I have had writer’s block all day today – I have started posts two different times and then deleted them, because apparently I’ve lost all ability to form an opinion, much less convey said opinion in an entertaining manner (and I realize that “entertaining” is a strong word for my humble little corner of the interweb).

Last night David and I got almost no sleep for no discernible reason except that when he tossed, I turned, and when I tossed, he turned. We would both dose off for 30 or 40 minutes only to be wide awake for the next 30 or 40 minutes and then repeat the cycle all over again. It was lots of fun, let me tell you. In the words of Beth Moore and Jeana’s post from yesterday, “NOT a blessing.” :-)

This next topic is completely unrelated to sleep so I won’t even bother to create a transition. I don’t talk about it much here (well, ever, really), but I work with teenagers a lot. I don’t make their business blog fodder as a general rule – I try to be very, very mindful about respecting their privacy and boundaries and whathaveyou. I love having the opportunity to invest in their lives and minister to them and occasionally counsel them. Contrary to the whole lack of sleep deal, it has definitely been a blessing. But earlier this week I found myself in a situation that was, quite simply, beyond me. I was completely over my head in terms of what to say and what to do and how to proceed.

I won’t go into the whole deal because I’m still trying to sort it out in my head and will probably talk about it in this week’s LBY post, but it has astounded me – ASTOUNDED ME – how God has taken three or four seemingly separate, seemingly “random” events in my life and woven them all together this week. It has been wonderful and humbling and even a little exhausting…and I’m still trying to wrap my head around it all. And I tell you what – I have some staggering powers of description, don’t I?

By the way, re-read those last two paragraphs…not a single specific detail to be found. I’m starting to believe that vagueness is my specialty. I can’t imagine how gratifying it must be for you to read this blog and get to the end of a post and have absolutely no idea what I’m talking about. Be sure to add me to your Favorites!

Anyway, I need to go start supper while Alex is still asleep. Oh! That’s one specific something I can share. About a week ago I was sitting on the couch watching Paula Deen on television and Alex crawled into my lap, which he hardly ever does anymore. He snuggled way deep down into my chest (he calls my chest “Mama’s pillows,” by the way, and I’m not really sure if that’s healthy or not, but we’ll save that discussion for later), and slowly but surely he got very relaxed, and very still, and he went to sleep.

It was an unexpected, sweet surprise because I’ve totally gotten accustomed to him using my body as a jungle gym…something to climb, jump off of, run into, swing from, etc. But every afternoon for the last week or so, we’ve repeated the naptime ritual. I turn on Paula’s show, he yells, “MAMA’S SHOW!,” snuggles up, extends his arm so that I can scratch it, and then falls asleep after about five minutes. Of course I don’t even watch Paula’s show – I just watch him…I look at that sweet face and those chubby cheeks (though less and less by the day, it seems) and marvel at how his legs seem to be a foot longer every time he climbs in my lap. It has become my favorite time of day, because I know that it won’t be long until his snuggle window starts to close just a little bit. So while it lasts, I am soaking it up.

And if I manage to form an opinion between now and bedtime, I’ll be sure to share it.

I’m about to have a little geekery going on.

I know y’all have seen the thing at the bottom of my posts that always says, “Trackback (0),” but I haven’t known what it was or how to use it, so I just ignored it. Well, last night I was reading Janice’s blog, and I was excited to see a post about what trackback is and how to use it.

So I’m going to try to “trackback” to the post on Janice’s site and see if it works. This is going to be a fabulously exciting technological adventure.

p.s. It worked! If you click on the link to Janice’s site and scroll down, you will see that I left a trackback. I am so proud of myself. And I think this is so that she can know I linked to her in my post. I think. :-)

We’ve got us a country theme tonight, which means that Bucky will perhaps be more unbearable than usual, and I’m wondering how in the world the contestants are going to relate to Kenny Rogers, who, bless his heart, is hanging on to his youth with everything he has.

