Formal debut

It's a bit ridiculous... I've spent about 4 months trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my blog: why I write it (personal journaling? keep friends and family in the loop? amuse others? create a readership? feel special when strangers comment? It's taken me some time to sort out my true intentions), what my blogging limits are (public or private blog? photos of kids/family/home? anecdotes of motherhood? anecdotes of marriage? details of my location?), who I wanted to be reading the blog (family? friends? friends of friends? people who get to the blog via a friend's blog or a comment I've made on a blog? anyone in the world?)

After much soul-searching and prayer, I have decided to create THIS blog, which is essentially going to be a "mirror" blog that has been scrubbed of photos and names of my kids and husband, in order to have a public blog that doesn't make me feel like I'm exposing my family to anyone and everyone. My criteria is that, if I wouldn't mind a perfect stranger (or creepy person at the grocery store) accessing this blog and printing each post and stapling it up on those WalMart bulletin boards, then it's ok. Otherwise, it's a no-go.

My #1 priority in my mothering job is protecting my family.

While I love to look at other people's blogs with great photos of their kids and home, I know that I need to keep some things private. By exposing too much, I leave myself open to regretting it if something bad were to happen. But, by revealing too little, I never run that risk. Even Ree, the Pioneer Woman, keeps the names of her children and husband private. I was reading a blog recently and noticed that while the author typically avoided mentioning the town she lives in, she had posted a photo that included the name and mentioned her family lived within biking distance. It hit me that I had the following information: her full name (last name had been mentioned on a different blog), the names of her children and husband, town she lives in and approximate location of her home, photos of what her house looks like, schools her children attend (also revealed in photos on the blog/clues in the blog), and what church they attend. There are way too many people out there who might use this information for less-than-honorable intentions, and with a fully-public blog, I have to be aware of this.

Do I want absolutely anyone out there to know what I have in my home? Would I be willing to post photos of the inside of my home at the local grocery store? Would I want my sonogram photos in every local church bulletin? Would I encourage my husband to pass out pictures of my children to all of his coworkers and ask them to hand them out to strangers? Would I tell strangers that I'm going out of town and how long I'll be away? Would I print out a list of all the major dates in our family, such as birth dates and anniversaries, and send it to the newspaper of a major city? Obviously... no. I have my Facebook page limited as to who can view it and the photos on it, and even then I question if I should remove photos/names/acknowledgment of birthdays and anniversaries.

However, I have a lot to say and I enjoy writing (don't want to let all those creative writing classes and M.A. just rot away in my brain!), so I'll enjoy blogging in a more safety-concious way, and hopefully anyone who stops by will enjoy reading it! As for family/home/personal pics, those will stay on my private blog.

Stay tuned for the companion cooking and recipe blog, cheerfullychaotickitchen.blogspot.com!