The Blog dilemma

This is my third attempt to write my next blog entry. So many things run through my mind about what to write. How we stay afloat with our busy life, the comments we get as we go anyplace together, the blog name & thoughts behind it. One friend recommend the latter, be where I start. Maybe I'll follow his advice and see where it takes me.

I have only one older brother, no sisters. Growing up the only thing I really felt like I missed out on was having a sister. Don't get me wrong, my brother is amazing and I couldn't ask for a better one. Though, I would often watch my friends interact with their sisters and wonder what it would be like to have clothes to share, inside jokes that no one else got, another girl to talk to about dumb girl stuff or boys. When I realized some don't have an older brother, I felt kind of lucky because I did.  

Having an older brother has proven so amazingly beneficial in my life. When our mom was in the hospital on life support for 10 days, he was there to help buffer the questions and phone calls,  decipher the medical jargon we heard daily, we shared crying shoulders and listening ears. He's just old enough to be ahead of me in life a little so I can look at how he and his amazing wife have raised their babies, how they've done the balancing act we all do with family life, jobs, social activities, etc. As a little kid he was often my body guard. I didn't think twice about threatening anyone who was messing with me, "You better watch out because I will have my brother come find you. And you won't be laughing then!" I'd go tell my brother and he'd give me this smile that I took to mean, "I got ya covered, Sis."  We had this awesome maple tree in our side yard with the coolest tire swing in town. My brother would load 5 or 6 girls on the tire swing, give it a big spin and then toss us toward the sky. Those were the best summer days ever. One day my legs had flipped out of the swing and we were spinning so fast I couldn't hold my head up and was terrified I'd lose grip of the rope.  I'm sure onlookers had the best laugh watching him try to save his screaming little sister from flying into the house or neighbor's yard. Every time my legs would spin past him he'd jump in to slow us down only to be slammed into by my flailing legs as I'd come back around. When he did get us slowed down enough that it was safe to let go all the girls fell off the swing into one big pile, laughing at how funny we must've looked.

Having a brother when I started a blog has again been helpful. I posted on facebook in a group we're both belong to, that I was starting a blog and my struggles with finding a name. My brother, not to disappoint his little sister, throws out a bunch of silly suggestions. One though really was a good idea. Sadly, that one had been taken by someone who no longer uses her blog. What were his other suggestions, you ask? A Whiff of Tiff, Sniff Tiff, I found Waldo and he's a fraud, off the cliff with Tiff.  I checked these out and amazingly, some of them are used names for blogs!! The blog remained unnamed.

A few more weeks went by and my kids kept bugging me about starting a blog. I told them all to give me ideas for blog names and we'll look them up. They all shouted out names, some I knew would've been taken. Laughsalot, lovinglife, brightside... Hunter, my 14 yr old son, says; "how about 3 ring circus?" I checked, of course that was taken. Seeing my disappointment, my husband says, "personalize it. How many tiffanys 3 ring circus'  are out there?" BINGO!

My blog had a name! Now the pressure of writing once a week.  I've had so many ideas of things to write about but still not sure where this will blog will end up. I  often have new ideas, but rarely GREAT ones that I'm really proud to say, "look!! I have an idea that is amazing!" I do, however;  have one but will save that for the next blog. Until then..... have a great day and remember to always find the Happy in life.

What is in a name?

I believe I'm putting too much pressure on this post, my first post in my first blog. First I had to find a name. Every single name I looked for had been taken; leading me to believe that I don't have an original thought in my brain. With a little help from my friends and a lot from my family.  My son threw out, "3 ring circus", which was taken...so I personalized it and voila! I have a blog name.

Sites and books I read about blogs had differing views about blog names. Some said, it's not as important as the content--which I agree with--while others said, you need to find one that's easy to remember, reflects your view or attitude of what your content will be. Trying to find the "perfect" blog name had me thinking about my life and my life's philosophy. The name we found isn't about my philosophy but my husband and I sometimes feel like ringmasters in our little circus trying to get everyone fed and where they need to be. The name is good....It's who we are.

The book I was reading had a chapter about what you want to have in your blog..what's your voice? What's the goal for your blog?  I didn't know. I still don't know. I guess the purpose of this blog is to 1. help connect our family, both immediate and extended and 2. help someone in some way. So if this blog does that, then I think it's a successful blog.

My mom had 2 children and she passed away when we only had our first 2 babies. When it came to asking for advice on how to juggle a big family I couldn't ask my mom. I turned to lots of parenting books,  my brother and sister-in-law, friends and people that had already experienced all that we were doing. Most days, I don't know how I do what I do. Sometimes my planning goes off as intended, other days I just wing it and say, that's just how it goes.   

I believe in paying it forward. My hope is that this blog will pay it forward as a thank you to those that helped me enjoy my life adventure and will hopefully do good for someone else too.