Taylor Hicks – “Take Me Home, Country Roads” – Just for the record, I sang this song at my kindergarten graduation, which means it’s been around for way too long for anyone to care about it anymore. I don’t like this song for Taylor, because it has about three notes, and he can’t show off vocally. I would’ve liked to have seen him do a little something with some soul to it…like an old George Jones song, or even a Tim McGraw song that has a little kick to it. Or Garth Brook’s “Baton Rouge” – that would have been a GREAT Taylor choice. I love Taylor, but there was nothing special about this performance.
Mandisa – “Any Man of Mine” – Now I am a Mandisa fan, but the song didn’t suit her at all…I think Shania Twain picks songs like this one because they involve a great deal of “talky notes” – meaning she doesn’t have to SING that much…but Mandisa can really sing, so she should. The part at the end, though, where she had something to do, was good.
Elliott Yamin – “If Tomorrow Never Comes” – I thought this performance was interesting. Because people so associate this song with Garth Brooks, it was interesting to hear just a little bit of an R & B twist on it. Bubba said last week that Elliott seems to be one to watch, and I think he’s right.
Paris Bennett – “How Do I Live Without You” – She’s in big-time territory, seeing as how Miss Trisha Yearwood AND LeAnn Rimes recorded this song, so she’s at a disadvantage in my book from the get-go. It was a rough start, and a little rocky in parts, but I appreciate that she sang this song “straight on” – no unnecessary runs, good and strong at the end.
Ace Young – “Tonight I Wanna Cry” – Is he capable of doing anything besides looking earnestly into the camera? He’s gonna have to mix it up at some point…maybe move around the stage a little? He stays in his one spot and tries to hypnotize us with his unblinking eyes. David just said, “If he were on the radio, I would turn it off.” So there you go.

Hey. We are officially bored by this week’s Idol. So we’re going to start predicting what the rest of the performers will sing to liven up the proceedings. We make our own fun, you know?

Kellie Pickler – I’m predicting she sings a Faith Hill song. David predicts “The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia” or “Fancy.” And ladies and gentlemen, David nailed it. This could have been a great song for her, but it sounded like it was in the wrong key for her…too high, maybe? And she gave the word “town” more syllables than I do.
Chris Daughtry – I predict that he sings “Hurt” by Johnny Cash. David predicts that he’ll sing “Picture” by Kid Rock. We’re both wrong – he picked a Keith Urban song, “Making Memories of Us.” How much do I love that he’s not SCREAMING AT ME? What a refreshing and delightful change. It’s nice to see that he can do something a little different…and I think people enjoyed this performance.
Katharine McPhee – David and I both predict that she sings a Martina McBride song. We were so wrong – she picked “Bringin’ Out The Elvis In Me,” one of my least favorite Faith Hill songs, even if she is my BFF. The problem with this song is that it’s impossible to sing along. I will say that she sounded good singing it, but it’s not a fun song to begin with, so, you know, eh. But, I do think Katharine found a way to play to her strengths. Hopefully she won’t be in the bottom three again.
Bucky Covington – David and I don’t even care what Bucky is going to sing, unless it’s that Trace Adkins “Honky Tonk Bedonkydonk” song, which could quite possibly be interesting in a train wreck sort of way. But he picked a Gary Allan song, “Best I Ever Had.” I dislike this song so much that I can’t even write about it. Plus, it was just a boring performance. And now we’re fast forwarding through it to put us out of our misery. HE SHOULD NOT BE IN THIS COMPETITION.

There’s a little interweb rumor that next week is Prince week – and goodness knows that sounds more interesting than what we’ve heard the last two weeks. Somebody has got to step in and help these people pick some decent songs. Please. Because one more week like the last two, and I’m just not going to care anymore.

Should go: Bucky Covington
Will go: Ace Young

Mississippi State University head football coach Sylvester Croom, left, greets Meridian businessman Harry Mayer before a Meridian Rotary Club meeting at the Howard Johnson in Meridian on Monday.
By Kyle Carter – The Meridian Star

If you’re not from my hometown, I realize that this post will have no meaning to you whatsoever. But if you are from my hometown, you will understand why I love this picture, and why I can’t help but wonder if Harry sold Coach Croom a few suits during the meet and greet.

