Roxiticus Best Blogs

Naughty Roxy's Music Monday: I Like Ta Do The Wild Thing

2009-05-18T00:00:00.002-04:00

As my loyal Roxiticus Desperate Housewives readers know, Roxy is about as stuck in the 80s as a person can be... as I drive to and from the Bernardsville train station every morning and night, I listen to the Big 80s (80s on 8) on Sirius XM Satellite Radio in my GMC Acadia and sing along with one 80s hit after the next. A couple weeks back, I had a naughty 80s theme planned for all of my blogs on Music Monday but then I ended up with the blues for a while and didn't feel up to it. Today, I'm ready to make you smile with bad boy Tone Loc doing the Wild Thing.

Sing along with Naughty Roxy:

"Let's do it

Workin' all week 9 to 5 for my money
So when the weekend comes I go get live with the honey
Rollin' down the street I saw this girl and she was pumpin'
I winked my eye she got into the ride went to a club was jumpin'
Introduce myself as Loc she said "You're a liar"
I said "I got it goin' on baby doll and I'm on fire"
Took her to the hotel she said "You're the king"
I said "Be my queen if you know what I mean and let us do the wild thing

Wild thing (x2)

Shoppin' at the mall looking for some gear to buy
I saw this girl she cool rocked my world and I had to adjust my fly
She looked at me and smiled and said "You have plans for the night"
I said "Hopefully if things go well I'll be with you tonight"
So we journeyed to her house one thing led to an other
I keyed the door we cold hit the floor looked up and it was her mother
I didn't know what to say I was hanging by a string
She said "Hey you two I was once like you and I liked to do the wild thing"

Wild thing
She loved to do the wild thing
Wild thing
Please baby baby please

Posse in effect hangin' out is always hype
And when me and the crew leave the shindig I want a girl who's just my type
Saw this luscious little frame I ain't lyin' fellas she was fine
The sweet young miss go gave me a kiss and I knew that she was mine
Took her to the limousine still parked outside
I tipped the chauffeur when it was over and I gave her my own ride
Couldn't get her off my jack she was like static cling
But that's what happens when body start slappin' from doin' the wild thing

Wild thing
She wanna do the wild thing
Please baby baby please

Wild thing

Doin' a little show at the local discotheque
This fine youg chick was on my jack so I say what the heck
She want to come on stage and do her little dance
So I said chill for now but maybe later you'll get your chance
So when the show was finished I took her around the way
And what do you know she was good to go without a word to say
We was all alone and she said "Tone let me tell you one thing
I need $50 to make you holler I get paid to do the wild thing"

Say what
Yo love you must be kidding
You're walkin' babe
Just break out of here
Hasta la vista baby

Wild thing"

Come join Music Monday and share your songs with us. One simple rule, leave ONLY the actual post link here. You can grab this code at LJL Please note these links are STRICTLY for Music Monday participants only. All others will be deleted without prejudice.

Music Monday: "Lady Willpower" and "Over You" by Gary Puckett and the Union Gap

2009-03-07T20:11:00.011-05:00

It's Gary Puckett and the Union Gap theme week for Roxy's Music Monday posts, and here at Roxiticus Best Blogs we're featuring two in one: "Lady Willpower" and "Over You."

Lady Willpower, it's now or never.
Give your love to me and I'll shower
Your heart with tenderness endlessly.
I know you want to see me but you're afraid
Of what I might have on my mind.
One thing you can be sure of
I'll take good care of your love
If you will let me give you mine.
Lady Willpower, it's now or never.
Give your love to me and I'll shower
Your heart with tenderness endlessly.
Did no one ever tell you the facts of life?
Well there's so much you have to learn.
And I would gladly teach you if I could only reach you
And get your lovin' in return.
Lady Willpower, it's now or never.
Give your love to me and I'll shower
Your heart with tenderness endlessly.

Why am I losing sleep over you?
Re-living precious moments we knew
So many days have gone by
Still I'm so lonely and I
Guess there's just no getting over you
And there's nothing I can do
But spend all of my time
Out of my mind... over you

Within the prison walls of my mind
There's still a part of you left behind
And though it hurts, I'll get by
Without your lovin' yet I
Guess there's just no getting over you
And there's nothing I can do
But spend all of my time
Out of my mind... over you

And I guess there's just no getting over you
And there's nothing I can do
But spend all of my time
Out of my mind... over you

And I guess there's just no getting over you
And there's nothing I can do
But spend all of my time
Out of my mind... over you

EntreCard, BlogExplosion, Great Content -- What Are Your Best Traffic Drivers?

2009-03-03T09:06:00.016-05:00

As my loyal Roxiticus Desperate Housewives and Roxiticus Best Blogs readers know, Rex and I joined another mergers and acquisitions firm at the beginning of February. One month in, I can report that we're quite energized by our new affiliation. Things are going well, but the move has meant big changes for our whole family... at work, on our commute, for London and Maddie (waking up early for "before care" at the elementary school), and for my blogging routines. Since my time for blogging and visiting Other People's Blogs is now limited, it has become that much more important for me to be as productive as possible in the blogosphere.

I still take advantage of BlogExplosion (particularly the Blog Rocket and Battle of the Blogs) and EntreCard to drive traffic to my sites and to find terrific new blogs to read, but since I'm posting less frequently I've also been trying harder to create better content to grab and holodomor readers who visit through those same services or find my blogs through search engines. What do you find are the best sites and techniques to bring visitors to your blogs and keep them coming back for more? Are there any BlogExplosion or EntreCard equivalents that I have not yet heard about that will be the next great thing? And when is BlogExplosion going to re-approve Mariuca's awesome blog so she can get back in the Battle?

Music Monday: In and Out of Love by Bon Jovi

2009-03-02T10:30:00.000-05:00

Care to join me for a little head banging on this snowy Music Monday? The inspiration for this pick comes from the evil Google overlords, who keep changing the page rank of this blog from 2 to zero and back again. I haven't really lost any sleep over page rank, since I've never had any at my high traffic blogs and PayPerPost has been wasting my time for the past two months by offering 50 cent opportunities... I'd be better off watching for lost pennies on the streets of Manhattan on my walk to the office. Right now Roxiticus Best Blogs is "Out of Love" with Mr. G. So I've turned to Jersey Boy Jon Bon Jovi, who can always make a girl feel better, even if his hair in this video is bigger than mine ever was, even in the 80s...

Young and wired
Set to explode in the heat
You won't tire
Cause baby was born with the beat
Take you higher than you've ever known
Then drive you down to your knees
I'll pick you up when you've had enough
You been burned baby lessons learned

Chorus:
In and out of love
Hear what I'm sayin
In and out of love
It's the way that we're playing
In and out of love
Too much is never enough
She's gonna get ya

Running wild
When me and my boys hit the streets
Right on time
She's here to make my night complete
Then I'm long gone I got another show
One more town, one mile to go
One endless night of fantasy
Is all she left of her with me

New Glasses for Rex

2009-02-17T20:33:00.024-05:00

I know, I know, I haven't had time to write much for the past few weeks. It's all I can do to keep up with work and family, never mind my fitness plans for the New Year or blogging every day. I want to thank all of my loyal readers for your patience... I'm hoping to be able to write more often after we settle in to a new routine of waking everyone up early, getting the girls to their before-care program at Mendham Township Elementary School, and dashing across the Bernardsville mountain to the train station and off to NYC. Over on my Roxiticus Desperate Housewives and Roxy's Best Of... sites, I've been posting about the big changes our family has been going through since Rex and I decided to join forces with another investment banking firm. While we had a great deal more flexibility running our own three-person mergers and acquisitions firm, we have been learning about some of the unexpected benefits of being part of a larger company. On our first day with the new firm, the human resources manager took us through the benefits plans: medical, dental, and vision. According to a recent article in The New York Times, only 17 percent of employers now provide a vision plan, so we are lucky to have one that covers annual eye exams and a new pair of eyeglasses for Rex. So far, London, Maddie and I don't need glasses, but if we did, each of us would be eligible for a new pair every year under the company vision plan, too. The same article in the Times mentions Zenni Optical as a low cost online provider of a wide selection of frames starting at only $8. I found the tortoise shell frames in the photo for Rex for only $19 for the lens and frames. Click on the photo if you'd like to order a backup pair of frames without breaking the bank.

Music Monday: What Is Love? by Howard Jones

2009-02-01T14:53:00.022-05:00

Today's Music Monday pick for Roxiticus Best Blogs is from Howard Jones. It's called "What Is Love?" and came out twenty-five years ago, just before I graduated from high school in 1984. I used the following line from the song in my graduation speech:

"And maybe love is letting people be just what they want to be
The door always must be left unlocked."

When this song came on my XM Satellite Radio (Channel 8 for the Eighties) on Wednesday morning as Rex and I were driving in to our office in New York City, I sang along and then shouted out that I'm stuck in the 80's. I knew that I wanted it as one of my Music Monday picks, but I had hoped to find the rest of my graduation speech to post along with it. I know I quoted Howard Jones and Bruce Springsteen, and had an upbeat message for my friends, but did not commit any of it to long-term memory. Unfortunately, 1984 was well before digitization, but somewhere in my basement or my mother's basement, I'm sure I'll find the original typewritten copy... if I stick to my February New Year's resolution to spend an hour a week going through the treasures in my basement, maybe I'll find it in time for my 25th high school reunion this summer and I'll share it with all of you then. In the meantime, enjoy the video... it brings back a lot of memories for me. The 80s were the era of MTV, but my family didn't have cable, so I hadn't seen this video until today.

"I love you whether or not you love me
I love you even if you think that I don't
Sometimes I find you doubt my love for you, but I don't mind
Why should I mind, why should I mind?

Chorus
What is love anyway, does anybody love anybody anyway?
What is love anyway, does anybody love anybody anyway?

Can anybody love anyone so much that they will never fear
Never worry never be sad
The answer is they cannot love this much nobody can
This is why I don't mind you doubting

And maybe love is letting people be just what they want to be
The door always must be left unlocked
To love when circumstance may lead someone away from you
And not to spend the time just doubting

For My Single Friends

2009-01-29T08:11:00.012-05:00

The other night, I was surfing the blogosphere, dropping as many EntreCards as possible before bedtime, when I came across a blogging addiction quiz on my blogosphere buddy Rebecca's Freaky Frugalite site (someone please remind me to add Freaky Frugalite and Rebecca's other sites to my Roxiticus Best Blogs directory in my spare time). I clicked on the link to the quiz, answered a few questions about my blogging habits, and I was so sleepy that I thought that in order to get my results, I had to join an online Dating Directory! As my loyal Roxiticus Desperate Housewives readers know, I have been happily married to Rex for more than ten years, and I'm sure he'd rather not have his hot young wife and mother of his two lovely daughters signed up for an online dating service. However, the automated system asked me to create a User ID and a profile... turns out that "Not Interested," "Not Interested At All," and "Not Interested At All Ever" were already taken, so I ended up as "Oh For Pete's Sake"! The whole experience was just a reminder of both the challenges and benefits that have been created for my single friends by advances over the past ten years in technology. I find that some of the most interesting stories I read on Other People's Blogs (OPB) via EntreCard and BlogExplosion come from single women and men telling their tales of blind dates and other dating adventures.

Happy 8th Birthday, London!

2009-01-29T08:10:00.001-05:00

As London and Maddie were getting ready for bed last night, we talked about what Mommy and Daddy were doing eight years ago... it was Super Bowl Sunday, and we had spent the entire day at Lenox Hill Hospital, waiting for London... it took the rest of the night and lots of hours of labor, but when London arrived before noon the next day, we knew she was worth the wait.

Last year for "Incredible Kid Day" in London's first grade class, all of the parents were asked to take some time to reflect and think about why we feel our child is unique and truly incredible. Rex and I shared our thoughts with London by writing a special letter to her telling why we think she's incredible, and I thought it was worth a repeat performance tonight in honor of her 8th birthday.

London,

On the day you were born, I was filled with so much joy and love that I thought you couldn’t be much more incredible…but as you’ve grown up to be an almost second grader, I’ve discovered that you grow more incredible with each passing day, week, and year. London, you are INCREDIBLE!

