Once upon a time the hostess with the most-ess went digital. She founded a blog, and created an online persona who is both warm and welcoming, and a little irreverent but always with a twinkle in her virtual eye, and became the center of a vast online community of bloggers who may not all share the same world view, but do share an addiction to her games, questions, and weekend meet-n-greets.

She is Michele, and last week she issued a challenge to her readers: Write a 50-word fairy tale, and then vote on her top three picks. The winner will be featured as her Site of the Day – a feature in which she invites her readership to check out someone else’s blog. If you’ve seen comments that say “Michele sent me” on this or other blogs, you’ve run into her readers.

I’ve been honored. My story is among the three chosen for the vote. Please go here to check out all three, and vote on your favorite.

And tell Michele that MissMeliss sent you :)

…to all my Jewish friends who began celebrating Rosh Hashana at sundown last night.

(Video is work-safe content-wise, but requires sound.)

Scroll down for Thursday 13.

Thirteen Things about MissMeliss, brought to you by the letter R Rabbits – I’ve always wanted one as a pet, but Fuzzy keeps reminding me that Miss Cleo would view such a creature as lunch. I enjoy watching wild rabbits on the lawn, when I have the opportunity, generally when we visit his family in South Dakota. Raccoons – Three of them the size of Ewoks raced across our lawn a few weeks ago as we were coming home from CSz. I like raccoons, they’re adorable, and dangerously clever. Radiators – Central heat is great, and I like my bathroom space heaters, and the baseboard heaters I’ve had, but there’s something really cozy about one of those radiators under the window – you could warm your socks on them, or dry out wet shoes beneath them. Railroads – We’ve been playing Ticket to Ride a lot, which I enjoy because I’m a railroad buff, thanks to my grandfather who got me hooked on model railroads. I like full-scale railroads, too, however, and have fond memories of my friends and I sitting in the top of the Georgetown Loop caboose. Rain – No other sort of weather inspires me as much as rain does. I like sunshine in reasonable doses, but rain is my absolute favorite, whether it’s a light, cooling mist, or a heavy downpour, or a whole day of on-and-off rain and clouds, so that I can make soup and turn on the table lamps before evening. Rattan – I like the texture of rattan rugs, and the casual artiness of rattan furniture. I was once treated to a lesson on the difference between rattan and wicker, but I don’t remember the fine points any more. Reading – I’ve been a bookworm since dirt, really. I read in the bathroom, the tub, bed, the couch, the car, planes, the back yard, the kitchen table, wherever I happen to be. I also read a very quickly. Right now, I’m reading Bright Lights, Big Ass Recipes – The first time through, I do exactly what they say. After that, recipes become just a guideline for me. Right now, I’m looking for the perfect butter cookie recipe, one that can be infused with lemon and still be sweet enough as a tea biscuit. Anyone have something that might work? Rhubarb – Fuzzy’s favorite pie is strawberry rhubarb. I’m allergic to strawberries, but I like the rhubarb part. His sister-in-law makes an amazing rhubarb cobbler. Ribbons – I’ve had long-ish hair most of my life, so I have a special attachment to hair ribbons, but I also like package ribbons, and decorative ribbons, and I even thread lengths of ribbon through my Christmas tree each year, as filler. Riddles – brain-teasers, puzzles, guessing games, I love riddles. There’s a dark, quirky movie called Nemesis Game that wasn’t particularly good, but had riddle solving as an important part of the plot, and that, and the fact that it starred Adrian Paul were enough to give me a reason to watch it. I’ve seen worse films. Oh, and riddle me this: The poor have it. The rich want it. God fears it. It is more evil than demons. If you eat it, you will die. What is it? Roadsters – Nothing appeals to me more than a vintage roadster with the top down, tunes cranked, and the ocean outside the car window. Think Eric Carmen’s “Make Me Lose Control” for cheesy mood music. Rockets – I love rockets. It doesn’t matter if they’re a NASA project or a back yard model, there’s something just seriously cool about counting down to blast-off.

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We all have them – those drawers in the kitchen that don’t hold knives or wooden spoons, or even potato chip bag clips, but instead provide a home for all those odds and ends we keep thinking we might use some day, and never do.

Mine is the drawer in the wet bar, under the counter where I have the coffee maker set up. I have no use for a wet bar, but I’ve often fantasized about installing a restaurant-quality espresso machine in the space. For now, my regular coffee maker will have to do.

