Yesterday Blue Bunny blurted out at our Funster Inc. monthly Blog Strategy board meeting, “my jannie, you blogg is growed. i clikked you Alexxa weedgit todae and you is so bucktotts kikking!”
And he’s (she’s?) right!
In the stunning chart revelation above you will note my bumpy, yet overall somewhat steady lurch towards expanded web presence. (That tallest spike was for this post that got thousands of Stumbles.)
Whoo-hoo!
(Yes, Alexa shows this site existing prior to Sept 22nd 2008, reflecting my old comment-less blog, but that saga era is so water under the pre-Wordpress bridge for me.)
Birthday-Birthday! It’s my special day!!
And holey kadiddlehopper, my Alexa stats show that these past 3 months I’ve lured an average of 0.0004% daily internet users here. I know, I know — a real mind-bender of my sheer global reach. 🙂
And did you know I’m really getting popular in Romania among the beer and donut set, especially the bra flinging beer and donut set? Yep! I’m totally, like — the 69,417th most popular site over there! And Bulgaria – don’t EVEN get me started on Bulgaria, I’m trying to remain just a tad humble here.
But, seriously…
It’s been one AWESOME year. THANK YOU ALL SOOOO MUCH!!!!!
If I were to single out every one of you for kudos on the ways you’ve inspired, bolstered and generally buffeted buffered me against the storms of life in just one year, this post might never end. Suffice it to say, YOU are the reason for my blogging season. In fact, there is so much joy in my heart for all of you, I might just spontaneously explode into a combustion of glazed donuts all over this genuine refurbished Dell 8200.
And the best blogging is yet to come, of course.
Always the best of everything yet to come in life!
Anyhoo…
As I enter my second year of blogging (whoo-hoo!) I ask you three burning questions…
Any blogging advice for me?
Anything you’d like to see more (or less) of at Funstertown?
Any rhubarb recipes or rhubarb life-experiences to share?
Friends, I started to categorize these into Butts, Bras, Typos, Miscellaneous and Just Plain WTH? but it seemed so many could be considered just plain WTH? so in random order I give you… phrases people typed last month to land themselves in Funstertown.
— body cast tickling
— blue things you might see at a lake
— I’m 54 and I can’t find a good bra
— naughty sprites
— hipwaders for short round people
— jannie whopper
— are fruity rolls bad for dogs
— women chocolate tussle
— singing donuts
— is it okay to run in sports bra with slightly flabby belly
— trio of french funsters
— poem about missing someone who has dyed
photo credit: How Stuff Works
— how to hold a ukulele breast
— barbie cotillion crochet bra
— neighbor shows chest wearing loose shirt and short shorts
— lurker in texas lost pines
— humorous poems plus square dancing
— “she’s a very cheeky girl” song
— chainsaw man voice
— tiny tim donuts ingredients
— high school boys and jock straps
— If things were my way I’d put a condom on your heart
— shirley temple girdle
— how to take care of hip weighters
— how to behave in a restaurant [NOT!] 🙂
— retro fat butts pics
— retro hairdues
— what bra is good for sagging boobs
— fluffy fuzzy monster boots
— what is the name of song that goes whoo whoo whee whoo
— tilt of the kilt
— what does it mean if you have two voices in your head
— lolly pop cadence
— hell yes i’m crasy
— man girdle pictures
— bra connection wedgie videos
— who is the hootiest cutiest boy
— where to look for missing donuts
If I were brave I’d tell you something deeply secret about me. But I’m a total wimp, so let’s get on with a book review, shall we — a book by someone who actually IS brave in a real way, Kimmi Rich.
I liked Kimmi’s writing style so much over at her Writer In Waiting blog that I ordered her The Unbreakable Child, recently released on Kunati’s “Provocative, Bold, Controversial” label — a book the September issue of Writer’s Digest Magazine cites as “a wonderful model of how to craft a hopeful ending,” an assessment I second, third and fourth!
It was far from an easy book to read, but you can bet it was ten thousand times harder to write. From the second paragraph her story broke my heart with accounts of unspeakable abuses and neglect that she, her three sisters and countless other children suffered at the hands of Catholic nuns and a priest at an orphanage near Louisville, Kentucky in the 1960s. Kimmi entered their so-called sisterly “care” when she was three and finally escaped their clutches nine years later.