Incredibly poised, a graceful ballerina, and an agile gymnast.
Natural tennis player with confident strokes, you can serve, rally and score!
Creative writer, artist and avid reader. This spring, we’ve already spent several beach days sitting together in our beach chairs on Mount Street Beach in Bay Head, New Jersey, plowing through our “page turners” together. It makes me so happy that you love to read… and write creative stories and illustrate your books and draw fabulous fashions. We’ll both remember and enjoy our beach reading days for a lifetime.
Role model and loving sister – On the day we brought your sister home from the hospital, you said “Maddie - OUT!” While I was worried that you were trying to get this new little person OUT of our house, it turned out that 13-month-old-you were expressing delight that your baby sister was finally “OUT” in the world…the two of you have been best friends ever since and the love you and Maddie share is just incredible.
Entrepreneur at the beach…the way you and Maddie have been painting and selling seashells down by the seashore for 25 cents each since Memorial Day 2007 is impressive. You and your sister have earned over $150 towards Webkinz and your college savings plan….not to mention the friends and “fan club” who come every weekend to paint with you and admire your beautiful painted shells.
Dedicated and enthusiastic student. Every day when you wake up, you still jump out of bed (OK, so you move a little slowly in the morning just like Mommy) ready to get on the bus with busdriver Dan and go to school in Mrs. Brown’s class. You work so hard at spelling and math and you really really love to sit up there in the Author’s Chair to share your journal and special creative writing projects with the class.
Investigator and Scientist: Daddy and I were so proud of you this year when you brought your lava lamp experiment to the MTES Science Fair. It was terrific that you learned about the project through your 4-H club, and wanted to share your hypothesis and results with your friends from school.
Band leader, singing Hannah Montana & High School Musical faves with the three Singin’ Van de Kamp Sisters.
Loyal friend to all your friends, old and new. You’ve kept in touch with your best buddy from our apartment in New York City, and when you get together it’s like you were just running up and down the halls of our West Village apartment building yesterday…chat chat chat! You also keep up your friendships from Westmont Montessori, and you’re a loyal friend to many new buddies from your kindergarten and first grade classes.
Even if you couldn’t do any of these things, London, I’d still find you to be an incredible kid. Just by being yourself, you fill my life and our home with happiness and love…and that’s pretty darn incredible.

Happy 8th Birthday, London... Mommy, Daddy & Maddie love you!

What Are You Doing for the Super Bowl This Year?

2009-01-22T09:41:00.019-05:00

As the Super Bowl approaches, I've been reading a lot of hype around the blogosphere from fans of the two teams. I know that my blogosphere buddy SpicyBug will be cheering on her beloved Pittsburgh Steelers, and across the country Joe Cool will be rooting for his Arizona Cardinals. Over on Comcast.net's web site, sports fans are getting the latest sports news, videos, and scores, all the while shouting out their picks in the online forum.

In our family, Rex cares more about NFL football than London, Maddie, and I do, but we're always up for a party. Since London was born on Superbowl Monday (after our New York Giants went down 34 to 7 to the Baltimore Ravens), we consider it an important national holiday, which thankfully no longer interferes with London's birthday weekend now that Super Bowl has moved into February. So on Sunday, February 1st, 2009, we'll be looking for an invitation to a Super Bowl party in the neighborhood. Last year, we went to fellow Roxiticus Desperate Housewife Susan and Mike's house, and they showed us a good time and served a lot of great food. Susan made some amazing meatballs.... I can almost taste them now.

What are you doing for the Super Bowl this year?

Mommy, Can't We Just Skip February?

2009-01-22T09:34:00.008-05:00

My younger daughter, Maddie, loves summer and the beach. For the past four or five years, we've gone to California (Laguna Beach, Disneyland, Santa Monica) to get away from the snow and cold of the Roxiticus Valley for ten days of sun, surf and sand, around Presidents' Day in February. This year, however, Rex's son Postboy is getting married to Mathgirl in Connecticut that weekend, so we're sticking around New Jersey. Maddie is very excited about London's birthday and her big party at NJPAC, but she's not so excited about the icy cold month of February that she has to get through before her own birthday in March. Does anyone have any suggestions for Maddie?

Who's Coming to Roxy's Oscar Party?

2009-01-22T00:39:00.019-05:00

I often joke that the last movie Rex and I saw in the theatre was "Save the Last Dance" (Julia Stiles) in January 2001, two days before London was born. I had read in one of those parenting magazines that going to the movies was something to do when in labor, so I thought of it as a form of inducing labor... it actually worked! Nowadays, we don't even use our big screen HDTV to watch many DVDs beyond the Disney movies our kids like. If we've decided to leave the girls home with a babysitter, Rex and I would much rather head out to dinner with friends at one of the great local restaurants in the Bernardsville area and/or see a concert or event at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) or the Mayo Center (aka Morristown Community Theatre). That said, I still think it would be fun to host an Oscar party, either Live from the Roxiticus Valley, New Jersey, or right here with you in the blogosphere. So let's have your nominations... best movie, best actor, best actress. Then I'll put up some decorations around the house and the blog, and we'll all slip into our glamorous gowns and stylin' tuxedoes to party all night. After the Oscars, we can vote on best and worst dressed and best and worst acceptance speeches.

Music Monday Inauguration Edition: Roll With It by Steve Winwood

2009-01-18T23:49:00.019-05:00

Back in college, where I studied television/radio/film as well as management and business, I always had an imaginary screenplay running through my head. There were plenty of times when Steve Winwood, particularly "Roll With It" and "Back in the High Life," provided the soundtrack. This week, my Music Monday Inauguration Edition theme, here at Roxiticus Best Blogs and over at Roxiticus Desperate Housewives, is change... and rolling with it.

When life is too much, roll with it, baby
Don't stop and lose your touch, oh no, baby
Hard times knocking on your door, I'll tell them you ain't there no more
Get on through it, roll with it, baby
Luck'll come and then slip away, you've gotta move, bring it back to stay

You just roll with it, baby, come on and just roll with it, baby
You and me, roll with it, baby, hang on and just roll with it, baby

The way that you love is good as money
I swear by stars above, sweet as honey
People think you're down and out, you show them what it's all about
You can make it, roll with it, baby
When this world turns it's back on you, hang in and do that sweet thing you do

You just roll with it, baby, you just roll with it, baby
Come on and just roll with it, baby, you and me, just roll with it, baby

Now there'll be a day you'll get there, baby, you'll hear the music play, you'll dance, baby
You'll leave bad times way behind, nothing but good times on your mind
You can do it, roll with it, baby
Then you'll see life will be so nice, it's just a step up to paradise
You just roll with it, baby, you just roll with it, baby
You and me, just roll with it, baby, come on and just roll with it, baby

These Boots Are Made for Walkin'

2009-01-14T12:00:00.014-05:00

London's Brownie leader is an entertaining e-mailer. She recently sent around one of her classic e-mails entitled "Stuff" in which she rambled on about a range of upcoming Girl Scout events in the Mendham Township and Morris County, New Jersey areas. One snipped reads: "On January 31st there will be a winter hike along Patriots Path in the boro to the mud bowl or pit (one dollar to anyone who can tell me what that is as I was to embarrassed to ask last night as I was the only township leader at the meeting). I will get more details to you as far as time etc when they are passed onto me." Since I consider myself something of an expert on all things Mendham, I laughed out loud, doubly embarrassed not to have a clue about the historic Mud Bowl... my guess would have involved college football on New Year's Day. I will note that none of the other Brownie moms have sent around an e-mail with an explanation of the Mud Bowl...

Meanwhile, our leader's follow up email told the girls in London's Brownie troop to get their Boots ready for walkin' on the winter hike and treasure hunt on Saturday, January 31st. For a change, my girls are prepared (though I think that's actually the Boy Scout motto). Our awesome nanny gave them matching snow boots for Christmas. The hike will be followed by a campfire with s’mores, hot chocolate, and a pine cone birdfeeder craft.

Music Monday: I Want Your Sex by George Michael

2009-01-11T13:33:00.007-05:00

As I've mentioned over on my Roxiticus Desperate Housewives site, we were snowed in this weekend and used the time to play a family game of Scrabble by the fireplace, sled down the hill in our yard, and catch up on some work while rating songs on our iPod. "Freedom" by George Michael popped up, and we all gave it five stars for taking us back in time, but I picked George Michael's "I Want Your Sex" video to share with all of you as the Roxiticus Best Blogs Music Monday pick. This one is a great addition to Roxy's Winter Work Out mix.

There's things that you guess
And things that you know
There's boys you can trust
And girls that you don't
There's little things you hide
And little things that you show
Sometimes you think you're gonna get it
But you don't and that's just the way it goes

I swear i won't tease you
Won't tell you no lies
I don't need no bibte
Just look in my eyes
I've waited so long baby
Now that we're friends
Every man's got his patience
And here's where mine ends

I want your sex
I want you
I want your sex

It's playing on my mind
It's dancing on my soul
It's taken so much time
So why don't you just let me go
I'd really like to try
Oh i'd really love to know
When you tell me you're gonna regret it
Then i tell you that i love you but you still say no!

I swear i won't tease you
Won't tell you no lies
I don't need no bible
Just look in my eyes
I've waited so long baby
Out in the cold

I want your sex
I want your love
I want your.. Sex

It's natural
It's chemical (let's do it)
It's logical
Habitual (can we do it?)
It's sensual
But most of all...
Sex is something we should do
Sex is something for me and you

Sex is natural - sex is good
Not everybody does it
But everybody should
Sex is natural - sex is fun
Sex is best when it's... One on one
One on one

I'm not your father
I'm not your brother
Talk to your sister
I am a lover

C-c-c-c-come on

What's your definition of dirty baby
What do you consider pornography
Don't you know I love you till it hurts me baby
Don't you think it's time you had sex with me

What's your definition of dirty baby
What do you call pornography
Don't you know I love you till it hurts me baby
Don't you think it's time you had sex with me

Sex with me
Sex with me
Have sex with me

C-c-c-c-come on.

Nip and Tuck for the New Year?

2009-01-07T12:41:00.019-05:00

Over on my Roxiticus Desperate Housewives site, I've posted some of my New Year's Resolutions, which include Fitness Not Fatness in 2009 and a focus on better content as an alternative approach to driving traffic for all of my blogs. While I'd like to drop a few pounds and get down to my fighting weight of 130 to 135 pounds by the middle of the year, Rex and I are both quite happy with all of my existing body parts. However, for those of you in the United Kingdom who need a little extra help to Make Yourself Amazing in the New Year 2009, you may want to check out MYA cosmetic surgery, breast enhancement specialists who also offer a full range of surgical and non-surgical procedures.

I was fascinated to learn from the MYA web site that breasts are the focus of the top three cosmetic surgeries... Breast Enlargement (otherwise known as breast implants, breast enhancement, breast augmentation or, when speaking colloquially with my friend Lynette about some of our fellow Roxiticus Desperate Housewives, a "boob job") is number one, followed by Breast Uplift (raising and reshaping sagging breasts and nipples) and Breast Reduction (for those who've been blessed with a little too much). Other popular cosmetic surgeries include Liposuction, Eyelid Surgery, Face and Neck Lifts, a Tummy Tuck, or Rhinoplasty (Corrective Surgery for your nose).

Whether you need cosmetic surgery or just a New Year's fitness program, check out my Roxy's Resolutions Blogosphere Buddies Suppport Group over on my Roxiticus Desperate Housewives site, where a bunch of us are working together to make ourselves amazing in 2009. Good luck!

I Must Have Been Slightly Drunk...

2009-01-07T12:24:00.004-05:00

Back on November 13th, I posted about a great new blog I found through EntreCard called Simply Drunk. Only one problem... I must have been simply or slightly drunk when I wrote about it, since as you can see from the logo, the web site is called Slightly Drunk, not simply drunk. Whatever the name, though, I have been laughing every time I visit. Self-described as a blog about life....discussing current events, everyday life and other useless or offensive topics over a few drinks. I particularly like the way Simply Drunk's posts are organized around song titles such as "Taxman," "Land Down Under," "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap," and "You Don't Bring Me Flowers."

Check it out with your favorite beverage in hand... and tell 'em Roxy sent you!

The Butter Bites Rock Out the New Year!

2009-01-05T19:56:00.020-05:00

Over on my Roxiticus Desperate Housewives site, I know I've told my loyal readers all about London and Maddie's basement band (it's too cold for a garage band during the winter here in the Roxiticus Valley, New Jersey)... the Butter Bites. Last year Santa brought the girls a really nice keyboard, and this year he delivered a brand new shiny red drum set. CRP Music over in Rockaway, NJ, fixed London's guitar for the right price, and we've got the iPod and a microphone hooked up to a serious amp for vocals. The girls have been practicing their own original songs while I work out on the elliptical trainer in our basement gym, rocking out the New Year 2009 and preparing for their debut performance at our sixth annual Roxiticus Sunset Party in June.

Now all the girls need are some hip, cool t shirts for the band, like the one in the photo on the left. I wish "Rocking Out" was available in the Butter Bites' choice of pink or purple...London and Maddie are not so keen on grey or even green t-shirts, and I'll be happy if they make it to their teen years without discovering Goth. It would be lots of fun to outfit all twelve girl band members in matching fresh t shirts, or to find a few different ones with guitars, some with drums or drum sticks, maybe a keyboard or two, and of course a bass for Jason Buckley and his new Bass Nation blog.

Music Monday: Hot Legs

2009-01-04T22:12:00.009-05:00

Another inspirational pick for Roxy's New Year's Workout Mix... here's a great version of Rod Stewart's "Hot Legs," featuring Joss Stone with Rod Stewart!

