If you had trouble voting before you should be able to do it now

They seem to have fixed the problem. Please remember to vote for your fellow Blogging Chicks. Lisa, Troll Baby and Shannon have some fierce competitors in their category. I thought Shannon would win this with no problem but there are two other really popular blogs competing here. And Lifecruiser and JenLo are competing against Dooce so you know how that's going :-) Even though my competition is made up of new bloggers, they are pretty popular. Holy Mama looks like she could use some help and so does Talia.

So please help us by voting daily. We could really use your support.

Tags: 2006 Weblog Awards

I did miss someone!

I missed Talia of The Centre for Emotional Well-Being! You can vote for her blog here.

Tags: 2006 weblog awards

2006 Weblog Awards Voting

Some good news! Several of our Blogging Chicks have been named finalists in the 2006 Weblog Awards!

We have three in the parenting category: Shannon of Rocks in the Dryer, Karenrani of Troll Baby and Lisa of Lil' Duck Duck. You can vote for them here.

In the Diarist category: Mrs. Lifecruiser of Lifecruiser.com and JenLo of Thinks by Me. You can vote for them here.

In the Top 1001-1750 blogs: Holy Mama! You can vote for her here.

And finally, you can vote for my blog Reformed Chicks Blabbing in the Best New Blog category here.

You can vote daily until Dec. 15. But you can only vote once in each category.

Congratulations to all the Blogging Chicks who made it this year. It is a big honor to be nominated! I hope you will go wish everyone congratulations on their nomination.

If I missed anyone, please let me know so that I can add you.

Tags: 2006 weblog awards

Email address for this week

From Rebecca:

rebeccagrabill at gmail.com for holiday laughter/laughter. This will be FUN with a capital "F"!

BTW, the Christmas Carnival is open to everyone whether you are on the blogroll or not.

Tags: Carnival

There is a Carnival this week

It's at Of Making Many Books and it is on laughter in general or holiday laughter specially. The choice is yours.

Next week will be the Christmas Blogging Chicks Carnival and it will be at Owlhaven. Please get your posts to her as early as possible.

I will be posting email addresses tonight.

Carnival of the Blogging Chicks #21 Favorite Holiday Recipes

The Carnival is up.

Reminder: We are having a Carnival

Get those entries in ASAP, scroll down for the theme and the mailing address.

Tags: Carnival

There is a theme

It is your favorite Holiday recipe. Send your entries to anotherchanceranch at gmail dot com.

We will be having Carnivals on Dec. 3, 10, 17 but will be closed :-) Dec. 24 and 31. And will be back in business on Jan. 7th! But check back over the Christmas season because I do plan to do some blogging. I've found some neat blogging resources and I wanted to share them with you.

Tags: Carnival, Holiday recipes

Yes, we are having a Carnival this week

Sorry! I meant to post this yesterday but was at the library all day and then I got home and had a ton of emails to answer and I fell asleep adding chicks to the blogroll.

Anyway, we are having a Carnival at Another Chance Ranch. I don't know if there is a theme, I'll email Julie and ask :-). I'll let you know, or you can go over there and ask her yourself.

No Carnival this Week

We are not having a Carnival this week. To all of the Americans, Happy Thanksgiving!

Carnival of the Blogging Chicks #20 Thanksgiving

The Carnival is up! I thought it would be bigger, are you guys busy or what?

Tags: Carnival

Thanksgiving Carnival

Man! I forgot to mention this in a post, we are having a Carnival this week. It is a theme Carnival: a thanksgiving theme. I use the lower case because I want everyone, even those who are outside of the United States to be able to participate since we all have things we are thankful for. So this Carnival can be about the Thanksgiving holiday or just things you are thankful for.

The Carnival will be at Suspension of Disbelief. Send your entry to Lindsey at admin AT thedoodlebug DOT net

Tags: Carnival

Weblog Awards

You can nominate yourself for the Weblog Awards. They are taking nominations until November 24th. There are a number of categories to choose from, parenting, conservative, liberal, humor, etc. And they also have categories relating to your ranking in TTLB (The Truth Laid Bear). See, here is another reason for joining TTLB!

So, go nominate yourself and your friends and a couple of the Blogging Chicks. I already nominated some of the mommy blogs because I figure they are usually overlooked and I want to make sure they get their due!!

Tags: weblog awards

Carnival of the Blogging Chicks #19 Holidays Made Easier

The Carnival is up at CoolAdzine for Marketers.

Tags: Carnival

Theme Carnival at CoolAdzine for Marketers

We will be having a Carnival this week:

Holidays are special. They are also stressful. Trying to decide what to buy for your Uncle Bill, Aunt Kate, Grandma, the postman, favorite daycare provider . . . Wondering who is eating where with whom? Is it your time to host Christmas dinner or New Years buffet? Divulge your inexpensive gift giving ideas or real time saving tips. If we share, we will all be blessed
and relaxed this holiday.

"Holidays made easier" is the topic for BC Carnival on November 12 and will be hosted on CoolAdzine for Marketers. Please send your submission to Eileen aka CyberCelt here: cybercelt [at] cooladz [dot] com

Tags: Carnival

Carnival of the Blogging Chicks #18

The Carnival is up at Sting My Heart.

Tags: Carnival

Yes, we are having a Carnival this week

But there isn't a theme, submit whatever post you want to Iris of Sting My Heart. Her email address is eph2810 at eph2810 dot com.

Tags: Carnival

Resources: Hello

So, you want to upload a picture to your blog but Blogger won't let you (like today), what do you do? Use Hello. It will upload pictures to your blog when Blogger isn't working.

