Short Story Shorter

Can you make a statement on any topic in just 7 words? It's harder than it looks, but apparently it can be done. I have never been known for my ability to keep things short and sweet, but I salute anyone who can, like former president George W. Bush who was able to sum up President Trump's inauguration in just 5 words; "That was some weird shit." What else needs to be said really?

So when the wonderful Karen from Baking in a Tornado gave me the opportunity to join forces with her and try to make our statements short and sweet I jumped at the chance. This isn't a new idea by any means, but that didn't mean we didn't have a heap of fun along the way. Credit must be given to Coach Daddy who runs this as a regular challenge using 6 word answers, and was part of the inspiration behind us deciding to give it a go.

So the idea behind this challenge is pretty simple. Karen and I each came up with a heap of different topics, and we each have to say something on all of the topics in 7 words. No more, no less which is quite difficult for both Karen and I. Be sure to visit Karen's website after this to get her take on the topics as well.

1. April showers

Mean winter is on its way soon

2. Doing laundry

Is it legal to go naked yet?

3. The joy of toddlers

You're saying I'm meant to enjoy this?

4. Do you ever get enough sleep?

No, because I sleep with barnacle girl.

5. Could you last a day without internet?

I lasted 13 years so why not? 

6. Weekends

Still mean work because of my daughter

7. What's your reaction when you see a spider in the house?

How long until Miss K starts screaming?

8. How do you feel about getting older?

I just keep getting better with age.

9. What's your favourite form of exercise?

Does pushing my luck count as exercise?

10.Apply a parenting lesson to politics

Nappies and politicians should be changed regularly

11. What is something you feel naked without?

My handbag, it stores my entire life.

12. What is the weirdest thing you have eaten?

Probably chicken feed pellets as a kid

13. Your best parenting advice to new parents

It gets easier I promise, just breathe.

14. Time travel

I'd go back and meet Oscar Wilde

15. What would your superpower be?

Eyes in the back of my head.

16. Dieting

Is for suckers, pass me the chocolate.

17. What makes a best friend?

Someone who knows you inside and out

18. What is your least favourite chore

I absolutely loathe having to do dishes.

19. Which is better, sweet or savoury?

Sweets will always win in my eyes.

20. What is the best invention ever? 

Milky coffee - without it life is sluggish

Whew, that took more counting on my fingers than I am prepared to admit to right now, but there you have it. If any of you have alternate answers to any of the questions, I'd love to hear them in the comments below. Also don't forget to visit Karen's blog and check out her answers too. 

New Year New Goals

Happy New Year everyone! I know I'm a bit late to the party, but I have spent the last four days trying to make some big decisions, and I wanted to have all my ducks in a row before I came here to talk about it. The start of a new year is always a good time to set new goals for the  year and decide where you want to go for the coming months. I've never been really good at resolutions, I either set unreasonable goals, or I don't plan properly, and things fall apart really fast. So as I was lying in bed the other night, wondering if my 2 hour nap earlier in the day was the reason I couldn't sleep, I decided to spend my time wisely and write down what I wanted to happen this year.

I knew that in order to be successful, I would need to be as specific as possible in what I want to achieve, I would also need to be realistic. I can't be a millionaire by the end of the year, but I may be better equipped to handle running a household on a limited budget. I won't be able to fit into a bikini, but maybe I can have a healthier lifestyle. It is these distinctions that I hope will lead to success. For more tips on setting goals check out this awesome post by the Empress of Dirt

My goals for 2016
Below are the big goals I decided on initially

• Become more organised
• Quit smoking
• Lose weight
• Manage my money better
• Grow my blog

Now those goals are too broad on their own, so I needed to refine them further and make them more achievable. Below is the more specific list of goals.

• Learn to manage my house like a pro, and become better at time management
• Be a non-smoker by the middle of the year
• Learn to love exercise and healthy living
• Find a budgeting system that works for me, and be closer to being debt free by the end of the year
• Increase my page views to 500 per week, and start writing more regularly

Now all of these things appear to be achievable. They are clearly outlined, and there are definite destinations to reach. Now all I needed to do is break all of these goals down into even smaller chunks, to make them less daunting and easier to implement. Below are just some of the smaller goals involved in the bigger goals.

Manage the house like a pro & time management

• Set up a manageable cleaning schedule and stick to it
• Implement a one in, one out system to reduce clutter
• Aim to send at least one bag per week to the charity stores
• Create a personal planner system and use it
• Write to do lists, shopping lists, cleaning lists, list lists, anything to make objectives clear.

Become a non-smoker

• Try patches
• Try gum again if I have to (I really hate the gum)
• Discuss my desire to quit with my doctor, get help
• Find a quit app that helps
• Learn different ways to distract myself when the urges hit
• Talk to other people who have quit, and see what worked for them.
• If I slip up, keep trying, don't give up giving up until I get there

Love exercise and healthy living

• Cut down on the junk food (notice I didn't say stop entirely, even I realise that's an impossible task)
• Start exercising regularly
• Get outside and run around with Miss K
• Start snacking on healthy options
• Use the fitness app on my phone

Find a budgeting system and be closer to being debt free by the end of the year

• Research budgeting systems, and find or make one that works 
• Find different ways to bring extra income into the house
• Quitting smoking will save $6,700 per year (woo hoo)
• Organise payment plans for all outstanding debts

Increase my page views and write regularly

• Create a bank of writing ideas for when inspiration is lacking
• Start writing posts in advance when I am feeling creative to help fill in the blanks if I'm having a slow week
• Set aside time for writing every day/every other day

So that's how all of my goals have been broken down so far. I am already implementing some of my ideas, and I hope to share my progress here with you guys over the coming weeks. Of course a lot of the time I'm not going to be reinventing the wheels, so I'll be including links to resources if ever I come up with something that works. If you check out my Pinterest boards, I've already started pinning a heap of stuff which I plan to use regularly. 

Have any of you set any goals to achieve this year? Do you have any tips to share on how to make this journey happen? Please leave a comment below and let me know.

The year that was 2015

I figured I should probably do a post where I discuss everything that was 2015. Unfortunately for me my memory is based purely on what I can find on my Facebook news feed (thank's mummy brain) so that's actually a tricky thing to do.

A lot happened this year that I just didn't bring up here, parts because it was too hard (or against the law) to discuss on such a public medium, and others I simply didn't know if it was even worth mentioning. I'll talk about some of it here now, simply because these things made up such a large part of me during the year, and because you're all such wonderful friends I feel I should share them with you.

