Anyone who has been blogging for a long time knows that when our lives change often times so does the focus of our blogs. I know many bloggers who have been through this or are currently going through this right now (like her, her, her – awe hell the list could go on forever so I can’t possibly list all of you!).

This very blog has been through some of it’s own transformations in the 4 years I have been writing here. Back in the day the whole point of starting this blog was for marketing my business, then the economy slowed and so did my business sales. The focus shifted to me writing motivational articles and informative/ how to articles as I worked through a period of personal growth. Then I began writing sponsored posts for a while as I worked to monetize my blog and further my writing efforts.

Now I am more of a daily life blogger sharing all that is my life, honestly and sometimes boringly. Personal blogging is not only a venue for self discovery but as a blog reader I’ve found that it is also a comfort to find others who are or who have been in our same position.

This brings me back to the article I read that caused the revelation. It was a great read so click on over there and read it real quick! It said:

“ministry of mediocrity” – helping others by showing our real selves.

Yes, at times this blog is mediocre with it’s talk of poo and zits and other life events. I know we have enjoyed many dramatic – non boring things like the stove fire, the moldy basement issue, N’s job saga and moving cross country but the goal with this blog was never to impress anyone as I am sure you have already determined.

I think there is real beauty in realness which is why my writing style is the way it is now, it is also why I deeply love reading so many of your blogs. So much of society is about putting on your best face, we go around trying to make the best impression at work and at get-togethers. Soon life becomes this huge facade of us putting our best self out there which is fine but it also fuels the unattainable idea that we should all be perfect and “shiny” as the above referenced post puts it.

Bottom line is none of us are perfect, we can all try and try to convince others that we are but what if in doing so we forget to love and nurture ourselves, imperfections and all? I mean if we are so ashamed of the imperfect sides of us how can we truly love and accept ourselves? I guess that is why I am so open and real about things on this blog, ugliness and all.

So now I am taking an idea from Teeni and calling on my readers to help me come up with a new tag line for this blog, that reflects this idea. Also, feel free to chime in on this topic. I would love to hear your thoughts.

The post Blogging the real me to make you (and me) feel better. appeared first on Updates from Ryder Family Farm.

I usually dye my hair with the intent of covering the gray I have tons of hair so I usually need 2 boxes of dye. Unfortunately, dye is expensive and these days we are scrounging every penny we have for our $10,000 move. Lately this has prevented me from enjoying the luxury that is coloring my hair…

When I do color my hair it is a treat and I usually feel all good about myself for a few days after, plus my hair just feels better and less coarse after dying it.

While browsing the local discount store  a few weeks back I saw a bunch of hair dye that was marked down. N and I thought buying a lighter color might be fun for the summer so I grabbed some “excellence cream” dye for a great price.

This weekend I thought I wold spent some one on one time with my hair thanks to the discount dye. I was super excited at the prospects and when I entered the bathroom to begin the project I was greeted by an usually squishy rug.

First reaction was “ewe, did the cat pee on it?” so I grabbed it to check the overall wetness and odor but this wetness was not cat pee. Did 30 cats pee on it all within the same time frame cause this rug was completely drenched. I am talking soaked sponge like wetness!

I call to N, did you get the rug really wet when you showered? He claims he did not and we ponder the drenched rug. He was on the way back to playing X box when I commented that the mystery soaking was probably NOT a good thing to ignore.

So he goes in to the laundry room to find that the washer’s drain hose was disconnected from the wall and emptying water on to the floor. Apparently the water oozed UNDER the wall and right in to the bathroom where our trusty round bathmat soaked it all up.

Freaking awesome, water leaked under our wall. I don’t think that is normal but N assures me it is for a manufactured house. So we sopped up the water and went about our business but not before capturing it for the bloggosphere.

Like I said before, right about moving time (every time) we have some sort of domestic drama that is rental house related.

I don’t know if we are especially needy tenants or if we just have terrible luck with rental homes. Either way we always seem to have some craziness right before our lease I about to expire as I have mentioned in earlier posts.

You may recall the recent the kitchen flood we had then the stove fire and way back in the day we even had a psycho neighbor who was set on making us crazy. I could actually find drama for every rental we have lived in if I felt like going back through my 500+ blog entries. Every place we have ever rented has left us with a drama filled story. It seems the flooding is just the drama for this rental I guess.

