Practice, Practice, Practice
You know the old joke – The tourist asks the New Yorker:
“How do you get to Carnegie Hall?”
“Practice, Practice, Practice.”
Well, I’ve been practicing all right.
This is my 200th blog.
I started fourteen months ago with a two-paragraph post about bathing suits, and I’ve been writing about bathing suits and other weirdnesses of aging several times a week.
I’ve had more than 55,000 views. And my mother doesn’t even read my blog, or it would be 100,000.
Thank you all for letting me have so much fun two hundred times.
I’ve learned a lot about myself – and about you – in all those posts.
1. Most obvious: I can write 500 words about anything. Toilet seats, Night-lights, Eyebrow plucking. You name it. Give me a subject and an hour to think about it. My words may be trivial, but they come gushing out like Niagara Falls. I actually did two posts that mentioned Niagara Falls. Writer’s Block is a myth.
2. I am obsessed with avoiding the aging process. I want to be young. I want: young hair, young skin, young clothes and most especially – young buttocks. Oh, and young ankles. But I don’t want to look like I am trying too hard. I am the sixty-one-year-old equivalent of prom hair.
3. Lots of people have the same ideas at the same time. When I write about Wonder Bread – there are fifty other bloggers also writing about Wonder Bread. Some even mention Twinkies too. I worried for a while that I wasn’t very original. But so what? We all live in the same world, all bombarded with the same stimuli. My subject matter may not be original, but I am.
4. I’m not the only woman who worries about swimsuits and miniskirts. Women executives, doctors, teachers, and grandmas find me every day – with the search term “skinny jeans.”
5. It appears that many women still have a big crush on David McCallum.
6. Reminiscing is sweet. Lots of people have similar childhood memories – school days, holidays, brothers and sisters, and teenage angst. And if your past was not as happy as it should have been, read me anyway. I’ll share mine.
7. Everyone loves my mother. And they should.
8. No matter how many times I proofread, I will always have a stuipd typo.
9. Single women tend to think my husband’s eccentricities are cute. Endearing even. Married women know better. They just sigh in commiseration. Everyone has the same husband.
10. Speaking of men – I get a lot of laughs when I laugh at men. And all my male readers (both of them) are usually very good-natured about it. But when I wrote – once! – that women can’t park…holy crap. I got a lot of indignant female responses. Come on ladies, lighten up.
11. No matter how silly I get, there is always someone out there who takes me seriously. I’m glad you think I have something important to say. I usually don’t.
12. I don’t have to steal (very many) photos from the internet. I can draw. And even if I draw badly, people seem to like funny drawings. This is better than when my Mom taped my drawings to the refrigerator. The internet is like having refrigerators all over the country.
Thanks.
Don’t put a magnet on your laptop though.
notquiteold 
You have made me laugh repeatedly and I thank you! Your list is quite true—especially number eigt. 🙂 Thanks for the 200–looking forward to the next 200!
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thansk.
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🙂
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Congratulations!! You have brought much delight to so many – and I return to your blog with the knowledge that I will always be surprised at your revelations, heartened by the joy and laughter you share and humbled by your observations..
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Wow. Thanks. All that and I was only trying to be funny.
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I kept highlighting “the best observation” from this post to copy, paste, and praise in this comment box, but then I realized I would copy and paste the entire post. I’m not sure if that wouldn’t border on plagiarism, so instead I’m opting to say that I’m happy times 200 that you are here, sharing your wisdom and your wit!
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Thanks for your witty observations. Your blog helps me keep life in perspective. Can’t wait for 201.
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Happy 200th and thanks for all the laughs.
As “transitioning Mom” commented, I highlighted THIS, which made me laugh:
*stuipd typo*
Congrats!
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Ouch! This post hit home on so many points! Our husbands are related (maybe even the same person!). We share the same aversion to beauticians always believing that the next cut will be perfect and transform us. You are the universal woman! (in skinny jenas of course!)
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Yay for 200! That is really an accomplishment.
And you have taught me that a blog post can be about anything at all. Maybe not politics or religion, though.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts and observations with us!
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Congratulations! That is quite the milestone. I have been blogging longer and am nowhere near the number of posts you have. You have a wonderful sense of humour and you make an authentic connection with your readers and your drawings are always quite clever.
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Congratulations on your 200th post! I recently hit 300 but it snuck up on me – I hit “post” and there was the announcement. So I didn’t have a chance to plan the parade I’m sure I deserve.
