My pledge to YOU!

Well, I sure am making a big assumption here.. and it really is a BIG one. I'm hoping one day I'll have some people who like to read what I think about and write about. I got to thinking last night about this blog. I have lately been following all these other blogs and liking things and tweeting things just IN HOPES that I MIGHT win something. While at these blogs, I thought about how far I'm going just to try and win a cloth diaper. I have NEVER ever even won anything. (Except the chore of having to put all these crazy blogs and tweeters and pages onto separate lists so they don't clog up my feed.)

So.. yeah..all those contests are good for getting people's rankings up, but all they end up doing is driving people crazy with the amount of giveaway posts on the same contest, and ads for free coupons for organic cough drops.  I thought, "I do NOT want to be one of those." Then my next thought was, "Well, what do I want to be?"

I don't even know what I want to be when I grow up, so having to define what I want to be as a blogger is a mighty heavy task. So I thought it might be easier to tell what I'm NOT going to be:

1.) A giveaway blog. Seriously, I promise to only ever post one or two contests a year if they are something spectacular that doesn't involve you giving away all your personal info or doing things like giving up your firstborn, walking backwards to San Antonio, or learning a second language.

2.) A lab rat. I like the thought of people sending me free stuff to try out. I really hate the thought of having to write something out trying to convince you or my family to try the product. Recently, I read a review on some fakey diamond earrings that a blogger had been convinced to write about. I read it purely for the entertainment value. I mean, first off, who is your audience lady? Moms! YOU are a MOMMY BLOGGER.. which are a dime a dozen nowadays (That means I might make almost 1 cent for doing this?! Sweet!). Last time I checked, most stay-at-homes don't even get out of their pajama jeans yoga pants, much less bother putting in earrings. Even if I wanted some earrings, the Husband better be the one buying them for me because I am nice sometimes clean the house his wife. (He should really just save the earring money and hire me a laundry fairy.) Maybe I would have felt differently if they said, "Here are some REAL diamonds, keep them, but just mention them in your blog. Anyway, I pledge to you that I will never try to sell you anything. I might make comments about stuff I find that I love, but definitely nothing that someone sends me in exchange for a review. (Although if advertisers just want to send me free stuff, I'm cool with that.)

3.) A nasty, NSFW blog. I'm a Christian, but I'm not afraid to talk about pop culture and some things that others might consider taboo (see previous post on nursing). But, I'm never going to go beyond a certain point. Christians are people too. We have sinful thoughts, desires, and ideas. I know I'm probably going to be guilty of posting about those at some point without even realizing it. I promise to be open to being called out about that. However, I will never be posting pics of things I think could promote sin in someone else. If I do, you have my permission to let me know you think it crosses the line.

4.) Boring. Oh please, God, do not let me be BORING. I don't want to just share stories with you about how The Baby rolled over or ate a lego. (After all, that is what Facebook is for!) I promise to only share stories and posts about things I think that would be interesting, be relative, or inspire, or disgust the readers with. Maybe I just answered the "purpose question", but I really want to share stories and thoughts with people because I want them to feel something, to have a reaction, to remember enjoying (or not) the blog post.

5.) Bash my family or friends. Seriously, my husband drives me crazy, my sister drives me crazy, my dad drives me crazy, my IN-LAWS drive me crazy, I'm sure The Baby will drive me crazy, and if my mom were still alive she would drive me crazy. But, I LOVE these people and through loving them, I don't find it right to openly point out their biggest faults and gossip about them. Now, I do promise to tell stories on them (already have with MommaDunn), but you won't find me telling you how horrible they are. You can find plenty of other blogs to do just that. :)

So, that's about it for now. I promise to uphold these 5 commandments and I reserve the right to add any more as I go along. Sorry if I already broke promise #4 with this post, but I felt it was important to "put this on paper".