Imitation is not plagiarism the most sincere form of flattery right?
So I see this tweet from Schmutzie yesterday and because it involved a propah use of the word "incumbent", I was obligated to click through and comment. Apparently, I'm easily persuaded and bear a strong sense of imagined obligation to others.
But I also found her post to be a fun and novel idea, so I'm takin' it and runnin' and I'm hopin' you'll join me for the ride. Motivated by the desire to know just "who" you are–anyone who happens to read or subscribe to or receive emails from my blog. Even if you found me by searching for "smartest woman in the world" or "best parenting blogger of all time" or (resorting to realism) "Paula Deen blog" or "What is a pensieve and how do you pronounce it?" or my favorite, "Best apple pie in the world". Regardless of whether you have your own blog…(if you think that's a reference to you, it probably is 😉 )
Would you pretty-please-with-honest-to-goodness-whipped-cream-on-top comment answers to the following? I'm picking up Schmutzie's questions and embellishing a wee little bit until she calls in the lawyers and tells me to delete this post and looking VERY forward to hearing from you!
a) Share your website url & a one-sentence description (hopefully, this will generate interest back to your site!!!).
b) Where do you live?
c) What strange belief/idea did you have as a child?
And copying imitating Schmutzie, I'll be happy to start the comments; however, unlike her, I won't be reveling nekkid in the comment section, because we all know that would not be pretteh, eh?
a) http://www.pensieve.me {Seinfeld-rella of blogging…}
b) The Tennessee Valley
c) When I was little, I was CERTAIN I was going to die from lock jaw, so for YEARS–YES, YEARS–I slept with my thumb and forefinger in my mouth to keep my jaw from totally clamping shut. I really should’ve talked to someone about that….
a) http://learningmama.blogspot.com or http://thevoiceofmom.com I write some person stuff but I like doing reviews for VOM(full of opinions!)
b) Ohio, Akron area… very scary sometimes.
c) I used to think my mom couldn’t tell that my eyes were open if I only had a night light on when I was supposed to go to bed. Haha! I really thought she couldn’t see them open from the door.
a) http://www.herewegomoms.com I write about life as a mom of two little girls, ages 3 and 5.
b) Nashville, TN area.
c) After being told about the dangers of a hairdryer falling in the bathtub, I was afraid that using a hairdryer ANYWHERE in the house would electrocute someone if they were in the bath.
If you’re copying from Schmutize, is it okay if I copy the comment I left there? Hope so.
a) mikeraburn.wordpress.com Attempts of an academic theologian to be relevant, which is (unfortunately) harder than you might imagine.
b) Raleigh, North Carolina
c) I was convinced that the people in the TV could see me. Every time The Brady Bunch came on, I ran and put on a shirt (normally optional in Florida), so Marsha wouldn’t see me laying on the couch half-naked.
a) http://acornalley.andieandlee.com/
b) Phoenix, AZ
c) I was certain as a child I would never really grow up. I am not sure where this came from, I was never ill, I was just certain I would die young. At 18 I was in a car wreck and thought it would be the end, but I’m still here!
a)http://www.thepilotswife.org I write about living with my hubby the air show pilot, building our hangar house in SE Kansas, our semi-retarded Great Dane, and, of course, our beautiful baby boy!
b) Right now? Transitioning from NE Oklahoma to SE Kansas. But I’ve also lived in Mississippi, Arkansas, and California.
c) I was terrified of sharks and just KNEW that they lived in our lake (in Arkansas!) despite what everyone told me!
A) http://www.wildoakcottage.blogspot.com
It started out as a place to talk about my crafting, but is turning out to be a hodgepodge of personal musing, tea, and crochet.
