Wednesday musings

My mind is off in a dozen directions today, so this blog may be a bit disjointed. I will attempt to weed out the blather and put down some coherent thoughts.

First, I read something just this morning (a quote from a book) that kind of irked me. I am not going to name the book or the author, because I don't wish to appear that I'm going on a personal attack here. It's the idea behind what I read that bothers me, not the book itself or its author.

The book is for women, and the subject is how to deal with a husband or boyfriend who has a sexual fetish. I haven't read it; I just saw some excerpts, but even in those, the message I got was clear: it's our responsibility to embrace these fetishes and fulfill the desires, if we love our men.

Here is a paragraph that particularly bothered me:

You have a choice: your husband or boyfriend can either be alone with his sexual fetish or you can learn to be the one who fulfills his every sexual need. Choose to reject and you will have a husband or boyfriend who will be secretive and stray. Choose to join in and you'll have a husband or boyfriend who will be loyal and appreciative.

Is it just me, or is this overly black-and-white? A one-size-fits-all statement? I know from personal experience that this isn't necessarily true for all. But what about the hundreds of women out there who will read this and feel like they have to do something that they don't understand/mildly dislike/hate/etc. in order to please their man?

There are a gazillion fetishes out there, and some are more easily fulfilled than others. The author, with this statement, is completely bypassing the third alternative: let your man get his fetish needs met elsewhere, with your blessing.

Of course, the ideal is to learn to fulfill the fetish desires yourself, so your man can stay home and be happy. But life and relationships seldom run along the ideal continuum. I don't think it's healthy to send a message that mates (male or female) have to adapt to a partner's fetish and fulfill it, if it goes against their grain. OK, you can experiment with ropes and blindfolds, with a bit of light spanking, etc. But what about the more hard-core fetishes?

I love John with all my heart. But he likes having things done to him that I couldn't do in my dreams. Am I a bad girlfriend because I haven't forced myself to do these things? Is he secretive and miserable? Yeah, yeah, I hear you guys out there. "Not all of us find playing with others outside the relationship acceptable." OK. But if it's such a selfish thing to be unable to fulfill your partner's fetish, isn't it also selfish to not consider allowing them to fulfill it elsewhere? If someone won't do either, then that makes things a bit non-negotiable. But there is that third choice, and I don't think it shouldn't be ignored in an instructional manual for couples.

Maybe I'm taking this a bit too personally, because it hits close to home. What do you guys think?

EDIT: I do realize this is one lone paragraph, taken out of context. However, some of the surrounding copy seemed similar. And while I take issue with this particular concept, I'm not taking issue with the author. This person is well known and experienced. This is just my gut reaction to the concept that a mate should be expected to embrace and participate in his/her partner's fetish.

In other news, I spent 5 1/2 hours with my former stepmother S yesterday. We talked and talked and talked, about everything imaginable. My parents. Her parents. Her marriage to my father. Her first husband, who just recently passed away. Show business (more Six Degrees of Hollywood: her ex-husband's son is one of the directors of The Big Bang Theory, my favorite sitcom). Politics. Euthanasia (we are both staunch believers in it). She had two adorable little dogs (terrier mixes), both rescues, who scrambled all over me, brought me their toys and covered me with kisses.

A random memory I have from when my dad and S were married: They had a set of four sterling silver wine goblets, which they used every night. The glasses had some initials engraved at the bottom. When they split up, S took two of the glasses and left Dad the other two. I asked him what the initials stood for, but he refused to tell me. Soon after that, he got rid of his pair, because Vampira didn't want him keeping anything that had to do with S. (rolling eyes)

Anyway, I mentioned these glasses to S last night, and she said she still had them! After all these years... I was surprised. She found them in the wet bar area -- they were tarnished, but still beautiful. Finally found out what the initials stood for -- I thought it was God knows what, the way my dad acted about it, but it turned out to be rather sweet. Then she said, "Would you like to have them?"

Oh. Would I. Kind of silly, I suppose. I don't drink wine, and the initials on the glasses are from another time, another love. But I cherish them anyway.

As we said goodbye, she hugged and kissed me and said, "I love you." I blurted, "I just adore you, and I'm so grateful you're in my life." I am, truly.

Once home, I found a silver-polishing cloth and spent several minutes buffing the tarnish off the glasses. They are gorgeous; elegant and classy.