Tags: Hello, resource, blogging, blogs

Announcement: Costume Contest

Sorry this is so late! I forgot about it. From Lisa of Lil' Duck Duck:

I wanted to let you know about the 2006 Costume Contest that I'm sponsoring with The Pink Diary - great for some extra traffic and you could win an Amazon gift certificate and a free design from my products. The categories are:

* cutest kid's costume
* scariest kid's costume
* best pet costume
* best adult costume

Tags: Halloween, costume contest

Carnival of the Blogging Chicks #18 A Fall Feast

The Carnival is up at PENSIEVE. If you want to submit an entry, you can still do so.

Firefox 2.0

Download the new Firefox, it has spell checking in comments!!!!!! And when you write your post!! How great is that? I can tell you, it's pretty great. Go, now. Really, you are going to thank me.

Updated to add: This is even better than I thought because it's spell checking everything. All input fields - so now I have spelling checking on Gmail chats and when I compose an email and even when I edit my template. What are you waiting for? Go get it!!

Tags: Firefox

Carnival at Pensieve

The theme for this week's Carnival will be an open fallish kind of theme, you can blog about Halloween or something related to fall, "fall traditions, sports, favorite memories (especially of your childhood), etc." I know that we've already had a fall theme but we wanted to broaden Halloween so that everyone could participate even if they didn't do Halloween.

Send your entries to: lolspicegirl (at) aim (dot) com

Tags: Carnival

There will be a Carnival this week

Robin will be hosting the Carnival at PENSIEVE this week. We aren't sure about the theme though. Do you want a Halloween theme? Let us know in the comment section.

I want to thank both Lindsey and Karmyn R for hosting, you guys really have helped me out a lot.

And in other news, we now have over 400 blogs! Woohoo! My goal is 500 by December. I've been adding blogs during my breaks from studying :-) so you can keep them coming.

Tags: Carnival, blogroll

Carnival of the Blogging Chicks #17 Mistakes

The Carnival is up at Dreaming What Ifs....

Tags: Carnival

Carnival of the Blogging Chicks #17 Mistakes

The Carnival is up at Dreaming What Ifs....

Tags: Carnival

This Week's Carnival Will Be Hosted by Karmyn

The theme will be mistakes but since I am getting this up late this week, if you would just like to submit something else to the Carnival, go ahead. Email your submissions to karhix at yahoo dot com. (You can click on the link to send.) Karmyn will be hosting the Carnival at Dreaming What Ifs...

Sorry to have abandoned the blogroll a little, you guys are going to have to put up with a distracted blogroll owner for a while :-)

Tags: Carnival

Announcement: Gift Idea Exchange

Jennifer from Snapshot:

Snapshot Gift Idea Exchange

Are you stumped for gift ideas for certain people in your life? Or maybe you are full of great ideas that you'd like to share with all of us in the blogosphere. Come check out some good gift ideas and share some of your own as well at the Snapshot Idea Exchange.

Carnival of the Blogging Chicks #16 New Year's Resolution Review

Lindsey will still post your Carnival submission, if you want to be included.

Tags: Carnival

Hey! What happened to everyone?

No one sent an entry for the Carnival.Was the theme too specific? Was everyone too busy? Where did you all go? I will link to the one entry that we have when Lindsey lets me know its up.

Don't forget that we're having a Carnival tomorrow

Send your entries to: admin AT thedoodlebug DOT net

It's a theme:

"Did you make a New Year's resolution this past year? How's that coming for you? Post what your resolution was and how you're doing now that we're 3/4 of the way through the year!"

Announcement: Merry go round of holiday traditions

Malissa of Malissa's Merry-go-round is hosting a merry go round of holiday traditions on Wed Nov 1st.

Tags: Holiday, traditions

This Week's Carnival

As I mentioned yesterday, the next Carnival will be hosted by Lindsey at Suspension of Disbelief. I let her pick the theme she wanted and she picked this:

"Did you make a New Year's resolution this past year? How's that coming for you? Post what your resolution was and how you're doing now that we're 3/4 of the way through the year!"

Send your summissions to:

thedoodlebug DOT net admin AT thedoodlebug DOT net

BTW, if anyone has changed the name of their blog, email me and I'll change it on the list, that's not a problem at all and only takes me a minute.

And if you were deleted from the blogroll and want back on, email me and I'll put you back on. I'm sorry if you were deleted in error.

If anyone notices that there are defunct blogs, please email me so that I can remove them from the blogroll. I discovered about 10 when I was checking the blogroll.

Carnival of the Blogging Chicks #15 Fall Theme

Please don't forget to link to the Carnival. Please let me know if I've forgetten your link. Next week we will be having a theme Carnival and it will be hosted on another blog! The hostess will be Lindsey at Suspension of Disbelief. I will post details on Monday, so check back then.

Owlhaven writes about making a pie. From an actual pumpkin.

Kelly at Pass the Torch, rounds out Husband Week with a peak-fall-color drive. Stop in for Wisconsin photos -- and what she claims is "evidence" her husband loves her.

The Domestic Goddess reminisces about childhood memories of nature's helicopters.

In Dreaming What Ifs... Karmyn R reflects on why she thinks Autumn is the best time of the year.

Pamela, at The Dust Will Wait, has a yard that ignored the very first day of fall.

Laurel Wreath talks about why Fall is a time of celebration.

Lindsey at Suspension of Disbelief talks about the difference between fall in Florida and fall in North Carolina, where there actually are seasons! Her newfound appreciation for the fall season is very exciting!

