Bad Mom,  crazy stuff,  raving lunatic rant

Thursday is Box Day

being baby bug

…because Friday is Trash Day. (the coffee shop next door saves them for us) I like it that every day in my week now has a name. Monday is Grocery Shopping Day, Tuesday is Laundry Day, Wednesday is Hang-Out with Mother-in-Law Day, Thursday is Friend Day (as in make plans with a friend, you hermit) OR Box Day (if you failed to make plans with a friend, you hermit) and Friday is Trash Day! Whee it’s so fun to watch the smashing noisy trash trucks, definitely a highlight in our week. Saturday is Farmers Market Day and Sunday is well… Sunday, the Lord’s Day and also Family Day. But then every day is “family day” at our house so Sunday just Sunday.

Don’t you feel so updated now? Boy, that was interesting. Almost as interesting as twittering what I’m doing every minute of the day. Speaking of… we now feature Baby Bug’s twitters over there in the right-hand upper corner where the side blogs used to be. Remember those? They were cool. So sad how they didn’t play well with the new wordpress upgrade and COMPLETELY SCREWED UP MY WHOLE BLOG AND DELETED MY EMAIL ACCOUNTS! Yeah, I’m a little wound up about it. I’ve been without email for the last two days. Who knew that could send me into such a spin.

the portal is CLOSED

I have my laptop set up on the counter that is between our kitchen and our living room. It’s an excellent place for it because it is central and right out in the middle of everything so I can constantly hop online to read an email or twitter or something and still watch Baby Bug with the eyeballs in the back of my head. The only drawback is that it’s in bright sunlight and it is impossible for me to see color in the middle of the day. But that’s okay. I’d rather be color blind than completely disconnected to my virtual world.

You thought this post was going to be about boxes but actually it is about my addiction to the internet. Something I came to terms with during the two long days that my email was cut off. You see, I have my email set to “ping” at me if there is a new email. It checks every five minutes. I can hear this “ping” all over the house. I am like Pavlov’s dog and when I hear that “ping”, I jump up from whatever I am doing and slobber over to my laptop to read the latest message of wonderfulness (or spam). It’s terrible.

It’s so bad that when family members hears the “ping” they now say, “Auntie got an email!” Sometimes I turn it off but then I get lonely for it and turn it back on. Toby says, “How can you live under the tyranny that is your email?” I don’t know. It’s not a tyranny to me. It is like little sweet somethings in my ear all day long. It is my life. I’m not one of those moms who says, “I can’t wait to get out and talk to some adults” after spending all day with a little tyke. I spend all day with my little tyke and about a thousand friends online. Well, maybe not a thousand but a lot. I don’t miss real people much.

Maybe you have this addiction too? If you can finish the sentence below with more than three positive things, you might understand how I feel. But lets switch gears and put in blogging instead of emailing because in reality, blogging is the cause of all my emailing and it does take up bigger chunks of my productive (the-baby-is-sleeping) time.

Okay here’s the sentence:

If I didn’t blog, I would…

What would you do? If you don’t have a blog then put “read blogs” in there instead.

If you were me, you would do A LOT OF THINGS!!!! LIke paint some paintings for that real art show you are actually going to be in (in August ACK!). Remember that dream you always had since you were eight? Or you might actually break out the sewing machine and work on that fabric plush laptop that you day-dreamed up for Baby Bug because she wants to be just like you and play all day on the shiny silver portal. Or you might fix the caulking in the bathtub that Baby Bug wants to play with every night when she takes a bath.

The possibilities are ENDLESS! And you know I would do these things because I am a very driven person and I love praise. If I didn’t get praise on my blog then I would seek it diligently elsewhere. I have a sickness that way. So that brings us to the obvious conclusion. Time to stop blogging.

Ha Ha ha ha !

Nope. Can’t do it.

I just have to develop some other super powers because I just can’t stop. I won’t. Maybe I’ll think about “streamlining” as Whoorl suggested. Maybe I’ll force myself to shut the laptop for certain hours of the day but I can’t stop. I will stop sleeping first.

Okay, so go comment now so I can hear your email pinging at me all day long because it is so sweet after being gone for two whole days. I love you, my little pingers!

p.s. I am abandoning my animated gifs and adopting the flickr picture route to save space on my server. I know, it’s new and different and will take getting used to but it is a good thing. My blog needed to go on a diet.

