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Yep – I’m a Joiner!
I Think I Want A Kia Soul
(Note: I didn’t even get a free keychain at the auto show. I was not compensated for this post. If, however, Kia wants to give me a Kia Soul to drive around and blog about it, or even give me one considering the low, low sticker price…I’d be all over it…hey, I’m all about disclosure!)
When we were at the auto show, the only car I saw (under 80k) that stood out from the crowd and made me think it just might be my next car was the Kia Soul.
It only has two rows, but that back row is a bench, which makes three carseats MUCH easier to fit, and it has three LATCH system hooks so it’s made to handle three carseats.
Plus it has this spring green paint color with GLITTER under it. Swear. Glitter. I mean, talk about having me at, “hello.”
New? The car goes for 14k – 19k. Not bad, right?
I have to figure out what the resale value is or how much it depreciates off the lot. We may be looking for a second car soon and this one is looking really promising. Even in chicagoland winters, I’m telling you, the Kia Soul looks like a sweet car. I’m looking forward to giving it a test drive.
Do they let you put carseats in during the test drive?
I sure hope so.
Frustrated and Unable to Work Out
Working out is something I don’t just do, it’s something I look forward to and enjoy.
Yeah, it’s a recent addition to my life (I took time off during and after pregnancy) but I’ve never been against getting a little movement into my day. I’ve been doing the Your Shape workouts on the Wii but I really want to start figuring out the whole eating and nutrition thing.
Which is kind of my kryptonite.
Oh, but first the whole unable to work out thing. The baby is asleep and if I go in the bedroom to get socks so I can put on my gym shoes she’ll wake up. If she wakes up I can’t work out. So yeah.
I might be able to do some yoga, but I can’t figure out how to get a yoga workout on the Wii instead of just picking ONE position to try out and that’s it. But I haven’t spent a lot of time trying to figure that out since I got the Your Shape with the camera – I really have been loving it.
But now that I’m writing it down I realize that the only way I’ll figure it out is to get it done and figure it out. So I’m off to find it online!
I’m officially not talking about nutrition. No matter how much I want to. Because seriously, I wish I could know what I’m eating is healthy…but I can’t. I’m pretty sure my chicken hasn’t been genetically modified, but ultimately, all chicken has been because of breeding for the “best” – it gets to the point where if I think about it too much, no food is safe.
I just do the best I can making things from scratch as much as possible or (like with the Aldi par-baked breads) they come from Holland so I know they can’t be irradiated like the food here in America. Finally, bread that doesn’t creep me out. (Yes, bread is one of the things I need to learn how to bake myself but I’m just not there yet.)
I highly recommend the greens and beans recipe from the Neelys. It really rocks and I’m thinking about turning it into a soup. Great way to get any kind of green into your diet and SO easy and fast to make.
Transparency is Dead and Mommyblogging is a Cruel Joke
Ok, now that we’ve got the shocking title out of the way I’m here to tell you that it’s not shocking at all.
Between authenticity and transparency your head can swim wondering what you should and should not even post on a blog much less what you should be reading. The line was crossed, for me, when a business blogger on a relatively big business blog started talking about some seriously personal stuff. Stuff that made me cringe. (I have very strong resistance to cringe-factor stuff, too, so when I cringe…you said something seriously personal that you probably should have kept between you and your therapist.)
Which is kind of my point.
The Internet is not your therapist. It is Big Brother – compiling information about you and judging you. The only problem is it’s not government you had to be afraid of all this time, tapping your calls and following you around in black vans…it’s your peers. People play on FourSquare thinking “how fun!” not thinking that this makes being stalked a hell of a lot easier.
People upload pictures of their kids to Facebook thinking “how fun!” and not thinking that this might have ramifications down the road. I mean, maybe it won’t…but what if it does? Everyone will be mad at the owner of Facebook and not even question if they made a bad choice.
Because we are now taught to TRUST people we don’t KNOW.
I’m sort of a free-range mom. Sort of. I’m fine talking to strangers and fine with my kids talking to strangers. Because strangers are just people. But trusting a company…as if it were a person…is something that borders on insanity.
So many people in the generation before ours trusted their company to keep them on until they retired and to take care of their retirement funds. Many did, some did not.
Now we have moms blogging about their kids. Some use real names, some use fake names, but my guess is that 99% use enough personal information that if you really, really wanted to know, you could figure out who they really are.
So people post stories about their kids’ special needs or temper tantrums or beauty without thinking of what this is going to be twenty years from now.
But the more of the “middle of the bell curve” people that get on the Internet, the more prevalent idiocy will be. People who assume they are talking to the strangers on the Internet but are really letting their neighbors know about their marital problems. Talking about special needs kids and not realizing the kid’s teacher is reading and taking notes.
Transparent, authentic mommyblogs are a disaster waiting to happen.
Transparency in general? It’s mostly a fad. One that many will pay dearly for once it has passed and everyone realizes that it’s not safe or smart to air your dirty laundry all over the web. I really think someday we’ll call it the “Free Love” era of the Internet. Where everyone acted high and threw off their clothes and did some really questionable stuff they kind of wish they could take back.
Or just having to explain why they felt it was worth it to sell out their kids’ childhoods for $50/month in blogging money.
Me? You know who I am, but I’m not anywhere close to 100% transparent. You don’t know me, really. You know how I feel and who I am when I write, but who I am day-to-day is something only my husband knows. Something even my friends don’t really know, because I’m a little different with everybody. It’s not deceitful, it’s just that when your friend is a ruby, your will shine a little more red when you’re around them. If your friend is an emerald, you will be a little more green.
