Comments...what to do?

So I have a bit of a quandary (awesome word, eh?) that I thought I'd post about in case anyone reading wants to share their thoughts with me re: particular problem. This quandary is related to comments in response to my blog posts, which I LOVE to read, by the way -- comments make me feel HAPPY! I love to get em, love to read em -- they make me feel like someone cares! Silly, I know, but true just the same. Anyway, back to my quandary -- because the comments definitely aren't the problem, well at least not directly.

I'm still pretty green at this blogging stuff -- clueless, really. So much about blogging is new to me and I haven't come close to figuring out all the ins and outs... which, in a very round about way, leads me once again back to the quandary to which I keep referring. OK, here it comes... just about there... wait for it...

THE QUANDARY: when someone makes a comment on my blog, and I want to respond to that comment, do I respond back to them beneath their comment in my own blog? Or should I be sending an email? Or do I post something randomly on their blog? How does that work exactly? WHAT SHOULD I DO??? Because it seems to me that if I respond in my own blog beneath their comment they may never see said response.

I'm just thinking about me and my own brain and lack of retentive memory function (I blame the kids, of course), but if I comment on someone' blog post, first off, I don't always remember that I made a comment and second, I don't remember to recheck said post for a response to my comment.

I'm thinking I should send an email. But then it looks like I ignored the post all together. Is there Blog Etiquette? Is there a right way to manage this issue? Am I just being stupid? Nevermind, don't answer that last question. Just help me out with my little blog quandary...