Julie over at Another Chance Ranch wants to share a couple of Fall websites with you. See where you should go to see the changing colors, and lots of beautiful photos.

Polly at Life is a Buffet describes a colorless Fall.

West coast beach chick, Julie Carobini, anticipates her family's upcoming trip to the eastern U.S.--you know, where they actually have four seasons.

Malissa at Malissa's Merry Go Round shares how her caramel apple was a
bit shocking. She ties this in with some too tart words she should have
kept to herself in Caramel Apples.


Mary describes her love of all things Fall.

Tags: Carnival

I deleted close to 20 blogs from the blogroll

And I'm only up to "L!" I'm deleting all blogs that don't have the blogroll on them. If they had the icon or a link to the Metablog, then I've emailed them, otherwise I just deleted. In the past I was able to email but now I can't keep track, there were over 400 blogs before I started deleting.

If I deleted your blog and you want back on, install the blogroll and email me and I will put you back on the list. If I deleted your blog and you had the blogroll on it, I'm sorry but I really tried looking for it and hit every blogroll and linked list on your blog.

If I deleted your favorite blog from the blogroll, sorry! It is very easy to use Google to find lost blog. Encourage them to install the blogroll so that you can find them again :-)

Announcement:: Halloween Open House

From Chilihead at Don't Try this at Home:

At the end of the month I'm going to host a little Halloween Open House. We'll all be showcasing how we decorate for Halloween! If you don't decorate for Halloween, you can still play (and I hope you do!). I would love to see how you decorate for autumn--even if it's just a pot of mums! I'll be posting my own pictures and a Mr. Linky on October 30. I hope you'll join in and spread the word! Please feel free to grab the graphic and post it on your blog.

Carnival this week

Just a reminder, we are having a Carnival this week and it's a theme Carnival. Anything related to fall and since this blogroll is global (how cool is that?) if it's spring in your neck of the woods, feel free to blog about that.

Also, I'm going to add another Carnival on the 15th, I'll post more details on Monday.

Tags: Carnival

There will not be a Carnival this week BUT THERE WILL BE ONE NEXT WEEK

There will be no Carnival this week but there will be one on October 8th. I have two tests next Tuesday, a Greek and a Hebrew test so I will be very busy this weekend studying. I don't think I will have time to put up a poll so I will be very undemocratic and say, let's do a theme on fall. Anything related to fall.

Tags: Carnival

Carnival of the Blogging Chicks #14

Please let me know if I've fotten to post your entry and please link to the Carnival. It's a short Carnival this week. I will try to get the schedule and the poll questions up (I hope by Monday).

Tracey demonstrates on video the complex art of braiding a six strand challah loaf. Whether you observe Shabbat or not, this beautiful challah will make your mouth water as the best bread on the planet for French Toast or slathered in real butter fresh from the oven. Check out her blog nav bar for the recipe as well!

Support the Race for the Cure. Kristied's friend has breast cancer and is looking for support. Please come on over and visit Just Venting and go support Bobbi in her fight against cancer.

Mama Duck presents "Still my sweet baby!!" at Lil' Duck Duck.

Owlhaven says she is Hereby revealing her laziness

Laurel Wreath talks about when "storms" hit your life, what do you do?

See what happens when Melissa tries to hang out with people other than her children.

Michele writes a letter to her biological mother, after her recent death.

The Domestic Goddess says of her post, "I had the opportunity to chat with writer and author Amy Guth as part of her book tour. Being that I am having a love affair with the internet, it seems fitting that I would take part in this book tour virtually!"

Iris at Sting My Heart is sharing her personal struggle with following God in her post "My Wander Years". But she also shares that God is a God of faithfulness and forgiveness for all who are seeking.

Michele of Life Under the Sun, begins a study of the book of Revelation.

Tasra says of her post, "Did you know that Simple Scrapbooks Get Results? Find out how at Lessons from the Scrapbook Page. You just might get some of those photos out of the
box and onto the page!"

Gattina of Writer's Cramp blogs about elections seen by an outsider.

Julie over at Another Chance Ranch wants to share her first experience at her hometown sypmphony and let you know that this wonderful concert about Oklahoma will be a travelling show, playing with several different symphonies. Enjoy!

Cathy from Sunday Morning Coffee picks up with Part Two of her exploration of Islamic Terrorism by looking at the terrorisit organization Muslim Brotherhood

Dogfaceboy tries to priorit-ugh

Carnvial Tomorrow!

Hey! Did you guys forget that there's going to be a Carnival tomorrow? I've only received two posts for it. It's going to be a very short Carnival.

Tags: Carnival

No Carnival this week

There will be no Carnival this week (I have a Greek quiz next Tuesday, eeep!) We will have one the following week. It will not be a theme. If I get a chance this week, I will put up the theme poll. So, if you have an idea, you still have time to submit it. I was thinking we should do a netiquette theme, what are the things that bloggers do that bug you.

And I will be very slow to respond to emails, so you have been warned :-) I'm still accepting applications for the blogroll and will process them when I get a chance (I did five of them before the start of class this morning :-)

Carnival of the Blogging Chicks #13 Sept. 11

Updated: There have been some additions, so please make sure that you keep checking back.

Updated again to add: I've added more, if you want me to include yours, it's not too late. Email me a 1 or 2 line description and a link to your post and I will include it when I can.

Updated yet again to add: If you are having trouble accessing the 2996 list of participants, go here. (Thanks to lumberjack for the link)

Please remember to link to the Carnival. Please let me know if I forgot your entry or if there is a problem with the links. I've included links to the 9-11 tributes when I noticed them on the blogs of those who submitted an entry. If you want your tribute included, email me but it might take me a while to include it:

Pamela remembers September 11, 2001 along with several frozen moments in time. She says The Dust Will Wait while you stop in and share them.

