Tag Archives: something wagging

Take a cue from the dog and treat yo self

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First of all, some good news: Bella’s long national nightmare is over.  Her staples have been removed and she’s gotten clearance to say goodbye to her cone.  (Just in time, too… I think Bella has had enough of my attempts at cone humor.)

Thank goodness for the Comfy Cone, however.  I don’t think Bella would have ever forgiven me had I made her wear that plastic one for two weeks.  They had a good run, Bella and her Comfy Cone.  In fact, Bella’s flashlight costume won her first prize in Comfy Cone’s Halloween contest!  This cone, at least, had a (reflective) silver lining.

Moving on… in honor of Bella’s good news and inspired by Parks and Recreation, I think you should treat yo self this weekend.  Life can really take its toll on you sometimes, so every now and then it’s important to take it easy.  Our dogs seem to know how to live in the moment and enjoy life, and I’m pretty sure Bella doesn’t feel the least bit bad when she decides to treat herself.  Talk about a good role model.  I’ll help get you started…

  1. Your punny pet name for the week: Tom Catterford As a bonus, here’s one for the neighborhood deer: Ron Fawnson.
  2. Start your morning off right.  Play this song when you wake up.  It’s better than coffee. (No joke, I want to wake up to this song every morning. I am confident that I could do anything after listening to it.)
  3. You might consider planning a day trip with your best friend.  Just get out and enjoy the world.  (Note: words cannot even describe how much I love the video linked to here.)
  4. If a trip’s not in the cards, perhaps you should treat yourself to some culture – spend some quality time gazing at these photos from the Water Droplet Zoo. It’ll make you feel like a real aristoquack.
  5. After lunch, take in a classic movie with a real cinema buff.
  6. Don’t worry, your day should include some silly moments too.  Enjoy some comic relief, such as these dogs in wigs.
  7. Why not broaden your horizons and make a new friend today?
  8. Whatever you do this weekend, remind yourself that there’s so much to be happy about if you just know where to look.

You might be wondering how to cap off a nice day of treating yourself.  Never fear, I have it all taken care of. First, find someone to drive you around so you can relax.  Then, if you’re into the arts, might I recommend tickets to the ballet?

Not your style?  That’s okay.  If you’re a sports fan, how about a hockey game?

However you choose to spend your weekend, I hope it’s a good one and that you find some time to treat yourself.  If all else fails, just forget about the world for a while and do your own happy dance.

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An update from Coney Island

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Bella has a new cone (the Comfy Cone).  She seems to prefer this one to the plastic monstrosity she was wearing on Saturday.  Her navigation has improved.  It also makes drinking easier and appears to make sleeping more comfortable.

However, the new cone has not caused her to develop an appreciation for life as the sole occupant of Coney Island in our household.  I still catch her shooting me dirty looks on a regular basis.  The fact that I keep referring to her as Coney Island and Coney McConerson probably isn’t helping matters.  (When she takes a nap in the middle of the living room these days, she’s like her own little island of annoyance.  I wouldn’t recommend it as a tourist destination.)
I asked Bella to watch the following video shared with me by Pamela from Something Wagging This Way Comes.  She was not amused (apparently they don’t enjoy cone humor on Coney Island).  However, as a not-so-proud member of the People’s Republic of Evil Cone Purchasers, I found it highly entertaining.


Thanks for sending this my way, Pamela.  I love it!

On a related note, I think Bella has been deploying her cone to score maximum sympathy points.  Last night, those points were awarded in the form of chicken.  The cone has really upped her game in the begging department.


Tomorrow, I reveal what Bella’s going as for Halloween… any guesses?  (Hint: the cone is involved.)

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Less adoptable? Super awesome is more like it

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In honor of Petfinder’s Adopt-a-Less-Adoptable-Pet Week, I’m dedicating this week’s No Frown Friday to the less adoptable pets out there. This week’s motto?  Appreciate, don’t discriminate!

