The hiatus is over or An LDS Blog?

I try to live my religion everyday, and not just on Sundays. While there is obviously room for improvement on this front, my religion will color everything I write because it shapes how I think. (Just for clarification I like my religion, so I want it to shape how I think. ) I wonder, though, if that necessarily makes this an LDS blog.


An instance I remember vividly was a post I wrote about modesty where a commenter took umbrage with my critical approach to the way 'we' talk about modesty. The commenter thought that 'we' meant 'the church' while I intended it to mean 'North American culture.' I do have issues with the ways modesty often is addressed at church, but that wasn't what I was talking about in that post. Perhaps I really should have clarified why I meant by 'we.'

That particular incident wasn't an especially big deal, but it did mark a change the way I thought and wrote about things that are not specifically, or exclusively LDS. I got this notion that, as an LDS blogger it was my duty to make everything I wrote somehow connected to the church. And that, while it was acceptable to have a few posts about unrelated topics, the meat of my blog should deal with hard hitting doctrinal issues. Or alternately that I should just abandon the idea of LDS blogging altogether, and write only about topics that are not specifically LDS, and that the fact that I am Mormon shouldn't be brought up at all.

So I stopped writing.

But there are things I want to write about. Things related to the church, things related to advertising and pop-culture, things related to knitting, things related to pets, things related to my kids, things related to gardening, things related to thrift, things related to feminism, things related to chickens. In other words, things I am interested in.

I'm resurrecting this blog, and issuing a warning to any who may comment here from now on; this blog is about things I am interested in. I am the cohesive unit, and I might not make it clear which particular facet of my interests and society I am addressing.

Here's to blogging, about whatever.

Confessions

I feel like complaining. Feel free to share complaints too. Any comments that sound like "you should accentuate the positive, and not wallow in your own misery" will be summarily deleted. I'm taking this brief moment to wallow in my own, admittedly petty and middle class misery to get it out of my system. If my misery offends you, feel free to abstain from wallowing in it with me.
Let's get this pity party started:

• I think my son would whine less if I were a better parent.
• I feel inadequate when women with daughters the same age as my son talk about potty training their girls. (Even though I know girls are supposedly supposed to be potty trained earlier than boys.)
• I hate that my husband doesn't thank me for doing all the housework, even though I don't thank him for going to his job. I feel like it makes me a hypocrite.
• My son hates getting his diaper changed, which means that I hate changing it because He flails his legs, and squirms around for all he's worth. I'd let him sit in his poop all day if it wouldn't leak out and make a mess.
• I think the pediatrician was annoyed with me for letting my younger son's circumcision heal poorly. I didn't know how to prevent it, and it was easy for him to fix.
• I'm afraid to mention that I had my son circumcised for fear that the anti-circumcision crowd will swoop in to condemn me.
• The floor of my house is messy, and most days I'll just put on shoes instead of sweeping it up.
• I'm terrified of roaches, but I can't be bothered to sweep up the spilled food under my toddler's chair frequently enough to be sure we won't get infested.
• I feel like a bad person for using paper-towels and disposable disinfectant wipes to clean because they're bad for the environment.
• I repeat that line to myself as an excuse to avoid cleaning.
• I claim to hate some things more than I do, so that I can feel like a good person for doing those things anyways.
• I hate that dressing up and wearing makeup makes me feel better about myself.
• I get depressed during the summer in Phoenix because I never go outside since the heat is nearly unbearable.
• I've been using face wash on my butt hoping it will get rid of the blackheads-- it seems to be working.
• I wish I didn't have breasts. They get in the way, and they'll only get worse as I get older.
  
• I want to take tap dance lessons, but there are no intermediate classes for people my age. I can either take lessons with 10 year olds, or 60 year olds, or people my age who are *way* better than me and on their way to being professional dancers.
• I want to play competitive soccer again.
• Even if I found a tap class or a soccer team I'd have to wait until my baby is older to join because I wouldn't have enough time between feedings to do those things.
• I haven't been to a dentist for nearly three years. A few months ago I finally got up the courage to call a dentist and set up an appointment. When I went to my appointment they wouldn't even see me because I was pregnant. The receptionist acted like they wouldn't treat me if they knew I was breastfeeding either. I don't know when I'll have enough courage to go back, even though I know I need at least one root canal, if not two.
• I'm jealous of the friends my husband has at work, but am afraid to tell him because he'll tell me what I already know- that there are people at church I should try to be friends with, and that it's my own fault if I won't even try to make friends.