Much like S. My beautiful stepmother, still lovely at nearly 81.

Sunday blather

Hope everyone had a nice weekend.

John had his own theory about my Jekyll/Hyde correspondent last week. He said the reason why the guy was nice at first, and then changed so drastically, was because he had no intention of meeting with me. That first photo he sent me, of Mr. Tall Dark and Handsome with the shampoo-commercial hair? Fake. He's really a 300-pound toad. (that probably wasn't his real dick, either, but that's beside the point.) Apparently he gets his jollies by engaging with women and messing with their heads, without having to actually meet them.

OK, that makes as much sense as anything else, I guess. "Why would he suggest you come right to his house to play, rather than meeting for coffee first?" he asked. "Because he knows most women won't go for that. And if they do, he'll give them a fake address."

Takes all kinds, doesn't it. Yeeeeesh.

So here's a thought; someone suggested this a while back, but I can't remember who it was. I have enough CHoS material accumulated from the past few years; what if I pull it all together, organize it and make a book out of it? I could have different chapters, like one just for the age comments, one for those special form letters that go on and on, one for entries from women (yes, I do have them), and so on. Could be fun. Perhaps I could have a chapter of contributions from friends, of their own charming missives.

Something to think about. I can't seem to find any work, so perhaps that project could keep me from completely losing my mind.

Speaking of losing one's mind... today at brunch, we were seated near one of the dreaded "large party" tables. Toward the back of the restaurant, there are booths on one side and then across from them are tables pushed together for big families and groups. Sometimes we get lucky and the groups are all adults, but not today. This time, it was a large group of mostly kids, chattering and blasting some game with music pumping on their iPad, laughing, kicking the chairs and making a racket. The two adults at the table ignored them, of course.

They left when we were halfway through our meal, and I realized I hadn't taken a proper breath since we sat down. Heaving a sigh of relief, I settled down to enjoy the latter half of my brunch. Five minutes later, another (even bigger) party was seated... with even younger children. And a baby. Which was plunked in a high chair at the end of the table closest to us, naturally. He wasted no time in emitting those delightful ear-splitting shrieks that only babies can do, and throwing things on the floor.

"Finish up, honey, and let's get out of here," I hissed to John. Our server was so frazzled, she forgot to bring us our check and we had to sit there for several minutes listening to the cacophony.

By the time we got out of there, I was so thoroughly rattled, I walked down the wrong aisle in the parking lot. Got to the end of it where I knew I'd left my car, and... nothing. "John, oh my God, where's my car??" I cried.

"Sweetie," he said gently, turning me slightly to look over to the next aisle, where my car was exactly where I'd left it.

I swear, I just wanted to sit down in the middle of the asphalt and scream my head off.

Earlier this week, I was taking an online Myer-Briggs personality test, and one of the items was "Agree/Disagree: I am disturbed and distracted by outside noises." There needed to be a third option for an answer: "That's the understatement of the fucking universe."

It's not easy being me sometimes, folks. Especially the me who goes crazy with stress over noisy children/babies, loud neighbors, people who talk in movie theaters, music/TV blasters, barking dogs... Considering we live in a world that just hit a population of 7 billion, peace and quiet is getting to be a rare commodity that is attainable only by the very wealthy. (sigh)

Enough of that. It's very quiet in my apartment tonight. I have a new neighbor moving in next door and I'm all freaked out about that as well, but for tonight, they aren't here yet.

Tomorrow is Halloween. What's everyone doing? Or did some of you have parties this weekend? I'm not really into it, myself -- i think it's for kids. But I do love the candy.

Apropos of nothing, if anyone else is feeling down or stressed, take a look at the little clip below. This commercial never fails to make me giggle. I love Jimmy Fallon, and it seems he's met his match here! Where on earth did they get that kid??

I love how she says one of my favorite words. ;-)  Night, y'all.

Well now... what have we here?

Yesterday in my bedroom, I caught sight of something peeking out from underneath the bed. I knelt down to take a look.

Well, looky here. Recognize this?

Not familiar? Hmmm.

Recognize it now?

Thought you might. It's ST's paddle, one he made with his own two hands. Not super-thick/thuddy like the frat style I hate, but it packs a wallop nonetheless.