  1. Punny pet name:  Mike-howl Ian Black.
  2. Did you see my guest post on Grouchy Puppy earlier this week?  If not, check out 10 great reasons to adopt an older dog.
  3. Even better, Sharon from Grouchy Puppy did a guest post here as well (check it out if you missed it).  Remember: when it comes to senior dogs, appreciate, don’t discriminate! (For a host of senior dog resources, I also recommend that you visit Daley’s Dog Years.)
  4. Also among the less adoptable? Pop over to Something Wagging to learn about tripod dogs (a.k.a. dogs with three legs).  Don’t get too cocky – I have a feeling that many of them could beat me (and probably you) in a race.  You can also read about more special needs pets at Bessie Mac, Bringing up Bella, and browndog cbr.
  5. I’ve talked about Black Dog Syndrome before and introduced you to some of the awesome black dogs from my past.  Check out this post at the Northern Virginia Dog Blog for more info.
  6. Do any of your pets (past or present) fit into the less adoptable (a.k.a. “awesome but people are too dumb to see it”) category?  Tell me about them!  (You can also stroll down memory lane with some other bloggers this week, like Kim from This One Wild Life and Dr. V from Pawcurious.)
  7. Dawn from Affurmation shares why she prefers adopting those so-called less adoptable pets.  It’s a great reason!
  8. Warning: this story from Amazon Cares about the special bond between a less adoptable pet and his human might bring tears to your eyes.  (I promised no frowns, but I said nothing about happy tears.)
  9. Kim from CindyLu’s Muse reminds us why different is beautiful.
  10. As Marg’s Pets will tell you, it’s not just dogs that have to deal with this label.  Learn the facts about FIV-positive cats at Brian’s Home and check out some black cats at House of Carnivores and The Chronicles of Cardigan.

We end today’s post with a video of one of those less adoptable pets…

Based on how cute this “less adoptable” black dog is, I can only conclude one thing… people are crazy.

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My mixtape to you: 5 dog song parodies

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I recently read Something Wagging’s post on 15 Ways to Tell if You’re Dog Crazy and it got me thinking.  In particular, number 15 on that list is “when you sing around the house, you change the lyrics so they’re about your dog.”  I have a long and storied history of changing lyrics (for both dog and non-dog related purposes). It’s a disease for which I have not sought professional help. 

Today you shall get the benefit of my crazy.  I present a sampling (a blog mixtape, if you will) of songs I’ve changed the lyrics of to sing to or about Bella.  She gets to experience my performances live on a regular basis (it’s like I have a show in Vegas, but it’s at my house and no one pays to see me).  Feel free to work these songs into your daily life – I won’t even ask you to pay royalties.

5.  “You Give Love a Bad Name” by Bon Jovi – this whole song is perfect, but it begins, “Rolling in stuff, and you’re too blame… Bella, you give dogs a bad name.”

4.  “Hey Mickey” by Toni Basil – As in, “oh Bella, you’re so fine, you’re so fine you blow my mind – hey Bella!”

3.  “Iron Man” by Black Sabbath – Short and to the point: “You… are… Bella dog.  Do do do do do do do… you’re a dog.”  This one is subject to multiple variations during live performances.

2. “Paparazzi” by Lady Gaga – this one may be familiar to you: “”Open the dog food can, I’ll follow you until you walk me, pupper, pupperazzi.  Baby, there’s no other pet owner for me, my pupper, pupperazzi.  Promise I will whine, until that toy is mine.  Maybe you should feed me, I’ll chase you down until you feed me, pupper, pupperazzi…”

Finally, my personal favorite:

1.  “Karma Chameleon” by Culture Club – sing it with me: “Bella Bella Bella Bella Bella Chameleon…. you come and go, you come and go-oh. Walking would be easy if you would stop zigzagging… just walk calmly, just walk calmly-eeee…” (And remember, it’s pronounced “Cha-me-lee-on.”)

There are many (MANY) more I could share with you.  However, I figure I should leave you wanting more.  So… do you want more?  If so, perhaps I’ll post more of these another day. 

