ShNo

Image via CrunchBase

So, you know how when you sit down at the computer and open your Internet browser, there are certain websites you automatically open… Like blogs, Twitter, Facebook, Gmail Reader, etc.

One of mine is Kijiji where I would sift through the hundreds of ads on available puppies and annoy my husband with links or pictures of my favorites along with the “Aww, isn’t he cute?!?!” 

Which would inevitably lead to, “Well, if you want it, we should get it” and then me hemming-and-hawing about price, commitment factor, etc…And, then we wouldn’t get the dog, and I would go back to my daily browsing of the website for new dogs, agreeing with his assessment that we should wait to get a puppy… at least until I stumbled across an ad for another beautiful dog.

One Friday, I show him a picture of an adorable dog for sale, a Husky/German Shepherd cross. 

The next day we’re traveling five hours to pick up a red-and-white Siberian Husky, that he’d found after doing some research of his own.

Yup, we have a puppy.  He was eight weeks old when we brought him home, and he turns 10 weeks tomorrow. 

Meet ShNo (not his real name):

He is adorable, but exhausting.  I keep telling people I’ll only have kids if I can survive this first year of puppyhood. 

But, I’m still incredibly in love with my new puppy, and my husband for getting him for me… So in love, I’m getting up with ShNo at 5am…and we all know how much I love my sleep.

Any tips on raising a puppy?  Or have a picture of your own little puppy to share?

Buying time

Wouldn’t that be great?  Go to the grocery store and pick up some extra time, sold in half-hour and hour increments.  You could pick up that extra hour to go to the gym, or a half-hour in the bath, or maybe, a few hours to escape into a book…

But, life doesn’t work that way. 

We all have the same 24 hours in a day… And everyday we either spend them wisely, or waste them.  Sometimes it’s unavoidable.. Other times the choices are up to us.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how I spend my time.  Do I spend it wisely?

To be honest, probably not.  Like now… I could be cleaning.  I could be putting another load of laundry in.  I could be putting away the groceries from earlier.  I could be planning the Superbowl party that is only a week away.  But I’m not doing any of those things, am I?

I’m sitting on the couch, taking advantage of AMP’s work computer to blog and read blogs.  And generally being unproductive.

But, who is to say that this is unwise use of time? 

For me blogging is therapy.  It’s enjoyable.  It’s almost as good as reading a book.  So, if I enjoy it that much, then spending time doing it isn’t wasteful.  Right?  That’s what I’m choosing to believe.

Nevertheless if I’m going to accomplish any of my goals, I need to have a schedule.  I need to spend my time more efficiently.. going to the gym in the morning, instead of sleeping in…cleaning instead of checking Facebook for the umpteenth time.  And, maybe when I do that, I’ll find that I have more time for the fun stuff — like blogging and learning to Twitter properly, and reading all the awesome blogs that are sitting in my Google Reader each day waiting for me…

my phone is too dumb

Image via CrunchBase

I signed up for Twitter…
I know, I know… I clearly didn’t need much convincing – plus I was incredibly curious.  I haven’t quite figured out what I’m doing but MSWasteland at Snuggle Wasteland informed me that A Kludgy Mom has a free e-book about twittering on her blog, so I should probably go read that. 

But, in case you want to follow me, my Twitter account is UndomesticMe.  Or you can just click through my sidebar.

I really should be cleaning right now, or taking a shower, or going to Ikea like I said I was, but I’m feeling unmotivated.  I really just want to sit here and read blogs, and figure out how to Twitter, and be generally lazy.

I think I need a smartphone, haha.  I think it would make all this blogging, twittering, facebooking a whole of a hell lot easier – but then maybe it saves me from becoming completely addicted?  Who knows.  In my area data plans are ridiculous, which is what has been keeping me from getting a smartphone, but I really, really want one. 

Anyways, I really should get going – especially since company is showing up tonight.

Hope everyone has a great weekend. :)

  

 

media-ing

Image via CrunchBase

I haven’t jumped on the Twitter bandwagon.  In reality, the only social media vices I have are: my personal Facebook account, and well, this blog. 

I spent a lot of time fighting the Facebook thing.  And, then one day I just gave in.  It seemed like a good way to keep in touch with friends and relatives far away – and then a good way to catch up with high school, even elementary school friends – and then a good way to stalk people’s lives and always know what’s going on. 

And, then there was blogging.  I used to have a Windows Live Space, back when I was a teenager.  And, then I started another blog a few years ago, which a few friends had access to.  Then, I decided on anonymity and ditched that blog and started The Undomestic Housewife.  

