No pressure...just my first post.

The question I always want to ask a blogger is: why did you start blogging? So, to put your minds at ease I figured I would make my very first blog post about just that, "WHY AM I DOING THIS?"

Many events have flipped my world upside down over the past couple of years but most recently, the birth of my first child has changed my way of life completely.  After dabbling with the idea of going back to work and trying it out part-time for a couple of weeks, I decided that being a full-time mommy was the job for me.  So I quit my job and 10 months later I'm desperately searching for an outlet to link me back up with society, intellectually stimulate me and challenge my creative side.  Once upon a time my family/friends (the F of Family), job and cooking (the F of Food) were the answer to all those desires but then I became a full time mom and the majority of my day turned into being spent at home with a baby who communicates by "gah gah goo goo", cuddles and slobbers.  Don't get me wrong, I love the baby talk and cuddles (not so much the slobbers), but I need more.  I repeat, I NEED MORE.  Is it so wrong to say that?  Please tell me someone else feels this too.

I was hesitant to start blogging for many reasons, 1) I have never considered myself a writer. Yes I wrote all my essays in high school and college and didn't score badly on them, but it wasn't my favorite subject.  2) I'm hesitant to open myself up to the cyber world.  There's a lot of you out there and I don't know anything about you; that has SCARY written all over it.  Plus I consider myself to be a private person.  3) I hate the idea of being cliche and I feel like a stay-at-home mom starting a blog is about as cliche as you can get.

If I was so hesitant to start a blog, then why did I actually start it?  Something you will catch on to very fast is that I am a multi-tasker. At the beginning of my mommy days, most of my time was spent nursing my baby.  That meant, while he was eating around the clock (seriously, it was 2/3 of my day) I was trying to find something else to do with "my" time (I use "my" because that time obviously wasn't all mine, it was my baby's too). I was stuck to a chair and could only use one hand so that doesn't leave many options.  Luckily I had just entered the world of smart phones a couple months earlier (yes I know, I am WAY late to the smart phone world, but as my husband says, I was trying to "stick it to the man").  With a smart phone that easily fit in the palm of my hand and a flexible thumb, my time went to two things, 1) reading my Bible app, and 2) searching for blogs that spoke to me.

My goal with the Bible app quickly became to read through the Bible, cover-to-cover, as I had never done that before in my life.  We'll get to that in more detail when we talk about the F of Faith, but just to let you know, I'm in the book of Proverbs right now.  In my blog search, two quickly became my favorites, The Pioneer Woman and The Small Things Blog.  Pioneer Woman, because she's an Okie (as am I) and I had recently been taken out of my home state (for good reasons...this is the F of Football) and enjoyed reminiscing on the good 'ol days.  Plus its Pioneer Woman, who doesn't love her sense of humor and delicious recipes?! Kate, at the Small Things Blog because I was immediately drawn to her authentic, sweet personality and her easy to follow hair tutorials (I'm a mess in the hair department).  And it just so happened that as I was finishing up my pregnancy she was beginning hers, so it was like walking down Memory Lane.  These women (and many other blog-hers out there) helped get me through those early days of motherhood that really test you.  Granted, my mother also played a big role in getting me through those days (thanks Mom!) but the blog world also played an integral part.

They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, so Ree and Kate I hope you are flattered.  I want to be like you.  Not in the sense that I want to copy your blog or steal your ideas (although I will make your recipes Ree and try your hairstyles Kate), but in the sense that I want to help someone else get through some of their hardest days.  Whether those days are motherhood or some other trying task, I hope you continue along this journey with me.  Seriously I hope you do continue...I promise not every blog will be this wordy, yikes!