B) San Diego, CA
C) I firmly believed that the shadows I saw out in our dark living room at night were ghosts and that some of them were out to get me. On the flip side, some of them were my ancestors and they were there to keep an eye on me and help me out. Does it help to explain that I am an only child?????
a) http://www.prairieair.blogspot.com
As the scorching summer winds blow the bucolic aroma of the bovine bedecked pastures sending it ever onward, so my words tumble across the vast landscape of the blogosphere. It’s a lot of hot air and crap, but it’s mine and I’m willing to share. (Oh shoot! Was that two sentences?)
b) south central Kansas
c) When I was a very little girl my greatest ambition in life was to one day star as Wendy on The Casper the Ghost Show. Whether I realized it was a cartoon and I was not animated, I don’t know. When I was older, I believed I could train the forest animals to come to me if I brought bread crumbs and sang to them.
a) Delhi Bound …. http://delhibound.blogspot.com — all about mothering 3 children through an expat assignment
b) We’re nomadic right now … on our way from the States to Delhi, India
c) That because I was the oldest of four children, it was my responsibility to teach them all they needed to know in order to survive (such as how to put out forest fires, use pee for hydration if you’re stranded, and how to properly hightail it from the neighbor’s abandoned farm)
HOW FUN, R!!
1. Known by Name – http://knownbyname.wordpress.com/ – is where the chaos of my blogging lives have finally convened – it’s about family, life, love, faith, cooking, weight loss surgery – my crazy, convoluted, sometimes confusing life!
2. Portland, Oregon
3. I believed that things in small bottles were magical – maybe it was an older cousin reading to me about Alice in Wonderland or something – and so when I found THE cutest little bottle of orange stuff in the fridge as a toddler I took it, chugged it – and then learned that Tobasco is not always so magical.
1 – http://www.vitafamiliae.com Raising 5 kids 5 and under requires laughter, flexibility, and some place to write it all down so we don’t forget it twenty minutes later.
2 – Alabama
3 – I hated fireworks. I was convinced I would be the victim of a firework accident. I was especially scared of being in a boat on the water while there were fireworks. Which is why I spent some quality time below deck of my Uncle’s sailboat.
1. Bunny Trails – http://bunny-trails.blogspot.com – The meanderings of a woman who often finds herself on life’s bunny trails.
2. Colorado Springs, CO
3. When I was around eight, there was a wall furnace just inside the doorway of our bedroom with a pilot light. Because I could see the flames, I was always afraid that they would come out of the furnace and block the door to escape. I would collect all my stuffed animals and my two favorite blankets and fall asleep with my arms wrapped around them. I had it all planned out if there was a fire. I would grab my little sister off the top bunk and we’d climb on top of the toy bench which sat just beneath the window. Going out the window, there were two poles that held up a fire escape, and we’d slide down the poles and take off across the backyard. Of course, my arms would be full of my animals and blankets.
1) http://ewbpcb.blogspot.com is where I journal and share our ups and downs, but I also have a couple of blogs on my sidebar…for recipes…for our legacy as a pair of Army Brats…and genealogy
2) Georgia
3) Heels with very pointed toes were in style when I was a little girl (which is why I refuse to wear them as an adult, but I digress). I used to think my great-grandmother only had one large toe because I couldn’t imagine how a normal foot could fit in a shoe shaped like that (see previous digression!).
That’s it. I’m calling my lawyer 😉
a) http://www.schmutzie.com is where my personal website lives. I pretty much do whatever the hell I like there.
b) I live in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada
c) I’ll share a different weird belief I had as a kid than I did on my site. When I noticed that I had ankle bumps on the inside of my ankle as well as the outside, I thought that I had just discovered that I was deformed, because I thought everyone only had ankle bumps on the outside. I kept my ankles covered for weeks in an attempt to cover up my deformity.
1. http://www.beuatifulvisionofyou.blogspot.com (aka: Appleblossoms)
2. WV with plans to move to Nashville in the coming weeks
3. I don’t remember having any strange thoughts/beliefs when I was child….
S.
A) http://robinmb.blogspot.com It’s where I document my life – my family, knitting, digital scrappbooking and anything else I happen to become obsessed with.
B) I live in Albuquerque, NM
C) When I was little, I was sure Jesus would come back before I could grow up, get married, and have kids.
A. http://amykiane.typepad.com/ Where I write about everything from family life, motherhood, faith,books, photography, scrapbooking & crafting.
