Thursday, July 29, 2010

Starting a blog

Never wanted a webpage.  When I first heard about blogs, I thought they were another example of narcissism at work, the "look at me" generation.  And I am boring.  Super, super boring.  I have been happily married for almost eight years, have one daughter, am going to school part time and I work part time as a nurse and scrapbook as my one and only hobby.  It was the school thing that made me start a blog.  An assignment in a personality class.  So here I am.  And I am actually a little excited.  Not because I am any less boring than I always thought, but because of that hobby I mentioned. Scrapbooking.
     I started scrapbooking ten years ago.  I was invited to a home-based party and went because, as my personality class taught me, I am too kind and eager to please.  So I went, intending to purchase one small thing as I do at every home party, just to support the hostess.  But I spent over a hundred dollars and fell in love.  At the time I was working 50+ hours in the OR and life was pretty intense.  I needed a way to destress and scrapbooking was perfect.  We take pictures of the people we love, in happy circumstances.  Putting them in albums lets us be a little creative and artistic.  These things helped me with my stress.  My family made fun of me, telling me scrapbooking was for old ladies, but I didn't care.  I rescued the big cardboard box of family photos from my parents' basement and started putting them in photo-safe albums.  I added fun embellishments and I carefully wrote the stories that went along with them.  In so doing, I gained a whole new appreciation for my parents and how hard it was for them to raise three kids.  And I created a family heirloom that those same people who made fun of me fight over.  My sisters and mother love to see pictures of themselves through the ages, see how their hair has changed and their style updated.  They drag that book out whenever someone comes to the house and make them see all the old photos.  They think I am so creative.  But I am not, not really.  All I learned about scrapbooking I learned from messageboards and blogs!  It totally changed my opinion about blogs. I no longer look at them as extensions of narcissism but as altruism.  So many very talented men and women take the time out of their busy lives to share papercrafting ideas.  When I figure out how, I will see about linking some of these blogs.  So since I have to start this blog, I figured it was a good push to start sharing some of my own creative ideas and sharing my gratitude for those creative ideas of others.