The first and best thing I did all year was start writing again after taking 12 months away from blogging. I had gotten to the point in February of last year where I really didn't know what I wanted this place to be. I'd spent a lot of time crawling around a frightening website called Get Off My Internet, where readers would spend all their time slamming bloggers from around the world, including some that I absolutely loved. A lot of their vitriol was aimed at "mommy bloggers" which terrified me at the time because that was what I identified as, and the thought of being the target of their disgust paralysed me whenever I tried to write. I spoke to some of them, to try to understand what made mommy bloggers so hated, and thankfully I seemed to be avoiding the biggest pitfalls of the genre, but that didn't really make me want to write any more. So I walked away for a while, spent some time not writing at all, deciding whether I was really prepared to be such a large target, and also questioning what I wanted this place to be. It was a chance conversation with the wonderful Tamara over at Confessions of a Part-Time Working Mom that got me to dust off my keyboard and come back here. She was so encouraging at the time, and I consider her a great friend, despite the fact that there are several thousand kilometres separating us.

The other friendship I got to rekindle once I came back to blogging was my friendship with the indefatigable Karen over at Baking in a Tornado. She is a huge tube of glue for a large group of us bloggers, and she has managed to create a wonderful community full of welcoming and supporting people, all of whom I love.  I am actually going to be doing a guest post over at Karen's website early next year, so you need to keep an eye out for me over there, where I attempt to be a food blogger for the day. You won't be disappointed, I promise. Karen has had her own struggles this year, but through it all she has supported me through everything I am about to discuss, we have had lots of late night email conversations where we commiserate the state of our respective lives and try to prop each other up. She is one of the most beautiful souls I have ever had the privilege to know.

But it wasn't all rainbows and smiles this past year. There were lots of hard moments, times when I wondered the point of continuing anything, and times I even broke for a little while. I quit my job at the beginning of October, and have been living an incredibly hobo-esque life ever since. I found it became too hard to balance a job and my life as a parent, and my health began to suffer. Although life has become slightly harder to afford since I gave up work, I still don't regret my decision, and feel it may have been the best thing I could have done. At this stage I have no plans to work until Miss K starts school in 2017

 I had several significant fights with Miss K's dad, we attempted mediation, and nearly ended up suing the pants off each other for custody of Miss K. Luckily we managed to get past all of the horrible fights and hurt feelings, and we've even managed to draw up joint consent orders without having to spend $40,000 on lawyers fees. We come to the end of the year at an albeit slightly tenuous position, but reunited in our attempts to parent Miss K the best way we both can.  It hasn't been a smooth road for my little family, and we're still trying to paper over all the cracks we've created this year, but I have hope for us. I may discuss the process we went through next year, just to share with any of you who are dealing with your own custody battles, because whatever you're going through, you're never alone.

But through all the tears, the smiles, the fights, the boredom and the frustration I have felt incredibly blessed. I can't say this was the best year of my life, because that can only mean it's all down hill from here, but despite all the crap, it was a good year. I feel stronger than ever before, and I have faith that I can cope with whatever 2016 has to throw at me.

So I will definitely be back next year, I promise no more holidays for me, and hopefully there will even be some growth around here in the new year. This website has already become more than I ever thought it could be when I first started it three years ago, and I thank every company that gave me an opportunity to speak for them this year. Hopefully there will be more opportunities to come, so stick around and see where we end up.

Happy New Year.

Almost almost famous

So one day, many many years ago, (or three years ago for anyone who always needs specifics) I wrote this post about what I had originally wanted for this website. I complained that the blog was three months old, and that people needed to start recognising my obvious talents already. Well three years have passed since I started this home away from home, and while many things have changed over that time, the change I hadn't even seen coming has been my attitude towards getting noticed. Which made a series of events which happened this week, and my reaction to said events all the more surprising. Allow me to elaborate.

So on Monday morning I was enjoying a peaceful coffee with mum, Miss K was safely dumped on handed over to the capable staff at her kindergarten for the day and I was enjoying the unseasonably warm day (I loves me an El Nino weather pattern.) My phone pinged to let me know I had received an email, so I reached over to it and opened my email app. Had I realised what awaited me at the other end of that notification sound, I would have put my phone on the floor and taken to it with a well placed foot. (OK not really, I can't survive without my phone)

I had received an email from a gentleman advising he wanted to discuss my blog for ABC 7:30 and asking for my mobile number. Now normally I don't hand my phone number out willy nilly to total strangers, but I was feeling good in my warm spot on the couch, so I figured what was the harm. At the time I didn't really pay attention to where he was from, because ABC 7:30 made no sense to me, so I just assumed it was another website I'd just not heard about. I've never really had my finger on the pulse of what's popular. The next thing I knew, I had a voicemail message telling me that he wanted to interview me for the 7:30 Report on channel ABC. For any of my wonderful non-Australian readers (and for any Aussies who don't really watch ABC because art shows and documentaries are not your cup of tea) the 7:30 Report is a national current affairs program which runs nightly on TV. Despite the fact that I stopped watching ABC when they swapped most of their kids programs to a dedicated second channel, I still recognised the name of the program when he mentioned it in the message, and immediately began to freak out. Mum saw the slack jawed look on my face as I hung up my phone, and immediately began to think I'd just received a message that someone was dead. So when I told her what the message really was, her face mirrored mine. If we were at a carnival I'm sure people would have started dropping balls in our mouth in order to try to win a poorly made stuffed animal. (I'll just leave that mental image right there for you.)

Eventually I got over my initial shock and called the guy back. We ended up chatting for about twenty minutes about this blog, and the blogging culture in Australia as a whole. At the end of the interview he told me he wanted to interview me on camera for a report they were going to run on mum blogs in Australia, and while I thought his report was probably several years too late, given the mum blogging craze really reached its peak quite some time ago I agreed to allow him to send a crew over to my house. We ended our conversation and then reality hit me. At some stage during the week (I didn't get proper confirmation of dates or times until the next day) a crew were going to descend on my house, filled with its mountain of rubbish we haven't gotten around to taking to the rubbish tip yet, and mail piles full of letters dating back possibly two years, inhabited by a slightly overweight single mum with terrible teeth, and expect to film something that Australians would actually want to watch. I don't know if there is a person in the world capable of that level of magic. They wanted to film me and Miss K interacting as part of some action shots as well, and the thought crossed my mind to just make her do the entire interview on my behalf, given she is never at a loss for words, and she knows she is the most fabulous person in the world, but I figured they probably wouldn't think that idea was as awesome as I did. So I set about panicking.

