Did that capture your attention? I imagine that the words ‘buy cheap viagra’ made a few people do a bit of a double take! And just what the heck does viagra have to do with SEO, anyway? Right? Well, John Pozadzides of One Man’s Blog, is running a little experiment, prompted by a post by Aaron Wall. And the question that Aaron proposed is, “How Easily do Authoritative Sites Rank for New Keywords?” And he talked about Matt Cutts ranking pretty high for the words, ‘buy cheap viagra’, just by using the words in one post. And as John has a PR8, he is wanting to experiment and see just how quickly he ranks up high for those words, as well. There is one wild card to the experiment, though, and that is that Matt Cutt’s site has much more longevity than John’s site. In fact, John just celebrated his One Year Blogiversary! Happy Blogiversary, John! And I am interested to hear how this experiment turns out!

Ok, so things are looking a little barren over here now, but, there is absolutely nothing to worry about!  Nay, in fact, you should be excited!  I just found this great theme at One Man’s Blog, written by John Pozadzides and it is the bomb!  I mean - THE BOMB!  I can’t wait to start playing around with it some more!  It is really exciting learning how to manipulate code.  I am learning more very day and I absolutely love it!  I’m really happy about this theme, though and I am pretty sure that I am going to install it next door, too.  (www.LisaMarieMary.com)  But I just found that one that is over there the other day, and I can’t bear to part with the colors just yet.  So as soon as I get a little more versed in fixing this particular theme up just how I want it, then I’m going to install it over there, too.  Look, John’s got a PR8 and he’s been helping people out with HTMLhelp.com for almost a decade!  I don’t know about you, but, I’m sticking with him!

I just love my Punkymoms! I’ve been a part of their group for quite some time now, around four years. And they are some of the most amazing, loving, fighting for ya, giving, intelligent, inspiring women I’ve ever met! I love being a part of their group. And the group is getting not only pretty large, but, also pretty widespread. We’ve got mamas from all over! There is one amazing and pretty good size group in Orlando. They are one of our larger Punkymama clusters. And I know that I could go and stay with any one of them at any time. It is like I have my very own vacation home Orlando-style! It is a cool feeling to know that I could go visiting lots of different places and see my sweet and rockin’ peeps! There is a great group in New York that I’d like to hang with, as well as Minnesota! Punkymoms are just the best!

Today I let Sammie go to the community pool with a friend - with no grown-ups. The friend’s mother drove them there and dropped them off. I suppose she is maybe of an age to do this. It’s hard sometimes to differentiate between knowing she’s not old enough and being overprotective. It is that way with the boys, too. It is a totally normal thing to do, is the idea I’m getting from the moms and kids around here. And I think they do it at a much younger age than almost-11, it sounds like. There are so many variables that go into this stuff, really. I mean, I could easily see dropping her off at the community pool in the neighborhood where her best friend, Christina lives, back in Texas. But you see, that feels familiar, it is a community pool. And then I have to say to myself, ‘but Lisa, this was the community pool that she went to today’. Oh yeah. But, you see - I lived within a 10 mile radius for 99% of my life. So although it is big city, it is all familiar. And out here, things are very new and unfamiliar, and releasing your children to people and places in a new and unfamiliar town is HARD to do. But I did it. And just like they said they would be, they were home around 4:30. And she said there were lots of lifeguards. And she saw Patrick’s best friend, who spends a lot of time in the summer there. So I guess it was okay. Hard on me, but, it was okay. All of these little baby steps, of letting our babies go … can be so hard ….

But thank God they are baby steps.

I absolutely can’t believe how quickly the time has come to start getting ready for school again! The summer breaks are way too short now! Well, Mark is out with Shawn right now buying his clothes for the new year. He took Patrick yesterday and he’ll probably take Sammie tomorrow. And we’ve got to start looking for those supplies, too. We can’t get Patrick’s until the school year starts, because the teachers let them know what they want on the first day. One thing is for sure, I want them to have their names on everything. So much stuff gets misplaced at school, but, if their names are on it, there is a much better chance of it making its way back to us! There is a great site online, that I’ve spoken about before, where we can get personalized labels to put on everything! The company is called Identity Direct and I think the kids will have a blast designing their own labels! They’ve got lots of other back-to-school products, too, but, I’m really excited about the labels. Especially with two boys in band, one of them in marching band, we’ve really got to start getting their names on their stuff. I’m sure going to and from the football games is going to be quite hectic, and losing stuff will be a frequent problem. But putting Patrick’s name on his things is really going to help a lot! I’m excited that I found this online shop!

And it is the cutest thing!! The kids and I were so excited! Now, Lucky has never worn clothes before, and he is a scaredy cat gentle soul, so I wanted to be as cautious with him as possible in putting it on him. He also has some type of handicap, that I think I’ve told you all about, and so I didn’t want to hurt him, either. So he and I went into another room alone, where it was quiet, so that I could put it on him slowly and gently, while at the same time, loving on him and reassuring him. And guess what? He was fine with it! He pawed at it, barely, for a second or two, and then he was just fine with it. I think he actually kind of liked it. The thing he didn’t like, and never has, is my trying to get his picture. There is no better evidence of this than the shot below, in which he escapes to his favorite spot, under the table while I’m desperately trying to get the perfect shot! See the tail tucked under?

Silly boy! I must take your picture - you look way too cute! And yes, a 120lb. dog can be cute!

We got this sweater from this great online doggy store, DoggieTshirts.com, and I was absolutely thrilled that they could accomodate my big boy!

Now, if you’ll notice in the picture above, right above that table is a window letting in lots and lots of sunlight. And as I had to take Lucky’s pic with him under the table, I had a bit of trouble figuring out how to deal with the light. This next picture, barring the horrible light, is actually the best shot, so I had to keep it.

I got his entire body in the shot and he’s looking up and bright. Now, in this next shot, the light is good, but, the dog looks stoned! Grrr!

I am just so excited about this sweater, and I can’t wait until it cools off so he can wear it more! I will admit that I was a little disappointed when I first opened it, as I was expecting it to be super-duper soft, like hoodies for us bipeds are. It just has a little bit of a toughness to it. And as it turns out, that is a very good thing, because with pulling it over their elbows and such, you need that toughness. And also, if it were soft like ours, when you wash it, it might get kind of baggy, and not only would that not look very nice, I think it could be dangerous for the dog. So now I am totally, completely happy with the sweater and its level of softness.

Now here is the best picture color-wise, it is just bright and crisp and my little honey bear looks so sweet!

Isn’t he just a doll?

And then, of course, the kids got into it. Shawn had to go and make him ‘gangsta’:

Poor, poor Lucky - the crap he puts up with. It was really funny, though - I’ve never seen six pre-teens/teens so excited about one piece of dog clothing! It was great!

My mom and dad both have big dogs, too - I can’t wait to tell them about this online doggie shop! (Unless they’re already reading, in that case, “Hi guys! Go shopping!”)

Since Lucky is such a chicken gentle soul, there was this one tshirt that I wanted for him, because, I thought it would be so funny! But they didn’t have it in his size. Bummer! But lemme just show it to you:

Isn’t that funny? My little wimpy kind-hearted boy, a certified killer! Cracks me up! You can click on the picture to go to DoggieTshirts.com and see that shirt!