Who's that knocking on my door?
It's gotta be a quarter to four
Is it you again coming round for more?
Well you can love me tonight if you want
But in the morning make sure you're gone
I'm talkin' to you
Hot legs, wearing me out
Hot legs, you can scream and shout
Hot legs, are you still in school?
I love you honey

Gotta most persuasive tongue
You promise all kinds of fun
But what you don't understand
I'm a working man
Gonna need a shot of vitamin E
By the time you're finished with me
I'm talking to you
Hot legs, you're an alley cat
Hot legs, you scratch my back
Hot legs, bring your mother too
I love you honey

Imagine how my daddy felt
In your jet black suspender belt
Seventeen years old
He's touching sixty four

You got legs right up to your neck
You're making me a physical wreck
I'm talking to you
Hot legs, in your satin shoes
Hot legs, are you still in school
Hot legs, you're making me a fool
I love you honey

Hot legs, making your mark
Hot legs, keep my pencil sharp
Hot legs, keep your hands to yourself
I love you honey
Hot legs, you're wearing me out
Hot legs, you can scream and shout
Hot legs, you're still in school
I love you honey

Domain Name Partnership from a Land Down Under

2008-12-29T22:15:00.024-05:00

As one of my fave 1980's bands, Men at Work, might say, "Do you come from a land down under? Where women glow and men plunder. Can't you hear, can't you hear the thunder? You better run, you better take cover." I don't blog from the land down under, but several of my blogosphere buddies do, including Buffy (you'll find Buffy's Blog listed here in my Roxiticus Best Blogs sidebar). Nooice!

Aussie bloggers may be interested to learn that Australia's biggest domain name registrar, Net Registry, has taken an equity stake in NetFleet, Australia's biggest domain aftermarket. If you come from a land down under, what do you think the implications of this new partnership will be for the .au domain name aftermarket? Will this deal create a vibrant and profitable domain trading industry in Australia? Should I look into Aussie domain names to buy with a plan to develop the content and resell them for a fortune in the future? I've never been on the cutting edge of technology, and I came along too late to ride the dot com boom by hoarding those URLS, so the dot au market may be my chance. The prices are intriguing to me, from Steve dot com dot au seeking $21,000 to mail dot com dot au seeking a cool million. Perhaps Roxiticus Desperate Housewives dot au? Or how about Roxy's Best Of... Australia dot au?

Dear Susan

2008-12-29T22:09:00.004-05:00

I love to get comments from my readers. I'm truly envious of my blogosphere buddy Mariuca, who frequently receives triple-digit comments on her posts. However, I'm not so desperate for comment luv that I need to include comments from spammers who come to my blogs looking for no follow links back to their own pathetic splogs (spam blogs). Here's a sample from "Susan," who says, along with an embedded link to an insurance sales web site:

"This is my first visit to your blog. I don't really know what to say, but I'll be coming back often."

Dear Susan, thanks for stopping by with your spam today. You know what my mother taught me? If you don't have anything (nice) to say, don't say anything at all. So, since you don't have anything to say, I have rejected your comment. But I'm sure you'll be coming back soon.

Update, an hour later:

Loyal readers, you will not believe this! Less than an hour after I wrote this post, Susan's sister Ruth visited my Roxiticus Desperate Housewives blog and left this comment, along with a link to her infrared sauna splog:

"I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don't know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often."

Roxy's New Year's Resolution Blogosphere Buddies Support Group

2008-12-29T18:00:00.001-05:00

As if I don't have enough blogs to keep me busy, I'm pretty sure I'm going to create one more, within my Roxy's Best Of... WordPress MU Community: Roxy's Best Of... New Year's Resolutions.

I know I make resolutions every New Year's Eve, but I rarely stick to them past the first few weeks of January. This year, I want things to be different... for me and my blogosphere buddies. So this year, raise a glass, write down your goals, objectives, wishes, hopes and dreams for 2009, and get ready to share them with Roxy and your support group of blogosphere buddies. Don't worry, I'll have the new blog up and running and ready for action by midnight on New Year's Eve.

Who Doesn't Need A Bail-Out? Let's Get Out of Debt in the New Year

2008-12-29T16:34:00.015-05:00

It goes without saying that 2008 was a year that many of us, from Wall Street to Main Street America and around the world, would like to put behind us. With the New Year 2009 fast approaching, now is the time to make a resolution to get out of debt... and do what it takes to change spending habits and make a plan and family budget that lasts over the long term. Our family has cut back on spending on unnecessary luxuries... London and Maddie help out with clipping coupons and watching for sales at our local supermarkets and retailers. We're also "living off of inventory" by using what we have. I only partially joked about re-wrapping last year's unused Christmas gifts... when Rex received a free replacement for a broken wrist watch in early December, I intercepted the FedEx man and wrapped that Breitling knockoff up and stashed it under the tree. The personal effects of having too much debt can make things challenging at home, at work, and with your credit rating and ability to get a good rate on financing significant purchases like a car or home. IVA offers services that can help you to get a handle on debt, so join me in making a resolution to reduce our debt in the New Year.

Good luck and best wishes for a happy, healthy, debt-free New Year!

Music Monday: Time in a Bottle

2008-12-29T16:00:00.000-05:00

It's almost New Year's Eve, time to get nostalgic with one of my favorite songs from Jim Croce: "Time in a Bottle." I dedicate this Music Monday to the loves of my life -- my husband Rex and my two daughters, London and Maddie. This week, leading up to New Year's Eve, our family is working on a Time Capsule Project... literally trying to save time in a bottle.

If I could save time in a bottle
The first thing that I'd like to do
Is to save every day
Till eternity passes away
Just to spend them with you

If I could make days last forever
If words could make wishes come true
I'd save every day like a treasure and then,
Again, I would spend them with you

But there never seems to be enough time
To do the things you want to do
Once you find them
I've looked around enough to know
That you're the one I want to go
Through time with

If I had a box just for wishes
And dreams that had never come true
The box would be empty
Except for the memory
Of how they were answered by you

But there never seems to be enough time
To do the things you want to do
Once you find them
I've looked around enough to know
That you're the one I want to go
Through time with

Baby It's Cold Outside... Time to Start Planning for Summer Vacation

2008-12-29T11:32:00.014-05:00

Brrr.... winter officially just started about a week ago, and the Roxiticus Valley has already had our share of snow days, icy rain and cold cold weather. While Rex, London and I have been busy making our New Year's Resolutions and laying out plans for a successful 2009, I'll admit that it is hard to think about summer vacation rentals when there's snow on the ground... and on the deck... and covering up the swimming pool. However, for those who are looking for savings and bargains, there are plenty of benefits to be had by booking your vacation early in the New Year. Whether you're dreaming of an island in the South Pacific or checking out hilton head vacation rentals, you'll find a variety of affordable vacation packages online now. I can take Rex and the girls (and BEAR-iuca) overseas to visit Mariuca or book at trip to Lady Java's Lounge in Malaysia. I've always wanted to get back to Austin, Texas, and since Erik probably doesn't have room for us at his place, I should book early to get the best rental rate for a condo downtown. If you're coming to visit Roxy this summer, we don't have enough room for all of my blogosphere buddies at our beach house in Bay Head, so shop now to find the vacation spot that suits you best. Even if we're only dreaming, it's nice to plan a vacation someplace warm cuz baby, it's cold outside! Happy New Year to all of you.

Let's Keep Blogging Out Hunger: Stop and Shop Contributes $1.00 Per Comment at This Full House

2008-12-23T09:58:00.001-05:00

As part of the Blogging Out Hunger campaign for the Community FoodBank of NJ, one of my fellow New Jersey Bloggers -- Liz, from This Full House -- has gotten Stop and Shop to pony up $1 for every comment left (up to $300) under the blog post linked below. It's a way all of you can help and it won't cost you anything. Please take a second to click the link below and comment. Let's see how quickly we can raise $300 more bucks for the FoodBank.

http://www.thisfullhouse.com/this_full_house/2008/12/blogging-out-hunger-we-cant-let-this-bank-fail-the-big-give.html

Just Another New Year's Eve

2008-12-22T16:33:00.012-05:00

Even though there's a full week to go until next Music Monday, I'm starting to evaluate potential New Year's Eve themed songs. Here's a fave from Barry Manilow... I think I remember LadyJava posting a Barry Manilow tune a while back, I'll have to check the Music Monday archives.

Just Another New Year's Eve -- Barry Manilow

Don't look so sad, it's not so bad you know.
It's just another night, that's all it is,
It's not the first, it's not the worst you know,
We've come through all the rest, we'll get through this.

We've made mistakes, but we've made good friends too.
Remember all the nights we spent with them?
And all our plans, who says they can't come true?
Tonight's another chance to start again.

REFRAIN
It's just another New Year's Eve,
Another night like all the rest.
It's just another New Year's Eve,
Let's make it the best.
It's just another New Year's Eve,
It's just another Auld Lang Syne,
But when we're through this New Year
You'll see, we'll be just fine.

We're not alone, we've got the world you know.
And it won't let us down, just wait and see.
And we'll grow old, but think how wise we'll grow.
There's more you know, it's only New Year's Eve.

If you're out and about celebrating New Year's Eve, be smart, don't drink and drive. Take a cab home, pay for a designated driver to drink Diet Coke all night, but don't drink and drive. If you don't want to listen to Roxy and you get in trouble in Southern California, you're going to need the phone number for a good bunch of Los Angeles Criminal and DUI Defense Attorneys. Call Kestenbaum Eismer & Gorin LLP, a top 5% United States law firm specializing in criminal defense. (877) 781-1570. They're available 24/7, whenever you need them.

Music Monday: You Are My Shining Star

2008-12-21T10:28:00.003-05:00

This week's Music Monday post is in recognition of a great honor bestowed upon me by Matt over at Meltwater. Torrents. Meanderings. Delta. Matt has given me the Pulsar Award: "A pulsar is a brilliant flashing star in the sky. The Pulsar Award honors those who add a bit of brightness to life. If bloggers everywhere can find pulsars, other beacons of hope and friendship and display them on their blogs, then we all can make this world a better place together."

Thanks, Matt... I will continue to do my best to live up to your great expectations! Please enjoy the video and lyrics of You Are My Shining Star... a classic by the Manhattans.

Honey you are my shining star
Don't you go away
Oh baby, wanna be
Right here where you are
Till my dying day, oh yeah
So many have tried
Tried to find a love like yours and mine
Hmmmm mmmmm mmmmmm
Girl don't you realize
How you hynotize
Make me love you each time, yeah baby
Honey I know I leave you lonely
Give my love to you only
To you only, to you only
Honey you are my shining star
Don't you go away
Oh baby, wanna be
Right here where you are
Till my dying day, yeah baby
Feel so good when we're lying here
Next to each other lost in love, yeah baby
Baby when we touch, I love you so much
You're all I have with me now, yeah baby
Honey I know I leave you lonely
Give my love to you only
To you only, to you only
Honey you are my shining star
Don't you go away
Oh baby, wanna be
Right here where you are
Till my dying day, yeah baby
You are my shining star
Don't you go away, oh-o-o baby
Honey you are my shining star
Don't you go away, oh-o-o baby
Honey, right here where you are
Till my dying day, ahhhh yeah
Honey you are my shining star
My shining star
Honey you are my star
Don't you go away, yeah baby
Honey you are my shining star
Don't you go away, oh-o-o baby

Looking Ahead to Springtime Projects in the Roxiticus Valley

2008-12-17T20:16:00.012-05:00

Whew! Things sure are busy here at Roxy's place as Rex, London, Maddie and I get ready for the holidays. On Friday, we've got a holiday singalong with the girls at Mendham Township Elementary School in the morning, then we'll have a couple of business phone calls from the home office, and head back to the school in the afternoon for Maddie's class publishing party. All of the kids in Maddie's first grade class have been hard at work over the last month or so, writing their autobiographies to proudly present to all of the parents. The big day is almost here, and it should be a lot of fun.

Meanwhile, Rex and I have been in the process of applying for a home equity line of credit to make a few improvements around the house in the springtime. We really haven't done much since we bought our house five years ago, and now it feels like we should let London and Maddie choose a new color of paint for each of their bedrooms from a selection of paint chip samples. We'll probably add a new carpet in the family room after we take this year's Christmas tree out in January. I've been waiting for the girls to get a bit older to minimize the spills on a new carpet, and we've also decided we can't get a dog due to London's allergies. The biggest change would be to put in a new patio door to walk outside from the gym in our basement. It would be nice to let a little more light in by the elliptical trainer and weights to inspire my back-to-school turned New Year's resolution workout plan. As the new year gets closer, I'll be sure to post my weight loss progress and goals in true Bridget Jones style.

