True gathered items from our walks and made this fly swatter. Yes, it is a fly swatter. I don’t think it is ready to be patented, but it’s a start. Trial and error, right?!
Thank you for allowing me to vent in my last post. Some of you were even to sweet to say it was unnecessary, but for me it was quite necessary. You see when I have the bad side of me comes out, or the messes I know are behind a picture, I personally feel somewhat misleading to make it all look so peachy. It always isn’t, but being mom is a role I chose and with all the craziness of it, I do want to find the beauty and joy in it, even in moments I don’t feel it.
There are so many other aspects of blogging I think about, one in particular is the privacy of my children, which one of you mentioned in the comments. They know I blog. I explain what it is and they are familiar with other blogs out there and they even know the blog I am not a fan of. They like to read my blog and look at the pictures. Heck! Sometimes they will make something (see above creation) and then ask me to take a picture of it and put it on my blog. I don’t think they understand exactly what a blog is and who reads my blog, but I tell them that a lot of people know about them. If you met them in real life, oh gosh, they are super shy! When it comes of stories of them and pictures, I try to think the stories I share publicly about them and about my journey through motherhood are stories they will like to read someday. Yes, they will read those meltdowns one day and know mommy wanted to runaway sometimes, but those will be good things for them to know too. I am not the first mother ever, so everything I go through on a daily basis are all the same things most of you mothers, grandmothers, and eventual mothers go through.
There is only one story of them that I did delete because while it provided a laugh and I wanted to share it to show that my kids don’t always cooperate in front of the camera, it was a photo one of them probably wouldn’t want out in the internet later, though I will still make sure it is part of her wedding slideshow because she will be much more mature at that point to be able to laugh at herself. Some of you know which picture I am talking about. I do personally try to be careful to not post pictures of them sans clothes as cute as kids are running around naked, which happen a lot around here. I think Glow’s birthday picture are one of the few pictures of one of them baring more skin (yes, I know that’s spelled wrong). Unfortunately there are some people out there with not good intentions, so as much as my life is already online, that is something I really try to beware of and censor. That’s just what feels right for me and my family.
There is honestly so much more I would love to talk about in regards to blogging. It’s a new phenomenon and kind of random. As I read blogs I think lots of questions go through my head regarding what’s going on behind the scenes. Not that everything we are curious about is any of our business, but it’s just natural curiosity. Also, I have heard stories of people meeting some bloggers and those bloggers aren’t as friendly as their online personas portray. It’s unfortunate, but maybe they were having a bad day. Everyone is allowed that and some people mesh with certain personalities better. I am sure you can catch me on a bad day and you might just hate my guts afterwards. Or if you heard me in the parking lot trying to get all the kids in the car. Yup. Totally Mrs. Impatient over here! You wouldn’t be a fan.
Before this turns into another novel, if you have any random thoughts or questions regarding blogging, feel free to ask. If it is something I think worth addressing, I will do so in another post. I have all these emotional blogging thoughts of late and maybe it’s because Aunt Flo is here or maybe it’s just because I feel slightly suffocated by certain aspects of the blog world. It’s dangerous and beautiful. They key is to strike a balance. Other than that, again I am thankful for you and this wonderful community in cyberspace.
I promise next post will be much lighter. xoxo
I don’t think I’ve left many comments- especially for how long I’ve read your blog.
Yours is one of my favorites b/c of how open you are about your faith (there is no guessing if you are a Christian or not) and I love your honesty (about the craziness of mothering, fights with your husband, messes). I do not blog or have much of an online presence (only a pintrest account really) b/c of many reasons you’ve mentioned in these two posts. Personally, I wouldn’t be able to strike a balance and would way over share. 🙂
Last year I got interested in reading a pretty well known blog. After a few months I started feeling like a total loser- I was planning on homeschooling my Kinder and seeing the set up these people had to homeschool- a whole huge room, bookcase upon bookcase full of curriculum. And I felt like I just wouldn’t be able to homeschool b/c there was no way I’d be able to replicate that. I think I read for a few more months and then one day I thought to myself why am I reading this? It only makes me feel like a loser and stresses me out. That isn’t reality, it isn’t mine, and I doubt it is theirs. That’s why I like how you keep reminding your readers that what we see here is only a slice of your life. And that your life is messy too.