I spent the next three days trying to clean the house, while trying not to laugh, cry and throw up all at the same time. I called family members, I went to my blogging friends, I even got on Google trying to find something to calm my ever increasing nerves. I made note of the fact that you shouldn't wear red, black or white on television, as none of those colours are flattering apparently. I also found out that you should wear blue because it's the best colour for creating a healthy looking complexion. This caused a new panic for me because I own a total of one blue t-shirt and it is covered in permanent ink. Not exactly the image I wanted to convey as a blogger/mum who has her shit together in her own mind but nowhere else. Thanks to Google I also discovered there is no diet or exercise plan that helps you lose the equivalent of a small child from your behind in three days (thanks scientists).  I was contacted by the producer who was actually going to be running the circus, and I'm sure he immediately regretted contacting me when the barrage of questions came, especially the one where I admitted that I do not actually own a single item of make up at all. (I am sure that by admitting that fact on such a public forum I am now going to lose my female card any day now.) He did his best to reassure me, and was kind enough not to laugh at my increasing mania.

The day before the interview, I was taking a short break cleaning up the many piles of junk which have accumulated on any and all available surfaces, when another email came through. Before I even opened it, I sensed that I already knew what it was going to be, and sure enough, it was from the original producer who I had spoken to on Monday, telling me that unfortunately they had to pull the story because there were issues with another part of it. I sat for a second waiting for the disappointment to come, but all I could feel was relief. I was relieved that I could stop cleaning, I was relieved that I didn't have to feel ashamed because I don't wear makeup, I was relieved I didn't have to worry about exactly how fat I would look on a wide screen television, and I was relieved I wasn't going to be famous. (OK I wasn't really expecting two minutes of screen time on one current affairs show to really be my ticket to the big league, but fifteen seconds of fame is still fifteen seconds of fame.)

It has occurred to me over the three years that I have been the proud owner of Searching for Sanity that what I originally thought I wanted with the fame, the recognition and the book deal, isn't actually what I want at all. What I really want is what I have right now. A forum to place all the crazy stuff that floats around in my head, and a handful of loyal (if very quiet) readers who have found this place, liked the look of all the madness, and just made themselves at home on my lumpy couch.  With fame and/or recognition comes expectations, and expectations mean work. I am just too lazy for all of that stuff, and that isn't about to change. I like that to you guys I am just words on a page, and the occasional weird picture. I like that my mum is still my biggest fan, and I can always tell when she's visited my site because it shows up in my stats that someone googled the blog name, despite the fact that if she just typed the first three letters into the address line up the top it would come straight up. So for now, and possibly forever I will remain almost famous, but as long as I have this place and you guys, that is the best thing to be, so thank you.

I know a lot of my blogger friends and possibly some of you who don't have your own websites have actually gotten past the scheduling part of getting onto TV, and have actually managed to get their mugs onto the screen, so if any of you have stories of your fifteen minutes of fame, I'd love to hear them. Let me live vicariously through you guys please, I promise I'll totally be your biggest fan.

A special care package

So I've said time and time again how wonderful the women I share the blog swaps with are. They're such a supportive and loving group of women, it's impossible not to feel special being a part of this group of women.

One woman in particular has become a very special friend over the past few months. We chat on a weekly basis over Facebook and email, we go to each other when we're feeling stuck or uninspired with a current blog post, and even when we've got problems in our day to day life. She's been a sympathetic ear and an awesome cheerleader for months now, and I am pleased to consider her a friend. I'm talking about the unstoppable Tamara at Confessions of a Part Time Working Mom.

Recently during one of our conversations I mentioned how jealous I was that she had free access to all the Swiss chocolate she could ever want (given that she is a Swiss native). One of the more expensive chocolates in Australia is Lindt chocolate, which in Switzerland is as cheap as Cadbury chocolate is in Australia. This got us talking about the different foods each of our countries had that were unique. In the end we decided to do each other up a small care package of national foods. We gave each other hints as to what foods would be best, and went on our merry ways. I spent weeks getting my care package together because unfortunately for Tamara one of the foods she especially requested seems to have been discontinued right before I started shopping for her, so I had to find a suitable replacement.

Shipping my parcel was especially exciting for me because I've never had to mail a package overseas, the farthest any of my mail has ever gone has always been between the shores of Australia, so I had no idea what I was doing when I went to my local post office. Luckily the woman who served me helped me go through the customs paperwork and I was in and out in less than 10 minutes. Then all I had to do was sit back and wait for my parcel to arrive.

Well I arrived home yesterday morning from dropping Miss K off with her father for the weekend to find a pretty gold parcel waiting for me on my coffee table.

So pretty

It was postmarked 21st March, which was several weeks before I even got my package to the post office, so my first thought was that Tamara still had ages to wait for her present. Of course all of that flew out of my head as soon as I opened up the box to see what I'd been given.

Soooo much chocolate...plus a pack of mug cake mix.

All the Swiss chocolate I could ever hope to eat in one sitting. Of course the little pink bunny in the corner is off limits, because that one will have to go to Miss K. She absolutely loves Kinder Surprises, and it's a rare trip to the supermarket when she comes out without her little white and orange foil wrapped egg, so she'll be very happy to see that little fella when she comes home tomorrow.

Later on that night I received a message from Tamara just to say she'd received her parcel a day before I'd received mine, leaving me to marvel at the wonders that is the Swiss postal service, especially when compared to the Australian postal service, but closer inspection of the box revealed a stamp which stated that my present had been misplaced and ended up in Canada. It only fell 14,143 km short of its intended destination, but at least I know my sweets are very well travelled. 

As for what I sent Tamara, she received a tin of Milo, a pack of Tim Tams (which I have instructed her MUST be used to make Tim Tam straws), a box of barbeque shapes, two Cadbury Twirls, which are my absolute favourite chocolate bars, plus a jigsaw puzzle in the shape of Australia for her little boy to enjoy. I've already seen pictures of him putting it together, so I'm pretty sure I picked well. 

So if you'll all excuse me please I'm off to eat an entire box worth of Swiss chocolate. If you don't hear from me, just know I died happy. 

