Cranky Fibro Girl

Harnessing the healing power of snark

Seeking New Bloggers? Look No Further

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It’s time for a little catching up here in the land of Using Our Powers For Good. Due to my recent journey through the dark places of the soul I’ve gotten a little behind on things I was tagged for. So here they all are in one fell swoop.

1. Recently I was flattered to become part of Priscilla Palmer’s Personal Development List, which you can read about here

My additions:

Debra at 28 Years Later.I visit Debra’s site every day because there is always something uplifting there-a photograph, a quote, a meditative insight on life-that gives me a boost and makes me feel good.

Laura Howard West at Cafe Entrepreneur. Laura was the very first Life Coach I ever worked with, and it was she who introduced me to the idea that life could actually be fun (gasp!) She does a lot of work on how to align yourself with joy in all the different areas in your life, especially in your business and your work.

Karen at Square Peg People. I met Karen at a retreat for Marney K. Makridakis’ magazine and art community, Artella. She is one of the coolest people I know, and does amazing work helping those of us who are most definitely Square Peg People in a Round Hole World.

And speaking of Marney, it was thanks to meeting her and getting involved with her and all the juicy goodness that is Artella that I finally unpacked my writing dreams that had been squished down and buried for about a decade or so.

Lianne at Dropping Stitches. I just recently discovered Lianne and I’m so glad I did. She is currently reading Wayne Dyer’s new book on the Tao Te Ching and I am enjoying tagging along with her on this journey.

2. A while ago my awesome friend Mert awarded me the honor of being a Rockin’ Girl Blogger.


Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

And now I get to share this award with some of my favorite Rockin’ Girl Bloggers, such as:

Jessica at Oh The Joys, who was finally able to make her Park Ranger dream come true.

Maggie at Mighty Maggie, who is 4 months into a new baby and continues to rock the humor with her hilarious posts.

Baggage at Baggage and Bug, foster mom and Rockin’ Girl extraordinaire.

Crse at at Zamphir Panflutemaster, whose awesome take on life frequently makes me snort with laughter.

Lynne at Musings From The Edge, coach, mentor, friend, and all-around Bad-Ass Babe.

3. I recently signed up for the newest trend sweeping the blogosphere; namely, Blog Rush.

This blog has some helpful posts explaining some of the ins-and-outs. I like it because it is an easy way to be introduced to new blogs and bloggers, as well as being a pretty easy way to drive traffic to your own blog. Plus I always like to add cool new widgets to my site to increase my Nerd Points 😛

Yet Another Year Of Using My Powers For Good

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Amazingly enough, today is this blog’s second birthday-Yay!

I really wish I had something witty, articulate, humorous, and lightly insightful to write here. Instead, I had The World’s Most Painful Leg Cramp Ever.

Apparently it took getting so run down and dehydrated that there was not enough moisture in my body to keep it running without my muscles seizing up into painful knots at 5 o’clock in the morning for me to realize that, “Hm, I seem to be running on empty here.”

In The Artists Way Julia Cameron talks about going on artist’s dates with yourself in order to keep your creative well filled. As I sat down to list all the things I’ve done since I marked my previous blog-a-versary and the list got to be six pages with still no end in sight, I realized that I’ve perhaps let my well run a little bit dry.

And so I’ve decided to give myself a little vacation from blogging. Not like I usually do, where I can’t think of anything to write and don’t post for a week, all the while worrying and obsessing about the fact that I’m not writing. No, this time I’m taking a vacation in my mind. I’m giving myself permission not to think about my blog for the rest of this week. I’m gonna take a little time to refill my well.

So thank you all so much for sticking with me for the past two years. Here’s to many more “entertaining stories from everyday life.”

I’ll see ya when I get back.

With My Finger On The Pulse Of “Hip”

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Lately I’ve seen this blogging meme making the rounds where you Google “your name+needs” and then list the first five or so things that come up. Being nothing if not a Shamless Troller For Stuff I Can Write About On My Blog I googled, and I came up with these results:

-Jenny needs a job. (No thanks, I’m good.)
-Jenny needs to find herself a baller. (First, Jenny needs to know what the heck that even means.)
-Jenny needs a cold shower. (Yes, but only because of the fever that’s accompanying this damn strep throat!)
-Jenny needs a smack daddy. (This scares me.)
-Jenny needs attention (Hm, truer words were never spoken.)
-Jenny needs to see herself as a good reader. (Not a problem.)

