Would Somebody Bring Me a Sharpie??

Time for a little transparency. I almost started this entry by saying, "Hello, my name is Andrea and I'm a blogaholic." But I'm not sure that's really true. I mean, I'm not an addict or anything. I can stop whenever I want. Really.

Seriously, here's the thing: I like blogs. I enjoy reading what other people have written, even total strangers (perhaps especially total strangers). Through homeschooling and a Christian woman newsletter that I receive, I have found my way to a variety of blogs, some funny, some serious, some inspirational, some depressing, and just about everything in between. But a funny thing happens: I'll read a blog or two (or ten) for several days, even going so far as to bookmark some of them, and then a wave of guilt will come crashing over me and I'll wonder just what in the world I'm doing wasting my time reading TOTAL STRANGERS' blogs while life is passing me by! And then I'll delete all the bookmarks and feel better. I've done this twice now in the eleven months since I began blogging. Why do you think that is?

I'll tell you why. When I started my blog (feel free to take a nap, all of you who've heard this before), I thought it would be a great way to keep my family connected--grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins, the whole ball of wax. Then I got a little brave and told a couple of people at church who graciously came and checked out my site (and some actually hung around!), and now wouldn't you know that I've gone and added a link right to my e-mail signature line! And I'm happy with my little 'ol blog--it may not be much, but it's mine, you know? But I seem to have a knack for choosing just the right blogs to make me feel EXACTLY the opposite--I'll click on links with appealing, interest-piquing names and be confronted by people whose writing is SO far superior or so much more interesting or just so funny--always funny--that I wonder, "Who am I trying to kid?"

So, gone are the bookmarks--again. So I'm not all that funny--I don't really need to read someone else's blog to remind me of that. But my family thinks I'm pretty great and that's all that matters, right? Sawyer, the Routine King, has a new phrase that he has uttered to me at least three times a day for the last couple of weeks--"You are the best mom in my whole world." Put THAT in your pipe and smoke it!