The Blog is Back in Action

This is funny.  I've been thinking for awhile that I should start a blog, but there's the whole time thing and the "do I really have anything interesting to say" thing.  The answer to both of those is probably no, but I've decided I'm going to give it a try anyway.  I thought I'd use blogger.com, easy to use, free, well-known.  I go to blogger.com and type in what I'd like the name of my blog to be, and it tells me there is already a blog by that name.  I go to it, and by Jove, it's mine.  I knew I had a blog many years ago (10?), but I didn't really know for sure where it was or if it was still around.  So, I already had a dormant blog and now it's back in action. Welcome to "Mare's Mess."  Here's what I had to say about the name back in 2005:

"OK - I have my own blog. Not sure what I'll be doing with it, but I had to have one because everyone else is doing it. Most of you don't know me by the nickname "Mare" but that's what my family calls me and my nephews Peter and Jonathan even call me "Auntie Mare". Now it's my bloggin' name. The only other nickname I've had (you need a nickname when your name is 4 syllables and 9 letters long) is Mel. An old friend found out that Mel Harris's (from "thirtysomething" - a TV show from way back in the 1980's, for the benefit of any young punks who may be reading) real name was MaryEllen, but everyone called her Mel for short - so from that day on I was Mel to my friend Liz. But it never stuck beyond that. OK, I did have one other nickname. In high school our church youth group was going on a mission trip to Oklahoma. On the bus, to kill time, we were switching people's initials to see what their names would be. So, Matt Sears would be Satt Mears, etc. They got to me (my name at the time was MaryEllen Henderson) my friend Andy said "What would you be, Hairy Melons?" Big laughs from everyone, big embarrassment for me (I was 16) but I was occasionally known as Hairy Melons for the rest of my youth group career. But, no, I'm going to stick with Mare as my online handle."

I blogged back when I was a stay at home mom.  My old blog was pretty political and obnoxious.  I don't know if there is a connection, but, I'm less political than I used to be, although still fairly obnoxious.  I'm hoping my new blog will not be a place where divisions are ranted about, but where grace and love and unity will be the goal.  I still may rant on occasion, but I'll at least try to make them funny.  I've found (in and outside of teaching) that humor makes chastising/complaining much easier to swallow.  So, here it goes.