Kelly from Pass the Torch remembers the perfect fall stroll she took the morning of September 11th, and the utter confusion as the events unfolded.

Laurel Wreath remembers what she was doing September 11, 2001. She also has a tribute to a victim of 9-11 here.

Owlhaven writes about Legos and September 11th

Tracey says of her post "Finally- I remember the quiet. I had never noticed how much noise planes made flying overhead. Until there were none. Over time I started to hear the ocassional loud drone of airplane engines- deep abnormal sounding engines. I remember a moment of panic.Then my husband said-

'Yep, that's a blah blah something something fighter plane' (that's what I heard- though I know he said something much more technical than that)

A fighter plane. This is not an airshow. This is our new world. A world where Terrorists will try to kill you, just because you're an American. I prayed......" Tracey also has a tribute a a victim of 9-11 here.

Michele at Life Under the Sun remembers the day she saw pure evil. She also pays tribute to two 9-11 victims William Fallon and Mattew Blake Wallens. I've updated my post to include my daughter Sarah's remembrance.

Shannon at Rocks In My Dryer writes about making pancakes with her little boy that awful morning. She also prays tribute to a 9-11 victim, Oleh D. Wengerchuk.

Chilihead says of her post, "My disjointed, surreal memory of September 11, 2001. Things are still difficult for me to put into sequence, let alone complete thoughts."

Kailani of The Pink Diary says of her post "Madeline was a flight attendant onboard American Airlines #11 which hit the North Tower of the World Trade Center. She is known for being one of the few who were able to make a cell phone call to authorities."

Slackermommy remembers September 11 and the grace that followed this life changing tragedy.

Five years have passed and most days it is easy to forget the 9/11 tragedy and move on with our daily lives. In Dreaming What Ifs... Karmyn R reflects about that day and says, I REMEMBER

Laura says of her post, "From San Jose, California, New York, Washington and Pennsylvania were far removed from me. Later I would discover my personal 9/11 connections: a cousin who had just recently returned from maternity leave and worked in the North Tower, an acquaintance from my gym who was returning home from a trip to New York City, the son of a couple from the church we attended, the husband of a lady I supported through Sidelines while she was on bedrest for a complicated pregnancy. All were brutally murdered that day. Parents lost their children. Babies will never know their mothers and fathers."

Five years later, Moonshadow remembers how September 11th stopped her family in their tracks and changed their priorities.

Anna says of her post, "Horror at the magnitude of the attacks and at innocent Americans like myself being killed flooded my heart. Sadly, though, I felt little surprise. I had long suspected we would not forever be spared such attacks on our own soil." She also pays tribute to a 9-11 victim here.

Magi says of her post, "This post describes my thoughts as I experienced one of our country's most shocking moments along with my class of high school students." She also pays tribute to Dorothy deAraujo of Long Beach, CA who was returning from a visit to her son in Massachusetts.

While I was hundreds of miles away safe in my home, friends and family were right there in NYC.

Malissa remembers. She also remembers Florence Cohen, a victim of 9-11.

Cathy at Sunday Morning Coffee has put together a comprehensive timeline of terrorism up to and including September 11, 2001.

At A Hen's Pace says of her post, "I've posted my memories and a tribute to Todd Beamer, a college classmate of my brother's, who graduated from Wheaton College a few years after my husband and I did. There's a memorial there that we visit regularly with our children."

Do you know what year 9-11 took place? Did you know that one in three Americans don't remember? Do you remember what you were doing that day? Families like that of Ralph Francis Kershaw will never forget. For the past five years, She Remembers.

Forget the pundits. Honor the lost, and focus on what's ahead at Julie Carobini's site.

Swapwitch says that "We will never forget."


hodgepodger shares her 9-11 memories.

Susan at Reformed Chicks Blabbing remembers the horror of that day, of waiting to hear that her husband was OK.

Biker Betty says of her post, "I have a 'Remembered' and a tribute to William J. McGovern, Chief, 2nd Battalion, NYFD, one of the victims of 9-11."

Jennifer posted a tribute to Frank Joseph Naples

Grafted Branch remembers the events following the attack.

Turtles says of her post, "My September 11 post is about remembering that awful day and trying to protect the children from the images and sounds."

Bonnie says of her post, "It is about a shoe in a pile of rubble and the names on the fire fighter's helmets and how those images affected me. As a firefighter's wife, I couldn't help but search the backs of the helmets and read the names. I also couldn't help but imagine other women, who actually had something to look for, doing the same."

Also, you might be interested in e-mom's post, Helping Our Kids Process the News

Julie at Another Chance Ranch wants to know Where were you that day?

Kate says of her post, "it's personal memories of the day combined with some thoughts on the accuracy of the general public's views of 9/11..."

Kathleen Marie, Visions of 9/11 - From the Heart

Turtles says of her post, "My September 11 post is about remembering that awful day and trying to protect the children from the images and sounds."

Jenny of Joyful Notes says of her post, "My post is about remembering the events of the day but not forgettting the goodness of God."

Shalee discovers that God moves in mysterious ways, but if you have faith, God can be seen in anything that happens on this earth.

Polly at Life is a Buffet remembers September 11th through Psalms 91.

Holly: I Remember

fridaynightgirl, Even Now

Blessed Assurance, I Remember 9-11

Tammy, Remember, Reflect and Renew

huberama, Remember 9/11

Grim Reality Girl says she will always remember.

