlighted, feel free to donate to my bail and forward me the receipt. I’ll put you in the lineup!

So you all do want to get me out of jail after all! After someone emailed me alerting me to having forgotten them in the Blogger Spotlights - I searched my gmail for their forwarded confirmation and where was it? In the Spam Folder! And since there were MANY MANY more with the same Fwd subject line in there with it, I’m assuming I accidentally marked one as spam and gmail assumed the rest were too. I am SO SORRY. So - without further ado - Blogger Spotlights From The Bowels of the Spam Folder.

kristyk.org

kristyk is one of my favorite bloggers who I link to often. I first fell in love with the photos she put on her site. She photographs her kids constantly - but does it in a way that shows such creativity. If I had to pick a photographer on flickr I stalk the most - it would definitely be her. She sent me a Christmas postcard last year and I keep it on my desk, I love it so much.

But her parenting is also inspirational. She documents her parenting trials and tribulations with such passion and heart that I often feel ashamed of the archives of my own kids’ lives. The adventures her family goes on make me want to ask her to adopt me as one of her own. The pride she has in all of her children - that is what honestly moves me. Her writing is so strong I find myself feeling strongly proud of her kids as well. Which I’m sure they would find odd.

It was a short one, just two miles. Mia won by quite a bit. Her time was a little slow, but her shoulder was hurting again. Mica did great for her first time. She wasn’t last, which she was worried about! I’m so proud of her for doing this. Running is hard for her but she has a lot of heart. You should see her sprint to the finish!

Sandblower

Sandblower had her baby on January 11th and writes about sleep depravation and breast feeding in a way that makes me torn between missing those days, and being very glad they’re gone. But the first entry I read was one that immediately made me decide that Brian and MrZ would be fast friends. He evidentally said to her:

I think that I should learn a few dance moves . . . and that they should involve a hat

However, her best posts (to me) are the ones telling little Adriana’s birth story:

Part 1.
Part 2
Part 3 (I have to ruin part of the story to share this one bit with you)

“You need c-section,” he said.

Whenever he spoke to me that night, and throughout my hospital stay, I had to concentrate hard to understand what he was saying through his heavy African accent, but those three words were very clear.

I looked at him, as he stood to my right, down near my knees. I glanced back up at Brian who was at my shoulder. Marsha was to my left, across from the doctor. I glanced at the clock and did the math: I had been laboring for 33 hours, if I included all those hours I didn’t actually believe I was in labor. I turned back to the doctor, and told him that since the baby’s heart rate was fine, I would rather just keep laboring.

Either the doctor or Marsha explained to me that I shouldn’t keep going until the baby became distressed and the c-section became an emergency. It was Marsha who convinced me. When a midwife tells you it’s time for a c-section, you know that you’ve gone as far as you can. I struggled not to cry (and completely failed at that) as I nodded my consent.

DAMN. Girl is waaay more of a woman than I am - I just want to say.
Part 4

It’s an amazing story, and I’m so terribly glad I read it. Thanks You.

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If you want to be spotlighted, feel free to donate to my bail and forward me the receipt. I’ll put you in the lineup!