Five things (Old School Blogging)

Ok so for any of you wonderful readers out there who follow Baking In a Tornado you will know that she tagged me in a post earlier this month called Five Things. And for any of you who don't follow Baking in a Tornado, what on earth is wrong with you people?? Get your backsides over there now and meet a classy lady and brilliant writer who is responsible for the Secret Subject Swap that I partake in every month, as well as the Fly on the Wall series, which I will be joining as of next month. (Stay tuned, it's going to be legen...(wait for it)...dary)

Any way the five things tag is another chain blog post which apparently was a popular thing when blogging was in its infancy, but seems to have been lost over time. This one doesn't come with any fancy trophies or dinner for two at the Olive Garden, but it comes with seven lists of five things about me. (Well technically the seventh list is five bloggers who I pass the tag on to, but now you're just splitting hairs.)

Because I have just run out of witty banter, I'll plow straight into the lists.

5 Things I Have a Passion For

1. Paper crafts
2. Music
3. Food (seriously, have you seen the size of my butt? that should have been a no brainer.)
4. Word puzzles. I can't get to sleep until I've done at least one at the moment. Just as well I have a massive collection of puzzle books to keep me company
5. Writing. Of course I never did manage to write the best selling novel I dreamed of as a kid, but that's why this blog is one of my happy places.

5 Things I'd Like to Do Before I Die

1. See Miss K grow up happy (Isn't that all any parent ever wants? I don't care if she grows up to  be a secretary like mum, or a cleaner like grandma, or a rocket scientist like....OK I don't know any rocket scientists, but I'm sure they're all very happy)
2. Visit the birthplace of my ancestors
3. Own a house
4. Become a grandma (my mum makes it look like so much fun, I can't wait to try it for myself. Actually I can wait. Until Miss K is 25 at least OK young lady??)
5. Retire near the beach

5 Things I Say a Lot

1. For the love of monkeys! (I don't really love monkeys, although some of them are pretty cute, it's just better to say that than to keep swearing like a fish wife when the children are around.)
2. I can live with that. (Any time my little sister tries to insult me by calling me horrible names that's my come back. She can never beat it. Ever.)
3. I'm going to count to three. (This one has saved Miss K's bacon so many times over the last year, she knows that if I've gotten to the counting stage, things have just gotten real and she needs to pull her head in.)
4. I love you. (This one is usually aimed at Miss K, but sometimes I'll feel comfortable enough admitting it to other people.)
5. You weirdo. (This one is also usually aimed at Miss K, but it's always when she's doing something totally bizarre like pressing her stomach up to the fridge because it's cold, or spinning around on the ground in circles.)

5 Books I've Read Lately

1. The Hunger Games trilogy. I love this series so much I've finished the last book and gone straight back to the first book several times. I never get tired of the story.
2. Girls Night In. This is a massive omnibus of short stories written by some brilliant women from around the world. All the profits from the sale of the books go to the charity War Child which was just one of the warm fuzzies reading this book gives me. Again another book I can read over and over again.
3. Puzzle books. I know technically you don't read puzzle books like a story, but I still have to look at words with my eyes so I'm counting this as reading.
4. There's a Reason for Everything. This is a very old trivia book that was written in the 1970's so some of the trivia has since been disproven, but it is still full of so much interesting information about topics like the origins of superstitions and rituals.
5. You Might Be a Zombie and Other Bad News. This is a book written by the people from the hillarious and brilliant website cracked.com, and basically includes some of the articles you can find on their website, but in book form so it makes you look more intellectual when you read it. I bought this book when Miss K was a baby, and it has helped get me to sleep on many a night.

5 Favourite Movies

Thank you for finally giving me a list that asks for more than one favourite movie. How can I only love one movie the most? There are too many awesome movies out there to just pick one. So I'm happy to finally be given a place to list in no particular order just some of my favourite movies.

1. The Rocky Horror Picture Show
2. Cry Baby
3. Despicable Me (Hey don't judge ok I've got a kid now so it's totally ok for me to have a wallet full of kids movies.)
4. Shock Treatment
5. Mystery Science Theatre 3000 the movie. Americans may recognise this one, but I don't think it was even released in Australia. I had to buy our copy from an American seller on eBay. Thank heavens for multi region DVD players.

5 Places I'd Love to Travel to

1. Ireland. In particular Tipperary because that's where my mum's family originated, but the country as a whole would be fabulous to see
2. Italy. This is where Miss K's other family come from, and I'd love to take her to her Nonna's home town so she can see where her family started.
3. Fiji. The people seem to be so friendly, and the beaches are stunning. It's always been a dream destination for me.
4. The rest of Australia. I've been to two of the territories in Australia and three of the states. I'd love to visit the rest of the country that hosts me as a citizen and see more of the beauty that is out there.
5. Tokyo. I think there are just so many fantastic things there that you just need to see for yourself to believe, and I'd love to be amazed. Oh and I've always wanted to go to a cherry blossom festival in Japan too.

5 Blogs I'll Tag

Now this one was tricky because I didn't want to tag anyone who had already had a turn, but I also have so many blogs on my favourites list, I didn't want to leave any of them out.

1. When Crazy Meets Exhaustion
2. Life, Unexpectedly
3. Dinosaur Superhero Mommy
4.We Band of Mothers
5. Ms. Adventures

Now if you were tagged and you don't want to play along, that's totally cool. And if you weren't tagged and you want to play along, that's totally cool also. For anyone at home who is playing, tagged or not, answer all the questions yourself and then send me a link to your post and I'll even advertise the hell out of it for you.

Well that's all from me for now, I'm off to charge my camera batteries and use up some more of my immensely impressive and slightly over the top collection of pretty papers. What's that? you don't believe I have too much crafty stuff??

Yeah, I may have a problem...

Stay tuned people, soon I'll have a post showing what to do when you have too much crafty crap.

You tolerate me, you really really tolerate me

What up mah homies?? Word to your mother!

Alright, I have that out of my system now I'll get to the point of this post. I was very pleased to be contacted by Stephanie at Life, Unexpectedly recently to let me know that she was awarding me with a Liebster Award.

For any of you who have never heard of the Liebster Award, it is an award given by the bloggers for the bloggers. It's in essence a chain letter that has been making its way around the blogosphere since around 2010. If you are given the award, you need to write a post with 11 random facts about yourself, you must then answer 11 questions asked of you by the person who gave you the award. You then have to spread the love to 11 further bloggers with a following of less than 200 people, and ask them 11 questions and so the chain continues. While there is no special award ceremony and goody bag to go with a Liebster Award, it is nice to have someone say they like your work so much they want it recognised officially. 

I'd like to thank my mum for teaching me how to write...