I don’t think I’ve mentioned it here yet, but I’m in the process of participating in a 31 Days to Building a Better Blog Challenge.  Today’s task was to compose a list post… hence the format.  I do enjoy a good list, and I sometimes forget how fun they can be!  For other list-type posts I’ve done in the past, check out these:  favorite posts, bath tips, favorite tv episodes, parody TV shows and parody movie pitches.  I also utilize the list format for No Frown Friday and sometimes add smaller lists in other posts (like this BlogPaws recap ). Do you use list posts?  What do you think about them?  Tell me about it in the comments!

   

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BlogPaws Episode 6: Community & camera capers

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My series of posts on BlogPaws has more episodes than some TV shows… apparently I had quite a bit to say!

Anyway, it’s time to recap Day 2.  I was running a tad behind, but I managed to grab some breakfast and slip in just as the keynote speaker was getting started.  The morning began with a talk by Heidi Ganahl, the Top Dog at Camp Bow-Wow, which sounds like a pretty fun place for a pup to spend a day or an evening.

Heidi is quite the impressive entrepreneur as well as a philanthropist.  Her speech was quite inspirational; she shared the experience of losing her husband at the age of 27 and the journey that eventually led to the creation of Camp Bow-Wow.

For more on Heidi, check out her website and then read this pre-BlogPaws interview that Grouchy Puppy did with Heidi.  If you’re interested in finding out if there’s a Camp Bow-Wow near you, check here.  You can also check out the Bow Wow Buddies Foundation, a nonprofit arm that is involved in some great causes.

After listening to Heidi, I should have gone to a breakout session. I planned to – and from what I heard, the offerings in the first time slot were great.  However, I ended up hanging out with Diane and Cosmo from To Dog With Love and a few other bloggers, including Tamar from I Have Cat and Donna (and her pup Yaxley) from Raising a Super Dog.

Cosmo
Yaxley

I got so distracted by talking (and by cute puppies and that adorable kitten Tamar is holding in the photo above) that I completely missed the first session.  The dangers of being chatty, I suppose.

I got back on track in time for the second session of the day.  There were a few I was interested in, but I’m very happy with the one I chose, entitled “No Blog is an Island: Tools to Build Traffic & Community.”  The session was presented by Felissa Elfenbein from Two Little Cavaliers and Neil Brogan from Life with Dogs.  Neil was unable to make it in person.  However, thanks to the wonders of technology, he joined us via phone. While waiting for the session to start, I talked it up with Lisa the Pet Book Lady.  So glad I got to meet her!

The session began with an absolutely awesome video.  Seriously.  Go watch it.  I’ll still be here when you’re done.

Now that you’re back, a few notes about the session itself.  We had a great discussion of the concept of community, which led to last week’s Pay it Forward Blog Hop.  (I still plan to find some great guests posts from you from the hop… my to do list is just taking longer than I thought!  However, one of the lessons I took from the session was that guest posting is a great way for us to build on each others’ ideas within the greater community.) 

A few other highlights:

  • If you have the choice, go for threaded rather than flat comments.  (If you’re like me, “threaded comments” was a new phrase. However, you know how on some blogs you can reply to specific comments rather than just replying at the end of the discussion?  Those are threaded comments – discussions rather than just a linear list.  Blogger doesn’t offer this option.)
  • Follow the Golden Rule – deal with troublemakers quickly.  Consider posting rules for behavior so that your readers know your comment policy.  Don’t spend time arguing with your community members.
  • Don’t be the loudest voice in the conversation.
  • If you would consider it SPAM, don’t do it to your followers.

After that interesting session (complete with Felissa’s retelling of the Stone Soup folk story – a timeless classic in my book), I headed to lunch.  While eating, we were treated to a special presentation from BZTAT (a.k.a. Vicky Boatright).  She teamed up with Miah from Start the Change for a very moving performance.  Go visit BZTAT’s website to learn more about Okey’s Promise. I also recommend this great post about Okey’s Promise over at Bocci’s Beefs.

Oh, and did I mention that Saturday morning was when my fun photo shoot with Pamela and Honey from Something Wagging this Way Comes took place?  It was a good time!

Up next… one last session, finally meeting up with the fabulous lady behind Grouchy Puppy, and some closing thoughts.  We’re in the home stretch!