Mama C-ta, 9.1.1.

Melzie, Monday Memories...

Ang, A Beautiful, Horrific Day

Mamacita pays tribute to a 9-11 victim, Joan Donna Griffith.

PENSIEVE savors the moments of beauty amidst the destruction of 9-11, how music can often capture the feel of a moment, and how our collective memories bind us together.

Heather says of her post, "I've also posted about my reflections of 9-11 and what else came crashing down in my life that day, along with the Twin Towers."

Melissa is glad her children don't know about September 11th... yet.

Tags: Carnival, 9-11

9-11 remembrances

Shannon is doing a 9-11 remembrance and she'll link (she's using Mr. Linky) to everyone who posts about 9-11 (and this would include men as well).

Tags: 9-11, Carnival

Blogging Chicks 9-11 Carnival

If you would like to participate in this Carnival, please email me a 1 or 2 sentence description of your post and a link to it.

Thanks for the Graphics

Mert created some really great graphics for the blogroll and for the Carnival. You can see them here and here.

(I'm the old, sassy chick :-)

9-11 Carnival

It looks like some of us would like a 9-11 Carnival, so we will have one. Since I've opened it up to everyone, I would appreciate it if you would let your readers know, in case they would like to participate.

How about a Carnival related to Sept. 11?

I know that many of us will be doing a tribute to the victims of the Sept. 11 attack but I was thinking about doing something more personal the night before. I was wondering if anyone would be interested in a Carnival related to our remembrances of Sept 11.

Keep posting themes for a poll in the previous post but let me know if you like this idea and if you will participate. This Carnival will be open to any women who wants to participate, not just those on the Blogging Chicks blogroll.

Theme Carnival?

Do you guys want a theme carnival in a couple weeks? If you do, give me some suggestions for themes.

Free Blogger Templates:

Blogger Templates for Blogspot Powered Blog
Gecko & Fly
PannaSmontata Templates
Zoot's Designs
Blogger Templates

Free pictures: morgueFile

A video that demonstrates how to create a hyperlink in Blogger.

A video that demonstrates how to add a graphic to a post in Blogger.

HTML Code Tutorial

How to tag using Technorati and del.icio.us tags.

Fancy magazine type formating using CSS

Tags: blogging tools, templates, resources

Carnival of the Blogging Chicks #12

Please email me if I forgot your entry. I will be posting a new schedule this week.

Kate has been more immersed than usual in the responsibilities, philosophies and transitions inherent in motherhood.

Lindsey at Suspension of Disbelief has an important message to share about Inflammatory Breast Cancer, a very deadly and under-detected form of breast cancer. Please please read this post - it could save your life!

Is there a support group for support group attendees? No? There should be. Hi, I'm Rebecca, and I'm a Homeschooler.

Has your blog turned into something you didn't think it would? Has it gone a different direction than you thought it would? What has my blog become? It used to be a haven.

Jennifer at Snapshot writes, My Children Teach me About God.

Robin from PENSIEVE is reminded of the power of an encouraging word, particularly the apparently long-lasting effect.

Anna Venger's post is "Why Children?" in which she muses about why God would set up a system in which He would partner with a man and woman each time in making a new soul.

Malissa at Malissa's Merry Go Round shares a special moment with her son. In
I hope you'll still read to me.

In Dreaming What Ifs... Karmyn R decides to finally spill The Dirty Truth and come clean about something most women in America probably hide.

Michele explores the imminent death of her biological mother.

Mama Duck is celebrating Lil Duck's birthday all week long.

Melissa's three-year-old teaches us how to tell girls from boys at Making Things Up.

Michele of Life Under the Sun had a wonderful time in Phoenix and has great pictures to share.

Tags: Carnival

I've been out of town

I was in Phoenix this week, so I'm behind on processing the requests to join the blogroll and answering questions. If you left a comment or emailed me, I'm sorry I haven't gotten back to you, I will try to do so this weekend.

There isn't a theme this week but we will be having a Carnival, so make sure you send me your entry.

BTW, this was my hotel this week, it's called The Buttes, it was built on mountain. It was a really nice hotel except for the fact that the Internet wasn't free, so I couldn't get on whenever I wanted to. I purchased it for three days, Saturday and Sunday to post the Carnival and Wednesday to catch up on my email and to post to my blogs.

Carnival

We are still having a Carnival this week even though it doesn't look like it. I've been getting a lot of questions about the Carnival and I will be coming up with a new schedule for the fall.

Carnival of the Blogging Chicks #11

Sorry that I didn't put up a link earlier. If I missed your entry, please email me.

Updated: OOPS! Forgot one, make sure you check out Ethel's post. Also, I wanted to let you know that I've changed the way the windows popup, instead of multiple windows, there will only be one.

This week, Ethel found out what chocolate cake does to children.

Lindsey over at Suspension of Disbelief is back up and running after a crash to her server - and what better topic to discuss than the importance of backups! Run on over and check out her post on how to backup the important things, and how to do it with ease!

Two terms you wouldn't expect to be in the same post title: Handcuffs and Sunday School. Read all about it as Tess talks too much...

In honor of the end of summer, Karmyn R in Dreaming What Ifs... is sharing a scary campfire story called "Don't Drink The Water Either." Read it with the lights on and keep your hands in your lap!

In an age of technology, magic and the pursuit of ultimate beauty, Shalee - owner, chef and head waitress at Shalee's Diner - serves up some old-fashioned advice about what being beautiful really means, along with the world's best coffee and pie.