My New Women's Blog at Today.com

2008-12-17T20:08:00.005-05:00

I posted about a week ago that I was signing up for yet another new blog over at Today.com, and I'm now up and running over there, complete with daily posts and an EntreCard widget. The URL for my new blog is http://desperatehousewives.today.com, and I hope you will all drop in and check it out. Today.com is actually a paid blogging service, but instead of paying bloggers to write about particular advertisers, at least for the first month of posting and getting your audience to follow you, Today.com pays bloggers $1.00 per day to write at least 100 words about the topic of your choice. I picked "Women" and I've decided to try my hand at a little bit different style of writing... another side of Roxy that you haven't seen before. I'll leave it to my loyal Roxiticus Desperate Housewives readers to determine whether I know anything about the subject of WOMEN.

Since I joined Today.com, I've started to notice the number of other bloggers I know via BlogExplosion or Entrecard who also post there...sports blogs, celebrity blogs, you name it and you'll find it there. If you're feeling Blogalific, you can click the Today.com icon below to get your very own new blog and start earning a little money on the side:

Ah, Looking Back on Roxy's Good Old College Days

2008-12-11T15:15:00.004-05:00

I just got an e-mail about my upcoming 25th high school reunion, which got me thinking about my high school and college days. It feels like things were easier for college students back then. Even though we didn't have the Internet, so there was no such thing as blogging, it seemed easier to get into the college of one's choice, and easier to deal with things like finding a place to live...although I have more than a few college roommate stories that would make your skin crawl. Just the other day, I read on another blog about a criminal using Craig's List here in the U.S. to rip off college students seeking apartments. I won't go into the details, but I will say that if you're seeking student flats in leeds, you're lucky to have access to Pickard Properties, recently voted the number one student landlord in Leeds in the United Kingdom.

Farewell to The Painted Veil?

2008-12-11T14:51:00.002-05:00

Over the past few months, I've had the pleasure of visiting Jackie a.k.a. Shinade at her site, The Painted Veil. Self-described as "a place to seek peace and harmony.In hopes of reaching out across boundaries that seek to destroy harmony from within and also globally. I do this through the use of art, photography, writing and humor. A bag of diverse content always reflective of positivity." I've found some beautiful photographs and writing there.

Just today, I stopped by The Painted Veil and found "The Long and Winding Road: My Farewell." Say it's not so, Jackie!!

March Madness Starts Now: Prescription Eyeglasses for College Basketball Referees

2008-12-09T19:44:00.000-05:00

When the leaves fall from the trees and there's more than just a little chill in the air in the Greater Roxiticus Valley, New Jersey, a young girl's heart turns to.... college basketball! While I know the bracketology and the real madness doesn't come into play until March, I'm looking forward to building a fire in the fireplace, snuggling up on the couch in front of my big screen TV with Rex and the girls, and getting into all the best weekend NCAA action. This afternoon I received an e-mail from the sports authorities at my alma mater, Syracuse University, letting me know that the Orangemen will be taking on the Rutgers Scarlet Knights in January right over at the Rutgers Athletic Center (RAC) in New Brunswick, but I'll be happy to watch the game in the warmth and comfort of my own home.

I worry about the vision of the referees, though, so I thought I'd take a moment to point out that Optical4Less.com offers high quality prescription eye glasses for a nice low price ($15). At that reasonable price, each ref could afford to wear a different style of cheap eyeglasses at every game and ensure better vision and accurate calls. So if you're an NCAA referee, before your next game, why don't you visit Optical4Less.com and check out their virtual try-on system. You'll even get free worldwide shipping (if you order more than 1 pair), and all of your trendy, fashion, and stylish new glasses will arrive within a week.

Roxy's Got A Brand New Blog

2008-12-09T19:31:00.004-05:00

I was relaxing with a pumpkin spice latte last night at LadyJava's Lounge when I read that she had started yet another blog. I think that makes 4 billion and twenty seven blogs for my friend LJ! Of course, I couldn't let LJ get ahead of me, so just like the blogalific LadyJava, I have started yet another blog. I think the URL is http://desperatehousewives.today.com, but I'll have to get back to all of you with the details after I start posting. It is actually a paid blogging service where today.com pays bloggers $1.00 per day to write at least 100 words about the topic of choice. I picked "Women." I'll leave it to my loyal Roxiticus Desperate Housewives readers to determine whether I know anything about that particular subject.

You can click the icon below to get your own today.com blog:

Thanks for reading!

Roxy

Can't Keep Up On My Television Viewing

2008-12-09T13:43:00.005-05:00

I can't even use the hectic holiday season as my excuse, but I haven't been able to keep up on those other Desperate Housewives on network television, never mind Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice or Dirty Sexy Money. When I visit other people's blogs, I'm amazed at the number of shows my friends Mariuca and LadyJava seem to keep up on every week. Then there are the shows I can't even get started on... I bought the box set of Sex and the City last year to get ready for the movie premiere, and I haven't watched episode one. I have friends who like Prison Break and other shows about jail, but really, if I needed a daily dose of criminals or an Alaska Inmate Locator I needn't go any further than the Internet to see today's news about the criminal charges against the Governor of Illinois!

The Spirit of BEAR-iuca

2008-12-07T23:45:00.001-05:00

-START COPYING HERE-
Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, there lived a powerful Genie Princess named Mariuca who was known throughout the land as the friendliest, most popular blogger in the blogosphere kingdom. Adored and admired by international visitors and commentators from around the world, the Genie Princess travels the blogosphere on her magical flying carpet, always looking for ways to share her good fortune with others. Over the past two years of blogging, Mariuca has met so many new people, from all walks of life and all over the world, each one bringing a little of their culture and lifestyle when they visit and comment on Mariuca’s two sites. So on her 2nd Blog Anniversary, Mariuca wanted to celebrate with all of her international blogosphere buddies by hosting bear-naming contests at Wishing On A Falling Star and Mariuca’s Perfume Gallery and to pass her two lucky, cuddly teddy bears along to the winners who came up with the best names.

On the opposite side of the world, from the moment Roxy (the prolific Roxiticus Desperate Housewives blogger) and her sweet daughters London and Maddie saw the teddy in his personalized t-shirt and blue muffler at Wishing On A Falling Star, they knew that he needed to come to live with their family in Mendham, NJ. The three New Jersey girls named him immediately and burst into a wonderful song for BEAR-iuca:

BEAR-iuca, BEAR-iuca, amazing teddy cheer
BEAR-iuca, BEAR-iuca, we’d love you to come live here!

Mariuca received 16 possible names for the Mariuca Teddy Bear, making it hard for the Genie Princess to choose just one…then Alakazam! A bolt of lightning delivered the perfect way to share BEAR-iuca’s good fortune to bloggers around the globe. While the soft, stuffed, cuddly BEAR-iuca is on his way to live with Roxy, London, Maddie and Rex in the Roxiticus Valley, the Spirit of BEAR-iuca is racing through the blogosphere to bring happiness, holiday cheer, and beary best wishes to everyone who welcomes him into their online home and passes along the BEAR-iuca good luck charm to ten friends.

Please play along with us by following a few important rules:

Add your site(s) to the list once you have received the Spirit of BEAR-iuca badge of teddy bear cheer.
Pass along the Spirit of BEAR-iuca and his cheery badge to as many people as you like.
Leave a comment HERE once you’ve passed on the Spirit of BEAR-iuca.
Once Roxy and the Genie Princess have visited your site to make sure your links are complete and proper, you will then be added to the Master List.

To ensure everyone receives equal link benefit, please UPDATE your list regularly!

BEAR-iuca LOVES 1. Mariuca 2. Roxiticus Desperate Housewives 3. Mariuca’s Perfume Gallery 4. Roxy’s Best Of... 5. Bay Head Blog 6. Roxiticus Best Blogs 7. Emila's Illustrated Blog 8. Metz - Empty Streets 9. The Spirit of Blogging 10. Speedcat Hollydale Page 11. Snapshot 12. purplefrogcat 13. Turn-u-Off 14. Simple Life 15. A Little Girl Talk 16. Life in the Lapadula House 17. Spicybugz World 18. The Mom With Brownies 19. Our High School Homeschool 20. Our Five Dangerous Boys 21. The Big Dog 22. LadyJava's Lounge 23. Moments of My Life 24. Life is too short to be ordinary 25. A Great Pleasure 26. Time Goes By 27. Life According To Me 28. Laketrees 29. This is a miracle 30. Porcelain Doll 31. Moms...CheckNyo 32. Wonderful Things In Life 33. Sweet Nothings 34. Hot Shit Form Here 35. Not Just a Mom Site 36. The Life of a Mom 37. Wiehanne Lounge 38. The Painted Veil 39. My Crossroads 40. Little Mermaid 41. LOVE's Haven 42. Also Mommy 43. The Journey 44. Comedy Plus 45. Making sense...(somehow) 46. The Modern Mom 47. Stay At Home Mom 48. Picture Clusters 49. Maiylah's Snippets 50. Sweety tots 51. My Discoveries 52. A Life to Remember 53. Rekha 54. Crissy's Haven 55. Crissy's Library 56. Crissy's Zone 57. Shopping Blog 58. Crafts and cooking 59. Asian Mutt International 60. A Simple Life 61. I AM KCAT 62. A Girl For All Status 63. Berry Blog 64. Carnation 65. Pinaymama's Diary 66. Life's sweets and spices 67. The Callalily Space 68. Butchay 69. Blessings in Life 70. Pinay Mommy Online 71. The Ruby Posts 72. Day Break 73. R...E...B...E...L?!? 74. VDAY CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY 75. Just the Tip of the Iceberg 76. Honeysweet Learning Center 77. Vsk8shop 78. A Diva's Hammer 79. Arlene - Joys in Life 80. Listening..Learning..Living 81. Mommy's Little Corner 82. Living one day at a time 83. Momhood Moments 84. SUPER INFO THAILAND 85. Life Ramblings 86. Samantha Ysabelle 87. Kikamz' Just About Anything 88. SigneSays 89. Normz 90. YOU Next!

-END COPY-

I’m sharing the Spirit of BEAR-iuca with BerryVox, Matt, Henson, and YOU! Come join the Spirit of BEAR-iuca and share your teddy bear good luck stories with us. Copy the complete post, including the BEAR-iuca photo badge and hyperlinks, and be sure to UPDATE your list of links regularly to ensure that all participants enjoy BEAR-iuca’s worldwide linky love. Add your own story, song or video about BEAR-iuca to personalize your post. BEAR-iuca is looking forward to a warm welcome into your blogging home.

What's Your Weirdest Secret Santa Gift?

2008-12-07T23:16:00.005-05:00

It's been ten years since I've been in an office large enough to justify a Secret Santa gift exchange, but I can still remember some of the weird gifts my colleagues and I received. One year, at my first investment banking job, a stalker in a white lab coat from our IT department had me as his Secret Santa. My stalker took great pleasure in providing creepy clues leading up to the big day of the gift exchange, and grinned with glee as I unwrapped, of all things, some sort of duck horn or bird call. He later revealed that it had something to do with my move to the suburbs and my purported interest in bird watching. I guess I should be glad he didn't give me night vision goggles, binoculars, or one of those 5.11 Tactical Knives.

What's the weirdest Secret Santa gift you've ever received?

Music Monday: Just Another Manic Monday

2008-12-01T20:43:00.010-05:00

There are still three hours left to Monday here in the Roxiticus Valley, and I'd like to end my Music Monday Trifecta with an old fave from the Bangles, fittingly named "Manic Monday." Enjoy!

Six o'clock already
I was just in the middle of a dream
I was kissin' Valentino
By a crystal blue Italian stream
But I can't be late
'Cause then I guess I just won't get paid
These are the days
When you wish your bed was already made

It's just another manic Monday
I wish it was Sunday
'Cause that's my fun day
My I don't have to runday
It's just another manic Monday

Have to catch an early train
Got to be to work by nine
And if I had an air-o-plane
I still couldn't make it on time
'Cause it takes me so long
Just to figure out what I'm gonna wear
Blame it on the train
But the boss is already there

All of the nights
Why did my lover have to pick last night
To get down
Doesn't it matter
That I have to feed the both of us
Employment's down
He tells me in his bedroom voice
C'mon honey, let's go make some noise
Time it goes so fast
When you're having fun

I'm also trying out a new web thingy called Smallaa... please drop by and vote for my post. Smallaa pays $10,000 each week for the most popular post. If I win the ten thousand bucks this week, I bet we Music Monday participants, EntreCard droppers, and BlogExplosion Battle of the Blogs voters could coordinate an effort for each of us to have a turn at the big win.

Black Friday Promotion from Nikon Sport Optics

2008-11-29T13:29:00.013-05:00

As I've mentioned over on my Roxiticus Desperate Housewives blog, Rex is back in our kitchen today for our second Thanksgiving feast. We've got a 22 pound turkey and a nice group of twelve getting together for dinner this afternoon.

If you're done with Thanksgiving and have moved on to your holiday shopping, let me tell you about a Black Friday (and Saturday) Promotion from Nikon Sport Optics, NikonProGear and NikonHunting.com. The Nikon BDC Slam Hunter's Package contains:

ProStaff 3-9x40 Riflescope with BDC Reticle
Silent Technology Rangefinder Case
Mastering a Long-range shot with BDC DVD
$50 NikonProGear Gift Card

All these come together in a great package, saving you $144.90 on high quality hunting equipment.