Ok so first the 11 random facts about me

1. I can flip my eyelids inside out. This is an awesome party trick, but one I don't pull out much any more because I got tired of people running away from me screaming
2. My all time favourite band is Everclear. 
3. I cannot go to sleep unless I have a television on in the background
4. I once drove my car into my living room window while trying to do a 3-point turn in my driveway
5. While cleaning up the broken glass from the above "accident" I sliced my arm open and needed 6 stitches. That was not a good night.
6. My longest relationship has been 2 and a half years. I thought I was going to marry him, until the day I realised that would be the biggest mistake of my life and left him. I still don't regret this decision.
7. The biggest arguments I have are always in my head, usually in preparation for a real argument that never seems to happen
8. When I was younger and child-free I used to eat cereal for breakfast, lunch and dinner sometimes.
9. I have both cheated on and been cheated on by a partner. Both of these make you feel like crap.
10. I cannot stand seeing children being hurt, it always makes me cry a little bit
11. If I could speak Spanish, I would move to spain, just so I could have a siesta every day without feeling guilty

Ok so now I have to answer the questions Stephanie has asked of me.

1. What is your favourite fruit?

Definitely bananas. Aside from their comic potential they are also delicious and have so many healthy benefits, it's a total win-win.

2. Do you get your 5 a day on a regular basis?

If you're talking about 5 arguments with my daughter, then yes, yes I do. If you're talking about fruits and vegetables sadly no. Unless you count coffee as a vegetable, which I seem to be the only person who does.

3. Sweet or savory?

Definitely sweet. Cakes, ice cream, lollies, chocolate, biscuits, the sweeter the better.

4. Do you have a lucky number?

Not really, I usually just use my age, but given that changes every year it's hard to know if it's lucky or not.

5. What do you order at Starbucks?

Well we don't have Starbucks down here in my teeny tiny town, so nothing, but if I ever go to the city I'll order a hot chocolate if anything. I'm too used to instant coffee so the real stuff tastes terrible to me.

6. Share your comfort food

This one would definitely have to be banana muffins. Once upon a time it was breakfast food, but given I don't live or work near a patisserie any more it is not as easy to get fresh banana muffins these days, but it is a good day if I can find a bakery that sells them. If not I will settle for a donut.

7. Have you filed for your taxes already?

This one confuses me because in Australia the end of our financial year is actually June 30 so I still have months left to worry about filing a tax return. Plus given that I am a full time parent and do not actually pay tax right now I have even less to worry about, but when I go back to work, I will probably be doing my taxes around mid July. Is it sad that I get excited about filling in my tax return each year??

8. What is the last thing that you bought? (excluding groceries)

Well yesterday I actually went on a mini shopping spree and bought myself a new pair of shoes. I have to go to my baby sister's 21st birthday party tomorrow and I'm pretty sure the pub we are going to won't accept thongs (flip flops for all of you over the pond) or sneakers as acceptable footwear. I also bought myself some more stuff packs for the Sims 3. I am totally obsessed with that game right now.

9. What is your favourite animal and why?

For me it is the dolphin. I love the playful reputation that they have, but that they are also an incredibly intelligent animal. Of course given that they are wild animals they can be incredibly brutal too. It just goes to show you that appearances can be deceiving.

10. What is a colour you would never wear?

Fluro green. I believe it is a colour that belongs in highlighter pens and nowhere else. 

11. Are you happy with your name?

I love my first name because it means Ireland, and that is where my family history is. My surname is absolutely horrible, and easy to misspell and mispronounce, but I can't change it now because then Miss K and I would have different surnames, so it looks like I'm stuck with it forever. (I never gave Miss K her father's name, she took my maiden name when she was born.)

So now I am going to nominate 11 other blogs (with less than 200 followers) that I think are also worthy of the Liebster award. So in no particular order, please find my 11 nominees.

1. Marianne at We Band of Mothers

2. Maggie at Ms. Adventures in Mommyhood

3. Heather at Mommy needs Starbucks ASAP

4. Givinya at Killing a Fly with a Ukelele

5. Laura at Kids, Cookies and Cocoa

6. Shelby at It's Always Sonny

7. Jennifer at High Heels and Dirty Dishes

8. Shannon at Relentless

9.Jamie at Being Positive with a Depressive Soul

10. Momma Bear at A Mommabear's Life

11. Vanessa at Babbling Bandit

So as you can tell just from this tiny list of the blogs that I follow, I love reading the stories of other parents. It's kind of like legal stalking since they let me subscribe to them. And now I am going to ask them all to answer these 11 questions for me.

1. What is the best thing about having children?

2. What is your biggest pet hate?

3. If you could have dinner with one person dead or alive, who would it be?

4. If you could have one superpower, what would it be?

5. What is your favourite place in the whole world?

6. Finish this sentence: A perfect day for me would be...

7. Are you a feminist?

8. If you could be a celebrity, what would you want to be famous for?

9. Do you believe in ghosts?

10. Who is your biggest hero?

11. Tell me a secret. 

Ok so all of the lovely bloggers are about to be contacted and notified, there is of course the option of receiving an honorary Liebster award, which means that you don't have to pass it on to other bloggers if you wish not to. 

And again a big thank you to Stephanie from Life, Unexpectedly.

Why I love blogging

It is so hard to believe that this little blog is just over a year old. To think this all started with a way for me to pass information on to Miss K's dad without having to actually talk to him. In the past 13 months it has grown into so much more for me. It has grown into something that saves my sanity, gives me a creative outlet, and also allows me to make people laugh, and for me that is a big thing. You see in my family I am the clown. It has become my job to cheer people up when they are sad or angry, and over the years it has just become second nature. To the point that I can rarely take anything seriously for more than a few minutes at a time. This is also a trait I have passed on to my lovely daughter, and she is carrying the torch honorably.

But the other beautiful thing about this blog is how it has connected me to the rest of the world. Sadly over the years I have isolated myself from a lot of the people who made up my life before Miss K was born. It's the same old story, they went their way, I went mine and these days we smile if we pass in the street or post the occasional comment on a Facebook status. Very few of them know that Miss K has a speech impediment, that I have dated various versions of my father over and over again, that I came dangerously close to becoming an alcoholic. But thanks to the wonderful world of blogging I have met so many wonderful and supportive people through their own blogs. Some of them read this blog, others always reply to my comments whenever I write on their posts, some answer my questions on the Bloggy Moms website. But even though we all come from different states or countries, with different tastes and opinions, we all have one huge thing in common. We all share our lives over the internet.