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BlogPaws Episode 4: I’m off to meet the widgets

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Now, where was I?  Oh, yes… cheesecake.  Good stuff, right?  Anyway, after thoroughly enjoying that cheesecake and chatting with a few others during the break, it was time for afternoon sessions.  During each time slot, there were four breakout sessions to choose from.  Sometimes, it was a tough choice.  At other times, I didn’t have to think twice.  You will probably not be surprised to learn that the title of this next session called to me like a siren to a sailor.

A punny title?  Pop culture references?  How could I say no?

This session was presented by Lauren Spencer from Fetching Communications.  We learned about various widgets (stand-alone applications that you can embed on your blog to create a more dynamic and interactive experience for your readers – check out Something Wagging This Way Comes for list of the links we got from Lauren that day).  It seems like there are widgets for everything – including Facebook (so readers can like your page… hint, hint), Twitter, and YouTube.  You can even create polls and surveys for your site.

Just make sure not to engage in widget overload – too many widgets and your page begins to look like Times Square.  Your reader won’t even know where to start.

Anyway, there was one widget in particular that piqued my interest: embedding a slideshow from Flickr.  Lauren showed us how to do this using Flickr’s own app, as well as third-party applications from Flickr’s App Garden.  I made the one below using pictobrowser:

Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer


The Chronicles of Cardigan meets Something Wagging

Cool, right?  I have a feeling I’ll be using this tool a lot in the future – I was wondering how to create slideshows on the blog, but was a bit too lazy to figure it out myself.  So thank goodness for punny sessions. The session even came with an unexpected bonus: I finally got to meet Elizabeth, Jon Farleigh and Dewi from The Chronicles of Cardigan!

Now that my brain was playing songs from The Wizard of Oz on a permanent loop, it was time to head to yet another session – the last one of the day, in fact.  For this final session, I chose to attend “StumbleUpon: How to Create, Share and Discover Great Content.”  I’d heard about StumbleUpon but wasn’t really familiar with how it works.

Apparently part of the concept is based on “unexpected relevance,” which I thought was interesting.  According to our presenter (from StumbleUpon, of course), it’s the second biggest social media referrer online in North America.  So you know… kind of a big deal, I suppose.  This was yet another technical session – there are a variety of free tools and widgets (as well as paid ones) available.  If you’re interested, you can check them out here.  Any of you use it?  What do you think?

That closes the book on the sessions from Day 1.  However, the day wasn’t over yet… up next, I’ll tell you all about my evening.  It included popcorn, candy, a movie, puppies, and new friends.  After that, I’ll give you a recap of Day 2, and finally some closing thoughts.  The end is in sight!

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If you’re confused, just tilt your head

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It’s a three-day weekend!  I could not be happier to have an extra day off.  That being said… it’s time for some Friday linkage!

  1. This week’s punny goodness is inspired by a fantastic book I just finished.   In honor of the entertainment she provided during my brief hurricane-induced power outage, I give you… Catty Griffin.
  2. I would like to request that all sheet music do this from now on… not too much to ask, right?
  3. The face on this Corgi reminded me of Bella.
  4. Remember Edward Peanutbutterhead? Well, it appears that he has some competition.
  5. Eating peanut butter is one thing, but I wouldn’t recommend stealing it from the trash.  You might end up like this guy.
  6. You know I’ve had BlogPaws on the brain lately.  You may enjoy seeing these cute pets who were in attendance.
  7. Speaking of… there have been some pretty fun BlogPaws post over at Something Wagging This Way Comes this week.  Check them out!
  8. If you just can’t get enough BlogPaws (and can’t wait for my posts… they’re coming, I promise), then I have the link for you. Might I suggest you start with this great post from This One Wild Life about the ACES Pet Rescue Workshop?

Finally, just because it’s Friday… have some head tilts, or as we like to call it at my house: “making the puppy face.”



(via Cute Overload)

Happy Friday!

