Our names or faces
I blog anonymously. I’m sure I’ve dropped enough hints for people who read me to figure out more specific details than I’ve intended to share. And that’s okay! Mostly I’m trying to avoid my students finding my blog. I am a fairly private person and I don’t have any social media accounts. I don’t want my students to know random things about my life that I haven’t chosen to share with them, so I try hard to hard to keep this blog out of a google search of my name or image. Only a couple IRL friends have found my blog (one was searching a specific situation we were dealing with at your kids’ elementary school and my blog came up because I was writing about it), and honestly I want to keep it that way.
Meal plans or recipes
I don’t cook. It doesn’t really interest me and I’m not good at it. My husband is the cook in our house. I do “prepare” meals for myself, my kids, and sometimes my whole family, but I do not think much about dinner and I do not meal plan. I don’t say this proudly, but I’m also done feeling bad about not participating in an aspect of mothering that is so morally coded. I do kind of love that my kids know someone else can be in charge of cooking, and even cleaning up the kitchen after cooking (my husband also generally does the clean up). It’s not our only switching of traditional gender roles. I am the driver in our family. And the fixer of things; I own, and wield, the power tools. We do fall into plenty of traditional gender roles (I do the laundry, and most of the cleaning and my husband mostly manages our finances). But in the kitchen we definitely swap roles, so I don’t write at all about meal planning.
What I’m reading and listening to
I don’t really write anything about what I’m reading or listening to, and honestly I wish I could change that. I really appreciate when other people mention what they are reading and/or listening to, and I’ve queued up many a podcast episode and checked out many a book based on other bloggers’ recommendations. I don’t know why I can’t get it together enough to at least mention what books and podcast eps I’ve been enjoying. It feels like the least I can do, so why don’t I just do it!
Finances, budgeting, planning, organizing
I am so bad with budgets. Truly, it’s my kryptonite. And there have been times in my life where the only thing that saved me was some credit card offer for 18 months of 0% APR on roll over balances. Now that we make a little more (but not much! because we’re both civil servants!), and that my spending is less… volatile… I don’t have to think too much about my spending (what a privileged life I lead! Truly!), and thus I don’t write about it. I’m also pretty bad at planning (at home at least), and keeping my house tidy and organized. I have MarieKondo’ed the house a couple times and I followed minimalism blogs for a (long) while, but if I do write about these things it’s usually to talk about how much I’m struggling with them. If I could articulate my experiences better in some of these realms, I might actually be able to add value to people’s lives, but alas I have not managed to do that. Which brings me to the fifth thing you will not find on this blog…
Anything helpful really
I’m not trying to talk shit, I swear. I’m just being honest about the fact that I do not write about ways you can make your life better, or even ways I’ve managed to make my life better! Usually I just show up and rant a little about my day to day. When I was writing on my first blog, about infertility and pregnancy loss, and then about parenting small children, I feel like I did post meaningful commentaries on my lived experience. Now that my kids are older and life doesn’t feel so hard, I struggle to show up with thoughtful things to say. My motivation wanes, my free time contracts, and I post a recap of the weekend. I’m not saying that is nothing – I enjoy plenty of blogs that recap weekends – but if helpful advice is what you’re looking for, this is probably not the spot to wait for it.
You will find some nice pictures from time to time, and a little bit of snark when I can muster it. So there’s that!
A bit of snark now and again is important! I love photos on blogs, that’s one of the things I always mention in the April A to Z reflections.
Too many bloggers that do recipes make you scroll through a bunch of stuff before you even get to the recipe. I don’t bother with them!
I agree, keep names and faces away. I mean, mine has my first name, but that’s it. I probably tell local locations a bit too much though. It’s hard.
Yeah, I think people that already read me could figure out what school I work at if they tried. I don’t love that, but it’s hard to be completely anonymous.
You see your posts from inside. From outside I can say you repeatedly remind me that either I have solid company in my insanity and issues, Or, I am human like you and it is ok to be real not perfect. Both are great positives and part of why I keep reading your blog.
You achieve more in less time than the majority of people I know. Keep being you; you are special and great and such a gift to my world. THANK YOU!!!!!
I’m glad I have something to offer, even if it’s not a concrete thing I can point to (or explain). Obviously I find meaning in the writing, as I do in reading the blogs of people like me who aren’t trying to give explicit advice or help with a specific issue. It’s just nice to share and to receive what others are sharing.
Ha ha, well at least you’re honest (I’m laughing at your last point). Hey, there’s all kinds of bloggers. I like them all, and definitely appreciate a blog where we’re just getting a glimpse into someone’s life. That is FUN. Your life is very different from mine in a lot of ways, and that’s fascinating to read about.
I also think that you share occasional helpful tips, even if that’s not your focus (like about the rosacea cream for example). I learn something from all types of blogs.
Ah yes! I will share any topical cream recommendations for sure. And maybe I’ll even send you an extra pot when I get my hands on one. 😉
I love your blog because you keep it REAL. I appreciate that you are honest about your life and your stuggles because so many people hide behind a social image and I find that exhausting and, frankly, boring. IRL you are definitely someone I would choose to be friends with so, reading your blog I get the same good feeling of connecting with a friend, even though we’ve never met!
Ah thanks (blushes). Staying anonymous definitely helps me keep it real here. I’m also probably a bit of an over sharer in real life. I definitely talk a lot and loudly. But I’m guessing you figured that out. 😉
Noemi – I did just see a comment from you on another blog about wordpress and blogger, etc. My blog is on blogger, so I’m gonna apologize upfront if it is hard for you to comment there.
So much of what you don’t blog about aligns so much with what I don’t blog about. I do cook, but I’m more of a follow a recipe, hey look here’s a casserole, or what can I dump in my crockpot cook than anything else. I’m not one to off-road recipes. I bake a lot, but other than mentioning that I baked 6 loaves of pumpkin bread for a tailgate – it isn’t a theme. My blog is anonymous too, My kids all have fake blog names. I send blog friends, who I’ve gotten to know, my Christmas card with read faces and names though. I’m not an organizational guru. My house is a disaster, but I usually can find what I need. I don’t set goals, but I make daily to do lists and feel plenty accomplished when I cross things off my list. Overall I tend to blog about the adventures of our family, or the daycare I run in my home, or the interactions with my siblings, etc. We recently adopted our two youngest (ages 14 and 13) who’ve lived with us for 2.5 years. In other words, life isn’t boring, but I’m telling it like it is.
I look forward to reading more of your posts. I’m blown away that you lived in Hong Kong (I think that’s what I read) as a kid. That’s so interesting.
I appreciate that you’re blogging the old-school way (and I mean that in the most positive way!), that you’re not trying to fill a niche, or sell something, or even offer anything helpful in EVERY post… but I will say that you getting a glimpse into someone else’s life, an understanding what their day-to-day looks like can be so educational and eye-opening in its own way. Keep doing what you’re doing.
I also loved that you touched on the gender roles in your family. That would possibly a topic for one of my next posts!
K think the above five things is what attracted me to your blog. Plus being a fellow language teacher.
So many blogs are “life hacks!” Blergh
I like the real, the messy and the every day. I’m also nosy about other people’s lives.
This was a fun post! Since I am pretty happy reading whatever people want to post about, it’s interesting to see it from a “what I WON’T post” perspective.
While I post about meal planning, too much really, I love reading about people who have no interest in food/meals/cooking and how that works in their families. And you are not alone — several of my blog friends (all female) are not responsible for cooking or meal planning or grocery shopping. I wonder what magnificent things I could do if I didn’t devote so much of my brain power to meal related things?!