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The thing about this town is that people are just "different" here. At bars and similar community events people just dress up like it is halloween, maybe I am just out of the loop or something but I think dressing up randomly is kind of odd.

Anyway, people were out dispite the rain. They were dressed in their oddest outfits and ready for some free booze. I figured I would have a little beer and some fun people watching. Here is what I saw:

As you can see, the people watching was very entertaining. We had all sorts of fashion statements going on and I had my trusty camera ready for it all!

I even found a beer I liked at Flagstaff’s made in the shade beer fest 2008! It was Lindeman’s Apple beer, yum! It tasted just like ripe green apples! I need to get me some of this beer for home!

Now, here comes the domestic disaster part of the post. Before I go on I want to point out that we seem to have these disasters before moving… It is like the house is already in chaios so what they heck? Last time we were preparing for a move our stove caught fire, go read it about it…

Are you back now? So our stove didn’t catch fire this time, our kitchen flooded! On friday a contractor came out and worked under our craw space, I guess during the home inspection (remember our rental house sold) they spotted some issue with the plumming or drain that needed to be fixed before the house could close.

So the guy came out to work under the house, there was much banging and then he left. The next day we are showering and then we go out to run errands. Late Saturday night while we are watching p.s. I love you N notices that the kitchen is flooded… He thinks something they worked on is backed up. We still have no idea why or how it flooded, the pipes under the sink are oozing water from the joints- that is all I know. We called the rental office and apparently their emergency maitnence is not as quick or helpful as previous places we have rented, since they still have not returned our call.

Tags: coldwell banker, moving, flood, apple, beer, people watching, beer fest, flagstaff

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Guess that means I can stop eating large dishes of jello like it’s going out of style huh? Random thought, I know but seriously I have been eating jello and craving it like crazy. We consumed one box already and I made up 3 more (yes 3) boxes last night for our chowing pleasure.

I really don’t need to be snacking on jello considering I have lost 12 pounds over the last 3 months and I am wasting away… I know you are thinking what a joke! This girl is honestly complaining about loosing weight?

Trust me weight is an issue no matter what size you wear. For my family the fast metabolism and over active thyroid glads are to blame and we have to work hard to “eat enough”. If we don’t we not only look bad but we have dizzy spells, stomach issues and so on. when you work food off as fast as you can eat it… It’s a pain!

So I need to be eating beef jerky or something that takes a while to break down/ burn off, NOT jello..

Oh, and I am doing my business inventory like a mad woman right now. I want to file my taxes but I need to know what inventory was at year end, which also means I need to input all my expense receipts that I put off all year.

I am also packing as much as I can to prepare for the upcoming move at the end of the month. I am literally surrounded by boxes but I guess we have been since we moved in here… We have been living out of boxes for the last 6 months… Living out of boxes makes packing to move a bit easier I guess.

Oh, and I have been getting my students ready for their upcoming competition at the end of the month too. You can see a video of them over at gather (a writing/ publishing site) (http://www.gather.com/viewVideo.jsp?id=11821949021859541). So what are you up to this fine day?

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I knocked out 45 custom purses and they are on the way to their destination as I type this. This was a high volume order but I do well under pressure so I took it on and I love being able to work out of the comfort of my own home- even when the stove is on fire… hehe.

Today we also finalized our new home that we will be renting. The lease has been signed, deposit was paid and we will get the keys in 18 days. We negotiated a monthly rent of $950, the home is bigger and we wont have the stress of renting a home that is on the market. We got a 6 month lease which is perfect with N’s contract and the place is much bigger! I’ll even have an entire room dedicated to my business, I am pleased with how quickly and smoothly this transition had been.

Now we just have to get packed which wont be too terrible cause we never really unpacked to begin with. Oh, and the sears repair man came by to”fix” the new/ used stove/ oven and determined that the electrical panel was shot. that means a new part must be ordered and it will be another week till we have an working oven.. Is there some law that requires renters to be provided with working appliances when they rent a place? Should we be compensated for the time we have spent without an oven/ stove? Fast food is not cheap! At least the stove top burners work though.

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