I usually like Thursdays... and other random thoughts

• I usually like Thursdays, except today is a no Vampire Diaries day and so I'm sulking. The whole on/off thing with American tv shows and new episodes is just maddening. Every week, when you finish watching your favorite show, you sit, holding your breath, to hear if next week will bring a re-run. In the UK, a series runs non-stop for as many episodes as there are. There are no summer hiatuses, only new shows. (Although, granted, Fox started the whole summer series season a few years ago and some of the shows haven't been bad.) I miss the BBC.

• I have really been struggling for things to write about lately on here. Maybe it's because I have 4 blogs and so my thoughts are generally spread across the blogosphere: Daisy stuff - Lazy Crazy Daisy; Photography Stuff - Memories by Michelle or MbyM365. And then there's Facebook. Sharings that may once have developed into a rambling, ranty post, are usually now reduced to a quick status update or shared link. I feel like my thoughts have been MTV'd.

• Oh, incidentally, I gave Memories by Michelle blog a little revamp. Simpler, cleaner, showcasing photos. You likely? I'm still struggling with an "About Me" page. I think it needs it but I seem thoroughly incapable of penning anything compelling about yours truly that might actually matter to someone interested in hiring me. I mean, I have a lot to say but the reality is that is has to be worth saying. No ranting or rambling. If YOU had to describe me in one sentence, what would you write? Send me a comment - maybe I'll use it. (Oh, and BE NICE!)

• I have re-started my weight-loss and exercise program for like the 100th time this year. (Given we're not yet 100 days into the year, I think that says something.) I made grandiose plans on Jan 1 but have not followed through. But I don't feel good in my own skin right now and that needs to change. And then there is the whole SI Joint issue which just flares up when I slack off. It's like a literal prod in the ass, to urge me to get back at it. Eat better. Exercise more. That's my objective. I don't have specific weight loss plans, or fat percentage goals, or even workout times because that's just too much with everything else going on in my life, but if I can just incrementally improve on both fronts, I think I'll feel much better both mentally and physically.

• One of my best friends just moved not a half a mile away from me. I'm super excited. Envisioning back-yard family BBQs, our kids (who are just 7 months apart) growing up as good friends, and impromptu glasses of wine while bitching about parenting. Of course, in reality, the same obstacles that existed to prevent us getting together more often before, still exist. We tried to go out on a stroller-walk this afternoon after work but I have 2 places to be. I offered to do it at lunch, she has places to be. So, it will be interesting to see if we really do see each other much more. I guess, as time rolls on, it will be easier to identify those unexpected windows of time where we don't have anything going on, and synch up.

Alrighty, that's it for now.

Google Stats bring out the inner geek in me

I may be creative at heart but I also harbor an inner geek. Which makes me just LOVE looking at surveys and reports. (Not the type with too many numbers, of course. Numbers = STRESS INDUCING = BAD.)

So, aaaaanyway... loving the Blogger Stats feature for my blog, especially since nobody (*hint-hint*) ever comments on my posts any more. (Elena, this does not apply to you. Thanks buddy! Everyone else - SHAME ON YOU!)

Since I am a "featured blogger" on The Skinny Scoop this week, I was interested to see how my stats have changed so far. The short answer is that they haven't (yet?) but then it is only Monday so maybe my expectations are slightly high?

What I did find was this awesome run-down of Google Search terms used that generated hits to my page:

Search Keywords

ms ranty pants

tucker for target

wedding giveaway

buttocks relegated from shallow pants

eilat teens

haggin oaks park

haggin oaks train sacramento

list of things i love

memories by michelle carter mcdaid

miss ranty pants blog
their own bad play, we play together, not pants

Of course, there are the usual suspects but I had to laugh at "tucker for target," "buttocks relegated from shallow pants," and "their own bad play..." All of which get a big HUH!? from yours truly. Totally random. Do I really talk about target and asses that much? Or at all?

