7 Quick Takes Friday

Visit Jen's blog for her quick takes, and many others!

1. I've added a new page to my blog featuring some of my all-time favorite posts by other authors.  It is not a complete list by any means -- I've been an avid blog reader for years, and sadly I didn't think to bookmark a lot of my most beloved reads until recently.  But the ones I've linked to are all fantastic!

2. You know how our smiles in photographs tend to be somewhat forced and fake-looking when posed?  I decided a while ago to combat that issue by thinking about toilet humor whenever I'm posing for a photo.  It's great to know that, in all likelihood, when you see a picture of me smiling, the thought that was most likely going through my head was, "POOOOOOOP!  HAHAHAHA!"

Like here!  Guarantee that's what was happening.  Can't say what my husband was thinking.

3. Speaking of, my husband and I were just noting the fact that although the birth of our daughter has radically changed our lives (for the better!) in practically every imaginable way, it has not yet impeded us from proceeding on with our typical fart-joke banter.  Soon, however, we will no longer be able to take advantage of her tender age, and we will be faced with a difficult decision: continue on and risk raising a child who thinks scatological humor is perfectly acceptable in polite company?  Or stop, and deny our daughter the opportunity to know her real mom and dad?  Parenting is tough, folks.

4. While we're on the subject of tough parenting: my daughter is 10.5 months old, and sleep is still a major issue in our house.  Her nighttime nursing frequency is really getting out of hand.  She slept through the night from 3-5 months old back in the fall, but once she gave that up there's been no turning back.  In my mom-as-martyr moments, I like to reflect upon how I've been sleep deprived "this entire calendar year!"

Truth be told, the lack of sleep does make a difference, and I've found myself being forgetful, easily confused, and often just plain stupid.  At one point I was sending an email to Lindsy (I believe it was about the Stephen Colbert cover of "Friday") and I intended to type the acronym "LMAO" (yep, I use that one, and "LOL" and "ROFL," might as well just accept me as I am), but instead I typed "LAMO."  I didn't notice the typo, but my husband happened to glance at my screen and commented, "At first I thought you wrote LMAO, but now I see you put lame-o."  I confessed that this was not my intention, and I fixed it, but I couldn't help but note the hilarity of my lame misspelling.  Ergo, I refer to all of my fumblings that I blame on sleep deprivation (read: all of my fumblings) as "lame-o," spelled "LAMO."

5. Oh, if only I could go back to those days when I actually got good nights' sleep!  Those were the best of times, for sure!  Wait, what?  Yes, sleep is awesome, and I probably need more than I get, but I've gotten two fabulous reminders this week of how much I need to STOP wishing that I could be living someone else's life, especially that of former or future weez.  I highly recommend them both: "It Ain't Out There" by Sarah and "O that green grass." by Maria.

6. To follow or not to follow?  I've noticed a number of blogs lately with a "follower" gadget on them, and sometimes I feel like I'm doing my favorite authors a disservice by not being a "follower" of their blogs.  But I don't use that feature to do my blog reading; I'm a Google Reader gal.  I looooooove me some Google Reader, so I know I'd never use the follower feature to do any of my blog reading.  Is that okay?  Would I be a better citizen of the blogosphere if I started following my favorite blogs publicly? 

7. Many a moon ago, I worked at Dunkin Donuts.  It was a fun time.  For a while afterwards, I couldn't handle the smell of their coffee or the taste of their doughnuts, which wasn't terribly surprising.  In recent years I've come back around.

I first saw this item advertised a couple years ago, and now I see it's out again:  

Yes, that is, in fact, a blueberry waffle breakfast sandwich.  I think the blueberriness of the waffle might be a new development.  It looks...awful, and yet...I gotta admit, the curiosity is killing me.  I might just have to get one of these monstrosities, if only to report back here.  

Happy Friday!