When Gretchen Losi asked me if I would be interested in doing the Mommy Blog, I thought, ‘Does the world need another mommy blog? I mean, really?’ According to an article in The Wall Street Journal there are over 200,000 parenting and family blogs. That’s a small number compared to what pops up on Google, over 760,000. Seriously? 

And there seems to be a different topic or spin on each one, ranging from basic tips and trends in parenting to one family that blogs on their efforts to live “Car Free”.  (I’m all for living green, but living car free will not be the focus of this blog. Ever.) 

In my extensive online research, (Okay, I just googled a lot while watching d.v.r. recordings of “Law & Order”.) I found blogs with cutes-y banter about toddlers and their bathroom habits, (have I got a poop vs slide story for you, thanks to my niece, and it ain’t cute!) to Stay at Home Dads offering up their unique perspective on day-to-day life. 

I even learned a few things, like “fursing”.  Well, I actually knew about it, just didn’t know it had a name. A blogger from Australia clued me in. It’s what most parents do (except for my husband) after having kids, it stands for “fake cursing”. Like “Fudge!”, “Cheese and crackers!”, “Son of a biscuit!” Fake cursing. I admit, I don’t use it as often as I should. Case-in-point; while on a Utah trip when my son was 3 we had him bundled up like that kid in “A Christmas Story” and I was struggling to strap him into his car seat. He looked up at me and asked, “Mommy, do you need to say ‘damn it’?” I did. But I didn’t. Just giggled.

Another thing I learned in my “research” was that despite there being hundreds of thousands of parenting/family blogs, there’s only one in the High Desert. This one. Oh, that’s not to say you won’t find lots of results for ‘High Desert mommy blog’, just not an actual Mommy Blog. You might find, however, a local man who impersonates Ozzy Osbourne. I did. And it startled me. The likeness was uncanny. (I want him at my 40th Birthday party.)  So, since the Ozzy impersonator is not a mom, at least his MySpace page didn’t give me that impression, I humbly accept the task.

I’ve been a mom for 7 years, to J.T. (We’re going to go with initials for the kiddos on this particular blog. No reason, just saw it on another blog.) His dad, Stephan, and I have been married 12 years. Before I had J.T. I worked in television news, before that, in radio as a copy writer and way before that as a late night D.J., spinning the best of the 70’s, 80’s and today - it was the early 90’s. We’re from Texas, so on occasion you will read the term, ‘y’all’. Just giving you a heads up on that one. We’ve been in the High Desert for about 4 years and can’t get enough of those fall early morning temps.

I will attempt to continue the tradition of letting you know what is going on for families in our area and I’ll probably even throw in some tips, trends and green living ideas. In the meantime, I’d love to hear your creative “furse” words. I’ll pass ‘em on to my husband. (Stephan, only J.T. & I can hear you when you yell at other drivers.)