Why blog?

People have been keeping diaries for years. Centuries even. Hmm ... 'centuries' might be a slight exaggeration. I can't really think of the earliest diary I have read or heard about. Although clearly this became more likely once literacy levels were improved and the means to physically write became more easily accessible. Regardless, can you imagine how different history would be to study if more ordinary people had kept diaries in years gone by?

I don't know about anyone else, but I think of keeping a diary and my automatic mental image goes to a young girl. Similarly, I think of someone writing their memoirs and I think of an old man and probably one who was in the military. I also have a vague picture of a sick mother writing her story for her baby who she may not see grow up. I  have to admit when I think of someone who blogs, I think of a woman automatically and probably one with children. Clearly these are all stereotypes! And I am in no way suggesting most people fit these moulds. I would be very disappointed if they did. But it is just funny the way you get embedded with stereotypes even if you don't mean to be!

I did a fascinating assignment on the diary of a Victorian working-class woman years ago. (Embarrassingly, I can't remember her name. I was very pregnant with Erin at the time. This is my excuse and I am sticking to it). I also remember being inspired to keep a journal of my all activities when I was about 9 after reading someone Lady Baden-Powell had always kept one. I kept this up until I was about 14 I think. (I am sure this will be very useful for writing my autobiography one day!). I've read 'The Diary of Anne Frank', perhaps the most famous diary of all, and a number of biographies and autobiographies. Some of which I am sure were written with the help of people's personal diaries.

But regardless of this publication of diaries and journals and letters, did any of them really ever think what they were writing was going to become public property?

So this all brings me back to the question of why blog? I have to admit I feel a little egocentric thinking that anyone will actually care about the waffle I write on here. And of course, I had to start not one but three blogs.

The flip side of this is, I love reading other people's blogs. Just about the random stuff they say and do. However at times this feels incredibly voyeuristic. Especially when I was in the 'lurking stage'. By the lurking stage I mean when I was reading blogs and reading the regularly, but didn't follow them. In all fairness, at that stage I wasn't following any blogs but this is not the point. (Hello to any lurkers I may have, please feel free to say hi). This information is obviously in the public realm and I assume people like to have their blogs read, so I am not feeling bad about this!

So why do I blog? For me I think it is about getting back into the feel of writing for fun. For enjoyment, after years of writing for study. It is a way of feeling validated. That I have something worth saying (and I don't know why my lovely followers keep reading and keep commenting, but it really makes my day when you do! Thank you). And now I am at the point where I think I am ready to start writing down some of the stories that have been haunting me for years, blogging has been a way for me to begin to write regularly. There is instant gratification with a blog post!!

Damn.  Now I have finished this, while I was re-reading (yes I do re-read even though it might not seem like it) I have a horrible feeling I may have written something like this before? I am going to hit 'publish' anyway though because I am sure it is so fabulous you all want to read it again! (Humour me on this one).

So blogland friends. Why do you blog? And how on earth to you keep track of what you have written about before and what was just something you were thinking, but never actually blogged about?

Loving it ...... and my 100th post!

Just to clarify, this not my 100th 'Loving It' post, but rather my 100th published blog post! Wow. This definitely feels like some sort of milestone and what better way to celebrate then by joining in with this week's 'Loving It'

I wholeheartedly believe that no matter what is happening in your life, there is always something that you can be thankful for... no matter how simple it is.


Joining in with Paisley Jade and reflecting on all the things I am loving particularly this week


... blogging (this has to get a mention in honour of the big 1-0-0).

... 'Harry Potter' and 'Twilight'. Not just because I enjoy them myself, but I love that it is something I share with the girls. And particularly loving them at the moment as we marathoned away our being sick time.

....caramel fudge - especially when it is bought for me by someone who loves me.

... Autumn! It is my absolute favourite season.

... countdowns. I love the anticipation that something big is happening!

... spiders! The kind that are soft drink and icecream. Not the kind with eight legs. And have I mentioned before how much fun it is to add 100s & 1000s to the mix?



What are you loving this week?

It is my great honour .....

 .... to humbly accept this Liebster award with massive amounts of thanks and astonishment! Yes, really the lovely Dizzy Lizzie from Whims & Fancies listed me as one of the five blogs she was giving this award too.

Liebster in German means...

favourite, dearest, beloved

and it's for bloggers with under 200 followers.

I am so very excited! I feel like a proper blogger now! Especially as I am still most definitely getting the hang of the whole blogging world and my presentation of the blog is disgraceful (must do something about that).

