Zen & the art of blogging

My new routine is, apparently, to have none. All the time I spent feeling like crappola the past couple of weeks has done a major spin on my routine. Last night I was so tired that I finally said screw it and went to bed. I think it was 8:30pm. On a Saturday night. Jeez. I've been wide awake since about 5:30am... on a Sunday morning. Kev got up briefly and then decided to give the deer a rest, so he went back to bed. I know that Joyce is planning to do a well-earned sleep-in, and likely Sammy will, too... so it's just me & Reilly, and my coffee. And the Internet. Love that Randomizer.

I'm enjoying NaBloPoMo. I haven't struggled with posting each day... I made a list of ideas for posts, in case I need inspiration. But since I don't blog to please anyone but myself, and for the enjoyment of my family (like they need yet another thing about me to laugh over!), I'm don't really concern myself with wondering if my posts are 'worthy' or 'interesting' to anyone else. How self-centered of me! I like to write & I like to read, so when I found blogs, it just worked for me. For fun. I'm glad my kids & my niece & nephew also blog, because I love reading what's on their minds and seeing how they express themselves.

The first blog I truly enjoyed was 'defective yeti' and oh my heck, that man is talented. I found his blog through a link on amazon.com, and I've been reading his blog, & his other writings on the 'net, for ages. His blog led me to other blogs, and so on and so on. It actually took me quite a while to start my own blog because of blogs like 'defective yeti'... a blog that is so entertaining and thoughtful and insightful and so damn well-written... to think about also writing a blog myself, well, it was an intimidating idea. But then I just said to myself, ah, the hell with it, and started my blog. For a long time, I didn't even tell my husband or kids about it, then for longer, not my family, and eventually, I said to myself, ah, the hell with it, and told anyone about it. Then I moved on to trying to convince my friends and family to blog, which is still a favorite pasttime of mine.

My favorite blog, not including those blogs of family members, is still 'defective yeti'... even though I have practically nothing in common with Mr. Baldwin, his writing draws me in. But anyway, I find I have very little in common with many of the bloggers I read on a regular basis. By 'in common' I'm referring to being a 46-year-old woman, wife of 23 years with a 17-year-old daughter & a 12-year-old son living in the middle of the woods in rural Michigan who is not into knitting or world travel, who prefers not to write about politics or celebrities, and so on. (Hey, if you're like me & blogging, let me know, I'd like to read your blog.) Once I did a blog search on the phrase "I'm 46" and found mostly entries like "so now I'm 46 minutes late". Ah, well. I did find the blog, 'Dept. of Nance' that way, and I enjoy her blog, but as a Republican (a middle-of-the-road Republican, I'm not passionate about being one nor am I vowing to always remain one, just so you know), I can't really seem to get into some posts by bloggers who are passionately Democrat. Or passionately Republican. I would say the only thing I'm passionate about in a political sense is being a U.S. citizen. Go USA! And I swore I'd not discuss politics on my blog, but there ya go. (Politic comments left on this blog won't be published, BTW.)

Sometimes while I eat my lunch at my desk at work, I will go into the archives of my blog and read some of my old posts. I love doing that... a 'remember when' moment that makes the rest of my workday easier, particularly on a hectic, frustrating day at the office. Sometimes, I'll go to one of my posts just so I can look at the photos of Kev, Joyce, Sam, et al. When my head is pounding at work because of something especially challenging, just looking at the many photos of those who love me helps and soothes.