Life on Planet Baby

Post of the Month Club: the May 2012 edition

noreply@blogger.com (Jane) — Thu, 31 May 2012 04:46:20 PDT

Hello you gorgeous Planetarians! It's a delightfully sunny autumnal day in Hobart. What a fabulous portent to starting the first edition of the splendid Post of the Month Club over on Planet Baby. So let's get the presses cranked up and roll out the 'May 2012' edition!

As I said in yesterday's post, this is what you need to do:

Look through your posts for May 2012;

Find the one you're most proud of;

Edit it to add the POTMC button at the post's end (you can copy the HTML from my sidebar) to let everyone know that you write for the Club;

Add your post to the linky at the bottom of this post; and

Visit a few other (or as many as take your fancy!) Club members' posts to share the bloggy love with comments.

All clear? Let me know if you have any troubles.

I'll set the ball rolling by adding my post on the results of the survey we ran here on Planet Baby.

Now, I'm rubbing my hands in gleeful anticipation of the treasures you're all about to share with us ☺. Let's see if this inaugural edition pressed on Planet Baby can be a bumper one!

Oh, and if you're new here, feel free to hop aboard this busy planet and become a Planetarian ☺.

How the Post of the Month Club works

noreply@blogger.com (Jane) — Wed, 30 May 2012 03:17:50 PDT

Welcome to Wednesday, sweet Planetarians! I had my stitches removed from my hand yesterday and the surgeon liked what he saw. My wound is healing well although it's very tender. I've been amazed at how much strength I've lost in my right hand in that week! I have another 5 weeks of recovery ahead before I'm back to normal. And pain-free - the best bit!

I hope to start replying to your recent comments soon but will have to "listen to my body", according to my surgeon, and pace myself.

Anyway, back to business. I'm thrilled to see some of you are getting excited about joining the fabulous Post of the Month Club (POTMC for short). In case you missed my edit of my last post, here's a post from the lovely Laura at Happy Homemaker UK announcing POTMC's move over here.

What is the Post of the Month Club?

For those unfamiliar with it, this is how gorgeous Felicity succinctly summed it up. It is a:

Fabulous way for you to showcase your favourite post each month;

Brilliant opportunity to connect with new friends; and

Wonderful reminder of what you've been up to by highlighting a special post.

How does it work?

At the end of the month, I remind you (like I am here) that's it's time to get organised.

So, your mission now is to:

sift through your posts for May 2012;

find the one that you're most proud of; and

edit it to add the POTMC button at the post's end to let everyone know that you write for the Club.

When the linky opens here tomorrow, simply add your post and visit a few other Club members' posts to share the bloggy love with comments.

Easy-peasy, don't you think?

As clever Laura says, "You've already done the hardest part of writing a really awesome post". Why not share it on?

It would be fabulous to see the POTMC button on your sidebar as it will help to let others know that you're part of this special group of writers.

Simply copy the HTML code from my sidebar and add it to your own sidebar as an HTML/Java Code widget (for Blogger users) - easy as!

I can't wait to see what you have lined up for us this month.

Welcome to the Club!

So, I'll see you back here tomorrow, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, when the linky opens. Ooh, this should be a lark!

Let me know if anything is unclear and I'll do my best to help.

Newsflash: Welcome to the Post of the Month Club!

noreply@blogger.com (Jane) — Tue, 29 May 2012 04:28:33 PDT

Hello Lovelies, all 493 of you (and a warm welcome to the newbies - have you found your bearings on this new planet yet? Ask me if you're lost!). This is my last post to be typed with my bandaged hand, thankfully. All will be revealed tomorrow morning when I see the surgeon - fingers crossed he's happy with the result. In the interim, I have some breaking news to share with you.

Long-time Planetarians know that gorgeous Felicity of Gifts of Serendipity is one of my dearest friends. She has decided to have a blogcation for a while. I know we'll all miss her sparkling presence in Blogland and particularly her thoughtful and ever-encouraging comments. I'm sure you all join with me in wishing her a refreshing break and look forward to her return, hopefully sooner rather than later.