And, that’s not why I started this… I started this to have an outlet.  And, somewhere along the way I was blessed with finding a few friends – people who care enough to read my ramblings, and to post a comment, a thought of encouragement.  I love that I have a place where I can be me – freely, without censoring.  

And, last night, as I was rattling on to AMP about buttons and stats and ads and popularity and comments – I realized, I may be getting addicted to this blog. 

I love the chance of writing my thoughts… but I’ve begun to spend a little more time each day obsessing about stats, my lack of brilliant post ideas, genius post titles, my hunger for popularity and recognition… 

And, yes, it would be pretty cool to be as popular as Mama Kat or Kris @ Pretty All True… but, that’s not why I started this… And I need to remember that when I start obsessing about whether I should start a Twitter account to attract more visitors to my blog…

Inspired by prompt no. 5 at Mama Kat’s – How has social media changed you?

P.s. About the Twitter thing – anyone have any opinions on whether its worth me trying…?

a status update at a time

I was late jumping on the Facebook bandwagon.  I resisted quite stubbornly at first… But then, one of AMP’s family members invited me, and I thought, ‘what better way to keep in touch with his family across the country.’  So, I joined.  I was determined to only have people who were far away – and then, it was people I went to school with who I haven’t talked to in eons.. and, then it was almost everyone.  Not to say that I have a ridiculous friends list. I’m still pretty picky about who is allowed to access my Facebook page (most people being on Limited Profile) and am careful about what I post on there… But, it’s a guilty pleasure of mine.. After all Facebook has the best gossip! haha

For Mama Kat’s workshop, I tried to think up an awkward conversation I’ve witnessed on Facebook, and well… I think that people post way too much information through their status updates.  There’s the girl who whines about how lonely she is and has no friends – and how horrible her husband is – until the next day when he’s “the best husband in the whole world.”  There’s the guy who updates his status every 5 minutes, apparently needing to keep an up-to-date records of his every movement.  There’s the girl who posts inappropriate pictures of herself, and then whines about how she’s called a slut.  And then there are the arguments played out for the world (or your entire friend list) to see.

One such argument was between a friend of mine, and a girl who was mortally offended at a comment my friend had made.  My friend works in a pediatric office and was complaining about some of the mothers there, and this other person took it personally and as an affront to herself as a single mother – even though it did not refer to her at all.  It was funny to read how riled up she got even though my friend pointed out it had nothing to do with her, and she even ended up blocking my friend from her friends list.  Talk about sensitive. 

I have a rule about status updates and uploading photos – before I do, I ask myself, “Will I regret posting this later?” and “Would I be embarrassed if my parents saw this?”  I think that in this digital age, people have lost some of their common sense, not realizing that the words we post may change the way people view us, not only with our friends, but even with future employers.

the case of the disappearing marriages

I believe in marriage.  I believe that the only acceptable reason to end a marriage is because of cheating, emotional & physical abuse…you know, the big stuff.  Not because you’re tired of living with that person.  Not because you fought over whose turn it is to take out the trash.  Not because one likes to play video games and the other doesn’t.  These are all things you should have figured out before you got married.  They are quirks you have agreed to live with “till death do us part.”  Granted people can change from the wonderful person you married, but, that’s also the reason there’s the line “for better or worse” in marriage vows.

A and I will be celebrating our 2 year anniversary in March.  We both agree that the last 2 years have been wonderful.  Overall.  We have had ridiculous fights that last days, but, in the end, we still love each other and are determined to make our marriage last.

Unfortunately, it seems like around us marriages are dropping like flies.  There are 4 couples that got married just before or after us, who have called it quits.  Two because of adultery, one because of the famous ‘irreconcilable differences’ and the other for reasons I’m not aware of. 

All just over or around the 2 year mark.  Isn’t that sad?  I find it sad.  A and I look at these marriages and try to dissect where they went wrong, so that we can learn and not have to follow the same course. 

I’m incandescently, head-over-heels in love with A.  Sure, I get frustrated, and I know he does too, but does that mean we are going to give up?  Does that mean that I suddenly love him less?  Does it mean I no longer want to live with him for the rest of my life?  No, of course not. 

But, maybe we are different.  My relationship status on Facebook doesn’t teeter-totter between ‘married’ and ‘it’s complicated’ and ‘single’.  It doesn’t disappear because we had a fight.  It’s constant.  We are constant.  Despite fights and disagreements, we remain united.   We work at our marriage constantly.  We apply the counsel in the Bible.  We do not take our relationship for granted. 

the undomestic housewife