August 18, 2006

New Gig and Exciting News

I wrote a post recently about Mommy Bloggers. I never published it. The basic idea of it was that I don’t know what kind of blogger I am. I’m a Mom and I blog, so do people consider me a Mommy Blogger? Or, do they consider me something else entirely? The post was about me not being really sure where I fit into the whole blogging categorizing stereotyping thing. (I had the same dilemma in high school when I was a cheerleader/field hockey player/saxophonist in the jazz band/student council member/writer for school paper/ping pong club member/prom committee. Yes, I said ping pong club. That’s a whole other post.)

If I’m a "Karate Blogger". . . GREAT! Happy to be a member of the club. If I’m a "Mommy Blogger". . . Cool! A lot of my favorite reads are Mommy Bloggers and I’d joyfully accept my membership in that club as well. I take it personally when I hear about Mommy Blogger bashing. After all, it is a free country, and individuals have a choice of what to read and what not to. Why don’t the bashers just decide NOT to read the Mommy Bloggers instead of making a big deal out of such a silly issue? It seems like a waste of time to me.

While lots of "Mommy bloggers" are getting gigs out there writing about parenting and kids, etc., I’m getting different kinds of offers entirely. I already told you about my hometown newspaper blog. They asked me to write about karate, and I only post my karate posts there because I don’t want people knowing too much of my business around town. I also like a certain degree of anonymity, especially when my children are involved. (Of course, we’ve all learned this week that anonymity can be blown out the door without warning.)

Then came an email from an unlikely source. . . Last week I was asked to write some exclusive posts for a website called "Save the Soldiers". Their website is in existence entirely to support the troops wherever they are, whatever they may be doing. They were looking to expand their "Off Topic" area and asked me to write for them.

It occurred to me that I must not be a "Mommy Blogger" if "Save the Soldiers" is asking me to write for them.

I thought it was a very worthy cause. I already know of a couple soldiers who like my site, so I thought why not? If you’d like to read my latest post over there, you can view it here. I’ll be posting an exclusive there once a week.

When you come back from there, give my renter a hello, and help her pick a baby name already! Her time here will end this weekend and you don’t want to miss how she goes through the names and hashes each one out.

And speaking of babies. . . I told you a few weeks ago about little Julia. You can visit her site under my "If I’m not here, I’m there" roll call. After enduring a few weeks now of chemotherapy and nasty side effects, losing her hair, and being in the hospital more than at home. . . they did a scan of her brain to check on whether or not the chemo is doing its job on her brain tumor.

I am overjoyed to report that her tumor is at least half the size it was previously. It’s amazing how you can care so much about someone you’ve never even met. I cried tears of joy this morning and just had to share the news. If you’ve said a prayer for her, thank you and KEEP IT UP!

Also, Deryck’s daughter, Percy recently had open heart surgery. He has a great site and a heart-warming story, not to mention the adorable pictures.

Also, the latest birth story is up. I truly never realized how many women still had natural childbirth. I thought I was alone in that (I know I was the lone screamer at the hospital both nights that I gave birth). I am actively looking for submissions, so if you are interested please see the guidelines over on the site, and shoot me an email when you have your submission ready!