B.east central Alabama
C. can’t think of anything really.
1) http://www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com – Homeschooling, faith and family.
2) Southeastern U.S.
3) Crazy belief — that I would one day become an artist. Turns out you have to have a little thing called “talent” for that.
a) http://jeniallen.blogspot.com I mainly write about life as a SAHM with two littles; some deep thoughts, but many not-so-deep. 🙂
b) a little bit west of Nashville, TN
c) When I was in kindergarten, my grandparents had a small house fire that started in their furnace. I didn’t know what a furnace was (we had radiators in our apartment) so I told my teacher that fire was coming out of the faucet at my grandparents’ house.
1) http://mylifeonthewildside.blogspot.com/. Why is my life on the wild side? Because every day is an adventure!
2) Wheaton, IL
3) I grew up in the country, and every night when I went to bed I was just sure that there was a man looking at me from outside.
(a) I don’t have a website or blog at the moment….
(b) Auckland, New Zealand
(c) I believed something lived under my bed, and if I jumped from a far distance into bed, it couldn’t get me!
1. jen-lehmann.livejournal.com
This blogs not very active, but my personal blog is friends-locked.
2. Garrett County, MD – That little, funky, hangy bit in the way western part of the state that dips down into West Virginia. I’ve only been living on this side of the country for a year now.
3. Because someone had said something about the traffic lights going based on sensors, I pictured a person sitting under the street, watching traffic through an eyehole.
{a} http://teasinglydiverse.wordpress.com AND http://cheres101in1001.wordpress.com – I blog about law school, mindless television and other teasingly diverse topics 🙂 I’m also participating in the 101 in 1001 Challenge and blog about that.
{b} California
{c} I thought that the overpriced can of glitter my dad bought me at the department store really contained pixie dust, so with a little faith and trust I climbed the floor-to-ceiling bookshelves we had in our living room. And took a flying leap. I thought I’d be able to fly! 🙂
a) http://www.InfiniteAdventuresAtTheZoo.com Faith, writing, photography and motherhood are my passions, and the blog is where they all collide and create the painting of my life.
b) Right now, I live in New Brunswick, on the east coast of Canada, but I’m currently vacationing in the Amish countryside (breathtaking and faith inspiring), and we’re in the process of moving to California.
c) My earliest years were marked with horrific abuse and yet a passionate love and curiosity about God… since the first isn’t something pleasant to talk about, I’ll give you something about the 2nd… I was certain that since God could see us at all times, I shouldn’t change anywhere except for places that were dark. I’d get dressed or undressed in my closet, or under my bed. Shall I add that I am glad I no longer care if it’s dark or not? LOL I also believed that God was bored up there, so I devised a plan to send Him some toys… this involved string, two aluminum pie plates, masking tape, balloons, and my brother’s army men. To this day, I wonder why I wouldn’t have wanted to send him MY toys — I mean, He deserved the very best, right?
a) http://www.vanderbiltwife.com, where I blog about trying to be the housewife I’m not–faith, family, work, and food all fall into that umbrella. 🙂
b) Nashville, with hopes and plans to be down the street from Miss Robin if our house will sell!
c) I was absolutely sure I was going to go live in NYC and be a Broadway actress. Then I discovered I really can’t act.
1. I’m Megan of SortaCrunchy where I blog about the intersection of faith in Christ and natural family living, and I am the writer and editor-in-chief for Simple Kids – the Simple Mom spin-off blog devoted to uncomplicated parenting in a complex world. Whew. What a mouthful!
2. You’ll find me out in the flat, windy plains of western Oklahoma.
3. As a child, I was convinced babies came out of your belly button. If I peered and examined and studied it hard enough, I thought I could see a teeny, tiny little baby in there. I also thought there was a good chance it would come out while I was using the restroom.
This was fun! Thanks for inviting us to play.
