A shout out thank you note to my homies the nice people who link to me

If I made New Year's Resolutions, and I don't, one resolution I'd make would be to catch up on my correspondence.

At this point, I'm 12 or 13 years behind. This means I'll never catch up on the thank-you notes.

The weird thing is, I collect etiquette books. And I'm not just the president of Hair Club for Men; I'm a client. I read those etiquette books. I know the rules. I realize I should be writing thank-you notes for presents and dinner parties and such.

But I'm so organizationally-challenged that finding a pen that writes, some pretty writing paper, and stamps with the right amount of postage is well-nigh impossible for me. Just ask anyone who got a Christmas card from me.

How many of you received a card from Poppy? How many received it before Christmas? How many of you noticed that your card had a 37 cent stamp on it? (With some penny stamps added.) Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I rest my case.

Anyway. If you were supposed to send thank-you notes for Internet favors, I would owe these fine bloggers a note. Because I checked out my stats. And the following are the top twenty wonderful bloggers who keep sending the clicks my way.

1. Mamarazzi (but that doesn't really count, since I'm one of the writers.)
2. Badger at Badger Meets World. This is very cool, because she's the one who got me into blogging in the first place. Yay Badger the enabler!
3. Susie Sunshine, who, alas, has gone pro and no longer posts to her delightful blog. One of the first "big name" blogging gals who linked to me.
4. RW formerly at Chasing Vincenzo, now at 1stepbeyond. A fellow Chicago blogger with a deservedly big fan base.
5. Joke at Same Thing But Different. Another long-time internet pal from way back when Usenet was big. Before blogging. Before FaceBook. Can you hear my knees creaking, children?
6. Sarah at lemon life. Another Chicago blogger, who chucked life in the la-dee-dah North Shore and moved to Colorado.
7. Blackbird at Say La Vee. Incredible blogger--blogs almost daily, so I stalk her. We have partied in real life. She has wined and dined me at her eponymous restaurant in Chicago. She has met my husband. Also my brother HENRY.
8. Jen Lancaster of Jennsylvania. OK, this is where I get incredibly dorky. I spotted someone holding a copy of Bitter is the New Black when I was boarding a flight at Midway airport and totally humiliated my son by saying, loudly, "I know her! She's a friend of mine!" I could have added "and she links to me," but people were beginning to stare. So I'll say it now. SHE LINKS TO ME.
9. Elizabeth of Suburban Cupcake and the late, lamented Preppy Cafe. She isn't blogging much these days, but she's still sending people by. I hope she starts blogging again soon. In the mean time, I'm sending her pink and green thoughtwaves.
10. Spring at Serenity. Oof, what a year she's had. Let's hope 2008 is lots more fun.
11. Nobody comments more than Flutter at Flutterby me Garden. Just watch out for her when you're on your way to the DMV.
12. Sarah Louise at pink sneakers n'at--a librarian h great taste in books who still finds the time to read me, bless her.
13. Boomama, who runs an annual Christmas tour of homes. I'd never read her blog, but when I found out about the Christmas tour, I ran over there and added my link. Like the shameless attention whore I am. And what a response! I mean, hello, she only starting sending people over here in December, and she's in the top 20 for the entire year. You should check her out--she's a great, self-deprecating writer, and her blog is a really fun read.
14. Jennifer at Jen on the Edge whom I heart for so many reasons, but especially because we're both going through an insane fix-up-the-house period. If you've ever tried to redo your kitchen and not pop for new cabinets, you need to read this post.
15. Diesel at Humor Blogs, a site I joined way back when, based on a fundamental misunderstanding on his part: that this is a humor blog. Unfortunately, this is more of a Poppy Cracks Herself Up blog, so I'm not very active over there ... but Diesel, I'll be back reviewing any day now. Just as soon as I finish writing my thank-you notes.
16. Denise at Do You Have That in My Size? writes about many of the things that drive me crazy, too, like our shared tendency to be plumper than we'd like.
17. jessalogic at Days Go By is freezing her ass off in Nova Scotia! It's cold and dreary and Christmas is over. Send her some love!
18. Now that I'm addicted to House, M.D., I have even more respect bordering on reverence for anyone doing a hospital rotation. Especially one who who just had a baby. Hello? I'm still recovering form childbirth, and my youngest is 10. Therefore, I am honored to be getting clicky love from the kilowatthour.
19. Kim from Sydney at All Consuming. Her blog is home-like, yet exotic. And when she writes about food, it's drool-worthy.
20. Diesel again, this time at his main blog, The Mattress Police.

Thanks and Happy New Year to all of you!