Feeding the Beast

The blogs I love post several times a week. Some, even daily. I follow cooking blogs, DIY blogs, parenting blogs, comedy blogs, and even the blogs of a few friends. I love the writing, but mainly I love staying connected. Writers post stuff to stay connected. 

I haven't made a blog post, if I can even call it a blog at this point, in six months. It was fall when I last wrote. Today, I realized it's spring. Well, shit. This totally confirms I'm a complete slacker.

No excuses. Okay, I do have a few (the best slackers always do, right?). Work has been chaos. Kids played basketball this winter, so there was no "off" season. I stopped walking. I started devouring sugar. I took up hot yoga, if you can call taking two classes and puking like a champ after the first one a new hobby. I run from meeting to meeting. I referee fighting kids. Housework is piling up, laundry even higher. 

I feel exhausted. Dried up. A writer with no words to give.

BUT, BUT, BUT....instead of doing the things that restore me (walking) and energize me (writing), I do the exact opposite. I escape into the pages of stories I didn't write and under the comfort of covers to sleep. I scroll endlessly through people's Facebook posts and candid pictures. I research new adventures with intensity, knowing in my heart I will never go. I seek bigger dreams than the life I am living.

Someone said the other day, "We become the creature we feed most." Such truth in this simple statement. What we feed, flourishes. We we nourish, grows. Hopes and dreams are wonderful, but it is our actions and what we practice daily that ultimately defines us.

I guess what I'm trying to say, friends, is I'm not a writer. Not yet. But I'm tired of silly dreams, of others and my own, with no action behind them. I'm ready to feed the beast. Get ready.

Blue with Blog Envy

I have blog envy. I've been reading tons of different, really freakin' creative, blogs about design, cooking, rustic living, and even a whole bunch of what not. My blogging of late has fallen into the last category--a bunch of what not. I haven't been writing anything.

I can make tons of excuses, but I think this daily feed of great blogs (yes, apparently there are people in the world that blog more than once a month) has given me blog anxiety. I've got nothing special to report. I don't sew or craft. I can't grow anything except really out-of-control kids. I'm not trendy in decorating my house or my body. I do like rustic. I just haven't gotten around to doing away with the indoor plumbing yet.

To spice it up, I'm going to tell you the worst possible truth about me. You, sweet person, out there in infinite web land will hear it first and then take it viral for me. Here it is. I'm super ordinary. I'm like (hiccup, hiccup) everybody else. I'm not even fruit on the bottom yogurt or smooth vanilla. I'm plain. Lower calorie, yes, but truly only loved by dietitians and health nuts.

To make myself feel better tonight, I put on my "I'm busy....read my blog" shirt that my friend, Steph, bought for me a few years back. It's all blue with funky white letters and it does sort of make me feel official. I might never finish a novel, but I AM a blogger with 32 followers. It's also a real tight t-shirt, kind of like a hug that keeps on squeezing.

So, in honor of great blogs, I've compiled my list of favorites. I may be blue with blog envy, but I can still recognize talent when I see it. That's a gift of ordinary people, I think.

Food Blogs

101 Cookbooks (Heidi makes me want to cook with food I've never heard of, such as millet)

Orangette (author of "My Homemade Life")

Crafty Blogs

A Beautiful Mess (I would like to marry Elsie Larsen...she's that spunky and creative)

Oh, Hello Friend

Gratitude

ThxThxThx (a thank you note a day)

Real Love Letters from 1860's

My Friend's Blogs

My Ideal Reality (Mari knows books and I follow blindly)

Wonderings from My Wanderings (Mel has a heart for others and the world)

Who You Calling Mom? (Honest and funny)

Happy reading, or blogging, or whatever you do. I'll keep writing, I guess. Please keep reading.

Much love,

Heather