Wednesday 7 March 2012

Museings

This post is dedicated to Fiona, who has been such an encouragement to me.

Dear Readers 
In another departure from my spring cleaning posts, don't worry more to follow, I give you the following ramblings about my blog.  The idea of this blog was conceived in my head a LONG time before it materialised.  Could I do it?  Were my IT skills up to a blog?  My spelling certainly isn't (I’ll come out of the closet now I am dyslexic). Would anyone read my blog?  Would I be able to come up with enough material? Would it be a chore to keep up?  So many questions.  Then one day I had a chance conversation about stale lemons, just your average conversation (or maybe not) "Oh I hate it when lemons go stale in the fridge" I replied with "Oh just chop the end off and rub it over a wooden board, it deodorises it" To which my friend replied, you always have such great tips like that - thank you Miriam.  Which got me thinking this is just how my mind works - worryingly I’m a magpie for little tips and curious pieces of information.  But others do seem to find it interesting/useful or I just have very sweet friends who humour me but secretly think I’m crazy - possibly a combination of the two.  If it's any consolation my husband thinks I’m totally bonkers, but he still loves me.

So I began my blog, and did a post about stale lemons.  At first I was too scared to tell anyone.  Oddly the first person I told was my Sister who never minces her words (she honestly gave me a critique of my round robin Christmas letter) and is a professional journalist.  When she liked it I thought it can't be terrible and so I told my 4 best Mummy friends (my target audience).  Who loved it!  Thank you to Catrin & Claire particularly who all e-mailed me such lovely comments about it.  So I decided to jump straight in there and go public on Facebook and through e-mail.  I was so touched by how many of my friends bothered to read my blog and keep returning.  Even some men were brave enough to check it out (my lovely brother read the whole thing!).  My thanks at this point to Graham - technical  genius - who always advises me on how to improve my posts.  Also to Tracey for your continued encouragement & to Grethe who put the word out in Norway.

I worry sometimes that my blog is too fluffy that it doesn't really have any substance to it.  I promise you I have a sensible, intelligent side, I'm a fully trained counsellor you now, I can handle some quite heavy stuff.  But this blog is very much me I am hopelessly girly, thrifty, clean, crafty, smiley & a repository for strange information.  I hope all that comes across.  You may also be seeing the counsellor in me who constantly evaluates me and internal processes to try to better myself.  Currently wondering is it OK to be fluffy? Is this fluff signalling an unmet need that needs addressing?"

But then Fiona sent me this.  Fiona was introduced to my blog by a mutual friend Aggie.  I have never met Fiona but you will know her because she comments on my blog.  She leaves such lovely and encouraging comments that always make my day.  


Now if you can excuse the Cheesy American accent and listen to what this guy has to say, this is why I took a leap into the unknown and started my blog in the hope that this might be true.  So my question to you what are you holding back that might be obvious to you but amazing to someone else?  Let me encourage you to let it out, you might enjoy it.

So this blog created and imagined by me, bought into life by a conversation about lemons, nurtued along the way by kind friends and fervently encouraged and supported by Fiona.

Fiona writes a beautiful and very eloquent blog over at http://www.teawithafriend.co.uk/. 

Were it not for Fiona's comments I may have given this up already.  PLEASE comment on my posts I love to hear what you think and get a dialog going on here.

P.S Next spring cleaning post will go up on Friday.

15 comments:

  1. thank you Simmi

    I have an idea - and too reticent to use it - now I feel differently
    x

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  2. Simi it is quite obvious you are an inspiration to many and this is a lovely way to spread your knowledge to us all. I really love your blog and find the tips great. Well done and continue the good work.

    Ruth x

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    1. Thank you so much for this lovely comment I am so thrilled to have comments on here. Delighted you are enjoying the blog Ruth.

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  3. Oh Simone! I actually cried reading your lovely words! Thank YOU so much for your encouragement and for all the fantastic ideas you've posted which I have enjoyed reading and putting into practice so much. So delighted that you found that little video to be helpful. Can't wait to read your next blog post! Much love xxx

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    1. AWW bless you! Your encouragement has really meant so much to me, thank you Fiona.

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  4. Oh Simi I love your blog....it's so utterly you and reading it is like visIting. You have always been my domestic goddess guru and now lots more lucky people get to benefit. Keep blogging you're too good at it to stop......lots of love Debs xxx

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    1. Thank you so much Debs, you should come for a real visit soon xx

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  5. Ooh, thank you for the namecheck, Simi and I'm glad to have been of help in some small way (although I wouldn't pretend to be a techie expert).

    Next step is a YouTube channel... seriously.

    Short videos, correctly named and tagged – and including a link to your blog – will increase traffic.

    And if you visit other similar sites and leave comments (without plugging your own blog) people will naturally find their way to your site, and then spread the word among their friends.

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    1. Oh I'm not sure anyone wants to see my mug on youtube but it's something to think about. Commenting on others blogs, which I used to do(pree blog) anyway is a great way to get some traffic in. Now I have a google account it automatically links my comments to my blog. I've had about 15views this week alone just via others blogs. i am getting way to interested in my blog stats, it's compelling stuff.

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    2. YES PLEASE to the YouTube idea! Would be brilliant to see videos of things like sewing and mending and different stitches and so on. Go for it Simone! xxx

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  6. I think one reason blogs appeal to moms is thst we can connect with other moms and its fun to be fluffy! We have enough seriousness in our real lives .

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    1. Too right! Thank you so much for visiting and commenting.

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  7. Hello Simone, I'm a friend of Fiona's and followed her recommendation over to your blog...and it's lovely! I especially enjoyed reading this post, as we had so many of the same feelings when starting to blog. It was nerve-wracking wasn't it?! I am well and truly addicted now though, and although I don't think anyone except my Mum and Dad and my friends will ever be interested in my ramblings about my garden and things I've cooked, I am loving writing regularly again. I've always adored writing, but it's one of those things that's been a casualty of being "a grown-up" so I'm thrilled to bits to have rediscovered it again.

    Finally before I leave you, I've only had a chance to quickly glance at a couple of your other posts (will definitely be back) but as a fellow thrifty person I have to say - do you use your local library? I LOVE mine. I read very quickly and pretty much constantly, and if I bought everything I read I would own shares in Waterstones...always getting books out of the library is my favourite thrifty tip. I could say more but I think this is a post in the making

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    1. Hi Elizabeth
      Thank you for stopping by and reading my blog I am thrilled to hear you like it. It deffinatly has been a nerve racking experience but my little corner of the internet here is proving very popular and I am enjoying it.
      Saddly I read exceptionally slowly as I am dyslexic and although I read a lot as a child I don't read very often these days for myslef as I find it frustrating. However we have a small independant library near us that I take my two children to very often. We take out tons and ton of books andd they love it, I do too. Especially in the winter we can sit in the warm library all afternoon and it doesn't cost us a penny.

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