For tranquil birdwatchers, as well as hunters, who may be looking for high-quality, rugged binoculars, Nikon Sport Optics has something for you – for a limited time only, get an extra $20 off on Nikon Action Extreme ATB 10x50 Binoculars. Just for the Black Friday Promotion, Nikon and NikonProGear.com are expanding the Gift Card Promotion ($25 and $50 value) to include all of the following products – Nikon Monarch Binoculars, Trailblazer Binoculars, Nikon Action 10x50 Binoculars and ANY Nikon ATB Binoculars. Now's your chance to surprise the hunter in your life with special holiday prices on ProStaff Riflescopes, Nikon Monarch Rifle Scopes, Buckmasters and Omega Riflescopes!

I'm leaving you now to bake a pumpkin chocolate cake...whether you're headed out to the mall or shopping online, happy hunting!

Roxy's Trifecta This Week on Lady Java's Music Monday?

2008-11-29T13:23:00.014-05:00

One of my new favorite things that I've been doing for the past couple of weeks is participating in Music Monday over at Lady Java's Lounge. It's been a great way to find out what some of my fellow bloggers are listening around the world. The Mister Linky program that LJ is using for Music Monday makes it easy to hop around from one blog to the next, checking out tunes all around the blogosphere. The first time I participated over on Roxiticus Desperate Housewives with my fave work-out song, Shakira's "Hips Don't Lie." Then, last week, I was so excited about it that I put a country song on Roxiticus Desperate Housewives and a Beach Boys classic over on my Bay Head Blog. This coming Monday, with the long Thanksgiving weekend to prepare, I'm thinking about a Trifecta...three songs on three blogs.

Turbocharge Your Blog, but Don't Forget Your Car!

2008-11-17T23:06:00.016-05:00

I just dashed off a note (scroll down one post) to remind everyone that my good blogosphere buddy LadyJava can turbocharge your blog with a snazzy Blog Make Over. However, as winter sets in here in the Roxiticus Valley, it's easy to snuggle up with our blogs or those other Desperate Housewives on network TV while we neglect our cars. I know my little red Celica convertible is just shivering out in the garage for the winter. One of my neighbors just souped up her ride with a Volkswagen turbocharger and now she's like the Little Old Lady from Pasadena, go granny go granny go granny go. I may wait until the Spring to supercharge my ride, but I've gotta keep up with the Britts down the street!

LadyJava Does Blog MakeOvers!

2008-11-17T22:53:00.020-05:00

When I'm out and about surfing the blogosphere, every now and then a really snazzy header banner catches my eye, particularly if it is a big change from the blog's usual look. Lately, I can't help but notice that lots of my good blogosphere buddies have upgraded the look of their sites with a tasty Blog Make Over by LadyJava, who with 7 blogs also happens to be one of the most prolific bloggers in the world!

If you fancy a blog makeover for your Blogspot hosted blog, click on the blue square and let LJ work with you on that one exclusive look that is only yours alone. Lady Java's blog makeovers include:

Custom 2 or 3 column blogger design
Your very own header banner
Horizontal navigation bar
Favicon (the little icon next to your address)
125x125 square blog button & code
Complete installation

A terrific value priced at thirty bucks... I may have to do something special for my Roxiticus Desperate Housewives site...or maybe LJ could give Roxy's Best Of... a Santa hat and a red sweater to keep warm for the holidays!

Polyanna: Seeing the Glass Half Full in a Troubled Economy

2008-11-13T15:12:00.000-05:00

Over on my Roxiticus Desperate Housewives site, I just posted some tips for coping with stress during hard times and the current economic situation. While a troubled United States economy is tough on Wall Street and on Main Street, I've experienced one minor plus. Without the benefit of a lap-band doctor or even a diligent fitness program, I've dropped fifteen to twenty pounds over the past two months. Now I just need to get to a tailor so I can start showing off Roxy's slim new figure in my favorite clothes.

EntreCard Discovery: Simply Drunk

2008-11-13T14:58:00.008-05:00

I found Simply Drunk through EntreCard, and have been laughing ever since. Self-described as a blog about life....discussing current events, everyday life and other useless or offensive topics over a few drinks. I particularly like the way Simply Drunk's posts are organized around song titles such as "Taxman," "Land Down Under," "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap," and "You Don't Bring Me Flowers."

Check it out with your favorite beverage in hand... and tell 'em Roxy sent you!

Why More People Should Blog

2008-11-06T14:02:00.005-05:00

A few weeks back, while our family attended the Far Hills Race Meeting, I caught up on quite a bit of hot gossip from my fellow Roxiticus Desperate Housewives. It is not my story to tell, but there was a steamy tale about an attractive 40-plus personal trainer with a hot local cop, packing heat in both senses of the word, and complete with Galco holsters and bulletproof vest...

That kind of story is the reason I'm convinced that more women should blog instead of just sharing explicit girl talk on the phone or in person... I would happily add their sites to Roxy's Best Of... Other People's Blogs for everyone to enjoy!

Roxy's Best Of... Blogs: Ken Armstrong Writing Stuff

2008-11-06T10:59:00.007-05:00

I don't remember whether I found Ken Armstrong Writing Stuff through EntreCard or on Matt Urdan's Meltwater. Torrents. Meanderings. Delta. ("MTMD"). I do know that you should check out his site, which promises "movies, music and other people's habits peppered with the odd story or two from my world." Ken is both creative and entertaining, and rarely a day goes by that I don't lurk in the shadows of his blog, catching up on his latest post. Enjoy!

When Black Friday Comes...

2008-11-05T07:34:00.012-05:00

Even though London and Maddie usually start their letters to Santa during the month of July and look forward to the big day all year, I've never been one for heading out to the malls and standing in line at the stores at 5 o'clock in the morning on Black Friday to start my holiday shopping, then counting down the number of days until Christmas. Our family actually celebrates Thanksgiving twice, once over at my mom's house with my oldest sister and my nieces, then again on Saturday when Rex does all the cooking for his family. My only responsibility is the baking -- pumpkin pies, pumpkin bread, sometimes a pumpkin bourbon cheesecake -- but on the Friday in between our two Thanksgiving celebration, Rex, London, Maddie and I just want to lounge around the house with nothing on the agenda.

I've actually had good luck over the years saving money by shopping online for most of my Christmas gifts...even online, Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, has turned into a major sale event.... and you can bet that Roxy prefers to do the shopping while I'm still wearing my jammies, cuddled up with my computer in a nice cozy chair by the fire. I've even found a site that offers email alerts that let me know when new black friday ads have been posted by my favorite stores (like Circuit City deals or Best Buy for electronics, or Toys R Us for the girls) to help me plan my online holiday shopping.

How does your family celebrate Thanksgiving, and that secondary holiday, Black Friday? Do you cook for an extended family, then head out to the mall the next day at 5am, or are you lucky enough to have someone else serve you a turkey with all the trimmings?

Bear-iuca: The Perfect Name for Mariuca's Teddy Bear

2008-11-04T07:24:00.002-05:00

While we're celebrating Election Day here in the United States, and all eyes are on who will be the next President, over on the other side of the world, my good blogosphere buddy is looking for a name for her teddy bear. Don't worry, I'll get out this afternoon to cast my vote for President, but right now, I'd like to nominate "Bear-iuca" as my choice for Mariuca's teddy bear. If you'd like to submit a name for this cute teddy, click the link below or the photo to participate. And please let me (and Mariuca) know what you think of Bear-iuca!

That's Amore... Hey, All You Dean Martin Fans Out There!

2008-10-30T15:25:00.015-04:00

"When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie
That's amore
When the world seems to shine like you've had too much wine
That's amore
Bells will ring ting-a-ling-a-ling, ting-a-ling-a-ling
And you'll sing "Vita bella"
Hearts will play tippy-tippy-tay, tippy-tippy-tay
Like a gay tarantella

When the stars make you drool just like a pasta fazool
That's amore
When you dance down the street with a cloud at your feet
You're in love"

Here's a sweet little offer for all you crazy kids out there who might be looking for a deal on Dean Martin at the Sands. Click the link for a budget-priced 1996 box set "on disky." The collection features 48 of Dino's greatest Capitol hits in a gatefold 6' x 10' long box. You'll reminisce to faves like Dino's 'Volare' (whoa-oh-oh-oh), That's Amore,' 'Return To Me,' 'Young And Foolish,' 'Cha ChaCha d'Amour,' 'Memories Are Made Of This' and 'Dream A Little Dream Of Me.'

Sizzle!

The Nose on Your Face Keeps Us Laughing Through the Election

2008-10-30T15:15:00.008-04:00

I haven't seen The Nose on Your Face in my BlogExplosion surfing lately, so I droppedby to see what they were providing in terms of "election coverage." Turns out that they've been keeping up the regularly scheduled laughs, with recent posts including "Can We Believe Colin Powell's Endorsement of Barack Obama?" and "Obama to Combat Joe the Plumber with Average Americans of His Own." So if everyone else's political coverage has you down, head over to TNOYF for a hearty election week chuckle.

The Nose On Your Face, written by the blogging team of R.H. Potfry and Buckley F. Williams, is one of my favorite BlogExplosion discoveries. These guys are hysterical, but you may not be familiar with them because they don't participate in Battle of the Blogs or EntreCard.

Twelve Steps to Recovery from Alcholism or Addiction

2008-10-27T12:08:00.013-04:00

Consider yourself lucky if you've never had to deal with alcoholism or addiction of a family member, whether through local Alcoholics Anonymous meetings or through private rehab. While this blog tends to be devoted to the best blogs in the blogosphere, I did think it might be helpful to provide the valuable information contained in the original Twelve Steps as published by Alcoholics Anonymous:

We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable.
Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His Will for us and the power to carry that out.
Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

EntreCard Saturdays

2008-10-23T22:42:00.003-04:00

I have to admit to being a bit behind on updating my Roxiticus Best Blogs site. When I first started out in the blogosphere, my only real source for finding Other People's Blogs ("OPB") was BlogExplosion, particularly the Battle of the Blogs. Since I joined EntreCard, I must have found over a hundred high quality blogs to read. I hate to make excuses, but it takes so much time to read through the posts, I hardly have time to write up the nice review that each blog deserves.

That said, I've seen "EntreCard Saturdays" in which other bloggers post about the faves they've discovered through EntreCard dropping, and I'm going to try to participate more regularly using my Roxiticus Best Blogs and Roxy's Best Of... Blogs sites. But hey, just like a diet, please don't set your expectations too high!

Roxy

P.S. -- Oh, and if you have absolutely no idea what I'm talking about when I say EntreCard, how do you keep your laptop charged up in the cave you must be living in? Seriously, just click on the little yellow "Get One" under the Blog of the Day in my sidebar.

Isn't Roxy a Little Too Old for a Pimple On My Chin??!!

2008-10-23T22:26:00.005-04:00

I woke up this morning and stumbled out of my bed to find a pimple on my chin staring back at me from the mirror! What's up with the teenage acne? I may be going to see a blast from my teenage past tomorrow night -- Joan Jett and the Blackhearts at the Morristown Community Theatre -- but I certainly don't need any other remnants of my adolescent years coming out of my closet like skeletons on Halloween. The good news is, superzit should clear up in a few days, and I won't have to schedule a consultation with Dr. Martin Sands, a dermatologist with a special interest in researching cutting-edge technologies and incorporating them into his practice.

Updating Roxy's Best Of... Blogs: Lady Java, the Blogger Who Never Sleeps

2008-10-23T22:13:00.004-04:00

As my loyal Roxiticus Best Blogs and Roxiticus Desperate Housewives readers know, I've been doing my best to transfer all of my faves over to my new Roxy's Best Of... Blogs site, and Lady Java will soon be ready to make the move. For those of you who are not familiar with my good blogosphere buddy, Lady Java is sooo blogalific that she posts regularly to seven (7) different blogs. As we're approaching midnight magic here in the Roxiticus Valley and, unlike LJ, I need a bit of beauty sleep, I can only share a couple of them here.

Lady Java, another terrific BlogExplosion discovery, is one of the friendliest and most prolific (or blogalific, if you will) bloggers in the blogosphere. Her secret to getting everything done is that she nevah evah sleeps...she just pours herself cup after cup of that hot java and delivers her Midnight Magic (and cheerful comments) around the blogosphere. Lady Java's Lounge is where you'll find LJ's ramblings on daily living, home, family, health, love, beauty, shopping and product reviews.

Lady Java's Life Pages are where LJ feels free to let go and be herself. It's a blog revolving around her life, daily activities, special events, love and relationships. Enjoy!

LJ also has a blog about her six furry kitties, but I am so highly allergic to cats that I'd be sneezing while I blogged if I posted a picture, so....just a link to Cat Tales.