So upon receiving this award I would like to thank the following:-

• Dizzy Lizzy from Whims & Fancies for giving me this award and for commenting on my posts so I know someone out there is reading. Her blog is also funny and cute and filled with random stuff which I love.
• My followers for making me feel special just for reading despite the poor presentation, lack of photos and waffle.
• Anyone who has ever commented. The comments makes this blog feel real!
• The anonymous readers who must stumble on this blog occasionally who I see in the stats.
• Lela from It's All Good because without her I would never have thought of blogging and I wouldn't have had anyone handy to answer my blogging questions.
• My darling children, because my blog name wouldn't be as funny if I wasn't a mother, plus they are sort of cute and a big part of what I write about.

Oh, have I mentioned I am excited?!


So the rules are as follows:

1. Thank your Liebster Blog Award presenter on your blog.  
2. Link back to the blogger who awarded you.  
3. Copy and paste the blog award on your blog.  
4. Reveal your 5 blog picks.  
5. Let them know you choose them by leaving a comment.

The five blogs I would like to give the Liebster Award to are as follows.

1. Chalk & Talk
2. Between the Worlds 
3. Blessed are the Meek
4. Mrs Clark
5. Did you say six?

Picking the blogs was the hard bit! There are so many awesome ones out there.

Thank you again to all of you  for reading :)

Some announcements

1. I now have 10 followers! Thank you all for joining my journey. I am massively excited to have each and every one of you. Ask my poor friends who get a text every time I get a new one ;)

2. This is my 60th post! Some are just meaningless waffle, I do realise this, but I think a few of them might actually be amusing enough to read (please do not feel like you have to disillusion me on this one. Or if you do, and this may not be a bad thing, please be gentle!).

3. My cupcakes sucked. My thoughts after evaluating the process. Make sure you get the right about of milk and it may not have been the best idea to leave them in the oven all night. They were rock hard. The girls very kindly told me the icing was awesome though and suggested we give them to Daddy because he will eat anything. At least they are supportive! The batch I made earlier in the day (ie pre-11pm) were much, much better. I feel there is a lesson here.

4. I am going to Harry Potter 7(2) tonight! So after this I will go back to normal and I doubt Harry Potter will mentioned again for ages.

Hope all is well in your worlds and there is stuff happening that is making you happy :)

What I love about me!

Welcome to Week 2 of "What I Love About Me!" hosted by Twins Plus One, Three Times the Fun and Twingle Mommy!

Here's how it works -

Write a post about what you love about yourself this week and then add it to the linky list below. This is intended to be a time and place for each of us to stop criticizing ourselves for a few minutes and actually remind ourselves of the characteristics we are proud to own. So go ahead, look in the mirror, and see yourself through your loved one's eyes. Notice the beauty first. Here's your place to shine!

A few simple guidelines -
•Please follow the two hostesses. If you are a new follower, please comment so we can follow you too! :)
•We'd love it if you posted the button and the linky list, but it is not mandatory.
•Feel free to link to your homepage or your specific "What I Love About Me!" post. We want this to be a fun, relaxing hop so we'll accept all links as long as they are family-friendly. Thanks!
•The linky will be open all week so feel free to link-up on your own time.




Ok clearly the above bit is cut and posted from the blogs of the lovely hostesses. I really am working very hard on learning the 'tricks' of making the technical bits of blogging work! I managed the button and have finally worked out how to post a link (I think), but the list down the bottom was a bit too hard for me. I am very proud of myself for getting this far though! Check out Twins Plus One, Three Times the Fun and Twingle Mommy for more blogland people who have joined in.

What I love about me!

1. I love that I love my life. I may not have always made the right choices and there are things I wish I had done differently/could do differently now, but over all I love my life. I am slowly learning not to beat myself up over things I have done that I now regret.

2. I love that I can nap pretty much anywhere anytime. This is very useful. Especially when I am so super busy that the only thing that gets me from 5:30am to 11pm is the 10 minute power nap. It is slightly less useful if it makes me snoozey somewhere important like in a meeting. It is also slightly less useful if I nap for too long and then can't sleep at night. But over all it is a fabulous habit and one I have spent many years perfecting ;)

3. I love that I am never bored. Except in times I have totally no control over the situation but this pretty much never happens. I can usually find something to do or someone to talk to or something to think about .... or I nap. I do love to nap. My mum told me when I was about 8 only boring people get bored. I believed her. Going by this theory I might be the most exciting person in the world! Sadly, when I used this same expression on the girls, Aimee cried for 20 minutes that I said she was boring. This wasn't actually what I meant. I don't think she ever quite believed me. The girls are amazingly good at entertaining themselves though so maybe it did work.

Hmmm ... that was a lot harder then I thought! Definitely worth giving a go though :) And can I mention again I am very proud of myself for working out how to put links in at last?!

Blogetiquette ...... and Rainbows.

