Maypole for BlogPresident

FACT:
On average, bloggers have 3 loads of laundry that urgently need washing.

FACT:
The kitchen floors of most bloggers go 5.7 days longer between washings than in homes where no one blogs.

FACT:
Most bloggers sit in front of their computer for at least 2 hours a day that they could be spending more constructively, and secretly wish they could spend more.

FACT:
Bloggers with anonymous blogs find themselves having to stop themselves before giving away their secret in conversation an average of 3.7 times a week.

FACT:
Bloggers with a day job spend lunch hours and many moments in between secretly checking their blogs

If Painted Maypole were president of the Blogosphere, many of these things would be better for the average blogger. Senator Maypole would make sure that ads running on blogs paid WELL, never infringed upon the look of your blog, and were always for products and causes you endorse. Blogging could become your full time profession. You could hire someone to wash the laundry and clean the floor. You could speak proudly of your high paid career in electronic communications. You could quit your day job and spend all day posting and commenting. Changing the world through your words. And wouldn't that be a much better world, not to mention blogosphere?

This ad was paid for by Maypole for BlogPresident. All statistics in this ad were collected by the independent consulting team of May Day, Inc.

This has been a Monday Mission. Your Mission (besides voting for me, of course!) is to write a post in the style of a political ad. If you choose to accept this mission leave a link to your post in the widget below. Get out and rock the Monday Mission.



And it's that time again - a new month of missions before us:
4/7 April Showers - We've all been to baby and bridal showers. What else deserves a shower? Who would you honor? Who would you invite? What kind of activities would it entail? Write a post as an invite or party plan for your own kind of April Shower.
4/14 Bridal Breakdown. You've read the newspaper briefs about weddings. "The bride wore a floor length satin gown...." Write a post about anything you'd like in that same style.
4/21 Want Ad
4/28 House listing

reminder

don't forget Monday's Mission - to write a post in the style of a political ad (crap, does this mean I'll actually have to watch a few for research?)

real post with photos below, if you haven't already seen it...

I heart NOLA

I've been busy showing off fair New Orleans to my brother and sister-in-law. My parents treated us to two nights, KIDS FREE, at a hotel in the French Quarter.

As they've never been to NOLA before, we enjoyed introducing them to the sights, sounds and tastes of New Orleans.

We took a carriage ride, listened to music on Frenchman street, visited museums, took walking tours, and explored a cemetery.


We ate crawfish, beignets, bread pudding, gumbo, po' boys, pralines and fried alligator. We drank mint juleps, Abita beer, hand grenades and many of our favorite hurricanes by candlelight at Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop.

I never expected to close out last night singing karaoke at a gay bar with my sister-in-law. But we had a blast (and earned ourselves some free shirts, too!)

And all I can say is that I love this city more and more.

He is Risen!

He is Risen, Indeed!

This is how I arose this morning: my 3 year old nephew saying "Good morning, Aunt Painted!" and then, at the top of his deep throated lungs "KITTY!!!!" as he chased a terrified Shakespeare down the hallway.

Happy Easter!

Christ is Dead!

Many years ago, following the Good Friday worship service, The Big Guy and I went with some friends to a little Irish bar in our Philadelphia neighborhood for some Rolling Rock and a night of Karaoke. When we got our drinks our friend lifted his beer high and proclaimed:

Christ is Dead!

Without missing a beat the whole table raised their beers and said in unison:

He is Dead Indeed!

For a moment we thought the whole Irish Catholic population of the bar was either going to faint or beat us up, but then they laughed heartily, and our friend went on to win the Karaoke contest.


Good Friday, is, I think, my favorite observance of the church year. I like the quiet reflection, the acknowledgement of the grief. I love the tenebrae service, as the lights diminish and the last words of Christ are read. I love old hymns and the slamming of the bible to signify the stone being rolled in front of the tomb. The quiet. The aloneness. The prayer.

But this year it wasn't Alas, and Did My Savior Bleed or Ah, Holy Jesus that moved me most during the service, although they are wonderful hymns, sung for centuries on this solemn night. Rather, it was this song that I sang, with my daughter in my lap, that moved me most:

How deep the Father's love for us,
How vast beyond all measure
That He should give His only Son
To make a wretch His treasure

How great the pain of searing loss,
The Father turns His face away
As wounds which mar the chosen One,
Bring many sons to glory

Behold the Man upon a cross,
My sin upon His shoulders
Ashamed I hear my mocking voice,
Call out among the scoffers

It was my sin that held Him there
Until it was accomplished
His dying breath has brought me life
I know that it is finished

I will not boast in anything
No gifts, no power, no wisdom
But I will boast in Jesus Christ
His death and resurrection

Why should I gain from His reward?
I cannot give an answer
But this I know with all my heart
His wounds have paid my ransom

How Deep the Father's Love for Us - by Stuart Townend

Christ is dead. But I know the end of the story, and that is what makes this Friday Good. On Easter Sunday we will say that Christ is Risen. But that is the truth every day, not just on Easter Morning. Hallelujah.

excuses, excuses

Hey, ya'll.

I'm tired, feeling a bit overwhelmed, have family in town and will have more family here by the end of the week. I've not been visiting much nor posting much, and it will likely be that way for a bit. Bear with me...

The Light is Gone

F. had more lives than a roomful of cats. His deaths were many and varied. He died from prickly heat, riding a motorcycle, slipping on a ketchup packet, in a unicycle accident, searching for the Loch Ness monster, falling off the bar and falling out a bedroom window, and many other stange, bizarre and freakish deaths. Each time he'd die, they'd wake him and he'd live to die another day. But not this time. What finally managed to keep him in the box? A producer who failed to find him a home convenient to tourists.

He is survived by his mother and his fiance of 30 years. He will be remembered for his gift of storytelling, and his ability to drink enormous amounts of Guinness. Unfortunately he had many dreams in his life he was unable to fulfill, including water skiing while playing the tuba, wrestling bears in India, playing for Notre Dame, commandeering a hot air balloon, flying an airplane, swallowing a cat, becoming a Fema agent, making cheese, sleeping with the queen, writing a Broadway musical and going to Disney World.

F. will be laid to rest in the dark corners of the prop room. But he will live on in our hearts forever. In leiu of flowers donations can be made for the building of a casino/orphanage on his land.

This has been a Monday Mission. As you may guess, my show closed this weekend. Today's Mission is to write a post in the style of an obituary. If you play along, post a link to your post in the widget below: