Fun highlights:

-Go here to read, “Just my Luck or RIP Little Chipmunk”.

-Go here to read about Mad Kane’s adventures in shopping for underwear for her mother. “She and I had spent the entire afternoon combing through three department stores for the definitive pair of panties. Or at least my mom’s idea of same. This illusive undergarment had to be loose, comfortable, 100% cotton, and totally devoid of lace. And that was just for starters. It also had to completely cover my mother’s hips and come in a large size, the exact number of which she resolutely refused to disclose.”

My contribution is an article I wrote called, “Free At Last”, and describes my various (mis)adventures in camping, an activity I undertook in an attempt to impress my husband when we were first married.

Here is one thing I learned: “Helpful Hint: If you have never been camping before, I would HIGHLY recommend that your first trip not be with a troop of scouts, because any points you feel you have gained by being “a really cool wife” will quickly fade when you realize that, compared to everyone else on the trip including elementary school students, trail dogs, etc., you feel like a giant, incompetent wuss.”

My entry entitled, “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”, is a piece I wrote during a time when everyone around me was telling me WAY TOO MUCH about things I preferred not know about. Like, “Well since I’m here checking your basement for rats, let me vomit up every single piece of information I ever learned in rat catching school for your listening enjoyment.” Ugh!

Blog carnivals are one of the things I am experimenting with, along with the Thursday Thirteen meme and podcasting, to try and increase traffic to my blog. (Up next: begging, pleading, and bribes.)

You can click here to read my entry in the carnival. I’m going over to “Be A Good Dad” now to check out the other participants, and I’ll update this post later to let you know about all the good stuff I find over there.

(PS-Sorry this is not up to my usual witty standards. But the dentist’s office just called to remind me that I have another hour-and-a-half appointment tomorrow (in addition to the hour-and-a-half appointment I had last Friday) where I will be the lucky recipient of some more Poking With Sticks. Ugh.

**Update**

Check out this post at Be A Good Dad entitled, “If We Bought Our Children From iTunes”. On the downside: “You and all of your friends will all have the exact same kids.” But, on the bright side: “we’ll be able to hit pause anytime we need a break.”

And check out this post for a funny tale of how a 6 year old upstaged her dad during an F-14 training simulation.

And go here to read about a mom’s efforts to understand the latest strategy her kids have developed in order to totally blow her mind. “Just the other day, I made a concerted effort to get inside the mind of my children and finally discover the truth behind this strange phenomenon. While sitting at my desk, I stared at a simple pencil. It was just lying there, alone and neglected, frequently passed over for the keyboard. I figured that if I stared at it long enough, maybe I too would feel the primal urge to chew on its soft wood or gnaw on the gummy eraser. So I continued to stare. After about 40 seconds, the pencil rolled off the table, perhaps in an effort to save itself from potential consumption. And, I concluded that I was the one who needed therapy.”

And here you can read a post entitled, “Thinking about selling one on ebay”, where a man describes holding down the fort while his wife recovers from surgery. “As she’s recovering from the C-section birth, I’m charged with everything else. At least I don’t have to breast-feed, that would suck.”

Ooh, score! I discovered a new humorist here