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In other news, if you've been following my posts about "The Hulk", I should report briefly that:

1. The replacement graphics card did not fix the issue. Fortunately, it was not the 46,000 step process I feared. 3 screws and a pop-out, pop-in. Still broke.
2. HP Support still sucks.
3. Amazon.com rocks - they're sending out "The Hulk v.2." overnight, so I should have it tomorrow and ALL BEFORE they send for a pick-up of "The Hulk v.1" Of course, they do have my credit card number so if I'm telling big fibs and trying to land a second PC for free, they will just charge me again. But it's the service that counts. Overnight! Yay! Maybe my PC luck is changing? (PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEASE!)

How to become a famous blogger

Next week I am going to be a featured blogger on "The Skinny Scoop" a website devoted to helping blogging moms poll other moms about topics from provocative to mundane.

I am suddenly filled with a sense of panic and trepidation. I would love to build my readership and so I feel some pressure to be extra vivacious and interesting this week (I say only "extra" because I already consider myself to be normal amounts of vivacious and interesting... and modest.)

The thing is, I don't want the last five posts my new readers (should there be any) peruse, to be about well... I don't know, what do I usually post here? The mundane details of my life: photography, dieting, motherhood, my aching back (it is aching btw, I think I overdid it this weekend.) Which, I guess is sort of silly because there's no point in selling this here space on the web as being anything other than what it actually is. The old bait-and-swap, if you will, will only result in a short term peak in traffic, followed by a very rapid desertion and that will just hurt my feelings. (No, really! Underneath this rock-hard exterior is a heart.)

However, I am assured by a fellow blogger that this is all it takes to be famous:

Courtesy of Angela England via Roni Noone's blog

Well, there's a relief. All I have to do is be.

Wannabe

If you're friends with me on Facebook, you've no doubt been witness to my recent exultations about my newest twitter followers, @ErnestoRiley and @_erinheatherton. The first is a pseudonym for Matt Davis, who plays Alaric Salzman on The Vampire Diaries. The second is an actress and Victoria's Secret model, who presumably found me via Ernesto. (Find me at @MsRantyPants)

Despite being 35 and seriously too old for such things, I am unabashed to admit that I am quite giddy about being followed by two celebs. I mean, putting this in context: I'm a suburban working mom living in (groan) Sacraghetto; this is about as exciting as it gets these days. Long gone are my semi-glamorous stints on teen celebrity magazines in London and Los Angeles or managing special events in the OC. I'm all growed-up and responsible now, folks. (Gag.)

But yet, here I am with a direct line into the world of teen tv shows (and a VAMPIRE show at that!) via my twitter feed. Now, when I write something they SEE IT. That's right. People who are people (or vampires) and who know other people who are people (and maybe also vampires), are reading my daily drivel. It's just a little intoxicating. And paralyzing. I mean, surely they will eventually realize that my life is about as interesting and compelling as watching a dog shit in the park, and they will promptly unfollow me or, worse still, block me entirely, thus cutting me off from future notoriety in celeb circles. How does Hubby and me singing and dancing in the aisle of Trader Joe's to starve-off a toddler tantrum, compete with sucking fake blood out of a super hot dude or chick? I mean, it just doesn't.

Of course, my giddiness is completely nerdworthy. Deep down, like all 35-going-on-14 year olds, I harbor some thoroughly ridiculous notion that my tweets will be sooooooooo witty that they will connect me with talent agents in Hollywood who will make me famous. God knows exactly what for because I've turned out to be a jack of all trades and master of none in this life but, you know, this is my fantasy notion, I get to skim over the inconvenient details. And, it is without a doubt that, in this dream reality of mine, I will hob-nob with hot men who play vampires (I'm following @iansomerholder but I'm guessing he's busy because he hasn't joined the *rush* to follow me yet) and hide my face from TMZ as I duck out of some unmarked private club at 3am.

Ahem. Yes, Quite.

Alright, we all know I go to bed at 10pm. Like I said: inconvenient truths.

Undoubtedly, it is likely that Matt and Erin will read this blog (because I post links on twitter) and block me by morning.

In other news...


I have been finding a lot of other really cool mommies-who-blog-and-take-great-photos blogs. Apparently I am neither unique or trailblazing (there goes those twitter followers for sure this time). It seems there are almost literally millions of talented mommy writers and photographers who, through the powers of Social Networking, have become quite infamous in their own right. And yes, I'm sure late to the party on this one too.