Blessings,
Jordan
thanks jordan! i always get nervous posting about these things because i don’t if i am over sharing or over analyze things, so i appreciate you (and many others) reiterating my feelings.
My Princess is the same, although older than your girls she has always known that I blog, and like your girls will sometimes ask to read something she knows I have put on there or ask me to post something she has done, like “My Mum” poem she wrote me recently! My blog is my journal of our life which is what yours is too. I don’t see the harm in having children being blogged about, they are our life after all!
I love hearing about your life and your girls, it doesn’t mean I’m nosy, it just means I’m, interested in other people and their lives, as most of us are.
Blogging forever! Rachael xo
i gotta say, i’m really curious as to which blog you don’t like!
I think it is definitely something to be careful of when blogging about your children. I always get nervous of how I post my sons because there are so people out there who will think they are handsome guys and want to hurt them. My boys are just learning about how people are not so nice out there. Today at a soccer game, my 5 year old grabbed his coach’s hand and I had to later explain to him to not do that since we don’t really know or trust the coach at this point. It is hard to explain to them. My boys read blogs with me. They adore seeing your girls, but they do it as “yey these girls are funny! We want to be their friends” and not anything else. They are homeschooled and don’t have a lot of friends and just like being around other kids too. I have met people through the internet in the past too and have had issues where they don’t seem to be as they make themselves to be, and it is pretty sad, because I try to be me always, blogging, commenting, reality. :: sigh :: I can understand your woes.
Anyway, yes, that is a unique and creative “fly swatter”.
I’ve been blogging for almost a year now and I have been struggling lately on whether or not to continue. Sometimes I feel so funny sharing personal stories (not too personal) with people whom I may never ever meet in real life… Blogging is such a funny thing, I think.
I am totally with you! Blogging is funny and so random. A bunch of strangers peeking into each other world’s. It’s dangerous, beautiful, and definitely random.
I love reading your blog…it’s light and fun, and real. I admit there are times I swoon over the fact you have room for a hammock inside (so jealous! lol), or sigh over the fact that you are blessed to be able to stay home with your sweet girls full time, or even that you can run (to be honest I hate running, but beyond that hurt my back and now running is out anyway). But I could also do that over the fact that my neighbor has a beautiful garden which I could never achieve, or that my mother flew to Germany and I couldn’t go too, or that the lady in Target had the coolest blue in her hair and I’m too chicken to do it too. It happens, but I am also so excited to see my daughter learning to read, or see my son play his heart out on the soccer field, or laugh with my hubby over some silly thing that happened with his students, and I realize those are my precious moments…moments that someone else might see from a distance and wish for.
I blog, though lately things have been so busy that I haven’t had time to write much. For me, I’m still trying to figure it all out. The mechanics of running the blog itself (layouts, building an audience, content, maybe sponsors down the road, etc), how open to be about our life (i.e. kids names or no?), blah, blah, blah. It’s been nearly 2 months since I’ve had real time to blog, and I miss it. Hopefully now that the craziness of the summer is winding down and the kids (and hubby & I!) have settled into the school schedule and routine I think I will stop feeling like my world is spinning out of control constantly and I am barely hanging on. Then I can share more about the crazy little slice of life happening in my corner of the world and hopefully continue to build on some of the budding friendships in the blogosphere.
Thanks for sharing what you share & what’s in your heart. I always enjoy reading what’s happening over at Cakies, and yes, will always swoon over the fact you have a hammock in your house, because that is just awesome. 🙂
I realize, on some level, that bloggers edit, they curate in order to maintain their “brand identity” (as much as it makes me want to barf to use those words!!) Still, it’s nice to hear that publicly acknowledged, to be reminded that other parents, particularly ones who we hold up as models, often fall short of the mark. It helps us be kinder to ourselves I think.
Anyway, a source of endless curiosity for me is how the “pros” get stuff done while their kids are underfoot. In addition to maintaining your blog, you homeschool, and I asume that you also keep your house clean, and cook meals for your family.
I can barely even wash my breakfast dishes while my two-year-old is awake without her losing it totally, so I’m really curious to know strategies other mothers employ to get stuff done while the kids are awake.
Do you have a series of magical tricks to get them to be calm and peaceful while you do stuff? Do they just naturally keep themselves busy? Do you sit them in front of the TV? Do you just pop in a pair of earplugs and hope for the best?