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BlogPaws Episode 1: The Adventure Begins

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Last week was a busy one.  However, I was on top of my game on Thursday.  I finished my work early so that I wouldn’t be stuck late.  Although I was a tad nervous about meeting new people, this sweet post by Pamela at Something Wagging This Way Comes made me smile and gave me a shot of courage.  By mid-afternoon, I was itching for the workday to end so that I could slide out the door Flintstones style and head over to BlogPaws.  There were no sessions on Thursday night, just an opening cocktail reception.  I’m not one to pass up cocktails and conversation…


However, as is so often the case… a work “crisis” occurred.  (Please let those quotation marks convey my extreme sarcasm.)  Fortunately, I managed to leave the office only slightly later than planned, but then I encountered massive traffic.  It’s the norm in the D.C. area, but Thursday was even worse than usual.

In any event, I finally made it to the hotel.  I parked next to a sign informing me that walking of dogs on the property was prohibited.  For a moment, I wondered if I was in the right place.  However, I did see some dogs (and their people) walking towards the entrance, so I headed towards the lobby.  All doubts were erased when I saw these:

I’m guessing the hotel wasn’t enforcing that whole no dog walking thing this weekend.  Assured of my location, I wandered through the crowd of people to the registration table.  Once there, I signed in and received the largest swag bag I’d ever seen.  Seriously – that thing was epic.

In addition to the swag bag, I received a raffle ticket (spoiler alert: per usual, I did not win anything all weekend) and two drink tickets.  Feeling a little overwhelmed by the crowd (and the fact that I didn’t know anyone in real life, just from their blogs), I headed to the bar and redeemed my first ticket for a glass of wine.  Armed with my glass of liquid courage, I headed into the main room to explore.

I won’t lie – to start with, I felt very overwhelmed and I wasn’t sure what to do.  There were tons of exhibitors, so I browsed and made small talk for a while.  However, I still felt a bit out of sorts – rudderless, if you will.  It felt sort of like the first day at a new school.

Fortunately, my feeling of isolation didn’t last long.  I met some fantastic people – Laurie from Smart Dog and Eryka from Kahuna’s K9s.  These two are locals like me, and we hit it off immediately.  I knew instantly I’d found some new friends – they were fun, clever, and each had an adorable dog with them.  Even cooler, they are both dog trainers who use positive reinforcement.  I can only hope I soaked up some of their knowledge throughout the weekend.

After making these first two connections, I loosened up a bit and the chatter seemed to come more easily.  I met a few other people, including Caren from Cat Chat and Kim from This One Wild Life.  I encountered the lovely Pamela from Something Wagging This Way Comes (and got to meet her husband and Honey the pup).  As a bonus, I saw some absolutely adorable ferrets.  However, the presence of these two confirmed my decision to leave Bella at home – I’m pretty sure she wouldn’t have been able to control her prey drive:

Laurie and Eryka eventually had to head home with their pups.  I considered hitting the road as well after losing my two awesome wingwomen (wingbloggers?), but I decided to head back in for a little while longer (after dropping off that giant swag bag in my car, of course).  I’m glad I did – one of the things I learned this weekend is that I need to embrace my extroverted side at this sort of thing.  (Perhaps I can apply this lesson to work conferences as well, but there are never any cute animals at those.)

Anyway, I headed back inside and ended up meeting a ton of people in the lobby area.  In addition to Caren, I met up with several other bloggers.  Many of them were cat bloggers.  (Among them? The bloggers from The Conscious Cat; The Chronicles of Zee & Zoey; Coffee, Cats ‘n Yarn; Catladyland; and Mr. R.W. Emerson.  I’m sure I’m missing a few people – it was quite the gathering.  Introductions and business cards were flying like Bella after a squirrel.)  Some were new to me, but others were familiar, such as the lovely Teri from Curlz and Swirlz (pictured at right).

In any event, I have to thank those cat bloggers for letting a dog blogger into their midst for a while.  (Perhaps they sensed that I have a soft spot for the felines.)  What a fun group!

I capped my night off with some quality chat time with Caren (who better?) and Felissa from Two Little Cavaliers.  I had a fantastic time talking to these two.  Honestly, it felt like we’d known each other for ages.

When it was finally time to go, I reluctantly said good night and headed home.  After just a few short hours, I knew I’d made the right decision to attend BlogPaws.  I had met some amazing people and couldn’t wait to come back on Friday! 

