All dressed up with somewhere to go

I decided to play with the new Blogger in Draft templates, just for fun, since so many others have said the system works pretty well. Should have known that once I started exploring, I'd want to make a change. So here I am at 3 a.m. putting a new, dressed-up version of BLissed-Out Grandma online. I don't love everything about it, but it's time to get some sleep. Besides, the last change I tried to make got the error message that probably means too many of you are doing the same thing and the system is overloaded.

This new template is a little more spacious than the old one...like letting out the seams just a bit. Not that I would know about that. This one also has slightly larger type...not that I would need that, either.

Have you tried it? Did you find it easy to work with? One question I have: why doesn't a person's header just get centered in the space instead of placed flush left? If it were centered, people wouldn't have to make new, wider headers. Just sayin.'

But do they wear pantyhose?

Things I learned this week:

(1) Apparently if you're a three-year-old boy (a state that can last much longer than a single year, I'm told) the word "pantyhose" is hysterically funny. It sets off paroxysms of laughter (you remember that word from a vocab list, right?). And about the time you are all done laughing, if Grandma says it again, you'll laugh again. And again.

(2) It's easy to tell boys from girls. Woodpeckers, both male and female, have been visiting our bird feeders. The bird book explained that males have red spots on the backs of their heads, and females don't. Meanwhile, Mommy and Daddy have talked with Augie and Vi about male and female body parts; they know that boys have penises and girls have vaginas. Today at Wild Rumpus Daycare we had this conversation:

Pa: Is Augie a boy?

Augie: Yes.

Pa: Who else is a boy?

Augie: My friend Dad, and Pa.

Pa: Is ViMae a boy?

Augie (laughing): No, she's a girl.

Pa: Are Mommy and Grandma boys?

Augie (laughing again): No, they're girls.

Pa: How can you tell?

Augie: Because they don't have red spots on the back of their heads.

WOW: A nifty new blog network

There's a new network in the blogiverse. I feel like it might be a good fit for me, and probably for you, too.

Words of Wisdom is "a place for bloggers who enjoy reading and writing great content to find each other." Its founders define great content as being thought-provoking or insightful, serious or humorous, on any topic...blog posts that make the reader stop and think and perhaps join the conversation with a well thought-out comment.

WOW was launched over the weekend. I was the 11th person to click "Follow," and as I write this there are 38. I suspect it's going to grow pretty quickly. Check it out, of you're so inclined.

It was from a member of WOW that I learned I missed some excitement last week at The Secret is in the Sauce. SITS tends to draw young moms, and it can be a great way to make new contacts, but it wasn't a good fit for me so I unsubscribed last week. At that very moment, The New York Times published its story on "mommy bloggers," featuring the Bloggy Boot Camp put on by SITS' founders. You can read Anita's take on the resulting controversy at A Woman, A Wife, A Mom.

Here's the NYT story: Honey, Don’t Bother Mommy. I’m Too Busy Building My Brand.