Catez says of her post: "This is one of my favourite places - it's like a universe in the depths of the earth."

Kelly says of her post, "Wish for you" describes a mother's trip to Mackinac Island with her daughter, and how it helps discover the beauty in their relationship. Complete with slideshow and song lyrics."

Got a helpful household tip to share? Got a fairy tale? Over at She Lives, Carol combines to the two ingredients and the results really heated up her kitchen! See why in She Covereth.

Tasra gets "burned" by creativity...watch the video at Lessons from the Scrapbook Page!

Robin from PENSIEVE shares a very private part of her heart this week, knowing in advance it will be offensive to some, but hopeful for the ones who somehow "need" this kind of encouragement.

In "When Becoming a Mom Isn't So Easy," Janice from 5 Minutes for Mom remembers the many women who struggle with infertility and miscarriage, and shares a couple blogs that might bring some comfort.

Polly asks, are you a Creature of Day? Find out at Life is a Buffet.

Malissa at Malissa's Merry-go-round shares her feelings over her son starting school in A little boy for a few more days.

Melissa at Making Things Up describes a typical morning at her house, including, of course, dirty clothes, clean laundry, and a carton of carrot juice.

Michele at Life Under the Sun proposes a cease-fire in the Mommy wars.

Mary says farewell to dysfunctional friendships in a short but sweet goodbye letter.

Tags: Carnival

Internet Problems

I've been having problems getting on the Internet the last few days, so if you've emailed or left comments, it will be a few days before I can get back to you.

Blogshares

If you like to play blogshares, you might want to buy Blogging Chicks shares. It looks like you might be able to get it cheap.

Introduction: Melanie in Orygun

A brief introduction: My name is Melanie. I live in the City of Portland, in the Willamette Valley, in the great state of Oregon. I have never lived anywhere else; I hope to keep it that way. I am the mom of two amazing girls, ages 8 and 12, who are a constant source of pride to me. However, they rarely get much airtime on the blog, because I am a tad paranoid like that. One more thing - I do have a tendency to let a bad word or two slip now and again. I am telling you this so that if you are a person who is a careful steward of your speech and of what you read, you can avoid unpleasantness or embarrassment. I hope to speak with you soon on my blog - I like to think of each post as a conversation waiting to happen. See you there!

Using Tags

I was asked to address when you should tag a post with Technorati tags, I expanded the answer to include tagging in general for both Technorati and del.icio.us. This is a blogging 101 article, if you know anything about Technorati or del.icio.us, you might not want to bother with this article :-) The article is posted at Life Under the Sun.

Blogger Beta

Annie of Blog U was able to make the switch. I think I'll wait, I'm in no rush :-)

Blogger will have categories soon

If you're thinking of leaving Blogger over categories, you might want to wait because Blogger is going to be providing categories soon. They are currently testing a system that will allow you to do categories and to add stuff with your mouse instead of editing your template (no more destroying your template because you are adding a link to your link list and didn't realize that your stupid touch pad had selected the entire bottom half of your template to be replaced, woohoo :-) Here are the particulars:

Today we're launching a new version of Blogger in beta! You've been asking for ways to do more with your blog, and you can with this new release. With the beta you can:

• Categorize your posts with labels
• Control who can read your blog
• Change the appearance and content of your blog with your mouse instead of HTML

Take a look at the tour to see all the new things you can do (well, a lot of the new things ... they didn't all fit in the tour).

As we release this version, we're limiting the number of people who can switch over. (You'll see a link on your Blogger dashboard when you are able to move.) Eventually, of course, everyone will be able to transition their blogs to the new version. Thanks in advance for your patience as we roll it out.

If you can't wait, you can create a new account on the beta now and make a new blog to test out the new features. Because the new Blogger uses Google Accounts, you can use your existing Google login, or create a new one. (Later, you'll be able to merge your current and beta accounts, and have all your blogs in one place.)

I've tried it out and it looks easy to use and has some neat features, but they won't let you edit the html, yet and so the whole thing is useless for me until they do. I'm not using their templates so I have to be able to copy over my templates (I refuse to go back to blogger templates). It's fun to play with, though and you might want to set up a test blog to see what it looks like and get familiar with the new way to blog.

Updated to add: You guys who have had problems adding the blogroll, wait until you see how easy it is to upload the blogroll. I can't believe it. I just clicked on "add a page element" and in the window for the page element, which I named "Blogging Chicks," I put in the code for the blogroll and saved the changes and that was it. When I viewed the blog, the blogroll was there. Man, I can't believe how easy it was. Go set up a test blog, but don't move your blog over to the new system. It's only a beta system which means it's a test system. I'm sure there will be a lot of kinks to be worked out before it's really robust enough to trust your blog to it.

Miscellaneous Information

1. We will not be having a Carnival this week and in the fall through winter we will only be having the Carnival two times a month. More on that later in another post.

2. We now have 300 blogs on the blogroll.

3. I wanted to clear something up, Blogging Chicks isn't a meme blogroll like Thursday Thirteen or Saturday Photo Hunt. A Carnival isn't a meme, it's purpose is two-fold, introducing readers to new blogs and to promote your blog. It's meant to highlight your best writing and let people see that they should keep coming back for more.

Since it's not a meme, you don't have to visit every post and you don't have to comment on every post like you do on the other meme blogrolls. Visiting and commenting are nice and a source of encouragement but are not mandatory.

4. I spend a lot of time talking about TTLB and I don't mention Technorati at all. The reason for that, is that for a blog to improve the groups TTLB ranking they have to register but for Technorati, that's not the case. But of the two rankings, Technorati is the more crucial. If you haven't registered your blog for Technorati you should. You do get traffic from those who want a particular type of blog or who search on articles that you've tagged.