Okay, here goes:
a) http://lizzieshome.blogspot.com – Aussie mother of three trying to negotiate family, (new) faith and fun!
b) Adelaide, Australia. Imagine a map of Australia. Look about halfway along the southern coastline. Adelaide is on one of the little peninsulas, roughly at the ‘2 o’clock’ position of the bit that looks like a shark took a chunk out (coincidentally, that’s actually called the Great Australian Bight. And yes, that’s how you spell it) Not all Aussies live in Sydney! Or want to!
c) When I was a wee thing my father perpetuated a cute nickname for me – The Weather Witch. Apparently I became convinced that my lofty predictions about the weather were always 100% correct. I was four.
Cheers!
Lizzie
http://www.lollipopandpearls.blogspot.com where I blog about anything and everything that comes to mind~ namely my family, my christian walk, and things I hope will bless someone else’s life as I have been blessed!
Franklin, TN., just outside of Nashville
I was sure “Neenie Sevage”, my invisible friend, was real, and that she would be with me forever! I still wonder whatever happened to her 🙂 Has anyone out there seen her? If so, please tell her to call home if she gets work!
a) I recently started a blog for fiction writers where I share (occasional) wisdom and (frequent) foolishness gleaned from my long-time career as a freelance editor. You can find this stuff athttp://www.noveldoctor.com. Sometimes I write short stories and post them on another blog, but you’ll have to search for that one. Just because.
b) Colorado
c) When I was quite young and Sunday-school smart enough to know better, I wondered if I might be Jesus. Not in a crazy way. I just thought – “Okay, so what if Jesus returns to earth as a baby again. And what if he’s me?” It was actually more of an existential/theological question about whether or not I believed I could live a perfect life. I determined (probably after getting into trouble for some little thing) that I certainly wasn’t perfect, and therefore, couldn’t be the Second Coming of Christ.
Needless to say, this was quite a relief.
a.) http://www.NotesFromTheNest.com is where I blog about pregnancy and parenthood (I’m a SAHM to a 17-month-old boy)
b.) Minnesota
c.) When I started kindergarten, I thought I was a “new kid” and that everyone else had already been in school for months.
Fun:)
a. http://adustyframe.com/
I blog about our life while my husband is incarcerated.
b. Midwest
c. I used to be worried that the Commies were going to overtake America and my baby brother would never hear about the Lord. I literally stayed awake at nights crying over that:(
**Thankfully he knows the Lord by now;)
1) the court of two sisters – http://ashleywb.blogspot.com where I write about our life: mainly our two girls (almost 4 and 7 mos), faith, losing a baby boy a yr and half ago @ 5 mos pregnant, work, and sometime just the randomness of daily life.
2) Baton Rouge, LA
3) I used to think that my dolls and stuffed animals had feelings and that they got their feelings hurt if I chose to let one sleep with me or if I played with one more than the others. So, I tried to give each an equal amount of my time.
I thought of a different C) since I answered the question on Schmutzie’s blog, so this is my chance to use it!
a) http://averagejane.blogs.com
b) Kansas City, MO
c) When I was very little, I was afraid to stay in the bathtub when the water was draining because I was sure I could be washed down the drain. Obviously, spatial relationships have never been my strong suit.
a) http://nutmeg92.blogspot.com/ I write about my life with bipolar 2 disorder & working at home with 3 kids …but very randomly, as my 12 year-old daughter is so fond of saying. {geez, that was harder than I thought it would be 😉 }
b) East coast of Florida
c) I shared a room with my older sister until I was 13 & when I got a room of my own I found out that I was irrationally afraid of what might be under my bed at night. And, yes, I did the whole running-and-jumping-into-the-bed thing as if that would make any difference whatsoever!
Cheers!
a) Our Little Tongginator adoptive momma struggling to keep up with her five-year-old firecracker
b) Washington, DC area – Maryland side
c) When I was in fourth grade, I had a nightmare that a lion ate my head off. The screaming lasted FOREVER because my momma couldn’t get me to open my eyes for the longest time. Why? Because I was naturally terrified that I would see my body on one side of the room, while my head was on the other side.