Roxy's Back-to-School Fitness Program Update

2008-10-19T20:25:00.006-04:00

Since London and Maddie went back to school in early September, I decided I need to get back in shape with a back-to-school workout program that I've been posting about over on my Roxiticus Desperate Housewives blog. I knew that if I didn't get on the elliptical trainer at least three days a week, I'd be signing up for lapband houston surgery to be able to fit into my jeans. Well, I'm now about 6 weeks into the program, and down about 10 pounds from 160 to plus or minus 150, but for all the wrong reasons. I've had little to no appetite from stressing out about the stock market, and haven't worked out for a couple of weeks. Wish me luck...I'm hoping to get back on my workout program this week.

Updating Roxy's Best Of... Blogs with Mariuca: Wishing On A Falling Star

2008-10-19T18:24:00.013-04:00

It's been about eight months since Mariuca, the friendliest and most popular blogger in the blogosphere, befriended me through BlogExplosion. Now my day is not complete if I don't stop by and read the latest post and make a few comments at Mariuca's blog, Wishing On A Falling Star. Lately Mariuca has been serving up prizes for her top commenter, leading to a world record of over 500 comments per post!

Mariuca's blog revolves around the ups and downs of her life as a freelance copywriter working from home. She has three adorable cats and loves collecting perfumes & daydreaming! Mariuca writes about anything under the sun. From hobbies and food to love and life, Mariuca has it all.

As I begin the transition of Roxiticus Best Blogs from Blogger to Wordpress, it's time to move Mariuca to Roxy's Best Of... Blogs. As soon as I've done a bit more research on Mariuca's blogging history and love story, you'll be able to read more by clicking here.

London and Maddie's Bad Luck with Pets

2008-10-15T12:37:00.015-04:00

As my loyal Roxiticus Desperate Housewives readers know, Rex, London, Maddie and I just returned from a long weekend vacation in Duck, North Carolina. You may also remember that London is allergic to most furry pets... I am deathly allergic to cats, but so far London seems to be allergic to horses and dogs as well. So when London and Maddie both won small aquariums in a school contest, we decided to try fish as a pet for each of them. Both girls picked out a betta fish (the Japanese fighting fish)...Maddie chose a blue one and London's was red and white. Unfortunately, we just don't have good luck with pets... Maddie's betta required a "burial at sea" before we left on vacation, and we found London's little guy belly up on the bottom of her tank when we returned home on Monday night.

I do know that my good blogosphere buddies like Mariuca and LadyJava (you'll find their blogs noted here at Roxiticus Best Blogs) believe that "Happiness is Pets" and our family will persevere in finding the perfect pet for us. Maddie keeps bringing home books about pets (rabbits, dogs, and fish, to name a few) from the school library, and I've been trying out the options on our loyal readers. If only London outgrows her allergies, at least becomes tolerant of "less allergenic" dogs like cock-a-poos, we would all be excited to have a cuddly puppy in our home.

Introducing Roxy's Best Of...Blogs

2008-08-29T17:59:00.015-04:00

As my loyal Roxiticus Desperate Housewives and Bay Head Blog readers know, I've been hard at work over the past couple of months on the launch of the Roxy's Best Of... WordPress MU Community.

To give you a bit of background on the new site as well as some of the old ones, Roxy is a former disc jockey and advertising copywriter, current investment banker and mother-of-two coming to you from the Roxiticus Valley, New Jersey. You'll find my original PG-rated blog, reporting on the quirks and sexual peccadilloes of the neighboring desperate housewives, or whatever else the milkman may have delivered this morning, at Roxiticus Desperate Housewives.

When we (Roxy, Rex, and our two daughters, London and Maddie) moved out to the Roxiticus Valley in October 2003 from a co-op on the Hudson River in New York City's West Village, we didn't know where to find anything: toddler ballet classes, butchers and prepared foods, local clothing boutiques, and all sorts of personal services, from pediatricians to florists to our now beloved cake lady. As our girls grew up over the past five years, from ages 2.5 and 1.5 to 7.5 and 6.5, we discovered age appropriate opportunities for them, and favorite restaurants for grown-up play dates. So Roxy's Best Of... started out within the Roxiticus Desperate Housewives blog as a directory of our family's point of view on the best of the Roxiticus Valley, including the Best of Mendham, NJ; Best of Bernardsville, NJ; Best of Chester, NJ; Best of Peapack-Gladstone, NJ; Best of Far Hills, NJ; Best of Morris County, NJ; and the Best of Somerset County, NJ.

In addition to our lovely home in the Roxiticus Valley, where our children attend Mendham Township Elementary School, we also own a beach house in Bay Head, New Jersey, where we spend many weekends and vacations during the summer, so Roxy's blogging expanded to include the Best of Bay Head, initially known as the Bay Head Blog.

After our most recent of four annual vacations in Laguna Beach, California, Roxy added a new blog to include our favorite restaurants and art galleries out there. It's a bit hard to keep that content up to date, but we're hopeful that our dear friend Mary Alice, who just moved out there with her family, might contribute as she finds the best restaurants and activities near their new home in Palos Verde.

Recognizing that one Roxy can't do it all, we invite you to write about the local area where you've become an expert. Please use the Roxy's Best Of... contact form to submit your proposal for a new "Roxy Blog." If you're a local restauranteur or service provider in one of our existing Roxy areas, please use the Roxy's Best Of... contact form to learn more about advertising with Roxy.

While I'll probably never give up my Google Blogger/Blogspot sites entirely, I'll slowly be moving the best blogs from this site over to Roxy's Best Of... Other People's Blogs. Hope you'll stop by and check it out.

Manipulating Spreadsheets in Excel, Writing Offering Memoranda in Word, 12 Tabs Open Dropping EntreCards, Commenting on Mariuca, No Blue Death Screen!

2008-08-08T22:44:00.081-04:00

My loyal readers here on Roxiticus Best Blogs and over on Roxiticus Desperate Housewives know that I stretch the truth every day: I'm neither desperate nor a housewife...I'm a happily married mom-of-two and the owner of a small investment banking business with my husband, Rex. We have a deal in our household: Rex does all the cooking, and I do all the spreadsheets. While technically (pun intended) I'm the President & Chief Operating Officer of our small firm, Rex and Brent frequently refer to me around the office as "Senior Tech."

On the average night, after I read my girls their bedtime stories, you'll find me in bed with Rex and my HP notebook: manipulating spreadsheets in Microsoft Excel, writing offering memoranda in Microsoft Word, "Getting Wicked" by dropping at least 150 EntreCards with 12 Internet Explorer tabs open (sometimes in my sleep), and trying to leave a comment on one of Mariuca or Lady Java's blogs...On my old high-priced IBM notebook with Windows XP, that would have been asking for the blue screen of death, and even a woman who's allergic to cats doesn't get more than nine lives.

When that IBM notebook bit the dust three days after its three-year extended warranty expired, I seriously considered switching to a Macbook because it seemed like so much more fun...and there were all those commercials that poked fun at Bill Gates. However, while Maddie and London love the huge-screen Mac in our family room (and I've been known to sneak on and drop an EntreCard or fifty before they wake up in the morning), I find that I can't get my "real work" done on a Mac. Blogging yes, investment banking no go no how.

While you've all heard my complaints about my shaky Internet connection since Comcast acquired Patriot Media earlier this year (and you don't want to get me started about e-mail forwarding coming to a screeching halt on August 31st), I do have some happy technology news. Since I bought my new HP Notebook back in April 2007 with Windows Vista Ultimate (the version that combines features designed for both personal and business computing requirements) preloaded, the blue screen of death has made far fewer appearances in my personal and business life. The sleek new look of the Windows Vista desktop, including a widget-friendly sidebar, also makes it easier for me to combine business and pleasure. I've found that most leading small business applications—including software from Adobe, Autodesk, Avanquest, CA, Corel, Intuit, McAfee, Sage, Symantec, and Trend Micro—and thousands of others are compatible with Windows Vista. I have spent the last year and a half calling Brent in the office to access my Sage ACT database because it's still not compatible with the 64-bit version of Vista, but that's my only major gripe.

I've also learned about Windows Vista Small Business Assurance, an offer designed to help small businesses move to Windows Vista, with a responsive customer service team for small business owners like me. Well, small business owners who are perhaps smarter and less cutting edge than I am...as the offer, which will continue through September 30, 2008, is for small business customers who purchase PCs with Windows Vista Business or Windows Vista Ultimate after July 1, 2008.

When you buy a new PC with Windows Vista Business or Windows Vista Ultimate like I did, only do it now through September 30th, 2008, you'll receive free support, compatibility assistance, and one-on-one coaching from Microsoft to help ensure a smooth transition. While I may have missed the official shopping window, I think I'll give Windows Small Business Assurance a call next time my computer re-installs Vista Service Pack 2 as I'm trying to shut down and get some sleep. I'll let you know if they're as good with the midnight magic as our blogalicious friend Lady Java....

Inspirational Posts from the Roxiticus Best Blogs

2008-07-24T18:07:00.005-04:00

As we come up on the third blogiversary celebration of Roxiticus Desperate Housewives, I've posted there about Instructions to the Double, the blog that inspired Roxy to start blogging. I've truly enjoyed reviewing that blog, and I've received many favorable comments from bloggers who share my intrigue. I realized that every blog has a story, and I may not know what it is, even when it comes to my favorite bloggers. So, over the coming weeks, I'm going to refresh my linky love on all the existing Roxiticus Best Blogs, and accept nominees for new Roxiticus Best Blogs. All I ask is that you share with me one or more of your favorite posts (along with any background from the blogger) by leaving a comment here with a link to the specific post(s) URL(s). I'll check them out, "reprint" them here with your permission, and link to your blog. I hope you'll find it as much fun to look at the history of our favorite blogs as I will.

Deb On the Rocks (Her EntreCard Says "LapDance"

2008-07-22T22:12:00.000-04:00

I found Deb on the Rocks one night while I was out cruising the blogosphere on EntreCard, bringing home the best bedtime entertainment for my Roxiticus Desperate Housewives Readers.

While some of my regular readers spend a good deal of their time ROFL (rolling on the floor, laughing), Deb on the Rocks actually "took me there" with her Night-Night Story for the Jolie-Pitt Children. Go there. Wake your kids up now! Read it to them. Good family fun.

(Still not sleepy? Yes, I'll bring you a glass of water, and you can also hear another story: A Night-night Fairytale for Suri Cruise. And after that? Lights Out! I mean it!)

July 22nd update: Henceforth, Deb would like to be known as a "mythical hobbit." By the power of the Genies' magical lamp vested in me, I hereby grant her wish.

SpicyBug Here...and There

2008-07-21T22:14:00.030-04:00

Spicy Bug is one of my favorite BlogExplosion finds...she's a mom, and a grandmom, blogging in between chasing after babies and toddlers all day long and trying to get a little sleep at night...and she's one of the nicest people I've met out there in the blogosphere. SpicyBugz World is the only place where Roxiticus Desperate Housewives is one of the top ten EntreCard droppers. I may not always be numero uno, but at least I'm on her list. In fact, I've been reluctant to take an Internet-free vacation for fear of dropping out of Spicy Bug's top ten. I started reading SpicyBugz World whenever she participated in a Battle of the Blogs, and I haven't stopped...it is loads of fun and surprisingly addictive.

SpicyBug describes her blog as a "Little bit of this and a whole lot of that. My daily adventures, joys, heartaches, laughter and tears." On December 8, 2005, Spicy Bug launched her blog with the following answer to "Who Am I?":

"I went outside this evening after a strong snow storm. The wind was still blowing but the snow had ended. As I stood out on my deck, with the wind whipping my hair all around. I got lost in thought, as I often do. Who am I? a small voice whispered in my head. I then saw a sparkling diamond, shimmering in the sun. Who am I? I am your neighbor, the girl next door. I am the nurse at your doctor's office, the cashier at the grocery store. I am the grandmother down the road who bakes cookies and apple pies. I am the lonely housewife who sits home remembering when children used to run thru the house. I am the sexy model on TV. I AM that diamond. And like that diamond I have many sparkling facets. I can’t be put in a box and labeled as one thing. Each time you look at me, you will see a new and amazing color. Watch me Shine. "

And now, congratulations girlfriend! You beat me to the punch and introduced your very own URL, www.spicybugz.com! Let's all head out and pay a visit to the new, improved SpicyBugz World!!

Rent Your Cars Now for the Roxiticus Best Blogs Dinner Party

2008-07-07T20:04:00.012-04:00

Now that I've got the new dining room set and Rex has committed to a pistachio encrusted rack of lamb as the main course for our Roxiticus Best Blogs dinner party, there's just the small matter of getting all of you top bloggers here to the Roxiticus Valley, New Jersey. I believe you can get a direct flight in to Newark International Airport from most Roxiticus Best Blogs locations, including Kuala Lumpur and Malaysia. If not, you'll have to fly into JFK. Either way, there's an Advantage car rental available for you, and there are even some special offers that would get you up to a 50% discount on luxury and hot red convertible car rentals. Just let me know which date works best for all of you.

