Photo Credit: Doug Fischer

See you all here next week!  Enjoy the break.

We hope you have a fantastic week and a very happy new year.  Check back here on Monday for your regular MoB post, (already in progress.)

But it would be untruthful to say that there aren’t times when we ask each other:  Is this too much?  What else might we do with those extra few hours each week?  And we both have the same schizophrenic conversation with ourselves.  Part of us couldn’t imagine NOT writing every day and part of us could definitely imagine it.

Spoiler alert:  We are not going away!  But as a new school year approaches, it seems like a good time to explore the frequency of our posts.  And we need your help!  Please take a moment to fill out this brief online survey:

Click here now to take the awesome MoB survey!

By brief we mean it is four questions and if it takes you longer than 30 seconds to complete it you are putting too much thought into it.  Your input will go a long way towards helping us plan the coming year.  Honesty is much appreciated because we really are torn. Thank you for your feedback. And if you have additional thoughts, leave them here in the comments or email us! We love you guys and plan on being around for a long time. We hope you’ll do the same.

Virtually Marj.  WordPress developer extraordinaire.

We love Virtually Marj for the following reasons:

• She knows her stuff
• She delivers exactly what she promises on time.
• She is a human being.

Marj has the perfect combination of extensive technical know how (we know this because sometimes she tells us stuff and we don’t really know what she is talking about) and common sensibility (she will then realize that we don’t understand her and translate into laymen’s terms).  In this particualr case the translation was:  Network Solutions screwed up your website.  Bad.

We put our baby in Marj’s hands and she took tender loving care of MothersofBrothers in record time.  She found our back up and recreated the site at godaddy.com.  She changed our emails and our domain.  And we didn’t lose a thing.  Our baby is healthy again and we have Marj to thank for it.  We are kinda in love with her.

It is hard to ever truly repay the person who brought your child back from the brink of death, but in that spirit:  If you EVER need web development services — especially with WordPress — YOU MUST USE VIRTUALLY MARJ.

With our new hosting provider and Virtually Marj by our side, there is nothing we can’t do.  Thank you for your patience and prayers during this difficult time.  And thank you to the Universe for Virtually Marj.

Ok — we know this puppy was not easy. This Fun Monday assignment was to choose your favorite words or words. And the trouble is – it’s hard to choose. We bloggers love all words. But luckily, these are words and not people so we don’t have to worry about offending the words we didn’t choose.

Please visit all the great bloggers who raised their hands for this one. And be sure to leave them comments to let them know you checked in. Here they are:

MoB readers – tell us your favorite word or words in a comment! And here are our humble opinions:

From Emily

I love the word serendipity. Not only is it underused, whimsical, and pleasing to my ear but if you are saying or writing “serendipity” – it is only means good news. I need more happy coincidences in my life.

I also love the word sultry – but only when used to describe weather. We experience a decent amount of sultry weather in the Philly suburbs. I would rather call it sultry than excruciatingly humid.

I am partial to the word smitten – mostly because of the contented feeling it describes. To me it’s more than just being pleased with someone or something – there is an element of intimacy and ownership to the word. When you are smitten, it is a feeling that is all your own, shared with no one. An internal happiness that puts a smile on your face when no one is looking.

Finally, I love the word marmalade because it’s just so freaking fun to say. Truthfully, I could do without the condiment, but if and when it is offered at a breakfast table, I will ask everyone at the table if they would like some MARMALADE.

From Jennifer

Epiphany. I love the sound and the meaning. Much better than the prosaic “lightbulb moment.”

Hideous. A flexible word with tons of applications. My kids all learned it early.

Taboo, juju, louche. mojo, apropos. Louche means shady in French.

Fun to sprinkle these imported words into conversation.

Schaudenfreude. Taking pleasure in someone else’s misery, usually because of spite. While Germans speak a harsh and guttural language, you gotta love the way they create amazingly specific words for complex emotions.

Summer Afternoon. (not original but great choices anyway)

Years ago I remember reading the results of a poll: “What is the most beautiful word in the English language?” The winner happened to be a French word: “Mirage.”

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Special super important note: A reminder that the next Fun Monday host is The Lurchers! And one last thank you to last week’s host Mommy Wizdom for sharing her pointers on how to make this Fun Monday work!