I just wanted to pop in quickly and let y’all know that I just watched the Nightline segment about Heather Armstrong from last night. And can I just say, very loudly for the world to hear, that it was WONDERFUL! I have recorded just about every national news segment on every blogger that has aired in the last four years. And I always feel like they’re edited awfully, or they’re interviewed by morons, or that the segments just don’t seem to get any point across about bloggers that I - as a blogger - can stand behind. I always feel disappointed when they’re done and think, Great. There’s another million-plus people who still are going to think we’re all a bunch of freaks.

But that segment last night? GREAT. It gave Heather a decent amount of free-range face time so that she seemed real, but they also interviewed her candidly and actually asked her good questions and edited the entire segment into something I can proudly stand behind and say, “Yeah! What she said!”

Sometimes I’ve felt like the TV journalist must have it out for bloggers - with the way they interview and edit the bits for their programs. Especially us “Mommy Bloggers” who make a certain redhead broadcaster UNCOMFORTABLE. The bloggers always end up in a bad light - especially the Moms. But ABC did a GREAT job on the segment last night and I really hope you try to watch it if you can. Thank you, Nightline, for finally giving me a piece about bloggers that doesn’t make me ashamed to be one.

Dear Heather and HBM and every other Mom who discussed whether or not they’re exploiting their children this past few weeks. (It’s 3:45am and I woke up with an allergy attack, my brain can not dig up any more links currently.)

Can I just get something out in the open that I sometimes feel like pointing out but am afraid that if I do - I’ll jinx my own good fortune? My son is 13 years old and he enjoys my blog. He reads it at school and at times shows it to his friends. He gets excited when, once-in-awhile, someone sends us stuff who reads my blog. He attends functions with me related to the blog and even knows some of my blogfriends by name.

I guess I want to point it out because - brace yourself - there’s always the possibility that your kids will like your blog.

Now, I know I am lucky and that he might still end up hating it. Or NikkiZ could be the one that grows up and hates me for awhile for it. Who knows? But I just always want to remind people that - while our kids may hate us for our blogs - there is a distinct possibility that one day? They’ll enjoy it. My son is proof.

And to the naysayers? As parents we know our kids. I know it’s hard to believe, but my son never had to actually ask me not to write about something. I know him and I know his life and I have, just on my own, stopped talking a lot about his life this last year. I write about him more now as a brother to his sister than as a teenage boy. It’s partly common sense and partly just knowing our kids.

And yes - he may still ask I quit talking about him at all - and I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it. But - I also am a lot more than just a Mother to him. I have plenty of other stuff to talk about, so it’s not a big deal. I mean - my boobsweat entries alone would sustain this blog.

Essentially? I sometimes want to just tell the naysayers to chill the hell out, and the bloggers they’re targeting not to be too pessimistic about the future. My son has truly appreciated the sweet and sentimental entries I’ve written to him and he’s laughed at the ones spotlighting my own idiocy. He sometimes reads it when he’s bored and he sees a little bit of light shed on a woman who he would normally just see as a Mom. He gets to sometimes see a glimpse of who I am besides his Mom. And I think sometimes it helps us with conflicts. I actually wish he had a blog so I’d be able to do the same!

Of course, all of this may be stupid for me to even talk about since I don’t make money off this site. Maybe I’m the wrong person to chime in on this conversation. But who am I to NOT open my mouth at any given moment? I mean - I chime in on every conversation. Regardless of whether or not I’ve been invited.

I thought I should maybe write an entry on this new fancy interface the WP upgrade gave me. I’m a little intimidated because it’s very shiny and I kinda like my blogging interfaces dull and boring. But so far, so good. However, I do not typically upload images using the WP interface and that’s where I hear problems can occur. Or at least that’s when I’ve seen/heard the most amount of profanity from my fellow bloggers.