1. http://www.avirtuouswoman.info Using Proverbs 31 as a springboard of growth as a Christian woman and also http://secretsofasouthernkitchen Recipes, kitchen tips and more
2. I have a house in SW Louisiana, but live in Columbus GA (for now)
3. I was convinced as a child that I would someday be famous/important enough to be interviewed by Johnny Carson on the tonight show, and I often thought that I was secretly being watched by cameras, gathering footage for the story of my life that would need to be told someday. Because I would someday be important/famous enough…
1) http://www.methemamam.blogspot.com
My blog is called Ordinary Days and my tagline explains it all: I try to take life one day at a time, but sometimes several days attack me at once.
2) I’m in Indianapolis, Indiana
3) I always thought that my parents had the ability to read my mind. So whenever I was thinking about something I didn’t want them to know about I quickly pictured the crucifix and began to pray, ya know, so they’d think I was a little saint or something.
Whoopsie! Got a little too excited there. The correct URL is http://methemama.blogspot.com
a.) http://reflectionsandmemories.blogspot.com
I started my blog as a way to cope after the unexpected death of my little sister last year. Now I kind of write about her, me, and everything in between.
b.) Greencastle, PA
c.) I believed that I was destined to be a race horse jockey. But by the time I was ten years old, I was already 5’6.
a) http://www.freemanbits.blogspot.com – It’s all about getting down in black and white so I don’t forget about it. My version of digital scrapbooking!
b) Alabama, where the humidity could almost drown you. I speak the truth, folks!
c) I firmly believed that if I imagined every single wretched scenario out there, it woulnd’t happen to me or my family. I spent hours imagining horrible accidents. It was a warped childhood. A very warped childhood. I think I’m more or less okay these days…
Hey chic! This should be fun..
a)http://www.potsonthestove.blogspot.com is my site for sharing little pieces of my life and lots of recipes, as my passion is cooking
b)Ivor, VA…country living
c) this is hard, as I don’t have tons of childhood memories, much less a rememberance of any ideas..I thought I could sing (HAHAHA), and we had a cannister vacuum cleaner..that I loathed..but to make cleaning fun, I named the hose, Samantha the Snake
Jen – Balancing Beauty and Bedlam
http://www.inpassionatepursuit.blogspot.com
My passionate pursuit of trying to balance it all…good, bad and ugly. I focus on frugal homemaking/personal finance – faith, family, food and fun. 🙂
Transplant from WI to the beautiful NC…we bought acres and are building a family homestead.
Strange belief? Hmmm….that I could never, ever be that Prov. 31 “quiet and gentle” spirit because the teachers always told me how loud I was. 🙂
A: http://www.runningatlarge.wordpress.com. I just write about what’s in my head or in my uterus, like baby number 4 here.
B: New York, greater Albany area.
C: When I was 4 I had the idea that I would be a car washer when I grew up.
a. http://azmommy.blogspot.com/
b. Glendale, AZ
c. i was convinced that little people lived in cassette tapes and played music in there.
a. http://www.hoodmamamel.blogspot.com – A long way from the Theta house. I blog about being a wife, mom to six, and living in the inner-city doing ministry.
b. the hood, Dallas, Texas
c. I always wanted to know when they invented color. My parents movies, etc. were in black and white, and I thought color just hadn’t been invented yet.
a) Dreaming What Ifs…
b) Oregon (south of Portland)
C) As a child, I heard at school that in one million years our son was going to explode and go super-nova. I walked around for years totally freaked that any day our sun was going to explode.
OOPS — that was SUN not son.
a) http://www.magnoliaimages.com or http://www.gallery.eagleburger.net. Neither are blogs, but websites for mine and my husband’s photographic pursuits.
b) NC
c) Oh gosh, this is embarrassing. When I was little, my parent’s cautioned me about a monster that lived in lakes called the “Purple People Eater.” Seeing as I’m not purple and thus not its pray, they didn’t think this would be all that scary but I believed them and never trusted this monster to stick strictly to his diet of purple people. TO THIS DAY am still a little queasy about lakes.
a) http://www.mommybytes.com software geek / mom blogs about her life
b) Greater Boston area
c) I thought that the 5 boroughs of NYC were the whole of New York state and couldn’t understand why they didn’t look right on the map.