That's meant she's had to alter her existing blog commitments. One of them is hosting the fabulous 'Post of the Month Club' linky which was started by our mutual clever and delightful friend, Laura at Happy Homemaker UK. It's a brilliant and dead-easy linky party - one of the best I've seen around.

The premise is that you choose your favourite blog post of the month and add it to the linky. That's it!

Then have fun as you hop on your magic carpet and zoom all over the world, discovering what all the other linked bloggers have on display as their best. I've made the most serendipitous discoveries and new friends through it.

Anyway, with Felicity taking a break, Laura has sweetly asked if I'd like to host POTMC here on Planet Baby. I'm delighted to accept her offer. I think you'll all love it!

Now with time running short until month's end and my current typing-hampered-state, I just wanted to quickly let you know the news before I start getting everything organised.

Laura will also post about it on her blog in the next few days to ensure her followers know where POTMC is for the moment.

I'll be back on Wednesday with more details. I do hope I've piqued your interest. So, what do you think? Are you in?!

Edited on 29 May 2012: Here's lovely Laura's welcome post here.

And on the seventh day she rested...

noreply@blogger.com (Jane) — Sun, 27 May 2012 05:30:44 PDT

My view looking downwards at my poor paw

Well, my friends, I haven't really rested since my operation. I have tried. Believe me.

But having had 3 pixies to take care of, absolute rest with my hand placed on the suggested cushion has been impossible.

Anyway, I've finished my painkillers and can make a fist easily which will be required on Wednesday when the stitches are removed.

Until then, I have to shower with a plastic bag over my bandage and remember to use my left hand instead of my right (hard to do after 41 years of my brain being programmed differently!). And my fabulous father-in-law will collect Joshie from school tomorrow as I can't yet drive. He's a good man.

So, time to take my hand to some restful sleep! Sunday splendour will return next week when my hand is back to its full working glory. Have a wonderful week!

Some Saturday soul food: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

noreply@blogger.com (Jane) — Sat, 26 May 2012 03:24:21 PDT

Source: debaucheryauxiliary.blogspot.com via Jane on Pinterest

Ah lovelies! My goodness, my last two posts answering your *burning questions* from our survey seem to have attracted quite a bit of attention, if my traffic figures are to be believed ☺. I hope you're enjoying finding out a bit more about my 'back story'. I'm now wondering why I didn't think to do this sooner! Bringing back early posts for a repeat showing sure makes it easier for me with my wounded wing. I thought I'd give you a breather after all the information you've had to absorb this week.

Tonight I'm sharing a quotation from one of my favourite German writers, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832). I studied him when majoring in German for my Arts degree. I must get around to posting about my love of all things German some day soon! He made such stunning contributions to German literature, including Faust, which are still studied and widely read 200 years later. Here is something succinct and powerful.

Whatever you do or dream you can do – begin it.

Boldness has genius and power and magic in it.

This resonates with me so strongly right now, on so many levels.

The creative within me, the life-force propelling me out of the depths of severe post-natal depression and grief, is dreaming. They're big dreams. They're so huge that my brain is struggling to coalesce them into concrete, 'doable' steps of exciting projects.

Just today, I spent a few hours writing a 'brain dump' of all the ideas which are crowding my brain, trying to get to the starting line first. It helped. A little. I need to spend more time on it but it was a start. And it was encouraging. Thrilling, even.

But then, as usual, the recovering perfectionist in me was tapped on the (right - it's always the right) shoulder by the Voice of Doubt (VOD), that pesky underminer who always wants his two bobs' worth. Can I do it? Am I being ridiculous? How can it all possibly work together? I should think about it a lot more and examine all the pros and cons.

And then I read Goethe's words. Calmness soaked into my veins.

I can do this. I can be bold. I just need to begin these new projects. Now. No time like the present (er, once my hand has healed, that is!).

Cryptic, I know. Sorry to tease you but once I've worked out the way forward (no procrastinating thankyou, Mr VOD), I'll share it with you here. Promise.

So tell me, do Goethe's words inspire you? Are they the spark you need to propel you to do something you've yearned after for ages? Do share!