I had no idea what a baller was (and I’m kind of afraid to know what a smack daddy is), but I wasn’t worried because today I was tutoring the high school student who is my source of knowledge for all things “hip” and current.

“So, what’s a ‘baller’ “, I asked her when she got here.

“Is that a serious question?” she asked in disbelief.(Sarcasm: the price I pay for knowledge.)

When I assured her that it was, she informed me that it had multiple meanings. On the one hand it can apparently mean that “you have pimps and ho’s around you”, or it can mean that you’re really good at something.

“So, you could say that you’re a baller at Spanish. And I? Well I could say that I’m a baller at life.”

(Gee, thanks.)

We went on with the lesson until we got to a tricky problem involving a certain verb conjugation.

“Why is that the answer?” she demanded, when I corrected her mistake.

“Because [involved grammar explanation that you probably don’t really care about].”

“That really pisses me off!”

“I know. It’s because Spanish is out to get you.”

“Jenny, the whole world is out to get me. I’m a baller at life. That’s just the price I pay.”

Hey Now, I’m A Rock Star

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(This is a sticky post.)

I just learned that the awesomeness that is Oh, The Joys has nominated me for a Blogger’s Choice Award. Thank you so much!!

I have been nominated in the category of, “The Blogitzer”, an award which “will be presented to the blogger who demonstrates the best writing ability on his or her blog.”

My site was nominated for The Blogitzer!

The stats at the moment I am writing this post show the following: Dooce: 282 votes, “Using My Powers For Good”: 3 votes.

But I’m not really that upset because, Holy Cow!! I’ve been nominated in the same category as Dooce!!

And also, I have another cool button to add to my blog!!

I am very easily excited 😛

And so, if you feel like sharing a little blogging love, you can click on that cool little button and vote for me-maybe we can break into the double digits!

You can also vote for all your other favorite blogs while you’re there-there is no limit on the number of blogs you can vote for in each category.

Happy Thursday!

Keyword Roundup

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I am just loving my new blog tool, Hit Tail. It’s providing me with tons of data about my blog, which of course I am just passing right along to my engineer husband (AKA, “Someone who actually knows what to do with scientifically gathered data”.) And then that leaves all the fun stuff for me, like today’s Top Ten List:

The Top Ten Funniest Keywords Or Phrases People Are Using To Find My Blog On The Internet

10. using your witch powers

9. ostrich vomit

8. cat poo in tub

7. dirty jobs hippo

6. mike rowe tooth

5. benign wart on head

4. rats in our house

3. neon orange bug

2. naked vacation

1. ryan is a poo

Guest Blogger: Tiny Cat Pants

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Today the well of entertaining stories is running a little dry, but fortunately I found a post on another blog that so perfectly describes something I routinely experience, I decided to share it here.

First of all, the phrase “tiny cat pants” is, in itself, a totally awesome use of the English language, and I think we should all make a concerted effort to use it as much as possible in our daily conversation.

Second, I myself live with a tiny cat, and I can TOTALLY relate to the phenomenon that Aunt B. describes here in her post, The Tiny Cat Is Made Of Lead”:

“The tiny cat is a tiny cat…Sometimes, though, she can wake you up out of a dead sleep by just stepping on you. It’s as if she can concentrate the mass of a black hole right where her every paw is placed on your skin…It’s very strange, the tiny cat.”

Amen, sister!

Better Blogs And Gardens

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OK, so there aren’t any actual gardens here, but I was having trouble thinking up a clever way to introduce the new additions I’ve made lately to my cyber-home. (And by “I’ve made here”, I mean, “that my amazing techno-god husband has so kindly and lovingly added for me”).

If you look over to the right sidebar, you can see there’s a new section for quotes that I like entitled, “Good Words.”

Also on the right sidebar, you can see the spiffy graphics for all the books I’m currently reading. (ETA: I had to remove this plug-in as it was somehow related to my blog continually being hacked. Not sure if I’ll be able to put it back or not.)

And if you look at the tabs on the top, you will see that there is now a tab for Podcasts. My first podcast is a speech I gave earlier this month entitled, “Black Sheep Girl In A White Sheep World”.

Enjoy!