29 Comments

  • familymclean

    Baaaa, you made me cry. I am afraid I have been stricken with the same disease. Bloggitis.
    I live for my comments and e-mails and now facebook—don’t get into that or you will never have a life!! My husband says all I have is virtual friends and when beachmama came to visit me yesturday (ya, I met her through your blog and she was in town to visit her sis and stopped by, how cool is that?!!!) my hubby said, “Who is that?” I told him she was a blogging friend, and he just looked at me, like I’d sucked her throught the laptop or something. Apparently since all I talk about around real people is my virtual people I have now been labled as having bloggitis and as a net junkie. I leave it runnign all day on my dining room table, nurse at it, and when the kids are distracted for one minute I am on it. I do not want to think of what I might be doing instead of blogging, it is sad to think of all that I would actually get done, sigh, sob, sniff. I need help!! Bloggitis sucks!!! I think that part of the problem is being a SAHM and this has become my release, my life. (I secretly absloutely love it)

  • bethany

    Aw, I will miss the animated .gifs. But not as much as I would miss email and then internet if they were taken away from me! I don’t think I have the fever quite as bad as you do, but when I don’t have access to the internet for a day or two I am always surprised at how often I think of doing something online. Which is exactly why I don’t have a blog–I fear it would take over my life! Flickr is already starting to a little bit. It’s a slippery slope, isn’t it? Ah well, I am glad I can contribute to your happiness with a “ping” here and there.

  • Katherine

    I’m without internet for a few days while we go on holiday. I’m not sure how I feel about it but I’m already looking forward to reading all the emails, blog posts and Facebook action that will have happened…

    I love the box photo series!

  • DeeJay

    Over the past two years of my own blogging I have found a few blogs that I just adore. Adore so much that I read them every day like a series on television. It’s as if they are extensions to my family. When they get to be too much for the blogger and get streamlined down to where they basically go away it makes me sad for a little while. Unfortunately life goes on and that blogger actually gets a “real world” life and their virtual one never resurfaces for me to gawk at again.

    Personally, if your blogging is interfering with your family life or you have lost the ability to see real from not real then its a problem. Like those people who think the characters on tv are real people. But if it’s just keeping you from cleaning the bath tub, which gets cleaned any way…just a little later than usual…what’s the harm? No need to go wacky and shut the whole thing down, streamlining…yes sounds good. Time with your lovely little family that you are so very blessed with. I totally get that one. They love you and they want you too. Do what you feel in your heart is the right thing and we here in your virtual world will be even more thankful when your update does come up. I know I will.

    By the way…you are very fortunate to get commenters on your blog. If I’m lucky…I may get one a day. lol Maybe I’m the one who should give up blogging. hehe

  • Steph

    I’m addicted to my e-mail also….can’t get enough of them!!!!! I LUV THEM!!!!!!!!!!!!

    If I didnt’ blog I think I would be laying in a gutter somewhere with herion lines all up and down my arms…..LOL hahahahahah

    Love your blog!!!!!!

  • anne

    I will concur…though I’ve gotten myself to be able to keep from turning the computer on until the afternoon. See, the fun of that is then there is a huge pile of emails to be read. And a large number is very exciting also!! :)

  • Beth

    i too shall join the club! Addicted as accused! I also feel that cyber friends ARE a part of my life, my family (hubby and girls) know i enjoy sharing, chatting, and reading blog, emails, ect….or the Game addiction i also have! It has become “ME” time, my hobby/habit, if you will! Everyone needs to make “ME” happy first, then others can see/feel your happiness and contentness. Make time for ALL the things life has to offer (and yes the housework WILL get done-sooner or later-it’s part of life!) But real life and cyber life are both very real to me! I have been fortunate enough to meet (live and in person) Simply Sassy, and found a wonderful,precious, enjoyable friend for life.

    and i must say…it’s “ALL HER FAULT” for my addictions to chatting (internet in general) :) luv ya sassy!!!!! hugs to cyber friends cU jave rocks…be safe be happy be real!
    Have A Great Day=hagd

  • Kami

    I too am addicted – mostly to reading blogs but boy I love me the comments I get on my own too :-)

    I can totally relate and without my laptop this stay at home gig would be lonely. I prefer to not think about the productive things I could be doing instead. I like denial… it works for me.

  • BeachMama

    I would … oh what did I used to do?? Go out and shop? Work? I can’t remember. I do try to only go online two times a day. If I had the ping going like I used to when I worked we would never get anything done. Then some days are so boring, I don’t think I could write a post about it. I think I did very well while here on vacation at my Sisters place. I brought the laptop because I am up at strange hours. It turns out that they are now too, so the three of us would sit with our laptops being anti-social. Funny but fun at the same time.

    And I got to meet familymclean!! Yes we met through your blog and both decided that it would be great to go to California and have Whoorlgaritas with you and Whoorl. But, for now we had to meet halfway between.

    Hope you enjoy your ‘ping’!!

  • OMSH

    *ping*
    *pinggity ping*
    *ping-a-licious-osity*

    There, are you happy?

    And? Your blog page is so happy to go on a diet – in fact, SO HAPPY that it downloaded 3x as fast.

    Weeeee!
    I think I’m gonna name my days. I like that idea.

  • The Chatty Housewife

    I have laundry Monday, friends Tuesday, cleaning Friday and the Lord’s Day of course. Cleaning Friday sounds exciting don’t you think?

    I will miss your little conversation icons. They were great.

    I hope you enjoyed this little ping and that it was a sweet whisper of nothing in your ear. ;)

    Squeeze BB for me. She is adorable in boxes.