So. Let's ponder upon how angelic I am. I could have kept quiet about this and let him wonder. Let him discover it's missing but not say a word. Perhaps he dropped it out of his bag somewhere. Perhaps there's been a rash of theft in Encino, a kinky burglary ring stealing spanking implements. Or perhaps I accidentally mistook it for a piece of scrap lumber (you know, those turn up in my bedroom all the time) and tossed it into John's fireplace.

But noooo. I am here admitting to the world that I found it, that I'm keeping it safe for him next Monday. I think I should be rewarded for my honesty. Don't you?

On another topic...

Feeling a bit blech today. Fallout from yesterday, I guess. On the plus side, I had a lovely lunch with Mija at Canter's Deli -- we sat for three hours and yakked away. But on the minus side, I feel like I lost a friend yesterday, due to circumstances completely beyond my control. Scene drama, one I'm not involved in, but a friend is, and I got unintentionally and unwillingly sucked into the vortex.

John said I did nothing wrong. I know, intellectually, that I didn't, but it feels like I did. I hate it when people are angry at me, won't talk to me. It kicks in all those old rejection/abandonment issues that have dogged me since the early days when my mother would punish me by ignoring me and refusing to speak to me. I'd chase after her and cry, begging her to talk to me. Stupid, stupid old crap. But it's real.

The down side of being involved in any community. Wherever there are people, there is drama. This is why I choose solitude so often.

Plus, John had a horrendous day at work yesterday and vented to me. Naturally, I wish I could fix things and make it all better for him, and I can't. I hate that he's so stressed out. But I remembered this morning that this time last year, he was deathly ill, and now, at least he is healthy and robust, albeit exhausted. Perspective. Could be worse.

Days like this, I really do wish I had some work to do. Occupy my nattering brain on something productive.

Sorry for meandering. I will feel better after I go kick some butt at the gym. It's about 100 degrees outside... at least my A/C is working.

Weekend tidbits

It was a fun belated-birthday weekend with John. Last night we went to one of our old favorite restaurants and had a fabulous meal (and John had a 22-ounce Fisher Amber Ale, which made him a bit tipsy). Then we went to our all-time favorite coffeehouse for that famous German chocolate cake I've mentioned a few dozen times.

What luck -- they had one piece left! They have shelves and shelves of spectacular treats, but still, the German chocolate cake is special. So we took our giant slab of cake and our coffees into the bookstore area. Upon sitting at a table, we noticed a small bulletin board on the wall near the New Age-y bookstore's doorway. Above it was a sign reading: "Have you recently done something for the very first time? If so, what was it? Tell us!" Slips of paper, a pen and thumbtacks were provided.

We read some of the slips that were already tacked up. "Today I went on a tour of a college for the first time." "Just tried Indian food." "Tried the chocolate peanut butter cake." "I planted some legume seeds." "I nursed a sick cat."

YAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWWNNNNNNNNNNNN! Really? These are the best firsts people could come up with?

John said, "Oh, you really need to shake things up a little. Write something about one of your recent shoots." At first I demurred, but he kept goading me, then grabbed one of the sheets and the pen and plunked it down in front of me.

Blame it on the massive sugar rush. I wrote, "Last week, I cried on camera for the first time at a professional spanking video shoot. It was really intense... and fun." And I tacked it up among the others.

Yes, I'm so mature. We sat at our table, giggling like kids. Every time we'd calm down and start talking, John would glance over at the board and we'd start snickering again. I wonder how long my note will remain up there.

In other news: ST is recovered and ready for tomorrow. He'll be over earlier than usual, since he has the day off. I too am fully recovered and looking forward to seeing him!

One of the videos I shot for Sarah Gregory and Paul last January is now up on her site. It's called Reading, Writing and Rulers, and you can see the synopsis and some photos on her home page here. Sarah is the Student From Hell and I am her teacher. Paul is the old-fashioned principal who pops his cork when he overhears us arguing in the classroom.

I now have nine 5-star reviews for my book on Amazon! :-D  This is so cool -- thank you, my reviewers!  Please please please... if you have read my book and you like it, please do stop by the Amazon page and write a little something. Every review helps its marketing appeal. And thank you again to those who have featured it on their blogs as well.

Guess that's it for tonight. Oh, and happy birthday to John Lennon, who would have been 71 today.

Friday Hodgepodge

Can't believe it's Friday already. This week slipped by in a haze of party afterbuzz.

