Brag & Blab and Not Me Monday

I did NOT break out my maternity clothes because I am already too fat to fit into my regular jeans. Yes, they are big...but SOOOO much more comfortable than squeezing into something so tight that you look like a muffin. I did NOT let my kids have lemonade girl scout cookies and milk for breakfast. I did NOT bawl my eyes out at church (pregnancy hormones on the fritz) during primary when all the kids were singing the mother's day song they sang last week and both my kids turned to look at me, wave, and blow kisses. I did NOT also almost fall asleep later that hour, and have to get up and walk around the church to keep from nodding off. I am NOT feeling insecure about my baby because I am not yet feeling sick .

You know how this works, my friends!!! Use this button to link back to me, link up, and then brag about something wonderful, and blab about something that sucks!

Brag: I got to spend the evening with Brandon's mom and dad and their kids last night. it was AWESOME! We love them so very much. I was sad to leave because we were having so much fun!!!!

Blab: Well, I wasn't going to sink to their level, but this is the crappiest thing that has happened in a long time.

You know how I used to write a fairy story on Saturdays for my 'other' blog (thegossamerjewelbox)- that one? Well, I've never really been shy about the kind of big dork I am, and that I LOVE to take pictures of fairies. YES, I do do some mainstream stuff- I have some really excellent (I think) pictures of my kids- portrait style- but really, I just like the hobby of it. Never have I proclaimed myself a professional, or even 'good' at it. I just LIKE it. It's a hobby. It was fun for me. I have never had any classes and I'm teaching myself to use photo shop, so I know I have a lot to learn. But I always figured that you have to start SOMEWHERE, and no one was ever good when they were beginning.

Well, on Friday, after two days of waiting through their 2 day 'waiting period' (lest, heaven forbid, they get a spammer) I was finally able to join the January 2011 birth board- which is why I joined http://www.thebump.com/ in the first place. It's an okay board, but it's slow. So I branched out and visited boards like "SAHM's" and "Preschoolers" and "Photography"

The "Photography" board was an absolute mistake because within 10 minutes of posting about my interest in photography, and the kind of photography I like to do, I was made fun of and had at least 2 other threads started with the explicit goal of demeaning me, my blog, and my hobby.

So I deleted the link.

Those who had already been there passed it around and started making mocking pictures of their babies with goat horns on their heads.

They lectured me about how my photography is no good. And it just went on and on.

My gossamer jewel box blog received over 500 hits that day from this site, and they continued to not only bash my pictures, but also to bash my writing and talk about how I abuse my dog.

So I had to set it to private.

Maybe one day- years from now, I will no longer have that blog private. But in the mean time, it's my own space. I am no longer so confident, now, in the possibility that someday I'll be 'pretty good' - which is what I was aiming for.


Still, I love it. I LOVE making wings and dressing my kids up and playing with photo shop. Even if I need a lot of education on the subject. So, even though my dignity has been crushed, I'm going to refuse to stop playing.


If you would like to check out the hateful things they said, please do at these links. All I wanted was to maybe receive some pointers, talk about styles, and maybe get some tutorials about photo shop. Stupid me. (Oh, and notice- I have 3 posts in TOTAL. And none of them were rude in the slightest.)

http://community.thenest.com/cs/ks/forums/thread/36703585.aspx
http://community.thenest.com/cs/ks/forums/36725668/ShowThread.aspx#36725668
http://community.thenest.com/cs/ks/forums/36717589/ShowThread.aspx#36717589 BTW, I am USUALLY totally up for other people's comments, whether the agree or disagree. And I don't care if people like my style or not. I realize that I'm a little strange and that my ideas are- for lack of a better word- weird. I'm cool with people disagreeing. I have never been one to want people to give me false praise or blow sunshine up my skirt, or pee rainbows or any of those other chat board phrases for 'brown nosing'. It might come from years upon years of creative writing classes- but criticism is good. I like criticism- especially the constructive kind. But I'm not okay with personal attacks, and I can honestly say that I have never in my whole life been involved in something this lacking in tact or basis, nor have I ever tried to hurt someone or diminish their importance the way these GROWN WOMEN have tried to do to me. (It makes me wonder who these women think they are, acting all high and mighty. Who taught them EVERYTHING, and forgot to teach them respect, tolerance, and love? It makes me sad for their children, because I know that MY children will be dealing with THEIR children when they grow up. And that is a depressing thought.)

Forgive me when I say that right now, my pride is completely shattered- and I'm perfectly okay if you looked at my Gossamer Jewel Box blog once upon a time, and thought it was crap. I very sincerely respect differences in opinion. But I'm not posting, nor reading, any comment that may attack me here. I have it under pretty good authority that they found THIS blog while searching for it on google.com after I set it to private. So if any of them have anything demeaning or negative to say to me, it'll be deleted before anyone else has a chance to see it. Because after I slander their names all over my blog, their value is gone.