My 100th Blog Post!

Just realized this milestone was here...99 items posted on this little blog-o-mine so far. And with this post, I am into triple digits!!!

I think I've been at this blogging thing for something like 10 weeks now - and I'm finding it very freeing and thought provoking and amusing and fun.  I like the writing - it's like the stuff I used to write in letters when I was in college.  I would sit in class and take notes, follow along in the book, and write letters to my high school friends.  I enjoy the writing when it comes out easily but I struggle when I want to write something that takes more effort, but all in all, once I'm writing, I'm happy about it. 

What I didn't expect was that other people would read my blog and leave such nice and friendly and interesting comments that I would look forward to opening my email every morning, not just to see what real life friends and family may have emailed me, but to see what my new blog-friends had to say.  It is a thrill to be read ... I didn't really know to expect that. 

I love to tell stories.  I love to share my observations about certain things.  I also tend to vent when I get irritated.  But what has been really great is to have a place to write down the crap floating around in my head, particularly if I can get them out before that crap starts to really spin and tangle itself up.  It organizes my thoughts to explain whatever is starting to spin and it frees up space in my head to get those thoughts out.  And often I can let certain threads go, once they are out there.  This blog has done a lot already to bring a much more relaxed vibe to my thought processes and boy did I need it!

Here's to another 100!

Mama Kat's Weekly Writing Challenge

When I first started this blog (a whopping five weeks ago), I found several blogs that provide writing prompts, and I totally thought I'd be using those prompts for posts all.the.time.  Boy was I wrong.  I've looked at many, tried a few, but never finished a post (well, except for the Small Stones and, ten days in, that is HARD)...well, here we go with the first, from Mama Kat 

Many of us like to poke fun at some of the things that drive us crazy as parents…let’s flip the script, what are 10 things you love about motherhood?

In no particular order:
1.  I love hearing "mama" from my girls, and to a lesser extent "mom" or "mommy", knowing that it means only me.
2.  I love looking at my girls and knowing as sure as I know anything in the world that I had a major role in creating them (by which I also acknowledge how they are also creating themselves every minute of every day).
3.  I love kissing them goodnight, even when I think I might have to resort to duct tape and zip ties to keep them in bed (kidding!)
4.  I love those moments, either later at night or early in the morning, when I am up drinking my coffee and the rest of the house is still asleep, knowing the best things in my life are safe and warm in their beds.
5.  I love that my eyes now have the power to find anything that is lost, my hands have the power to bring calm to panicked children, and my kiss has the power to heal just about anything - who knew I was a superhero?
6.  I love that I have (so far) raised my girls to believe they can do anything in their lives and that what they do or become does not have to be the same as anyone else's.
7.  I love having a hand to hold, no matter where I am.
8.  I love watching my children participate in whatever activities they take part in.
9.  I love sharing my love of reading with my children.
10.  I love the perspective and lessons that come with motherhood - knowing that nothing else is as important as my family, and that nothing is more important to being a parent than being there for my children.

Grief and Loss

I just read a couple posts by Lynda at http://www.lganhouraway.com/ and I wanted to pass the link along to anyone who is reading this.  If you have ever lived through, or ever will live through, grief and loss, I expect her words will speak to you as they did to me.  It sounds like Lynda is living through some awful times right now and yet she writes so beautifully...

If nothing else - take a read and leave her a comment, so that she knows she is surrounded by people who are experiencing her pain with her through her writing.

My Turn to "Award It Forward"

Earlier this week, Masked Mom tagged me with The Versatile Blogger Award (thank you again!).  The rules were that if you accept the award, you write a post listing 7 things about yourself, and then pass the award along to fifteen other bloggers...