Your Technorati ranking should be in the 8,000's which sounds low but is really good. When I first registered with Technorati, mine was in the millions, so 8,000 is excellent. The Metablog is under 5,000.

I'm going to write a more technical post about tagging and stuff like that later since I was asked to write something on when you should tag a post.

5. Anna has an interesting article on a rarely diagnosed type of breast cancer that is particularly deadly. Go check it out to be prepared.

6. T has an article on AOL, if you have that service, you might want to read it.

7. And finally, would you please do me a favor? There is a guy, Mike, who has been so helpful to me with wordpress, trying to figure out how to get the blogroll on wordpress and even though he wasn't successful, he spent a lot of time trying. He has been so nice as to link to the Metablog for his female readers, could you please go to his blog and thank him for being so nice and promoting Blogging Chicks?

Updated for a stupid spelling mistake!!!!!!!

Carnival of the Blogging Chicks #10

Please don't forget to link to the Carnival on Sunday. I should be posting the Carnival by 12:30 1:00 am tonight.

We won't be having a Carnival next week but if you want to send me a link for the following week, go ahead.

If I forgot your entry, please email me.

Sometimes all you need to do is look up to have something extraordinary in your life. Pamela at The Dust Will Wait shares some pictures and a brief story of her friend Barb.

After last week's entry about how she loves the technical side of blogging, Lindsey over at Suspension of Disbelief received A LOT of questions regarding things that are confusing for many blogging chicks! So this week she's made up a nice, pretty list explaining these technical conundrums!

Amanda explains the name of her blog.

Do you ever feel like the Invisible Woman at your house? Shalee does, and she loves every second of it.

Finding Time and Creating Balance--Who couldn't use a little more time to do what you love to do and live a life with a lot more balance between work, play, being mommy, wife, friend, and chauffeur? Author and creativity coach Tasra Dawson offers three solutions that can give you more time to do what you love!

Rach at Dutch Femka spends time doing her favourite summer past time that reaps many tantilizing creations albeit not without some consequences.

Suzy says of her post, "I think know all things that Christ would want of me, without knowing all the facts. I'm learning all the time that what I believe and what is truth in God are two totally different things. Amazing how that works, isn't it?"

WARNING!!! Sentimentality ahead at Of Making Many Books! Rebecca tells of what happened Nine Years ago, Today.

From Lisa of Lil'Duck Duck, "The Continuing Adventures of a Toddler and his Duck"

According to CyberCelt, there is a prehistoric canyon in the Texas Hill Country...

Kristied over at Just Venting talks about a fun summer day with her son and his father. Nothing better than a tuckered out kiddo and some good fun!

Toilet paper can be serious business, especially when one's, er...system is...uh, overactive. Carol and her family appreciate this humble product from the bottom of their bottoms in She's Just Charmin(g).

Jeanne at At A Hen's Pace connects country music and her husband's midlife crisis.

Anna says of her post, "Our family loves my son's friend, Jake, to pieces despite his unusual genetic defect. Jake's good, but he can't top us."

Robin at PENSIEVE was surprised this post received so many comments. She confessed that since the last week before school didn't leave much time for writing, she's submitting it for the Carnival, hoping to hear any perspectives by Chicks who haven't already given their two cents. She also wrote a follow-up to the original post that completes the thought.

Maritzia talks about her mom and watershed moments in her life.

Debbie is taking a road trip. This is not an ordinary road trip; it is a bloggers road trip! We will visit some of my favorite blogs that I visit often. So get on board with me as I head out into the Blog-O-Sphere!All Aboard!

Janice from 5 Minutes for Mom has mixed emotions as she watches her four year old son Growing Up.

Polly at Life is a Buffet shows us how small the enemy is and how big our God is with "Itsy Bitsy Spider."

Do you envy how easy it is for kids to make friends? Jennifer, at Snapshot takes a look at Friendship in her post this week.

Michele of Life Under the Sun reviews Comeback, a book by Claire and Mia Fontaine.

Loni shares games children are playing that they are dying from, including the game that killed her 16 year old son.

Kailani of The Pink Diary asks "Who Needs Sleep Anyway?"

Melissa at Making Things Up deals with the excitement and terror of a missing blog (the whole thing, gone. No posts! No formatting! It was ugly).

Beth examines what it means to be friend when one of her good friends is recently hurt by another. What a gift friendship can be when treated with care!

Fivetimemom says of her post "Do you know anyone who feels as though the world owes them something? If so they may have victimitis virus."

Malissa invites you to peek inside her 5 year old son's nature
journal. Sunflowers are the topic this week.

Cathy looks at how her view of the world has changed since 9/11/01.

Catez reflects on coke shooting out of nostrils, sieving gnats, friendship, and what enjoyment means online and offline.

Dogfaceboy is spoiled, if not altogether ruined.

Heather's post "How I learned to stop worrying and love the south"

Carnival Icons

I've made icons with different colors to go with different template colors. If anyone wants a different color, email me the hex code of the color you want.

A new blog to the blogroll that you should check out

I've given up trying to announce all the new blogs that are added to the blogroll. Some days I add three or four, and that's way too many to try to announce. But I thought I would let you know about a new blog, Blog U, that will be helpful to us all since it's a techie blog. Go check out all her cool suggestions on how to improve your blog.

Thank YOU!!!!

