Blogging and Scrapbooking

I read a website called Mormon Mommy Wars. It's good. And often very funny. They discuss the every-day nonsense that is motherhood. Well... being-a-woman-hood actually. With an LDS twist to the mix.

Today's post was really interesting to me and will be to a lot of you out there too, as it was entitled 'Blogging vs. Scrapbooking or Excuse Me While I Navel Gaze.' The writer's basic premise is (her views, not mine) that in scrapbooking life is pretty-pretty and unrealistic (no poo, no horribly grubby children...unless you're pointing out how cute they are with baked beans all over their hair, no drama about your menstrual cycle...just happy families doing happy things on sunshiny/autumnul/snowy days. Happy. Happy happy happy). Whereas in blogging we tend to write about our children having the screaming ab-dabs in the middle of the supermarket (and how we wanted to just abandon them in the frozen peas section, to be brought up by wolves or gypsies or whoever), or how your mother-in-law is driving you nuts (and that you think she actually was brought up by wolves). The writer of said article says, "Basically, scrapbooks are there to show you the shiny stuff. Blogging is there to show you the poop."

The whole post is right here for you to read in its entirety.

*Taking on a Marge Simpson voice* Mmmmm...I don't agree (now there's a surprise...).

I did leave a lengthy reply to her post (now there's another surprise...) in which I said that as someone who a) Enjoys the creativity of writing through a blog and b) Enjoys the creativity of scrapbooking (oh yes I do!)…they are BOTH expressions through graphic design, art, photography, family history, and creative writing all mooshed together. And for me, anything grimy and gritty is fair game for both blogging and scrapbooking, as long as it doesn’t hurt someone…I just will NOT go into bitching about people in an unkind way anywhere on the internet. It’s not the place (in my mind). Bun fights in public? Nuh uh. They make the thrower of buns look like Trash. With a capital T. (I so want to write 'White Trash' there but then all the white trash people would be offended and wouldn't that be ironic...)

But I would and do blog about illness and I scrapbook about illness. I blog about bad moods, and I scrapbook about bad moods. I blog my opinions about the irritant that is George Dubya Bush and I scrap my opinions about the irritant that is George Dubya Bush. I don't, however, blog my ‘dirty laundry’ …in fact, I am more likely to scrap my dirty laundry (Not literally. Cos that would be smelly. And a bit silly. And did I mention smelly?) and keep it in an album for more private viewing so my daughter can know who I really am...when she’s emotionally mature and ready to (poor kid - you *thought* your mum was a marvel, and in fact she's a headcase...).

Blogging just allows me to get the memories down immediately and probably in more lengthy and wordy detail, and then scrapbooking allows me to get it on in an arty, photography, wordy way, but created over a longer period of time. With glue. And cutting implements. Happiness.

So, in short, I don’t believe they’re “versus” one another at all…they complement one another. And if you like one and not the other, no biggie. It’s when you actually don’t like one and feel obliged to do it from some sort of ‘everyone’s doing it and so I must be a bad mother/person/family historian if I don’t’ point of view that it becomes ridiculous. And slightly deranged.

What do *you* think...?