You rock. Yes, you, the person who is reading this now. Really, you do. A big reason I continue to blog is because of you. Your comments inspire me, cheer me on or up, and just generally make my day. I still live in that mentality of five years ago where I’d post something, and the only thing that would happen was the sound of crickets or the occasional spam comment about increasing my SEO, whatever that is. That’s not the case now. Every time I post, at least a few familiar faces stop by. So, thanks for that.

Every once in a while, my real life and my blog life converge. Yesterday, I got home to find a package. I hadn’t ordered anything, so I had no idea what it could be. Then I looked at the recipient, Fish Osgood, and I knew it could only have come from someone in Bloggyland.

Fish Osgood is not my real name. Osgood is the fake name that Male used to give out at Starbucks, because he was just paranoid enough to not want his name yelled out in public. We were Mr. and Mrs. Osgood as far as Starbucks knew. My last name on my Starbucks card is actually Osgood.

I asked Male once why he chose Osgood and he had no idea. He just said he’d always used it. Half the time, Starbucks would write it as Oscar anyway. Fish Osgood is what I would change my Facebook to if they’d let me, but I keep getting the “you can’t change your name again” bullshit over there and have to live with “Gold Fush.”

Anyway, this post in not about the tremendous gaping arseholes who set up Facebook’s idiotic policies; this post is about how awesome y’all are.

Package. Mail. Fish Osgood. Immediate excitement and with good reason. The last few packages I got from Bloggyland include this awesome purple unicorn from Alex at Excerpts From Nonexistent Books:

A hand drawn original from Evil Squirrel:

And a triptych of awesome from TJ Lubrano:

So, whenever I get something from Bloggyland, I immediately get excited. But what could this package be? I wasn’t expecting anything from anyone. Well, there’s one way to find out. OPEN IT!

What wonders were in this box! Specifically, all of this:

The first things I saw were the amazing pink sock monkey and the adorable cow. When you squeeze the cow, his eyes pop out rather grotesquely. I prefer him in his natural state.

Then, I saw purple clip-on bangs and the bunny bag with three little hand drawn magnets inside. Ah, I recognize that artwork. Then I saw the crocheted wonder and I knew it could be from none other than the amazing Mental Mama from Mental In The Midwest. But, I still wasn’t entirely sure, because it was just some stuff in a box. Then, under the flap inside the box, I saw a bit of purple poking out, which was a card with a hand-drawn dragonfly on it, proving that it was, in fact, from the lovely Mental Mama.

I haven’t figured out a place for all the things yet, but the cow and sock monkey now live on the Shelves of Special Things. Sock monkey lives between fat lucky cat and Spider Jerusalem. Cow lives by the tiny brick from the quarry near my parents in Michigan with the stone viking head that a friend bought me in Minnesota on top, my Finnish grandfather’s knife, and the origami swan and signed owl in a rose print that my sister gave me.

All things on those shelves are treasures I made, was given, or things that I bought, e.g., the Spider Jerusalem action figure, Space Monkey and most of the books. They all have a story. I see these things every day since my car keys and sunglasses are right in the middle. Every time I leave the house, I see the treasures on the Shelves of Special Things and they make me smile.

So, thanks, Mental Mama and all the other folks in Bloggyland who continue to make my day. You rock.