SassyBlonde

Hugh MacLeod has been a favorite blogger and cartoonist of mine for a long time. I love his sensibility about the world and those of us living in it, because his cartoons look at life through the unabashedly sarcastic and cogent little voice that resides deep inside everyone's head, the same one that when it escapes prompts you to ask "Was that my outside voice?" And yet, or maybe because of this, he really has his finger on the pulse of marketing and creativity and a general wittiness that hits just the right nerve.

Anyway, today over at Gapingvoid he said:

"6 years and 4000-odd blog posts later, if I was allowed to keep only one blog post, it would be this one. Which one of yours would you keep?"

1. If you're a blogger too, why do you do it? And what's your one top entry you've ever posted? (UPDATE: Meaning your most favorite or the one you're proudest of.)
2. If you're not a blogger, or even if you are, why do you like to read the blogs you read?

I love reading Jen Lemen for a myriad of reasons. One of them is that reading her posts always reminds and inspires me to look at my life in a more positive, hopeful way. (And we all know I could use a good dose of that from time to time-- it's no secret that I can get mired in woe pretty easily.)

One of the things that helps me get anything done is the presence of a clear and concise To-Do List, and for a while now I've had in the back of my mind that I need to create a list of all of the ambitious and wonder-full things I want to accomplish in this life, or at least most of them, to give me a benchmark. Count on Jen to provide the inspiration and impetus to get me crackin' on it via a post by Stephanie Roberts over at Cool People I Know. There's even a Wiki to create your own list!! So if you haven't yet, go do it now! Mine's after the jump.

OH. MY. LORD. My day was going pretty far South after the whole laundry incident, but I just found out my lovely sister has made her first foray into the blogosphere. I've thought for a long time that she's one of those few people out there who really should have a blog that doesn't (except for the odd Facebook note or comment) because her voice is one that I know y'all will enjoy reading and I have a feeling she's going to have a real following in the blogosphere when she gets going. So go visit Sister Sassy, a.k.a. Quiet Traveler over at Just South Of North. You'll be glad you did.

Something to contemplate for you all before I go to bed tonight:



I have a head full of stories to tell and no time to tell them, but rest assured they are simmering up there and will be out on this page soon. Until then, learn about this, read about Jen's journey to Rwanda here, and think about what you can do to change the world one girl at a time. Someone has to. If not you, who?

I am so excited I don't know what to do with myself-- by the time I get home tonight The Muse will be at Chez Sassy, back in D.C. for good and all and crashing with us until she finds her own digs. (See, she's scooted back up into the D.C. blogroll over there.)

So what have I been doing all week? Scrubbing and vacuuming and rearranging and washing and filing and generally returning order to a house that has been egregiously out-of-whack ever since I went back to school three or so years ago (geez-- that's a long time.).

As I may have mentioned before, I am a devout believer in the art of the To-Do list, and house cleaning is no exception: every week I endeavor to work my way through a three-column, ten-point-font list of tasks, and every week I somehow fail to finish or reconcile them all. Anal-retentive, yes I guess, but you have to remember that my house is also my place of business and I have kids and parents in and out all week, inspecting the bathroom faucets, lounging on upholstered chairs and sofas and hopefully not getting covereds in cat hair, and perusing the contents of the magazine rack and the bookshelf.

It's always been a point of pride for me to try and keep a clean house-- my mom always had us helping her keep the place ship-shape on Saturday mornings after cartoons and before we went out to play, and I can vividly remember the disgust in my mom's voice when she talked about the house of somebody she knew when she was younger-- clothes thrown everywhere, trash piled up in the corners and dog hair everywhere-- and how it was her worst nightmare. Not that I'm OCD about it necessarily--anyone who's ever been her could tell you that Chez Sassy has its share of clutter-- but the point is that I try.

At any rate, for the first time in a long time, I'm actually close to FINISHING. THE. LIST. I may be one of the oddest people on the planet, but I can also tell you that if that happens I'll be one of the happiest, too.

When you grew up in the 80s and 90s in the Southern Baptist church like I did, chances are that at some point you sang the santized cover of Peaceful Easy Feeling along with your youth pastor.

And then a few years later you totally laughed your ass off at that South Park episode: you know-- the one where Cartman forms a Christian band. Enter humanivy, who offers up a top ten list of some more possibilities guaranteed to make you snarf your iced tea:

The Cartman Prophecies.

Enjoy! (Praise 'baby', praise 'baby'.)

(Thanks to The Muse for the heads-up.)

All right y'all, it's that time of year-- BoobieThon 2008 is out of the start gate-- get over, donate money, and see some boobies!

LiveSnarking the debate on Twitter in fifteen. Tune in-- it's gonna be good.

There's gonna be some hot LiveSnark action at Chez Sassy tonight-- check out my Twitter feed, and The Muse's and some others will be joining in. Bring it!

People, I am tired. Sick and tired.

Even after the joy of the election results, there have been a few things that have been bothering me greatly about this election cycle. The most important, and the reason for this post, has been peoples' lack of ability to discuss the issues that we all grapple with intelligently, calmly, without histrionics or name-calling, and our apparent inability to even try to understand or at least respect peoples' right to their own opinion. And frankly, I'm done with being sick and tired.

I never intended this as a political blog as such, but very shortly it's going to become a lot more so. In the coming days and weeks I'll be posting a more in-depth analysis of my opinions on some issues that I'm sick and tired of everyone not being able to discuss like adults, with open comment sections for that discussion. Moreover, this blog also will become a much more public forum for me rather than simply a private journal, so expect some tweaks and changes to that effect. (Nothing major to report yet, but I'm still working on it.)

I will welcome your reasoned dissent, your arguments, and your personal analysis and experience. What I will not welcome is name calling, ultimatum dropping, hysterical guilt trips and personal attacks. Those things have no place in the larger discussion about these issues, as they do absolutely no good in solving the problems that we all face, they only spawn more problems.

I'll sign off today with a challenge to you all:

• Research the following issues and come up with reasoned and researched argument for why you are for or against them. Most of them require more than a one-sentence epithet to explain intelligently.
• Once you have researched an issue, write a post about why you feel the way you do, and include your supporting data. These rules apply: the supporting evidence must be scientific, analytical, or first-person anecdotal in nature. You must cite your sources and provide links where applicable. Hearsay and religious dogma do not apply, with the exclusion of statements of personal belief. (e.g. "I believe God says" not "God says." Not everyone reading here necessarily believes in the same God as you.) Please provide scripture references to define those beliefs-- that counts as evidence if it backs up your personal stance.
• If you can do so, suggest how we might move toward solving this problem in a legal and civil way.
• You can do this for more than one issue if you feel strongly about them.
• Include the graphic to the right (right click and save) to show you're in.
• Link back here and post a head-up in the comments so I know you've done so.

• Taxes
• Abortion
• Same-Sex Marriage
• Education
• The Wars (both Iraq and Afghanistan)
• Healthcare
• Poverty And Welfare Reform