What is that smell?

This whole blog thing is a very new concept to me. Of course I have heard about all the variations of the blogging world and read a few here and there, but I haven't really jumped into it. So, here I am at a place where my husband's urging intersects with an inner resonation and I am blogging. I just spent the better part of an hour checking out other blogs. Classic move for me--checking out how it is "supposed" to be done. And several of them leave me with blog envy. Blog envy is a first cousin to a host of other envies. Pretty much the whole family leaves you thinking that you should pack up the bags and go home. Get out of the game. How many games have I sidelined myself as a result. This reeks of Satan's handiwork. The quote "comparisons are odious" comes to mind. I have that quote linked to Madeline L'Engle in my mind, but like many things in my mind, there is no telling why the link is there. So, a bit of research and it is obvious that the phrase has been around much longer than Madeline. (Side note: I love how we do this in so many arenas--ascribe origin according to our frame of reference when it has been around for a very long time. I had NO idea that "I Will Always Love You," which I have firmly tied to Whitney Houston, was originally written and performed by Dolly Parton.) So, here is what I found on "comparisons are odious":

The earliest recorded use of this phrase appears to be by John Lydgate in his Debate between the horse, goose, and sheep, circa 1440:
"Odyous of olde been comparisonis, And of comparisonis engendyrd is haterede."
It was used by several authors later, notably Cervantes, Christopher Marlowe and John Donne.
In Much Ado About Nothing, Shakespeare gives Dogberry the line 'comparisons are odorous'. It seems he was using this ironically, knowing it to be a misuse of what would have been a well known phrase by 1598/99 when the play was written."

I think that about sums it up.