Henson's Hell

2008-07-07T19:00:00.013-04:00

Henson is funny. Very creative and very very funny.

Something you might not know about me is that I'm not so good with funny...you'd have to drag me kicking and screaming to the movies if they were showing a "comedy," but Henson makes me laugh. LOL as they say. LMAO as they say.

Check out his blog. I found him through the extensive comments on Matt's MTMD/Michigan Rafter blog, since he's got this nekked avatar that shows up whenever he makes a comment. Henson describes his blog as random musings and humorous observations on pop culture from Henson Ray of "It Happened in Plainfield." And Plainfield, NJ, it turns out, is the town where I was born. Many years ago.

Every now and then, I drive Henson crazy by giving him a little homework, in the form of a meme or two that have been passed along from blog to blog like an urban legend until he twists it in his own humorous way. And whatever Henson may say, ROXY is not a four letter word. I mean, it has four letters, but...see what I mean? He's got me tripping all over my tongue.

I've also been known to show my face on his EntreCard widget and vice versa. So head on over to Henson's Hell and let me know how hot it is...don't wait until Hell freezes over.

Roxiticus Best Bloggers Dinner Party?

2008-06-29T20:08:00.012-04:00

One of these days, I'm going to surprise my husband by inviting Mariuca, LadyJava, Tricia, Matt and all of the Roxiticus Best Bloggers over to the house for one of Rex's delicious home cooked meals. Before I do, though, there are so many of you that we'll need to invest in some new Dining Room Furniture. It just wouldn't be right to ask our blogosphere buddies to sit on lawn chairs, drinking chardonnay out of plastic cups and dining on paper plates at picnic tables....

More Laughs from The Nose On Your Face

2008-06-08T07:52:00.002-04:00

I was surfing on BlogExplosion this morning and came across this funny Obama "Friends" video on The Nose on Your Face...check it out!

The Nose On Your Face, written by the blogging team of R.H. Potfry and Buckley F. Williams, is one of my favorite BlogExplosion discoveries. These guys are hysterical, but you may not be familiar with them because they don't participate in Battle of the Blogs or EntreCard.

Bloggerwave Paid Up!

2008-06-04T23:44:00.007-04:00

Good news...I have now received $30 directly to my PayPal account from Bloggerwave for the first three posts I've done. While I've only done two other posts for Bloggerwave for a total of $50, since there never seem to be any new jobs/opps on the site, it isn't a huge moneymaker, but it doesn't seem to be a scam, and that's not much less than Smorty ($84) for me. So if you were waiting to sign up, why not go ahead and give Bloggerwave a shot?

I Signed Up for Bloggerwave!

2008-05-15T15:48:00.008-04:00

I signed up for a new paid posting service called BloggerWave. If you have a blog and want to make some extra money by writing paid posts, give BloggerWave a try. Bloggerwave is working hard to become Europe's biggest paid post "blogging for dollars" advertising service. BloggerWave seems to have a couple advantages for bloggers when compared to similar paid posting services here in the United States:

Bloggerwave is headquartered in Europe, which may be a benefit for non-U.S. bloggers like my friends Mariuca and Lady Java;
Bloggerwave lets each blogger register up to five (5) different blogs, and they're not as tough as some of the other services about the criteria for acceptance. I've registred three of my blogs so far: Roxiticus Desperate Housewives, Makin' the Bacon, and this one, Roxiticus Best Blogs.

Wordless Weekend? I Am Mother of the Year!

2008-05-11T21:09:00.000-04:00

New Friends from Social Spark

2008-05-11T01:13:00.022-04:00

I have posted quite a bit over on my Roxiticus Desperate Housewives blog about SocialSpark, a new membership site that combines social networking with advertising/paid posts.

On the social networking side, I have made quite a few friends (closing in on 1,500 at the time of this post) and have accepted a good number of paid post opportunities for advertisers like Dockers, MAXXED Energy Pops, and a scary movie called Frontier(s). In addition to paid post opportunities, SocialSpark offers the opportunity for bloggers like me to create our own split personality of Advertiser in order to promote our own sites through free "BlogUBack" posts called Sparks.

So far, my Roxiticus Best Blogs "Spark" has not generated a lot of action for me, but I have made three new "BlogUBack" friends who have written nice posts about me on their blogs:

I accepted another blogger, Dan Rua's, Spark for "VC FAQ" (venture capital frequently asked questions) on his Florida Venture Blog and wrote a post on Roxiticus Desperate Housewives called "Show Me the Money" about Angie's List being funded with a $35 million VC investment, along with my questions for the venture capitalist about valuation insights in the Blogosphere. Dan "blogged me back" with his VC FAQ: Venture Capital Valuation post. I highly recommend reading that post if you're a blogger who is considering the question of enterprise value for an Internet venture, way beyond the hundreds or thousands you may be earning now through Google AdSense and paid posts.

WhatASlacker devoted a post to "Roxiticus Best Blogs: A Blog About Blogs" on What A Slacker! (the rantings and ravings of an antisocial slacker). I'm glad to see that an antisocial slacker has joined a social networking site like SocialSpark and appears to be making friends left and right!

Aris Martant posted about "Blogging as a Tool for Business" on his Business Quotes blog. Aris' profile describes him with the following quote: "You cannot be what you are not, but you can become what you are not. If you sow a thought, you reap an act. If you sow an act, you reap a habit. If you sow a habit, you reap your character. If you sow your character, then you reap a destiny."

Ramblings of Maggie @ Coffee Shop Mafia

2008-05-05T22:09:00.000-04:00

According to Maggie, “Blogs are like flashers. They exhibit themselves anonymously and publicly, with little consideration for you, the audience."

I love the quote, but despite Maggie's alleged lack of consideration of me, her audience, Ramblings of Maggie makes her readers want to come back every day to see what she has to say.

Maggie's blog is her online confessional. Sometimes she speaks of her sins and some of the sins of her family and friends. Check it out and you'll see for yourself that Ramblings of Maggie is a digital journal inspired by her life, her love and the colorful world around Maggie. In Maggie's World, things aren’t always the same as the outside world. Sometimes a Swirling Stormy Great Red Spot dominates the atmosphere. However, the Great Red Spot remains a mystery and causes insanity, silliness and an occasional snippet of wisdom.

Things about Maggie:
She's in love (awwwwwwww), has two kids (a lot older than I expected from such a swingin' chick), a single mom who works full time as an Executive Assistant and still has time to blog (hope she doesn't get Dooced!), owns her own home, drives a mini van, loves computers, spends too much time in front of said computers, has a terrific sense of humor. Maggie worries that sometimes only she "gets" her own humor, but I've enjoyed many laughs in Maggie's World over the past couple of months. Maggie grew up in the town next to where she lives now, once was a sassy temp, Not a sassy temp anymore. She likes to camp with her honey, drink coffee with him, surf (the blogosphere or the ocean??) and eat chinese food. Maggie and said Honey like to cook together (don't get any ideas, Rex, the kitchen is your domain around here) and Maggie doesn't like to clean. She has a quick Portuguese temper but it passes quickly. Some have said she's “crazy” but she thinks she's just a normal stressed-out woman.

Enjoy!

BlogBackupr: Not A Paid Post, Just a Really Good Idea

2008-05-05T18:33:00.000-04:00

I don't know about you, but I have really really bad luck with technology. I've paid more than I care to mention to various hard disk recovery companies after expensive IBM notebooks crashed at the same time as my office server, causing me to lose a combination of important business documents and precious family pictures.

Since I started to blog in earnest back in late January/early February 2008, I have started to "learn the ropes" of the blogosphere and have developed a certain mistrust of Google and their Blogger/Blogspot service. ("Our Googlebots think this is a SPAM blog and have locked you out. You can attempt to restore access but we will keep you waiting for months and months.") As a result, I have started to migrate to a self-hosted WordPress blog on my own url, but it's not an easy process. In the meantime, what to do to protect my precious content?

One night when I was surfing Other People's Blogs (OPB), I happened upon a post about Blogbackupr. Blogbackupr is a FREE service that backs up your blog content every day over the Internet using your blog's RSS feed. As someone with limited technical capabilities and even more limited patience, I found it easy to use and their tech support people helped me out within a day or two when I ran into trouble.

Give it a try...BlogBackupr works with any blog and you've got nothing to lose (but you could lose your blog content if you don't Backupr).

The Nose On Your Face

2008-05-03T15:20:00.000-04:00

The Nose On Your Face, written by the blogging team of R.H. Potfry and Buckley F. Williams, is one of my favorite BlogExplosion discoveries. These guys are hysterical, but you may not be familiar with them because they don't participate in Battle of the Blogs or EntreCard.

I first started ROFL with TNOYF when they posted a Brit Hume interview and photodocumentary about Hillary Clinton when she "mis-spoke" about sniper fire in Bosnia.

My other favorite TNOYF headlines include:

New Poll Shows McCain Trails Only Hugh Hefner As Luckiest Senior

Lady Java: The Blogger Who Never Sleeps

2008-05-02T20:23:00.000-04:00

Lady Java, another terrific BlogExplosion discovery, is one of the friendliest and most prolific (or blogalific, if you will) bloggers in the blogosphere. Her secret to getting everything done is that she nevah evah sleeps...she just pours herself cup after cup of that hot java and delivers her Midnight Magic (and cheerful comments) around the blogosphere. Lady Java's Lounge is where you'll find LJ's ramblings on daily living, home, family, health, love, beauty, shopping and product reviews.

Lady Java's Life Pages are where LJ feels free to let go and be herself. It's a blog revolving around her life, daily activities, special events, love and relationships. Enjoy!

LJ also has a blog about her six furry kitties, but I am so highly allergic to cats that I'd be sneezing while I blogged if I posted a picture, so....just a link to Cat Tales.

Sosuna-o-lata: Procrastination Comes to Those Who Wait

2008-05-01T22:31:00.010-04:00

Sosuna-o-lata is another great blog I found through BlogExplosion.

Our blogging host is a dreamer and a procrastinator, married with two children and working full-time. She jots down her thoughts, adventures and misadventures, and shares them with her readers. You'll find a mixed bag of photos, movie reviews, recipe reviews, silly findings and great places she finds on the web.

Nooice! Buffy's Blog from DownUndah

2008-05-01T22:09:00.004-04:00

Buffy's Blog is one woman's opinion on love, life and the male species. Buffy blogs about her life DownUndah and the people in it...from her family and friends to her work at SexyAds. She discusses things that make her happy and issues that "urk" her. You'll find Buffy to be honest, frequently funny and at times blunt.

I found Buffy's Blog while surfing the blogosphere via EntreCard, and dragged her with me into SocialSpark, who promptly declined her dirty dirty blog due to content of an adult nature. Go ahead, click the picture, there's nothing on Buffy's Blog you won't enjoy!

Site-Wide Disclosure Statement

2008-05-01T00:00:00.001-04:00

This policy is valid from 1 May 2008

This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. This blog accepts forms of cash advertising, sponsorship, paid insertions or other forms of compensation.

The compensation received may influence the advertising content, topics or posts made in this blog. That content, advertising space or post may not always be identified as paid or sponsored content.

Until further notice, all of the links and reviews on my "Best Of" pages are my personal opinions based on my own personal experiences and none of the links or reviews on any of my "Best Of" pages are paid/sponsored advertising content.

The owner(s) of this blog is compensated to provide opinion on products, services, websites and various other topics. Even though the owner(s) of this blog receives compensation for our posts or advertisements, we always give our honest opinions, findings, beliefs, or experiences on those topics or products. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the bloggers' own. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer, provider or party in question.

This blog does not contain any content which might present a conflict of interest.

To get your own policy, go to http://www.disclosurepolicy.org

Red Hot Drops EntreCard Club BlogRoll

2008-04-29T23:38:00.004-04:00

Mariuca (a.k.a. Genie Princess) and Lady Java have formed the Red Hot Drops EntreCard Club and the membership drive is now closed...but you can still click anywhere on the Red Hot Drops EntreCard Club Blogroll below to start visiting the wonderful sites who made it into the 99 spots in the Red Hot Drops. Do come and visit us NOW!

An EntreCard Refresher Course

2008-04-29T09:01:00.004-04:00

If you're looking for more traffic for your blog, EntreCard will help your traffic explode. You can sign up with any or all of your blogs (I have three so far), and (hint, hint, BlogExplosion members) you don't have to wait for anyone's "approval." You'll need a separate e-mail address for each blog you'd like to register with EntreCard, and it does get a little hectic to keep up on EntreCard requests and drops and advertising for several blogs.

To sign up for EntreCard, just click on any of the EntreCard text links in this post or on the yellow "Get One" in my EntreCard widget in the sidebar to your right. You can sign up and get started with the EntreCard quick tour.