  • Carrie

    Ping ping ping! I am going INSANE right now b/c I just moved to a new host and not everything is working right yet and I can’t get certain e-mail and I don’t have my blogroll and everything is a confused mess and Erik is sleeping and I want to be quilting but I can’t drag myself away from this computer even though I’m accomplishing exactly nothing.

    So yes, I understand.

    I also want some ice cream right now. That would be a good non-blog thing.

  • Kuky

    Ping ping!

    I can totally relate! Right from the hermit (raising my hand and jumping up and down) to the blogging. Your post made me laugh out loud and gasp too.

    The laughing part came when I got to the sentence, “If I didn’t blog, I would…”. I finished it with I would be reading blogs. And then I misread the next sentence and started laughing because I thought you were saying if you didn’t blog you would be reading blogs too. Whoops. I have blogs on the brain. Alan laughs at me about it. It’s like in American Pie, “one time at band camp” except I start with “I was reading on a blog…”

    And then I gasped when you wrote time to stop blogging. Whoo so glad you weren’t serious!

    And you know you seem like you find plenty to do in addition to your blogging. You’re always talking about interesting things and making banners and see…you get lots done.

    And an art show in August?! How very awesome! Wish I could be in an art show.

  • Suess

    If I didn’t blog or read blogs I’d probably be marrying George Clooney or that little cutie Mario Lopez from Dancing with the Stars. (Although I think my husband might object to me dating). Anyway, yep, I’m pretty sure that’s what I’d be doing.

    Long live the ping!!!

  • Amy

    I don’t blog but I am addicted to READING blogs and email. One of my closest friends was met online some 9 years ago. We live in different countries, have NEVER spoken (afraid we won’t like each other off line and then what would we do?!?!) We talk through out the day, exchange gifties, books and friendship.

    If I did not spend my work/kid free time on the computer I would get a lot more..
    – painting done! Used to sell on ebay but now apparently ‘too busy’ ;)
    – work on our house.
    – watch tv so I could sit and get more knitting and spinning time in!
    – time with my husband.

    Sigh. But some addictions are hard to break darn it!

  • Joy

    I’d love to say that if I weren’t blogging I’d be doing something useful like cleaning. Or writing real articles. Or solving a world problem.

    In reality, if I weren’t blogging I would probably just be surfing the web, watching television or generally wasting time. Blogging forces me to at least once a day articulate something going on in my life. Over the last three months I’ve been really sick and blogging have force me to say something other than “I hurt”, or “I’m tired”. It’s an electronic scrapbook where I leave quotes and videos and memories and thoughts.

    I hardly get any comments, so it’s clearly not for the praise that I do it (though it is interesting to see the hits I get). I just love writing and finally I found medium that allows me to express my thoughts and post my pictures in a semi structured way that isn’t intimidating to me.

    So yes, I probably have blogitis too. But I really think the payoffs for me are bigger than the side effects. :)

    Thanks for the question.

  • aunt kathy

    PING! PING! If I weren’t blogging I would be knitting. Or cleaning. Or cooking. Or driving someone to the barn.

  • beck

    PING!
    I know the pinging addiction. My computer plays a little two-tone sound that has me dropping everything, you know, just to see who it was from and if I need to reply, you know, RIGHT THAT SECOND.
    If I didn’t blog I would get lots more done.
    But that’s because I’m a poor prioritizer. I say “oh I’ll sit down just for a second” and then, boom, the entire two hours is gone and now Kate’s awake and I’m mad at myself for not flying through those chores.
    I’m trying to get my life to be more moderate, less extremes. Blogging in moderation is a very very good and even healthy thing I think.
    If I didn’t blog I would write the old fashioned way a whole lot more.

  • Pam

    If I didn’t READ blogs, I would…

    do my homework, class is almost over, i only have about a week left and i need to study, i’m just so busy, you know with important things like making lj icons, twittering, and looking at other ppl’s pictures

    go to bed at a decent hour, checking all the sites i check everyday takes up a lot of my time in the evenings and naturally, when i get off the computer i can’t go straight to bed, i have all those tv shows piled up on my tivo bc i was busy on the computer while they were on, i must watch them before sleeping

    actually talk to my friends on the phone, possibly even visit them, but who needs to bother with phones and getting ready and entertaining ppl, i have tons of friends right here in this little box in my computer room, why socialize lol

  • Misty

    I’ve been battling this disease for years, and I fear remission is nowhere in sight! At least it has brought some positives to the family, like a relaxed mother who can have friends even though they live dozens of states away, and now that my children are older they are interested in starting their own business since they have seen Mom working while they grew up the last 8 years! This disease has made me who I am :) Embrace it!

  • Jennifer

    If I didn’t blog I would…
    Paint, read, eat. Maybe.

    More likely? My children would be begging me to leave them alone for five minutes already instead of the other way around.

  • aimee/greeblemonkey

    I know this post wasn’t really about Baby Bug in a box, but someday I need to send you this photo of the racecar my hubby made for Declan out of a box. It was SWEET.

    And if I wasn’t blogging, or stalking 6,000 hilarious bloggers.. I would probably be SLEEPING. Like I should be RIGHT NOW.