Swimming With the Big Fish

You know you've hit a whole new level in blogland when you get comment spammed regularily. I had to laugh at IF Optimist's response to this comment on my Turning Point post:

"You have to express more your opinion to attract more readers, because just a video or plain text without any personal approach is not that valuable. But it is just form my point of view"

You should really read her comment if you haven't because I nearly spat out my coffee laughing when I read it this morning. Thanks Darlin', you made my day!

Of course, the comment was "Anonymous". I've considered not allowing anonymous comments but I do have some readers who don't have blogs and occaisionally comment. If it gets really out of control, I'll reconsider but right now I'm rather amused with everything going on. I don't take it seriously because it's not an actual person commenting. I've been deleting the stupid stuff that gets posted, spam links included, but I have tell you how amusing it is for "someone" to leave a comment about how useful and informative my post was for their college assignment. It's happened twice now- both were Photo of the Day posts. How's that for a chuckle? I left the comment above up because it was funny. I think I express my opinion quite well, don't you?

But even more interesting were the two emails I received yesterday from people/groups wanting to advertise on my blog. One of them was an emergency preparedness site. He said that perhaps I'd be interested in having their advertisements on my blog since I had written about emergency preparedness. Umm, did I? Has he actually read my blog? I mean, I'm flattered, really, but unless you count labour preparations, miscarriages and ambulance rides to the ER, I think he's missed his mark. I did write about Haiti, but I think we can all agree that that is a completely different topic.

The other offer was an exchange of sorts. It's to join a free "Mommy Blogger" service and get coaching on how to increase blog traffic and make money off my blog. I just have to put up their widget. I'm not sure if it's just people going around and popping from one blog to another, so I apologize if you get these offers too and you're not interested. It's not my fault, I swear!

This is where I could use some advice. I consider myself a Life blogger who is now a mom, not a "Mommy Blogger". I wouldn't mind making money if it means putting up a few things but that's not what this blog is about. I don't want to take away from my writing and photography. I also don't want to alienate my readers.

What do you think?

The Cat is Out of the Bag!

So I get this email right before I'm about to leave work yesterday from my mom. One word: PREGGERS??!!!!!!!?? Crap! How did she find out? Then it occurred to me... my brother. He's the only one who reads my blog who could have told her. I haven't had a chance to talk to him (as he's living in Oz and just got back from vacation in Bali and all), so he couldn't have known that I hadn't told her yet. I email back: What makes you think that? Lame, I know... Apparently, the two of them were on MSN and he accidentally spilled the beans without knowing he did so. His comment when I emailed back... "Silly girl"! I never got her reply because I had to leave to go home. I called her as soon as got home and we talked for a good while while we both made dinner. I told her that we wanted to wait to say anything but that I figured she'd figure it out when I saw her this weekend anyway. In my head I figured she'd take one look at me and ask me when I was due! She laughed when I told her this. Our conversation also revealed an interesting fact: my blog address was on my Face.book profile. Emphasis on was. I took it down immediately. The first thought that came to mind was who's reading?? But really, it's immaterial. If people are reading and don't comment, they haven't told me (besides the ones I gave the address to). I know this issue has come up for others. At what point do I care who reads? I know my brother reads it because he's so far away and I wanted him to keep in the loop. But what about others? I've come to the opinion that I don't mind if people I know read my blog as long as they follow these very simple rules: 1) If I know you IRL (in real life) and I didn't give you this address, you should kindly let me know that you are reading. It's only fair, that if you have access to something that is akin to a person's diary, you delurk at least once to let me know you are reading. I would do the same for you, so let's be fair here. 2) It should be understood that this place is my space to rant, vent, cry, laugh, joke etc. It's where I can write whatever I'm feeling at the moment without fearing adverse reactions from others. If I need to rant about a person or a situation, I'll never use names and will do my best to keep it as anonymous as possible. If you think that I'm talking about you (who knows, maybe I am), you just can't get all offended and in my face about it. If I want to talk about it in person, I WILL! Otherwise, accept that that is just how I am feeling at the moment. It will likely pass quickly and I'll come back and write again calmer and with some perspective. 3) Whatever I write is confidential. Especially regarding our lost babies and this current pregnancy. It's not anyone's place to tell others when we've decided we don't want our entire family to know. I'm not mad at M in anyway for spilling the beans (rather I'm laughing about it), as I likely would have told my Mom this weekend when I saw her anyway. It was a simple lack of communication- which is ironic, considering my blog is my way of communicating. Going forward, people should just check with me before saying anything. Thanks! So I'm in this place (that many others have been) of wondering exactly who's reading this. Mom, M, hi! Love you both!If you're reading and you're a family member or a friend IRL, fess up please and I promise not to be mad. On another, namely pregnancy, note: I can not believe how tired I am! I remember being exhausted most of the time but nothing like this. I know for sure it's not my iron, as I take my prenatal and eat red meat and other iron filled items in my diet. During the first half of my cycle I was taking a women's formula high-potency Omega-3 supplement. But during my LP and now that I'm pregnant, I had to stop taking them because they contain EPO (evening primrose oil) which can cause uterine contractions and is a big no-no right now. So I managed to find a prenatal formula (yay for Sho.ppers Dr.ug Mart). Funny thing is that I forgot that a proper dose is 2 pills and I had only been taking 1. Oops! Starting yesterday, I've been taking two, so hopefully that will help my energy a little. Doubt that's going to help my hunger though... I feel like I have to constantly eat because I get really nauseous if I have an empty stomach. But no pray.ing to the porcelain gods...yet. I may be exhausted but I am a little chipper today as it is a gorgeous sunny day. This after a small storm came and dumped another couple centimetres of snow in my neighbourhood and turned our road into a skating rink. I could barely cross the road in the morning on my way to work! Was mostly all gone by the time I got home but still. I mean, really, we GET IT! Vancouver gets to experience WINTER this year. But I'm ready for spring. My crocuses in my pots are growing nicely and should probably bloom in the next 3 weeks I'm guessing. About the same time frame that my body will stat to "bloom". Interesting, no?