“Look out, Kid. They keep it all hid.” — Bob Dylan
Unspeakable. Yet she spoke. Spoke up for justice and for the ones who could not speak — the class action lawsuit she initiated the first in the United States to result in a monetary settlement from a Roman Catholic order of nuns, 45 victims in all.
It was Kimmi’s spirit and beautiful writing that kept me reading. Her sheer will and resilience in the face of horrors. Yes, even with humor sometimes. Unbreakable spirit. Her joy at simple blessings such as the gift of a bracelet from a kind soul — her one possession in nine years, a bracelet she managed to keep hidden from the nuns and still wears to this day. Small triumphs such as the honor of having a piece of her school artwork displayed for a few hours before a nun destroyed it. A possible once-yearly day trip somewhere. Getting to feed a dog, albeit not the friendliest dog in the world, while it’s alcoholic nun owner went to “dry out.”
Kimmi is the unbreakable child who finally ended up with the forever family she longed for and deserved — her loving husband and children. She volunteers for Habitat For Humanity and at a homeless shelter. She helps kids learn to read and write. She signs hundreds of copies of The Unbreakable Child at her book signings. She listens to “Swinging On a Star” on her iPod.
Why do some people rise above childhood atrocities to lead wonderful productive lives and bring their own children up not only without abuse, but allow them to flourish, while others who’ve faced the same abuses crash and burn? Spirit? Courage? Luck? Love? Forgiveness?
So, me ‘n Kelly romped in Zilker Park late one afternoon a couple weeks ago. (Zilker connects to our hike-n-bike trail I showed you recently.)
Shared our picnic with the birds.
Had a little snooze.
And celebrated the brand-spanking new bermuda turf which has transformed our previously dusty soccer practice fields into this dreamy expanse.
To walk from this spot to the nearest of those buildings would take about [15 to] 20 minutes, in case your fertile inquiring mind was wondering.
We were also celebrating that Kelly finally lost a tooth.
I was really surprised it took her until almost eight to lose one, especially since a few of her bottom permanent teeth have already grown in behind the baby ones. Oh well, every kid’s different. And getting the adult teeth later can actually make them stronger, I read.
And below, yours truly, by the snaggletooth photographer.
Then things got really interesting…
Searing pains shot along my arm resting so comfortably on the glorious new grass.
FIRE ANTS!!! I4 bites in all.
My arm 3 days after the attack, still quite swollen and very, very sore. The pustule stage came a few days later, sorry I didn’t capture that for you. 🙂
Encroach on a fire ant nest and they’ll wait til a bunch of ’em are on you before one of them gives the signal to chomp down simultaneously. And chomp those freakers do. Quite expertly.
I spent a very unpleasant night after I got bit, considered going to EMS but opted out once Benadryl relieved my breathing, swollen face and head-to-toe itching. I’d had multiple bites in the past but this was my worst reaction ever. My skin all went bright pink!!! Hilarious.
Luckily Kelly suffered no bites at all that day. And equally luckily she is not allergic to fire ant venom, as I am.
What I learned that afternoon — never ever let my guard down in Texas against fire ants. Ever. Even if I don’t see an apparent “hill” they could still be lurking. Bastards.
My arm is good as new, tho!
And I’m going back to that field this morning. See you there!
P.S. I’ve been a little out of the blog reading loop with Kelly’s birthday and its on-going wonderment this past week. So watch out! Jannie’s gonna pop in to your place soon.
Yep, our Kelly’s 8 today! She was born here in Austin on 9-11-01 at 2:10 p.m. It was 3:10 in NYC.
Nothing like videotaping her 7-year-old interview at the eleventh hour — yesterday late afternoon, to be precise. I’ll post more clips in the future, but for now I give you… “I’d Rather Be A Girl.” (Transcript included below in case you have trouble making out the words.)
Transcript…
Me: Kelly — question 41. If you could be somebody else for just one day, who would you be?
Kelly: Either you, my dad or Genevieve my friend, or my best friend, Isabella.
Me: So, why would you want to be me for a day?
Kelly: Because I wouldn’t have to go to school.
Me: Yah.
Kelly: Actually, I wouldn’t want to be my dad.
Me: No?
Kelly: Because the privates — I wouldn’t know how to work the privates.
Me: (Laughter.) You don’t know how to work the male privates.
Kelly: No.
Me: If you had them you’d probably know what to do with them, tho.
