4,383 days later…

Today is the twelfth anniversary of Fluid Pudding, and that feels sort of crazy because more “milestone” events have happened in the past twelve years than during any other span of dozen in my life. (That was an awkward sentence. Are you still with me?)

When I started writing at Fluid Pudding (it was over at Blogspot back then) I wasn’t yet married, I had no kids, I had no dogs, I didn’t know how to knit, and I lived in Nashville. Also, I had braces (on my teeth), I weighed about twenty pounds less than I do right now, and although I was a vegetarian, I had never eaten squash or plantains! (I had my first bite of plantains last Friday evening. I can’t stop thinking about them. Bonus Fact: I had squash for lunch a few minutes ago. Butternut squash! Pre-cubed for my convenience!)

Wait. Look. Less than 12 hours after eating plantains, I had a blue opal shoved into the side of my nose. It’s my favorite nose decoration so far.

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Despite all of the life-changing stuff (getting married, moving to St. Louis, buying a house, having kids, adopting more pets, getting a hole punched in my nose, purchasing a spinning wheel, cake balls…), nothing much has changed at Fluid Pudding. Actually, I take that back. The two things that are different now are the two things I struggle with nearly every day: Comments and Ads. I used to do neither. I now do both. (When I say that I struggle with Comments and Ads nearly every day, I’m exaggerating. It’s probably more like nearly every 17 days.)

I want to thank each and every one of you for stopping by here, even if you were simply searching out something dirty and are feeling slightly disappointed right now. (Please know that I’ve NEVER made pudding from a body fluid.) The Fluid Pudding Community (Please know that I know that sounds silly. Please know that I NEVER use the word readership or community or fanbase or anything like that when I talk about this website. Instead, I use words like hobby and lucky and smiley.) has made bread pudding together. We talked about doing a bowel prep together! (I think I was the only one who actually DID it!) Best of all? Last year we banded together and raised $500 so my favorite Walgreens employee could have a nice Christmas.

(The Fluid Pudding Community also had my back about eight years ago when every fast food employee in the United States dropped by and threatened to slam Harper’s infant head in a trailer door because I had the audacity to joke about sloppy eating. Do you remember that? Death threats! That was one of the worst days of my life. If I was running ads back then, I would have a nicer car right now! If I wasn’t running COMMENTS back then, I wouldn’t have learned an important lesson and that lesson is: Know Who You Might Offend When You Write About Pretending to Eat Like a Shark In a Fast Food Restaurant.)

I’ve made a few people angry with my website. (Most of them leave crazy irrational comments, and most of the time I just delete those comments and go on with life because this is my house.) I’ve made a few people think I’m writing about them when I’m really NOT writing about them and CONFUSION and clouds in my coffee Clouds In My Coffee! On the flip side, I’ve made SO many friends from Fluid Pudding. Real people I see in real life and real people I’ve never actually met, and once again: Lucky. Smiley.

As I move forward with Fluid Pudding (because I really have no plan to stop anytime soon) the only two questions I ask myself are:

1. Am I still having fun? Yes. Always. Even when I’m complaining, deep down I know that Fluid Pudding is here for entertainment (mine and hopefully yours). Example: I have a UTI right now (I’m on my second round of antibiotics!) and it really sucks, but come on. My life is still pretty sparkly.

2. Am I an asshole? No. I’m not. And I know you don’t like it when I use words like Asshole. (I stopped using the F word YEARS ago! At least here. In real life? Guilty in certain circles.) Anyway, as long as I can sit down at the computer and log in and share silly things without being a dickhead about it, we’re good, right? (Wheee! Three people are feeling VERY uncomfortable with my language in this paragraph. To those three people? I’m sorry.)

This is one of my favorite entries.

This is what led a bunch of you over here:

And this is what made you stay. (Actually, this is what drove many people away. But, we didn’t really need them, did we?)

(Don’t try that at home.)

Happy Anniversary to You. And thank you. So much. ‘ ‘ ‘text/javascript’>

37 thoughts on “4,383 days later…”

  1. i know you’re still alive but seeing the marshmallow video makes me fear for your breathing/suffocation/choking hazard.

    Happy anniversary!!

  2. Happy anniversary!

    Yesterday my son called into the Absolutely Mindy Show on Kids Place Live to tell them about a dream he’d had about marshmallows. The intern started to tell him he should see how many marshmallows he could fit in his mouth, and Mindy literally yelled at her “No! No! We can’t talk about Chubby Bunny! We’re not allowed! We’ll get in a lot of trouble!”

    Also, sometimes “Rattlesnake Bit the Baby” runs through my head.

