My Husband "Subvet" says that when our first son "Sonshine" was born the sun rose on our world, when our second son "Gator" was born the sun laughed and when our daughter "Sugars" was born all the flowers bloomed. That says it all.

"Life is not about waiting for the storms to pass...
It's about learning how to dance in the rain."
Anonymous

Your mind is the garden, your
thoughts are the seeds, the harvest can either be flowers or weeds. — William
Wordsworth

Saturday, July 11, 2009

meme for a good cause.

Apparently a blogfriend of a blogfriend (y'all know how that goes) is doing some kind of bloggity research for her PHD. Being as how I haven't answered these particular questions in awhile...and I deemed them more suited to a post rather than a commet I am answering her research questions here.

So, this is from Carie at reflectionsofasheepishlion which took me 3 tries to figure out that it said "reflections of a sheepish lion"!!


I am researching mommy blogs and would be SO grateful if you would help me by commenting and answering these questions! (If you would rather, you can email me at carie.lambert@ttu.edu and submit your answers there.)

1. What is the address of your mommy blog?
2. How long have you been blogging?
3. How often do you blog?
4. Why did you begin to blog?
5. What do you blog about?
6. How many mommy blogs do you read on a weekly basis?
7. If you advertise on your mommy blog, what do you advertise (products, services, organizations—please be specific)?
8. If you have a blog other than your mommy blog, what is the subject of that blog?

Thank you for your time! I will visit your blog soon and appreciate your helping me research!

Also, (I'm adding this) How do you feel about the term MommyBlog? And did you have issues with my posting on your comment page? (I struggled with that, but I wanted to be genuine and transparent....)

I loved visiting your blogs and hope to visit again soon. So many of you have great ideas about how to enjoy life and family! :-) Thank you for sharing that with me!



1) www.texassiren.blogspot.com my husband picked it. Actually he picked my name Mightymom as well,(he also calls me NinjaNurse when the situation warrants it). When all URL versions of "My Wonderful Life" were taken he plugged in "texas siren" and here we are. This is funny to us because in 1998 he moved from Conn to Tx so pursue a relationship with me. We'd met online and I was in nursing school you see. Apparently my prowess as siren worked out pretty good!

2)Since June 16, 2007. :-) just over 2 years now.

3) whenever time and lifestyle permit. usually I spend some time on the computer either reading or writing blogposts every day. But there are times when I'll go all week without doing more than checking email and reading my comments. I use the prescheduled posts to my advantage and will often sit and write out 4 or 5 posts at a time scheduled to post once a day over the course of a week. Then all I need to do for the rest of the week is read. Since blogger is having issues with this function I have not been particularly happy.

4) 2 years ago hubby worked nights. I suffer from chronic insomnia and as a stay at home mom with a hubby who worked nights I found myself getting more and more lonely. He started blogging first....then told me about his blog...a couple months later he said "you should start a blog...I'll get you set up." and he did. I told him at the time it was great because "I felt like I had a lot to say and no one to say it to." Diana, my blogfriend, and I have often discussed how because I ask and answer questions here on a regualr basis we've gotten to know each other and relationships have been formed. Honest friendships. Those relationships were what I was lonely for and what I have gained through blogging. I don't care to have 100 hits a day or build a business or be a fabulous writer. I need friends. And I cherish each of the friendships I've made.

5) the first answer is whatever comes to mind. However, I made a goal that I would only post aspects of my life that were uplifting or funny. Raising 3 special needs kids gets rough. And I am prewired to be a complainer. I hate being around complainers though, so I chose to work on finding a funny perspective to every situation that I could. Over the 2 years this has become easier...to where, for example, when I see Sugars calmly emptying my lunchbag just moments before I need to grab it and run out the door...instead of getting angry I get my camera and wonder how I'm going to caption THAT! See yesterday's Friday Fragments post! There's enough whining in our world and precious little humor. :-) by the way...this decision to focus on the wonderful and silly aspects of my life is where the title "My Wonderful Life" came from. My life really is wonderful and I want to always show excatly how wonderful it is. I really don't care much for that Christmas movie folks keep referring to.

6) Let's see here, my reader has 27 blogs. I'm not sure what you need to be called a "mommy blog" 16 of them are written by women with children. But they don't always write about their children...and for several, their children are grown, some have grandchildren. Like me, we write about our lives. Because we are mothers parenting comes in there somewhere, but because we are women so do other things.

7) I don't advertise. I thought for awhile about doing paid posts...but they felt too fake to write and I want this to stay fun, not be a job. I AM however, in the process of doing a product review for a GREAT educational game and website that Moms and their schoolaged kids are going to love...and I'm excited that there's gonna be a GIVEAWAY attached...
STAY TUNED!!

8) with 3 kids, 2 cats, 1 husband and a full time nights job to keep track of...there's no way I need more than one blog. thank you very much!

8+) the term Mommyblog doesn't really make me feel anything. you could call my blog a mommyblog...a sewing/quiltingblog...a funnyblog....a militarysupportblog...or any other label you want. Just like sticking a label on my kids doesn't change who they are or what their potential will be, sticking one on my blog doesn't make any difference either.

8++) issues with you posting on my comment page???? HUH?? GEEZ, I work hard to GET people to comment! as the old lady at the top says "would it kill you to comment?"

Carie, thanks for your interview...I was happy to answer your questions. I hope that your research is fruitful. Feel free to quote me on anything...so long as you site my blog as reference...and let me know so I can go and see my name in lights. :-)

to my friends, if you feel so inclined...I hereby tag you with this MommyBlogResearchMeme. Eh, grad school is tough...help a gal out!

6 comments:

Stephanie D said...

Although my blog truly is "scraps" of my life, I don't post much about my daughter, at her request, so don't consider myself a "mommyblogger". So I'll have to decline the invitation.

But it was fun to read your answers!

Lisa said...

This was an interesting questionaire thingy to read -- both for your answers (which were really good and informative), and for the speculation going on in my mind the whole time about why a PHd candidate would ask these particular questions, and what is she hoping to draw from them... Hmmmm.... Do we get to read the dissertation?

... said...

i love the way you worded #6. and i like your reasoning on #8a, but i don't like the term mommy blog because it does stereo type a blogger. i know there are some blogs specific to mommys - how to, resources, specific topics such as potty training - but i think most bloggers are mothers and write on a variety of subjects, just like you mentioned.

i love the friendships, too =)

Diane@Diane's Place said...

I'm a mommy and a blogger, but I don't consider myself a mommy blogger any more than I consider myself a recipe blogger or a humor blogger or any other label anybody tries to hang on me. I just blog about my life and what's going on at the time, much as you do.

Happy weekend, although you're probably working through it. ;o)

xoxoxoxo

ABNPOPPA said...

As the ONLY man save Subvet who responds to this blog I will take up the challenge after church today. 'sides, sounds like fun.

Pops

Mrs4444 said...

MM, I think this is my favorite post of yours ever-seriously. I really enjoyed reading about your reasons for blogging (and the vulnerability you shared). I also liked hearing how it all started, how you met your hubs, and about your writing philosophy. Thanks! :)