It may sound incredibly petty or like a sign of low self esteem, but I love to hear about the day to day problems of the people I follow. It is reassuring to know that I'm not the only one on this planet who has absolutely no idea what the hell I'm doing here. Thanks to writers like the Pintester and the lovely ladies over at Pinstrosity I know I am only one of hundreds of inept crafters in the world. Thanks to the beautiful and ever inspirational Corrie over at Retro Mummy I know that I can survive being a mother of one because this woman does the same thing with four more children than I will ever have. And thanks to women like Jamie over at Being positive with a depressive soul I know I am not the only one who some days looks in the mirror and wonders why the hell I even bother.

You see behind all of the jokes and the pretty pictures we all post day after day we are all still very human. What you see on these blogs is just a small snap shot of the world around us, carefully chosen by us so as to reveal enough about us so you get some idea of who you are spending your time reading, but not too much that you show up on our doorstep with a bouquet of flowers (or God forbid an axe.)  There are days where the jokes I tell on here hide very real pain that I just cannot bear writing down, as if that would suddenly make everything real. And there are also days where I reveal something on this blog and then panic because I'm terrified I have just turned every single one of my readers against me with my honesty.

I guess there is something about writing these blogs that non bloggers possibly won't be able to understand. In between the words on these websites are tiny parts of ourselves, a fingerprint of our minds if you like. This blog is as real and precious to me as the memories I make with my little girl. And if anyone ever came here criticising my writing or my stories or even my life, I think it would hurt as much as if anyone told me my daughter was ugly. Luckily for me everyone who has ever contacted me has been nothing but supportive and helpful, but there is always the distinct possibility that someone somewhere is going to try to put you down. And the bigger your blog gets, the larger your audience and the higher the statistic that some of your readers aren't going to be afraid to call you mean names. Day after day I read blog posts from some of my favourite writers trying to defend their work, their website or their lifestyle, as if it needed justifying simply because they made it public.

So right now I make a pledge to refuse to justify my life to my audience. That doesn't mean it will stop the haters from hatin' but hopefully it will make my life a little bit easier to put up here. After all this blog would be nothing if it wasn't the truth.

Ok so that's enough serous stuff for now. Just to lighten the mood I will now show you a picture of a meal I made for my little sister one day just to make her smile.

Yep, it's a happy ham steak plate. A cock-eyed happy ham steak. Why is everything I make cock-eyed?

And finally, I should say thank you. Thank you to my family for not shouting at me every time I put them in my writing, thank you to all of the lovely bloggers who have reached out to me over the past year, and thank you to my wonderful audience. Even though most of you are waaay too quiet for my liking, I know that you are out there and it is because of you that I come back every single day to humiliate myself just that little bit more. Isn't that what friends are for??

Back to school*

*Why is it whenever I write that sentence I immediately get a picture of Adam Sandler singing that stupid song in my head?? I guess it shows the maturity level of my long term memory that crappy movies are stored in there along with my sixth birthday party and that time I stood on a Bull Ant's nest.

Anyway it is after midnight, I am so tired that my eyeballs are almost falling out of my head and I really should be going to sleep. But I couldn't leave it a whole other day before catching up with you guys again, so just for you I will forego sleep for another half hour while I write up some rambling nonsense that I suspect entertains me much more than anyone else.

So a couple of big things happening at the moment, first of all I have joined the Bloggy Moms Network, a massive site full of bloggers who are also mums, or mums who are also bloggers. I'm not 100% sure because I'm still learning my way around the site. But I figured out today how to find their pretty badges so you'll notice a new addition to my growing list of buttons and links to the right of this website. Second of all, my Twitter page hit double digits today, which means that it currently has more subscribed followers than this website. I'd love to get all indignant and offended by this statistic, but given that for me this blog is not about he who has the most subscribers wins, I just can't muster up enough anger. I know that my mum thinks I'm cool and that's what is most important.

So back to the actual point of this post (tired me likes to go on irrelevant tangents a lot.) I started my studies again today. Now technically my course started on the 25th of February, but unfortunately when I took the half hour trip to the TAFE to pick up my books on that day, I found out they were not actually at the campus I had traveled to, but were actually at the campus down the road from where I live. GRRRR. Not only were they a five minute drive from my house, but I was then told I would have to wait for them to be delivered to the school half an hour away from me, and then my tutor would have them mailed BACK to my local campus. I personally don't understand the logic behind this decision, but maybe that's why all of these people are gainfully employed by the government and I'm a stay at home mum.

Anyway, I patiently waited, and waited, and waited. After a week I got tired of patiently waiting and sent a message to my tutor and asked for an update on the books, to be informed that they had been waiting at my local TAFE for me a full day already. GRRRR again. So yesterday I raced up the road to pick up my books and FINALLY got to sit down and start studying. It kind of sucks that already I'm a week behind through no fault of my own, but given that last year I started four months behind everyone else and still managed to get finished at the same time as everyone else I'm not too worried right now. In fact thanks to Miss K having an extra long nap this afternoon, (I knew this damn heat had to be good for something.) I have already finished my first assessment, and only have another six to complete before the end of next month. So I'm feeling pretty good right now.

Anywho It is now almost one o'clock in the morning, I am even tireder than before and I need to get some sleep. I'll be back again soon with more insanity. Stay awesome till then.

Still alive and kicking

I know it has been a long time since you guys heard from me. I promise I am still here, and I miss blogging like crazy. Unfortunately our house is a bit technologically impaired at the moment, so unless I can figure out how to turn a hamster and several coconut shells into a modem we are disconnected for a little while.

Well a lot has happened over the past two months, first was new years, (happy 2013 everyone!) I haven't made any resolutions this year, as I never manage to keep them for very long any way so I stopped making promises on 31st December a long time ago.

Then in January we took Miss K back to the optometrist to have my worst fears confirmed, and Miss K is now the proud owner of a shiny pair of blue glasses. Pictures will come soon I promise. Then we took her to the doctor to get an unexplained rash checked out and found out she has eczema. So we now have a very strict skin care regimen in place to make sure her skin stays healthy.

The other big thing I wanted to mention today is the huge milestone that this blog has just passed. It has been a year since I started this blog, and the journey so far has been a lot of fun.

Well lots more has happened, but I am meant to be visiting with my big sister at the moment, so I feel rude sitting in front of her computer instead of chatting so I have to head of and be social.

I should hopefully be back by the beginning of next month, so thank you all for your patience, and I promise I haven't forgotten any of you. Stay awesome till I come back.