Maybe it’s not human nature and I’m just a bit of a chameleon – it’s entirely possible.
But my wish for all of you is that you have not written anything online that will come back to haunt you or your children ten, fifteen, twenty years from now.
Me? I have a private blog that’s password protected for that stuff. It’s on my computer. I’d journal, but I can’t write more than two paragraphs without a hand cramp – such is the way of a girl that’s been using the internet since she was 13 (I turn 35 this year, do the math if you’re so inclined.) Typing is my way just as sure as writing was my mother’s way and my grandmother’s way.
But you have to know what to air in public and what to keep to yourself. Because, unless you get a book deal from airing your dirty laundry online, you’re just another blogger sharing too much and giving too much away without getting anything in return. (and I don’t mean money)
I need to do a rebrand so I can talk more about business issues and finance issues and stuff and have people not be surprised by writing about those things.
I need a new theme. A new start. A new plan.
Because this plan isn’t working that well at all.
That being said, Mint.com is unveiling something new on Monday and I’m stoked. Hopefully I’ll have a new design and a new plan by then. And new categories. Finance – Mommyblogging – Business … so everyone that visits can get the blog they really want when they come here.
I’m a Moron – Here’s a Writing Opportunity
In the interest of making sure I have as little chance as possible of getting a gig with ING Direct – I am going to open it up to you, my dear readers, and send you over to ING where you can apply to be a blogger for ING Direct.
Because I’m stupid.
See, I know a lot of writers. Most of them are totally into money and finances like I am. So it’s basically saying, “Hey…you people that are as good at writing or even better at writing than me – go take this gig!!”
Even though I really, really want it.
But what goes around comes around and this is me making a deposit into the karmic savings account. Even if I’m holding onto the dream with a deathgrip before sharing it and letting it go into the wild for you to try and score.
You can enter until February 15th, and the rules are all on the We the Savers Blog as well as the We the Savers Blogger websites.
Go now, and take my dream gig.
Because I love you.
But, you know, if you were bored or something and hated writing and never wanted to blog…it wouldn’t be totally out of line to hop on over to the We the Savers Blog and maybe tell them that Jen from Beyond Mom is a purrrrfect choice to talk about saving and doesn’t mind sharing how she busts her butt to save or invest, even if it’s just a little at a time.
I Think This Might Be a Demotion
Ok, all that fire and passion and interest and my business is officially on the back burner for now.
I still write some freelance stuff and do odds and ends, but it’s the Internet equivalent of working a job that’s so part time the other employees are pretty sure your mom made you take the job to learn responsibility, not because you need a paycheck.
But it’s all the husband’s show now….and he seems to be taking to the stage like a duck to water. Meetings of all sorts – client, potential client, team, and networking – take up extra time here and there that he would normally use to catch up on Mafia Wars.
Okay, I admit it, I don’t think he plays Mafia Wars but you get my point.
Maybe in other families both spouses go after their dream at 100% full speed – even when they have kids – because they’re just so Type A Personality that they don’t have any other option but to do everything to the absolute max. Maybe I have unrealistic expectations.
Recently, though, I realized I like spending time with my kids. They’re pretty cool and I enjoy their company. So if I get to focus on my kids, do household accounting, keep us on our debt snowball, AND help my husband by making great business cards and being secretarial staff and doing an amazing job….why not?
Everything is looking pretty good so far 
Maybe it IS the Plague
So. Sick.
Today is the first day in three FULL days I’m starting to feel better. Thank goodness because I have a “breakfast with the girls” to attend this morning.
I’m going to eat a muffin and have coffee – more solid food than I’ve had in – oh, how long has it been now? – THREE days.
Hopefully it doesn’t kill me.
But that’s the funny thing about being on social networking sites and everywhere online and getting sick. Unless you can actually drag your butt to the computer to tell someone, no one knows.
Worse yet, even when you do say you’re sick, no one is able to grasp the severity. Are you “I have a cold” sick? Are you “ZOMG PLAGUE” sick? Or are you “Mental health day” sick?
I sort of wanted a webcam site like the cute little Shiba Inu puppies have to show people I couldn’t get out of bed except to moan and grovel my way to the bathroom.
But who would want to WATCH that?
Do you work from home? How do you call off sick for a few days when your body has decided it isn’t going to work for a while?
Even better, if you don’t have any pressing engagements or deadlines – do you need to answer the phone and let your friends know you’re sick? Do you call off friendships like work?
Because doesn’t ignoring your friends usually get taken in a “you’re mad” way rather than a “you’re sick” way?
If I’m not making sense…yeah, you know…it’s because I’m sick.
Braised Pot Roast Anyone?
I Resolve to Freak Out Less
Whether it’s money, time, work, or anything else you could imagine – I’m a freaker-outer.
Like zero to sixty freak outs over the dumbest stuff you could imagine.
“OMG I put her down on THURSDAYS for dance class but it’s really TUESDAYS! Now I have to change the calendar!”
Who cares?
Well, other than me, and I shouldn’t care so much about piddly little stuff that doesn’t affect anything.
So this year I resolve to not be chicken little! I will not hoot and hollar about the sky falling when a drop of rain taps gently on my window. I will not cry wolf when the only thing at my door is an adorable basset hound looking for love.
I’ve been taken care of pretty well so far – by myself, my husband, and the universe – why on earth would that stop?
Happy New Year everyone! I hope you all get exactly what you deserve in 2010!!