As I find these cool sites, I'm adding them to my blogroll on the right but I will endeavor to talk about one or two of them on an occasional basis here. I like finding other great blogs through existing blogs I like and maybe you will too.

One of the new blogs I found is Dude and Sweetie. Jess, the writer of D&S, started following me on twitter too after I followed her (as you do... everyone who blogs Facebooks and tweets) and commented on one of my tweets about my burgeoning waistline. (Oh, there, that's it. Supermodel unfollowed me for sure.) Aaaanyway, she said she needed to lose some pounds also and so we sparred back and forth re: a possible competition, held accountable by our respective blogs, to lose 15lbs. We got stuck on the "stakes" and now she is sick and probably eating mashed potato with lots of butter to drown her sorrows, so we're on hold right now. Or maybe she wasn't serious? Hmmm... well.... anyway, I was. I love a little competition. So, if you do have any ideas about the stakes for winner or loser, please comment. Fun and funny and motivating would be my criteria.

Jess did suggest bare-ass photos on our blogs but, I think, maybe not. One of these days I may take my suburban mom status to the next level and join the PTA or something and I can just see some snotty-nosed soccer mom parading those photos around at a PTA meeting, to get me voted off. Plus, if Matt and Erin are still with me (and GOD FORBID Ian has become a fan too) that will definitely be the nail in my twitter coffin.

It's official: Ms. Ranty Pants joins the World Wide Web

Having tweaked the blog's design, layout, and name, this lunch time I set out to purchase http://www.msrantypants.com/ plus http://www.lazycrazydaisy.com/ for Missy's blog.

The names are now mine, all mine, and all the forwarding is taken care of. So now you can view both blogs, wherever they live, now or in the future, without all the "blogger" clutter.

I've also opened up my twitter feed. It was previously locked/private but I sort of forgot why I did that, so it no longer is. However, I changed my twitter name to "msrantypants" (click the name to find my feed and "follow me") just for a little added identity protection. Most of you know who I am already but, for the occasional drop-by, I like it better that way.

I have NO IDEA what the purpose of this tweaking and spouffing-up is for. I have no grand plans for my blogs. Just felt a need for a change.

Speaking of change, I have a hair appointment next week and am going to tell my hairdresser to send me blonde. My mother will be soooo excited but most of my friends seem to prefer me as a brunette. Either way, I'll make someone happy. For those of you that know me personally, you're already aware that I change my hair all the time, so this is no big shakes. Don't panic, though, I won't be throwing bleach on my head anytime soon. We're talking a sort of dark, golden blond. This is the pic I'll be taking with me to the hairdresser... maybe a little less red but we'll see...

Indentity Crisis

AKA: How to better represent these many people (all me!) via this blog?

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As you read in my previous post, I am thinking about overhauling my blog. I've been writing on here more recently, especially since I've been sharing my adventures in amateur photography, and coming here every day has left me increasingly more dissatisfied with my current set-up.

First is the look and feel, which I previously addressed. I obviously yearn for something much more professional looking (why, I don't know - it's not a professional blog and I have no intention of making it so) but lack the time or knowledge to do anything too spiffy. I'm also reticent to pay money to maintain it. What's my ROI? Like I said, it's not a business and I refuse to feature tacky ads just to make a dime off it. Once you start that then it's a slippery path, in my opinion. When it becomes more about writing to attract readers, to generate income from click-thrus or whatever, your focus (or at least your editorial radar) has to change. I already have a full-time job where I write primarly for the purpose of generating action and I don't want to turn this blog - my outlet for personal expression and the mundane details of my life - into just another money-making chore.

So, I'm thinking on this one. As you can see, I've already played around with my design a bit. I like it better than before but I'm sure that will change in a day or two. Maybe the problem is me? Maybe I just can't commit to a look-and-feel? Another reason why I'm reluctant to put any money into something new: it discourages me from changing it up on a whim. I like change. I don't like to feel held-back from making changes in my life. It dampens my enthusiasm for life and makes me feel suffocated. (I know, I know, it's just a blog!)