I wrote my post here but I had no idea how to pass the award along to others...so this the second half of my award acceptance speech...in which I will attempt to award some of the other blogs I have recently discovered...here goes!



is being awarded to:

A very funny blogger at The Witty Biddy

A blogger who inspires me with ideas on the 100 Words challenges at Julia's Place

A very established blogger who makes me snort diet Coke out my nose on a regular basis at The Bloggess

An amazing blogger who writes about all kinds of stuff at Bringing Borya Home

Just another Jennifer blogger, who entertains me at anotherjennifer

A blogger/reader who makes me wish I had more time to read at The Intrepid Reader

OK folks, that's what I've got.  Suppose I need to shoot over now and tell them the big news eh?  Check out their blogs when you get the chance!

Woo Hoo for an Award!

I was just kindly tagged with "The Versatile Blogger" award by Masked Mom.  The requirements of this amazing award are that I list 7 things about myself, and that I pass the award along to a bunch of others.  By a bunch, I mean probably a bigger number than I have on my "blogs I read" list but I'll give it a go. 

First things first:  here's my award!



Now here are my seven things:

1.  I haven't a clue what I'm doing with this blogging thing, besides my fingers chasing my stream of consciousness.  This post includes two firsts - my first attempt to "link" a blog or a post, and my first attempt to paste in an image.  I'm definitely learning as I go along.

2.  I have been in the midst of a "what do I want to be when I grow up - because it sure ain't THIS" crisis for about eighteen months now. 

3.  I dreamed of having something like Facebook for decades - where I could pop on, look up people that floated through my brain and see where they are and what they are doing, with no pressure whatsoever to insert myself into their life.  I love it.

4.  I am a very grateful person, and I have no trouble listing a hundred ways in which I am blessed every day of my life.  Which is saying something since I'm also a terrible pessimist who tries to hide by calling myself a realist.

5.  I swear like a sailor, and I enjoy it most of the time.  And count myself lucky that my kids have not followed suit...yet...

6.  In my dreams, I can sing like a Broadway star.  At best I am a solid chorus singer with a limited range, but when I am alone in my car, I have been known to pretend otherwise.

7.  I hope one day to spend 3-6 months a year in a house-with-a-view on the island side of Puget Sound. 

Thanks again Masked Mom for the award!  It brightened my day immensely.  I will do the awarding it forward tonight.

Daily check in

I wanted to post something every day for a while, to establish a pattern or habit for myself, and also to keep anyone that is interested in reading this blog with fresh reading materials. 

So let's recap what's been going on since I started.  I've been a blogger now for a week.  Just having a blog and writing stuff - does that make me a blogger?  Do I have to have a "mission statement"?  Is my blog format too boring?  Would it be better if I added in a photo or two or six?  Yes, I am well into the 'way more questions than answers' phase! 

For now, I plan to keep writing and I'm not planning much else.  I feel horribly insecure about things - what I'm writing and who is reading it.  I do not want to hurt anyone's feelings at all - I'm trying hard just to relate things as I recall them and note the feelings I felt then and/or now about them, so I'm not spending an enormous amount of energy on editing myself.  I hope if/when the day comes that something I blabbed about is problematic for someone else, it resolves itself without any resentments. 

With that, it's been a long day and I'm reading to watch the finale of The Amazing Race.  To be continued...

And away we go!

Post #1 - let's hope I'm not obsessive enough to keep that little habit going...

The reason for this post is to get some thoughts out of my head and onto paper. Not sure why but there are words bottling up in there that just need to be released. Here they are...

I have what I would call a pretty simple life: husband, two kids, job, house, dog, two cats. But it is a series of contradictions - particularly since I love my family and my life with as much passion as I sometimes miss my single life and the freedoms that came with it in the 37 years before the husband and then children arrived. Another example: I'm a lawyer and I mostly love my job, but I equally hate controversy and confrontation.

I don't think I can possible be the only one that lives in a world of contradiction. How we dance along those balance beams, trying to move from one side of the issue to the other, while maintaining our balance on both, is fascinating!

Thought for my day today: I love flash mobs that sing the Hallelujah Chorus or some Christmas song. I want to be in a flash mob that sings the Hallelujah Chorus or some Christmas song and am just waiting for the call...