A century of blogging

Well, kind of....

Blogger tells me that this is my 100th published post in 212 days. Wow, I do go on, don't I? I surprise myself actually - not that I can go on, more that I have turned some of my "going ons" into posts. When I started this blog, I really wasn't sure whether I had much to say. I'm still not sure I've fulfilled the original brief that I set myself, given that I don't blog about football all that much, nor do I talk about fitness that often. But I do blog about food, and you're probably bored to death hearing me talk about my family and the fun bit - well, that is just part of some of my posts. I hope.

But there we go. I've made it to 100. At first, I really didn't know what I was doing and just wittered on a bit. I lost a friend in March and a month later, her husband too which inspired me to blog, but the rest of April is just recipes and a couple of memes where others had tagged me. And then I stopped - I barely blogged the whole of May after going away three weekends out of four and being busy for the fourth weekend. But it saw my first post for the Gallery at Sticky Fingers to which I regularly contribute. In June, it caused to inspire me to write this post about my Dad. It was the hardest post I have written, and I cried buckets in the process of doing so. But somehow, and I can't explain exactly how, what or why, it fired me up to write more. The bug had bit.

July saw Missy Woo's 4th birthday, and although I suffered a bit of blogger's block, I tinkered with the look of the blog and changed it pretty much as you see it today with a few minor alterations. I also wrote a meme post about how you know you're a mum when various things happen and I wrote my first Dear So and So post, an idea started by Kat from 3 Bedroom Bungalow which was fun. Kat stopped DSS for a while but has now revived it so expect more posts from me in future as I find writing the letters both cathartic and hilarious at the same time.

August was an even bigger month. I was asked to be a Toys R Us Toyologist and so started to be sent lots of toys to review. And then, I took part in a Daily Mail article (not that I knew that it was for them at first) and they came to do me over so I ended up having a late (and so far singular) foray into "modelling". And I blogged about my weight loss progress.

Life changed completely in September when Missy Woo started school. She loves it totally and they love her. In truth, she was ready last year but had to wait her turn. September being back to school month caused me to reflect on our experience choosing a school for the children. And I started my very own Twitterholic meme which led to some great posts on lots of other blogs, all of which I enjoyed reading because I am nosey curious and have an inquiring mind. I wrote 21 posts in September so I think it's safe to say by then that I'd hit my stride.

October saw me make another big change in my life when I decided to reduce some of my volunteering commitments by stepping down from one role. In lighter moments, I wrote about my success as a Slummy Mummy and about my boobs - that post turned out to be particularly well read (must be the pic of Marilyn Monroe). I also gave a gift to Victoria as she left to go round the world and gave you my Desert Island Discs. I also ran a competition, for which I had an overwhelming 200+ entries.

And now, it's November. A week of toy reviews was leaving me flagging a bit but I took inspiration from other blogs and came up with the A to Z of my browser for this weekend. And that was post number 99.

So, here I am. I started out thinking I'd have a go, and 100 posts later, I'm hooked. I can't imagine not blogging - it adds an extra dimension to my experience of social networking that I previously only observed from the sidelines. I feel part of something, which is something that is often a bit of an issue for me. (And yes, I've blogged about that too!) Sometimes, I am up late - largely because I can't resist the hubbub of Twitter on a busy evening which distracts me - willing myself to finish a blog post so I can go to bed. A bit like now.  But I wouldn't swop it for the world.

Most importantly, for me anyway, I'm having fun. Thank you if you have been part of that fun over this century of blogging through comments here or on Twitter, or by writing a post linked to one of mine. It has been a blast. And long may that continue.

I am a Twitterholic!

I have been considering starting a Twitter meme for a while and I'm just getting around to it now. That's the problem you have when you have too many ideas for blog posts in your head.

I decided to start this, because I love Twitter more than is healthy for a grown woman. I had a slow start but it's now reached fever pitch, and there is no hope for me; I'm hooked. I am a Twitterholic So, I have concocted a few questions about Twitter and you, which I hope will make for interesting blog-type reading. And of course, in time-honoured fashion, I get to go first. Eyes down, look in, ladies and gents, here are the votes of the kateab jury.

When did you join Twitter? (You can find the exact date at bwitterday.com)

28th November 2008.

Why did you join Twitter?

I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. I'd read an increasing number of press articles about it and was intrigued. However, I made the rookie mistake of assuming it was like Facebook (which I'd joined early 2008 having resisted for a long time) and so protected my tweets for quite a while. It did mean that I didn't get it at first. It was like tweeting into the abyss. I don't think I got my second follower until February! A few months later, I got Tweetdeck and was hooked.

Who is/was your first or oldest follower? Who did you follow first? Tell me all about them. (firstfivefollowers.com will give you this info)

These are one and the same person for me. It is Blaise Grimes-Viort who tweets here. I have known Blaise for 6 years or so, when he joined Handbag.com as their communities manager, which is now part of National Magazines. I was a regular on their discussion boards and was one of the volunteers who helped to moderate the boards - dealing with spam, abuse and so on. I also helped on a new discussion board which Blaise set up connected to some websites, aimed at mums-to-be and new mums, until NatMags decided to close it down. Gah.