First... people have been asking about the video that Richard and I shot. There is something going on with Spanking Tube -- Rich told me that he has uploaded the video twice, and it still hasn't shown up. He is going to contact them after his work day and try to find out what the problem is. I have every confidence that it will be up soon.

Next... my book has been reviewed on the blogs of Zelle, Bonnie and Dana Kane, and now that latest is Cassandra Park. Thank you, Sandy! You and I go back several years and I appreciate your kind words greatly. ♥

I thought I would address one of her comments here, since it's quite a legitimate question and deserves an answer.

...since she has written that her dad was a well-known Hollywood comedy writer, and that there were actors and other famous writers at his parties and in her life, I was hoping for a little more about the issues of maintaining anonymity in the face of these associations.

You know, it's never been an issue, and for a simple reason: These associations are long gone. My father passed away in 1998; Erica Scott didn't come to be until 2000. Sadly, over the years, most of my father's peers in the industry have died. I am quite removed from the Hollywood crowd and have been for years.

In my book, I mention a writer/producer cousin, one who was once partnered with my father many years ago and who had helped me a great deal when I was young. He is still with us, but he is in his late 80s and has several children and grandchildren... a second cousin is not on his radar. I haven't seen him in years. So I don't worry about him either.

Who knows... maybe someday, someone from my old life will discover me. If that happens, I'll deal with it. But I'm not afraid of it.

Next up, a couple more photos from the Shadow Lane party. Here is the aforementioned shot of Sarah Gregory, Clare Fonda and me from the Friday vendor fair:

Rich was kind enough to take a nice picture of John and me with Mir and S, but unfortunately, I cannot show them. But I wanted y'all to see how handsome John looked in his suit anyway. :-)

Also, I'd neglected to mention this earlier, but another couple I met at Shadow Lane were Kaelah and Ludwig, from the Rohrstockpalast blog. This was their first SL party and they'd traveled all the way from Germany. They were lovely! Soft-spoken and sweet, and both very attractive. I think I amused Kaelah, because I kept looking at them and exclaiming, "You two are so CUTE!"

Finally, back on the subject of my book, I have a huge favor to ask. For those of you who read it and like it, will you do something for me? Drop over to the Amazon page and give it a rating and a review. It doesn't have to be lengthy; even a few words will suffice. So far, two friends have given it five stars and a lovely writeup (thank you!!), and I'm hoping others will follow suit. The blog reviews have been wonderful, and having the positive words on Amazon, where the mass public will see them, will be so helpful. Thanks!

John and I have no plans this weekend, and I'm not complaining. I think my post-party drop is physical this year, rather than emotional... I am so damned tired. All I want to do is sleep, and when I'm awake, I feel sluggish. Perhaps that's due in part to the heat as well. I was telling a friend that it was a shock to come home on Monday and discover that So. CA was actually hotter than Vegas had been! Blech! Yesterday, there was a massive power outage that affected Orange County, San Diego and other parts of So. CA, all the way into Mexico and Arizona as well. About five million people, on one of the hottest days of the year!! But Los Angeles County was not affected. Feel like I dodged another bullet.

Have a great weekend, y'all. :-)

A few odds and ends

Mr. Brushstrokes at The Spanking Spot is certainly doing his best to stir up new interest in my oldies. A couple of weeks ago, he reviewed "The Spanking Professor," and today, I found a review for "The Schoolmaster's Revenge," Spanking Epics' premier video, shot in 2004. I have a love/hate relationship with that video -- I loved being part of it, I loved everyone at SE, I had the time of my life shooting with them... but ugh! That topping scene I did! Suckage! And I looked like a frumpy 1912 widowed mother. Guess that's because I was playing one. :-) Still, it was well worth getting to work with Keith Jones again.

Speaking of videos -- some of you may remember the one Danny Chrighton and I shot three years ago, called "When Danny Met Erica." We wrote and produced that DVD, Chelsea Pfeiffer and her hubby shot it, Danny edited it, and Shadow Lane has been distributing it for us. However, I just found out that SL is no longer distributing outside DVDs (they used to sell stuff for Chelsea, Clare Fonda, and Northern Spanking as well). Sooooo... What do we do with this thing? It's about a half-hour long, it's beautifully shot. It's not broken up into clips -- Danny would have to do that, I guess, if we decided to go that way. Personally, I'd rather leave it intact. He has all the master files -- I don't have anything but photos. Any of you experts out there have thoughts?