Stay tuned for more BlogPaws updates… I have lots to share, so I’m not sure how many posts will be in this series.  If you’re not really interested in hearing about BlogPaws (which seems odd, but to each his own), never fear.  I’ll be mixing some other posts in there too.  I’m such a people pleaser…

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Now casting: Bella’s made-for-TV movie

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Hmmm… perhaps it would be a direct-to-DVD movie instead?  Bella doesn’t have a large ego, so I’m sure she wouldn’t expect her first flick to go straight to the big screen… anyway, you may be wondering what I’m rambling about right now.

Although I got sidetracked thinking about the format, I’m trying to decide what human celeb would play Bella in a movie.  Where did that random query come from?  The lovely Kahuna K9 (a new blog I discovered today through my blogging pals at Rescued Insanity, Kol’s Notes and Something Wagging This Way Comes) has invited bloggers to answer that question.  So, it’s time to cast Bella’s doppleganger…

After much consideration, I’ve decided to give the role to Kristen Schaal.  (Loved her in Flight of the Conchords and still love her when she pops up on The Daily Show or anywhere else.)  I think her performance as Mel on FOTC was the key to winning this role… there’s something about her slightly goofy, happy nature with an edge that just says Bella to me.  Do you agree?

Any thoughts on who should be Kristen’s understudy? (Bella’s movie just morphed into a play, I guess.)

 

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Too many awesome pet blogs, too little time…

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As I mentioned yesterday, the fabulous blogs Something Wagging This Way Comes and Kol’s Notes recently gave this blog the Versatile Blogger Award.  So, I’m doing my duty and passing it along…

First and foremost, thanks again to Something Wagging and Kol’s Notes for sharing this award with me.  I highly recommend you pay them a visit – both blogs are great!  Bella and I are humbled to be in such company…

The rules: I have to tell you seven things about myself and then choose fifteen other blogs that deserve the award. (One set of rules said newly-discovered, and the other set just said versatile, so I’m making up my own rule and just choosing fifteen blogs I always enjoy… though it’s hard to narrow it down to just fifteen.  As you can see from the blogroll at right, I enjoy a lot of blogs!)

The last time I did something like this, I shared some puppy-related items about myself and some things about Bella. So, this time I decided to use my seven things to tell you a little more about me (the non-dog related stuff). Here we go:

  1. My favorite food is grilled cheese.
  2. I’m a voracious reader… I go through books at a pretty fast pace.  In fact, I just started a new book last night (the fifth book in the Southern Vampire Mysteries), and finished it this evening.  Hours need to be subtracted for sleep, work, commuting, and dinner, during which reading was not an option.  Another recent example? I finished all three Hunger Games books in 3 days.  When I get into a book, it’ll be gone in no time.  Tina Fey’s Bossypants is next in my sights.
  3. I never thought I’d want an e-reader, but I love my Kindle.
  4. I love writing song parodies (as you may have guessed from my recent post about the Pupperazzi).  Although I can’t really sing, I can’t help myself!
  5. I love outdoor concerts.  And wine.  Especially outdoor concerts that allow you to bring wine.
  6. I enjoy movies… and musicals.  Thus, I was in geek heaven yesterday when I went with a friend to see Stephen Sondheim’s Company at the movie theater.  So far this summer, I’ve already seen a production of Follies (apparently I’m in a Sondheim kind of mood lately), and will be seeing Wicked  and Mamma Mia again soon.  I’m sure there will be other performances in my future as well…
  7. I can relate pretty much anything back to Saved by the Bell and Beverly Hills, 90210.  It’s one of my… talents?

Whew… hope you made it through my rambling.  Now, to the fun part!  I’m passing this award onto the following blogs:

Don’t count… I may have cheated a little. Honestly, this was way too hard and there were so many others I wanted to mention, so if I didn’t list you above, please don’t be offended!  Perhaps I need some sort of regular feature where I heap all sorts of compliments upon all you wonderful pet bloggers out there, so that I’m not leaving anyone out.  Stay tuned, my lovely readers – the wheels are turning on this one!

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