Turning a coat hanger into a ribbon organiser

Ok guys so as you've probably noticed, I've been a bit absent lately. Part of it is trying to keep on top of the various bugs that Miss K keeps picking up (she has a cold at the moment which is just so much fun), part of it is that exam season is coming up quickly and I am madly trying to make sure I'm ready for my one and only exam for the year, and part of it is that I am starting to feel stuck in a rut as far as this blog goes. While I am sure you guys all love hearing my various anecdotes about Miss K and the cute things she does, I get the feeling I'm becoming one of those annoying people who has nothing to talk about except for their children.

So with that in mind, I have decided to try something a bit different for the blog today. Instead of just blabbing on and on about my day (which was just so boring to live through I don't feel mean enough to make all of you go through it too) I have decided to do a quick tutorial instead. Now for anyone here who doesn't care about crafty things, I do apologize for you might find this all a bit dull. But if that is the case, feel free to skip down to the bottom of the page and drop me a line in the comments saying so. I can only guess what you guys like about my blog since you are all such a quiet bunch, so today's guess is that you want to learn how to turn an every day item like a coat hanger into a nifty way to organize your ribbons. I'm starting really simple because I am new to this whole telling people what to do thingy, and I wanted to make sure this first tutorial would be both easy to write and easy to read. So here goes.

Ooh it even comes with it's own intro picture, how exciting...

Now for any of you lovely people out there who are crafty and like scrapbooking, or card making or anything else where you use lots of ribbons, you will know how annoying it can be trying to find an effective way to store your ribbons so that they don't become tangled and messy. I know that before I stumbled on this idea I had tried several different methods. There are professionally made boxes complete with dowels and holes for you to hang and thread your ribbons through, but they usually come with a price tag that is way outside of my budget of free or cheaper, so I have always had to get creative with ways to sort and store my lovely ribbons. My first ribbon holder was a plastic bag. That was terrible. On a scale of one to ten for ease of use and neatness, a plastic bag gets a zero. So I swapped to a plastic container which was slightly better, at least now I could see all of my ribbons at a glance, but they still got tangled too much. 

See? terrible.

So when I stumbled on a picture somewhere of someone using a trouser hanger as a ribbon organiser I got super excited. Until I realised how very little the people in my town must use coat hangers because I couldn't find a multi rack coat hanger for love or money. Luckily I eventually found one at Kmart and forked out a whole $5 for it. 

Now the first thing you want to do is gather all of your supplies. (I've always wanted to start a sentence like that. It sounds so tutorial-y)And now here is the obligatory picture of all of my supplies gathered into the one space for ease of use.

Ta-daa! Look at all that gathered-ness

Now if you are super OCD like I am, you can take this time to sort your ribbons into categories. I know, who knew ribbons could have categories! 

There is a sight that just makes my compulsive side sing.

And then it is just as simple as threading the ribbon spools onto the coat hanger in any way that you please. 

It couldn't be easier if it was thought up by a one year old...

And before you know it you will have a lovely coat hanger covered in spools of ribbon that you can now hang up anywhere that you like.

See? No more tangled ribbons and it even looks pretty. 

I even have heaps of room left over just in case I decide to go out and buy more ribbons. Not bad for $5 and ten minutes of work. (It would have been quicker but I had to keep stopping to take pictures of it for you guys.) And now just to make it really look like a professional tutorial, here is a before and after shot of my ribbons. 

So there you have it, a tutorial on how to turn an ordinary every day boring coat hanger into something awesome for your crafting area. I hope that this was as enjoyable for you guys to read as it was for me to write, if it wasn't please, please, please let me know. Also feel free to tell me what you guys do want to see on here, because I can't entertain you if I don't know what you like. 

*update, this blog post has now been linked to A Bowl Full of Lemon's One project at a time link party, check it out for other awesome bloggers with even bigger and better things to share. 

Don't be afraid to ask for help

So I want to start todays post by saying that my teacher is freaking awesome. She finally responded to my email begging for help yesterday, but I totally forgot I had sent her one, so I didn't check my inbox until this afternoon at around 2:00. So she had given me some hints without absolutely giving away the answer, unfortunately I still couldn't wrap my head around the work. So after half an hour of emails going back and forth between us she finally called me and worked with me until I finally wrapped my brain around the spreadsheet I had been staring blankly at for the past two hours. She was so patient with me and made sure to let me know that even though I hadn't been able to do this assignment on my own I was doing a good job. At the end of the day I should be proud I've managed to make it through 8 months worth of work without having to ask for help, but as always it is easier to focus on my shortcomings and failings than my accomplishments.

But the whole point of this tangent is to announce I GOT MY BALANCE SHEET TO BALANCE!!! I have finally submitted my assignment, (albeit a week late) and both sides match and everything is right with the world. I am so relieved I could cry right now. Almost as much as I wanted to cry when I discovered I wouldn't have failed if I handed my work in wrong. All of this stressing was for about a 5% increase in my final mark for the unit. But I'm pedantic like that. I hate settling for good enough when it comes to school work. The years may have passed but the teachers pet deep inside me still has a lot more control over me than I would like to admit.

So in other news Ben and Tristan went home this afternoon, and the house has been eerily quiet since they left. It's amazing how large the house grows the minute Ben walks out the front door. But I can't say anything too nasty about Ben or Tristan because I love them both, and because Ben gave me even more awesome photos of Miss K before he left today. Below are just a couple of my favourites.

This is as close as Miss K gets to gangster. Of course the effect is ruined by the fact that her hoodie has ears on it. But she would have a mother obsessed with hats with ears on them.

I love the look on her face in this one. Miss K is the queen of strange faces, but this is one of her cuter ones.

Speaking of Ben, he has been bitten by the blogging bug (how is that for alliteration?) and has started his very own blog. Feel free to mosey on over and check it out, and you can even have the dubious honour of saying you liked it from the beginning before it was cool. Now be good readers and click the link....now

http://bensbouncingbrain.blogspot.com.au

Miss K and I had a visit from a friend of mine Kelly today. Kelly and I used to work together right before I got pregnant. This girl was an absolute angel while Miss K and I were in hospital dealing with suspected meningitis, bringing me home cooked food, taking me out shopping so I wasn't staring at the same four walls for twenty four hours a day and checking in every few days to make sure I was OK. Now again I don't have any recent photos of Miss K and Kelly (I really must learn to take my camera with me everywhere) but hopefully we'll be going to her house to have dinner with her and her husband soon so I'll be sure to take pictures then. 

Well that's it for tonight, I have ten minutes before bedtime so I'll probably spend it looking at something completely pointless on the internet (isn't that the best way to spend your spare time?)