As you guys know, this particular video means a lot to me. :-)

And finally... Something wicked this way comes. Thursday. Stay tuned.

Yes, I'm a tease. Whaddaya going to do about it, hmmm?

Odds and ends

How was everyone's weekend? Looks like we're all still here. :-D

Couple of things on the Interwebs worth mentioning. First, Bonnie Jo called my attention to this: Spanking Court posted a clip on Spanking Tube, called "Behind the Scenes at Spanking Court" It's quick, just 2:44, and it's a fun little montage of bits from the shoots. Sets, makeup, people making faces and being silly. About halfway into it, there's Yours Truly, sprawled on the couch in my orange scrubs, looking dazed and goofy and grinning like an idiot after The Villain's dose of therapy. And Himself is perched on the sofa arm, looking mighty proud of his accomplishment. :-) Check it out!

Also, Lea (of Lea's Corner) recently bought my book of M/F fiction and was kind enough to give it a nice little review here. Thank you, Lea. :-)  I was rereading a few of those stories recently, and I admit that some seem kind of cornball to me now, especially the ones I wrote 10-12 years or so ago. So it's nice to hear people still enjoy them.

So yesterday, John and I shopped all day, ending the afternoon with a trip to Old Town Pasadena so we could buy his coworker a gift certificate from Restoration Hardware (she just bought her first house). We parked several blocks away and plowed through the busy sidewalks with people milling all around us. I had no clue anything was off with John, but when we were done at RH and walking to a nearby restaurant, he confessed that he could feel a migraine coming on. Ugh.

Fortunately, if he gets a massive dose of caffeine into him on time, he's able to ward it off. So we got to the restaurant and sat immediately, and when the server asked us if we wanted drinks, John asked him to please bring a cup of coffee right away. And he did! I was worried, because John had that familiar glassy-eyed look and I could see his face was perspiring, but after he drank the first two cups of coffee, he started to settle back down. By the third cup, he said he was fine and we enjoyed a nice dinner.

After dinner, we were walking back to the car and on the way we passed a park where a concert was playing. We couldn't see the band from the sidewalk, but could hear the music: very loud grunge rock. "Let's go check it out," he said. "Why?" I protested. "You can hear it from here. You don't want to go closer, do you? It might kick your migraine back in." But he insisted he was fine, let's go look.

So we trudged through the grass and onto the path, finally getting to the stage and taking a peek. Up close, it was extremely loud and obnoxious, and we could see that it was four guys, dressed in solid black, all gyrating and screaming and flipping around mass quantities of long hair. They didn't sing particularly well, either.

"This sucks!" John said, taking my hand and leading me away. "You are in so much trouble!"

"Whaaaaaaaaaaa??" I screeched, stumbling along after him. "It was your idea! You wanted to go closer!"

We went down the grassy hill, and as the racket got farther away, he said, "No, it's all your fault, and you are so spanked!" We started to walk past a small bench in the grass and he made an abrupt turn and grabbed my arm. Next thing I knew, he sat on the bench and I went sprawling across his lap. My purse upended and keys, glasses, mints and other paraphernalia scattered.

He just gave me a few whacks and then let me back up... I have no idea if anyone saw or not. I was mortified and excited at the same time. He'd given me slaps on the butt in public before, but never flipped me OTK. And the big idiot gloated and crowed about it all the way home. "You ARE going to blog about this, aren't you?" Yes, dear.

Hey, tomorrow's Monday. It's... oh. Wait. Never mind. :-(

I confess here to a little frustration; when I sent Danny my book a couple of weeks ago, he was quite gung-ho at first, reading the first 70 pages and giving me lots of feedback and good suggestions (more details and shorter paragraphs, for a couple). But then he stopped, and I'm in a holding pattern until he gets back to it. Danny? Sweetheart? Are you reading this? I realize you have a life, but you did volunteer to do this, so could ya please please please? :-)  It would be so nice to have a distraction from missing New Guy, and what better than getting my book edits and finally getting this thing done already. So pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease?

OK, I'm off to catch up with FetCrack. Later, kids.

Some random thoughts on a Friday

Some may want to spank me for this, but I could not @#$%ing care less about the Royal Wedding. What a lot of pomp and circumstance. And when I think of what all that money could do for people in Japan... meh. Shut up, Erica.

