HAPPY BLOG BIRTHDAY TO ME!

A few days ago I was curious about how long I've been doing this blog, so I looked up my first post and it was exactly one year ago, at the end of January!! It doesn't seem that long at all, I was really surprised!

I remember trying to get on the Blogher roll list & after applying I received a gentle note saying that I was not posting often enough to merit that honor. I felt pretty silly because I had been kind of proud of my once-a-month posting & thought I was being pretty industrious to do that much. I wondered how in the world anyone could sit down at their computer & write any more often than that!

Then came the November Nablopomo & I posted every single day for the month! I was hooked after that! Something changed in me & my writing by doing that challenge. It made me begin to look around every day for ideas & pictures & fun stories. (I think I may be using the "&" too much huh?) I loved it!

Something else changed as time went on. Just now, I went back to read my first 2 posts & they sound pretty different than I do now. I bet that would be true of most of us. I did not know how to "speak" to such a wide....as in http://www....audience/. (Ha!, using those 3 letters together automatically makes it an internet address! Yikes, wonder where it would send you!) Anyway, when I was picturing the entire world reading my blog, it was more than a bit daunting! So instead of writing something fresh, those first 2 posts are actually old articles I had written years earlier for our local small town paper on the church page. It may be my imagination, but they "sound" different than I am writing to you now.

So Happy 1 Year Birthday to me! I now have a bunch of new friends that I never would have known without the world of blogging. It really is a warm & encouraging place here with all of you. Recently I told my friends & students that I have another blogsite other than FaceBook, but I told them that the address will remain my secret for now. Hee hee! It's still fun to have a place of my own, ya know? So wonder where I can find some cake to celebrate myself?! :)

On another subject:
Yesterday our Leadership Team all went out to the school where my friend Joyce created that beautiful cross I told you about! We had not been out to see it in person as a group yet. So here is a pic of the backsides of our team since I have not asked permission to publicize them! Ha!

Added after published: I just noticed that this birthday post is my 100th post! Cool!

I DID IT! YAY ME!

Woo-hoo! I DID IT! NaBloPoMo! I posted 30 posts in 30 days! Yay me! It was really interesting to see my mind get changed regarding blogging as the days went by. I found myself intentionally watching & listening for blog material every where I went. Waiting in the car for my hubby to run an errand became a treat because it gave me a few moments of alone quietness to ponder stuff. I started writing little notes to myself when a fun idea hit me.



Blogging gave me an opportunity to share my heart in a brand new arena to brand new people! I saved up stories & questions for future postings. My life is rich with adventures & events & I am anxious to find ways to share my lessons learned & to let you laugh at me in the non-lesson type stories that fill my personal journals.



Reading everyone else's posts has been a wonderful education & entertainment unending. We are a world of varied people with tons of stories, messages & kooky insights that continue to uplift & surprise me. I know that there are no guaranteed prizes in this writing challenge but it has been totally rewarding to me & I'm glad I did it!

Writing About Writing

The picture above has nothing to do with this blog post, I just thought it was funny.

We are on DAY 24 of NaBloPoMo! Only 6 more days & posts to go! It has been fun & challenging for me & I hope to keep it up at least every other day if I can. My dream used to be about becoming a newspaper columnist. I went to a writers mini conference & heard a professional columnist describe his job. He wrote one article a week & it was sent out to 20 different newspapers & they all paid him!

Money was not really my main motivation though. I just loved writing but never imagined my name on a book cover or movie script. I loved the idea of putting fresh words out there every week & having an audience with feedback & some kind of relationship going on. Like Dave Barry or Erma Bombeck. I used to clip her columns out all the time. (You younger ones may not recognize her name, but she was hilarious & very real.)

As it turned out I was able to realize this fantasy for several years but not in the way you may expect. I was a pastors wife for 10 years in a very small California town. The local newspaper had a once a week Church Page for the pastors to write about their Sunday sermons & make church announcements. I did not ask permission of anyone at the paper but I just grabbed that little chance & ran with it! I sent in a weekly column about life's' turns & funny experiences & seeing God in all kinds of situations.

