A major advantage of blogging: I can have a few scattered instances of intelligence and a multitude of off-days, and still get credit for being thought-provoking.

Nobody has to know how dumb I am on those off-days, how I run run run on my hamster wheel and then trip over myself and spill over the side, landing face-first in my bowl of nuts and seeds, accidentally biting myself with my sharp little rodent teeth and crying in the corner of my cage because I feel stupid.

Here’s proof: Schmutzie, who (among many other virtues) has a beautiful new masthead, has bestowed upon me a Thinking Blogger Award.

Schmutzie, I’d like to publicly thank you for a timely stroking of my ego. You’re hot! If you weren’t already married…okay, enough with the creepy. Instead, here are five of my favorite posts from Milkmoney Or Not, Here I Come. Just because.

#659: If the ham’s satanic, you know what to do with it.

#448: First I was angry, and then I was sad, and then I grew up a little more.

#463: Dead pet photos! One time only!

#620: A deep dark hole filled with cats and home repair.

#670: Was and now.

The Thinking Blogger Award bestows tremendous power and responsibility upon me. I am now charged with the task of passing on this award to five other bloggers who make me think. Also there are rules.

Rules first:

1. If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think.

2. Link to this post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme.

3. Optional: Proudly display the ‘Thinking Blogger Award’ with a link to the post that you wrote.

Awards second:

I am impressed with the thinking ability of writers who can alter my mood, switch my brain from the track it was on, make me change my perspective when I wasn’t expecting it. The following people have taken me out of my daily mire of emotion and beauracracy into their own unique worlds, again and again. They do it quickly, imaginatively, and with great humor.

Mimi Smartypants
Salami Tsunami
Here Be Hippogriffs
Amalah
Citizen of the Month

And I’m pretty sure none of them read my blog, so this may be a dead end for the Thinking Blogger Award meme. But at least my faithful readers get renewed nudges in these five directions.