not as cute as i used to be

Dear Bloggy Readers,

I have to apologize for the decline in cuteness on my blog today. I'm also a bit fatter than I used to be. And then I added horizontal stripes on both sides. That is certainly not helping to slim the look of my expanding blog.

I'm trying to come up with a good explanation.

Basically, I can't hide it. I decided to run that ad you see on the side. Why? I figured if someone wants to pay me to do what I'm doing anyway that I should at least give it a try and see what happens. (Please. Please. Don't hate me and leave forever. Please?!?)

So, I had to do some re-arranging to make room. I miss my old layout, so I'm sure this will only be one in a series of re-designs before it's done.

Back to the ad thing. I noticed all the cool bloggers were doing it, and I've had a life-long struggle with wanting to be part of the in crowd. So, a few months ago I clicked on the BlogHer site to see how the whole thing worked. They said they weren't accepting new applicants to run ads, but they would put me on a waiting list. (Whew! That made that an easy decision.)

Well, last week, they sent me an e-mail saying they had moved me off the waiting list and onto the list of real live bloggers who run ads on their sites.

At first I thought it was a hoax because they used the word "wonderful" to describe me. But since my love language is words of affirmation, I wrote back and said I would run as many ads as they wanted as long as they kept sending me compliments. (I'm quite positive I'm the ONLY blogger in the world who has ever received such a wonderful e-mail personally signed, "the BlogHer Ad Team").

The good thing is that their ads aren't triggered by keywords in one's posts. So, at least I won't be tempted to give my children the pseudonyms "Dorito", "iPhone", and "Coke" to get more desirable ads to pop up. Oh, you laugh. But these are just the type of ridiculous thoughts that keep me awake at night.

And besides, I have a real business plan here. I'm thinking I could probably earn at least 32 cents a week with that ad from all the traffic I get here on a daily basis. And by the end of the year, that comes up to $16.64.

Hey, we could probably go out for ice cream with that kind of income! And these days... a little ice cream is just what I need to add to my real-life expanding waist line.