Stay awesome wonderful readers, and I'll be back again soon with more wisdom for you to read.

IT'S OVER 1000!!!

Hello readers, look to your right, now back to me, now back to your right, now back to me. Gotta love old spice man. Now really, look to the right of this page. Up the very top of the page is a hit counter, and it is telling me that I have finally received over 1000 hits on my website. I have been checking this every single day, just so that I didn't miss the magical moment, and I wasn't disappointed when it finally came. Of course there were no balloons descending from the sky, and the marching band didn't appear out of thin air, but it was still exciting.

So to celebrate hitting this milestone, I have decided to create a page for my blog on Facebook. Once I figure out how to put links on my sidebars, there will be a link on my sidebar (funnily enough). But for now, you'll just have to follow this link to see my new page, which will then lead you back to here. If you appreciate all of the hard work that goes into creating this blog, then please feel free to like my page, so you can get regular updates, and I'll even let you know every time I've posted on here so you can rush over and read me. For any of you eagle eyes out there, if you look to your right again, there is a button labelled join this site, which is another way to receive notifications that I have updated my blog. There is one lonely follower on that list right now, and I know for a fact that he hasn't come to visit here in a long time, so it would be great to see some more names on that list.

So for now I bid you adieu, and please check me out on facebook for more hillarity. https://www.facebook.com/singlemumplusone

4th of July fireworks detonated by God Particle

So a big part of being a blogger is trying to figure out how to get traffic to come to your website. By some random stroke of luck my humble little blog is now one of the thousands of sites you can find by using StumbleUpon. I don't know how this happened, but I have learnt not to question good luck, just to enjoy its rewards. I know that I have been found by StumbleUpon because Blogspot is kind enough to give you stats every day about the websites that refer traffic to you, as well as what people were searching for when they found you. So far I have been found by people looking for baby Barbie bedroom decorating ideas, as well as the pregnancy Barbie, which lead everyone back to the story I did on inappropriate dolls for children here, which makes that post my most lucrative one yet.

So being cheeky, I decided today to look up the most popular searches on Google for today, which is where my title has come from. Of course given I live in Australia, and am a day ahead of a lot of the rest of the world, I had completely forgotten that 4th July was coming up, despite the fact that a lot of the blogs I follow have been posting Independence Day themed blogs for weeks now. So happy Independence Day for all of my American readers, have a wonderful holiday and enjoy the fireworks.

Of course the other big thing to hit the news this week is the possible discovery of the God Particle which has excited the right wing Christians almost as much as it has excited the scientists, but for completely different reasons. I can actually remember the last time the Hadron Collider made the headlines, and how everyone was panicking that the end of the world was coming, and surprise, surprise the anticlimax when nothing happened. As for the God Particle itself, I cannot give an opinion given my lack of understanding, and the way my temples throb whenever I try to read anything about it for more than five minutes, so you'll all have to come up with your own opinions this time, I'm of no help whatsoever.

Now what if anything all of these things have to do with my blog is yet to be seen. This really was just a marketing ploy to see if I can introduce any more people to my writing with the least amount of effort. So if you have stumbled here solely through my clever use of hot topics in my title, stay for a while, make yourself at home, feel free to browse through my movie collection while I put the kettle on. For any of my regular readers who just wanted to know what the hell I was smoking when I decided to stray from my normal rants to write this nonsense, I promise it will be back to normal tomorrow, but you're welcome to stay for the craziness too.

One day I'm gonna be famous

So when I started this blog, I had grand visions of becoming an iconic blogger, possibly one who would be featured on the Ellen DeGeneres show, because she seems to have her finger on the pulse of everything that is cool on the internet. I dreamed of being interviewed for various magazines and newspapers (under the heading sexy mama becomes internet sensation overnight), and being asked to guest blog for other famous bloggers. However, it has now been 3 months since I started this blog, and the cracks are starting to show in my fantasy.

There are several flies in the ointment of my dreams here, the first and biggest one being that it is very hard to get famous without masses of self promotion, which is something I loathe to do. I was always brought up to never big note myself, as modesty was a more attractive feature than arrogance. To date, I haven't even told all of my friends that I have a blog, and although I have added the link to this site on my Facebook page, I did it in my information section, and it tends to disappear after all of my likes and interests, to a part of the page I don't think anyone really ever looks at unless they've forgotten your email address and need to email you a copy of the funniest LOL cat EVER!!!!

The other problem, and this one is the hardest one to overcome is that I DON'T EVEN KNOW IF THIS BLOG IS ANY GOOD. One of the problems that comes with the lack of self promotion is that you don't have many people available to give you constructive criticism or tell you where you may have failed with a certain post, joke or pop culture reference. Of course I ask my family to read my posts on regular occasions, and while they are my biggest fans (the compliment I get the most is you're an idiot), I have never been able to fully take their compliments as I can't tell if they're just being nice because I know where they live. My big sister has been the person who prefers to discuss my writing style and content of my blogs with me, and to date she is the best editor I could have asked for. (And no I'm not just saying that so that she'll keep saying nice things to me.) Whenever my posts are starting to become too mopey, or she thinks I'm becoming too distanced from reality, she is the first one to come to me and offer advice.

One thing I really struggle with when writing this blog is I still haven't decided what kind of blog it is. I'm not enough of an expert on anything for this to be an instructional blog, and I've tried to make it a journal style blog, but even I get bored with reading about my own life after a while. If I had the kind of life where Miss K and I did exciting things like explore jungles or travel to the far corners of the earth, then a journal style blog could be very interesting, but given that the highlight of our day yesterday was that my cousin bought her 7 month old daughter over for a visit, and Miss K was terrified of her, then it doesn't make for very compelling reading. I actually spend a lot of time reading other people's blogs and researching interesting topics on the internet just to see if I can find anything that jumps out at me and says DO THIS! but the thing I notice most is that the really popular blogs are several years old, or in some cases established by already famous people who aren't afraid to tell people how wonderful they are, and have legions of fans ready to follow them into the wilderness that is a blank website waiting to be filled with humour or instructions.

So for now it looks like this blog will remain an obscure drop of water in the giant ocean that is the internet. If any of you my wonderful readers feel like taking on some of the promotion for me, then feel free to invite all of your friends to come check me out. Or if there is anything in particular you'd like me to write about, please drop a line in the comments, after all this blog is for my audience so if there are any holes in topics you feel I'd be able to fill, please let me know and I'll do my best to oblige.