Within our drawer, the “junk” drawer, we have expired coupons for products we don’t use, boxes of flea and heartworm medicine for the dogs, stray and possibly stale batteries, a spare garage door opener, an assortment of less-than-pristine rubber bands (I think the wide purple one might have once adorned broccoli), a package of birthday candles, and four – FOUR! – unopened boxes of peppermint altoids.

How do I know this? Because today I had cause to rifle through said drawer while hunting for the one item I expected to be there, that was not: the scotch tape.

What’s in YOUR junk drawer?

The air conditioner does not cool, even when the thermostat is set to 60, if the power part of the controls are set to “off” instead of “cool.”

I’m eagerly awaiting my en route order from BPAL despite the fact that I tallied my collection of imps a couple weeks ago, and found that I had 96 different scents, plus bottles of a bunch of Limited Edition and Lunacy scents, plus one General Catalogue scent – Intrigue – and then today I found a handful of little tubes I hadn’t tallied, had not, in fact even removed from the last box, which was still sitting on my dresser from when I pulled “Singing Moon” out of it a few weeks ago.

If there was a sort of drug rehab equivalent for perfume, I would probably be an excellent candidate. At this point, I’m spending almost as much at Black Phoenix as I am on books. And we all know about my addiction to books.

Actually, I’m very proud of myself for ordering a mere three bottles from the last release, though my next bunch of blog money will probably be spent on some of the Halloween scents.

Yesterday I wore Intrigue.
Today I’m wearing Thunder Moon.

I find these perfumes to be incredibly inspiring – the descriptions as well as the scents.

The leaves danced in the trees today and the sun was shining with joyous delight, for the air was cool and the crispness of fall was evident in every breath of fresh air. As I write this, the outside temperature, according to weather.com, is a cool, soothing, seventy degrees.

Three things happened today.

First, I had a long talk with myself, after receiving a link from my mother to a literary agency comprised almost entirely of women, one of whom I really feel clickage with. She specializes in fiction that is dark and/or quirky, and I’m tired of having all the work associated with my name be work stuff, essays, and stand-alone stories. So I’m feeling inspired and as I work best with strict deadlines, plan to have drafts of my proposal and sample chapters out to friends by the end of the month so that I can have it ready to send as a query by Halloween.

Second, I found the inspiration and the hook to weave, or braid, to borrow a phrase from a friend (and thanks, Julia-dahling, for loaning me your husband over the phone tonight. I needed to have a long chat with someone who would let me babble and geek out with me, and stuff.) my vignettes and stories together. Actually BPAL’s lunacies are one of the inspirations as well.

Third, I asked for, and was granted very graciously, hiatus from ComedySportz. No, nothing tragic happened. I’ve just got a lot of personal stuff going on, and all my creative energy is going Write, Write, Write, and I need to focus on that for a while.

But the pink hair is staying :)

I just got off the phone with my mortgage company. They’d sent a letter that made me panic momentarily, but the woman I spoke with straightened everything out and reassured me, and was extremely warm and outgoing, and we actually had a real conversation, for which I hope she doesn’t get in trouble.

I know it sounds weird to say that I had a delightful conversation with a person in a call center, but you see, we talked about books. I mentioned that I’m a writer and that I love my job, but had been frustrated because of my wire not showing up until after Labor Day – not my boss’s fault, the bank cut short their wire hours – and stuff like that.

She asked, “What do you write?”

I explained what I did and she shared that she writes romances and mysteries, and asked me for my web address, so that she could leave a note and tell me who she is, and I hope she does because she seemed like a really interesting person, and I’d love to know if I’ve read her work and maybe interview her for Bibliotica. She is also a former employee of that big financial company whose name rhymes with Pretty Tank.

I told her that I was working on getting my cafe series ready to query agents with and told her a bit about it, and she seemed really receptive to the concept, which is good, because it’s one thing to hear such things from your friends and family but quite another to hear it from a total stranger.

And so, with renewed vigor, I am writing reviews this afternoon, and later tonight, I will eat steak and salad, and work on my own writing, after taking for the dogs for walkies, which I’d planned to skip today because my knee is a bit sore, but the weather is divine, and being outside should not be missed.

Okay, time for more coffee.
Then, back to work!