Travel, family, humor, pet, cooking: these are only a few of the types of blogs that linked up with yeah write this week, and it’s so cool to give our readers such a variety of topics.
Thanks, everybody, for sharing with us your stories, two cents, adventures and photography, all wrapped into a weekly commitment toward better blogging and writing.

Virgins!

Six newbies! Thanks for jumping right in and joining our humble little community. Please make yourself at home and don’t forget the brownies next time. We love brownies. If you haven’t ever received an email blast from me letting you know when yeah write is open for submissions or voting, please subscribe to the weekly mailer with this form. Feel free to pass it along to your friends who would be a good fit for us. We love brownies and virgins. And vodka.

Editor’s choice

[blockquote]How about a hippo? A hippo would be cool. Needless to say, the hippo never made it on the box.[/blockquote]

See, in my house, it would be needed to say that the hippo never made it on the box. If it’s time for a Valentine’s Day box to be made, Mommy is making the Valentine’s Day box, and there will be no hippo ‘cuz what the hell does a hippo have to do with Valentine’s Day? I’m outta control overcompensating for my mom sending me to school with boxes I had to make myself AND I WAS IN NO WAY CRAFTSY.

So. My hippo is off to Jen at Runner Mom for being the hands-off mom I’d like to be. Congrats, Jen, on the win. I loved the photos and how you stayed out of the way of the story being told. Very nice.

Lurker’s favorite by my friend Flood

Janice at The (not so) Special Mother got Flood’s vote with a post about her special needs daughter and the non-option of inclusion classes at school. Flood writes:

[frame_box]I have a special needs kid and everyone tries to comfort me with the fact that she can sit still in class, even though she isn’t learning a damn thing. Homogenising people loses what’s valuable in them. We’re equal but not the same.[/frame_box]

After reading Janice’s post and Flood’s comment, I’m now unsure if my own special needs teen is learning anything in school either, and she’s been in school for 15 years. So if any of you newbies brought vodka, now would be the time to pass it to me. I’m going to take a nap. Congrats, Janice, on the win. Thanks for sharing.

Lurker’s favorite by my husband Q

The way to my man’s heart is certainly through his kitchen, and Q’s choice this week was the super sweet, true love pancakes at Lenore’s Thoughts Exactly. Lenore’s husband made them for the whole family, go see them for yourself. Congrats, Lenore, on the win. Tied for honorable mention are Jamie’s skinny mini-Mexican soup and Megan’s cream cheese cookie cups. Q would have thrown in Jen’s shrimp and pasta, but he passed me a note with his choices while mumbling something about “size does too matter.” Whatever that means.

Popular vote winner

Jennifer at Kvetch Mom won hands-down with her very funny post about shopping for a new pair of jeans. It all started with her brother’s boast about elastic waist pants being where it’s at, and Jennifer knew the yoga pants she’d been wearing had to go. The voters were obviously hyperventilating with her as she took the lead when voting opened on Wednesday night and never lost it. Congrats, Jennifer! May I suggest Chico’s for your next jeans purchase? I also have a poofy waistline, yet Chico’s jeans are a flattering fit and my mother-in-law gets quite the employee discount.

Comment karma

My Honest Answer (with a brand new blog layout that looks so clear and inviting!) had a question in her mailbag involving parents fighting in front of their kids that brought out several honest answers from the yeah write crew in her comments. I was impressed by the differing viewpoints and how most of them understood the issue couldn’t be seen as black-or-white. The comment karma goes to the introspective yeah writers on My Honest Answer’s post. Grab your badges, guys. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

Win-Win

The thumbnails are now sorted in the grid from most yellow star votes to the least. In the case of a tie, like if four blogs all got seven votes each, the thumbnails are additionally sorted by page views. Do not be discouraged if your blog has landed near the bottom of the grid; it is always a tight race. The fun lies in getting better exposure for your blog and in the spirit of competition as incentive to improve your writing and blogging skills. It’s a win-win for everybody involved.

Thanks again, everybody, for linking up, for reading, for voting. And for making yeah write the most welcoming spot on the Interwebs for writers who blog and bloggers who write.

Yeah write #45 opens Tuesday.