#2 on your list – AMEN, sista!
And I really, really wish I could draw like you can – it’s a real gift. Often times I have stuff swirling around in my head that needs a cartoonish picture to go along, but I can’t get the picture out of my brain and onto paper in any form that looks like anything.
Here’s to 200 more of your view of the world!
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Congratulations on 200 posts and all those views! I always enjoy my visits to your blog.
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Congratulations on 200 posts! I haven’t been here for all of them, but thoroughly enjoy reading the ones I see. I’m looking forward to 200 more. No pressure! 😉
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Congratulations! I think I’ve read 199 of them, and I’m still searching for that one I missed. And you do have stuff to say — undeniably fun stuff.
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This is great! Keept them coming. And I love your drawings
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Congrats on 200!
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We really DO all have the same husband. They drive too fast, don’t pick up their socks, and want sex at the wrong time. At least mine is like that. 🙂 Love the post. Congrats on the 200!
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There’s all kinds of women – but men only come in one model.
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Congratulations on your 200th post! You are all kinds of awesome. I’m glad you’re older than me because cool older women make me feel like I have lots to look forward to.
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Thanks for the “cool” part… and sort of thanks for the “older” part.
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You are amazing! I love reading your posts because nearly all of them hit home for me. Congratulations on going strong for so long.
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Congratulations! I’ve been a steady reader from almost the very beginning and have enjoyed all your posts. And #8? Yup, that happens to me every time.
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We started around the same time, I think, and stumbled upon each other almost immediately, Like two genius magnets.
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Congrats — I really enjoy your blog and I cannot park unless I can drive in and drive out of a parking space — and I love your line “everyone has the same husband”–that is so funny and sort of true–cheers to you!
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Nancy, congratulations! Absolutely love your blog! You are oh so talented my friend. Continued success. Have fun with it; we readers certainly enjoy and look forward to your writings and artistry!
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Hearty congratulations! Love your blog and how your mind works.
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Thanks….. all these congratulations…. it’s better than a birthday! And I don’t have to get a year older.
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congrats! i am happy i stumbled on your blog. it’s provided many laughs and smiles.
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Another blogger once worried that I’d be mad because she had “stolen” my idea from a post when she wrote about the same thing the following day. I assured her that everybody has a different take on the same subject (like Wonder bread), so it’s not “stealing”.
CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR 200TH ENTERTAINING POST.
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200? awesome, Nancy. And every one was must read.
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Love your blog, and of course love your mom, too! Who wouldn’t? And if you decide to put together a collection of your drawings….count me in for buying some of them…my sister is a talented, well-known artist in this neck of the woods and the medium she mainly uses is pencil crayons (mind you, they look like paintings…but even so) same idea applies. Congrat on having so many posts…you are my hero!
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Congratulations on reaching 200 😉
I’ve only recently stumbled across your blog, so I’ve got plenty of “back issues” to read while waiting for the next 200!
Keep up the good work!
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Congrats on reaching 200 posts! That is wonderful! I love your original drawings – they are so perfectly matched to the posts and are cute, too! Amen to #9. Sigh. 😉
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Thanks. Sigh.
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LOL parking. Actually, I can parallel park relatively easily … on the other hand, trying to park between two painted lines … I’ve been driving for … a loooooong time and apparently i still have no idea where the outside of my car is related to lines in a parking lot … altho’ I sometimes do better when the slots are straight instead of slanted. go figure. Congratulations on 200 posts! technically, my fan fic alter ego is doing better posting than I am. Keep it up! (Davod McCallum … I missed meeting him when I was 12. Still think his characters in the man from uncle was delightful)
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Happy 200th post! Awesome posts and drawings, Nancy. I always enjoy reading here. Your subject matter is universal; that’s why you’re such a HIT! Congratulations.
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Congratulations on your 200th post!! Even tho I don’t often comment – I’ve been reading..and chuckling..and enjoying. Love your sense of humor and your attitude towards aging with such style and panache!
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Your blog has been one of my consistent favorites ever since I started on this grand adventure. I love your writing, your humor, and your fabulous illustrations. You always make me smile!
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Thanks! And your blog is my go-to place for a Wonderbutt chuckle.
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I have joined the crowd of folks who love your blog. Congratulations on reaching 200 (posts that is) and still gushing words. You’re like a productive oil well that brings riches all round. 🙂
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Your comments about ageing hit the spot entirely, for me!
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