The Little Red Hen Has an Epiphany

Okay, Little Red Hen (LRH) officially back blogging after a mere 2 year hiatus. (chuckle, snort). Why the sudden return? Yesterday, my best buddy since high school, the miraculous Alicia from the Baker upstairs, and I were chatting while 9 kids under the age of 8 ran around my little house- hyped up on strawberry marshmallow frosting and almond sugar cookies. I had a cookie decorating party for my four-year-old because I do home-school preschool with her and I figured she needed a Valentine party too. Anyway,  Alicia is an amazing baker, a generous friend, a strong woman, and a fantastic photographer. She has also been blogging since blogging began and is great at it. She was telling me about all the stuff she could be doing to make her blog more successful and told me I should be blogging too. (This isn't the first time we've had this conversation). Instead of feeling motivated, I felt total ANXIETY. I told her I could never take pictures great enough to put on a blog. I told her I had nothing interesting to say that had not already been said. And I assumed my favorite safe and sheltered position that I don't read blogs and I'm happier with a minimal blogging influence.

Later that night I stewed about it. This morning, instead of using the baby's nap time to exercise, or clean, or sleep, I knew I had to write...something. I had given in to LRH thinking for too long. If it isn't beautiful, perfect, or funny why write it? What if I try something and nobody reads it and I fail? (What a whiner I can be!)

I occurred to me that I can't remember the last time I did something where there was a very real probability that I might fail or stink it up- and that I'd care if that happened. I'm pretty comfortable here, where I am, because I do have it pretty good and I know I'm sustained and blessed every day. Doesn't that demand a bit of exertion? Not that being a wife, mother, friend, WOMAN doesn't require exertion. I'm exerting! But, if I've been given much, much is required of me. And if I spend my days noting tiny events as mental Facebook posts, shouldn't I just write them down in some sort of narrative?

So, LRH is going to learn how to blog. And I might fail- but I'm kind of excited about that. I'd like to share what I commit to do, and then I'll write about how it goes and how it fits with my life. Here's what I'm going to do:

• Instead of just looking at the recipe I find on pinterest, I'm going to read the post too. 
• I'm going to learn how to do this blog thing, which I have avoided with envy.
• I'm going to read up on how to take a decent looking picture with my little point and shoot camera.
• I'm going to write something everyday- about learning to blog and/or life.
• I'm going to actually TRY.

The LRH is an excellent bread maker, but this time she's going to branch out and try a new recipe. Scary and exciting. We'll see how it goes. I'll keep you posted. 

Bake the bread and share the slices!

Cort