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Today’s blog post is actually not the one I’d originally planned to do today. I’ve been asked several times how I find time to do so much blogging, so I thought I’d answer the question. This blog post is being written while we drive to a family event, by the way. So we’re in the car right now and I’m working while Ben is driving.
It’s not easy to blog daily, but it’s something I enjoy doing. When I talked about wanting to start a blog, Ben encouraged me to do so, and was prepared to support me. This is a big reason why I have time – Ben’s support and encouragement. I could not do what I need to as a wife and mother and find time to blog if I didn’t have his help.
I’ve chosen to write this blog (and Ben fully agrees and supports and is actually telling me I need to share this with you now) because our life is very different from the mainstream (often completely the opposite of the norm), and it is not easy to live outside of mainstream culture. There are a lot of others who are trying to live this life, too, and we really want to be a support to those families, and provide information we’ve learned. We really enjoy sharing, and providing insight to everyone as to why people make these choices. We know that sometimes people reading this blog may be new to alternative ideas, or even curious from a mainstream perspective as to why someone would choose to live differently. If we can be of help to others to live a unique lifestyle, or just trying to understand it, we really want to be. We know that some of these issues may be controversial, but we think that they need to be discussed, and what better place than this blog? Clearly from all the comments we’ve gotten, others are interested in this discussion too! (By the way, we welcome comments, just see the blog etiquette post for guidelines.)
Some of my posts are very quick to write, or were even things I’ve written in the past and simply copied and pasted from other sources (like a Word document or my Facebook page). A lot of my recipes or long articles on the medical establishment fall under these categories. So, those are obviously super easy to post – copy, paste, post. I also use the “schedule” feature that blogger has to set my blogs to post at particular days and times. So I’m not sitting on the computer every night at 8 EST, those posts are scheduled to post then while I’m off doing other things.
So when do I actually do the writing? A lot of the posts that will take awhile are started on the weekends, days before they actually post. I write them while Ben is playing with the kids, a little at a time, saving the work as I go. I also work while they are napping or in bed for the night. Sometimes I can get a little bit done (like finding an article for the “Health News Tuesdays”) while they are playing quietly for a few minutes.
A lot of the research that’s in each post is actually articles I’ve read and bookmarked over the last couple of years. I don’t actually have to search for it and read it now; I simply have to find the appropriate one in my bookmarks and add it where I want.
As far as Ben’s help, he works a rather unique schedule. He is up by 5:30 every morning and usually at work by 6:30 am. If he takes a full hour for lunch, he’s home by 4. If he takes a short lunch, he can be home by 3 – 3:30. Late afternoon to early evening is a good time for me to get posts done – I have dinner started, the kids are often still napping, and Ben’s home to get them in case they wake up. He also is really great about continuing with dinner, doing laundry, or whatever else needs done around the house. I know a lot of men don’t think taking care of the house is their “job,” but Ben doesn’t feel that way. We are a real team, and since we have decided to make this blog happen, he will pick up any slack in the household chores to help me out (although he did that before I started the blog too! That’s just the kind of guy he is. He also actually helps me with the blog sometimes as well, providing me with insights, his research, ideas, and moderating comments for me).
Truly, although I do blog daily and put together a lot of well-written, researched posts, I don’t spend as much time blogging as you may imagine. I still have plenty of time for laundry, dishes, cooking, and all the other household stuff. I also have plenty of time to play with my kids, take care of their needs, go to playgroups a couple times a week, etc. We have a pretty full social schedule, believe me! We spend time with my parents every other week, we go out to lunch or shopping with friends (who have kids the same age as mine) at least once a week.
If I don’t get to my blog post, then Ben will watch the kids while I throw one together at 7 PM, right before posting time. Typically, though, I can get most of the week’s posts done over the weekend while they are napping or playing with Ben, so most of the week is spent just enjoying my kids while the blog takes care of itself. This blog post was completed in only about ten minutes while we are driving!
Do any of you blog? If you blog and have kids, how do you balance it?
Sunday, November 15, 2009
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I have a photoblog I keep of my hermit crabs - it's just updated with a picture of them daily, usually with a funny (or trying to be funny) caption. It doesn't take too long, as I'm taking pictures of the crabs all the time when they're doing something cute/funny anyways, but it does take a bit of photo tweaking and cropping and such to get it just right. If you want to check it out (it's just something I do for fun) it's http://thedailyhermit.tumblr.com
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you are really organized in your housework, social activities, and writing/research, and you fit your blogging easily into your responsibilities as a wife and mother. It also sounds like your husband is really supportive of your blogging which must be a great help to you.
