My back has been itchy all this week. I've used the scrub brush in the shower, usually that works very well. Not this time. I think I'm becoming a were-creature of some sort. I'd prefer a dragon but if not that some kind of big cat would do.

Seriously, have you ever wondered what really makes you itch? Beyond dead skin cells, allergies or any other medically proven excuse... what other reasons could there be for people to develop an annoying and persistent itch? Make a little story out of it.

A little seed fell down from outer space. Of course, it wasn't an ordinary seed, otherwise it would have just burnt up in Earth's atmosphere. Instead, it fell into an ordinary garden in an ordinary backyard in Ontario. The seed landed on a garden bed and luckily the gardener was watering that day. The seed was washed down into a crack in the dirt and surrounded by water. It had the chance to root and took it!

At first the gardener, who was a middle aged woman named Nancy, thought it was a very unusual weed. So she left it to grow, out of curiosity and thinking how great it would be to have something different to show off to the local garden club. It grew a lot, bigger and bigger, taking over that area of her garden. But, Nancy didn't have the heart to pull it out when it was thriving so well.

At the beginning of July she noticed a flower pod coming up. It grew quickly and took so much energy from the plant that the rest of it began to wither. Nancy added more compost and that seemed to help. The pod became thinner so that one morning as she studied it she could see inside. It looked like a little boy was all curled up in there, sitting with his arms curled around his legs looking right back, studying her!

Nancy thought it must be kind of dull for a young person to just be sitting there so patiently. So she brought out a comfortable yard chair, some books and a light for when it got dark outside. She read to the boy. Reading about pirates, mathematics and of course important things like compost and garden snails too. The boy would smile each morning as she came out to begin her watering and then sit quietly as she spent hours and hours reading to him. Nancy was so busy she forgot to feel lonely.

At the end of September the flower opened. By then it was a full grown, middle aged man who stepped out sometime during the night and waited for Nancy to venture out in the morning. The man smiled, thinking of how surprised Nancy would be. Then he looked up, way up into space, hoping for another space seed to land soon so his cat, Clover, could live with Nancy too.

Write your own space seed adventure.

I started writing as Super Noob on Lindsay's blog, Web Design for Idiots. Tonight I wrote the following as an introduction to who I am and why I'm someone who might have a reason to be writing there.

I'm posting this from my very messy desk with the TV on to my left and my nearly cold coffee at my right hand, in danger of wrecking my faithful little scanner. I'm a real woman. I'm a real, live, 40+, divorced Canadian woman, a writing legend in my own mind.

In June of 1996 I began on the Internet. I was an IRC diva for quite a long time. It was a lot of fun and most of it I really should not write about here. That's what personal blogs are all about. I wrote for a zine first, a small print publication called The Crying Clown. From there it was all online. At one point I was producing my own newsletter for writers, InkSplatters, sent out through what is now Yahoo Groups. I was a web writer for HerPlanet, BackWash, BellaOnline, Suite 101, WZ-ard.com and other sites, forums and newsletters some still living and some not. I still write for Creative Fat Grrl on LockerGnome, a babbly blog more than anything seriously functional. Writing for a network is a different educational experience than writing for yourself. Which is one reason I keep doing it.

I've had sites and then blogs of my own. I didn't begin online in the great time of blogging, I was here before that. So my first sites were put together with just HTML code as I learned and goofed it up. I've used software and I've cut and pasted code and I've hand coded my own pages. I'm not an expert, time alone isn't enough to make you an expert at web design or development. I have learned however and as I learn I see how much more there is to be explored and discovered. But, don't look to me expecting I'm a know-it-all. If I ever say that you can be sure I'm just laughing at myself.

I love creative things. I've done so many interesting forms of art, just to try them out. I made ASCII art for a few years. I continue to take digital photos of abandoned places here in Ontario, starting in 2006 when I bought my first digi camera. I'm also teaching myself to draw cartoons, some people even like them! This week I re-learned the art of cutting out paper doll chains so I could make them into a graphic for a blog. I really think it's important to keep the creativity and free writing in blogging. It would be a real shame if the personal journal and creative element of blogging were lost in the rush for SEO and money making.

Anyway, I'm here to help the less experienced blogger with my experiences. I've got a stack of great books about web design on my bookshelf and I will be using them (finally) for more than a place to hide my dust bunnies. I seem to collect books with great good intentions and then not get very far. You can also find me writing about web writing and posting writing ideas and prompts on my blog, Word Grrls.

Completely off topic... did you know that a nail file works really well if you have an itchy spot on your back that you just can't reach? I've been rubbing my back on my chair tonight wishing for something to work. Then I had the great idea for the nail file (not one of those treacherous metal ones, just some cardboard type) and that worked great!

I’ve been wracking my brain cells for an image that will give the feeling of Creative Fat Grrl to use in a link exchange. After much searching of soul and Google Images I have come up with a plan to use paper chain dolls. Do you remember those? Have you ever made one? I’m still in the drawing stages for mine but I did find interesting links and ideas for making more of your own. Maybe you will try it, again, or for the first time. It’s a simple way to create something nice.

Fancy Nancy Paper Chain Dolls has a pattern with a ruffled skirt.

Kiddley is making paper doll chains and decorating them.

Mumsgather has ballerina and boy paper chain dolls.

Stampington & Company has a chain doll pattern with braids.

Sketch & Jones has a really nice design that would be hard to cut out.

The Origami Resource Center has patterns for making a variety of paper dolls including one in a circle.

Sue has very fancy chain paper dolls photographed on Flickr.

Kraken Crafts made a paper gnome chain.

Mad Gardener has a curly haired paper doll chain.

Creative Muse has a chain with winged dolls.

In making my own this afternoon I found it crucial to have the hands a bit larger than you would choose so that the connection between each doll is strong enough to survive the unfolding. If you make any yourself please post pictures and add the link in comments here. My own pattern turned out kind of nice. :)

Ken Armstrong was posting worm songs to Twitter. Can you come up with a few more great hits in worm song history?

From Ken:

Do not fish-hook me oh my darlin' #wormsongs

One becomes Two #wormsongs

My own ideas seemed to be along a more violent bent that day.

Pop goes the birdie. #wormsongs

Dried Up by the Light. #wormsongs