My friend Aileen of One Scrappy Gal had her baby, and…

…it’s a BOY! Welcome to the world, little Spud!

OMSH is having another fabulous giveaway. It’s a Flickr scavenger hunt for your favorite photo containing a heart! Love in Words by Tragic has been in my Flickr faves for almost a year now.

When I told Heather that I wasn’t going to enter her Allison Strine Designs - Valentine OMSH giveaway, her exact words were, “UH! Why the heck not?” And I couldn’t really come up with a good reason. So, because I would love to be one of the two lucky winners who gets to choose one $40-or-less item from Allison Strine’s Etsy shop, I will tell you about a few of the bloggers I love to read.

One Scrappy Gal is one of my new favorite reads. I was partnered with her in an ornament swap this past December, and started reading her blog in an effort to determine what kind of ornament I should get her. She’s a Navy wife like me, so we immediately had that in common. She is a mom with two adorable little kids, with a third due this spring. Oh, and did I mention that she’s freaking hilarious? Probably my favorite post of hers is Cram Your Hole Casserole, and do you really need to know anything other than the name of her recipe for chicken-pot-pie to realize how funny she is?

She Likes Purple is where you will find some of the most heartfelt, well-crafted, funniest writing on the internets, my friends. Like in this post, or this one, or this one. Incidentally, that last post contains probably my favorite Jennie quote: “Sometimes loving someone means hoping that what came before will not dictate what is to come. Sometimes loving someone means hoping period.” Go read her blog now (and notice the cool new banner it’s sporting, thanks to SAJ). Thank you.

Dreamdust is the blog, as I said once before on this site, of “some chick in England.” Sarah is one of the co-founders of the Flickr self-portrait group for people with short attention spans, 7 Days. She’s clever and witty and she knits and she has a veg patch in her yard for growing large quantities of pumpkins and corn, which she then photographs beautifully. She also speaks German and collects funny quotes her family and friends have said and bakes a mean pumpkin muffin.

Pinch My Salt is the cooking blog of yet another Navy wife, one who only recently returned to the States after four years of living in Sicily. First of all, the name of her blog is genius. And her recipes! Oh my goodness, lime sugar cookies? Chickpea soup with ginger & coriander? The ultimate Manwich?! All these delicious-sounding recipes are rounded out with great photos, often documenting each step Nicole took to make something. Awesome.

I have to stop myself there, because it’s past my bedtime. If you want to enter this drawing as well (and you’re a blogger—this one requires a blog) go read this post and do what it says before midnight Friday, 8 Feb 2008.

Happy Friday, y’all!