I have no doubt in my mind that Harry is saying, “Good to see you, Coach. Good to see you. I am FAN-tastic, thanks!”

This made my day.

Tonight Alex was in the tub, and I was in the adjoining bedroom catching up on some bloggity business (would that be “bloggery”?). And then I heard the most disturbing sound:

“WAAAAAAAAAAAAR EAGLE! HEY!”

I immediately stopped what I was doing and said, “Um, Alex? WHAT did you say?”

“WAAAAAAAAAAAAAR EAGLE! HEY!”

My first thought, honestly, was “We’ve been in Alabama too long.”

My second thought, naturally, was “At least it wasn’t Hotty Toddy.”

So we’ve spent some time tonight on some old-fashioned home-training:

“GOOOOOOOOOO BULLDOGS! HEY!”

I know he picked up his War Eagle battle cry from Mothers’ Day Out, because his good buddy C. is a big-time AU fan. I’ve made it very clear to Alex that the next time C. yells “War Eagle,” A. is to counter with his Bulldog cheer, which may result in his MDO’s first-ever MSU/AU showdown.

I mean, sometimes you have to take a stand on pure principle.

I feel like the poor child has been exposed to the dark side, and I have to rescue him while there’s still time.

I should preface this post by giving you a brief explanation of the anxiety I feel when confronted by any form of chain letter. Recipes, stickers, panties (yech! – who wants to receive panties from strangers?), cash, you name it…I ignore them all. When I get them, usually via email these days, I respond by staring emptily at the computer screen and then hitting delete. OH, the pressure that they bring…will I answer them in time, will I break the chain, will some poor sick child on the northern coast of Pakzukikstanraine be able to set the world record for getting the most greeting cards during the fourth full moon of the Chinese New Year? I’m burdened by those things, you could say.

Anyway, I saw where Diane has tagged me with some interweb virus, only it’s not really a virus, it’s really a chain blog thing, and I will play along for two reasons and two reasons only: 1) Diane has been a loyal and faithful BooMama reader and 2) I made pork chops and gravy tonight, and while I was making it I thought, “I bet Diane’s gravy is good,” which made me think of her love for home cooking, which reminded me of her blog, which reminded me of her tag.

Therefore, I’ve “caught” the virus and I should insert some witty comment here like “but I don’t have fever!” but eh, it’s been a long day, and I just don’t have it in me. :-)

So here’s how the originator of this lovely virus explains the goal:

“Pearsonified has started a small, casual social experiment, it’s called “The Indie Virus.” Here’s how Pearsonified describes this experiment:The experiment, henceforth referred to as “The Indie Virus,” has two goals:

* To bring exposure to lesser known blogs (especially those outside of Technorati’s top 100)
* To explore the metrics behind a viral linking campaign launched by the “little guys” (less popular blogs)”

Here’s how BooMama describes the virus: Pearsonified wants to get lots of hits to his blog so that he goes up in the blog rankings on Technorati. Each of us who has been tagged has had to link to his blog at least twice to get the links to put in our posts. Technorati ranks blogs by how many people link to those blogs, and if you figure that 4,000 blogs have participated in this tag, then that means 4,000 people have linked to Pearsonified, which means he/she goes way up in the rankings.

So “[exploring] the metrics” is a fancy way of saying, “HOW MANY OF YOU PEOPLE WILL LINK TO ME?”

But that’s just my BooMama theory, made special for you with a dollop of homegrown cynicism. :-)

ANYWAY, I don’t know who to tag, because most of the blogs I read seem to be tagged already. Or else they’re not the “lesser known” blogs that Pearsonified mentions.

So if you have a blog and you would like to be tagged, leave me a comment. Or Diane (or anyone else), if you know someone you’d like for me to tag, just let me know in the comments, and I’ll be more than happy to tag them. I just don’t know who has/hasn’t participated so far.

And if one of y’all is really bored tonight, just click on those Pearsonified links about 100 times. It’ll totally rock his/her world. :-)