I saw about five minutes of the pre-wedding footage late last night. What the hell was that thing perched upon Victoria Beckham's forehead? Apparently it needs mowing; it seems to have sprouted weeds.

I've been asked if I'd like to provide a banner for my blog. How does one create a blog banner? I haven't the faintest idea.

Born of our scene yesterday, The Villain had an idea for my upcoming shoot with Spanking Court. He shared it with me and with Cali, and we both want to go for it. Therefore, my appearance is going in a completely different direction. More to come on that. It's going to be real and intense.

I think I need to keep my visits to FetLife to a minimum for the next three days. Too much party stuff.

Where is Chross's Spanking of the Week list? Not that I expect to be on it, since I was such a Debbie Downer this week, but I'm still curious. It's always a great read.

I can't wait to see John tonight. I can't wait to see New Guy on Monday. I am so craving my special people.

Michael Scott's farewell on The Office last night was rather sweet.

Despite the moodiness, I made it to all my workouts this week. Hated every damn minute of them, but felt so much better afterward.

My proofreader started my book and sent me some early feedback yesterday. My confidence in this project soared after reading his comments.

In a few hours, I'm having my second photo shoot. It will be completely different from the one last week, as it's in my place, I have no backdrop, the lighting will be natural, etc. I'm going to wear black panties this time, rather than flowered, so it won't look so busy. And I could not find a perfect peach rose today (the peach roses at the florist looked rather anemic), so I went with a cream-colored one with peachy-pink edges. One needs to be flexible, after all.

Considering what a loner and curmudgeon I am, I really do have some amazing and wonderful people in my life. And more seem to be coming into it all the time.

Have a great weekend, y'all.

Happy Tax Day

Or is that an oxymoron? Perhaps I should say Happy Chross Day. Can I briefly mention the amazing power that man has in the blogosphere? Last week, I didn't make the cut, and I swear my page hits went into the dumpster. (sniff) By midweek this week, even with all my blathering about books and my Monday scene, they were pitiful next to what I usually get. Did anyone else's views take a nosedive too -- was it just one of those weeks? Whatever. I am being obsessive about the numbers game. Can't help it, though, when I hear something like what Mr. Smith the author told me last week. We were talking about popular sites and he told me of a blog/website of a popular femdom, I don't remember her name. On average, she gets 20,000 hits a day. Twenty-thousand???? Sometimes I feel like I am batting for the wrong team!

Perhaps for another blog post sometime, I should open the floor about the mystique and worship of female dominants. I saw it when I worked at Passive Arts, I see it on the various kink sites, I have seen it through John. It's fascinating to me.

I posted a similar request to the one I did on Model Mayhem, only this time on FetLife in a Models and Photographers forum. What a difference! I've received several nice offers and now I have to decide which way to go. I suppose I could have more than one photographer take some shots, right? Choices are good things. Once I get this photo, then I can start addressing the formatting and finalizing. Exciting stuff!

And in three weeks, I shoot for Spanking Court. I have no idea what my "crime" is going to be... any ideas that haven't been done to death? I know I'm doing two sessions; they offered me a choice of 1-3 sessions in one shooting day, and I decided to go for the middle option. I can't wait!

All this fun activity will help take my mind off the Boardwalk Badness Weekend in Atlantic City, end of this month. So many of my friends are going and it sounds like it's going to be quite the event. (sigh) Because the hotel is small, the body count is limited and they filled up months ago, but we wouldn't have been able to make it anyway. John ends up paying for nearly everything on these weekends, since he is in so much better financial shape than I. And since spanking parties are really my thing more than his, I feel guilty about asking him to do more than one a year, because they are quite expensive. Perhaps next year, we'll consider doing both BBW and SL. After all, we did SL and Florida Moonshine last year. Meanwhile, I have friends who have promised to give me all the details.

Back to the blog hits thing for a moment -- have I gotten complacent? Has my blog become too redundant? Anything you guys would enjoy seeing discussed here? Sometimes I feel like I've covered every topic and aspect of the scene at least twice. There are so damn many of us out there, chattering away on these blogs. What keeps people coming back, when the topics cycle and recycle all over the blogosphere?

Yes, I'm all over the place. Focus, Erica. There is a stack of mail to attend to, a birthday card that must be addressed and mailed (yes, some of us still send those), errands to run, chores to do, must get ready to head for John's. Have a great weekend, y'all.