I’ll take this chance to say that I’m thrilled so many of you get tongue-tied when your doctor is the one that calls you. I told MrZ that I was starstruck when Dr. SoNice called and he didn’t get it. And essentially wrote it off as one of the many things that he choose to ignore about me in order to keep from committing me to a home. Like my aversion to left turns and Splenda.

If you notice anything wonky around this joint, can you email me (misszoot@gmail.com) and let me know? And maybe include the way to fix it in the email? Because I’m flying blind over here.

Remember when I complained about how Wordpress was being pushy with me? Wanting me to upgrade before I was ready and NOT LEAVING ME THE HELL ALONE ABOUT IT? Well, turns out that it’s not just me. Lauren emailed me to say that when she is logged into my site as a user, she sees the message to the left. If you can’t read it, it says, “A new version of Wordpress is available! Please notify the site administrator.” So, Wordpress is also pushing some of you guys around, huh? Sorry about that.

But…I still haven’t upgraded. However, now I’m seriously thinking about it. I’ve stopped using a lot of plugins recently that have been reportedly causing problems, but I’m just not sure I’m ready. This version is supposedly quite different and I’m quite old and set in my ways. I don’t even use the Rich Text Editor when I write my blog entries and it’s been available for years now, I think.

So, for now, I’m going to keep using this 2.3.3 version, even though my dashboard keeps reminding me it’s “Out of date.” I mean - I’m still wearing scrunchies in my hair and those things went out of style sometime in the 90s. I figure as long as I’m still only one upgrade behind, I’m okay. I mean - it’s not like I’m wearing a banana clip in my hair, right?

Edited to Add: Okay. Emily scared me into updating b/c my site has already been hacked with a few WP security issues in the past. (Sidenote: Thank you to everyone who emails me when they see adds showing up in my entries. I DONT HAVE ADS.) She sent me here and I braved the upgrade. I’ll let you know if I hate myself for it later.

In my youth, I hung out with crowds that partied. I might have even done some partying myself. There was sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll. I always participated on the edges of the activity, never quite jumping in full-throttle. So, when life led me in another direction, it was no big deal for me to leave that all behind.

But I often saw my friends deep in the muddle of that existence and wondered if they realized how over their heads they were. Did they know how no aspect of their life existed without the drugs or alcohol? Did they see how that - if they wanted to simply stop - their whole lives would have to change? That the drugs and alcohol were so entwined with their existence that removing it would mean they’d have to rebuild everything? DID THEY SEE THAT?

I’ve been thinking about those friends a lot lately, as many of my internet friends leave their blogs in the dust. Women I’ve been reading for years suddenly decide the internet is too interwoven in their lives and that they can’t just stop blogging, they have to stop it ALL. They write about being torn about the decision and that the struggle itself is a sign of how much they need to step away. On different levels they all decide that the internet, their blogs, this cyber existence has become too much a part of their real lives and that the only way to reclaim that real life is to remove the internet one all together.

And now I find myself wondering, am I like my friends many moons ago? Do I not see the same type of negativity with the existence I’m living online as it relates to my family? I mean - I’ll admit - I couldn’t quit. PERIOD. I depend on my internet friends, my blog, my flickr community to sustain me. I couldn’t just quit, so does that mean I’m just blind? Like my boozing friends of the past? Do I just not see how some of this is bad?

Because I’m starting to wonder why I have never, ever, had the desire to just quit. It seems like there are so many people who toss the possibility around often. Some never quit, some do, but it seems like everyone thinks about it. At least once in awhile.

But not me.

So, either I’ve somehow created an online life that compliments my real life in a way that creates hardly any negative side effects - OR - I’m completely blind to the addiction and it’s negative effects on my life and need an intervention.

What do you think about this exodus of bloggers? Do you find yourself considering the same type of exit? Or are you like me and find yourself feeling a tad bit like the addict who just says, “I could quit if I wanted, I just don’t want to.” Because honestly? There’s not a lot I’d rather do less than quit blogging. Except maybe laundry. I’m really not in the mood to do laundry today.