Second component is the name of the blog. Since day one, it's been called "Random Rants of a British Ex-Pat." Nothing entirely wrong with that since I do have my fair share of ranting on here and I am a British, living in the U.S. But something has been nagging at me for some time: does it represent me or what I blog about any more? I'm not sure. It seems... negative, angry even. Sure, I can be both things (I'm sure there'll be no arguments there) but, when I look back over my posts, that's not what the majority of them are about any more. Back in the early days, I used to blog a lot more about current events, politics etc... and, although I still do some of that now, this blog has become less and less about commenting about "what's out there" than sharing "what's going on over here". Being a mom has been instrumental in that, of course: there's a lot more going on over here.

On the other hand, I don't want to narrow down the focus of my blog too much with a name that limits the type of posts I can put on here. So, although I love photography and travel, I'm reluctant to use a title centered around either. Obviously, I'm not actually limited because I have control over the blog and can post whatever the hell I want (one of the very many reasons that I like blogs in the first place - I am my own and only editor) but I want the title to reflect the content. If someone from the blogosphere drops by and finds me, I want them to get a sense of what to expect from what I call it. Not unreasonable, right?

Then, adding to this, I have been thinking for some time now about getting a custom URL. Something more catchy than "xxx.blogspot.com" and that can follow me to any blog hosting service so, if I do make a change, people won't "lose" me in the cavernous virtual world.

I've GoDaddy'd some possibilities and the following are open but, again, not sure if I'm going to stick with the current title of the blog.

http://www.thebritrants.com/
http://www.britrants.com/
http://www.britishrants.com/

There are also these:

• http://www.martinimumma.com/ Which makes me sound like a lush, however, and defines me by being a mother when, in fact, most of my parental rants are on my other blog.
• http://www.travelingirl.com/ Which might be disappointing to someone looking for lots of interesting traveling stories because, let's be honest, I don't travel that much any more (if I ever did by some standards.) I see this as more of a wish-list title. Like, I wish I was the traveling girl.

The custom URL is scary though. More commitment with more consequences for change.

Ewwww! How is a married suburban mom commitment phobic!?

Aaaanywhosit. What do YOU think? You're reading this stupid thing (apparently, coz you're here). What would you call it? (And careful there... I do have an ego to protect!) Obviously the calling comes first and the URLing comes second, so I need a name. Or... not. Am I still Ms. Rantypants?

I'm having a creative crisis

I've been spending a lot of time reading other people's blogs recently. Not sure why exactly. I go through these phases where I get all plugged into the online world and then, suddenly, I realize how much freaking time I'm spending in a virtual world while the real one awaits just beyond the keyboard, and I disappear for a while.

I know that, if I want to build my blog readership I should be reading lots of other blogs and commenting on them, which will increase my profile and beget more readers and comments and blah blah blah. But that's not why I read other blogs. I'm just interested in other people's lives really; what they're doing, how they're doing it, why they're doing it and, because I like to consider myself somewhat a student of the written word, how the write about it.

Anyway, I digress. The point of this post is because I'm not satisfied with the design of my blog. If you've been reading for a while, you'll know that I've changed it up a couple of times in the last few months but, having seen a bunch of other blogs whose design/layout I like much better, I'm thinking of changing again.

I'm not sure if it really matters in the grand scheme of things; is what I write is more important than the space in which I write it? I don't know. I, personally, am very influenced by layout and design. It greatly affects my first opinion of a blog. In my mind it goes that, if the person has a well laid-out blog with a clean and somewhat professional-looking design, they take their blog seriously and are probably are going to write good stuff in it. However, there are good blogs I read whose design is uninspiring and amateurish to say the least. I think I fall somewhere inbetween right now.

The way I see it, this blog represents ME. Who I am. My personality. And right now I don't think the layout or design are doing that well. If I had to put myself into colors and images, I would see oranges and yellows and pinks and reds, crazy splashes of bright colors, planes, suitcases, cameras, pens, a martini glass, a bottle of wine, a map of Britain, and (LOL) a binkie... Busy but clean and modern at the same time. (Not like the bathroom wallpaper in a house from the 70s.) Needless to say, the current design of Random Rants is NONE of those things. It feels out-of-step, cold, cluttered and uninteresting. BLECH!

Yet, I neither have the talent nor the time to work on making this blog more "me." So, I'm wondering if anyone has any suggestions? Free (or low cost) template or design resources? Simple ideas to turn this thing around?

All are welcome...