Once you've got your widget up and running on your blog, you'll want to earn credits and start to "advertise" on Other People's Blogs. To earn credits, make sure you are signed in and go to Other People's Blogs to "drop" your card...you can start with mine. There are lots of "strategies" for how to do it quickly, but I just start with a favorite blog and "daisy chain" from there. Click the "drop" button underneath the widget (it should change from drop to "Thanks!" or "Go! Go!"), then click again on the widget and it should take you to the next site. The better organized bloggers choose blogs that fit nicely with their own to advertise on their EntreCard widgets, so you may find several books/writing, cooking, making money online or cute furry animal sites all in a row. You can only "drop" once per day on each widget, 300 drops per day per blogger (unless you have 2 EntreCards, then you can do 600 drops per day per IP address) so if you see a familiar widget it probably doesn't pay to go there again in the same day, at least not for EntreCard purposes.

You can use EntreCard at the same time as BlogExplosion. So if you’re surfing Other People's Blogs (OPB) on BlogExplosion or voting on a Battle of the Blogs, watch for the EntreCard widget and “drop” your EntreCard there, then click on the widget to open the next blog in a new window, while continuing whatever you were doing in BlogExplosion. You’ll earn one credit each time you drop, so you can turn around and use it for your own advertising.

Once you've earned a bunch of credits, it's time to "Campaign" and place your advertising on other people's EntreCard widgets. Do watch for bargains (64 credits or less for your favorites, and under “Campaign” you can browse by cheapest and get some new blogs for 8 credits), as I haven’t found the click-through rate on most blogs corresponds well with the high credits paid (I’ve paid 128 credits for a hot site, only to find that I get 18 click-throughs). I’m sure you’ll discover your own strategies for “dropping” as you go along.

Once you get the basics down, you'll want to pretty up your EntreCard square...after all, it is your Blogosphere Business Card and more people will click on it if it is more attractive than the basic orange stripey offered by EntreCard default. If you have my level of graphic design talent, you'll want to reach out to the EntreCard Design Shop by Matt Urdan...because life's too short to "drop" with an ugly EntreCard.

If you've listened to me in my exhortations to Join SocialSpark! and you're an EntreCard member, follow this link to the post on my site that helps with the BenSpark Social Cardsters Blogroll. The idea is to add the Social Cardster logo attached/under your EntreCard widget and link it to Ben’s (actually his name is Drew, but who am I to talk about nom de plumes?) Social Cardsters blogroll. I finallly got it right on my own widget and have provided a couple of info links for newbies like me on how to link an image.

That's all the tips I have for now. You'll find that EntreCard is a very helpful and friendly community interested in helping you become a more effective blogger and marketer of your blog. Many resources and tools are available on the site to help you take your blogging to the next level.

Enjoy EntreCard, it’s another great way of wandering around the blogosphere.

Life in the Corner

2008-04-28T22:08:00.013-04:00

Tonight I caught naughty little 4-year-old Matthew (on left) sneakin' over to my "Parental Guidance Suggested" blog, Roxiticus Desperate Housewives, to look at the hot pix of Miley Cyrus that are due to appear in Vanity Fair.

Matthew is quite advanced for his age, even has his own blog about Life in the Corner. Before celebrating his fifth birthday, he has kicked my bouteaux in BlogExplosion's Battle of the Blogs. Matthew lives in the U.K., and warns us in his profile that he "tends to be quite naughty. I have a Mum, a Dad and an annoying, two year old sister, Becca. I seem to spend a lot of my time in the naughty corner. I'm not sure why but whilst I try to reach a conclusion on this and many of life's other mysteries, I'd thought I document my adventures in this blog."

He also got one of my favorite Blogger random questions:
Q. You've been invited to a fancy ball but the only thing you have to wear is an orange wooly jumper. What shoes do you wear?
A. My blue Bob the Builder Wellies.

Wise beyond his years, I tell you. If you catch him sneakin' around your blog in the middle of the night, you'd better let his dad know, even if it means he'll be back in the corner until he reaches legal age.

Mad Haiku

2008-04-21T00:28:00.006-04:00

Mad Haiku. This dude

Really knows his syllables

Posts them on his blog.

EntreCard Design Shop by Matt Urdan

2008-04-20T21:33:00.001-04:00

It all started with the BreeSquare. My friend Matt Urdan over at Meltwater. Torrents. Meanderings. Delta. made himself a brand new EntreCard Square (bottom right) a couple weeks back and I was envious. As one of the nicest bloggers in the blogosphere, Matt couldn't leave me with my boring orange stripey, so he made me the BreeSquare for use on my Roxiticus Desperate Housewives blog.

Matt's EntreCard Square designs are fun, creative, and personalized. If you're looking to replace your generic black or orange-stripe EntreCard, or if you're looking to update your current square with a new one, leave Matt the Michigan Rafter a comment on Meltwater. Torrents. Meanderings. Delta. He'll create a square you'll love, and he'll work for food (see his FOHBOH social network)...or EntreCard credits.

If you haven't tried EntreCard, then how did you get here? If you're looking for more traffic for your blog, EntreCard will help your traffic explode. You can sign up with any or all of your blogs (three of those squares are for my blogs), and you don't have to wait for anyone's "approval." EntreCard is a very helpful and friendly community interested in helping you become a more effective blogger and marketer of your blog. Many resources and tools are available on the site to help you take your blogging to the next level. But don't take my word for it, visit EntreCard now and take the quick tour. If you're serious about blogging, it will be the best five minutes you've ever spent.

Then you'll be ready to reach out to the EntreCard Design Shop by Matt Urdan...because life's too short to "drop" with an ugly EntreCard.

Hey...Nice Blog! Captured By Gravity

2008-04-17T08:36:00.001-04:00

"We're all captured by gravity on a planet we must share. Unless you're an astronaut. Or an angel. Or an alien. Or a celebrity with a really good dealer... but I digress...."

When I was in college, my friend Heather liked to say, "There's a little bit of lesbian in each and every one of us." I didn't agree, claiming that I am a gay man in a woman's body. I'm afraid my friend Lynette thinks I was making a veiled reference to favorite...um...positions....but that would be both inaccurate and too much information. I just find that gay men appreciate the same qualities I appreciate in men. As proof positive, for the gay man in all of us, there's Captured by Gravity, with new eye candy posts at least one a week.

Captured by Gravity eye candy headlines include:

"Hey...Nice Laptop!"
"Hey...Nice Lawn!"
"Hey...Nice Rock!"
"I Spy...A Pencil Sharpener!"
"Hey...Nice Phone Book!"
"Hey...Nice Sandbox!"

The best part is, Mo, the owner of Captured by Gravity, gets paid for advertising links to all the key words!

We are captured!

Mariuca: Wishing On A Falling Star

2008-04-16T23:41:00.001-04:00

Mariuca, a blogger who has befriended me through BlogExplosion, is the friendliest and most popular blogger in the blogosphere. Technorati shows 1,001 links to Mariuca, but that is only the tip of the iceberg.

Mariuca's blog, Wishing On A Falling Star, revolves around the ups and downs of her life as a freelance copywriter working from home. She has three adorable cats and loves collecting perfumes & daydreaming! Mariuca writes about anything under the sun. From hobbies and food to love and life, Mariuca has it all.

I have some really good news for Mariuca on the value of her blog (of course, the Roxiticus Desperate Housewives think Mariuca is priceless):

My blog is worth $644,140.14.
How much is your blog worth?

Chic & Sassy Designs

2008-04-15T23:36:00.002-04:00

If you've come here via BlogExplosion, you'll recognize so many of your favorite blogs as Chic & Sassy Designs. Check out a sampling of Zoe's available pre-made templates in the widget below:

Best NYC Sports Blog: Laird NYC

2008-04-15T17:46:00.001-04:00

My favorite New York City sport blog is Laird NYC, a blog focused on New York sports teams. Laird NYC also covers college basketball (March Madness!), fantasy baseball, and top teams and players.

Lady Java's Lounge

2008-04-15T02:10:00.001-04:00

LadyJava's Lounge covers LJ's ramblings on daily living, home, family, health, love, beauty, shopping and product reviews.

Meltwater. Torrents. Meanderings. Delta.

2008-04-14T17:53:00.001-04:00

Meltwater. Torrents. Meanderings. Delta. Born and raised in Detroit, Matt lived in Michigan the first 35 years of his life until work relocated him and he began his exile. Matt longs for the coast of Northwest Michigan and the towns of Charlevoix, Petoskey, and Traverse City...known collectively in Detroit as "Up North" and the Murdick's Fudge and Green Rivers from his younger days.

Matt was the first BlogExplosion visitor to encourage me when, with a 0-2 record in Battle of the Blogs, I posted that I must have the worst blog in the blogosphere. When I expressed envy at his flashy new EntreCard vs. my standard issue orange stripy, Matt tossed aside all of his important work to make the hot little BreeSquare you can find on this page and popping up on EntreCard widgets all over the blogosphere.

Tricia's Musings: A Nurse. A Wife. Living the Fun Social Life.

2008-04-14T00:50:00.001-04:00

Another BlogExplosion favorite, Tricia of Tricia's Musings, says she has two mottos:
1. Live life to the fullest; and
2. Don’t have any regrets.

Tricia is married to a wonderful man, and works as an ER nurse. She enjoys her garden, good music, photography, cooking great meals and having a good time with friends, and adores reptiles. She has lots of other blogs about all of those interests, except perhaps the reptiles.

Tricia's Musings covers a number of topics:

Living with Herps - aka Reptiles and Amphibians;
Life in Toronto;
Her neighbors' fascination with all things Tricia does!
The hustle and bustle of the big city;
Work;
Events in the Emergency Department;
State of Health Care in Ontario;
Hobbies and Interests;
My Garden;
Music (her husband is a musician)
Photography
And Tricia's rambling random thoughts

Visitors to Tricia's blog will get an insight into how her mind works. Tricia warns that this might turn out to be very interesting, or very very boring, but I've found something entertaining every time I've zoomed in for a visit. Tricia has been off work for several months now due to illness, and doesn’t get out all that much, but she and her husband have a lot of friends and relatives who pop in for a visit from time to time and that keeps life interesting. Tricia claims that her husband is always doing something interesting or strange and that gives her a lot of material to work with on Tricia's Musings. Oh, and Tricia's neighbors? They are friendly, nosy, and sometimes do strange things - again, more material.

Bestest Pal's Blog: Ignore Liberal Politics

2008-04-11T17:55:00.002-04:00

My Bestest Pal, who blogs at A Penny's Worth, started blogging before it was the trendy thing to do. As of this writing, he hasn't sold out like the rest of us. You'll find well-written posts on music, pop culture, and politics, and not a single paid post.

His "About Us" section reads as follows:
A penny for your thoughts indeed. Around here that would be a raise. What makes a good blog? I think thematic consistency, a little exhibitionism, and honest writing. I can promise you the last one. Most of my posts seem to be about music or politics. Some of them are funny. But all of them would love to hear a comment from you. Oh-- and please welcome God to the APW team. We're thrilled and humbled to serve as His earthly vessel.

Editing Luke: A Chapter A Day

2008-04-11T04:00:00.001-04:00

Discovered via BlogExplosion, Editing Luke covers a 24-year-old's life as a film student, as a filmmaker, as a simple guy just trying to get involved in the entertainment he loves.

Roxiticus Desperate Housewives (Parental Guidance Suggested)

2008-04-10T17:12:00.003-04:00

My first blog, started in August 2005, is Roxiticus Desperate Housewives:

Former disc jockey, current investment banker and mother-of-two coming to you from the Roxiticus Valley to report the quirks and sexual peccadilloes of the neighboring desperate housewives, or whatever else the milkman may have delivered this morning. Recently added, a directory of the Best of the Roxiticus Valley: Best of Mendham, NJ; Best of Bernardsville, NJ; Best of Chester, NJ; Best of Peapack-Gladstone, NJ; Best of Far Hills, NJ; Best of Morris County, NJ.

Family-Friendly Roxiticus Desperate Housewives Directories

2008-04-10T15:00:00.001-04:00

The first spin-off of Roxiticus Desperate Housewives (Parental Guidance Suggested) was Family-Friendly Roxiticus Desperate Housewives Directories: includes directories of the Best of Mendham, NJ; Best of Bernardsville, NJ; Best of Chester, NJ; Best of Far Hills, NJ; Best of Peapack-Gladstone, NJ; Best of Morris County, NJ; and Best of Somerset County, NJ. Given the other content at the original Roxiticus Desperate Housewives, I thought it best to create a place for readers who come looking for "toddler ballet class" who might not want to be exposed to Eliot Spitzer prostitution scandals and nipple piercing posts.

Blogger with a Hint of Addiction

2008-04-10T11:38:00.000-04:00

When I first started surfing Other People's Blogs (OPB), I found several bloggers who maintained multiple blogs. Each of them claimed that "once you get started, you just can't stop." About a month ago, this didn't make any sense to me, but today I find myself with ten blogs. Roxiticus Best Blogs, my newest addition, will focus on reviews of Other People's Blogs I enjoy as I surf the blogosphere.