Part A: So, in case you have just joined me and missed my earlier post about "coming out of the cupboard" and also missed my post about paranoia. This post is a brief update. You may have noticed I have not only started publically following blogs, but I have also started commenting. Is there rules about this? Do I introduce myself? Is it just assumed I have been following (so much nicer then stalking I think) for a while before making myself known? And most importantly will anyone be offended if I say/do the wrong thing? (this is where the paranoia fits in!) If you have found me because of a random comment ... Hi!!



Part B: I love rain and I love winter and I love rainbows. I think it is safe to say that in my opinion rainbows rock. In addition to the fact they are just awesome and the sign of a never-to-be-broken promise, I have heard there is a pot of gold at the end of them. Aimee is looking for corroboration that this is in fact true. So if you happen to come across some conclusive proof … please let me know!

Edit

At my last annual performance review my boss made the observation that I need to proof read more. So did my lecturer when she marked my last essay. If I am going to be perfectly fair, I have had this comment on a fairly (read as very) large percentage of my essays over my academic career. Mostly it is because I am rushing. Usually because (for uni at least) I have left it to the last minute. Partly it is just being slack. A good percentage is because I genuinely read fast and I find it hard to force myself to read slowly and properly edit.

I have noticed I am doing the same with my blogging and it is annoying me. If I am going to write for an open audience I want to do it properly. No rushing. I don't want to have to keep editing posts because something doesn't make sense or I have made a stupid typo .... now just to see how I go!

On an unrelated note, and just to show I am not just sitting around thinking about blogging all day, I bought what I think may be an awesome dress for a wedding today! And I would also like to publicly note my grumpiness about how quickly children grow up.

PS I am now very paranoid about this post ... lol ... probably not that surprising!

**NEWSFLASH**

I got my first real comment from a real person! Sorry Lela but you don't count :) I now feel like a proper blogger. Thank you Jeanette! You have made my day :)

*End of Newsflash*

NB. I still need to work on exclamation marks.

Coming out of the cupboard

This post is going to be very brief, because I am fully aware I am procrastinating (hello uni books! I can see you!) .... but ... I have (yet another) confession! I have been a secret blog watcher for ages now. It has only been the in the last few weeks I have been brave enough to publicly follow any of them. Tonight's achievement was I actually posted a comment on one! I am very proud of myself.

Part of the reason I haven't followed was I was scared someone would actually read my blog and realise how bad it is! I love to write. I really, really do. I get so much enjoyment out of updating my facebook status (just in case you haven't noticed in my previous posts), but I just haven't found the right writing style for my blog yet. I think I am almost there.

In fact, I dislike some of my earlier posts so much I almost deleted them but I decided not to. It didn't really seem to fit with the spirit of things. I also think I was trying to be a bit too deep and meaningful. Along with blog writing style I still need to really work out what I am writing about!

So if someone out there is reading this, please stick with me! I will get better I promise :) and to all those blogs out there I have been secretly following - thank you for sharing your stories!

Stolen!!!

This post is stolen from my new blog 'Confessions of a Bookaholic'. The name really says it all! You may consider this lazy. Possibly with good reason! But I am going to call it good time-management.

"This really says it all! I love to read. I am not actually convinced there has been a day in my life in the last 25ish years where I have not read at least one page of at least one book. Usually it is a more. I read on the train on the way to work, before I go to sleep. I sometimes slip in a few chapters before getting out of bed, in the ads if I am watching tv or if I am stuck waiting somewhere.

I read all sorts of books and I have been known to boast that I have at least one book from every genre. This might not actually be true. I guess it depends on what sort of genres you can come up with! This said, some genres I like more then others as I am sure will become apparent.

Just in case you don't believe me here are some of my bookshelves scattered around the house.





And yes I do mean some. These were just the ones that were easily accessible and didn't look too messy! Clearly I also like ornaments and photos.

So ... stay tuned for more posts and reviews of what I have just read (or in many cases re-read)."

I am still not clever enough to post a link so if you are interested you will have to go via my profile!

Don't Touch That!

How many times has every parent said this to their children? Especially when they are little, and especially when they are at other people's houses or shops with very breakable stuff.

Today the message is for me. I am in the process of setting up an additional blog and thought I while I was at it I should change the look of this one too. It seemed like a good idea at the time! I have never quite got this one right. I shouldn't have touched. I know I am technologically challenged! And this was a spur of the moment thing when I knew I didn't have much time. Luckily I managed to make fix the disaster I turned it into! I will live with the way it is now until I have time to work out how to change it properly. I would like to say "lesson learned", but I think this would be a lie.

My new blog (in addition to 'Two Mummy Ducks') is a book review one. The girls and I are all avid readers and they are excited about posting their own reviews too! Other then at attempt at layout there isn't anything else there yet. But there will be!

Pretending

This is where I pretend that all the amazing posts I wrote in the last 10ish months have been deleted. Clearly this is a lie, although in my defence I have written some fabulous ones in my head. Stay tuned though for some amazing new developments in (my) blog-land!