Lest I Get Accused of Whining

My post yesterday about getting the conversation going about Bugles was meant to be humorous. I am not irritated - just found it funny. I have never been able to figure out what exactly it is that gets the blogosphere abuzz. It seems to change from day to day.

Right now - I got nothin'. Just a whole lotta work!

What Does a Good Blog Make?

That was a pretty backwards way to ask the question inspired by an email conversation I have been having with my friend Leslie at Raise the Cup. We were discussing blog traffic and what keeps people coming to your blog. She has several blogs and prefers blogs that are singularly focused on - politics, homeschooling, home-making, homesteading, current events, etc. I personally get bored with these blogs (not hers of course - I read ALL of them!). I do not repeat visit blogs that are about the same thing all the time, generally. There are some that have drawn me in, but I tend to visit, skim, and leave. The Google Reader has made this easy - I just glance the content and decide if I want to read more, visit, leave a comment, etc. Leslie and I both agreed that we find it ever so boring to visit a blog that is nothing more than memes - with nothing in between. I enjoy Thursday Thirteen and Slow Cookin' Thursday (evidently Thursday is my day for memes!) but there seems to be themes for every day of the week. I only participate in the ones that I find personally enjoyable. But if I stumble on a blog that is nothing but Secret Sunday, Manic Monday, Ta Da Tuesday, Wacky Wednesday...(you get the picture) - I likely won't return. I like memes - don't get me wrong - I'm even starting my own - but if that's all there is it gets rather boring. I like things that are a little more personal than that. Everybody is different, but I was wondering if I could get some input from readers - what do you like or dislike about certain blogs? Does finding someone's household schedule make you want to pluck your eyes out with a spoon, or does it encourage you to get your own act together? Do you find the rantings of political blogs monotonous or are they inspiring? What brings you back to a blog and makes you want to read more? Do you like one theme or a variety? Just thought maybe you would like to join our conversation and that we could all learn from each other.

Random Conversations

My oldest daughter is turning into such a precious young lady. But what I love is that she can look totally glamorous one second and be making noises like a wounded animal the next just to make people laugh. Her personality is so zany at times, and other times as deep as the ocean. Today I had to make a trip to the car insurance company, which was an hour away and she was the only one who wanted to accompany me. It gave us ample opportunity to talk. We talked about the Lord, and how she felt that she was in a spiritual slump lately. We talked about how cursing was not really about the "word" because somebody somewhere decided that it would make the list of swear words, but because of the heart - and that the people that say pooh or shoot or dang it or rats are no more righteous in God's sight. We talked about make-up. I developed a theory, albeit totally flawed theologically that God loves me more, because I gave birth to her - and if he thinks she's precious in His sight, how much more the person that is also precious in his sight that gave birth to her. (I was just teasing!) We listened to her new Nickelback CD - and then my Norah Jones and decided that my CD was much more relaxing. Although the conversations were random, what I realized through all of them is that I really like her. If this was MySpace, she'd definitely be in my top 10!