ReplyDeleteMy husband leaves by 8:00 every morning and gets home between 6-6:30. He has paperwork to complete every night and on the weekends, and he travels fairly frequently. although I know he'd love to spend more time with them, some weekdays he barely sees our little ones! I'd love to know what your husband's job is. It sounds like he has much more family time available than my husband and most of my friends' husbands. Does your husband travel for his job?
I was also fascinated by your comment that your lives are very different from the mainstream. How so? I've read some of your earlier posts about vaccines and other health issues, but what else do you do (besides not vaccinate your kids) that is out of the mainstream? Please elaborate!
On a side note- the hermit crab blog sounds so interesting, Emma. I will definitely check it out! Hermit crabs are just so cute!
Yeah, I do love my little guys, Mary. :) It can be hard fitting updates in around life, as I have a fairly hectic and unpredictable work schedule, am a newlywed (been married 6 months almost), we're both really active at church and Bible study, and he blogs as well. Like Kate, I love the scheduling option on blogs. I'm actually heading to schedule a few more right now - I only have 2 or 3 more before I run out of posts!
ReplyDeleteMary,
ReplyDeleteMy husband works for Cardinal Health in coroporate audit, and they are a very family-friendly company. He has a flexible schedule (he can come in anytime between 6 am and 6 pm, as long as he works about 8 hours and is there between 9 - 3; he also has the freedom to work 9 hours one day and 7 the next if he needs to). He also has a lot of vacation time. He does occasionally have to bring work home, but in all, he's really available a LOT more than most men I know.
As to our lifestyle, I had my second baby at home, we cook/bake all our food from scratch (and plan to buy a farm in a few years and actually grow it all), we are strong Christians, we practice alternative medicine, extended breastfeeding, cloth diapering, and more. I'll be touching on all these areas in future blog posts, if I haven't touched on them in the past! Some of the stuff is in the archives. :)
Isn't Cardinal Health, among other things, a pharmaceutical distribution company? It seems a bit hypocritcal of you to slam the pharmaceutical industry when it is the very industry that feeds your family.
ReplyDeleteI'm also very surprised that you state the opinions that you do about the medical community (i.e. their desire to make a profit, their studpidity, etc.) when your family benefits from the profits of Cardinal Health and your husband, or at least the company he works for, is in the business of solving health care problems. I am assuming that you do not think he is stupid. Why is his motivation in solving helath care problems so much more righteous that doctors, nurses, or pharmaceutical representatives? Why is it okay for Cardinal Helath to make a profit? Why are the workers of Cardinal Health smarter than other health care workers? I'm confused; please explain.
Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteYes, Cardinal Health is pharmaceutical distribution, although they also deal with medical supply and not just drugs. It is somewhat of a conflict of interest for us and we have discussed him leaving the company (his degree is computer engineering, so his interest is not specifically health care at all, and he could get a job with a number of different companies if he wanted) but at this point we've decided to leave it alone. He says that as the market shifts, Cardinal is moving more into home-care supply and also alternative medicine, and he believes they will supply what the consumer wants. This is one reason we've decided he'll stay.
My husband's motivation isn't health care. He is involved in audit, fraud, and computer systems. He doesn't ever deal directly with any health-care aspect. It's just like, say, the person who manages the computer systems in a hospital. They work in that hospital, but they have nothing to do with the health care that goes on there. If you had a poor experience at a hospital, would you blame doctors/nurses, or would you blame the tech crew?
Ultimately, our goal is that my husband will learn all he can about his field -- computer auditing -- and then do this independently, consulting for various companies and working from home. We are just not there yet. There is something "bad" about every industry, so until we can get where we want to go, we just have to deal with it.
Saying that the person who manages the computer systems at a hospital has nothing to do with the healthcare that goes on there sounds like a weak attempt at justifying the very industry that indeed feeds your family. With the extent of technology involvement in today's environment, I highly doubt that any hospital can functional half as effectively without their computer systems, which makes that an integral part of the healthcare. You could equate this to meaning that since you're husband did not actually physically birth your babies he had nothing to do with having the baby, except the part where he contributed his DNA. While it is understandable for you to want an alternative lifestyle for your family, choosing and picking things to support your beliefs, while clearly neglecting other evidences that clearly contradict your beliefs is NOT. I love reading your blog, because I'm actually curious as to your approach, but I think justifying/dismissing your husband's involvement in the healthcare business as such does not make for a good read. You should consider your family very lucky that he he has a job (in healthcare) in this economy that lets him work his own schedule!
ReplyDeleteAnonymous 2
Anonymous 2,
ReplyDeleteThe sheer reality is, my husband has had this job before we felt the way we do about health care. He has to have a job and this is the best place for his career at this time (the experience he will gain will allow him, later, to do what he really wants, independently). So, is it ideal? No. But unfortunately we don't live in an ideal world, so we have to make some concessions. This is one of them.