Thanks for helping me make my goal! The Bear appears to have fixed the problems with his tracking software and now the new blogs on the blogroll are being counted. Yes! Those who have registered for Truth Laid Bear should all be Adorable Rodents now. Yes, again! And it isn't even the end of summer yet. A big thanks goes out to everyone who joined Truth Laid Bear, you have made me one happy blog owner. And I bet you have made many women on this blogroll very happy, as well.

And check out the Metablog, it's a Large Mammal!!!! (I hope this isn't a mistake :-)

Carnival of the Blogging Chicks #9 Blogging Love Theme

Please don't forget to link to the Carnival. And if you decide that you want to join in on the fun, email me a 1 or 2 line description of your post with a link to it.

Are you a real woman? Real women scrap AND blog...learn a few lessons on friendship, sisterhood, scrappin' and blogging at Tasra Dawson's blog: Lessons from the Scrapbook Page.

Lindsey from Suspension of Disbelief loves learning about the latest technology through reading blogs, and forming different and diverse friendships through writing on her blog and reading the blogs of her new bloggy friends!

Jennifer, Snapshot manages to continue her series, and merge the Wizard of Oz, blog-love, and a book review in Self-Confidence in Philippians.

Over a cup of tea, T. brings her blog opinions about current events, religion, and politics to the table, making a difference in the world one post at a time.

Debbie tells how blogging has become her way of self-expression about herself, her life, family, friends and so much more!

Nikkie writes about the many ways she loves blogging.

In Dreaming What Ifs... Karmyn R begins to wonder if her love of blogging is healthy. Sure there are tons of negatives. But in the end, it is the positives that far outweigh any argument that can be made against it!

Gina at Portrait of a Writer...Interrupted loves how blogging connects her with people all over the world. In fact, after you read this post, she's sure you'll be well connected too!

Robin was surprised to find a Parallel Universe she had no idea existed when she entered the blogosphere almost a year ago. She's been loving it ever since, although she didn't go "public" with her blog til Spring.

Polly at Life is a Buffet is blogging with love, but, what's with the clanging cymbal?

Anna loves blogging for the revenge.

Katrina at Callapidder Days loves to get comments on her blog posts. But she particularly enjoys receiving comments from someone named "Anonymous." Read all about it at Introducing...Anonymous.

Julie at Another Chance Ranch loves the reality part of blogging! Is it like the internet's version of a reality television show? Let her know what you think?

Lisa at Lil Duck Duck celebrates two months of captured memories through her blog.

Rachelle complains that blogging keeps her skinny but is happy that it also prevents her getting too much sleep in "Lack of TV and Too Many Friends."

Kim, from Balance My Chaos, loves blogging so much she participates in this carnival on vacation!

Kuanyin says of her post, "I have posted a photo of a joyful leaping dolphin. And I speak of the Carnival Coming to Town & My Blog and a sentence about joy."

Jen says of her post, "I love the chance to vent anonymously. I love seeing comments and linkies and getting to 'know' other bloggers. I like having a chance to practice writing skills in a non-threatening environment..."

Frazzled LaShawn loves everything about blogging and shows some love for one of her favorite reads.

It is trifold why Iris at Sting my Heart loves blogging. Sharing hope and encouragement her primary reason why she is blogging. Find out more in her post "Sharing the Truth."

CyberCelt writes about the unique tribe that wait for someone to visit, to comment, to validate their efforts, to share advice--TO CONNECT.

AmandaM at Imagine Bright Futures looks at how Liver Families' Forum members find a chance to chuckle in the midst of the seriousness of pediatric liver disease.

Michele of Life Under the Sun realizes that she loves the techy side blogging.

Heather asks, "Why blog?"

Flipflop Mamma's first carnival post. This is what she says of her blog,"My carnival post is up! The link to it is below. Here's a little blurb about my blog: I'm 28 years old and I live in Illinois. I have 2 beautiful daughters ages 10 years and 8 months. I am married to a pastor and loving it! I'm a little flip, a little flop, and a whole lotta mamma!"

JenLo at Thinks By Me says that what began as a way to stay in touch with her out-of-town family became a full-blown obsession that has become a daily habit.

Melissa at Making things Up stumbles upon what she likes about blogging while pondering the all-important question: Am I a mommyblogger?

Carolyn at A Prairie View reflects on how her life long history of journaling evolved into blogging. She sometimes falls into the "wannba" trap, but for the most part, knows she is accepted in the blogging world, and that is what she loves about blogging.

Malissa at Malissa's Merry Go Round explains why she blogs.

DCRMOM shares how she got started blogging and the challenges and surprises she has found along the way.

Dogfaceboy, of A Doggy's Life, shows, rather than tells, what she loves about blogging, in Yellow. (Of course she gives it away at the end, in case you missed it. And you might have.)

Marti was looking for a hobby.

It's a trip back in time for Julie Carobini as she talks about her love of blogging.

Samantha says, "I just want to share all the things that I love about blog-land! Things that make me happy, and things that touch me deeply..."

Karen at Changed by His Love recalls the reason for blogging in the first place and all those people who touch her life each day.

A smaller icon

Don't Make Me Link to Spammers

Please let me know when you delete your whole blog. I really don't like linking to spammers. It is never a good idea to delete your blog because every link on all your friends sites will be redirected not to your new blog but the guy who now owns your address. Let this be your object lesson.

Blogging Love Carnival

Here is the icon I plan to use:


I might put up others if you guys hate this one.

Please make sure you tell your readers, so far I've only gotten Blogging Chicks submissions.

Updates by Mail

I've installed Feedblitz so that you can get updates to this blog via email. The signup is on the side bar.