20th McHappy Day in Canada!

Wednesday, May 8th is McHappy Day!

It’s that time of year again! Are you going?

We are! Wouldn’t miss it!

On Wednesday, May 8^th, McDonald’s will donate $1 from every Happy Meal, Big Mac, and hot McCafé beverage you buy to Ronald McDonald Houses and other local children’s charities across Canada.

Ultimate Blog Challenge – The End

And it’s over. 30 days of writing. 30 days of posting. Well, more like 15 days of posting for me. I started late with the challenge and had to do some catching up. By the 19th of the month I was on track to post once a day.

But hey, there’s a reason this little space on the Internet is called Life Takes Over. It happens. It’s a fact of, well, Life.

I lost five days in the last part of the month to mundane important parenting responsibilities. (Feeding my kids healthy meals does take a lot of prep time and a certain amount of planning genius, especially when dealing with picky eaters.)

But here’s what I learned by taking part in the Ultimate Blog Challenge:

The Inner Workings of a Mommy Blogger’s Mind

So I got to thinking the other day about blogging and writing and what it all means to me. I started this blog because I like to write and because I found myself talking about my kids and my life with friends (no I’m not narcissistic [well, maybe a little bit]. I do listen to my friends to) and realizing that, even though I thought I had nothing to write about and no one would find my stories interesting even if I did write them down, my stories are likely similar to every other mom with a 5-year-old and a 3-year-old, but they are from my POV. No one else comes at life from where I stand.

Enter blogging. I decided to stop boring my friends by telling them my stories and start writing them down so they could choose to read them at their leisure.

Ultimate Blog Challenge – The Beginning

Have you heard about the Ultimate Blogger Challenge? I hadn’t until recently. But it seems like a great way to get my butt back in gear. I have a dozen or more drafts lagging in a folder. For whatever reason, I can’t seem to polish them off and send them out into the world.

I call it “being too busy”. But that’s not a good enough excuse if writing is something you truly love. Because, if you do love to write, you’ll always find time to do it.

When I first started blogging, I used to get ideas while I was washing or drying dishes with my husband. I’d look at him imploringly and say, “I just had a great idea for a blog post. I don’t want to forget it. Would you mind if I just sat down at the computer for a few minutes to tap it out?”

And he, being the wonderfully understanding husband that he is, would say, “Of course, hon. This is your passion. You have to run with it.”

When you can’t write

If ever there was a time to write, it is now.

It is when you can’t that you must.

It is when no ideas come that you must face the screen, flex your fingers and begin.

It is when you are the most afraid of what will come that you must face your fear.

It is when you feel you have nothing to say that you have the most to say.

It is when you think yourself not good enough that you are at your best.

This is the darkest hour of a writer.

This is the moment of truth.

This is where belief is born.

Be strong. Do not falter. You are a writer. You have a story to tell.

Put fingers to keyboard. Stare down that blank screen and…

Connecting

I love writing. I always have. I get a lot out of it. I also put a lot into it. One thing I didn’t expect to get out of it was connection.

I was always afraid to let my written words out into the world because of the reaction they might garner. Would people like my words, my stories? Would they think I was trying to be something I’m clearly not? I fancy myself a writer, but what do others think?

My Blog Anniversary(ies)

Yeah, this is a hard one to nail down.

Today, I got a little note from WordPress.com:

Happy Anniversary!

You registered on WordPress.com 1 year ago!

Thanks for flying with us.

Keep up the good blogging!

WordPress does better than some husbands. (Not mine of course. He’s a die-hard romantic and never forgets our special day.)

But the reason I say that this anniversary thing is hard to nail down is that I don’t have just one when it comes to blogging and this here little blog. I have three.

ShesConnected2012 – a truly amazing experience

Friday, October 19, 2012 saw me head into downtown Toronto for what I can only describe as the most empowering, socially connected (digitally and IRL), fun two days of my life.

There was so much to do, so many people to meet in real life, so much to learn. It really was a fantastic experience. A great big THANK YOU goes out to the wonderful women at ShesConnected for inviting me to attend the 2012 ShesConnected conference.

Tomorrow’s the big day

I’m off to the ShesConnected conference in Toronto.

I have been looking forward to this since September!

What I expect to get out of the next two days:

A great big THANK YOU

Voting ended today for the Circle of Moms Top 25 Canadian Moms.

I didn’t make it into the Top 25.

But I made it as far as #32. And that’s because of you. Thank you.