  3. Happy Anniversary! I’m so glad I found your online home which led to a real life friend. You inspire me to bloooooog (hate that term) again so maybe one day I will return to the fold. Thanks for sharing your stories, girls & husband, doggies, knitting and PTO stories with us. I think you’re the bees’ knees!

  5. Holy Bovine! 12 years is a very long time!! I was not around at the beginning — can’t for the life of me remember how I first found you, and can’t for the life of me remember what life on-line was like *before* I found you.

    Waiting for my daughter-in-law at the airport last night (and yes, I fully realize how lucky I am to have a relationship with my daughter-in-law that leads her to *want* to have me come collect her at airports) I was chatting with a couple of the limo driver guys who hold up those name signs, and I had a flashback to the day you so bravely allowed me to pick you up at SJC. I believe you had actually discussed with Jeff the probability that you could out-run a middle-aged woman in a leg cast if she turned out to be an ax murderer…IF you believed that I was actually going to be a middle-aged woman in a leg cast, or that the leg cast might not be concealing an exquisitely sharp machete. How brave you were!

    And I’m pretty sure I completely missed the day of the death threats. Dear Goodness, people are crazy!!!

    Thanks so much for keeping on with your little corner of craziness here, Kiddo. Still on my bucket list? Meet your mom and give her a huge hug someday to thank her for having produced the likes of you in the first place!

    XXOO

  13. Happy anniversary! I love Rattlesnake (I can remember playing that video for CootieBoy to make him laugh) and still use the purse you mailed me many, many years ago.

  14. Hey! Happy Bloggaversary! I have a small gift to give you to commemorate. Clue#1: It is half moon shaped and works best when wet. Clue #2: It smells like patchouli and orange. Hopefully I’ll see you tomorrow at the big event. Jeff and I are celebrating 12 years too. Weee!

  17. Your site always, without fail, makes me smile. I hope to meet you in person one day! I still have the beautiful hat you knitted for my first daughter. It now fits neither of them, but there is no way I’m getting rid of it. You’re good people.

  19. Happy Anniversary!! I wanted to add more, but I am at a loss. Saying “I love reading your blog” sounds like Baby saying “I carried a watermelon”. But I do love reading your words.

  20. Happy Anniversary! I don’t frequently comment, but I have to let you know that I enjoy your writing. And we share the same birthday so I feel a kinship :-) You’re a clever storyteller!

  22. Ive been with you since the first baby but didnt start commenting until a few years ago. I like ya lots and don’t understand people who can’t take a joke or a sense of humor or a UTI. Im glad your not leaving.

  23. A perfect definition of a personal blog: “here for entertainment (mine and hopefully yours).” I agree, and I’m glad you’re still finding it entertaining.

  27. WOOT! 10 years ago I had a job that didn’t keep me busy enough but I had to look busy all the time. One day, before I knew what a blog was, I stumbled upon your blog, and it totally captured me. I read it religiously for the year and a half that I worked there. Then I got a new job, with lots of real work, and well, I stopped reading (sorry!). Then, a few weeks ago, I got another new job with plenty of internet cruising time, and thought to myself, I wonder if Fluid Pudding is still around…10 years later. And SURE ENOUGH, here you are! And I’m a loyal reader again.

    THANKS for still being here! I am so glad. I thought for a minute about trying to go back and read all the years I missed. For now I’m just using your links to past posts to try and fill in the gap. KUDOS on 12 years!!

  28. You rock, my friend!!! You’re awesome sauce and all kinds of other things…even though we disagree on street corn and plantains (they taste like over-ripe bananas to me, and as someone who prefers her bananas as not quite ripe to just barely ripe…well, you get my point).

  29. Have you ventured into plantain chip land? You must.

    If utis and irritation are a not super uncommon thing, I recommend Dr. Hauschka Equisetum Urinary Tract Relief. Won’t solve an infection but will keep things healthier and more comfortable otherwise. 2nd c-section caused problems in that arena for me but that formula has been really helpful. Sorry if that’s tmi.

    Happy Anniversary!!!

  30. Happy Anniversary! This is the 10th year anniversary for my blog and it’s just … crazy!

    I had no idea that there was a day with death threats…That’s HORRIBLE.

  31. Wow, that’s a long time! Congratulations! I thank you for all the funny you have brought to my reading life! You really are one of my most favorite bloggers of all time. Your quirky is appreciated and understood, (I’m making it sound like you have a quirky, not are somewhat quirky). Anyway. Thank you!

  36. Holy cow … the rattlesnake video has almost 300K hits. Happy anniversary. I’m glad you’re still around. You’re one of the last blogs I still read. And enjoy very much.

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