After taking my two sons to school in the mornings I would sit in front of my computer & type away. I loved the deadline of it, the column had to be in the editors hands before 2pm on Tuesday each week. I was a very busy mom & church leader. I organized the ladies activities, taught the children's church, ran a local ministerial wives group, typed the weekly bulletin, went to an exercise class, drove a carpool, met with a small group in my home each week, etc.. But I managed to fit the writing in for nearly 8 years.

People in the community would comment on the column when we met & I loved the attention it gave me. One lady even told me that she cut it out & put it on her fridge!! Woo-hoo! I now have a binder of those articles, both the originals on regular paper & a copy of the newspaper printouts.

The other day I was thinking about how so many of my friends are seriously going after their life-long dreams & wondered what happened to my dream. I really love my job a lot but it is not my dream job. My dream job would be to write short snippets of words that cheer someone up or brighten their day or make them at least chuckle a little bit. I don't want a book with my name on it that will gather dust on someones shelf. I want my words to be fresh & real & honest & living. And then I realized that blogging is the new column writing! We are all sending our fresh words out into cyberspace to be loved or ignored, saved or deleted by strangers who we may never see face to face. I would love to think my words made a difference in the life of a reader but that again is not my motivation. I write because I have to, because the words are swirling around in my head & heart & they need to be released. NaBloPoMo has forced me to write everyday & put my words out there for all to see. And I am enjoying the process very much, even as I catch myself daydreaming about what to write next, or thinking about how something will work for my blog even as I am living it! At least cyberspace doesn't get thrown into the trash the next day!

Too Old To Care?

Okay, I am really wanting to read all the new stuff my friends have been posting, but if I do that before writing, I may look up & see that too many hours have dissappeared & then I will have ruined my NaBloPoMo challenge of writing every single day for a month! So here's what's on my mind.....

The other day I was struggling with the fun job of eyebrow plucking. For a glasses wearer it is pretty tricky. Can't see the tiny hairs clearly without the specs on, but when they are on, they are in the way! I suddenly recalled a momment in a drugstore with my little sister when we were about 8 & 10 years old. We were looking at some crazy magnified glasses that had the ability to fold down one eye lense at a time. I remember laughing at them & telling my sister that by the time we got so old that we could not see clearly, we would not really be caring about our looks anymore!

Well, that day has arrived & I still care hugely about how I look. I'm still wanting to look put together & at least as nearly fashionable as I can. I often wonder if I care too much. A lot of energy & thought goes into my hair, weight, shoes, clothes & make-up. I don't feel guilty about it, but just try to keep it balanced you know?

I work with young people every day. Gorgeous, skinny, creative young things who look amazing even when they are late for school & still have pillow creases on their faces! Did that sound jealous? I'm not....but I now understand that old saying I used to hear, about how "youth is wasted on the young!". Ha! Maybe part of their beauty is their lack of awareness of it!

I have momments of feeling beautiful. But more often, my morning getting-ready routine ends with me looking in the mirror & saying "Oh well, that'll have to do!".
Of course if my glasses are still sitting on the dresser, the mirror is my best friend! Wonder where I can find some of those crazy glasses.

Here Goes....

Okay, I have my fresh box of Jujy Fruits, a hot cup of coffee, laundry has been put away & the house is warm & cozy while the rain comes down outside my window. I think I am ready to try the NaBloPoMo contest at last! I will try to write a blog every single day for the month of November. Sounds fun & challenging! (Click on title to see.)
I just got home from our Super Walmart & it was totally crazy in there! It is a rainy Saturday in a small town & I guess that is THE place to go! I usually avoid it at all costs on the week end but we had some very urgent needs, TP & coffee! What can I say? Urgent is urgent in some cases. I think our Super walmart is the next best thing to a mall for a place to hang out & meet friends. At least for teens, they were clogging up all the lines & aisles. Pretty sad to realize that the SW is the best place to hang out in town huh?
It is pretty wonderful to be able to buy food, hair goo, hardware, garden stuff,tools, paint,craft supplies, furniture & videos all in the same place though. I don't ever find clothes there that I like, they tend to look like the same things in better stores but when you try them on it just feels cheaper & hangs weirdly on the body.
It is the main place that my hubby & I use our cell phones consistently. We split up to get the things that we need then call each other to meet up somewhere. It's a huge place & I used to get all huffy when I would circle & circle to find him staring at a motorcycle magazine. Now we just call & then I get huffy cause his phone always sends me to voicemail!