How to work a carnival

Or, if you prefer, "An Exercise in discovering how blogging works."
First of all, the term "carnival" means a string of links assembled by somebody (the "host") for the purpose of spreading awareness of otherwise fairly obscure bloggers who share a commn interest. For the carnival, each participant selects from his or her blog one of their own favorite posts. This means that when you go to the links, you will not be reading the latest post for that blog, just the one that was submitted for teh carnival.
To get an idea what the blog is really like, look around at the sidebars, heading or footing and locate the "main" or "home" link. That will probably take you to the latest post by the same blogger, and give you a broader picture of what you have found.

I came across this morning - I love this title - Carnival of the Rugrats (Number Two, already!), hosted by Dolly Momma Strikes Again.

Dolly Mama Strikes Again!: "Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, step right up to the second weekly edition of the Carnival of the Rugrats! This week we have a great selection of fun kid stuff for your reading pleasure. So take a break from pie making and turkey basting to laugh and relax, ok? My fab hubby Mr. Firecrapper has done most of the reviewing of the posts since I was out of town, so a big thanks to him for helping to get this out into the blogosphere. I apologize for the 'listiness' of the delivery, but it's that or we'd be lucky to get this out to you by NEXT Monday."

The list of carnival links follows.


Actually Dolly Momma herself ("33 year old stay at home wife and mom of 6") is pretty entertaining to read. It makes me wish I were in full retirement so I could just sit and read recreational stuff all the time. Her blogroll is mostly places I have never heard of, so it must be a portal to the world of Momdom. Here is part of a post a couple of days after Thanksgiving...

I've got a mile-long list of stuff to do and I am not sure how I am going to reconcile that to reality. If I can get a chance to write and think without much clamoring going on, I may just be able to figure it all out. Since I went away last weekend, Squiggy Magoo has been loathe to let me out of his sight. He's even on high alert in his sleep. I can't get away from the child without him knowing it. I can appreciate his need for reconnection, but it's something of a slower-downer, to say the least. He's also been trying to make up for all the breastfeeding he didn't get while I was gone, and my Girls are begging for mercy by now. NO MORE NOOKIE!!!! [...] Izzy Man has barfed 3 times over the past 2 nights. I dearly hope tonight will not add another. Our poor little niece who was visiting had the same experience last night. I sure hope they didn't have 14 hours of vomiting on their way home today.

As they say, you can't make this stuff up.
It must be true.

Anyway, time permitting, go to the list and have fun. A bunch of parents blogging about raising kids is about as good as it gets in the blogosphere. There are a couple of Dads in the mix, I noticed. Haven't been to the whole list because I just don't have the time.
Submitted for your surfing entertainment.