1) http://hemadrama.wordpress.com. The Young, Fabulous and Plateletless: My blog started after being diagnosed with the rare blood disorder, Immune Thrombocytopenic Purpura. (…and the rollercoaster ride that ensued thereafter…)
2) The Texas Panhandle, originally.
3) When I was 7, (and completely ignorant of the birds & the bees/anything of the sexual nature…) I convinced myself I could be pregnant after seeing an episode of Maury Povich centered around a very young (12 year-old) pregnant girl. I worried about this for a few weeks until my best friend eased my mind by sharing how you get pregnant: by kissing a boy.
(Whew! Like that would ever happen.)
a) http://www.inksstillwet.blogspot.com
The journey of my faith in God and His greatness. Inksstillwet was created to acknowledge He’s still writing my life story.
b) Where the wind comes sweepin’ down the plane. Oklahoma!
c) That anyone who didn’t go to church was not going to heaven. Dead wrong!
Sugar In the Raw – Savoring Life… even when it’s bitter.
I live in San Diego.
My weird kid thought was more of a wish. I thought/wished that my real parents would show up one day and apologize for losing me to this crazy family. They’d hug me and take me to our castle in Spain.
Sadly, that never happened. And after much counseling, I’m totally okay with the fact that they never came. 😉
Oh, Lawsy, that’s the funniest thing I’ve ever heard!
Amber@the RunaMuck from http://www.therunamuck.com from North West Arkansas. I thought I would grow up to be one of those people who could stare at something so hard that it would scoot across the table or float up into the air. I also thought I would end up somewhere singing on top of a piano and wearing long gloves. Well, they might still happen now that I mention it.
My daddy told me that shooting a bird was doing something really bad to God, so you know what I went around doing? Pointing my middle finger down and shooting birds to the Devil!
1. I Throw Like a Girl (http://carolmehl.wordpress.com)Little observations about life from a Christian female point of view.
2. Just moved from the Princeton, NJ area to Colorado last week which is why I haven’t posted much on my blog. Please don’t hold it against me – I plan to get back to it this weekend, at least once all the boxes are out of sight and out of mind.
3. When I was young I thought I was very smart and then I went to college and found out I was very average (and that’s ok).
A. I don’t have a website… sigh.
B. Winnipeg, Manitoba (That’s in Canada)
C. When I was a child I used to pray that the devil would ask Jesus into his heart. I figured that if God could do ANYTHING, then he could TOTALLY forgive Satan for his sins… so I prayed for that.
Wow, I’m late to this party! I don’t suppose this is the sort of place you make an entrance, huh? Ah well.
a) http://put-it-on-the-list.blogspot.com/ My “list” of whatever occurs to me — including, but not limited to, making glass beads, traveling, taking pictures, what I’m reading lately, what my two teenage boys are up to, and the like.
b) I’m a Texas girl, raised in Lubbock and currently residing near Austin.
c) I was scared to death of the Sleestack (from Land of the Lost) as a kid, and I was convinced they were going to come into my house and hurt me. I watched the show faithfully every Saturday morning, but I had to make sure I was out of view of the front door so they couldn’t see me when they got there!
1. http://www.helloworldclothing.com/blog. I am a newbie who is writing about the ever challenging life of being a WAHM starting a baby clothing business. I will be sharing some trials and tribulations both personal and business related.
2. Carmel, Indiana
3. I always thought of all the people in the world as barbie dolls that God played with!
a. http://catsnhooks.blogspot.com about knitting, crochet or anything fiber… or whatever else I am up to at the moment!
b. alexandria, va just suburbs of DC
c. after seeing superman:the movie i thought we were going to have an earthquake and i would die. a few months later my dad told me Virginia doesnt have earthquakes. it seems like i was pretty much always afraid of death when i was a kid… which really makes me wonder.