Jeez Louise!!!

I am totally new to the blog game. I haven't read many. EVER. And as you all know, I just started this one last Thursday and it is my first blog (as evidenced by its extreme amatuerishness). But since it was somewhat inspired by other mommy blogs, I thought I would take some time to read through some of the ones that had initially turned me off as well as some of the buzz surrounding them. What I read has made me contemplate abandoning this pursuit entirely. There is some really mean stuff out there in cyber space, my friends. Because I want to distance myself as far as possible from the negativity that exists among mommy bloggers and their readers/critics, I want to make some things clear right up front. My problems with the few mommy blogs that I have read are MY PROBLEMS, not theirs. They stem mostly from my own jealousy and insecurity. There. I've said it.

I actually admire these women. I envy their energy and strength of conviction. I think homeschooling is awesome! I wish I had the energy to grow veggies in my backyard and cook them up in creative ways that would make my children beg for second helpings. And cloth diapers... well, I really don't want anything to do with cloth diapers (hey, I know my limitations). The point is: I don't want this blog to be about bringing others down just to build myself up.

My vision is this: that any mom might read and enjoy the "Other Mommy" blogs and then if and/or when she reaches the point where she is feeling discouraged she can click over to Lazy Moms Unite and read about my "purse muffin" (pictured above). The sight of the disgusting mess I found in my handbag this morning will help restore her to a place of confidence and security knowing that at least she (unlike me) had not left a muffin in her purse from a lunch she had with her hubby over a month ago.

The Mess I Didn't Know About

Yesterday I was feeling pretty low. I read some mommy blogs in the morning. I sometimes stumble on a mommy blog and it catches my eye as it is intended to do with it's artful photos of adorable kids and animals or beautifully photographed platters of gourmet dishes. I'll peruse the posts and maybe even copy a recipe or two. But yesterday when I felt like going back to bed before my kids had even had breakfast, I realized that the mommy blog had left me feeling depressed.

This was not the first time this had happened. I won't name any names because these bloggers didn't do anything to intentionally harm me or anyone else. They were just going about their beautiful, witty, environmentally conscious lives sharing the highlights with anyone who chose to read about them. When I complained on my facebook status of my "mommy blog funk", several friends responded. Some thought I was talking about them (LOL!) and others sympathized with my quandary. Who are these women and why do their blogs make us feel so incompetent as moms?

One friend pointed out (very accurately I think) that one problem is that the "pretty mommy blogs" are probably not altogether accurate depictions of the day to day life of those households. You know, the ones where mom homeschools, serves only gourmet, organic meals, her kids never watch TV, and her house is always clean (as evidenced by the impeccable photography of the beautiful children in various rooms of the immaculate house). In the words of my friend, "About the immaculate house... I'm willing to bet that is a lie because anytime there is even one child present there is some law of physics that says there must be at least two messes, one of which you don't even know about yet."

Well, I don't know about the "Other Moms' " houses but I do know this Mess Law is at work in my house. The photograph above is an excellent illustration of a "mess I did not know about". Last summer we decided to move the furniture around in my oldest child's room. This is the first time we had done this in about 5 years so we expected some messiness under and behind the furniture. Nothing prepared us for what we found behind the dresser. The pink spots near the baseboard with an electrical cord stuck to them are gum. And yes those two things stuck higher on the wall are dixie cups. We never did determine what made them stick to the wall independently like that. Maybe I should go move the furniture around and vacuum in there now. No... the baby is sleeping. Why would I waste a perfectly good nap opportunity?

It's beginning to look a lot like...Christmas?

It's nearly March and I haven't put away my Christmas decorations. The tree finally came down a week or so before Mardi Gras but then I needed to get tissue to wrap some of the fragile ornaments. Took me a week or two to get around to picking some up. As you can see, I now have the tissue but am not moving quickly on getting that wrapping done. And now, thanks to blogging, I have another outlet for procrastination! Maybe by Easter. Don't hold your breath.