Why Blog?

I had a lovely chat with one of my girlfriends the other day and I mentioned my blog. She is not an internet person (her words, not mine) and she was not really aware of how common blogging has become. The thing that stuck with me though, was her question about why?

Why do I blog? I guess for me it is therapeutic, a way to get everything out of my head. No different that the journals or diaries I kept all of my life, except this one is public! Unfortunately for those of you who read it -sometimes that means you are reading my rambling thoughts, not well put together at all.

Having my thoughts out on the internet is different that when I kept a written journal. The differences include many positive and some negative results. Positive in that my family and friends can read about my journey, my family and our life; so it keeps us more connected than if we had to rely on phone calls or letters. The only negative aspect would be that I find it necessary to censor to some extent, based on who might read what I have to say -thus taking away a tool for venting. I personally find that the positives far outweigh the negatives in the differences between a written journal and a blog.

Do I blog for others? Not really. My blog is really about capturing my life and documenting the little things that happen or feelings that I have. One really neat thing is that at the end of the year -I print my blog into a bound book (like a photo book) and then it is available for me to keep and look at in print- forever, just like those other journals! Does that mean I don't want others to read it -absolutely not! Being a sensitive person, I have had to teach myself over the last years that it doesn't matter if people comment, since the blog is really for me. I still sometimes wonder when I see that 26 people have read a post, but there are no comments -was I too boring? was it something I said or didn't say? I am a people pleaser at heart and I want everyone to be happy, yet when it comes right down to it -I don't write for the comments {although I do love to read them}.

I am excited that my kids are blogging too. It excites me because it is their chance to say what they are thinking, in their own unedited words, through their own process. I have always felt that journaling made me a better writer, storyteller and reader and I hope that it helps them too.

I have been working on a journaling jar. For the boys, but also for me. It has slips of paper with prompts on it.. sometimes things to research, favorite memories, what do you think of.. that kind of things. Hopefully it will help us all continue to write and share, even when our days consist of hanging out, swimming and such. That is when it is hard to blog... when you feel like there is nothing to say. I get stuck in that rut sometimes.. where I just regurgitate up the events of the day, as opposed to writing a story to be read. I will admit that I like those posts the least, the ones that don't deviate from basically an itinerary of my day. In an effort to avoid them -we will try the journaling jar!

Tuesday wasn't too bad a day around here. I was REALLY SORE from the gym on Monday, although I am still planning to go back today to that class {because I am out of my mind?}. That meant that once I got done working in Jackson's class, finishing my work and taking the dogs to the park -I was done. The other organizing, cleaning, etc. would have to wait since walking, bending, hell -breathing, hurt. So I called up my mom & we headed to a matinee! We saw Angels and Demons and it was good. I always want to study my religion in more detail after a movie like that.. maybe that will be a good summer project? I stopped at Sams to get the things I needed: paper towels, paper plates, toilet paper, beer, rolls and most importantly coffee!

One other thing.... at Sams I bought a 60 pack of shop towels. I am going to put them in the kitchen and bathrooms to use instead of paper towels. We'll see how well that works. It came about because on Memorial day I saw that Trish had a neat rack (turns out to be a wine rack repurposed) with towels in the kitchen. We had a spill, she wiped it up.. no garbage! So I decided to give it a try. $15.62 for 60 towels (which I have since wash & dried) to be put out tomorrow.. vs. 12 pack paper towels (90 sheets/roll) for $18. Hopefully we can save some money and be more friendly to the enviroment {seems to be my new catch phrase, huh?}.