I Keep Trying To Be Cool - And Failing

So all the super-cool, young, hip bloggers have a presence on both Twitter AND facebook.

Those younsters are hard to keep up with.

Because I?

I am not cool.

Or hip.

Or young.

Not that I am old!  No!  No siree bob.

I am merely oldish.

But I don't want to be.  I want to do what the kids are doing, dangit.

So this weekend, without any help from Rich at all, I decided to put Our Front Door on facebook.

Of course I, Mindee, have been on facebook since before facebook was cool. 

That's right.  Go ahead and ooh and aaah.  I'll wait.

But my blog did not have its own spot there. So I took a deep breath and logged on and clicked "start a group" and filled everything out.  Then I sent invites to join the group to everyone I know and sat back and was impressed with myself.

For about 10 minutes.

Which is how long it took to figure out that my "group" did not look like what my other bloggy friends have on facebook.

Turns out that what I wanted was a "page" which is different than a "group."

I pondered the situation for a whole day, growing increasingly anxious about what was becoming a glaring mistake and then I finally went in and started a page.

But in the meantime, many of my friends had joined my group.  And it felt obnoxious to tell them to also "like" my page.  I mean really - I was beginning to sound a wee bit narcissistic.

Demanding.

High maintenance.

And while Rich knows that all those traits exist in me, I prefer to keep it on the down low with everyone else.

I finally decided to swallow my pride and just message everyone in the group and asked them to "like" my page instead.  Then I was going to just get rid of the group and pretend it never existed.

But? I can't figure out how to make my group stop existing.  Facebook has it and won't let it go. 

Also? My page is Tweeting everything I post and I don't want it to because it includes some wonky link with it.  But I don't know how to make that feature quit, so every time I post something to my page I have to rush over to Twitter and try to delete it.

It turns out though that Twitter is very, very fast.  Lightning quick is what Twitter is, and I never make it in time.

To sum up:

- I now have a group I never should have started and don't know how to stop.

- I have a page that I'm afraid to tell my group about because then they'll know that

     A.  I am an idiot

     B.  I am overly obsessed with myself

- But I want people to "like" my page because the part where I am overly obsessed with myself has a ring of truth to it.

- However, I am not so obsessed with myself that I want my page Tweeted but I don't know how to make it stop.

- I have now proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that I am not, nor ever have been, cool.

Or hip.

Or technologically competent.

The worst part though is this:  After having told you this whole sorry mess I am now going to ask you to go to facebook and "like" my page by clicking on this link.

I have no shame.  No shame at all.

Confessions Of A Middle Aged Married Couple

I can't believe I just typed "Middle Aged" in reference to this blog.  I'm referring, of course, to Rich - but still.

Welcome to readers who came here from Confessions Of A Young Married Couple! Katie and Chris are so kind to feature me on their blog today.  I just love that place.  I predict Bean is going to be a talented kid with parents like that.  Talented and funny. 

For the eight people in blog land who haven't found that site yet, as soon as you finish here, head on over to COAYMC. 

(After you're done here of course.  Because you're going to want to stick around.

There's a surprise coming up.)

You'll quickly see why they are nominated for a Bloggie in the category of Blog Of The Year. 

Speaking of the Bloggies.  Have you all voted yet?  If not, please do. And if I may offer a suggestion:  vote for Confessions Of A Young Married Couple.  They are up against some fine competition but this is their first time nominated.  Wouldn't it be fun for them to win?

So go vote.

One of the questions Katie asked me for today was, "What is in your purse."  For many people, that is an interesting question.  Not so much here as I am opposed to purses.  One of the things I mentioned though was anti-bacterial hand gel.

And so . . . (drumroll) . . . in conjunction with my feature on Confessions Of A Young Married Couple . . .(more rolling of drums) . . .  I am having . . . (really feverish drumming) . . . my FIRST EVER . . . (can you believe the stamina of that drummer?) . . .GIVEAWAY!!!!!

That's right readers.  Without the knowledge of any sponsor whatsoever - or my husband - I am throwing some loot your way.  Not a lot of loot.  Maybe not terribly exciting loot.  But loot.

I think it's exciting though.

I think it's exciting because I want the world to be a less germy place AND I want it to smell better.  Bath and Body Works helps me on both counts.

The winner of this giveaway will receive a $50 gift certificate to Bath and Body Works where they can purchace anti-bacterial hand soap:

Regular or foaming.  Your choice.  I really like this new lemon scent.  It's nice in the kitchen.  You could also get the matching anti-bacterial foam for when you're on the go.

They even have coordinating hand lotion.  How cool is that?

Of course, you could always buy items that are not anti-bacterial.  Don't come crying to me though when you get Swine Flu.

Yes, I realize I am irrational. 

I believe it is part of my charm.

Contest rules:  Contest open until Tuesday at 6:00 p.m. Central time.  To enter, leave a comment below telling me whether or not YOU like carrying a purse.

For a second entry, start following me on Twitter and leave a comment saying so.  No I do not understand Twitter but am told that all the cool kids are doing it.  You should be a cool kid too.  (If you already follow me, you can leave a comment saying that.)

And once again, a big THANK YOU to Confessions Of A Young Married couple and Katie and Chris.  Good luck at the Bloggies guys!

(Just to be clear:  Bath and Body works has no knowledge of me or of this giveaway.  You can tell because it's only $50.)

Tweet

You may notice a new feature there, just to the right.

Against my better judgement, I now Tweet.

It has been suggested that I join Twitter for a while, but I've resisted.  Mostly because I don't get the appeal but also because it meant messing with settings on my phone and blog which I always screw up and then Rich has to fix it.

This time was no exception.

But a couple of things happenened . . .

One of my very favorite blogs, Confessions Of A Young Married Couple, is written by Katie.  I truly think that Katie is one of the best blog writers out there.  She is witty, articulate and a good story teller.  It also helps that she has an absolutely adorable baby she calls Bean.

Katie and I had been e-mailing back and forth last week about a feature on her blog when she suddenly dropped out of sight.  I knew that Bean hadn't been feeling good so I was a little concerned but I know how busy young moms are so I didn't worry too much.  But when I checked Katie's blog this morning, I saw this little note over in her Twitter column, "Admitting bean at the hospital. Dehydration and the croup. No good. Hopefully home tomorrow afternoon. Thanks for all the well wishes."  Of course Katie wasn't writing blog posts or answering e-mails.  She's dealing with much bigger stuff.

If I had Twitter I would have known that.  If I had Twitter I could have been praying for them.  That would be a great idea by the way.  If you're of the praying variety please say one for Bean.  Sick babies are a very sad thing.

The other thing that helped change my mind is that there have been a couple of road trips recently where I have been really bored.  Riding down the interstate hour after hour gets old.  The kids have their movies and ipods and DS thingies.  I like to sit and change the radio station every 90 seconds to try and find a better song but Rich tires of that game quickly.  Thus:  bored.

To combat the boredom I started texting my sister.  I was texting really important messages like:

"We're on the highway to the danger zone.  Kenny Loggins says so."

and

"Billly Jean is not my lover."

and

"Remember at the prom that night?  You and me - we had a fight."

She stopped answering me after a while.  I don't know why, because clearly? I am hilarious. I remember thinking at the time, "If I had Twitter I could let everyone know just how funny I am."

So now I have it.  If you are interested in my Tweets, you can get them by clicking on the link in the box.  I promise there are no road trips planned in the near future.

As for me:  I'm still trying to figure out how to get the Tweets to appear as text messages on my phone.

Oh Riiiiiiich . . .