I don't really use Handbag any more. I stopped visiting because most of the users I knew stopped visiting after an upgrade radically changed the boards for the worse. We all found new homes to go to, but I still kept in touch with Blaise via Twitter. Blaise tweets some personal stuff but mostly tweets information about being a community manager (and job vacancies, if you're interested). He left National Magazines last week and is now Head of Social Media Services & Engagement for Webjam.

The other thing I know about Blaise is that he has a famous sister. She's a supermodel - reckon that could be a bit of a conversation stopper! Her name is Benoit, better known as Ben Grimes. It means nothing to me as I am so not into fashion but she appears in celeb features.

Do you have any celebrities following you, or have you ever had a DM from a celeb? (This was inspired by Paula getting a DM from John Cusack - still jealous!)

Erm, I have a couple of radio type people (the lovely Helen Blaby and Phil Williams) who have become followers somehow. And the lovely Dhruv Baker, winner of Masterchef 2010, got talked into following me.

I did once get a DM from a former Apprentice contestant, offering telephone numbers and an email address. They weren't for me, but for someone who is not on Twitter. I was just the messenger girl. Honest, m'lud.

I had a real phase of following celebrities in my early days on Twitter. I do still follow some but these days, I am more interested in interacting with people, which is hard for celebrities who get thousands of replies to every tweet. I keep some for banter, amusement and nosiness, because that's what following a celebrity is all about.

If you could follow anyone not on Twitter - alive, dead, real or fictional - on Twitter, who would it be?

I think it would have to be someone literary, just to see how they get on fitting their ideas into 140 characters. So it's between two authors. The first is Thomas Hardy, whose books I read as a challenge, because the language was so difficult. Most of his books are fairly depressing so I can't imagine his tweets would be a laugh a minute. The other is Kahlil Gibran, who wrote The Prophet, one of my favourite books. I could imagine him tweeting some great lines from that and his other works, all of them guaranteed to delight and uplift.

Which came first - Twitter or blog? 

Definitely Twitter. It is because of Twitter that I got into blogging, through "meeting" bloggers on there who got me to write, leading me to set up this blog. The same people regularly give me advice, offer their opinion or input, and for that I will be forever grateful. It just so happens that Twitter is the perfect platform for telling the world about my blog, so I can't imagine blogging without Twitter. Twitter also helps me find some great blogs, some of which are in my blogroll down the right hand side of the page.

So, that's me. It now falls to me to pass on this Twitterholic meme to some other great bloggers. I am therefore tagging to receive my wonderful Twitterholic award:

Garry at The Blog Up North
Wendy at Very Bored in Catalunya
Joanna at At Home With Mrs M
Karen at If I Could Escape
Kirsty at Gone Bananas

to have a go. The rules, such as they are, are:

1. Nick the badge at the top, and mention the person who tagged you.
2. Answer the questions. (Duh!)
3. Tag some other great twitterholics bloggers.

Alternatively, tag yourself, mention me in your blog post and link to it in the comments below. I'd love to hear about your Twitter experience.

Dear So and So - diversions, children, social networking, yogurt, blog readers - and Asda again!

Not done this for a few weeks, but thought I'd do it now that Kat's back at 3 Bedroom Bungalow after her trip home. So, let's get down to some serious catharsis...

Dear urban planners,

Just who had the idea to shut the shortest of stretches of road with little warning, requiring the biggest diversions? First, I have to detour taking Monkey to his football on Monday (and now divert every day) then I go to take him to swimming on Wednesday and found another, requiring a 3 mile diversion. I know you want nice smooth roads - and God knows, so do I - but seriously? Are you out to annoy me or sommat?

Yours frustratedly,

Kate

Dear Asda,

Yes, it's me again. I've only been to the store for top up shops recently. You want to know why? Yep, that's right - no cafe! Please, please, please - how much do I have to beg before you put one back in? There must be plenty of mums with babies that don't go there because feeding is not easy. Or hungry kids. Or just hungry. Or thirsty.

Please sort it out. Pretty please?

Yours even more thirstily,

Kate

Dear children,

When we say "Stay in bed in the morning", that's what we mean. We don't mean "Get up to go to the toilet and then go wake up your sibling, even at 4am". There is a reason you're tired and it ain't anything to do with me.

Love,

Mummy

Dear Facebook,

Stop messing around with things, and pretending they're "enhancements". And no, I don't want to show all my photos and personal information to the whole frickin' world. Oh, and you're not Twitter, ya hear?

Sort it out,

Kate

Dear Twitter,

I love you just the way you are. Please don't try and turn into Facebook. You aren't and you never will be.  You do it so much better than them. New "features" should be added advisedly and only if it REALLY enhances your users' experiences of it. And I can't wait for your new data centre,

Yours hoping I don't see the fail whale again,

Kate

Dear Onken,

Coconut Yogurt. OMG! I love it. And you. But I hate you - I want to eat all of it in one go and I'm trying to lose weight. Can you not do smaller tubs?

Yours lasciviously,

Me

And finally......

Dear blog readers,

Thank you. I was really worried about publishing this post with pictures and all on my blog. But I did and you made such lovely comments, both on here and on Twitter, that I'm so glad I did.

I love you all,

Kate x