Pay It Forward

Since I started traveling in new Blogging circles, inspired by the A-Z Challenge, it seems that I'm finding no shortage of contests, meme's and themes. The newest one (or, the one I heard of most recently) is the Pay-It-Forward at B Miller Fiction.

As for the contest, you can win either a $25 gift card for the book seller of your choice (Barnes & Noble, Amazon, or Borders), or some pretty solid promotion for your own book. Swing on by and check out the points-allocation rules (if you've seen this kind of contest before, you've probably realized that I'm earning points by writing this). But truth be told, it's a great writers Blog, so if you don't have enough of those on your Reader (who does?), it's certainly worth the time to check out.
You may have heard of the Pay It Forward theme before, I think I have, but I can't remember where. In case you need a refresher (as I did), it's basically payments into the Karma Account with random acts of senseless kindness. Write a story or poem about a time you went out of your way to do something for someone, and simply ask them to pass on the courteous mojo.

As many of you with retail experience know, customers can be dicks. One time, at the drug store, someone was giving the cashier a hard time about an exchange. She just wanted to trade products without going through the returns process. The poor cashier got the brunt of her bile when she informed her of the policy. When the aforementioned dick stormed out, I said “I guess someone's been handing out Day-Passes at the Asshole Asylum.” Personally, I can find it hard to bounce back after someone vents their spleen on me, so I was glad for the chance to transform that hostility into something the cashiers could laugh about.

Also, I'd like to introduce some of you to some Blogs that I've found very entertaining and encouraging. Crazy Texas Mommy was one of the first Blogs I encountered when I was trying to decide if I wanted to give this a go, and it's still one of my favorites.

This is a newer find,Ramblings of a Domestic Goddess and she delivers the sass, Jersey style. Not to mention a healthy dose of wisdom.

Rachel co-authors a diet/fitness Blog, but this is her personal platform, and is always a fun read.

And certainly not least, Vodka Logic is sometimes a poetry Blog, but always entertaining, and is always a great supporter of the Blogs she follows.

I meant to get this up on Saturday, but the Forces of Shit Happens had other plans. The good news is that both my girls are building up their immunity to a fresh strain, the bad news is that they're pretty miserable about it! So Saturday, we took turns nursing the baby with bottles and cuddles, but I had to go back to work on Sunday, so Andrea took the night shift with Calli, and was a super good sport about it. Last night, it was my turn. She slept until 12:30, then was up about every hour until 6. By three AM, I was telling her that if she got me up again, she had to promise to never date anyone I hate.

One last bit of business. I've tried to return the favor to anyone who's followed my Blog, but I'm not sure I've got them all. In particular, there are a couple commenter's with home sites in Asian lettering. I looked for a Translate button, but couldn't find it. If you could clear that up, I'd really appreciate it!